Hiatus

I'm off to Snowshow today for a week of skiing....or hanging out at the pool if the weather stays so ridiculously warm!!
Anyway, I doubt if I'll have much internet connectivity, so it'll be a week before I post again. And then you'll get a big dump, as I'll at least do draft posts while I'm at Snowshoe.

Weather Phenomena

I like dramatic weather, especially thunderstorms, and especially when the sky is really interesting, with mixes of light and dark and fast moving clouds. Probably comes from spending part of my childhood in Glenview, a northern suburb of Chicago. There's a reason Chicago is called the Windy City -- between the weather coming off the Great Lakes, down from the Canadian plains, and up or across from the US plains, things can get really interesting. We used to get these really great, tremendous thunder & lightning storms, and Mom & I would stand in front of our big picture window to watch them. We also got great snow storms, with lots of snow days off from school, which was wonderful as a kid.

There were two neat weather phenomena days this week. One week as I was heading up Rte 15 towards Catoctin Mountain, I could see a big fog bank ahead. What was neat this time was that it was a low, dense bank, very white, so that it looked like a cloud sitting on the ground, and so low that the mountain ridge showed above it. This made the mountain ridge look like it was floating in the air, or rising higher than it actually does. And the cloud bank was moving, you could see it just oozing down the valley, like some huge amoeba gobbling up the landscape.

Another day this week there was this cool juxtaposition of light and dark: Looking one direction, there was this huge mass of dark storm clouds coming my way; in the other direction, there was a pretty red & orange sunrise, with open blue sky above the far, low clouds, and a crescent moon hanging above the house in the pale blue morning sky. The wind was freshening, and it was crisp without being cold. A few snowflakes from the storm cloud were already drifting down. It was the type of blustery day I love, when I hate having to go to work, and would much rather have stayed home and run around outside with the dogs.

Working late

Yesterday was a lo-o-ong day at work. Didn't leave until 2030, which means I didn't get home until 2200 (that's 8:30pm and 10:00pm for you non-mil types). And busy all friggin' day, which is why I didn't post anything yesterday. Too tired when I got home, and having spent the last several hours at work sitting at the computer working on detailed, complex Powerpoint slides, the last thing I wanted to do was sit at the computer at home. Hopefully what I worked on won't have been a waste of time...

Little Monsters

Last night Tobey and Jodeo, our two five-month-old puppies, met me at the front door when I got home from work. This is not a good thing... The puppies had gotten out a couple times before, but when they were much younger, and 2 five-month-old puppies are far more destructive than four six-week old puppies.
The puppies had also apparently squeezed out of their puppy pen hours before I got home, as their was debris and piles everywhere - in the basement, upstairs, and throughout the main floor. Fortunately, they didn't destroy anything important. They'd obviously had great fun digging through one or more kitty litter boxes, and digging out everything from bathroom wastebaskets.
Besides the mess, the biggest problem is the set-back in housebreaking, as they didn't squeeze back into their puppy pen to use the dog door when they needed to go.
The puppies spent the evening in a crate, with little attention. And they experienced their first night going to bed without any supper -- I was concerned about what they might have ingested, and wanted their systems to empty out. Do not feel sorry for the little monsters!! I did give them some treats.
So I spent the evening cleaning up instead of doing other things I wanted or needed to do - like posting more interesting entries in my blog. And this weekend I will have to clean carpets. At least the puppies were just fine this morning -- hungry, of course, but didn't appear to have any problems from the stuff they chewed up.
Oh, well. Such is the life of a Zookeeper.

Dragons in the Sky

I love cloud watching, and seeing what shapes I can see in the clouds. Which is a good thing, since I get plenty of opportunity to look at clouds during my daily commutes to work (almost an hour and a half one way!).

This morning on the way to work there was a low-hanging small dark cloud mass that was silhouetted against higher, lighter clouds in the distance. The dark cloud looked just like a dragon's head, with the mouth wide open. There was even a little bit of dark cloud that looked like a puff of smoke coming out of the dragon's mouth.

I suppose you could also say it looked like a crocodile's head, one that was about to snatch up a fish or something, but I prefer the dragon.

Definition

From The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Exegesis: noun (plural: exegeses); Critical explanation or analysis; especially, interpretation of the Scriptures. From Greek exegeisthal, to show the way, to expound.

It is primarily in the latter sense, the original Greek meaning, that I use the word exegesis.

Quantum Leaping

Another "getting to know you", self-devised, based upon past ruminations over an old favorite TV show, "Quantum Leap", and over the possibilities in myriad novels based in the past or based upon time-traveling.

If you could go back to any place, any "when", in time, where and when would go, and why? One caveat is that you cannot go back to change something -- you can't save John Lennon from being shot, or save a friend/family member from getting killed in a car crash, etc. You can just go back to observe, to witness (though you can interact with people and things in the past). Maximum of five choices.

Think about it for a while. When you've made your choices, post some of them here. Ask you friends/family what their choices would be. The differences in the selections can sometimes be illuminating. I'll post mine in a couple days, so I don't predjudice your thoughts on this.

Mirror, Mirror

Spent a lot of time this weekend playing a new game, Mirror Magic, that I downloaded from Reflexive. You have to look at two, sometimes three images, and find five differences before time runs out. Various levels are harder: fog, leaves, or rain obscures the photos, the images are reversed, you can only look with a "flashlight", etc. As I was driving to work today, I passed some buildings that had varied architectural details on the top window arches - some were pointed, some were rounded. Exactly the type of differences in the game. I found myself looking at them, and thinking, "there's a difference...there's another difference...". I think I played the game too much...

What's in Your Wallet?

These are "getting to know you" types of questions (with a nod to E).

What do you ALWAYS carry with you, in a pocket or purse or whatever? Why?
Three things:
(1) My military ID card. I'm proud of it. I worked hard for it. It's important to have for insurance reasons. It can sometimes get you out of a ticket. It can sometimes make life easier, like when I was randomly screened at the airport, and my bag came up positive for chemicals that can be used for making explosives (the back/trunk area of my car is not the cleanest, as that's where I throw a lot dog, cat, horse, gardening, etc., stuff, and the carry-on bag probably picked up something).
(2)My Buck Ranger pocket knife. Been carrying it since I was in college. Just darn useful, and I like the weight of it. Has picked up sentimental value, because I've had it so long & because of why I first started carrying it. Since 9-11 have mailed it to myself from the airport a couple times when I've forgotten to check it/leave it at home. Have also left it at security checkpoints in government office buildings, along with my driver's license, so the guards knew I would come back for it.
(3) A unit coin. This is a military thing, started out in Special Operations. You're always supposed to have your coin on you -- if you're out with your buddies, and someone does a coin check (pulls out coin, challenges everyone to show theirs), and you don't have your coin, then you have to buy the next round of drinks. Although, if you're the one who does the coin check, and everyone else does have their coins, then you have to buy the round. I also like fiddling with it, though I have to be careful, as I've lost a couple that way.


If someone emptied out your pockets or purse, what would they find that says something about you?
(1) Doggie bags. I always have doggie bags with me, often even when I don't have the dogs with me, especially in cool/cold weather, as I'll forget to take them out of my coat pocket.
(2) ATM receipts. I tend to stuff my ATM receipts in a pocket, along with the cash, and hang on to them until I post them in my check register....which might not be for several weeks.

Testing 1, 2, 3....

Okay, here we go. I have no idea how much I'll post, how often I'll post or what I'll post about, but I thought it would be fun to try.