Olympic Fever
I am getting excited about the Olypics. I have a list of games to play, and I'm putting together a list for a scavenger hunt. I would like to get some second opinions and other suggestions. This is what I have so far.
Races
Sprint
Relay
Cross Country
3 Legged
Crab
Sack
Bike
Wheelbarrow
Egg In Spoon
Barrel
Outdoor
Hobo Golf
Croquet
Badmitton
Volley Ball
Lawn Darts
Watermellon Seed Spitting
Potato Gun
Paintball
Bowling Ball Toss
Scavenger Hunt
Lure Casting
Hopscotch
Obstacle Course
Water Balloon Toss
Indoor
Checkers
Chess
Chineese Checkers
Darts
Rock Paper Scissors
Arm Wrestling
Tic Tac Toe
Jizgaw Puzzle
Monopoly
Twister
This is what I have for the scavenger hunt so far.
Pecan
Acorn
Feather
Holey Rock
Beaver Stick
Shell
Pop Top
Sun Glasses
Stamp
Toothpick
Anything Purple
Bone
Spork
Pocketknife
MO Quarter
Flower
Matches
Star
Baby Picture
Tooth
Fossil
Candle
Popsicle Stick
Clothes Pin
Battery
I want to have a pretty big list for the scavenger hunt, but nothing too hard to find. Most of the stuff I want to be things you could find in a park, or in your car or purse.
If anybody has any suggestions, leave a comment.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
What Were We Thinking?
When we bought season tickets to 6 Flags they gave us free passes to bring some friends with us. Some of the passes expire at the end of the month, so we decided to go to 6 Flags Sunday and take a friend so at least one of the free tickets wouldn't go to waste. In theory, that was a good idea. It was the last weekend before summer school starts, and we wanted to have a little fun. In reality, it was a really bad move. We have been having a heat wave. As soon as we got to the park I started thinking we were crazy to be there. The crowd wasn't very bad, I guess because most people realized walking around in the sun all day wouldn't be very much fun.
So we get in the park and make our way to the first ride. They were just about to start it up, and there were only about 15 or 20 people in line ahead of us for the next turn. We got in line and started waiting. And waiting and waiting. In the sun. Without any breeze. Did I mention the heat? It seemed to take forever for them to get the ride started. I guess they didn't want people falling out of the ride when it was spinning around upside down. So we waited and waited. It wasn't too bad once the ride actually started to spin, because that gave off a nice breeze.
I was minding my own business, watching the ride swivle around, when I heard something and turned around. The Girl's friend that we brought was laying on the ground, passed out from the heat. Not good. No rides for Ruth today. We got her out of the line and into a building that was semi-airconditioned. She started feeling a little better, but we decided it would probably be a good idea to just go back home and rent a bunch of videos.
When we bought season tickets to 6 Flags they gave us free passes to bring some friends with us. Some of the passes expire at the end of the month, so we decided to go to 6 Flags Sunday and take a friend so at least one of the free tickets wouldn't go to waste. In theory, that was a good idea. It was the last weekend before summer school starts, and we wanted to have a little fun. In reality, it was a really bad move. We have been having a heat wave. As soon as we got to the park I started thinking we were crazy to be there. The crowd wasn't very bad, I guess because most people realized walking around in the sun all day wouldn't be very much fun.
So we get in the park and make our way to the first ride. They were just about to start it up, and there were only about 15 or 20 people in line ahead of us for the next turn. We got in line and started waiting. And waiting and waiting. In the sun. Without any breeze. Did I mention the heat? It seemed to take forever for them to get the ride started. I guess they didn't want people falling out of the ride when it was spinning around upside down. So we waited and waited. It wasn't too bad once the ride actually started to spin, because that gave off a nice breeze.
I was minding my own business, watching the ride swivle around, when I heard something and turned around. The Girl's friend that we brought was laying on the ground, passed out from the heat. Not good. No rides for Ruth today. We got her out of the line and into a building that was semi-airconditioned. She started feeling a little better, but we decided it would probably be a good idea to just go back home and rent a bunch of videos.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Twice As Nice
We lost our cat last week. We looked all through the house, then up and down the street and in the woods near our house in case he got out. No cat. We didn't know what to do. The Girl declaired the cat hers when we brought him home from the shelter, and she made sure we understood she didn't want another cat. She wouldn't be happy unless we found her kitty. Just when we had accepted the future involved lots of tears and sleepless nights, The Girl opened one of her drawers and about had a heart attack when a furry face came popping up out of the drawer. It seems the night before he had decided to take a nap in the drawer and The Girl didn't notice him sleeping and shut him in her dresser.
Of course, she was overjoyed, but I was a little bit bummed out. I assumed he had snuck out when we let the dogs out, and in a day or two would come strolling back. In the mean time, I was already checking out Petfinders for another cat. I figured by the time Smacks came home I would already have another cat, and then we would just have to keep both of them. He had to go and spoil my plan like that.
All wasn't lost, because just a day or two after the missing cat incident my brother came by and asked if we knew anybody that had lost a Siamese cat. He found one living in a ditch by his house. His daughter wanted to keep it, but their other cat didn't agree with her. I went down and looked at her, and she is the saddest looking cat. She is white, with long hair and a big puffy tail. She is so skinny she felt like a squirrel. So now we have two cats. So far, Smacks isn't too thrilled with this turn of events. I hope they will eventually get along, because I would hate to have to take her to the shelter.
We lost our cat last week. We looked all through the house, then up and down the street and in the woods near our house in case he got out. No cat. We didn't know what to do. The Girl declaired the cat hers when we brought him home from the shelter, and she made sure we understood she didn't want another cat. She wouldn't be happy unless we found her kitty. Just when we had accepted the future involved lots of tears and sleepless nights, The Girl opened one of her drawers and about had a heart attack when a furry face came popping up out of the drawer. It seems the night before he had decided to take a nap in the drawer and The Girl didn't notice him sleeping and shut him in her dresser.
Of course, she was overjoyed, but I was a little bit bummed out. I assumed he had snuck out when we let the dogs out, and in a day or two would come strolling back. In the mean time, I was already checking out Petfinders for another cat. I figured by the time Smacks came home I would already have another cat, and then we would just have to keep both of them. He had to go and spoil my plan like that.
All wasn't lost, because just a day or two after the missing cat incident my brother came by and asked if we knew anybody that had lost a Siamese cat. He found one living in a ditch by his house. His daughter wanted to keep it, but their other cat didn't agree with her. I went down and looked at her, and she is the saddest looking cat. She is white, with long hair and a big puffy tail. She is so skinny she felt like a squirrel. So now we have two cats. So far, Smacks isn't too thrilled with this turn of events. I hope they will eventually get along, because I would hate to have to take her to the shelter.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Adventures in Camping—Marble Creek
(Think CSI—Miami!)
Over the weekend, me and the kids went camping at Marble Creek in the Mark Twain National Forest. It is a BEAUTIFUL campground. There are some shut-ins right alongside the campsites. In case you don’t know, shut-ins are where a creek flows through big, smooth rocks, making little waterfalls and pools all over the place. Plus there used to be a mill there. It is gone, but the millpond is still there, making another FUN place to swim.
For some reason this campground doesn’t get crowded at all. That is probably because it has no electric, no water, and no trash service. Plus no park ranger on the premises. And it is 15 miles to the nearest town. (Ironton to the west, Fredericktown to the east) BUT the place is so gorgeous you would think people would go there anyway. Every single site in the whole place (there are about 30) is a good site. Each one has a nice fire pit with a grate, a lantern post, and a picnic table, not to mention huge trees and lots of nice places to set up tents.
So we were having a great time until the second night, when about half an hour after we went to bed, (about 10:30), a group of 7 young men set up camp two sites away from us. These people acted like psycho madmen from a Boys Gone Wild video, if there is such a thing. The first thing they did was play rap music real loud on their car stereos. Then they began yelling, “Fuck!” and “Fuck You!” and “Fuck you Motherfucker!” as loud as they could, and they all would laugh like maniacs. Although this was annoying, what can you do, they are just stupid kids. Then they began throwing firecrackers at each other. REALLY LOUD firecrackers. BANG BANG BANG!!! FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! BANG BANG BANG!! HA HA HA!!! Then they added bottle rockets. WHIZZZZZZZZ……BANG!!! FUCK!! YOU ALMOST HIT ME!!! HA HA HA HA!!
Believe it or not, this went on for a couple of hours. THEN….one of them turned on a loudspeaker and started talking on it. If I thought the fireworks and yelling were loud, they weren’t anything compared to the F-word over a loudspeaker. Then, believe it or not, they somehow turned on a siren over the loudspeaker. That was SO LOUD, you cannot even imagine it.
This was the point where I said the F-word, got my flashlight, got out of my tent, and walked over there. I figured they might kill me, but anything would be better than a slow death by F-bombs and fireworks. When I walked up, I was so surprised, because I was expecting hoosier guys with tattoos and no teeth. Instead, they looked for all the world like rich kids. They had nice clothes, nice hair, and nice teeth. Plus nice cars! (And they all looked about 15, although they had to be older than that.) So I very politely asked them to knock it off, and they apologized and promised they would. They even turned the radio off.
In a perfect world the story would end there, but even though they quit the loudspeaker and the radio, they couldn’t resist a few more firecrackers and a few hundred more fucks. So the next morning, after just a few hours of quiet, when I heard, drifting though the stately cedars and sycamores, the rallying cry of “WAKE UP YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!!, I drove to town and called the sheriff’s department. (You can’t get a cell phone signal until you get to town.) Call me a narc, I don’t care. I was having fantasies of a shotgun and their heads in the same place.
Of course when the policeman got there later in the day the boys were gone on some adventure, but their stuff was still there so they were coming back. The deputy was PISSED when I told him what they had been doing. Evidently shooting fireworks in the national forest is a big no-no. (I think he was mostly pissed because they weren’t there and he felt like kicking some ass. And he could have done it, too, because he was a big, mean-looking guy!) So the cop farted around, hung out at their campsite, drove around the 8th of a mile campground loop about 10 times, talked to the few other campers, and then finally, after about an hour, he left the boys an involved, threatening note, (which I would have killed to read!) and left.
Needless to say, when they finally got back, I heard them say things like, “They can’t do blah blah blah!” “It’s not illegal to blah blah blah!” “There’s no WAY they can get my last name!” etc etc etc. Then they loaded up their fancy cars and drove away. And my weekend just got better from there.
The funny thing is, when I had gone to town to call the cops, I stopped at a store to get some stuff, and while I was there I picked up some free touristy brochures they had laying around. One of them was the “Arcadia Valley, MO 2005 Directory”. I was reading funny things in it like:
Fort Davidson Motel- We welcome you with mountain views and all the amenities including a pool, restaurant, and Jacuzzi suites. Located on a civil war battlefield.
And:
Arcadia Sporting Goods- A great selection for all your outdoor needs. 1900 guns.
That’s when I noticed under “Calendar of Events” for July they only had one event listed:
Arcadia Valley’s Firecracker Festival. Fort Davidson State Historic Site. All day event.
You can bet I’ll be there.
(Think CSI—Miami!)
Over the weekend, me and the kids went camping at Marble Creek in the Mark Twain National Forest. It is a BEAUTIFUL campground. There are some shut-ins right alongside the campsites. In case you don’t know, shut-ins are where a creek flows through big, smooth rocks, making little waterfalls and pools all over the place. Plus there used to be a mill there. It is gone, but the millpond is still there, making another FUN place to swim.
For some reason this campground doesn’t get crowded at all. That is probably because it has no electric, no water, and no trash service. Plus no park ranger on the premises. And it is 15 miles to the nearest town. (Ironton to the west, Fredericktown to the east) BUT the place is so gorgeous you would think people would go there anyway. Every single site in the whole place (there are about 30) is a good site. Each one has a nice fire pit with a grate, a lantern post, and a picnic table, not to mention huge trees and lots of nice places to set up tents.
So we were having a great time until the second night, when about half an hour after we went to bed, (about 10:30), a group of 7 young men set up camp two sites away from us. These people acted like psycho madmen from a Boys Gone Wild video, if there is such a thing. The first thing they did was play rap music real loud on their car stereos. Then they began yelling, “Fuck!” and “Fuck You!” and “Fuck you Motherfucker!” as loud as they could, and they all would laugh like maniacs. Although this was annoying, what can you do, they are just stupid kids. Then they began throwing firecrackers at each other. REALLY LOUD firecrackers. BANG BANG BANG!!! FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! BANG BANG BANG!! HA HA HA!!! Then they added bottle rockets. WHIZZZZZZZZ……BANG!!! FUCK!! YOU ALMOST HIT ME!!! HA HA HA HA!!
Believe it or not, this went on for a couple of hours. THEN….one of them turned on a loudspeaker and started talking on it. If I thought the fireworks and yelling were loud, they weren’t anything compared to the F-word over a loudspeaker. Then, believe it or not, they somehow turned on a siren over the loudspeaker. That was SO LOUD, you cannot even imagine it.
This was the point where I said the F-word, got my flashlight, got out of my tent, and walked over there. I figured they might kill me, but anything would be better than a slow death by F-bombs and fireworks. When I walked up, I was so surprised, because I was expecting hoosier guys with tattoos and no teeth. Instead, they looked for all the world like rich kids. They had nice clothes, nice hair, and nice teeth. Plus nice cars! (And they all looked about 15, although they had to be older than that.) So I very politely asked them to knock it off, and they apologized and promised they would. They even turned the radio off.
In a perfect world the story would end there, but even though they quit the loudspeaker and the radio, they couldn’t resist a few more firecrackers and a few hundred more fucks. So the next morning, after just a few hours of quiet, when I heard, drifting though the stately cedars and sycamores, the rallying cry of “WAKE UP YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!!, I drove to town and called the sheriff’s department. (You can’t get a cell phone signal until you get to town.) Call me a narc, I don’t care. I was having fantasies of a shotgun and their heads in the same place.
Of course when the policeman got there later in the day the boys were gone on some adventure, but their stuff was still there so they were coming back. The deputy was PISSED when I told him what they had been doing. Evidently shooting fireworks in the national forest is a big no-no. (I think he was mostly pissed because they weren’t there and he felt like kicking some ass. And he could have done it, too, because he was a big, mean-looking guy!) So the cop farted around, hung out at their campsite, drove around the 8th of a mile campground loop about 10 times, talked to the few other campers, and then finally, after about an hour, he left the boys an involved, threatening note, (which I would have killed to read!) and left.
Needless to say, when they finally got back, I heard them say things like, “They can’t do blah blah blah!” “It’s not illegal to blah blah blah!” “There’s no WAY they can get my last name!” etc etc etc. Then they loaded up their fancy cars and drove away. And my weekend just got better from there.
The funny thing is, when I had gone to town to call the cops, I stopped at a store to get some stuff, and while I was there I picked up some free touristy brochures they had laying around. One of them was the “Arcadia Valley, MO 2005 Directory”. I was reading funny things in it like:
Fort Davidson Motel- We welcome you with mountain views and all the amenities including a pool, restaurant, and Jacuzzi suites. Located on a civil war battlefield.
And:
Arcadia Sporting Goods- A great selection for all your outdoor needs. 1900 guns.
That’s when I noticed under “Calendar of Events” for July they only had one event listed:
Arcadia Valley’s Firecracker Festival. Fort Davidson State Historic Site. All day event.
You can bet I’ll be there.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Adventures In Camping
Saturday
I have been writing about camping and saving it on a floppy disk, planning on using the computer at work to put this in the Cud, but it's been more of a pain than I thought it would be. I had it saved in Microsoft Word, but the computer at work doesn't have Word on it, just WordPad and NotePad. I tried opening it in WordPad, but it ended up with all the formatting gibberish mixed up with the text, so I am going to save it now in WordPad and see if I can't get it to work this time. You would think the phone company would have state of the art computers, but you'd be wrong. The computers we use with the customers actually use Windows 95, if you can believe that.
Another fun day of camping. The other girl that was camping with us had to go home, but there is another girl camping with us now. The Girl has spent a lot of time swimming in the lake, but I haven't done any swimming. My husband got in the lake and said it was pretty gross, muddy and full of algae or something floating around. That doesn't bother The Girl, and I don't think it would bother me all that much because I'm used to those conditions. He's a city boy originally, so if there isn't chlorine involved he doesn't think it's fit to swim in. Plus he said he could feel fish swimming against his legs, and you know what fish do in the water. He didn't like swimming in fish pee.
We think the raccoons got more food Thursday night. My husband cooked 2 chickens and swears he had some left that he put in a bag, but now nobody can find it. At first we thought it might have been in my brother's cooler, but it wasn't. We heard some raccoons rustling around while we were all sitting around the campfire, but didn't think anything about it. We were more careful last night and put everything up in the trunk of the car before we started sitting around watching the fire.
We have a new game for the Olympics now. The people at the campsite next to ours have a game called Hobo Golf. There is a square made of skinny PVC pipe, with two more pipes coming up from opposite sides of the base. There are three horizontal pipes connecting the upright posts, sort of like a ladder. Drill holes in golf balls and tie pairs of them together with rope about two feet long. You hold one of the golf balls, swing the connected golf ball back and forth a couple of times, and then throw it at the horizontal pipes.
Each pipe has a different point value. The kids that were playing it explained the scoring, but my husband didn't like their rules so he said he was going to make up his own scoring system. According to the neighbors, the top bar is worth 1 point, the middle is worth 5, and the bottom is worth 3. The first person to score 21 wins. Both players throw their balls, I think you have two or three sets apiece like in horseshoes, and then subtract the scores. If you scored 6 and I scored 5, you would subtract my 5 from your 6, so you would end up with a score of 1. The kids said you score like that because otherwise the game is over too fast, but I don't see why you couldn't just increase the winning score to make the game last longer instead of having to do all that complicated arithmetic.
Friday
My brother and his daughter are also up here camping. She's about 6, and loves it here. As soon as they got here she wanted to go swimming. She was barely able to control herself while her dad put up the tent. As soon as she got up this morning she wanted to go back to the beach. Who needs breakfast when there is swimming to be done and seashells to be collected? They stayed last night, but are leaving today. Right now they are taking down their tent and she is actually helping, asking questions and giving her daddy plenty of advice.
I'm surprised she isn't putting up a fuss about having to leave so soon, but I think she wants to show her mom all the seashells she collected. They are just clamshells, about the size of nickels, but they might as well be solid gold as far as she is concerned. Some of them are still alive, and I'm sure unless her mom or dad manages to sneak them out of the baggie they are in they will start to reek after a week or so.
There are a lot of dogs here. My husband won't bring our dogs. I can understand not wanting to bring Little Dog up here, because she would spend all day barking at the other dogs or the kids riding back and forth on bicycles. She is a high-strung, yappy dog. Even I have to admit that. Buddy would be a lot better up here, because the best word to describe him is lazy. He would keep an eye on the other dogs, and make sure they didn't come over to our campsite, but wouldn't run all over barking like Little Dog would.
It's nice up here, but pretty crowded. There are no camping vacancies. When anybody leaves their campsite somebody else pulls into it in about a half an hour. There are 3 sections here, primitive, electric, or electric and water. We are in the electric section. It's nice to be able to use my laptop while I'm camping, but it would be even nicer if I had internet access so I could post these blog entries. I would like to be in the primitive section because I think the campsites are nicer, but we need electric for my husband's C-PAP machine he uses when he sleeps. He could get an adapter so he could run it with a battery instead needing an electrical outlet, but we don't have one. I think we are the only people in this section of the park in a tent. There is another family that has a tent up, but they also have a pop-up camper.
Thursday
My husband and The Girl decided we needed to go camping. It didn't matter that we didn't have anything to go camping with besides a lantern and a propane camp stove, and the fact that I have to work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Camping we went. We bought chairs, a couple of air mattresses, a cooler, and a great big tent. The tent is supposed to sleep 9. I'm sure sooner or later The Girl will have a big sleepover and test the limit of the tent.
While my husband was setting up the campsite I went shopping with The Girl and a friend of hers who came camping with us. I was looking for a bathing suit, but couldn't find one I liked. At least not one in my price range. I can be extremely stingy. I did go to a nursery and bought some flowers and groundcovers for the flowerbed. I also bought a couple of herb plants, rosemary and thyme I think, to keep my lonely sage plant company.
By the time we got to the park my husband already had the tent put up. I don't know how he managed to put it up without any help. It's a huge tent, and it was windy, so it was a challenge. Especially since he couldn't read the instructions. He needs new glasses. He has a new pair on the way, but they aren't in yet. He has very bad eyesight and can hardly read with the glasses he has now. The eye doctor who tested him told him he is getting the strongest bifocal possible. If his eyes get any worse he's just going to have to get a pair of black glasses and a white cane. Or at least learn Braille because he can still see what's going on around him, he just can't read or see any details close up.
We're staying in the same state park we lived in during the Flood of 93. We lived here for two or three months, with two dogs and two cats. My brother and his two dogs, and my sister Mary with her husband and two kids lived up here, too. Her daughter, about 6 or 7 years old at the time, decided it was a good time to fall down and break her arm, and my brother's German Shepherd decided it was a good time to go into heat. It was just one thing after another.
Last night we had a good time. We met some of our camping neighbors. One of them was a little tipsy, and kept telling us he went to Bass Pro Shop and bought 3 chairs. We heard about the Bass Pro Shop and those 3 chairs all night long. My husband cooked hamburgers for dinner, then cooked some Italian sausage links for later. He put them in a Ziploc bag and put that in a cooler by the tent. Later in the night, while we were sitting around the campfire, we saw a raccoon sneak around the side of the tent. Everybody thought it was so cute. Then it looked at us, turned around, opened the cooler, grabbed the bag of sausages and ran away. It did everything but wave or flip us off. My husband suddenly didn't think the raccoon looked all that cute.
We stayed up way too late, and I have to work late all weekend. I think it's because a lot of people at work are on vacation. Usually I work from about noon to 8ish, but this weekend I have to work 3ish to 11ish. It's really going to suck driving back here in the dark. At least it isn't supposed to rain.
Saturday
I have been writing about camping and saving it on a floppy disk, planning on using the computer at work to put this in the Cud, but it's been more of a pain than I thought it would be. I had it saved in Microsoft Word, but the computer at work doesn't have Word on it, just WordPad and NotePad. I tried opening it in WordPad, but it ended up with all the formatting gibberish mixed up with the text, so I am going to save it now in WordPad and see if I can't get it to work this time. You would think the phone company would have state of the art computers, but you'd be wrong. The computers we use with the customers actually use Windows 95, if you can believe that.
Another fun day of camping. The other girl that was camping with us had to go home, but there is another girl camping with us now. The Girl has spent a lot of time swimming in the lake, but I haven't done any swimming. My husband got in the lake and said it was pretty gross, muddy and full of algae or something floating around. That doesn't bother The Girl, and I don't think it would bother me all that much because I'm used to those conditions. He's a city boy originally, so if there isn't chlorine involved he doesn't think it's fit to swim in. Plus he said he could feel fish swimming against his legs, and you know what fish do in the water. He didn't like swimming in fish pee.
We think the raccoons got more food Thursday night. My husband cooked 2 chickens and swears he had some left that he put in a bag, but now nobody can find it. At first we thought it might have been in my brother's cooler, but it wasn't. We heard some raccoons rustling around while we were all sitting around the campfire, but didn't think anything about it. We were more careful last night and put everything up in the trunk of the car before we started sitting around watching the fire.
We have a new game for the Olympics now. The people at the campsite next to ours have a game called Hobo Golf. There is a square made of skinny PVC pipe, with two more pipes coming up from opposite sides of the base. There are three horizontal pipes connecting the upright posts, sort of like a ladder. Drill holes in golf balls and tie pairs of them together with rope about two feet long. You hold one of the golf balls, swing the connected golf ball back and forth a couple of times, and then throw it at the horizontal pipes.
Each pipe has a different point value. The kids that were playing it explained the scoring, but my husband didn't like their rules so he said he was going to make up his own scoring system. According to the neighbors, the top bar is worth 1 point, the middle is worth 5, and the bottom is worth 3. The first person to score 21 wins. Both players throw their balls, I think you have two or three sets apiece like in horseshoes, and then subtract the scores. If you scored 6 and I scored 5, you would subtract my 5 from your 6, so you would end up with a score of 1. The kids said you score like that because otherwise the game is over too fast, but I don't see why you couldn't just increase the winning score to make the game last longer instead of having to do all that complicated arithmetic.
Friday
My brother and his daughter are also up here camping. She's about 6, and loves it here. As soon as they got here she wanted to go swimming. She was barely able to control herself while her dad put up the tent. As soon as she got up this morning she wanted to go back to the beach. Who needs breakfast when there is swimming to be done and seashells to be collected? They stayed last night, but are leaving today. Right now they are taking down their tent and she is actually helping, asking questions and giving her daddy plenty of advice.
I'm surprised she isn't putting up a fuss about having to leave so soon, but I think she wants to show her mom all the seashells she collected. They are just clamshells, about the size of nickels, but they might as well be solid gold as far as she is concerned. Some of them are still alive, and I'm sure unless her mom or dad manages to sneak them out of the baggie they are in they will start to reek after a week or so.
There are a lot of dogs here. My husband won't bring our dogs. I can understand not wanting to bring Little Dog up here, because she would spend all day barking at the other dogs or the kids riding back and forth on bicycles. She is a high-strung, yappy dog. Even I have to admit that. Buddy would be a lot better up here, because the best word to describe him is lazy. He would keep an eye on the other dogs, and make sure they didn't come over to our campsite, but wouldn't run all over barking like Little Dog would.
It's nice up here, but pretty crowded. There are no camping vacancies. When anybody leaves their campsite somebody else pulls into it in about a half an hour. There are 3 sections here, primitive, electric, or electric and water. We are in the electric section. It's nice to be able to use my laptop while I'm camping, but it would be even nicer if I had internet access so I could post these blog entries. I would like to be in the primitive section because I think the campsites are nicer, but we need electric for my husband's C-PAP machine he uses when he sleeps. He could get an adapter so he could run it with a battery instead needing an electrical outlet, but we don't have one. I think we are the only people in this section of the park in a tent. There is another family that has a tent up, but they also have a pop-up camper.
Thursday
My husband and The Girl decided we needed to go camping. It didn't matter that we didn't have anything to go camping with besides a lantern and a propane camp stove, and the fact that I have to work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Camping we went. We bought chairs, a couple of air mattresses, a cooler, and a great big tent. The tent is supposed to sleep 9. I'm sure sooner or later The Girl will have a big sleepover and test the limit of the tent.
While my husband was setting up the campsite I went shopping with The Girl and a friend of hers who came camping with us. I was looking for a bathing suit, but couldn't find one I liked. At least not one in my price range. I can be extremely stingy. I did go to a nursery and bought some flowers and groundcovers for the flowerbed. I also bought a couple of herb plants, rosemary and thyme I think, to keep my lonely sage plant company.
By the time we got to the park my husband already had the tent put up. I don't know how he managed to put it up without any help. It's a huge tent, and it was windy, so it was a challenge. Especially since he couldn't read the instructions. He needs new glasses. He has a new pair on the way, but they aren't in yet. He has very bad eyesight and can hardly read with the glasses he has now. The eye doctor who tested him told him he is getting the strongest bifocal possible. If his eyes get any worse he's just going to have to get a pair of black glasses and a white cane. Or at least learn Braille because he can still see what's going on around him, he just can't read or see any details close up.
We're staying in the same state park we lived in during the Flood of 93. We lived here for two or three months, with two dogs and two cats. My brother and his two dogs, and my sister Mary with her husband and two kids lived up here, too. Her daughter, about 6 or 7 years old at the time, decided it was a good time to fall down and break her arm, and my brother's German Shepherd decided it was a good time to go into heat. It was just one thing after another.
Last night we had a good time. We met some of our camping neighbors. One of them was a little tipsy, and kept telling us he went to Bass Pro Shop and bought 3 chairs. We heard about the Bass Pro Shop and those 3 chairs all night long. My husband cooked hamburgers for dinner, then cooked some Italian sausage links for later. He put them in a Ziploc bag and put that in a cooler by the tent. Later in the night, while we were sitting around the campfire, we saw a raccoon sneak around the side of the tent. Everybody thought it was so cute. Then it looked at us, turned around, opened the cooler, grabbed the bag of sausages and ran away. It did everything but wave or flip us off. My husband suddenly didn't think the raccoon looked all that cute.
We stayed up way too late, and I have to work late all weekend. I think it's because a lot of people at work are on vacation. Usually I work from about noon to 8ish, but this weekend I have to work 3ish to 11ish. It's really going to suck driving back here in the dark. At least it isn't supposed to rain.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
The Tootsie Roll Bandit Strikes Again
I like dogs, but sometimes even I have to agree they are a little gross. Take Little Dog for instance. When Buddy comes inside from dropping a load in the yard, she has to run over in back of him and stand up on her back legs like a prairie dog and sniff his ass, like the aroma of fresh baked pastries might be coming out of it. I'm sure his ass smells the same as it did before he went outside, maybe even worse because I've smelled what comes out of it, in solid and gassious form. I'd like to think if I am ever reincarnated as a dog, I wouldn't do anything like that. On the other hand, if another dog wanted to sniff my ass, we might work something out.
Little Dog also has other issues. She loves chewing up tissues, especially ones that have been used and are all snotty. Nothing says breakfast like a big bunch of boogers. She also likes chewing up any sort of used feminine hygiene products, if you know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean, you'll just have to wonder, because I'm not going to draw you a picture. Ask your mother or sister, or the woman standing next to you in line at the supermarket next time.
That isn't the only gross thing they do. There's also the issue of tootsie rolls. The kind you find in the litter pan, not the grocery store. Since we got our cat from the shelter we noticed he didn't seem to be using the litter pan. We could see he had been peeing in it, but rarely saw any cat poop. We kept checking to see if he was being bad in a corner or in back of something, but couldn't find anything. The mystery was solved when we found Little Dog chowing down on a cat turd one day.
We assumed she was the only tootsie roll bandit, but then one day I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth and Buddy walked in right after me. At first I thought he was just checking to see what I was doing, then I saw him walk over to the litter pan and look down at it like he was checking out a buffet. Buddy, you are gross.
I like dogs, but sometimes even I have to agree they are a little gross. Take Little Dog for instance. When Buddy comes inside from dropping a load in the yard, she has to run over in back of him and stand up on her back legs like a prairie dog and sniff his ass, like the aroma of fresh baked pastries might be coming out of it. I'm sure his ass smells the same as it did before he went outside, maybe even worse because I've smelled what comes out of it, in solid and gassious form. I'd like to think if I am ever reincarnated as a dog, I wouldn't do anything like that. On the other hand, if another dog wanted to sniff my ass, we might work something out.
Little Dog also has other issues. She loves chewing up tissues, especially ones that have been used and are all snotty. Nothing says breakfast like a big bunch of boogers. She also likes chewing up any sort of used feminine hygiene products, if you know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean, you'll just have to wonder, because I'm not going to draw you a picture. Ask your mother or sister, or the woman standing next to you in line at the supermarket next time.
That isn't the only gross thing they do. There's also the issue of tootsie rolls. The kind you find in the litter pan, not the grocery store. Since we got our cat from the shelter we noticed he didn't seem to be using the litter pan. We could see he had been peeing in it, but rarely saw any cat poop. We kept checking to see if he was being bad in a corner or in back of something, but couldn't find anything. The mystery was solved when we found Little Dog chowing down on a cat turd one day.
We assumed she was the only tootsie roll bandit, but then one day I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth and Buddy walked in right after me. At first I thought he was just checking to see what I was doing, then I saw him walk over to the litter pan and look down at it like he was checking out a buffet. Buddy, you are gross.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
IT'S WAH, MISS SCARLET!
We live in an older neighborhood that is usually quiet and peaceful. Mouthy young people have been known to refer to it as Geezerville. So it was a shock a few days when war broke out between two neighbors.
On the one side is Mr. Greenhouse, a stubby fireplug of a guy who is a retired schoolteacher/coach and who occupies his time with a small lawn mowing business. A fine, generous, if somewhat erratic gentleman. He cuts our grass, at least all of it except the back yard, and only charges $20. He won't do the backyard because he only cuts where he can get with his beloved riding lawnmower. He loves riding his lawnmower. At one time he didn't charge neighbors anything for the privilege, but then he took on a young helper and had to charge enough to defray his payroll.
On the other side is our across-the-alley neighbor, William. He is a relative newcomer to Geezerville, a whippersnapper of probably 45. Like Mr. Greenhouse, he is a nice person, a good neighbor. I watch his dog when they are on vacation, and he keeps an eye on our place when we are gone. And like Mr. Greenhouse, he is sometimes a little erratic. He is the only person I know who ever had a hot tub catch on fire.
The war started a few days ago when Mr. Greenhouse was shoveling grass clippings from his utility trailer into a dumpster in the alley behind our house. I was next door at my neighbor Margery's, and we heard all this shouting and carrying on. Didn't know what it was, but it sounded like some mighty unhappy people.
Later that day I was walking past Mr. Greenhouse's house, and he stopped me, all upset and practically trembling, he was so mad. "Did you hear what happened? Your neighbor was taking pictures of me!"
It seems that when he started dumping his grass clippings, William came rushing out of his house with a camera and started yelling at him. He was snapping pictures right and left, like something out of CSI. He said the Sanitation Department had told him they were going to ticket him--William--for dumping grass in the Dumpster, and he was gathering proof that it wasn't him doing it. Snap! Snap!
Mr. Greenhouse stormed away, convinced William was a madman. According to Mr. Greenhouse, a long time ago he had asked someone at the City if it was okay to dump grass in the dumpsters, and they had told him, "Absolutely, that is where we want you to put it." (I don't know if whoever he talked to realized he was a commercial lawn man, and was filling several dumpsters up and down the alley.)
But I am also skeptical of William's story. We use the same dumpster, and nobody has threatened to ticket us. I think what happened was that William was fed up with going to empty his trash in the dumpster and finding it full of Greenhouse's grass, so he called the city and got someone who said you can get a ticket for filling it with clippings. Maybe you can, but I have never heard of it happening.
And if he was told something like that, why didn't he just go down to Greenhouse's and tell him, "Hey, the city is threatening to start writing tickets because the dumpster is full of grass clippings." Instead he pulls this picture-taking stunt. And now there is all this Bad Blood in the neighborhood.
I don't know how this war will come out. Mr. Greenhouse seems to be more careful not to fill up the dumpster, and the other day he waited until after it had been emptied before he put any clippings in it. I don't know what William did with the pictures, whether he sent them to the city or is keeping them as evidence. But everybody is tiptoeing around those two. We don't want to get caught in the crossfire. War is hell.
We live in an older neighborhood that is usually quiet and peaceful. Mouthy young people have been known to refer to it as Geezerville. So it was a shock a few days when war broke out between two neighbors.
On the one side is Mr. Greenhouse, a stubby fireplug of a guy who is a retired schoolteacher/coach and who occupies his time with a small lawn mowing business. A fine, generous, if somewhat erratic gentleman. He cuts our grass, at least all of it except the back yard, and only charges $20. He won't do the backyard because he only cuts where he can get with his beloved riding lawnmower. He loves riding his lawnmower. At one time he didn't charge neighbors anything for the privilege, but then he took on a young helper and had to charge enough to defray his payroll.
On the other side is our across-the-alley neighbor, William. He is a relative newcomer to Geezerville, a whippersnapper of probably 45. Like Mr. Greenhouse, he is a nice person, a good neighbor. I watch his dog when they are on vacation, and he keeps an eye on our place when we are gone. And like Mr. Greenhouse, he is sometimes a little erratic. He is the only person I know who ever had a hot tub catch on fire.
The war started a few days ago when Mr. Greenhouse was shoveling grass clippings from his utility trailer into a dumpster in the alley behind our house. I was next door at my neighbor Margery's, and we heard all this shouting and carrying on. Didn't know what it was, but it sounded like some mighty unhappy people.
Later that day I was walking past Mr. Greenhouse's house, and he stopped me, all upset and practically trembling, he was so mad. "Did you hear what happened? Your neighbor was taking pictures of me!"
It seems that when he started dumping his grass clippings, William came rushing out of his house with a camera and started yelling at him. He was snapping pictures right and left, like something out of CSI. He said the Sanitation Department had told him they were going to ticket him--William--for dumping grass in the Dumpster, and he was gathering proof that it wasn't him doing it. Snap! Snap!
Mr. Greenhouse stormed away, convinced William was a madman. According to Mr. Greenhouse, a long time ago he had asked someone at the City if it was okay to dump grass in the dumpsters, and they had told him, "Absolutely, that is where we want you to put it." (I don't know if whoever he talked to realized he was a commercial lawn man, and was filling several dumpsters up and down the alley.)
But I am also skeptical of William's story. We use the same dumpster, and nobody has threatened to ticket us. I think what happened was that William was fed up with going to empty his trash in the dumpster and finding it full of Greenhouse's grass, so he called the city and got someone who said you can get a ticket for filling it with clippings. Maybe you can, but I have never heard of it happening.
And if he was told something like that, why didn't he just go down to Greenhouse's and tell him, "Hey, the city is threatening to start writing tickets because the dumpster is full of grass clippings." Instead he pulls this picture-taking stunt. And now there is all this Bad Blood in the neighborhood.
I don't know how this war will come out. Mr. Greenhouse seems to be more careful not to fill up the dumpster, and the other day he waited until after it had been emptied before he put any clippings in it. I don't know what William did with the pictures, whether he sent them to the city or is keeping them as evidence. But everybody is tiptoeing around those two. We don't want to get caught in the crossfire. War is hell.
GIANT BALLS OF SNOT
Time for your Science News of the Day! For a long time scientists have been puzzled about how there can be life at the bottom of the ocean without enough carbon produced there to support it. Now the secret is out--it's snot. Giant balls of snot.
Don't you love scientists? Can you imagine some oceanographer doing his PhD thesis--"Ocean Floor Lifeforms and their Relation to Giant Balls of Snot."
According to an article in the June 9 issue of the journal "Science," there are some ocean creatures called giant larvaceans who produce big bubbles of mucus and live inside them. The bubble filters out gunk the larvaceans don't want but is porous enough to let in small bits of food. After some time, the thing gets clogged up and the creature moves out and blows itself another one. The old bubble collapses and sinks to the bottom of the ocean--hence their name, "sinkers." And on its way, small sea creatures and bits of plants get stuck to it, and get carried along to the bottom.
"A sinker is basically snot," one of the scientists explained. "It's very fragile. We have very skilled ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) pilots and special containers to collect these things, but we're only able to collect one out of four."
Naturally. Anybody who has ever had a kid knows all about snot bubbles. Touch one, and it falls apart and oozes down the kid's upper lip. Have you ever tried to COLLECT one?
Can you imagine getting a research grant for fooling around in the ocean and collecting snot bubbles?
The odd thing is that these scientists set out traps to see if they could find the source of the carbon, but they kept finding this slimy gunk instead. "People checking the traps would find this weird goop in the trap, and consider it to be contamination and throw it out," one of the scientists admits. It took a while before it dawned on someone--"Hey, maybe we ought to see what this stuff is."
And the Nobel Prize for Science goes to. . . . the discoverer of Giant Balls of Snot.
Time for your Science News of the Day! For a long time scientists have been puzzled about how there can be life at the bottom of the ocean without enough carbon produced there to support it. Now the secret is out--it's snot. Giant balls of snot.
Don't you love scientists? Can you imagine some oceanographer doing his PhD thesis--"Ocean Floor Lifeforms and their Relation to Giant Balls of Snot."
According to an article in the June 9 issue of the journal "Science," there are some ocean creatures called giant larvaceans who produce big bubbles of mucus and live inside them. The bubble filters out gunk the larvaceans don't want but is porous enough to let in small bits of food. After some time, the thing gets clogged up and the creature moves out and blows itself another one. The old bubble collapses and sinks to the bottom of the ocean--hence their name, "sinkers." And on its way, small sea creatures and bits of plants get stuck to it, and get carried along to the bottom.
"A sinker is basically snot," one of the scientists explained. "It's very fragile. We have very skilled ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) pilots and special containers to collect these things, but we're only able to collect one out of four."
Naturally. Anybody who has ever had a kid knows all about snot bubbles. Touch one, and it falls apart and oozes down the kid's upper lip. Have you ever tried to COLLECT one?
Can you imagine getting a research grant for fooling around in the ocean and collecting snot bubbles?
The odd thing is that these scientists set out traps to see if they could find the source of the carbon, but they kept finding this slimy gunk instead. "People checking the traps would find this weird goop in the trap, and consider it to be contamination and throw it out," one of the scientists admits. It took a while before it dawned on someone--"Hey, maybe we ought to see what this stuff is."
And the Nobel Prize for Science goes to. . . . the discoverer of Giant Balls of Snot.
A Hit And A Miss
I already mentioned I went to the Ren Fair again this year, but didn't go into any details. I didn't even know the fair had started until it was half over. Last year I went about 3 or 4 times, but this year I only went once. I brought The Girl with me and she had a blast. She had never been to one, and kept saying she wanted to volunteer there next year. Especially after she saw one of her friends from her old school who was playing the role of a water fairy.
I bought a little silver ring with a round hematite stone. I'm used to hematite being all black, but this stone has silver spots that make it look almost like a map or a globe. It's like looking at an ink blot or cloud. Sometimes I see a bunny, sometimes I see Kokopeli, sometimes I see an igloo. I also bought a long crystal pendant necklace. The Girl didn't buy anything, but did get a henna tattoo of a butterfly on her shoulder. She wanted to buy a bodice, sort of like a bustier with shoulder straps, but it was $60. A lot of the people that worked or volunteered at the fair were wearing bodices, and there was one lady that was about to pop out of hers. It was not a pretty site.
And now for the miss. I had been looking forward to going to the library's book sale for a month, but at the last minute I blew it off. Actually, I forgot about it, but I think I forgot about it because subconsciously I didn't really want to go. I wanted to just go hog wild and get bags and bags of books, but I have boxes of books down in the basement that I haven't unpacked since I moved in here, something like 8 or 9 years ago. A lot of those books I have never even read yet, so I really don't think I need bags and bags of more books. It was really tempting, because the first 2 days for the sale hardback books were just $2, and the last day you could buy books for $5 a grocery bag. Of course, by then you are picking through the leftovers.
So anyway, this encouraged me to read some of the books I have stacked down in the basement. I have a bunch of book reviews I want to write up, but don't have time right now. Got to go to work, darn it.
I already mentioned I went to the Ren Fair again this year, but didn't go into any details. I didn't even know the fair had started until it was half over. Last year I went about 3 or 4 times, but this year I only went once. I brought The Girl with me and she had a blast. She had never been to one, and kept saying she wanted to volunteer there next year. Especially after she saw one of her friends from her old school who was playing the role of a water fairy.
I bought a little silver ring with a round hematite stone. I'm used to hematite being all black, but this stone has silver spots that make it look almost like a map or a globe. It's like looking at an ink blot or cloud. Sometimes I see a bunny, sometimes I see Kokopeli, sometimes I see an igloo. I also bought a long crystal pendant necklace. The Girl didn't buy anything, but did get a henna tattoo of a butterfly on her shoulder. She wanted to buy a bodice, sort of like a bustier with shoulder straps, but it was $60. A lot of the people that worked or volunteered at the fair were wearing bodices, and there was one lady that was about to pop out of hers. It was not a pretty site.
And now for the miss. I had been looking forward to going to the library's book sale for a month, but at the last minute I blew it off. Actually, I forgot about it, but I think I forgot about it because subconsciously I didn't really want to go. I wanted to just go hog wild and get bags and bags of books, but I have boxes of books down in the basement that I haven't unpacked since I moved in here, something like 8 or 9 years ago. A lot of those books I have never even read yet, so I really don't think I need bags and bags of more books. It was really tempting, because the first 2 days for the sale hardback books were just $2, and the last day you could buy books for $5 a grocery bag. Of course, by then you are picking through the leftovers.
So anyway, this encouraged me to read some of the books I have stacked down in the basement. I have a bunch of book reviews I want to write up, but don't have time right now. Got to go to work, darn it.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Global Warming
Are you worried about global warming? I am, but not in a panicky sort of way. Global warming isn't something that you will wake up in the morning and say "Hey, it sure is hot." It's a slow, creeping problem. That's why it's so easy to just ignore. Most people think global warming just means it's going to get a little hotter. Big deal. People live in hot climates all over the world. Besides, scientists can't even agree if it is really happening or not, so why worry? There are a few signs that the world is heating up.
For starters, polar icecaps are melting, sending huge icebergs out into the oceans. No big deal, unless you are a sailor and might run into one of the icebergs, right? Well, the amount of ice cold fresh water pouring into the Atlantic sinks under the warmer salt water. This could affect the path of the warm ocean current that right now flows up the Atlantic coast, crosses the ocean, and then swings by Europe. Without the warmth from the ocean, the coasts of America and Europe would get colder. An ironic twist to global warming. Changing the salinity, temperature, and direction of the water's flow could interfere with the basic biology of the ocean. Fertile fishing grounds might turn into ghost towns. Migrating animals could get lost and end up dying out. Another problem that everybody talks about with global warming is the rise in the sea level. Cities that are close to sea level, like New Orleans and Venice, might have a lot of problems.
Then there are more subtle effects. In the arctic they depend on the layer of permafrost in construction projects, from roads to supermarkets. Usually, the permafrost layer is, well, permanent. That's how it got it's name after all. Now, the permafrost layer is starting to melt. No big problem, unless your house is sinking into the ground, or enormous chunks of the highway near you are shifting like they were built on quicksand. Just fixing the roads in Alaska and Canada will cost tons. Plus, without the permafrost layer, what is there to use for stability if you want to build anything up there? The ground is a soggy, boggy mess.
Also, the change in the temperature is letting animals and plants expand their territory. Not bad, if that means you can suddenly see hummingbirds or some exotic orchid in your back yard. Bad, if that means all of a sudden you get attacked by mosquitos that weren't able to live in your area just a few years ago. There are diseases that are being spread to areas that had never had problems because the animal that transmits the disease is suddenly able to expand it's territory farther north, or higher up the sides of mountain ranges. I remember reading that armadillos are being spotted in Missouri, where before the cold winters would have killed them off. Some mountain peaks that are usually covered in snow are loosing their pretty white cap, which is bad if only because they look so pretty with all that fluffy white snow on top.
There is another subtle sign that global warming has started. The average daily temperature swings up and down, heating up when the sun shines and cooling off at night. A scientist looked at the average temperatures, and noticed that even though the day time high temperatures weren't raising all that much, the night time low temperatures were rising. So it isn't getting much hotter in the day time, but it isn't cooling off as much at night. I don't remember exactly how that is a problem, I just remember hearing it on NPR. People always pay too much attention to the high temperature. "How hot will it get today? It's hotter today than it was yesterday." Nobody ever says "Boy, it sure stayed warm last night, didn't it?"
Now after writing all that, you might notice that I didn't scream the sky is falling or anything. I used a lot of mights and maybes. I don't know what the final effect will be. Maybe it will be gradual enough for the ecosystems to adapt, and the whole thing will turn out to be a big yawn. I just don't understand why people say it can't happen, when there are all these signs that it has actually already started. Maybe it won't be a total catastrophe, but it is happening. The real question should be can we do anything about it, or how can we adjust, not is it real or make believe.
Are you worried about global warming? I am, but not in a panicky sort of way. Global warming isn't something that you will wake up in the morning and say "Hey, it sure is hot." It's a slow, creeping problem. That's why it's so easy to just ignore. Most people think global warming just means it's going to get a little hotter. Big deal. People live in hot climates all over the world. Besides, scientists can't even agree if it is really happening or not, so why worry? There are a few signs that the world is heating up.
For starters, polar icecaps are melting, sending huge icebergs out into the oceans. No big deal, unless you are a sailor and might run into one of the icebergs, right? Well, the amount of ice cold fresh water pouring into the Atlantic sinks under the warmer salt water. This could affect the path of the warm ocean current that right now flows up the Atlantic coast, crosses the ocean, and then swings by Europe. Without the warmth from the ocean, the coasts of America and Europe would get colder. An ironic twist to global warming. Changing the salinity, temperature, and direction of the water's flow could interfere with the basic biology of the ocean. Fertile fishing grounds might turn into ghost towns. Migrating animals could get lost and end up dying out. Another problem that everybody talks about with global warming is the rise in the sea level. Cities that are close to sea level, like New Orleans and Venice, might have a lot of problems.
Then there are more subtle effects. In the arctic they depend on the layer of permafrost in construction projects, from roads to supermarkets. Usually, the permafrost layer is, well, permanent. That's how it got it's name after all. Now, the permafrost layer is starting to melt. No big problem, unless your house is sinking into the ground, or enormous chunks of the highway near you are shifting like they were built on quicksand. Just fixing the roads in Alaska and Canada will cost tons. Plus, without the permafrost layer, what is there to use for stability if you want to build anything up there? The ground is a soggy, boggy mess.
Also, the change in the temperature is letting animals and plants expand their territory. Not bad, if that means you can suddenly see hummingbirds or some exotic orchid in your back yard. Bad, if that means all of a sudden you get attacked by mosquitos that weren't able to live in your area just a few years ago. There are diseases that are being spread to areas that had never had problems because the animal that transmits the disease is suddenly able to expand it's territory farther north, or higher up the sides of mountain ranges. I remember reading that armadillos are being spotted in Missouri, where before the cold winters would have killed them off. Some mountain peaks that are usually covered in snow are loosing their pretty white cap, which is bad if only because they look so pretty with all that fluffy white snow on top.
There is another subtle sign that global warming has started. The average daily temperature swings up and down, heating up when the sun shines and cooling off at night. A scientist looked at the average temperatures, and noticed that even though the day time high temperatures weren't raising all that much, the night time low temperatures were rising. So it isn't getting much hotter in the day time, but it isn't cooling off as much at night. I don't remember exactly how that is a problem, I just remember hearing it on NPR. People always pay too much attention to the high temperature. "How hot will it get today? It's hotter today than it was yesterday." Nobody ever says "Boy, it sure stayed warm last night, didn't it?"
Now after writing all that, you might notice that I didn't scream the sky is falling or anything. I used a lot of mights and maybes. I don't know what the final effect will be. Maybe it will be gradual enough for the ecosystems to adapt, and the whole thing will turn out to be a big yawn. I just don't understand why people say it can't happen, when there are all these signs that it has actually already started. Maybe it won't be a total catastrophe, but it is happening. The real question should be can we do anything about it, or how can we adjust, not is it real or make believe.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Literary Lizard
Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner
If you have ever had any romantic notions about Eskimos, this book will cure you of them. It is the story of Cutuk, a shy white boy growing up in remote Alaska. The book follows his life from that of a young boy to a young man. He grows up in a sod igloo with his father, a brother, and a sister. He desperately wants to fit in among the Eskimos that live nearby, but everywhere he turns he is beat up and ridiculed because he is white. He is a second-class citizen, discriminated against as much as a black person in the old south. And he lives more like a traditional Eskimo than the Eskimos themselves! He just cannot win. Then later on he moves to the city, but he doesn't fit in there either because he is so overwhelmed by the materialism there. I think Kanter captures very well the contrast between the two worlds.
Even though this book is a novel, it is so realistic that I think the author must have lived it. I don't think you can make this stuff up! And his short bio at the back of the book says he "was born and raised in the wildness of nothern Alaska." So maybe some of it IS true.
I googled Seth Kantner and found a short article he wrote recently:
http://www.adn.com/life/story/6547786p-6430049c.html
Evidently he is also a photographer. Here are some of his pictures:
http://www.kapvikphotography.com/
Ordinary Wolves by Seth Kantner
If you have ever had any romantic notions about Eskimos, this book will cure you of them. It is the story of Cutuk, a shy white boy growing up in remote Alaska. The book follows his life from that of a young boy to a young man. He grows up in a sod igloo with his father, a brother, and a sister. He desperately wants to fit in among the Eskimos that live nearby, but everywhere he turns he is beat up and ridiculed because he is white. He is a second-class citizen, discriminated against as much as a black person in the old south. And he lives more like a traditional Eskimo than the Eskimos themselves! He just cannot win. Then later on he moves to the city, but he doesn't fit in there either because he is so overwhelmed by the materialism there. I think Kanter captures very well the contrast between the two worlds.
Even though this book is a novel, it is so realistic that I think the author must have lived it. I don't think you can make this stuff up! And his short bio at the back of the book says he "was born and raised in the wildness of nothern Alaska." So maybe some of it IS true.
I googled Seth Kantner and found a short article he wrote recently:
http://www.adn.com/life/story/6547786p-6430049c.html
Evidently he is also a photographer. Here are some of his pictures:
http://www.kapvikphotography.com/
What Would Ganesha Do?
I have a couple of new statues. One is a little Ganesha statue I bought at the Renasaince fair Saturday. I'm going to practice with a new digital camera and get a picture of it. I think Ganesha is cool. The Girl also bought a little tiny Buddha statue at the fair. Right now we are using them as game pieces on a Monopoly-like game we just got called Triopoly. I don't know if that is some sort of sacrilege or not, but they make good game pieces.
I also bought a Garuda statue at a local New Age store. The first time I saw the statue at that store they didn't even know who it was. They were calling him 'That Crazy Chicken Headed Lady' statue. Well, with a name like that, how could you not want that statue? Then when I went in to buy it, there was a lady in the store who knew who it was. I found a picture of a Garuda statue on-line that is almost like mine, except mine is holding a great big snake out in front of him, while it looks like this one is holding two little bitty snakes.
I have a couple of new statues. One is a little Ganesha statue I bought at the Renasaince fair Saturday. I'm going to practice with a new digital camera and get a picture of it. I think Ganesha is cool. The Girl also bought a little tiny Buddha statue at the fair. Right now we are using them as game pieces on a Monopoly-like game we just got called Triopoly. I don't know if that is some sort of sacrilege or not, but they make good game pieces.
I also bought a Garuda statue at a local New Age store. The first time I saw the statue at that store they didn't even know who it was. They were calling him 'That Crazy Chicken Headed Lady' statue. Well, with a name like that, how could you not want that statue? Then when I went in to buy it, there was a lady in the store who knew who it was. I found a picture of a Garuda statue on-line that is almost like mine, except mine is holding a great big snake out in front of him, while it looks like this one is holding two little bitty snakes.
Cell Phone Update
Just so you know, I still haven't figured out any cool words my phone number spells out. It almost spells HoboSlut, but a couple of the letters are switched around and some of them are just missing. I guess I'm just going to have to actually learn my phone number. I figured out how to do the voice dialing and speed dialing. I wanted to make sure I could tell when my phone was ringing and when it was somebody else, so I have the ringer set up to cluck like a chicken. I figured out how to take pictures, too, but my husband says we have to pay extra to be able to send pictures or text messages, so I'm going to wait until I actually have pictures of Elvis or Bigfoot before I spend the extra money.
Just so you know, I still haven't figured out any cool words my phone number spells out. It almost spells HoboSlut, but a couple of the letters are switched around and some of them are just missing. I guess I'm just going to have to actually learn my phone number. I figured out how to do the voice dialing and speed dialing. I wanted to make sure I could tell when my phone was ringing and when it was somebody else, so I have the ringer set up to cluck like a chicken. I figured out how to take pictures, too, but my husband says we have to pay extra to be able to send pictures or text messages, so I'm going to wait until I actually have pictures of Elvis or Bigfoot before I spend the extra money.
Burn, Baby, Burn
I went out this weekend and bought some clothes. One of my husband's mother's sister's husband has brain cancer, and we are trying to get everything ready for whenever he dies. I bought a black dress and a black skirt. The Girl picked out a black skirt and suit jacket, plus a couple of things for every day wear. Mostly what I got was unmentionables. Bras, if you want to know the details. All mine are wore out. They don't stop the flopping anymore. I think only a couple of my old bras are worth keeping. The rest of them are out of here. The Girl thought we should burn them in the Olympic flame, but I don't think so. I thought maybe we could have an ugliest bra contest, or ugliest underwear contest so the guys could enter, too. Or we could hook them all together and use them for the badmitton net, or they could be the finish line for the races.
Probably not though. I think they are just going in the trash where they belong.
I went out this weekend and bought some clothes. One of my husband's mother's sister's husband has brain cancer, and we are trying to get everything ready for whenever he dies. I bought a black dress and a black skirt. The Girl picked out a black skirt and suit jacket, plus a couple of things for every day wear. Mostly what I got was unmentionables. Bras, if you want to know the details. All mine are wore out. They don't stop the flopping anymore. I think only a couple of my old bras are worth keeping. The rest of them are out of here. The Girl thought we should burn them in the Olympic flame, but I don't think so. I thought maybe we could have an ugliest bra contest, or ugliest underwear contest so the guys could enter, too. Or we could hook them all together and use them for the badmitton net, or they could be the finish line for the races.
Probably not though. I think they are just going in the trash where they belong.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Daily Cud Olympics
The other day I had an absolute brainstorm. I am going to hold my own Olympic games. I have a whole list of fun games to play. Three-legged race, sack race, relay race, and a crab race, plus croquet, badmiton, and volleyball. I am thinking about having some sort of eating contest, but can't decide what to eat. Nothing gross, like worms or liver. Maybe how fast can you eat a pie with no hands, or how many Ding-dongs can you eat in a minute. Whatever I decide, I'm pretty sure it's going to involve chocolate.
I also want to have a Rock Paper Scissors contest. A checkers championship would be good, too. Chineese Checkers would be cool, but I don't know if anybody here has a set. Chess would take too long. We're not geniuses out here. Some kind of card game would be good, too, but not poker. Something more summercamp-ish. So far it's a tie between Uno or War. Something nice and lively. A board game contest would be good, too, but Monopoly would take too long. I'm leaning toward Sorry or Life.
Ooh, we also have a potato gun, so there will be a potato shooting contest. If more of us had paintball guns we could have a paintball championship. We have paintballs, but no paintball gun. My husband uses a slingshot to shoot paintballs at the neighbor's dog when he gets loose and hangs out in our yard. It doesn't hurt the dog, but it gets the neighbor's attention. Nothing's more stylish than purple spots on a yellow Lab. I don't think I want to have anything involving real bullets though. I'm also thinking about taking the hooks off of a fishing lure and having a casting contest. Everybody bring their own fishing pole and try to get the lure in a bucket or something.
Of course, I plan on making medals for everybody, even if they're just spray-painted cardboard circles hanging on kitchen twine, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd drawn on with magic marker.
The other day I had an absolute brainstorm. I am going to hold my own Olympic games. I have a whole list of fun games to play. Three-legged race, sack race, relay race, and a crab race, plus croquet, badmiton, and volleyball. I am thinking about having some sort of eating contest, but can't decide what to eat. Nothing gross, like worms or liver. Maybe how fast can you eat a pie with no hands, or how many Ding-dongs can you eat in a minute. Whatever I decide, I'm pretty sure it's going to involve chocolate.
I also want to have a Rock Paper Scissors contest. A checkers championship would be good, too. Chineese Checkers would be cool, but I don't know if anybody here has a set. Chess would take too long. We're not geniuses out here. Some kind of card game would be good, too, but not poker. Something more summercamp-ish. So far it's a tie between Uno or War. Something nice and lively. A board game contest would be good, too, but Monopoly would take too long. I'm leaning toward Sorry or Life.
Ooh, we also have a potato gun, so there will be a potato shooting contest. If more of us had paintball guns we could have a paintball championship. We have paintballs, but no paintball gun. My husband uses a slingshot to shoot paintballs at the neighbor's dog when he gets loose and hangs out in our yard. It doesn't hurt the dog, but it gets the neighbor's attention. Nothing's more stylish than purple spots on a yellow Lab. I don't think I want to have anything involving real bullets though. I'm also thinking about taking the hooks off of a fishing lure and having a casting contest. Everybody bring their own fishing pole and try to get the lure in a bucket or something.
Of course, I plan on making medals for everybody, even if they're just spray-painted cardboard circles hanging on kitchen twine, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd drawn on with magic marker.
Keeping Up With Mom
In an effort not to fall too far behind my mom in the technilogical race, I got a cell phone this week. Not just a cell phone, a flip phone. Let me tell you, I'm making sure the 'end call' button is my friend. I've never seen my mom's phone, but mine is pretty cute I think. It's not one of those really tiny ones that you aren't sure if it's a real phone or some kind of children's toy, but it's not so big it looks like, well, some kind of children's toy.
Getting the phone was my husband's idea. I don't use the telephone very much in general. Not because I am basically on the phone 8 hours a day at work, but because I was scarred for life by a childhood telephone incident. The first time I tried to make a telephone call when I was little I dialed a wrong number. The person who answered didn't yell or cuss or threaten to hide in my closet until everybody was asleep and then give all my Barbies crew cuts or anything, but still, I was crushed.
There are two things I don't like about my new phone. The first is that it's part of one of those family plans. My mother-in-law and husband both had phones for a couple of years, and this month their contract was due. My husband decided since they were changing things around and both of them were getting new phones, I should get one, too. I didn't argue with him. I'm just thoughtful that way. Anyway, somehow when he finished everything the salesman ended up setting all three phones to show up on caller ID with my mother-in-law's name. I'm sure they can eventually fix it, but probably not this weekend.
The other thing I don't like is the new phone number. I really like it when phone numbers spell out something, like ROSEBUD or HOTBEAR or something. My number doesn't spell anything. For a couple of seconds I thought about posting my number and seeing if any of my adoring fans can find a word or phrase I missed, but then I came to my sences. I haven't even posted my last name, I'm sure not going to post my phone number.
One thing I do like about my new phone is I got one with a camera built in. Now I'm set if I ever see a UFO or Bigfoot or Elvis. At least if I ever figure out how to use the camera. I'm still figuring out how to just make calls. I have a bunch of phone numbers entered into the address book, and I have speed dial figured out, but I want to be able to use voice commands, so I could just say 'phone home' or 'pizza' and the phone would start dialing. That would be cool.
In an effort not to fall too far behind my mom in the technilogical race, I got a cell phone this week. Not just a cell phone, a flip phone. Let me tell you, I'm making sure the 'end call' button is my friend. I've never seen my mom's phone, but mine is pretty cute I think. It's not one of those really tiny ones that you aren't sure if it's a real phone or some kind of children's toy, but it's not so big it looks like, well, some kind of children's toy.
Getting the phone was my husband's idea. I don't use the telephone very much in general. Not because I am basically on the phone 8 hours a day at work, but because I was scarred for life by a childhood telephone incident. The first time I tried to make a telephone call when I was little I dialed a wrong number. The person who answered didn't yell or cuss or threaten to hide in my closet until everybody was asleep and then give all my Barbies crew cuts or anything, but still, I was crushed.
There are two things I don't like about my new phone. The first is that it's part of one of those family plans. My mother-in-law and husband both had phones for a couple of years, and this month their contract was due. My husband decided since they were changing things around and both of them were getting new phones, I should get one, too. I didn't argue with him. I'm just thoughtful that way. Anyway, somehow when he finished everything the salesman ended up setting all three phones to show up on caller ID with my mother-in-law's name. I'm sure they can eventually fix it, but probably not this weekend.
The other thing I don't like is the new phone number. I really like it when phone numbers spell out something, like ROSEBUD or HOTBEAR or something. My number doesn't spell anything. For a couple of seconds I thought about posting my number and seeing if any of my adoring fans can find a word or phrase I missed, but then I came to my sences. I haven't even posted my last name, I'm sure not going to post my phone number.
One thing I do like about my new phone is I got one with a camera built in. Now I'm set if I ever see a UFO or Bigfoot or Elvis. At least if I ever figure out how to use the camera. I'm still figuring out how to just make calls. I have a bunch of phone numbers entered into the address book, and I have speed dial figured out, but I want to be able to use voice commands, so I could just say 'phone home' or 'pizza' and the phone would start dialing. That would be cool.
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