Three Kittens?
Allrighty -- we caught and got Twin fixed. She was a local stray. She wasn't adjusting very well to indoor life so we let her back outside. Tonight Missy gets home and there are three kittens on our porch! Teach me to not pay attention.
We caught two and will hopefully catch the third tonight or tomorrow. Meanwhile we are off to go see Chris and Gretchen Pirillo.
w00p!
--B--
Update -- we just got back. I didn't mention that the two kittens are probably one month or so old. They fit in the palm of my hand! They appear to be mostly weaned. And now for the wierd part -- they have no tails! The third kitten did have a tail -- but we have not yet caught it. Maybe tomorrow!
Posted by BBBach at
05:53 PM
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Forbidden Thoughts on 9/11
Okay -- I found some more interesting reading. Did you have various thoughts that a patriotic, "god fearing", normal human worm baby shouldn't have? Here is a collection of several that an editor collected and posted to the web.
Whats kinda scary is that a lot of them ring true!
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2002/09/11/forbidden_letters/index.html
Posted by BBBach at
01:11 PM
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Re-Memories of Sunrises
Okay -- this is what I was actually going to post today before seeing everyones reaction to what happened a year ago. While I think we should all spend a moment remembering what happened, it's time to move on (see my other posting).
They are doing work on the roof at my office. This drives my allergies up through the roof. So I've been going in early to try and get some work done before the air becomes too clogged with dust (and who knows what other types of) particles. This means getting my lazy ass up out of bed at 6:04am and in to work by 7am. The sun is just rising over the hills as I start my bike ride in. This made me reflect on other past sunrises in crisp kewl weather. I've been on many different types of trips. Lived in several different locations. I'm a night person by nature but I have sitll managed to see sunrises in almost every situation and place that I have been.
There are few that really stick out in my mind. If I put my mind to it I can remember several but those that just pop into my head at the sight of the sun coming up are ... well ... I can think of three.
However to save you time I will only recount one here now. Maybe over the next couple days as I ride in I will append the other two to my blog.
I was on the freshman outdoor education trip at Dunn School. We were in Joshua Tree National Park. The first two days were spent at a "basecamp" where we did simple day hikes around the area and a couple simple climbs. The next four days we were going to be backpacking from a starting location several miles away back to basecamp. On the third day we followed a dried out stream bed up to the top of a feature that could only be described as a hat. It was easy going up the side we hiked up and ended at a cliff that we were to repel the next day.
If you have ever spent any time in the desert during the fall you will know that days can be quite warm and nights quite cool. Not a cloud in the sky means 80-90 degrees during the day and very close to 32 at night. Because of the lack of moisture we did not errect tents -- instead everyone in my group (I don't remember exactly but I think that there were 6 kids and a teacher and an instructor) decided to sleep under the stars.
It was a beutifull night -- the Earth was being pummeled by a meteor shower and without city lights anywhere in sight the night sky was just amazing. One of those nights where you go, "No wonder the ancients decided to study the stars." It was truly a magical experience.
The next morning, arround 6:30, I woke up and just couldn't fall back asleep. So I got up, decided to go over to the cliff and sit back to watch the sun rise. I took my sleeping bag with me (it was cold!) and found a fairly comfortable location to sit facing east. The glow was already hitting the mountains across the valley we were in making them dark sillouhettes against a brightening sky.
As the sky changed from black to navy blue you could almost sense the valley below us starting to stir. Birds started to speak, lizards began to hunt for breakfast, mountain lions stretched. It was almost all together -- sounds waifting up from the valley a couple hundred feet below. The sky started turning more blue and the rosey color of dawn began to peek over the mountains opposite me.
I was startled away from reflection as I hear someone calling my name. It was our instructor who noticed my missing sleeping bag. I called out that I was fine -- just found a good spot to watch the sun rise. He approached my nature-made bench (it was perfect -- had a nice long flat rock to sit on and a flat rock to lean on behind!) and joined me in silence as the rosey hew brightened. One by one the other students woke up and joined us. It was as if something magical had woken us each up speaking to us in an old forgotten language and whispering about the untold beauty that was taking place.
Everyone except the teacher who accompanied us on the trip had woken up in time to see the first peak of the hot sun to rise over the mountain range across from us. The sky above was rosey colored brightening to the hot yellow-white color of the sun. It didn't seem to take any time for the sun to go from just the slimmest sliver to being a full circle of brilliant light.
One by one the other students went back to camp to prepare breakfast and pack away their stuff until it was just me and the instructor left. As a lizard scrambled by at our feet he turned to me and said, "Well -- I've never had that happen in a group before -- shall we?"
We headed back to camp to a waiting hot breakfast. I stuffed my gear back into my pack and helped break and clean-up camp. We got back to basecamp later that day and nobody said anything about the amazing sunrise we had seen that morning.
It will always be one of the most magical and favorite sunrises that I treasure.
--B--
Posted by BBBach at
08:45 AM
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Quick -- Everyone Call 911!
Okay.
Nobody has asked me for my opinion yet this is my blog so this is where my opinion will get stated.
I woke up one year ago today and proceeded as I do every morning to get ready for work. My brother was up visiting and I was to wake him up before I left. I pulled up IE to check the news and because I use IE to remote admin into my system at work and check email and such. There on the front page was something about some attack on the World Trade Center. I remember going wow -- they must be hurting for articles to have put up another item about the bomb that went off in the basement oh so many years ago. Then Missy called and I re-read the front page. Thats when news sites started getting hammered and up-to-minute news was hard to get (specially since we didn't have a TV or a TV card hooked up at the time).
So... a couple of buildings fell. People died. It was fascinating to watch as it did not directly affect me. Maybe I'm a product of violence on TV and in the movies. I simply went "Wow -- they fell to the ground!" I didn't relish in the fact. It was simply like watching another movie plot unfold.
Now if the so-called terrorists had really wanted to affect the american people they should have done some more research into what really matters. Lets see how the peoples of this country react when they take out Disneyland. Or the Empire State Building. Or the Statue of Liberty. Or the Golden Gate Bridge. To me the WTC were just a couple of buildings. If you show me a picture of the New York Skyline today and the New York Skyline 1 year and 1 day ago I can see the difference -- but that is about it.
I'm not saying that it's not tragic that people died. I'm not saying that it's not a terrible thing. However if you look at it in context -- compare it to say, Hiroshima (which we ourselves (Americans) did to an entire city), D-Day (and the entire WWII for that matter), deaths from starvation in third-world countries, and other terrorist attacks on other locations, it was terrible but a relatively small amount of life was lost.
Now, one year later, people are still unbelieving that this type of attack could happen. Believe it. We Americans think that we are way kewl. We think that because we were the first large country to make democracy work that we can, and that it is our duty, to force this on other countries. I say that we are just as screwed up as the next country. And because of our politics we have alienated a large number of peoples around the world. Once you alienate an entire peoples you make enemies. My only question to those so-called terrorists -- why have you waited this long? Sheesh -- we even came up with plots for you in the form of action (educational) movies!
As I bike into work I pass a fire station. When I come in at 7:00am I rarely see anyone moving about the station -- most likely they are just waking up and eating breakfast. This morning I pass by the station and the three fire trucks that "live" in the station were all out with their lights on. Now I was thinking about how I would have to react if they pulled out right in front of me. If I was supposed to stop (since it didn't look like anyone was getting in them yet). If I was supposed to slow down -- speed up -- pull into a traffic lane. So many options! So I decided to slow down.
As I got closer I realized that the entire crew for that station -- not just those that were "on duty" but the entire crew, along with their families and children, were out front and they were lowering the flag on the fire station to half mast. Now this ... *this* meant more to me then watching some stupid news report (or lack there of).
Why? I don't know. Was I moved to tears? No. Did it make me feel differently about the events that happened a year ago? Not in the least. However it showed me one reason that I like being human. It's okay to be yourself. Having your own opinions might not be safe in every country but everyone does. And while our Government is attempting to take a lot of that freedom away in the name of national security (hey -- they were attempting to do it even before the WTC attacks last year -- this just spead it along), we Americans still have some rights -- we are under obligation to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice.
So -- whats the point of my ramblings? As a country it's time to frickin' move on. Some bad things happened. Worse shit happens around the world -- we had it coming and like the great earthquake that is supposed to take out California, we were overdue. Lets stop weeping and carying on. Let the widows, orphans, friends and families who lost loved ones greeve on their own. They don't need our help! Let us remember this event every year on this day -- the eleventh day of September. But on the other 364 days of the year let's carry on as things were!
And lets royally fuck the guy who takes out Disneyland!
--B--
Posted by BBBach at
07:57 AM
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