Dickens again

So as I mentioned, we did another Dickens'-time play at church this year. 1852, to be precise. At least I think I mentioned it. I meant to. But I may have been to busy working on it to mention it. Sorry.

It turned out great! My area this year was set design/assembly and I helped again with costumes (so cool - we had a lady supply us many authentic vintage items for the costumes!) Not many costume photos yet (I hate turning the camera over to someone else but it had to be done) so instead here are some set photos. Each of the panel sections in the center were mobile and would swing forward to be either a market place or a dock scene (complete with a stuffed boar's head outside the pub!) Our builder was amazing! I gave him two pencil sketches and a brochure from West Ed Mall and look what happened! A twenty+ foot mast (he cut down a tree!). And did I mention the snow machine?

In all, 1500 people attended over 4 performances - even with freezing rain, etc. Over 65 indicated they wanted to accept the true gift of Christmas. And we even survived a complete crash of the sound system one night. All in all, a success.





I think I'll have a nap now.

Hallelujah Chorus

Here's a Christmas classic with a twist. We'd tried doing something like this for my Dad when he turned 65 awhile back and even with the few of us and "Happy Birthday", we didn't have it this together. Maybe brown robes would have helped...

My favorite joke

This is my favorite joke of all time (at least at the moment):

Q: Why did the ram run off the cliff?

A: He didn't see the ewe turn.


(HA HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... sigh)

The forecast

We've been fog bound for weeks now. And I don't mind it so much, except that I'm always very conscious that the deer do tend to stand in the middle of the road like neutral-colored pylons as the temperatures dip. So the forecast tonight brings mixed reactions:

"Mainly clear and frigid."

Now by Canadian standards, it's not going to be frigid. But to my in-laws, living in a trailer up the road from us, on the first leg of their first major snowbird trip since retiring, I imagine it's going to feel frigid. We've offered them the usual deluxe airbed-in-the-studio accommodations, but they're sticking to their new home front.

And really looking forward to Palm Springs.

Pink gloves

This video was made by a Portland hospital to promote breast cancer awareness. On a regional level that makes them my neighbors. And it makes me smile. How fun (and touching) to see everyone work together for a cause they support.



It also makes me realize that the line between dancers and non-dancers can be a thin one. But, hey, dance on!!

Brick by brick

I'm not sure if this guy just has too much time on his hands or what. But, man, are his creations cool!



You can more of his work at www.brickartist.com.

Hi there

I found a funny message in my spam filter today. It started,

"Hi, there. It's been a long time since we did not talk. "

I didn't read the rest (it would have meant clicking and why bother with that?) but that struck me as funny. This style of writing opens worlds of possibilities for communication, don't you think?

"Hi, there. It's been a long time since we didn't go out for lunch together."

"Hi, there. It's been a long time since the sprinkler system didn't explode on you."

"Hi, there. It's been a long time since I didn't abscond with the Sunday School offering."

"Hi, there. It's been a long time since we didn't fight a duel on the pier."

"Hi, there. It's been a long time since aliens didn't abduct us."


I think it's been a long time since that writer didn't learn English grammar. Then again, maybe not.

Arrogant Worms (in tuxes)

SG found this for me and now I have to share it with you. Keep in mind we're both Saskatchewan-born, then enjoy along with us!

A Christmas Carol (the movie)

I'm knee-deep in Christmas again. We started working on our church's annual musical/drama and now we're getting to crunch time.

This year, it's a continuation from last year's Victorian wonder which means some can be reused and some cannot. Costumes are well underway (and fabulous - a lady that moved to town is letting us use much of her vintage clothing collection, even down to some authentic 1850s items!) We started building sets in earnest last week (We're putting a SHIP on stage - the builder has been getting jokes about the ark in his yard) even though we can't set up for a couple weeks.

And the director took me to see the new animated A Christmas Carol yesterday. She'd been to it earlier in the week and came out bouncing off the walls with ideas, characters, costumes, etc. So she wanted me to see it before I started painting sets. It was research. She came out excited, she went back in to the theater excited and she came out even more excited. And what did I get out of it?

Motion sickness.

In fairness, it is an amazing movie. The capture animation lived up to its billing and the attention to detail was stunning. The actors were amazing, perspective was used with elan and technically, it deserves just about every accolade you could give it. Although I wouldn't put it high on the family-friendly rating - unless you regularly take your little angels to horror movies. It was technically just that good.

In fact, it was too good. There's a lot of flying through the air, falling down things, swooping over roof lines and generally getting tossed about. After the first sequence, my head started to spin and my stomach started rotating with it. I'm getting queasy just thinking about it.

Thank goodness we only saw it in 2D or I would have upchucked on the director's shoes.

Technical difficulties

It's a nerd thing again ...

My 15 minutes

I was out yesterday doing some errands and this might seem vain but it seemed I was getting more second looks than usual. It surprised me a little (particularly since I wasn't exactly feeling I looked my best) but as I went through a couple more stores, I became more and more convinced, people were looking at me. And usually with that sort of hint of a smile around the eyes that suggests you should be recognizing them.

It was getting a little unnerving.

So I finally made it through my last stop at a very crowded building - people half catching my eye and giving me that small smile - and headed for the car, thinking that, well, I guess I'd had my 15 minutes in the limelight. And then I saw my reflection in the car window.

I had a small beetle in my hair.




There's really not much to say after realizing that...

Flu season

Okay, we all know flu season is here again. And if your neighborhood is like mine, you're being pressured to get your annual flu vaccine and especially the H1N1 vaccine, even though the H1N1 vaccine is not readily available to the general public yet.

I won't go there (any more than I already have) but have to say, I noticed the difference the flu information is making when I went to my doctor's office last week and again today. What did I notice?

All the reading material is gone.

Yep - no month-old magazines to read. No gossip papers. No nothing. Except the words on the side of the tissue box.

And the waiting rooms are now divided in half. Flueys on one side; generally run-of-the-mill, need-a-doctor's-opinion on the other. Hand sanitizer and face masks placed closer to the fluey side than the not-fluey. And, by some odd mental connection, the fluey side got individual pages of sudoku puzzles on their side. I think the logic was "You're feeling like death warmed over anyways, might as well do math, too."

Anyways, this lack of reading material (in the offices too) meant I had to read the information on the walls. And there I saw a pamphlet for - you guessed it - H1N1 information. And a brochure about virtual colonoscopies.

Virtual colonoscopies?

Virtual colonoscopies?

Virtual colonoscopies?

Is there any way to say that, or even consider it, that would reduce the "eeeeew" factor?

Needless to say, I didn't read the brochure. It might have flu germs on it, you know.

Playing my tune?

Okay, I'm doing another video but how cool is this?

Apples to apples

Some language warning (and a potty warning - this makes me laugh THAT hard ... )

Soap in my eyes?

With Halloween just around the corner, I've been feeling relatively immune to random body parts on display. So it really was not a surprise to find a bag full of eyes at the bottom of my laundry basket today.

Googly eyes, to be exact.

Trouble is, I have no idea where they came from or how they got to my laundry basket. Did they spontaneously appear there? Did they migrate? Have they been breeding? Did they start as Mr. and Mrs. Googly and then decide they had room to expand their family?

I'm still trying to figure it out. And they're still at the bottom of my laundry basket, winking at me every time I dig to the bottom. I'm leaving them there just in case whoever left them comes looking for them.

To my "homies"

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Photo courtesy of www.danbrady.co.uk
thru www.sxu.hu

Tehnology in the blender

So, I've already made the startling announcement that I'm a nerd. (Take a moment to breathe - the shock will pass.) But there's still enough geek in me that things geeky can be incredibly funny. I'm just not geeky enough to understand all the jokes. It's kind of like reading Dorothy Sayers.

One of my favorite e-stores is ThinkGeek. They have some of the best copywriters I've ever seen. (Their Bounty Program for design ideas is one of the worst I've seen though. But that's geeks for you. No balance.)

So when SG sent me this link, I did a fair amount of giggling again. Especially watching an iPhone go through the blender. Maybe that's the nerd part of me though ...

Veggie musings

They're predicting frost in our area soon which means that the garden is beginning to wind down. It wasn't really a raging success this year but we still grew more tomatoes than we need. Even the apple trees didn't produce very well this year. But here's some random veggie thoughts in closing:

Eggplants look more beautiful than they taste. A lot more beautiful than they taste.

Radishes - please! This is the only one that was edible.

My garden-grown peppers were pretty sad this year. Even with the extra TLC, I'd have to have a half acre plot of pepper plants to produce enough of them. In four months, we had enough peppers for ONE meal. (Two if you count Italian grilled veggies.)

Green beans are good fresh - very fresh. And we had more than we'd planned this year because apparently the yellow bean package also had green beans in it.

The type of pea we planted this year had beautiful flowers. Mediocre peas though.

Cucumbers don't like hanging out in the same garden as the tomatoes.

The tomatoes are garden bullies. Shoving other plants around, hogging the water - that sort of thing. But the little orange ones are totally worth it.

Carrots are still in the ground. Only about 6 grew so I hope they turn out better than last year.

They say there are "winter" vegetables here but quite frankly, I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Especially for cabbage.

If I could get parsnips to grow though - now that might tempt me ...

The new gym

SG and I recently joined a gym with the intent of getting healthier. Not just any gym, mind you. We don't just want to look buff ('cause, really, who'd be able to stand us then?) This one is geared to the health and wellness of adults who want to take charge of their futures through exercise.

Yep - it's a senior's gym.

I must confess, I wasn't terribly certain how comfortable I would be there. I sat in on a flexibility class at this facility a couple years ago as part of an article I wrote, and let me tell you, those old ladies were dancing circles around me. But we've also hit the age and stage where this is important. And they have a pool.

I was perhaps a little smug about being among the youngest members there. (40 is the lower age limit for the club.) There was a list of things that might reflect poorly on my character if I admitted that I thought I had more of, less of or some of that most of the members there wouldn't. But let me tell you, I learned today that there's one area I'm not lacking enough for this group.

Modesty.

Now, I'm a grown woman. I lived in a college dorm. I've shared rooms with strangers at conventions. I've been through OB exams, prenatal exams and ER-"yes-it's-paper-but-we-call-it-a-robe" exams. And particularly after having given birth (including at a "teaching" hospital), I figured I'd lost a good portion of the modesty a woman is generally endowed with after being raised in a Christian home.

Apparently there's a lot more to lose.

After our orientation in the pool (which is a great place to exercise, btw), I went to get changed. On stepping into the womens' locker room, I ran into more skin hung out to dry than I've ever seen in one place. Even in an art magazine. Or National Geographic. Now that I think of it, the scene was rather Rembrandt in nature. Or maybe Reuben. Regardless, there I was, the bashful little 40-year-old, trying to non-nonchalantly make small talk with naked strangers. Senior naked strangers. And I left with the uncomfortable feeling that they were handling it much better than I was.


It seems I'll have to get used to a few things in order to hang out with this group. Maybe by the time I'm their age, I'll be enjoying the fact that I'm freaking out the little 40-year-old's too.

Nerd, geek or dork?

SG (Super Geek) pointed me to this diagram that very colorfully spells out the difference between nerds, geeks and dorks. (And if you know what a Venn diagram is, chances are REALLY good that you belong in one of these categories.)

Not sure what you are? Take the test at The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test. (But beware: it's a dating sight so don't inadvertently sign yourself up at the end!)

You probably already know this but I'm a nerd. Married to a geek. And raising little nerds and geeks. (No dorks though. Unless you are eavesdropping on our supper times. We try to reserve our dork moments for the privacy of our home.)

According to the test above I'm actually a PURE NERD. (70% nerd, 48% geek, 35% dork, to be exact.) Truth be told, I was over the 'average' line in all three categories. Surprised?

No - me neither.


P.s. I'm okay with it though. One of the books on my must-read list is Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them. Yeah, that's right - more! Bwa-ha-ha-ha ... oh, sorry. Was that out loud?

Fire update

Well, I said I'd post an update yesterday and didn't because there was nothing to update - except the fact that my DRIP is fixed because SG and his mighty helper installed a new faucet in the kitchen. (HA! Take that Mr. I'll-fix-it-in-15-minutes-for-$150!)

But here's what they know:

The fire is now being referred to as the South County Complex because there was also a fire in the town down the road that burned another 90 acres (although that one threatened more homes). It started just before the Deer Ridge Fire and turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the fact that it was a 4-alarm fire meant all the resources were already in motion when the Deer Ridge Fire started.

Both fires were started by humans (there's rumors of kids goofing off in one situation).

The cost of containing both fires SO FAR is over $850,000. One fire is 85% contained, the other is 45% contained. (I'm not sure how they measure this but it's like wind chill in Canada - you always hear the number.)

My church, which had been evacuated for 3 hours, was safe and in fact became a spot for fire crews to come get a drink or use a restroom or whatever (as it should). Apparently a lot of the various crews came through.

Smoke still lingers (I kept thinking of campfire toast and s'mores yesterday morning) but is clearing.

It sounds like less of a war zone with only occasional spotter planes and helicopters flying overhead.

Roads are open again to our end of town and a lot of us have updated the list of things we'll need to grab if it ever happens again.

A HUGE THANKS to the very dedicated men and women that came from all over the state to help protect our community!

Fire!

To look at my blog titles lately, you might wonder what's happening to my fall. Actually, I thought it was going pretty much as usual until this afternoon when a boatload of firetrucks went wailing past on a nearby road. When I ran outside, here's what I saw:










I'll probably post more about this tomorrow when some more facts are available, but for today we're thankful for safety, that the wind didn't shift the fire our way, for the many firefighters across the state that responded, and for the fact that no homes were lost in this fire so far (one was lost in a sister fire just down the valley but none in this fire). The hills are still glowing tonight and the fire has burned about 600 acres.

Battle stations

A little bit of trivia for you - this is the longest I have ever lived in the same house.

I like this house. And I hope we actually get to own it before we have to leave it. But I'm also realizing that the challenge with living in the same house for an extended period of time is that you get to live with your decisions - landscaping mistakes (who knew roses could get so big), agreeing to paint your own trim to save a few dollars (most of it's done) and buying your own carpet cleaner (sigh). And I've learned that houses will eventually need some of those repairs that go beyond routine maintenance.

Our kitchen tap has, off and on during our time here, dripped. It usually starts slow and accelerates towards the end of my husband's patience when he replaces some part I can't name and it stops dripping for a time.

So today, he replaced that part once again.

But this time, instead of stopping the drip, it created a water feature. Right under the kitchen counter where I've always NOT wanted a water feature. After several attempts to figure out what was happening and mopping up each time, we decided we don't have a clue what's happening and will have to call a plumber.

But not 'til Monday. I'm not paying weekend rates again.

In the meantime, I wanted to do dishes (and that, my friend, does not happen often). Apart from needing some of those dishes, I don't want the plumber seeing the mountain of dishes sitting there in various stages of decay.

Solution?

The utility sink in the laundry room, of course. Fortunately, I had taken the old fish tank out and disinfected the sink just the day before. (Part of the souring towel incident, but again, that's for another time.)

So we put an assembly line together - someone to wash (me, of course), someone to dry, run dishes up and down the hall, etc. And we got them done.

And apparently we get to do it again tomorrow. And Monday, if the plumber can't come right away.

Ahh, the joys of home ownership.

Apocolypse ... now?

I had one of those weird experiences today. I had to run to the grocery store (it involved a bath towel with sour milk on it, but that's for another time) and noticed as I got to the south end of town that the traffic lights were out. Not just blinking red, or blinking green but out. The first intersection I thought, "Hmmm, that's odd" but I was turning right so didn't hang around to notice what the rest of traffic was doing. But then the next one was out. And the next one too. SIX traffic lights in a row - NOTHING.

I will say I experienced a moment of community pride. People adapted very quickly and everyone took their turn getting through the multi-lane intersections. Nobody panicked, everyone just slowed down enough to evaluate what was going on and went about their business.

Then I pulled into the grocery store parking lot and experienced a moment of community weird. Hmmm, not many cars here for a Friday afternoon. And, look, the stores are looking kind of dark too. Maybe I should come back later. But I really don't want to go back home to terry cloth souring on my laundry room floor. Well, can't hurt to ask.

Turns out the store was still open but anything refrigerated or frozen was now swathed in cardboard that would NOT be moved, "NO EXCEPTIONS", reminded the staff member at the door.

Can I still pay?

Of course! Nothing wrong with the phone lines, and the tills are running on emergency generator power. You just can't pay for milk or eggs because remember NO EXCEPTIONS to the cardboard cozy rule. Oh, but you can go into the beer cooler.

Huh?

There have been a lot of strange predictions about the coming cold and flu season. Apparently my government has the right to quarantine and vaccinate the population however it sees fit once a health emergency is declared. People are being advised to stock up on groceries and medicines just in case this swine flu gets out of hand. It can sound kind of alarmist.

I think today gave me a bit of a sense of what that might look like. Or what Hurricane (fill-in-the-blank) survivors might have faced. Actually, I enjoyed grocery shopping today. You never realize how much background noise is in your day until it all goes away. And the soft lighting and unhurried people gave it a sense of canned-goods-zen. I think most people will still look out for others as best they can.

But maybe I should get a couple chickens if they're going to keep locking up the eggs. Or a cow. I'm not sure beer would be quite the same on my Cheerios.

Guess who's birthday?

Guess who's birthday it is today?

Yep - Agatha Christie's!!

Now, as SG so rightly pointed out, the Queen of Crime is probably not celebrating too much so it falls to the rest of us to do it for her. And one of the places I found is a "How Well Do You Know Agatha Christie" quiz. I only got 8 out of 11. I had to guess at the number of cups of tea she drank.

Apparently, she's such a prolific writer that she'll still be publishing a couple new stories after she's dead. (More details here and here.) Can you believe she did all that in longhand and on a manual typewriter? She must have had wrists of steel. Or a secretary. With wrists of steel.

I read my first Agatha Christie story many moons ago when I had run out of things to do while babysitting on a goat farm (I wasn't baby sitting the goats, mind you. It was a different sort of kid.) I pulled And Then There Were None off the shelf and we've been the best of friends ever since. I thought I had every story she'd had published but now I see I'll have a couple new ones to add to the collection.

In the meantime, it's actually Agatha Christie WEEK, so dig out a classic and celebrate with a little murder and mayhem!

9:09:09 9/9/09

Did you miss it? That big historic moment yesterday when the clock clicked over to 9:09:09, September 9,2009?

Yep. Me too.

September 8, 2009

I was accused a few days ago of being a little over eager about today.

I don't think so!!!

Must be love

I read a saying by a child the other day that went,

"You know it's love when you say you like their shirt and they wear it every day."

I was following a discussion today about an industry issue (one relevant to my industry) and I must confess it made me a little - no, make that a lot - frustrated. And by the time I went out to the kitchen to make supper, I was a little riled. Can you be frosted and steamed all at the same time? My poor hubby, that I hadn't really talked with all day, stepped right into the line of fire with a possibly innocent question and then just stood back as I went off. At least I wasn't waving a knife.

I spouted and spewed and generally behaved like a shrew and he just watched.

Then he decided to talk about baseball.

So on that note, here's a link to some great baseball commercials by the Mariners. (Yes, I know, but it's the only sports channel we get and I'm starting to like them.)

I highly recommend the one called "Sorry."

Now I've got to see if I can find a shirt he likes ...

The Butterfly Circus

This short film is 20 minutes long and well worth every second of your time:

Slipping a gear

Ever have one of those days?

I spend Sunday and Monday driving someone else's car. It was a fun little car and had lots of oomph on the hills of the interstate of our area. Even with the air conditioning on.

Our van doesn't like working as hard when the air conditioning is on. It thinks a little more about the hills and generally acts as lazy as the heat around here makes me feel.

I should mention too, that our vehicle (the brand, not just the one we're driving) had a history of dropping transmissions at pretty predictable times. So when the engine starts straining just a little, I do tend to wonder if this is "the big one" - has the tranny given up the ghost and I'll end up staring at the under side of my van on a hoist somewhere? It happened to us once in St. Regis, Montana. I don't recommend an extended stay in St. Regis, Montana, by the way. Or Fargo, North Dakota. Although that was discs, not the transmission.

But back to today - I left home to run down to the library for some more summer stories. And couldn't help but notice that the engine was revving a little high. I mean, we should have been driving about 120 mph according to the tachometer. But we definitely weren't. (Really, honey.) And then on the first big hill it got worse.

"Oh, no." (Visions of shop cars started dancing in my head.) "This is not a good week for this!"

Turns out I'd left the parking brake on.

Read the fine print

Yesterday I received one of those forwards that occasionally do the rounds. It was from a wonderful friend and I loved the sentiment of it. It began...

"You have been considered one of the 10 prettiest ladies with a kind, warm and loving heart."

Aw, shucks. Me? Really? Gee, thanks. (small blush)

Then I'm supposed to "hit" 10 more women with the message and wait to see if it makes it back to me. But in the midst of all the flattery and prettiness, came this warning:

"If you fail to forward this, you'll have ugliness for 10 years."

What!? What kind of threat is that? 10 years? Do you suppose I could negotiate 1 year off the sentence for each friend I send it to? Ten years, after all, is a long time to deal with ugliness. I mean, come on, I'm living in America, and even 10 weeks of ugliness around the proposed health care reform is too much. There's a saying - "Beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes all the way through." - and I don't know if I would be able to see the light at the end of a 10 year tunnel.

So for the moment, I won't be forwarding this message. After all, I hope you know you're beautiful already. I certainly think you are. But if a message with a pink insect suddenly shows up in your inbox, you'll know I had a bad hair day and I'm hedging my bets.

Out at the Old Ball Game

This week, we celebrated our anniversary by going to a baseball game with the young 'uns. A AAA baseball game actually. (Ahh, romance.) How else would you spend the afternoon when it's 90 degrees outside and there's not a shade tree in sight?

It was a great game and we were pretty well positioned. Not necessarily to catch all the nuances of the game but we were seated by some of the more colorful characters in the bleachers (metal, btw). If you know me well, you know I'm a shameless eavesdropper. As I told a class I was visiting this morning, "If you see me at the mall, lower your voice."

Right beside me was a guy that appeared to be a junior coach of some kind because he always had a comment about the style/form/skill of the various players. Some of them were really informative and some of them sounded like a guy version of cattiness.

"I don't let kids wear those pads unless it's a warm up."

"What a great throw to first! How'd he do that!?"

And right beside him was a young woman (well, not YOUNG young, just younger than me young) that had to agree with everything he said:

"Yeah, I haven't worn knee savers since I was, like, twelve."

"Yeah, what's with the crazy stance?"

But a few rows down from them was my personal favorite - a larger blond lady that knew every player's name but wasn't in the parent box. Every comment was screamed at a volume that may actually have been responsible for the infrequent breeze that blew past once in awhile:

"Remember the Cow - Cow - Count!"

"Make it HOT, Eric!"

"Whoo-hoo! That's the way! JUST FINISH THEM OFF NOW!"

"Put some PEPPER on it, baby!"

It was a great game.


(<-Notice the requisite ice-cream-cone profiled manager in the white pants...)








Oh, yeah, the home team won the game and, with it, the championship. I did notice that part, too.

Potty humor

(Be Warned!- This post contains potty humor. Actual potty humor involving toilets and bodily functions. So turn away now if you're offended by such things!

... LAST CHANCE to TURN AWAY!...)

Okay - you can't say you weren't warned ...

We were sitting at supper (or dinner, if that's the meal you eat in the evening in your neck of the woods, although if you read on you'll figure out we're not that couth) the other night and someone happened to mention that a person (apparently with nothing better to do) came up with an app that sends a Tweet every time his toilet flushes. Which begs the question - do we really need to know that? So somehow, the ways things often seem to at my house, the conversation turned to the sorts of songs or sayings a person might use in that situation (if a person were so inclined).

Here's a few (but only a few) that we came up with (and I'll point out that very few of them came from me):

I Like to Move It (Reel 2 Real, or will.i.am, depending on your age)

Poop Scoop Boogie (Tim Hawkins)

"I feel the earth move..." (Carole King)

"Right foot, lets stomp, left foot, lets stomp, SQUEEZE!" (the original line is "freeze" from Cha Cha Slide by Mr. C The Slide Man)

"How about a nice number 2?" (robot from a hair salon commercial)

"I'm a big kid now..." (from a Huggies commercial)

"... you put your right foot in
And you swish it all about" (adapted from the Hokey Pokey)


There are days I have no hope for my family.

...okay, I gotta stop there and go wash my hands...


*photos courtesy of benedeki and wax115 at www.sxu.com

A bevy of birds

My yard seems to be turning into some kind of wildlife sanctuary.

Last Tuesday, SG and I were sitting on the deck after sunset enjoying the peace (and the evening cool) when we heard something moving down at the bottom of the yard. (Our lot has a decided slope, so 'down the yard' is perfectly appropriate.) SG finally fetched a flashlight and there it was - a masked, furry face peering round the cedar from on top of our fence.

We've known raccoons were around. We saw footprints in the snow last December. We think that's what ate the class turtle several summers ago. We think they've been involved in several of the catfights in the neighborhood. So it was with some satisfaction I finally laid eyes on the critter that's had me peeking out dark windows at the strange noises late at night.

This morning, SG saw two raccoons in the yard. Apparently, having seen us, the raccoon decided we weren't very intimidating and invited a friend to come over. Great.

So later in the morning, when I saw something walking around by our patio, I wondered who else had dropped in. I've already mentioned the kamakaze Orioles and it definitely wasn't them. Pigeons, was my first thought. But that didn't seem right. Pigeons don't herd their baby birds around through my hedge.

It was quail! We had a covey of quail (or a bevy - depending on your taste in collective nouns) come bustling through. Not sure what they were looking for but they sure scrambled around a bit as they looked. I crept into the house to show the kids (that's my blinds up there if you're wondering), then back out for the photo op.

Apparently they're a little bashful. They probably heard me thinking of roast squab at one point. Hey, I've heard the story about quail coming down in the desert! And for sure, the raccoons would find the little ones only a few mouthfuls. I'm sure the quail had to be aware of that too. They scuttled off across our roof before too long.

But they missed one. They might not be too bright but I'll have to look that up. This little guy (below) stayed behind and then squalled at the top of his little bird lungs for a good twenty minutes - "MO-O-O-OM? DA-A-A-AD? AN-Y-BO-DY??!!" I heard a second quail hollering eventually so (presumably) someone came and took him back to the bevy before the cats (or the coons) could track him down.

So now I'm wondering if deer are going to be next. Or maybe coyotes. And mostly I'm praying that the snakes and skunks don't get the brochure that seems to be wandering through the animal kingdom featuring our yard.

Silent vocals?

I've just discovered that the sound is off - kaput - on my computer. I'm guessing that something messed up after the big lightning storm we had a couple nights ago but will have to wait for SG to be sure. We did shut everything down but things on my computer don't always start up in the right order if your eyes aren't crossed, you aren't wearing red and you didn't sacrifice a licorice fish by moonlight the night before.

Until I buy some licorice fish, I hope the sound works on yours 'cause this is amazing. Costumes are kind of freaky, some of the shadows are extremely unfortunate and one of the singers distinctly reminds me of PeeWee Herman but they sound great anyways. So turn it up and enjoy.

And I hope I've got the right version here. CAUSE I CAN'T LISTEN TO IT TO DOUBLE-CHECK, CAN I? There's a couple with really scratchy sound quality so if I posted the wrong one, I apologize and I'll have to fix it later.

I didn't realize how many noises from my computer I depend on ...



'K - now watch it again with funny captions (really, you want to do it in this order) ...

Manly men

SG was going into a bank the other day and stopped to hold the door for a mom and her three children (that's the kind of guy he is. He opens my door for me too.) The mom walked through with the kids following behind (there's something about being a mom that often makes me think of ducks) and as her little boy - about 3 years old or so - walked through, he stopped right in front of my husband and looked up at him.

"You look like ... "

Now let me stop there. As I was hearing this story, my thoughts jumped ahead to a lot of things that could finish this sentence. SG, as I've mentioned, is TD&H with dark hair, and a goatee that is starting to show some silver (so sweet of him to keep up with the grey taking charge on my head). He also wears dark wrap-around sunglasses that work very well for cycling but completely block his eyes and the immediate area around them. He's just over the six foot mark (he says it's the shoes) and with the sunglasses hiding the laugh lines and the goatee camouflaging the smile, he can look a trifle stern. Now that I think about it, put him in black leather chaps and a vest and he could convincingly be a biker. Although his road bike might lack the conviction of a Harley.

So, anyways, I was filling in the blank of what this little boy might have said while staring up at my husband. I didn't even come close though.

"You look like a real jonkleman."

(Not sure? He meant "gentleman.")

________________

On an unrelated note (and day, and event) - we were watching a Tae Kwon Do class that was taking place in a local park a couple weeks ago. The class was a group of teens and adults and they were doing some sparring without the benefit of boundaries for the matches. One young man had a very impressive display of spinning kicks that he kept trying to use on his opponent. The problem was he wasn't anywhere near his opponent.

The coach kept trying to urge him in closer but still he spun around and away from his sparring partner.

Finally, his dad on the sidelines couldn't take it any more.

"Hit somebody, you ballerina!"


Yep, manly men.

The little widow woman...

I found another black widow in my garden the other day. Actually, it's the second one this week. They seem to be reaching magnificent proportions in my yard this year. And I generally don't worry to much about bugs and spiders and that sort of thing, and leave them to eat each other with zestful enthusiasm.

All God's creatures, right?

But this was one of those dilemmas - she was guarding, not one, but two egg sacs. And as fascinating as it would be to see them hatch, it ultimately became a choice of my kids over hers. I don't need more black widows in my yard.

So in memorium -

Toto-ally cool!

Have you seen this? This choir makes a storm! Now I'm just trying to figure out if it can be done on wooden risers...

Turn up the sound and enjoy!

(It seems to be doing a weird formatting things but try it anyways...)

The eagle has landed

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moonlanding. How amazing is that still to realize!



This is also a great clip from 1999 of Neil Armstrong remembering that day. I love watching the footage and seeing the sweat and the smiles of the guys in the control room as the flight progressed. My favorite quote is when he says "The important achievement of Apollo was a demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet ... our visions go rather further than that ..."

But on a remarkably human note, did you hear that someone taped over the original footage of the moonlanding?

Yep. Someone at NASA thought "Ack, I'm on the night shift and am going to miss Survivor! I'd better tape it." And away went American history. (Okay, that's not quite how it happened but work with me here.) Fortunately, there's Hollywood - they're piecing together a hi-res replica from bits and pieces around the world. One small step...

Tough guys

We were at a local event today and I saw this group of guys sitting there being all macho - hats on backwards, dark shades, shaved heads and all the attitude you could muster for a sunny morning outdoors that didn't involve a beach. (Unfortunately, it's difficult to be too subtle about taking a photo of a group of men who've already caught you laughing at them so this was the best I could do.)


Who were these bad boys?


They were a group of dads at the local children's festival. Every single one of them with an unhappy child. And I will say, they coped manfully.

Doesn't it just make you want to go all gooey and say "awww!"? Okay, maybe not. They caught me laughing instead.