A Marriage of Unequals

Difficulties ensue.

Here's a recipe for peach melba posted by Nigella Lawson on the Food Network.

A fine dessert for a summer's day. But if you really want to dig into something, try one of the M-series Bobcat excavators, from Bobcat. These feature auto idle control, auto shift travel, and selectable auxiliary hydraulic flow.

No worries.

Viking Falcon

The Vikings were good at this sort of thing.

Canadian Living is at it again, providing just the right dessert recipe to brighten up the day--in this case, a chocolate fudge cake.

And here's today's demolition device, the All-Rounder, EC210C demolition excavator from Volvo, with 10 mm under-plating  and an 8 mm swing ring guard.

And here is a picture of Scotland.

No worries.

Road Rage

One car on the road is tranquillity; two is a traffic jam.

Calm your nerves with these Stardust chocolate pancakes, posted on food.com by Sharon 123. After a nice breakfast, traffic is just an afterthought, until you get into your car....

To make you feel even better, here is a line of demolition excavators from Doosan Equipment designed to reach high up to demolish tall buildings and structures. Maximum pin height ranges up to 26 metres.

No worries.

The Jane Austen Book Club

Lots of people like Jane Austen.

Lots of people like chocolate wafers too, and here are some from Smitten Kitchen.

Lots of people like large hydraulic excavators for their demolition work, and here's a nice one from Caterpillar--the 385C L, to which you can attach such things as mobile scrap and demolition shears, concrete cutter jaws, crusher jaws, pulverizer jaws, and shear jaws.

Lots of people like rutabagas and turnips, like these, posted on the University of Massachusetts site.

No worries.

Alien Surfer Boy

Sometimes you have to go to far-away places with strange-sounding names to find that big wave.

Or you could just stay home and eat some chocolate gingerbread cookies, as posted on Canadian Living by Rheanna Kish.

And for those of you thinking about a big demolition project, here is a comprehensive look at demolition and excavation safety procedures from Construction Solutions.

Safety is a good thing to think about before you start wielding one of these big, 3-piece demolition excavator attachments from Kocurek Excavators Ltd.

No worries.

Alien Blood-Sucking Zombie Brussels Sprouts

Do you know what your Brussels sprouts are up to?

Here, from the Chicago Tribune, is a story on chef Alain Roby's life-size chocolate kitchen. There's no recipe, unfortunately, but I'm sure an avid chocolate fan would have no trouble emulating this master chef.

And here is a selection of range crawler demolition excavators from Komatsu, for use in construction and quarry work.

Finally, if you're thinking of digging a mine in your basement or backyard, or even out in the woods, where actual mineral deposits are to be found, you might be interested in this selection from Joy Mining Machinery.

No worries.

Magic Pet Door

Magic pet doors are bigger when opened than when closed.

I've read a lot of history books, and I've even managed to remember one or two of the things written in them, and what I've discovered is that historians grossly underestimate the significance of chocolate cake when considering the development of civilization.

I'm here to correct that error. Here, for instance, is a significant recipe for chocolate sponge cake, from the Joy of Baking site, which, in itself, is an important factor in the continued health of our own civilization. The recipe is from Stephanie Jaworski.

Another important element in every modern civilization is the demolition excavator. Here, for instance, are some magnificent Caterpillar ultra-high demolition machines from Kelly Tractor that belong in any modern civilization's portfolio of essential devices.

Remember, there can be no creation without destruction--just ask Mother Nature.

No worries.

Cat in a Basket

Sometimes people write on the back of their emails, so you have to turn your device around to read your message. This is inconsiderate.

Here's a recipe for chocolate caramel Valentine's cookies from Emily Richards, as posted in Metro News.

And here's a picture of a turnip from farm-basket.com. Turnips are known to be very good for you, with all kinds of health benefits, but you probably shouldn't give one of these to your special Valentine's day person; you might be in for a surprise if you do.

Speaking of Valentine's day, here are some very nice photographs of demolition excavators from Kocurek Excavators Ltd., featuring their line of bespoke front-end equipment for hydraulic excavators.  There are all sorts of interesting pieces of equipment here, including long-reach arms, teledippers, and modular joints.

It's Monday. No worries.

Happy Chinese New Year

It's that time again!

Yes,  chocolate dim sum at the Beverly Hills Peninsula. Dumplings filled with chocolate! And here from the Chinese Food Menu is a recipe for hazelnut and chocolate chip cookies.

It's a good time to be thinking about chocolate, otherwise some of us might be thinking about the enormous quantity of snow piling up on our streets and sidewalks.

And here, for your viewing enjoyment, is a very good photograph of a Volvo demolition excavator hard at work. You can get one of these beauties in an assortment of sizes, from 21 to 70 tons.

Here's a photo of one of the big ones, the EC700C, with falling-object guard, and cylinder guards.

If you're thinking of a Valentine's day for your sweetheart, get her one of these babies. Or a box of chocolates.

No worries.

The Run-away God

When gods start running away from home, it's time to head for the hills.

It's astonishing how quickly Monday mornings stack up, and how slowly and painfully Friday afternoons inch their way into the light of existence.

We're all doomed anyway; the universe will most likely die in a few billion years, so it's best to start enjoying life.

Here, from Family Fun, is something you don't see every day--a pound cake and chocolate worked up into the shape of an excavator.  It looks good--there's a recipe if you want to try it.

And here, from BBC, is a video of an actual boat made out of chocolate.  The 3.5-meter boat was made by French chocolatier George Lamicol.

And now for something completely different--here is the website of the National Demolition Association, home to more than 1,000 U.S. and Canadian companies offering demolition services. If you want to learn about demolition, this is a good starting point.

Don't forget the association's annual convention coming up March 5-8, at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

Here are some photos of demolition excavators and other fascinating machines that Caterpillar showed at last year's convention. I want them all!

No worries.