Catsu's Corner Archives August 2007 Back to HOME

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Friday, August 31, 2007 -- Stung Car-pooling home last night, I got into the car, fastened the seat belt, dropped my hand to my lap, and felt a quick, intense pain shoot through my little finger. In the dark car I could only see a shadowy, black something crawling along my leg. As I yelped, Lloyd brushed it off of me. "It bit me," I said. "It bit you? What was it?" We turned on the light, searching the car. "It's a bee," Heidi said. Okay, just a bee. A bee stung me. Whew. Okay, I can handle that. I'm not allergic. Heidi pulled the stinger out of my finger. I haven't been stung by a bee since I was maybe six years old and I think that was the only time. But who knew the little thing would hurt so much? My finger throbbed all night and today is still swollen and red. I suppose I should be thankful it was not a wasp, or a hornet, a black widow spider, a brown recluse, an earwig, a scorpion, or a poison dart frog. Who knows what little beasties Heidi is transporting in her car these days? Tuesday, August 28, 2007 -- Eclipse The sky last night was perfectly clear with no clouds. I got up twice during the night to go out and see the moon during the lunar eclipse. Of course, each time I got up the cats thought we were starting the day and didn't want to settle again. I'm tired today. The next total lunar eclipse is in February. Monday, August 27, 2007 -- Books A recent poll found that 25% of the adult population did not read even one book last year. How can someone go a whole year without reading a single book? On a related note, last week I completed a second sweep of the bookshelves, eliminating about 200 more books from my space. Not that you can actually see any difference - the shelves (and I do mean shelves in the multiple, as in extending down the halls and into all the rooms), are still quite full. But I am trying to get over this compulsion to own every book I've ever read plus all those I intend to read, but haven't as yet. That did not, however, stop me from buying five more books just yesterday. Friday, August 24, 2007 -- Photo Hunters The theme for this week is TWO. Here are Kimberly's two parakeets, Stormy and Sky. Kimberly raised them from eggs in the MV Middle School Bird Club. They used to adorn our front entryway, but having had their cage knocked off the table three times by racoons and/or cats they now reside in the spare bathroom (where I can close the door if needed.) The birds seem to like the new location, enjoying the large mirror behind their cage. And it has to be less stressful for them now that Purrs is no longer sleeping on top of their cage all of the time, periodically poking a paw through to chase them back and forth on the perch. In fact, none of the cats have shown much interest in them at all since their move and, thankfully, the racoons have not yet ventured up the stairs. Monday, August 20, 2007 -- School Days Even with none of the kids actually living at home anymore, I still find that I am depressed with the thought of school starting again. It seemed we never had enough time to do all the things we wanted to do. Summers were always too short. Friday, August 17, 2007 -- Photo Hunters The theme for this week is IN A ROW. This is the parking lot of Poly High School. On a recent trip to Riverside we stopped by to see my old high school - Poly High, home of the Bears. I have no idea who chose the school colors. Orange and green? Ughh, we always thought they were hideous. . . But they do kind of look cool in the parking lot. Wednesday, August 15, 2007 -- Archaeological Oceanography Julie sent us a link to the live video transmission of IAO (the Institute for Archaeological Oceanography) showing an underwater archeological "dig," where Eric is currently working gathering and tagging artifacts from a sunken ship in the Black Sea. The resolution and quality of the transmitted picture is really quite amazing. Eric operates the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), using a robotic arm to clear the silt, uncover and gather the artifacts (in this case Byzantine bottles), and tag them with identifying tags. It is slow work and the manuevering of the robotic arm does not look easy. We figure Eric must be real good at getting those stuffed animals out of the bins with the claw arm that you see in restaurants and arcades. Check it out if you'd like. It's actually rather interesting. Friday, August 10, 2007 -- Photo Hunters The theme for this week is FUNKY. One of the funky Cirque de la Mer clowns at Sea World came and sat right next to us while we were watching the show, but she absolutely refused to smile for my camera. Friday, August 3, 2007 -- Photo Hunters The theme for this week is CREATIVE. I had some "creative" fun playing around with Photo Deluxe and this picture. It's the Botanical Building at the end of the lily pond in Balboa Park, probably one of the most photographed places in San Diego.