tomorrow!
Charlie will be home for lunch... and will stay a week through his dad's birthday and Thanksgiving. Yay! Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Why we keep him
Got this email from my son in response to the query of what he plans to herd with the pair of 10-foot bullwhips he wants for Christmas. I guessed dinosaurs, and was on the money: It only works on certain dinosaurs of course. Maiosaurs, Edmontosaurs, Corythosauruses, and such. You would think Iguanadons, but they have these pretty nasty thumbspikes they are not afraid of using if they get pissed off or feel threatened. And you always have to watch out and make sure you don't create a stampede.... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
WARNING: Don't Go There!
DO NOT VISIT MY UNIVERSE BLOG TODAY No kidding--some sort of malware is triggering a warning and shutting down my internet connection when I go to write or read the latest post on that blog. I have emailed admins here and also copied 10 pages of prior posts, in case the matter calls for shutting down this oldest of my blogs. But not that last one. The post is of a poem I copy/pasted from my own files on my own home computer, and I have no idea how it may have gotten infected with anything. It... Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The eloquence of whales
Of course we hear the sounds they make underwater--even without hydrophones, I understand, we can hear when we are in that environment ourselves. With hydrophones, we can hear clearly the intonations of many kind of whales, voices carrying hundreds even thousands of miles through the water. But it is not how they speak to us. Yes, they do communicate with human beings, and they have from time to time made quite pointed remarks with a precise use of body language. One afternoon, we sat on our... Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, November 9, 2009
In view of whales
It was a fine vantage point, that corner of the island on the edge of the Johnstone Straits. The view straight west was of Vancouver Island some miles away. I never had a sense of how many exactly, but guessed between three and five; about a third the distance to that shore, from the south a narrow stretch of land pointed northward: Cracroft Point; facing it, the south shore of Hanson Island. It was a maritime crossroads, used regularly by all that use the sea: the whales, the fishermen--both... Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Life saved, life lost...
I have gotten so many comments of great support to the previous post, and congratulations for the grand thing of saving a life. Now I am understanding why people who perform CPR or happen by a situation in which they end up saving a life in peril--especially at little risk to themselves--tend to be very modest about it. When it is your job, your training, or simply your nature to act in such circmstances, then the real challenge would be to walk away without acting. I suspect most of us who are... Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Saving a life
It started Friday afternoon with an email from someone who was a friend at one time, so I considered her--a strong personality, which I appreciate, but with, as it turned out rather too much in the way of controller personality, too. On an occasion when I declined to be controlled, she became decidedly unpleasant about it, and I decided I didn't need any of that. So I pretty much let it go. She moved to Hawaii, and our paths did not cross. Friday's email was an apology that she could not pay me... Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
For those counting along with me... It is Day 12
for my friend who has decided music is better than booze. Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Whales: The Night Visit
As I said before, the whales never came in close to our cove during the day. We watched them far out in the waters of the Johnstone Straits, usually traveling along, occasionally feeding. They rarely did anything more dramatic than that, though one day when there was thick fog, we could hear them having a grand party with much breeching going on, water-slapping, and oh such shenanigans that would have been a complete delight to actually see! However, at night when we were at our quietest and... Sign in to see full entry.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Body Language of Whales
One of the great frustrations of our 5 weeks on the island was that the orcas never came in close to us when we could see them well. It has been observed in other times and places not distant from our island--therefore involving the same whales, same pods of whales--that the orcas do not tend to come close when people are agitated, upset, emotionally out-of-true; they come close when observers are calm and centered, in quiet emotional trim. Interesting, though circumstantial rather than... Sign in to see full entry.