I used to say that I have never had a Duracell battery leak but I can't say that anymore. Have had lots of Panasonics leak.

I mentioned carbon zinc for reference and the baking soda thing. I don't know if they are made anymore. The article has good advice on lithium ion batteries too. Should have mentioned if you rinse with water if should be distilled. Thanks for the replies.

I've read a lot of posts here about batteries leaking and advice on cleaning them up. When someone asks about this, they do not always mention what type of battery has leaked! Carbon zincs leak an acid, and cleaning or neutralizing requires an alkaline substance like baking soda. Alkaline batteries leak potassium hydroxide, which requires an acid to neutralize, such as vinegar, which is about 5% acetic acid, i.e., weak. I've seen mention of using acetone or rubbing alcohol, which I do not understand at all, and acetone will do real damage to lots of plastics. Giving advice on general terms without knowing what type of battery is dangerous. Here is a good link, and there are probably many more -

http://cleaning.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Clean_Leaking_AA_Batteries

A neighbor of mine has some homing pigeons and is frustrated by hawks going after them. Says they can outrun the red tailed but the coopers are much faster. I see red tailed a lot but have not been lucky enough to see any cooper hawks let alone be fast enough to get pictures. Nice pictures.

I heard a piece on NPR about 2 ladies that had spiders for pets. Some live up to 30 yrs. They were mourning the recent death of one of theirs!

There was one in our garage eating cat food some years ago. Clapping my hands did not deter it at all, he finished the food and ambled off. I had some get into sunflower seed for the birds that I have in small garbage cans, the kind that are locked by the handle. After they got into that I decided to hang the cans on hooks so they were off the ground. The hooks were screwed into 2x4s tightly. They unscrewed the hooks! Who knew that raccoons could do that? Lefty loosey, righty tighty!!!

It doesn't work for this 75 yo either!

And in reference to other posts - poor spiders! Many bugs are very interesting subjects.

I am surprised at the responses, as it seems to me I have read some recommendations that your lens with the 1.4 te is a better choice than the 150-600mm lenses out there. I don't remember where I read it, on here somewhere or on a link provided here. Not much help I suppose, but I read this expecting to see comments in favor of the combination.

Curious. Do you know what the car is? Reminds me of a Pontiac yet the tail lights are more similar to a Chevy and the thing in the center resembles a Mercedes. 1953?

In that Snow Flake Rally we had snow blowing inside due to those sliding windows!

I had a 64 Midget, BRG, wire wheels, bought a fiberglass top for winter. With the plastic side windows had to tie leather shoe laces inside the door and hang out the bottom, else when the windows froze you couldn't get the door open with the hard top on! What memories. My 6'7" cousin drove it and he had a hell of a time getting in and out. I ran in local gymkhanas(sp?) and a friend had a Midget that he milled the heads so much they interfered with the domed pistons he bought so we traded heads. That thing knocked and ran on after shut off, even with premium gas. Drove it from Cincinnati to New Orleans and got 34 mpg. With the orig head it would not go past 5500 rpm in 4th, with the milled head it would pull 6000 in 4th, which was right at 100 mph. Scary! Once when at work at a shopping center someone stole the plastic window, just one! Drove it in the SCCA Snow Flake Rally, in January during the first snow Cincinnati had that winter. Got more than 6", roads were sometimes unpassable, and the route had to be changed on the fly with the help of a local ham radio club.

I have retired racing greyhounds and teaching them to do stairs sometimes is a real challenge but I have never seen anything like this! Very funny. The one going down standing only on his front legs is a riot! Thanks

Cars with catalytic converters often don't show blue smoke even if burning oil.

Remember looking at a new 912 (4 cyl) for 4700 about 1967.

I bought an 87 911 in 2007? or so. I always wanted one, and hoped to learn to maintain and repair it. Couldn't keep ac or electric windows and sun roof working, and found even replacing air cleaner or struts on hood/trunk difficult and with much scrapping of knuckles. Very expensive clutch replacement (6k). Wonderful to drive, it had 7" and 9" rims. Mice ate the seat belt, and the replacement. Finally got rid of it at a loss. Some fond memories though.