There be Race Cars, Part Four: The Bus (BDR4)
In 2015 work began on BDR4. It was going to be the replacement for the long-serving Whale. After much work, a BMW E36 engine was…
Author: stega
Craft Break
Finally back to writing new stories about old stuff here at the ranch, but as a starter post to get things re-rolling here, it’s time…
Running out of Esperance
It has been a rather exhausting spring–so much to do and not enough arms and legs to do it all. Finding time to write about…
Last Chance at Purgatory: SCVAS Birdathon Team
We’re running a Birdathon team again this year. Consider sponsoring me or, even better, if you live in the SF Bay Area, consider joining our…
“Backyard” Bird Counting
It’s that time of year: Audubon’s great Backyard Bird Count. Agent Smith was off racing so I set aside a bit of time Sunday and…
Crafty Charging
In addition to the toolbox-turned-charging station detailed in the last post, I decided to be creative when I wanted something fun for my Apple Watch.…
Crafting to make old new
My paternal grandfather had many boxes full of many bits. After he passed away, I ended up with a few random items which recently I…
More Crafts: Small Stuff
Small projects often occupy my time. Oftentimes it’s a case of ‘make it and forget it,’ but I do usually take pictures. Like this cute…
There be Race Cars, Part Three: The Whale (BDR1)
When we first moved to Purgatory, the Whale came to live here when it was not zipping around racetracks. The Whale was the first team…
There be Race Cars, Part Two: The 002
What follows is a bit of a weird tale, even for here. Before the Porsche 914 was purchased, and back when we were living in…
2022 End-of-Year Video
Finally got around to creating the 2022 end-of-year video. In past years it took me next to no time, as Apple Photos would offer me…
Painted Birds
A while back, I found some wooden bird figures on clearance at a craft store. They were fairly boring as just bare wood, so I…
New Art, Part 2 of 2
Over four years ago, I printed off a bunch of images taken from my office window, put them in frames and hung them in the…
New Art, Part 1 of 2
The walls here have slowly had stuff hung upon them. I wrote about some of the things I’ve found via auction houses a while back.…
Wild Life Part 7: Seldom Seen Gophers
Unlike the squirrels that are often out and about, we have another rodent which we almost never see up close. They do not like living…
Wild Life Part 6: Squirrels
We have three species of squirrels here at the ranch–the cheeky and arboreal Fox and Grey squirrels, and the evil and destructive Ground squirrels. The…
Wild Life Part 5: Tarantulas
In the early fall, the boy tarantulas appear and wander the hills looking for love. We really like this time of year and try to…
Once more under the house we go…
Longtime readers will remember that when we bought this place, the crawlspace was a very tight space. The huge ducts for the old diesel furnaces…
Tuning in to a New Station
Our weather station, which we installed shortly after moving in, had a few issues over the years–namely, birds loved to sit atop the rain gauge…
Wild Life Part 4: Quail
The state bird of California is the California Quail, a rather chubby ground bird with a distinctive bobbly plume and equally distinctive call. We have…
Wild Life Part 3: Peacock
Following on the posts from October, it’s not just turkeys and lizards and spiders. Back in April of this year, we had a feral Peacock…
There be Race Cars, Part One: The 914
Back when we bought this place, Agent Smith had recently started helping out with a local group of guys who had a race car. Wait,…
