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Clara and I often get smiles from strangers as we walk through town, with Clara riding in her backpack, singing and swinging her feet. It was a great feeling that she was so happy: just three days ago she woke up from her nap with a fever of 106 degrees, and spent a traumatic evening in the emergency room. read more...

[Clara is playing. Her mom has given her a small irregularly-shaped piece of leftover fabric with the ends stitched together; she wears it on her head and calls it a hat. She sees a toy clock on a shelf. Starts moving its hands around. Sings:]

Hickory, dickory, dock.
A mouse run up the clock.

[Clara’s “hat” falls off her head. Still singing, in tune:]

My hat fall off,
A mouse run down,
Hickory, dickory, dock.

I’ve now got a running prototype of what we’re calling the “DingBot,” a paging system for use between the floors of our house. read more...

[contains many references to the Wiggles DVD Wiggly Safari and the song “Wobbly Camels”]

C: [singing] Wobbly camel walking by…

T: [singing] With padded hooves and hooded eye…

C: Camels at Buffalo Zoo. read more...

Clara (to the tune, roughly of the Maisy theme song) (sung to her buckwheat cereal):

Buckwheat,
Buckwheat.
What you do today in my bowl?
Cock doodle doo.
I love you,
 Buckwheat.

[while Dad is changing Clara’s diaper for bed]

Dad: Who’s my girl?

Clara: Me!

D: And who’s your daddy?

C: Timothy John Weber. I kiss your fingers.

[kisses each finger on Dad’s left hand in turn] read more...

I finished the second version of the sump pump alarm. This revision has the following changes: read more...

• 3.9 V Zener (D1) instead of 5.1 V. This gives ~5.1 V to the PIC with a fresh battery. The PIC is rated down to about 3 V at the 4 MHz clock frequency used, so this keeps it running at least until the battery drops to 6.9 V, instead of cutting out at around 8.1 V. Depending on the discharge curve of a particular battery in this application, that could add some extra alarm time.

Well, I replaced the ground fault interrupt outlet that the sump pump was plugged into a month or two ago, and I haven’t heard a peep out of the alarm since. So that must have been the culprit all along. read more...

Do you love coffee? Or soda, or some other perky drink? Then perhaps you are annoyed now and then by reports of the health benefits of tea, with its antioxidants and its relaxing cultural traditions. Or perhaps a tea snob has extolled the refined subtleties of flavor it offers. So you know it’s a habit you should cultivate, instead of whatever depraved beverage or daily habit you currently pursue in the search for stimulation and/or security.

Well, I’m here to help you out. Because the procedure I am about to set forth will, if followed faithfully, allow you to say, honestly and with pride, “No thanks - I’ve tried tea, and I hated it.” read more...

The following were actually written in the car one or two years ago; I just came across them again and decided it was the right time.

I’m dreaming of a green Christmas

I’m dreaming of a green Christmas
So I don’t have to shovel snow
’Cause when I start liftin’,
My spine starts shiftin’,
And soon, my back will start to go… read more...