LJR Enterprises

Missoula, Montana has the a chicken controversy: To allow chickens with in the city limits or not.

Story via Boing Boing.

Enjoy the video.

My mom beats me like a red-headed step-child (hey, I have one of those) for not sending out thank you notes. I tell her I was raised wrong, which doesn’t really help my situation.

Came across this Thank You Note how-to via 43 Folders.

From How to Write A Thank You Note:

Express Your Gratitude

Thank you so much for the slippers.

This first paragraph seems like it would be the easiest, but it is actually the most complicated. Beware the just writing trap. You are not ‘just writing to say’ as in I am just writing to say; that’s stating the obvious. If the giver is reading, clearly you have already written. Therefore use the present-perfect tense, which essentially means write as if whatever you say is happening in the moment.

Also—and this is important—never directly mention money. ‘Thank you for the hundred bucks’ could instead be ‘Thank you for your generosity.’ All cash denominations become ‘your generosity’ or ‘your kindness.’ If you feel the giver overspent, the farthest you can go is appreciated: ‘Your generosity is appreciated,’ or ‘It is such an extravagant gift—your kindness is appreciated.’

Madeleine Rae decided to peruse the library stacks for something good to read (she isn’t too pleased with her English class). She brings home Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing. Talk about dialing up your language arts skillz.

She loves The Crossing so far. She loves the long sentences. Apparently, her teachers pound into their heads to use short sentences.

This evening, after some SysAdmin training, I walked into the family room and heard Madel reading one of McCarthy’s long sentences out loud. I am proud and frightened. What if she decides to become an English major–eek!

Another design for high rise farming is getting attention and awards. Here’s a quote that stops me in my tracks:

The irrigation is automatic, the greenhouse is sealed against insects and there is no need for pesticide, and the windows provide the light and heat necessary for growth”.

Uh… what about pollination? Sure, you can plop some bee hives inside the greenhouses, but what about the fact that domestic bees are inefficient pollinators without the interference of wild bee populations?

Here’s the text that will appear in the paper (sorry, I don’t know which one).

Douglas MacKay Smith passed away August 13, 2007 from complications following open heart surgery.

There will be a memorial service celebrating his life, at St. Ignatius Episcopal Church, Antioch, Illinois, on November 20th, 2007 at 5:30 PM.

Doug had brick-layer hands and an engineer’s mind.

“He had the patience of Job,” more than one relative said of him.

His combination of skill with his hands, an engineer’s curiosity, and his patience made him an excellent manager of engineers, grandfather to nine, father of five and husband to Dena Smith.

He worked twenty-years for Rockwell before moving to Illinois from California in 1979. He finished his career at Abbott after twenty-three years, and retired to Grants Pass, Oregon.

He was active at St. Ignatius Episcopal Church in Antioch, Illinois, serving on the Vestry, on the building committee and as a Lay Eucharistic Minister. He was an advisor for the electronics program at Lake County Area Vocational Center, and served as a Superintendent of the goat barn at the Lake County Fair.

In retirement, he traveled across America with Dena in their RV, oversaw the building of their winter home in Yuma, Arizona and built wooden toys for children as a representative in Oregon and Arizona for The Happy Factory.

The family requests donations to The Happy Factory, Cedar City, Utah in lieu of flowers.