17 seconds of a manatee farting

On a recent trip to Florida, we went to see some manatees at a “lagoon” just north of Palm Beach. (More info and a pic of one of the manatees we saw here.) They had a little marine museum set up, too, and one of the exhibits had a touch screen and a bunch of […]

151 seconds of Otis drum soloing

I recorded this a while back and can’t remember the exact circumstances, but unless I’m mistaken Otis and I were trying to keep June entertained one afternoon. We took turns hitting the tubs and our plan was a complete success. Here’s a lengthy solo from the young drummer.

27 seconds of Steve opening a bottle of wine at Thanksgiving

For what has become a yearly tradition, our friends Anicia and Steve drove north and we drove south to meet at Sarah’s parents’ place in Stockbridge for Thanksgiving. As is our wont at such occasions, bottles of wine were opened. For some reason, the corkscrew was very squeaky in this particular bottle.

58 seconds of Axel F on a player piano

Our friends Sean and Lenore, it turns out, have a player piano in their living room. I must have walked past it a dozen times without noticing! The had a party a little while back and Sean brought out the box of piano rolls. He told me to pick one and, music nerd opinion in […]

161 seconds of opera on a boat with frat boys

On a trip to the Berkshires last summer, we came home after dinner one evening to the sound of music echoing across the water. Conducting an investigation down on the dock, we discovered a small flotilla assembled around a pontoon boat with a piano and a singer. I believe the stunt was kind of promotional […]

66 seconds of kids and parents in the new Thompson Park zoo

A while back, they dismantled the playground at Thompson Park in Watertown. (It took me and Otis by surprise!) Eventually, they put in a new playground and, despite the splinter-y fun that was to be had on the old structure, this one is way better. (Check it out.) One of the things they installed was […]

60 seconds of walking talking and counting with Otis

This is from a while ago: April 2016. Otis and I were walking back from IGA with Brooke (the constant jingling in the background is her collar/leash). Otis had recently learned about counting, but more importantly had also recently learned about jokes. His first real “joke” is featured prominently in this recording. He thought it […]

49 seconds of barking squirrels in the back yard

I don’t know why, but 2017 was a banner year for the maple trees. Our naturalist/poli-socio-climatologist (I’m not exactly sure what he does for a living… something with acid rain in China…) neighbor later confirmed to me that something it was an environmentally extraordinary year, but I already had my suspicions. For one thing, I […]

161 seconds of an overpass sound installation in North Adams

On our day trip to North Adams last summer, when we cranked some cranks to spin some tubes, we also checked out a sound installation under the nearby Route 2 overpass. There’s a speaker under the bridge with some pretty neat sounds coming out of it: To produce these rolling tones, artists Bruce Odland and […]

116 seconds of two crying kids in the car

Here’s the less peaceful side of having two kids. Sometimes you’ve got everybody in the car, nobody’s happy, and you’re close enough to your destination that it doesn’t make sense to stop. (Sometimes you’re not close, but it doesn’t make sense to stop for other reasons. Doesn’t matter. Kids have amazing crying stamina.)