The Vulgar Eclectic

Category: stuff

  • Eleodes armata, tree forts, and snowballs

    A while ago, I thought our little beetle friend in the terrarium, a beautiful Eleodes armata, must have died. I had watered the terrarium pretty thoroughly and this usually brought him out from his subterranean refuge. This time, however, he made no appearance. Inspecting the terrarium, I thought I saw a dark beetle carcase and…

  • Ogre

    Battle Masters miniature war game!

  • Robots, dinosaurs, and monsters!

    A few months ago, my daughter and I set up a bit of a diorama using old figurines I had as a child and that I have since given to her. I recently added a few robots to the mix (the orange guy atop the stone is one of the new ones). I would have…

  • Of Knights and Matches

    Isn’t this a neat matchbook? I don’t remember where I came across it, but it was years ago. I held onto it because I found it pleasing and only recently rediscovered it when I was going through some stuff. It now has a place in a printers box hanging on the wall.

  • Pickle!

    I tried making refrigerator pickles this evening for the first time. I’m hoping they turn out crunchy and tasty!

  • Mystery

    I was examining the mystery terrarium this evening and spotted the first plant sprouting just above the soil. It’s very tiny and a little tough to see in this picture but it’s there!

  • Mystery terrarium

    My daughter and I made what we’re calling a mystery terrarium yesterday. It’s a mystery because we used dirt from the front yard and some decomposed organic material scooped out of a crevice in the bed of our pickup truck for the soil and didn’t add any seeds or plants. The decayed organic hodgepodge from…

  • Corbiculae

    The front yard is full of sunflowers and this bee has collected quite a load of pollen!

  • Buttons

  • Confession

    It’s nice to dry dishes with something that actually absorbs water, rather than just pushes it around like so many cheap dishtowels do. I also like the “reduce, reuse, recycle” adage. Consequently, I have numerous rectangles of soft cotton that I use to dry my dishes and as napkins when eating, the origin of which…