Recently we bought one of those foldable grocery carts that you see old ladies pushing down the street – it has changed me so much… I couldn’t help but write a poem about it, goes a little something like this:

Before you friend,  laundry was a chore
A trip to the ‘mat = A total bore!

To carry the clothes all-the-way downhill
And they carry them up again? I guess will…

The trip would always wear me down
Washing clothes would make me frown

I needed a hand and some company
Never thought I’d find it in Aisle 3

The wheels up front are svelte &  petite
The big ones in back are straight up street!

And theoretical capacity of 250 pounds
That’s a lot of socks, shirts, undies & gowns!

I pile you high with sodden clothes and soap
and we’ll stroll right down there, no time to mope

When the machines spin round and do their work
I no longer sit there crying like an angry jerk

We laugh we cry we tell old stories
(Like the time great-great-Carty fought off the Tories)

My life is richer since we’ve taken to the streets
I’ve even started using dryer sheets!

In the end, finally, my life is complete
You’re the best dang Carty a boy could meet!

Admittedly, this was not as powerful as my earlier swan song “Lament for a Dead Cellphone” or the hauntingly beautiful  “Complainte pour un portable defunt” but I love you Carty!

X – Detail, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

My parents made a fantastic book of ABCs for my cousin in 1975. He was about 6 at the time, but the book is unafraid to venture into more advanced topics. like the xerophytes above.

When I visited my aunt & uncle for Easter they brought out the “book” which is in remarkably good shape, suggesting it was kept safely out of reach from my cousin.

I was able to take some pictures of each page, the detail and humor is a testament to the creativity of my folks and perhaps a splash of Yuengling. I love it.

Here is a link to the whole set or watch the lil’ show below!

Jakeyp3270130, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

The good thing about taking hundreds of photos of the same thing is that you end up getting a shot like this – look at those huge eyes, the floppy velvet ears, slightly moist puppy nose and crinkly doggie brow… and that mouth, whiskery without pretension – an elegant little fellow!

It’s Kindle Time!

Originally uploaded by eroosey

Turning the big 29 is a tough one, the last year of your 20s – yowsers…

To celebrate this I threw myself a lavish taco party – it was awesome. Then I got a sweet bday surprise present – I was caught completely off-guard by this little supergadget.

Bonus: Check out the sweet shirt!

Getting Twiggy With It!, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

We have a bunch of friendly neighborhood cats around my new digs.

This one was spotted on a recent walk, after some brief attempts to be friendly it started munching on some twigs. Looked like a nice way to spend a Saturday!

turkeysz, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

For many, Valentine’s Day is a special occasion to spend with your loved ones or robot pals. For me it’s always been about the turkeys, which made this day extra special for me.

While walking with my special lady around Brookline, we came across a group of 20+ wild turkeys! We are not talking about the uber-fancy sprawling-estate section of Brookline, it was still very residential, right next to the D line – right here actually:

View Larger Map

It was pretty cool to see all the birds, not particularly attractive animals but scraggly and resourceful critters.It was hard to take very good photos because of where they were standing but you are not missing too much, trust me.

After a few minutes, a common housecat wandered into the scene. As this photo shows the cat was initially pretty mellow – he had obviously dealt with birds before. For a minute I thought they would turn out to be great friends – then he tried to start a little trouble. They backed off for a second but eventually realized through their collective pea-sized brain that the odds were in their favor and chased the fellow off. Not much else happened after that, they are probably still there, pecking at stuff.

More pictures here…

raytek3, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

I won this little fellow, the Raytek MiniTemp MT by entering some contest (I am pretty sure it was not the grand prize). It’s an mini infrared thermometer!

What does it do? Well, it’s for measuring the heat of things that you might not want to touch, and it works at nearly any surface I’ve pointed it at. It has a little lens that focuses the, uh blackbody radiation and converts it into temps! Sortof dull?

Well, the geniuses at Raytek Labs knew they needed to add a bit more pep to this device and mounted a sweet LASER for “aiming purposes” onto the unit. This, combined with a 10′ range, makes it awesome for just about everything.

It is actually pretty useful – how hot is a normal cup of coffee? How’s 133F sound, I just tested that! Wonder how cold it is outside? How cold is the bathroom floor? How hot is the radiator? Amazing!

More glimpses of this wonder:

macro13, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

My gf gets the cheap clementines, not the fancy expensive ones ;(. This means that you never know what you are going to get when you unpeel one of them: tasty fleshy orange treat or horrible green flesh-eating monster?

Luckily I was able to catch this little guy before he got me good, but buyer beware!

spot of coffee, originally uploaded by nate_marsh.

I am a sucker for fancy coffee drinks – but this is ridiculous!

I saw this when I was doing the laundry (I am getting pretty domestic!) at the ol’ Laundromat:

Just another crappy commercial for Dunkin Donuts, right?

Wrong, my friends – it is such a ripoff of this awesome sigur rós video:

Go to 3:51 and you’ll see this extend of this crap.

Dunkin Donuts should buy everyone in Iceland a latte & a pair of reindeer slippers for this crap…