BloggingThis

A few minutes after my lovely wife stepped out of the swimming pool, we saw this little guy happily swimming across the water.  She was a little freaked out, but not too bad.  It was a good thing she didn’t see the snake until after she was out of the water.

I think this is a Florida Ringneck.  It was only about 8 inches long and as big around as my index finger.  It had an orange belly and orange ring around his neck just behind his head.  I say “his” but I guess it could be a girl.  I don’t know how to tell.

I tried to lift him out of the pool with a shovel, but I guess that scared him.  He ended up swimming to the drain at the bottom and got sucked into the pool’s filter.  Rest in peace, little snake.

 – steve

My four year old has finally learned all the necessary bathroom skills to complete a relief trip on his own.  I couldn’t be happier.  Sometimes he will call for a little help however.  I’m usually pretty responsive to these things and come when he calls.  The other night however, my lovely wife and I were engrossed in a show on VH-1 so I did not immediately respond to his call for my attention.  I did not even realize he was in the bathroom at the time.  Suddenly, the call for assistance came in a troublesome voice.  I got up and began to walk to the source.  Then, a naked child came flying around the corner, now crying, “Daddy!!! The water is coming out!”  As I rounded the turn into the bathroom it was too late.  Water had already breached the rim of the commode and had begun spilling onto the floor.  The look of terror on my son’s face was priceless.  Luckily we have tile flooring in the bathroom and clean up was easy.  I guess we’ll be reviewing the lesson on toilet paper quantity.

A New York Times article I recently read shared some highlights a new efficient milk jug you may have seen recently if you shop at Sam’s Club or Costco.  A more efficient square jug is replacing the standard jug with a tapered spout.

Standard   vs.   New Cube

Sam’s Club reports that they can fit 9% more milk per truck load, or 384 more gallons.  This is all great news for consumers saving us 10¢ - 20¢ per gallon.  The only problem is when pouring milk from these cubes, you should expect to spill about 10¢ - 20¢ worth of milk per gallon! (*this from my own experience)  Efficiency comes at the sake of performance in this case.  There is good news however.  Some stores have live demonstrations to teach customers how to pour from these new cubes.  Rest-and-tip instead of lift-and-pour.  Now they tell me.

– steve