the opposite of good

[solarbird]

Medium-format film + plastic Hong Kong camera = art, apparently:

http://shop.lomography.com/holga/

I can see the attraction of the raw simplicity, I admit. And the camera itself seems kind of, well, hysterically funny. How many cameras ship with electric tape to seal off the light leaks? Mmmmmm, devolution.

In stupid and bad news, Anna's long-time penpal friend Yngvar current, correct, up-to-date Norwegian passport that he uses to go everywhere else in the world has been rejected by the US for not being machine-readable, so his trip out here got bounced as he was trying to get on his flight from Norway. He can't get a new one for weeks, and there's no emergency visa for tourists, so the whole trip is called off.

He's out the plane ticket, too. At least, so far; the airline and travel agency keep sending him back and forth to the other company. Nice.

At least the house got a halfway decent cleaning out of it.

In still more news, annathepiper has to have more thyroid surgery, but she's already talked about that. At least it's coming before before our health insurance coverage degrades in September. (Must remember to go to meeting about that on Thursday. That'll be fun.)

We also have a GIANT hornet nest on the roof of the house and none of the "22-foot spray!" hornet death makes it more than about halfway there, which means they're really about 12 feet. Lying hornet-death fucks. I wonder how they justify "up to 22 feet" on the can? Assume a 50mph tailwind?

<later>

And it's unreachable from any point I can get to with any of the stuff I have, and it's not even hornets, it's wasps. Fucking wasps.

Anyone got any suggestions? It has to go.

Finally, I'm still looking for a way to test this Palm Zire 71. Anyone with a Universal Bus power charger or base unit out there? Please? I'd like to see whether it works. Fry's did have one, but not open, and they didn't want to open one given that there was no (zero) chance I'd buy it right now. (This changes in September.) Thanks.

In better news, three more plants are opening flowers, so I'll be able to add to my queue of flower pictures, of which this journal has not enough. Here's today's:

Comments

[aerialscribe.livejournal.com]

Throw rocks at it?

Uhm, sounds like you need to hire a pest control.

Or just maybe borrow a real long ladder? Please don't fall. And don't get stung. Especially while you're on the ladder. The sting-ow!-fall combination can be a real killer.

[solarbird]

Throw rocks at it?
Do I look like a hobbit?

Uhm, sounds like you need to hire a pest control.
Mmmm, money.

Or just maybe borrow a real long ladder?
Number two on the "DON'T DO THIS EVER" extermination trick top five, actually. If they swarm, you could die. Not fun! Also, it's in a bad location anyway. :-p You know the front of our house, since you've been here - it's in the eaves to the right of the rightmost window on the top floor. Three and a half stories up, and the lower roof extends way forward so there's no place to properly stage a ladder. Plus it slopes down in front, so again, mostly trying this would probably end up with MY BADNAGES ARE PAESTED ON YAY!! or something else similarly unpleasant.

[firni.livejournal.com]

Wait until dusk, spray the nest with water until it falls down, cover it in gasoline and light the fuckers on fire.

[solarbird]

I would think that spraying it with water would result in RAMPAGING STINGING CLOUD OF HATE. Am I confused?

[firni.livejournal.com]

They get sluggish at dusk. beergutt was spraying them from about 20 feet away and they never got near him.

OR!

Hickory smoke, knock it down, lighter fluid, barbecue mmmmm

[jessicac.livejournal.com]

I could look around the garage for TIm's welding leathers - the jacket, guantlets, and hood would keep you pretty well protected from the waist up. You'd just need to wear some sturdy pants and boots.

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

Can't help on the insect problem. As for the camera, call me old-fashioned, but I think if you want to f up your images, best to use Photoshop (or equivalent) - that's what it's there for. No need to get a camera that does it. :)

[catwingz.livejournal.com]

Fabulous LILIES!!

[darkphoenixrisn.livejournal.com]

We also have a GIANT hornet nest on the roof of the house

One word: eek!

[solarbird]

I know. I am terrified of all things bee and bee-like. ;_;

[darkphoenixrisn.livejournal.com]

Same here. Just the sound of a bee is enough to send me into a panic.

[solarbird]

POWER COSMIC penned in by tiny bees!

You, me, and the Mighty Irkin Armada.

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

I know someone locally that does Holga photo art exhibits. I think they're really cool and neat looking pictures, personally. :)

[solarbird]

I know that playing with limiting tools can be fun. Let me know if she has another exhibit? ^_^

[kairee.livejournal.com]

Being allergic to some stings myself, I've become very jumpy when it comes to buzzing of insects around me.

My suggestion: Call pest control. Seriously. But then, I'd be uncomfortable even living in a house with a nest that big built up, considering how easily wasps and hornets can chew inwards and get into places they were never meant to be.

Eek! *shiver*

[kitchengrrl.livejournal.com]

Every year, the neighborhood's entire population of wasps scouts out our eaves, windowsills, sheds and porch roofs for nesting sites. I too am possessed of HUGE stinging-insect phobia, but have tried the "high-pressure hose at cooler times of day" trick and it does work very well. They are sluggish when it's cool out, and the high-pressure spray knocks them out a bit as well. They're mostly just struggling to get going again after being waterlogged.

Besides, if you're aiming the hose at a bit of an angle, it should fall away from you. And the hose sounds like it would be your best bet for actually reaching the problem area.

If nothing else, leave them be. Our first year here, we did nothing about any of the many nests, one of them HUGE, and never had any issues with them.

[jiapa.livejournal.com]

Sure, I've got a spare universal adapter charger. Swing by anytime and pick it up.

[solarbird]

What with your party being tomorrow, that's very conveeeeeeeeenient!