Wet and more Wet

It was sunny until this evening - a real rarity given the rain we have had for the last four days. Nothing like getting inches of rain in the desert to bring on the flash flood warnings and sucking mud in the fields and gardens. At least Molly and I got out for our walk before it rained again this evening.

It has been amusing weather. Last week Molly and I were walking after 10pm so that it would be cool enough to get our 5 miles in without sweating to death. This week we are walking mid-afternoon to stay warm enough not to shiver in the cool. L reported that they even had snow up in the mountains this morning. In a few words, really strange weather of late. At least our melons and squash in the garden seem to be liking it.

Today as Molly and I walked, I listened to "Phantom of the Opera", the original London cast recording version. I have never heard another version where the voices of the phantom and Christine are so piercingly perfect. It gives me goosebumps repeatedly as I listen to it. (I also like it because the full soundtrack is just about the perfect length for a 6 mile walk - the music ends just as I hit the front door step, arriving home - no jarring letdown of other music in mid-walk.) "The Phantom of the Opera" is the best music Andrew Lloyd Webber ever wrote - at least in my opinion.

So here is "The Phantom of the Opera" theme sung by Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford, the original cast members from London:

Enjoy!

Murphy

Murphy is alive and well (and seems to be living with me).  You know Mr. Murphy - the man behind the famous law: anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. He and his eponymous law were in fine fettle today.

It all began when Molly and I decided to go for our walk mid-afternoon since the weather was relatively cool. We got just far enough to get sweaty and stinky, but not far enough to get any real exercise, when the cell rang. It was the artist making some prototype logos for the 5k pet walk/run we have coming up. So Molly and I turned back to meet with the artist. I really hope he enjoyed being couped up with sweaty and stinky me across the table from him.

Then I set out to fix the slow drain in the bathroom. It had reached the point of slowness that I was afraid it would overflow soon if I got distracted while the water was running. So I gathered the requisite equipment and got ready to go to town. Guess what? The drain wouldn't go slow. It was draining perfectly. Nothing I could do would make it revert to it's slow moving way of only a few hours ago.

I won't even mention what happened to the hamburger I fixed for supper. Let me just say that Molly the dog dined exceptionally well tonight. The only good out of it is that Molly is sitting here making gooey eyes at me in utter admiration for the fine meal.

With that, I think I will go to bed. Assuming the bed doesn't up and run away as I try to lie down.

June It Is

Yesterday was a typical day except ...

The severe thunderstorm warnings started in late afternoon.
The tornado warnings started in early evening
Blogger had troubles that prevented posting and/or commenting

In any case, Molly and I headed out for our walk after the storms passed at 9pm. And then it became clear that this was indeed June. Every patch of lighted ground we walked on was covered with spastic june bugs, natures proof of concept that intelligence is not needed for survival. For those unfamiliar with these beetles, they look like this:

They spend the first couple of years of their life as grubs underground looking like this:

Then they emerge from the ground in June as beetles to feed and mate.

June bugs are really stupid. They and fly to any lighted area and make amazingly loud buzzing sounds as they try to use their wings while laying upside on the sidewalk or up against your window screen. They are so dumb that they often crash on landing and end up upside down, buzzing like mad as they try to get turned back over.

Likewise they like to mate on the ground under lights. Exhibitionist? Maybe. Stupid? For sure. Every bug eater around gorges on them to the point that they won't touch them any more. And so the rest are safe to mate and propagate the species, continuing on with no evidence any intelligence. They make bugs like cockroaches look like tiny Albert Einsteins.

But the real reason I dislike them, beyond the fact that they fly directly into your hair and face, is the the horrible crunching sound they make as they sit on the sidewalk and you walk on them. They are so dumb they make no attempt to flee - they just sit there and get crunched. At least Molly dog is smart enough not to eat them. Our previous dog, a Basset hound, used to snuffle them up and come home with his jowls full of beetles. Nothing worse than a dog laying on the floor with beetles crawling out of the mouth. Ugh.

Time to listen to some music to get that horrible crunching sound out of my head.

Drunken Birds?

My sense of the absurd was grabbed and throttled today by reports of drunken birds falling from the sky down under. In particular, red-collared lorikeets seem to be eating something that leaves them too drunk to fly and/or stand. It is not like a red-collared lorikeet is that inconspicuous of a bird to begin with:

Red-collared Lorikeets

(Credit: Mitch Reardon)

Now picture these guys falling out of the sky and trees drunk. As the original report in the Australian Geographic Journal reports:

SEEMINGLY DRUNKEN AND HUNGOVER parrots are dropping out of the sky in the Northern Territory and experts are at a loss to explain why.

The red-collared lorikeets lose coordination and pass out after eating a mystery food, Lisa Hansen, of the Ark Animal Hospital at Palmerston, near Darwin said on Thursday. Red-collared lorikeets are an NT subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus rubritorquis).

"It happens every year around this season, they lose all balance and we find them fallen out of trees and the sky," she says. "Unless someone intervenes, they can't fly and will get picked up by predators."

Read more: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/drunken-parrots-falling-from-sky.htm#ixzz0pwQbWM7r

I can't wait until the crows and robins around here learn which plant leads to intoxication. Think of it - hundreds of crows and robins crashing to the ground all around. The cats would be in seventh heaven. (Unless they decide to hit the catnip instead.)

Drunken birds do happen every once in a blue moon around here when berries ferment on the bushes and the birds imbibe, but it usually isn't to the point they cannot stand up - it just makes them fly a little funny and poop a lot.

Are your birds hitting the sauce as summer begins (actually winter down under)?

Odd Thinking Patterns

Lately a number of blog authors that I read are undergoing divorce. It is sad to see it happen. It almost always comes to light with a post announcing that the divorce is pending, seemingly out of the blue.

I always wonder what went wrong, could it have been avoided, is it for the best, etc. All the standard voyeuristic questions that come to mind when watching a train wreck happen in real time. Usually the announcement leaves uncertain whether the event is to be regarded as a good thing for the author or not, which leaves one to ponder how best to comment and react. I suspect that many of us remain silent until the situation is clearer.

It is interesting in another way to a scientist like me. The first  questions that come to my mind are:

• Was there a definitive set of behaviors visible on the blog that preceded the announcement of the event?
• Can I use those behaviors to predict other occurrences?

I.e. is there a pattern and can I use it to make predictions that are testable. (The basic definition of any theory in science - if you cannot make testable predictions, it isn't a theory but mere speculation.) 


Now that I have exposed my thinking, what goes through your mind when you read of divorce on some one's blog? Are your thoughts impacted by your personal experience of divorce?

(All images from Google Image.)

Have You Ever Lost ...

Time once more for for Mama Kat's Writer's Challenge. Today we will attempt the death defying feat of tackling prompts 2 and 4. To wit:

2.) “What did you once lose? Write about your search to find it again.” (inspired by writingfix.com)

4.) Begin each line of your post with “have you ever”. (inspired by Vikki from Live. Laugh. Pull Your Hair Out)

#2 - I have lost many things over the course my life. Some have been trivial material things, some have been things that only come to mind in an odd moment, and some are of a more subjective nature (like my sanity?). Some have been people. Some have been abilities.

The most perplexing thing that I lose periodically is the ability to enjoy life as it happens. Like most scientists and engineers, I am sometimes obsessive about things going according to plan. When I am in that phase, it feels like I have lost the ability to enjoy life as it occurs in real time. I start planning everything and anxiously waiting for each and every event to happen. Even small deviations from the expected occurrence stream can suck the joy out of the whole sequence of events. Needless to say, it is not a good state to be in. Nor is it fun to hang out with me when I'm in the state.

It took me a long time to realize that the way out of that state of mind and back to enjoyment is to wear mental blinders. I have to consciously decide to experience each event without expectation and correlated observation. You might say it requires practicing Zen to achieve a zen-like state. I always thought that the explanation from the Wikipedia article on Zen captured the essence:

Zen emphasizes experiential prajñā in the attainment of enlightenment. As such, it de-emphasizes theoretical knowledge in favor of direct realization through meditation and Dharma practice.

So maybe happiness and enjoyment of life *is* Zen enlightenment. {*grin*}


#4 - Have you ever? I have.

Have you ever chopped alfalfa? With a 40 foot head on a Field Queen? While dragging a semi trailer behind?

Have you ever changed oil in heavy equipment, lying on the ground, in the field, at night, trying to get done before all the rattle snakes finish homing in on the heat of the cooling engine?

Have you ever set a new land wriggle and crawl record due to the above?

Have you ever been in a fatal automobile accident?

Have you ever won a science fair?

Have you ever gotten drunk? With your faculty advisor?

Have you ever had your work published?

Have you ever held elected office?

Have you ever lived in Colorado? New Hampshire? California? Illinois? New York?

Have you ever wondered what happened to your kindergarten classmates?

Have you ever had a hole in one on the golf course?

Have you ever broken a bone? More than one?

Have you ever had surgery? More than one?

Have you ever played college athletics?

Have you ever shot a shotgun? Pistol? Rifle?

Have you ever thought that you have written more than enough "have you"'s? 

Evolution, Or Not?

Earlier this year, I watched with amusement as people sent in their entries for worst prom dress in one of those contests that seemingly permeated the blogosphere. You can peruse a roundup of the entries in one such contest over at She Just Walks Around With It. Go ahead, we'll wait for you to finish gasping and laughing. Remember to leave your Coke firmly planted on the table to avoid the dreaded keyboard spew.

What brought this subject to mind tonight is the fact that there was no entry category for really bad male costume. There was also no category for worst pastel background, although there was a groundswell for worst wallpaper background for one entry.  This weekend I was cleaning up some pictures while hunting for some other pictures and came across visual evidence of my own sins. So I figured I would confess to my sartorial sins of the past and also illustrate how heading off to college leads to evolution {*grin*}

Here is a picture of L and I at our senior prom in the spring of 1972:

A few words in my defense are in order. This was in the era when public high schools had dress codes. Ours required that all side-burns extend no lower than the ear lobe, that hair had to stay atop the ear and above the collar, and no beards or mustaches were allowed.  With all that said, now days you would seldom see a square and circle patterned tie with paisley striped shirt. You will also note that when you have a 20 inch neck, you really need extra long ties or they come out looking comically short. Do you like the brownish gray Hush Puppy shoes with gray slacks and a black belt?  Note that I have an incipient 5 o'clock shadow despite shaving only a couple of hours prior to the picture.

On the other hand, L shows great class and elegance. Note the elbow length gloves and maxi dress. To this day I have a great fondness for all the empire waisted dresses of the time just because I saw L in so many of them. I will always wonder why a classy lady like L hangs out with a slob like me. No accounting for female taste I guess.

Now for the evolution.

A few months later I was home for Christmas break and spending my mornings looking like this:

Think I look a little under the weather from partying the night before? Notice the beard starting to fill in? I have worn a beard ever since. It has been close to 38 years since I last saw my chin (and I plan to keep it that way). It also looks like I am perusing a comic book as well. Fitting.

Do you have similar before and after evidence of your evolution as you headed off to college? Are you man (or woman) enough to share with us?