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Duck!

Just ran across this in the newspaper: little origami paper airplanes. Propeller at one end, controller at the other. Fly ’em by waving your smart phone around. Run for 10 minutes, up to 180 feet away. Don’t cost an arm and a leg. Christmas will be here before you know it. Just saying.

We’re bracing for the ass end of Hurricane Gonzalo or Bazinga or Zoobadebeebop or whatevers. High wind and rain starting about midnight. It looks like the worst of it will pass North of us, but our little microclimate is subject to wilder-than-predicted weather, so we’re bracing anyway.

If you don’t hear from us, it’s because we have a tree tangled in the phone wires. We were trying to cut them free this afternoon, with only moderate success. One good gust could take our internet away.

It’s an elder tree, see, so it grows really, really fast and we didn’t notice it had gotten entangled. Also, you have to be careful trimming elder trees. If you don’t ask the Elder Mother nicely before you cut, she’ll give you restless leg syndrome.

Not kidding.

Comments


Comment from iamfelix
Time: October 20, 2014, 10:32 pm

I remember my Dad whacking away at an elder that was growing into my mom’s clothesline when we were wee tots — OMG!!! It’s all clear to me now … we are cursed … shuffles away whimpering …

Take care with your pruning. :-F


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: October 20, 2014, 11:03 pm

Ha! The way our damn gummint is behaving that is going to be the RAF’s next frontline all-purpose fighter 🙁


Comment from dissent555
Time: October 20, 2014, 11:22 pm

So, you have to respect your elders, then. Yeah, I get it.


Comment from iamfelix
Time: October 21, 2014, 12:15 am

My spastic phone has gremlins ….


Comment from QuasiModo
Time: October 21, 2014, 12:17 am

You can get one of those RC helicopters for like $30 or so…would be afraid of putting my cat’s eye out with it though.

Even ISIS has airplanes now…ridiculous.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: October 21, 2014, 1:35 am

I want a cheap homing kamikaze drone that does the honorable thing and suicide-crashes into a bad drone. I figure there may well be a large market for such a thing.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: October 21, 2014, 1:42 am

So, cutting down that horse chestnut is what gave me restless conkers, I guess?


Comment from Joan of Argghh!
Time: October 21, 2014, 2:02 am

Oscar de la Renta just won the Dead Pool.


Comment from Armybrat
Time: October 21, 2014, 2:51 am

Bought the husband one of those copters that can be flown with an I phone app. $40. I don’t care how how much you spend or what the controller is, those damn little copters are only good for scaring the cat and scratching up the furniture. They don’t/ you can’t actually get the things to fly. Seductive little bastards, tho. My hubby oohs and ahhhs so much, I’ve bought him at least 4 of the bastards.
Not to hi-jack the thread…but did I mention it’s my burfday?!


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: October 21, 2014, 7:46 am

Heppy burfday too yoo, heppy burfday too yoo…


Comment from scottthebadger
Time: October 21, 2014, 7:52 am

It’s Armybrat’s Birthday! The Birthday Badger presents her with a helicopter video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4CssRBYGE


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: October 21, 2014, 10:10 am

My darling nephew gave me a set of RC helicopters a few Christmases ago. I save them for family gatherings, and I make everyone draw numbers to see who gets to play with them first. They are a blast.

But I’ve bought those cheapie toy balsa-wood airplanes for years, as stocking-stuffers for the boys in the family. Now all the boys are men but they still want those little airplanes.


Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: October 21, 2014, 2:43 pm

I keep threatening to buy one of those RC ‘copters to, as most of you have suggested, scare the cats. On the other hand, I don’t want to scratch up my furniture or break any lamps.

This weekend past I came within a whisker (pun gleefully intended) of adopting a new kitten. Walked into Petco on a whim and saw a flood of adoptable kittens; it looked like the tribbles pouring down onto Kirk in that “Star Trek” episode. Anyway, one caught my eye, a charcoal gray medium-hair tabby, darker than the usual, with white chest and paws and a prettily marked face. Plumy tail, eager nature; she wanted to go home with somebody.

Regretfully I had to pass. Three cats? That’s edging into Crazy Cat Guy territory. But I told my two, “If one of you weren’t here, the other would be living with that kitten tonight!”


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: October 21, 2014, 6:24 pm

Yes, I think three cats is the official threshold of “that guy with the cats”.


Comment from mojo
Time: October 21, 2014, 7:52 pm

Reef the sails, batten down the hatches and rig lifelines port and starboard!

Passing north of you is good, though.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: October 21, 2014, 8:10 pm

Yeah, it missed us. The rain missed us completely, we just got a bit of wind. A tree fell on some lady in London, though.


Comment from Hutch
Time: October 21, 2014, 10:45 pm

As soon as I saw this I ordered one. I’ll let you know how well it works.


Comment from Abscheulicher
Time: October 22, 2014, 3:19 pm

Watching the treeline at sunrise as is my wont I noticed a large raccoon acting strangely. He seemed in a hurry and oblivious to danger from above (there’s a lot of redtails, goshawks and golden eagles are common). I was chuffed to bits to see a deranged lesser weasel pouncing on his neck. The boar coon acted like he was surrounded by the swarm of hornets and hightailed through scrub leaving a cartoonish dust trail behind him.
The weasel was maybe 10% of the coon’s size… physically.
If the guvbmint ever clones the whizzles to reach 5# of live weight, time to buy a plane ticket to Greenland.
Heading to the general location now with a jangling brace of Bridger 160s.


Comment from J.S.Bridges
Time: October 23, 2014, 12:43 am

Bit obscure, there, Hutch – apparently due to failure-of-link-insertion. Want to give that another shot?


Comment from Hutch
Time: October 23, 2014, 6:06 pm

Why should I? Ms. Sweasel already posted the link.


Comment from ran togusa japanese traditional
Time: November 14, 2014, 11:49 pm

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from this website.

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