Rogue

I’m watching Rogue while uploading pictures and cooking brunch…who says I can’t multi-task?  I love Radha Mitchell – she should do more movies that are either American made or released to America like this one was.

Today I want to run away.  Surprisingly not to a small cabin in the wilderness but to some place with more cultural things like museums.  I feel like going to a big museum like in chicago or New York.  Someday I’m going to be able to go where I want, when I want.

Our walk today was chilly and gray – I don’t know if it is suppose to rain today but it feels like it could.  There must be a good chance of it with the clouds being as thick and dark as they are.  I say bring it on.  Rain means people will stay inside so I won’t be that busy at work.

The pics pretty much speak for themselves so I won’t go into a commentary on what each one is.

I took this door off the entertainment center for him – cute huh?

Baxter is hiding under the cover – it drives Bennie nuts!

Lost at Sea

My heart and prayers go out to the families of the boys lost off the Florida coastline.  Tragedy can strike so swiftly that it takes a person’s breath away.  The friends were, no doubt, enjoying spending some time together after a hard football season.  The article said they were good friends so I can imagine there was all kinds of laughter and good times shared on that boat before it capsized.

I hope the survivor doesn’t let survivor’s guilt eat at him because there was nothing he could do to save his friends.  Hopefully he will celebrate life – both theirs and his own.  As hard as it might be to think otherwise, God does have a plan for something good to come from this tragedy.  Nick, you have to hang in there and believe.

I can’t help but wonder what all went through Nick’s mind as he waited 36 hours on that overturned boat for rescue to come.  He told his mom that he hung on because he didn’t want her to have to attend his funeral but I’m sure many other things also went through his mind.  Maybe he will write a book about his ordeal.

I found this poem by Longfellow that was read at the unveiling of the “Lost at Sea” memorial in Gloucester in 1925.  The memorial is updated periodically with the names of those lost at sea from Gloucester:

Ah! What pleasant visions haunt me
as I gaze upon the sea
All the old romantic legends,
All my dreams come back to me.

Sails of silk and ropes of sendel
Such as gleam in ancient lore;
And the singing of the sailors
And the answer from the shore!
How he heard the ancient helmsman
Chant a song so wild and clear.
That the sailing sea-bird slowly
Poised upon the mast to hear.

Till his soul was full of longing,
And he cried, with impulse strong—
“Helmsman! for the love of Heaven
Teach me, too, that wondrous song!”

“Woulds’t thou also,”  the helmsman answered,
“Learn the secrets of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers
Comprehend its mystery.”

Last Night’s Storm

Outside the wind had wailed through the frozen land without mercy. Snow sailed across the pavement, racing to the other side in an attempt to win an imaginary regatta. Drifts had quickly banished all traces that plows had gone through several times since the winter storm, on vacation from Canada, graced the states.

The swallows and cardinals that had frittered blissfully around from tree to tree just the other day had vanished leaving me to wonder if they had only been a hallucination brought on by the thawing of my brain. Where did they go? Where do they hide when it is so cold outside?

Between clouds waltzing by I could see the moon looming so big and close I felt like I could reach out just enough to smack that silly smile off its glowing face. I surmised the man in the moon was laughing with delight at the chill that had crept diabolically up the back of my neck, as if winter returning was some cosmic joke.

Tree branches were outlined with layers of snow, as were power lines and roof tops. Right then, before anyone has disturbed the peace of the night, the snow was exquisite. I paused appreciatively before releasing the dogs to scamper forth and bestow upon the snow their paw marks. They both are explorers at heart, always wanting to be the first to forge the route through the snow.

As much as I dislike being cold and hate driving in snow storms – I had to admit that the scene laid out before me made my spirit feel hushed and tranquil. It was picturesque and left me wishing I could somehow be painted into the magnificent scene.

White Stuff

Who ordered this white stuff? When I walked out of the house at 3pm there was no snow to be seen.  By the time my son and I got out of the movie “Pink Panther” the snow was so deep it went up over the tops of my tennis shoes.

We did have several other errands to run but when I slipped into a curb after sliding across two street lanes we decided it was best to go to his house to wait out the storm.  We got there about 7:30 pm and watched tv a bit before deciding to walk the three blocks to Kmart so he could get his girlfriend a Valentine’s present.  It was very slick and cold – my feet can’t get dry.  We went back to his house and still couldn’t get dry.

At 10pm I decided I would try to drive home.  Had a huge truck almost hit me as it slid haphazzardly along after going too fast on the snow covered rows.  I almost slid into a light pole too which was rather hair raising.  But I made it home driving 40mph on the interstate.  I passed nine cars in the ditch on the way but I made it fine.  Helps having God as my copilot – I was nervous enough but decided it was in His hands…I might not have made it if I hadn’t.

The dogs were confused and upset when I took them out for their nightly constitution.  Neither of them was very happy that there was so much snow on the ground – they kept delicately picking up their paws as if they could tip toe through it.  They both finally did go potty though.

I do think Bennie hyper-extended my thumb again.  It wasn’t healed from the last time he did it – it is all swollen now and hurts to be used.  He takes off so fast and I was holding both leashes in that hand, his jerked sideways and pulled my thumb all the way back.  Darn that hurt.  My index finger and back of my hand hurts as well.

Too Cold

It is after 2am and I’m bored. I’ve done some reading and actually wrote a little too on a new story but now am rather bored without much else to do. I suppose I could read some more. I’ve listened to Stanley’s message about five times today so am not real anxious to do that again right now either. Not that it isn’t a wonderful message but I have to listen to it at least once a day until they post the new one Saturday so no point going for overkill.

The dogs are running around the house wrestling – it drives me crazy. Usually mention of the kennel calms Baxter down but Bennie doesn’t get it. Now they are fighting over a chew toy. Bennie doesn’t really want it, he just doesn’t want Baxter to have it either. They both have one but Bennie doesn’t like to share, as I believe I have mentioned before.

Bennie likes to pile all the toys and food in a corner – grabbing as much of Baxter’s as possible. Baxter will sit there and look at his stuff then at me like “is that all you’re giving me?” so Bennie has a few seconds to grab stuff before Baxter realizes he must defend his treasures if he wants to enjoy what he was given. Drives me nuts though that he sits there staring up at me like whatever I gave him wasn’t good enough or like he wants to wait to see if something better is coming his way. Ugh. Half the time he waits until I’m walking back toward the living room – I guess it is the signal that he is getting what he has and nothing more.

We went outside a few minutes ago – it is really cold and windy out there!! Amazing!

Hooray for Kenya

Was reading an article about Kimani, a large bull elephant who lives in the Ol Pejeta conservancy.  It seems villages around the conservancy were being raided by rogue elephants who crossed over the conservancy fence line.  In one night, a single elephant could destroy six months worth of crops, leaving the farmer financially strapped.

Kenya Wildlife Service had reluctantly killed 5 of the rogues in the past two years.  Kimani was the last marauder and was headed for the same fate until the group Save the elephants stepped in.

They put a mobile phone SIM card in the elephants collar and set up a virtual “geofence” around the conversary with a global positioning satellite.  Now whenever Kimani approaches the fence with thoughts of plundering crops, a text message is sent directly to the Game Warden who goes out to gently explain to him the conversary’s boundaries.  They do this by shining lights mounted on their jeeps at the elephant.

They have intercepted Kimani 15 times since the project began, leaving the villages elephant free for the past four months.

Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam.  Elephants learn from one another thus Kimani is inadvertently training the other elephants to stay away from the villages.

The experiment has been so successful that another virtual fence was set up for an elephant named Mountain Bull in another part of the country.  The draw back of the program is that the chip wears out after two years and must be replaced with a new one.

Hooray for Kenya for valuing their wildlife and implementing a way to prevent Kimani’s death.  If it works on their elephants, I think the US should consider using it for their problem wildlife.  Not only does it warn officials when an animal is about to wander into a populated area, the officials can also track the animal in the wild using the Google Earth software.

I’m not suggesting all animals be tagged – that would be too expensive.  However, rather than killing those who cross over into human areas (though they use to be animal areas so ideally they should have the right) causing panic and chaos, they could tag the animal with the phone card before dropping it back into it’s wilderness (that keeps shrinking) home.  If it comes down to tagging or killing – I’d rather tag.

Kudos Kenya – though you are such a poor country, you find the resources to save your greatest treasures, your wildlife!  Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. 

Severe Storms Arrive

Apparently, Iowa City is not going to get the severity of storms that other places have been getting with this storm system. The rains have started but they aren’t too bad so far – lightning is another story as it continues to light up the sky. Oops, the rain is coming down harder now.

However, all other counties were issued a severe thunderstorm warning but Johnson has yet to get one. We are under a tornado watch until midnight though so at least we get something fun. I feel sorry for the units still out on a traffic fatality – they are getting soaked.

I can see, via the cameras, people rushing for cover. Downtown was having an outdoor movie and concert tonight so imagine those people are also scrambling even though we warned them an hour ago that it would be here by now. Nobody ever listens.

What I find hard to believe is not even four hours of my 12 hour shift are done yet. We have been semi-busy so you’d think it would go a little faster. I really wanted chicken noodle soup and chicken broth for supper but had no where to go to get it so hit up Taco Bell. I wanted to eat before 9pm so my food wouldn’t be sitting on my stomach all night. Haven’t eaten Taco Bell in a couple of months and certainly don’t want to get in the habit of eating there now but I didn’t know what else to do. Tomorrow, on my way home, I will pick up some soup so I’ll have it for tomorrow night.

Wow, the rain is really coming down out there now – looks like Florida during a tropical storm!

Bear Attack

Now this is a bear “attack” - I know it can be confusing when a person is just bitten by an animal or shark because the media calls that an attack when, in reality, it is just a mistake made by the animal.

In Montana a man was sleeping in his tent when a grizzly bear attacked him.  The bear clawed into the tent, biting and scratching the man inside as he fought to protect his vital organs.  According to the Forest Service, the man had properly stored his food and the reason for the attack was not readily apparent.

The man was taken to the hospital where they have not released his condition.  That campground and the one nearest it were evacuated until the bear could be located.  In situations like this, most often the bear is flown to a more remote part of the park (Yellowstone) so that it has a smaller chance of running into humans again.

Unprovoked bear attacks are rare.  Why this bear came down into the campground is a mystery but I would venture a bet that it will somehow be human caused.  This man was following the rules but that doesn’t mean that everyone else was.  The bear might have gotten scent of something and encountered the man’s tent first on it’s way into the campground.   This man was very lucky to be alive and I’m happy with the Forest service for not rushing to have this bear destroyed.