Right now, my kids are counting down to December 1, when they can open their Lego Advent calendar. Since they will soon enough be counting down to the main event, I went ahead and whipped up this very simple little counter in html to show the C-minus day. I embedded it in my LAN…

Some dozen years ago, I very nearly failed a 200-level Electrical Engineering course. More than fifteen years ago was the last time I did much programming. In FORTRAN. This year, I decided to geek out a Jack-o'-Lantern with LEDs and a motion sensor to activate a special sequence for visitors. The whole thing is driven by a Raspberry Pi and programmed in Python. Why a Raspberry Pi? Well, it's all the rage right now, and, while an Arduino is probably a better choice here, a Pi was what I had.…

My geeky garden required a suitably geeky irrigation system. The garden is laid out in eight 12-foot rows, located about 50 feet from the nearest hose bib. I am also working on some container herbs and fruits that will be located on the back patio, right around the hose bib. I would like to put as many of those on the irrigation system as possible, when they are completed. As I pondered my watering needs, the following set of engineering requirements emerged:

• Automated – hand…

Tonight's big project was starting some flower seeds. While Mom was at class, the four mini-geeks and I set up on the dining room table and got to it.

First, we amassed our supplies. Foremost, and I guess the reason for all this is the seeds. As high-quality seeds have started appearing in the grocery stores, they’ve become an impulse buy. We wound up with several packets of flower seeds this way. Next are trays to start them in. I’m using peat trays. They came…