Category: Nature

Up at 2:45 this morning

This early rising business MUST stop.  So I guess it’s time for a roundup.

Adult onset diabetes foreshadowing in rising level of 5 proteins.  Link here.

Lots of lawsuits won’t necessarily help your case.  Righthaven screwed up, but fair use rights have been protected.

A very commonly used contemporary chart about radiation exposure, which I only link to on the off chance one of my readers hasn’t seen it yet.  Here.

The “serpent storm” on Saturn.  via Nasa/Cassini.

The assault of the Repulsigans on women’s rights continues.  Honestly, though, the “Harper Government” would do the same thing if they thought they could get away with it; fortunately the Bloc Québecois would have a collective seizure if they tried to pass something like this.

The assault of the Repulsigans against anybody who dislikes factory farming continues.  In what universe is it illegal to take a picture of a farm? (link removed for security reasons).

From chipper, an ad for what she termed a ‘proofreader’s delight’.

Also from chipper, some lovely ‘supermoon’ pix from England.

I have no idea how church went yesterday, I was in the kitchen helping Peggy with coffee. Gave Carol a ride home and picked up some frozen fruit so I can make fruit toppings for pancakes a bit at a time.

 

My name is Miss Margot

In which I candidly admit I have nothing else less controversial to talk about.

My name is Miss Margot.  I am a tortoiseshall Persian of champion stock.  I was delivered by Caesarean section on December 13, 2009 and named after the veterinary tech who assisted in my delivery.  My face is very flat but I do have a tiny little nose.  I actually have a tiny little everything, except attitude and fur.  I weigh about 6 pounds and have very short legs, so Uncle Eddie makes me look very tiny.

The first time Eddie saw me he barfed.  He really doesn’t have much use for me, but I love him, and love licking his butt while he’s eating.  He will growl and eat at the same time which is very cute.  He gets the top tier of the cat tree, because he is old and wise and crabby. Sometimes I follow him around outside but mostly I stay indoors.  Allegra wasn’t supposed to allow me to be an outdoor cat but she thinks me going outside will help prevent me from getting fat.  I also like looking at birds.  Someday I will catch one.  I don’t think I will ever catch a rat, although I like the ones Eddie brings in.

I love paper and plastic bags…. the way they sound, and how they feel.  I especially like how plastic bags crinkle.

I like food a lot.  I eat the same thing for breakfast and supper, and sniff other things but don’t eat them.  I hate car rides and people sneezing.  I like Jeff because he feeds me and has many interesting things on his desk which sound great when I push them off onto the floor.  Catnip is okay I guess.

I have a number of cat toys, and it is my sad duty to report that Allegra does not play with me enough.  I prefer toys with feathers on them.

I like watching people do things.  It seems insane to me that anybody would expend any effort to do anything but eat sleep stare and groom, but humans are, candidly, morons.

I am not a lap cat.  I like being near, but not on people.  I’m not a big fan of being picked up, either.

I enjoy live music.  Eddie hates it and runs away, but I’ll sit close by, grooving along quietly.

I usually make an entrance if Jeff and Allegra have people over.  I come around and sniff everybody once to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

I like sitting on the back deck watching the world go by.  In the summer I like crossing the alleyway to see what’s happening over there.  I also wait to hear the sound of people’s cars coming and greet them at the door they come through because that’s polite.  Also, treats.  You never know what’s in that bag.

I extremely very much hate baths, even though when I can’t get the dingleberries off it’s the only way to go.  I get giant economy sized dingleberries, but fortunately not very often.

I love malt extract even though it’s good for me and helps me get rid of all that hair.  Sometimes Eddie comes and shoves me out of the way when Allegra gives me some so he can get some too, and I think that’s rude.  But I just stare at him; he’s twice my size and grumpy.

I don’t mew very much, but I have hundreds of other vocalizations including snuffling and munching, slurping while cleaning myself, quacking like a duck when I’m annoyed or have just exercised, snoring when I sleep, and wailing softly while Allegra brushes me.  I hate being brushed.  Fortunately it’s over really fast.  I also hate having my claws trimmed and immediately sharpen them again on Jeff’s bed.  He tells me not to but I ignore him.  He calls me Muffers and picks me up and tells me my bum smells.

My favorite tv show is Stargate Universe. As soon as I hear the theme song I come watch it.  I especially love the blue flashes out the windows and the space battles.  I also like Nascar races and my head whips back and forth as the cars go by. Sometimes I watch other shows for as much as ten minutes at a time before I get bored.

I don’t like dogs.  The dog next door, Creamy, really wants to meet me but my dance card is full.

I hate it when the bathroom attendant isn’t on the ball. It’s better in the summer, I hardly ever pee indoors in the summer.  I like sitting under the deck and getting covered in weird guck and then making somebody else clean me up.  I am a little better at grooming myself when I was a kitten; back then I’d lick myself once, see the scale of the job and then give up.

I hate the blue rug in Jeff’s bathroom. I don’t know why, but it gives me the willies.  He thinks it’s because it feels weird under my feet.

I don’t mind having my eye gunk cleaned off as long as Allegra keeps it snappy.  I can breathe and smell better afterwards and my skin doesn’t get as irritated.  She can go through ten Qtips, both ends, cleaning me up.  I super extremely hate having my ears cleaned and make a noise like an air raid siren anytime she tries.  I don’t understand why she can’t be more like Jeff, who feeds me and pets me and doesn’t poke and prod and pull at me.

Anyway, that’s enough about me, I am bored now.  Please don’t respond in kind; I have no interest in anybody but me, and possibly Eddie and Jeff and Allegra.

Why it’s been bally ages since I posted a decent moose pic

I just had a giggly notion to google Moose Porn but I don’t want to see cheerful and inebriated white people in moose headdresses having at each other (for, brethren and sistern, think ye not that would be my portion in so googling?), so instead you can have this perfectly safe for work newspaper article courtesy of Cousin Gerald.

 

While you were looking at the safe moose pic, I went off and googled Moose Porn.  Now I can say, “Oh god, I’ve just seen a cam pic of a moose’s ass in rut.”  I told myself don’t go there, and I went there, and I’m sorry, and that’s how I know I’m not old yet, I keep doing entirely dumbass shit like that.

Pork chops with a crust of hazelnuts, dijon mustard, maple syrup, salt and pepper, lightly broiled, with nuked red potatoes and corn for supper.

Tonight I said, “Colin Ferrell’s accent when he’s not acting sounds like he’s trying to barf up the Blarney Stone.”

What’s the mileage on this thing like?

ha!

Get off the road, youngster!

My all time favourite car.

Ettore Bugatti quotes:

My cars are supposed to go, not stop (when somebody complained about the brakes).

A gentleman should have a heated carriage house (when somebody complained that the cars were cranky in cold weather).

Nothing is too beautiful, nothing is too expensive.

Sounds like a privileged white guy…. but that’s really the hankie calling the bread white I spose.

Margot and Eddie are running up and down

I showed them the full moon out the back door and they’ve been skittish ever since.

Yes, I’m up.  I was up and done making Finn pancakes at 5 am this morning.

I have cream for my coffee so the correction hasn’t happened yet.  I’m about to do a leedle bit of recording.  I really want the zombie tune done.

Mouse

I woke during the night to the unmistakable sound of Eddie meowing with something in his mouth. I didn’t feel much like dealing with it at the time, so I went back to sleep.

Later, Allegra mentioned that she had both heard Eddie and watched him. She said Eddie was clearly looking for Margot, either to let her in on the fun or to provide some lessons on cathood. It was a mouse. Apparently Eddie let it go in the basement and the two cats played with it and/or chased it around for a while.

Allegra briefed me in the morning and I started the search. If Gizmo was still with us, I might not find anything, except perhaps a very small patch of blood, or possibly a tail. What I found was Margot, in the basement, staring intently at a box against a wall. I pulled the box away and sure enough a mouse appeared. With Margot’s assistance, we cornered the critter and I grabbed him by the tail. It was a cute little thing, brown and white, apparently undamaged, and stared up at me from my hand, without struggling. I carried it outside to the bushiest area I could find and let it go.

Margot was still staring at the box when I left for work.