Thursday, August 30, 2007

A loaf of bread, a container of ilmk, and a stick of butter:

Saturday, August 25, 2007

I Did What You Know Last Summer

- Summer Camp

- Trip to the beach

- Lots of time in the pool

- Sweat, sweat, sweat

Glad the kids are going back this Monday. Ready for September.

Monday, August 20, 2007

I planted a garden (plants with height to disguise the air unit)


I hate looking at that pinestraw, but it has to stay as long as we're in a drought.



The cornflower found a home (feeling less optimistic about the butterfly bush)



This guy will give some ground cover




Who doesn't like purple?



Some white flowers that bees seem to like. I'm worried about those B.E.S.




Getting some melon flowers, don't know how they'll grow way up there.



Did I mention my manly grill?



Amelia's tomato



We converted this deep fryer to a compost unit. I'm hoping Amelia will paint it like a Gyroid.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Electric Landlady



Voodoo Chile... 1983... Mitch Mitchell man, Mitch Mitchell.
Can you dig it.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Van Halen Mach 2007

You bet your ass I'll be in Greensboro on September 29th:


Look at Dave lookin' like Jonathan Antin, go away wit' 'yo bad self!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Some Garden Pix


Ignore the bathing suit



The flowers will turn into some kind of melon


I'm told this will be a sunflower (any day now)



Amelia's tomato



Beans!



Grace and Ava's tomaters



I don't know how this got in there




hmmm...



I don't know how this got in there



Black eyed susans... the other two flowers? I'm not sure.



Hot peppers? Not a fan, but the colors are beautiful.



Moses Supposes...



A butterfly bush, though all it attracts are bumble bees
This headline kills me:

Interest high in Chapel Hill police chief post

Duh... ya think? When your major responsibility is crowd control at UNC games and the Halloween parade, it's gotta be one of the cushiest law enforcement jobs in the country.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

As a City of Durham employee who has known this has been in the works for some time, and as a HUGE fan of baseball history, I can't tell you how happy this makes me.

How big a fan?

- I jog past the old park every lunch hour.

- Mitch's - the watering hole in Bull Durham - is a haunt of mine while at school at NCSU.

- I own an authentic Satchel Paige, Kansas City Monarchs jersey

- My wife and I have a brick at the new Bulls stadium

Monday, August 06, 2007

WHAT WILL THE GERMANS THINK OF NEXT?

It's the limited edition Gladiator playset from Playmobil!


1. Will Maximus become Emeror of Rome?



2. Not if Commodus has anything to say about it:



3. Ooooh, Now Maximus is enslaved in a galley!:



4. Only to be fed to Commodus' lions:

Friday, August 03, 2007

Whenever I hear the words, General Petraeus this is what pops in my head:



Just so we're clear, this is General Petraeus:



This is General Ursus:



(and this of course is Dr. Zaius):

Thursday, August 02, 2007

From Today's N&O

Again, I'm fine with the cleanup... shouldn't they have tested the soil before disturbing it to see if it is dangerous? Where will the soil go? Are we polluting another community?

Soil tainted, but state sees no danger to public

Samuel Spies, Staff Writer

CARRBORO - The state agency responsible for an environmental cleanup at a former dry cleaners says there is no health risk to local residents.

Soil removed from 127 Fidelity St. contains perchloroethylene, a dry cleaning solvent that may cause cancer, but the project manager says he does not think residents were exposed.

A private contractor hired by the state Division of Waste Management removed about 240 tons of dirt recently. It now sits in 12 large metal containers covered by tarps in the parking lot.

An analysis will show whether the dirt needs to be sent to a hazardous materials facility. If the contaminant levels are low, it may be taken to a lined landfill, said Al Chapman, project manager for the state's Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program.

Groundwater at the site also is contaminated, Chapman said, but to what extent is unknown.
The Orange Water and Sewer Authority, which provides drinking water to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, doesn't have any wells in the area.

The DSCA program hired a private contractor to handle the cleanup, which cost about $100,000, Chapman said. The program is funded by a tax on dry cleaning and dry cleaning chemicals.

Neighbors' opinions differed on the cleanup operation.

"It seems to me that the analysis should have been done before," said John Allore, who lives nearby. "I would like either the company or someone from town of Carrboro to reassure me and the public that they know what they're doing, and that it's not an environmental risk to anybody in the neighborhood."

Bob Proctor, who lives in the neighboring Village Square condominiums, said he was satisfied with the outcome. "We're happy it's been cleaned up; they did a thorough job," he said.

But Proctor said the state should have acted to protect residents. "We were basically poisoned from 1990 through 1998," he said.

The owner of the property as listed in county land records, William Douglas Mitchell, did not return a phone message Wednesday seeking comment.

Town planning documents say the building was a dry cleaners for more than 20 years. Business listings indicate it was used by at least three businesses: Carolina Cleaners, Green Clean and Hangers Cleaners. Hangers Cleaners used a nontoxic process.

A phone message left at a Chapel Hill listing for Carolina Cleaners was not returned Wednesday.
The Fidelity Street building is vacant. In 2006 the property owners received a permit to convert it to offices.

(News researcher Lamara Williams-Hackett contributed to this story.)


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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Gene Simmons and newly elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy discuss plans for the KISS reunion concert this September in Toulouse


Welcome to your worst nightmare


From Today's News and Observer

Site's Soil May Be Contaminated

From Staff Reports

CARRBORO - The state Division of Waste Management is waiting for test results on dirt that may be contaminated with dry-cleaning solvents.

Soil was recently excavated from beneath a building at 127 Fidelity St., a division spokeswoman said. The analysis will help the state determine how to dispose of the soil.

The empty building was used as a dry cleaners for more than 20 years, according to town planning documents.

On Tuesday evening, 12 large, covered metal containers sat in the parking lot.
The address is listed as a certified site under the state Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program.