Happy Birthday Eli

Eli turns 5, and he loves Bingo.

There are 10 kinds of people.

Those who understand binary and those that do not.

Happy 101th birthday, Eli.

That's a little binary birthday wish.

New Hunter Fan

We bought a new ceiling fan at Lowes today. It is a 42 inch brushed nickel fan that was billed as a "five minute fan." Well, it took me about 30 minutes to remove the old fan and install this one. It is pretty nice though. The motor and arms are fully assembled. Once you get the fan hung, the blades snap onto the arms. Usually, the assembly of the blades and arms take up the bulk of the time, but with this system blade assembly  only took a couple of minutes.  I attached the light kit, and I was done. It is a handsome fan, very quiet, and there is no wobble. What more could you ask for?

This a well thought out fan. The next one would go up much quicker. If you don't count removing from the box, you could probably install one in close to five minutes.

Fixing a Broken Recliner Spring

One of our recliner's foot rest would not return completely, so I turned the recliner over and found that the spring responsible for pulling the rest back had broken. I searched hardware stores and online before I decided to try to "fix" the spring itself. 

I used five links of Peerless #16 Jack Chain (Max load: 10 lbs.) that I had left over from hanging bird houses.

I just slipped each end onto the coil until they were opposite each other and 90 degrees to the opposite hook. 

This is the spring in place.

I put the chain loop around the stud.

I hooked the other end into an appropriate hole. It was the one that was obviously worn.  That's all it took. The chair retracts as good as ever, and I didn't have to buy anything.

Another successful story from the annals of Jayaruh.

Little Bird

 I was sitting in my chair working on my computer when I heard a loud sound. Something hit the house. I decided to investigate. As I went to the front door, I discovered a little bird on our front porch. He was breathing hard and stunned. Marcia helped me document his visit.

The bird was very calm (stunned). You can see that I am holding him loosely. He did not struggle or make any noises.

 I took him outside and opened my hand, but he would not fly away.

 I set him in the fork of our tree out front so he could collect himself.

After uploading all these pictures and writing the above commentary, I went outside to check on the little bird.  He was sitting in the same spot, but his mouth was now closed. I talked to him a bit, and then he decided to fly away. He flew off to a tree in our neighbor's back yard, about 100 ft. away. Looks like he will be all right.

I did a search online and discovered that this was probably a cedar waxwing.

Confirmation. I emailed some pictures to the Smithsonian asking if this was indeed a cedar waxwing. Received the following:

Yes, that is definitely a cedar waxwing and it looks like an adult. Not sure why the crest wasn't up, it may have been scared and be able to keep it flattened.
Sometimes, in late winter and early spring, the waxwings are feeding on berries that have been around all winter, and have started to ferment. Flying can be a bit problematic after ingesting such fruit.
Gregory Gough | IT Specialist, Information Technology
National Zoological Park
Smithsonian Institution