random ray

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guinea pig cuddles

UPDATE: Congrats to Graham Leathers and Becca Allen on their engagement!!!

Above photo:
Me, cuddling with my nieces' guinea pig Stripe. Stripe likes being held, and was happily dozing on my stomach for about half an hour. Photo by Ruth. Stripe, by the way, is the model for one of the guinea pigs in one of my sister's upcoming books. Stripe is also going to appear on an upcoming episode of "This Is Daniel Cook" (where Daniel hangs out with my sister at home).



In case you missed yesterday's entry, I've made some new additions to my office tree painting as well as adding more leaves using two cans of green acrylic paint on loan from Luisa (thanks, Luisa!).

Above photo:
My office, in progress. If you click on the image above or here, you'll find a page on Flickr where you can click on any of the objects in my office and get a small description (your browser needs to support Javascript). As you can tell, the room has changed a lot from when the previous owner used it:



You can see the evolution of my office here.

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Sunday blatherdoodle

You can find other handwritten Blatherings entries here.

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squirrel feedback, Filkcontinental prep

Less than THREE WEEKS until Filkcontinental! I've been listening to German language instruction recordings again, but in recent months I've had to devote more time to moving and housestuff than learning German. Allison, Jodi and I are getting together tonight at Allison's for a Filkcontinental prep practice.

Had dinner at Ampeli (Greek restaurant) with Luisa last night; she recently came home from a two-week trip in Italy. Hopefully she'll post a report and/or photos in her blog sometime. Jeff and I are going to Italy next spring (courtesy his mom!), so I was extra interested in little details, like what she ate. Okay, so maybe I'd be interested in food details even if I wasn't going. :-)



I've always been interested in food details, even as a kid. I loved the descriptions of British tea (sandwiches, etc.) in "four children have a magical adventure" fantasy books. I still feel ripped off when I come across a mention of a meal in a story with no details given. I love reading over-the-top menus with lots of sumptuous description. Who wants to order "Fish"? I'd much rather order "Seared Bluefin Tuna with Pencil Asparagus, Grain Mustard Potatoes Citrus Caviar."

(Debbie pauses to wipe the drool off her keyboard)

I was highly amused at Peter Alway's response to yesterday's Blathering:

"The squirrels that solve the squirrel-proof feeders will be the smartest, and will breed, insuring that squirrels will continue to evolve greater intelligence.



When mankind disappears from this planet, through our own foolishness or through natural calamity, the squirrels and the cockroaches will survive. What follows will be a fight for survival between the disgusting insects and the cuddly sciurideans.

Your "squirrel-proof" feeder is contributing directly to the chances of the squirrels in that epic battle of planetary domination.

On behalf of any human explorers who make a round-trip to a nearby galaxy, surviving the return trip by way of relativistic time dilation, only to find their kind extinct upon their return, I thank you. For a human might find life on an earth dominated by anthropomorphic squirrel descendants bearable, or even pleasant, while a planet of gigantic clicking and hissing cockroach descendants is certainly unappealing."



And from Surrdave on LJ:

"I just finished reading a book called "Outwitting Squirrels", which reviewed birdfeeders and discussed lifestyles of the quick and sciuridae. Although some do pretty much work if placed correctly--meaning not near trees--I like the idea of simply making a squirrel playground. Why not--feed them nuts and they'll eat the easy stuff instead of going for the birdfeeders. Of course, their numbers grow quickly.

My favourite remains Dad's experiment: He had a pole on a horizontal hinge and hung the feeder on a bungee cord at the end. The squirrel jumps to the feeder; the pole swings, the bungee stretches, a 3d double-pendulum chaotic system is created, and the squirrel--along with the birdseed--is flung in a perfect parabola over the side of the deck."



Birdfeeder update:

No one has visited our SquirrelBuster feeder yet. I tried sprinkling some seed on the ground below the feeder to attract birds to the area, but the squirrels ate it. It's only been two days, though.

Something cleaned out our platform feeder COMPLETELY last night, and I suspect it was a raccoon. There's a family that strolls through our backyard every night and some mornings. I woke up one morning to find a near-spherical raccoon munching birdseed on our deck. Didn't seem concerned at all to find me staring at him, just stared back. Then, almost as an afterthought, he leisurely turned and waddled away.

Some links from my friends:

Things I've Learned From British Folksongs (thanks to Parki)

Klingon Fairy Tales (thanks to Ray)



(Photos on this page are from OVFF 2004. Unfortunately I won't be able to make OVFF this year. :-( )

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welcome morning

You can find other handwritten Blatherings entries here.

You can find the full text of "Welcome Morning" by Anne Sexton here.

If you're curious about Birdwatch, you can find the store Web site here.

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