Category: Nature

Still feeling fog-eyed

Last night I dreamed I was in a very weird, muddy, tunnelled location. While I was there somebody- I think Katie – brought me the news that Margot had been run over. I remember feeling – nothing.  Jeff and I tramped through some mud as we discussed how this would make Gizmo and Eddie very happy not to have to put up with her any more.

When I woke up I thought how glad I am that my nightmares are so low key, because in real life I’d be flinging myself around like a thwarted three year old.

Margot and Gizmo are not quite to the point where they are twining their tails together when they are campaigning for food, but it’s pretty close.  Gizmo puts up with all kinds of crap from Margot.  I’ll see if I can get video, because it’s really very charming.

Mathemagic

For some of my math geek buddies, here are some jokes.

Speaking of math geeks, I had a nice long call from LTGW last night.  He came perilously close to moving to California but decided to stay here and work on a business – a math related business, if you can believe it.  Then he described what he was doing and it sounds exhausting, creative and fun.  Then we traded bragging and complaining about our love lives and that’s probably enough specifics on that subject.

The parmesan herb bread turned out really really yummy, but the top of the loaf still hit the glass peephole at the top of the breadmaker, and I’m wondering just how little sugar I need to put in that recipe before it stops doing that.  It’s very irritating because that model of breadmaker does not have a removable lid, so cleaning it is a righteous pain.

Carrie and Tom are in town… I hope to see them tonight.

I played with Margot for about an hour last night.  That cat makes me laugh.  And she LOVES music.  She was attacking my laptop when I was playing something on it yesterday.

I get to interview one of the elders for church.  We’re having an “I’m not dead yet” program, where we talk to elders about their lives BEFORE they die, so we can appreciate them more fully and with less saying of things like, “Gosh, I wish I’d talked to him when he was still alive.”  I drew Denis, so I am very happy; Denis has one of the most beautiful and original speaking voices ever, and his passionate love affair with life and literature make him a good fit for me and that kind of work.

Jeff is back today.  Haunted House is now closer to being functional at Gadget House.  Yup, that’s Jeff, leaving a trail of order and repair behind him.

Very cute photosets of kids and animals.

I must admit some of these pics raised a smile.

A year at Kew from a fabulous nature photographer (thanks Chipper).

Yet more kitty pics.

Stay tuned for the new Enceladus fly-by pics on Saturday … that’s when the raw pics will be in.  Can’t wait!  30 metre resolution of the jets on Enceladus!!!

Paul and Keith are back today

kira REALLY misses them.

(Cat and Parrot video.)  When they are little I just eat them.  When they’re big, they’re kinda hawt.

I sometimes wish I could make money out of my fetishes, but then I read things like this and decide to stick with regular paid employment.

This story about Libyan freedom fighters, Gadhafi’s kid (Saif al Islam al Gadhafi) and a challenge to the moral leadership of al-Qaeda is remarkable, if true.

In a Brief History of Everything, Ken Wilber says I don’t mean to be crude, but it appears that testosterone basically has two, and only two, major drives: f*** it or kill it. Perhaps that is true, but I would add three items to that list: “Be First” and “Be Best” and “Submit your will to no one else”.  That is certainly how I have seen testosterone, properly utilized, play out in a man’s life.

On this Remembrance Day, let us remember the fallen dead, the falling dead, in all the past, present and future wars.  As the candles are lit, as the hiss of the wicks and the warm smell of beeswax fills the shrine, remember the dead.

Holy cow and other comments.

I didn’t realize it until I went to the translink.ca site this morning, but I am now One Bus Ride from church.  I walk out to the Kingsway, get on the 112, and it takes me straight to church.

This makes me very, very happy, and probably means I’ll be doing a lot more church stuff.  I mean, it’s right there!  No more not going to church because I want a lift!

Later on today I am going to go off to a Tim Horton’s and – yet again – see if a guy I’ve talked to on the phone a couple of times is going to actually show.  I don’t think Timmy Ho’s has wireless, though.  I may bring a small mending project just to keep myself out of trouble.

Lady Miss Banjola was robbed at gunpoint the other day – at work I hasten to add.  She’s fine; she is one of these people who does not get upset about the normal things people get upset about.  Exciting times we live in.

My unca Dave is not eating very much, but he talked to mOm on the phone for a while the other day, and it’s little things like that that keep us going.

Keith and Paul are off to see Lois at some point.  I imagine somebody will tell me eventually exactly when I am supposed to feed the Kira critter.

Margot has abrumptly (sorry, this was a word emitted by one of the Xantrex overlords some years ago, and I liked it so much I kept it) decided to quit washing her rear end.  I will give her a day or so to smarten up and then it’s off to the groomer to get all her butt hair shaved off.  I tried shaving it but my clippers are anaemic to the point of mollescence and I’m terrified to cut her fur with scissors.