Today was one of those days where things started strange and went pear shaped from there. It began with a voice mail box full of full moon (you know, lunatic type) messages, including two from people that wanted to adopt cats but then left no number for me to contact them. Then the fiber optic interface box at the demarc was scheduled to be replaced, but the new box hadn't been programmed quite right. Browsing to a new page hung up the phone and picking up the phone led to strange internet behavior. It took about an hour for the technician to get all correctly setup, so there went the lunch hour.
Molly and I were finally able to head out on our walk a little after 6pm and it was glorious. Warm, slight breeze, late afternoon sun: what could be better. An hour later and the clouds were rolling in and by the time we finished our 5 miles and returned to the house it was sprinkling. It gave the air that glorious ionic touch that smells so good during and after a rain. Before I could even get supper fixed, the rain started falling and the lightning and thunder sat on the horizon, giving a sight and sound extravaganza. Told you I shouldn't have worked on the lawn sprinklers! Of course Molly didn't care for the booming and kept her head in my lap as I ate supper. Poor doggy.
I'll close with this weird fact I was reminded of today: unlike most creatures, goats have rectangular pupils.
(Don't ask how it came up.)
Human pupils are round. Goats and most other animals with hooves have horizontal slit pupils which are nearly rectangular when dilated. This gives goats vision covering up to 340 degrees, meaning they can see virtually all around without having to move. Contrast that with the less than 180 degrees we poor humans can see around. The real kicker is that animals with rectangular pupils can also see better at night due to having larger pupils that can close tighter during the day and open more at night. Makes me think we got shorted a bit in the grand eye design competition.
Bonus question: what well known invertebrate also has rectangular pupils? No Google!
It sounds like you timed your long walk just right.
ReplyDeleteOn your question... Er... Um... I don't even have a guess.
Your walk with Molly sounds fantastic. I love that rain smell... especially during the spring.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had to Google your question because I was curious...so I'm disqualified from guessing :)
Wow- 5 miles in an hour is good time! My dog freaks out when it thunders. He goes nutso and tries to become a lap dog even though he weighs 40 pounds.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Googling your question and I have NO idea what the answer is.
wow - that goat pupil is crazy!
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of sprinkles before a storm. One of my favorite smells of all time.
"Of course Molly didn't care for the booming and kept her head in my lap as I ate supper." Up until that point, I didn't realize Molly was a dog. I found it strange that she would keep her head in your lap while you ate supper, but then you said, "Poor doggy."
ReplyDeleteI did not know that about the pupils! How cool :) Poor Molly..I hope the storm didn't last long.
ReplyDelete