Ugly truths

I’ve known this for a long time, and would like to deny it because it’s a quality that I’d rather not have, but at the same time, I can see nothing to do about it, and simply have to face the music: but damn, I can pack a lot of shit for a trip.

Not clothes, oh no – I can get by with the minimum, and don’t care how I look so that’s just enough to cover the number read more

Profiles of Nature 19


The appeal is still pending, so we’re still going! This week we meet Eulalia, here in her scene from Baywatch performing mouth-to-mouth on her co-star, sure to keep the ratings high. Born with a silver spoon in her mouth and a set of hemostats in her duodenum, the malpractice settlement allowed Eulalia’s family to move away to Chicago, where she was eventually read more

More mouths to feed

Luckily, I’m not the one to do it.


I was busy with other tasks this morning and neglected to do my morning check of the mantis egg sacs, but judging from how many were swarming around when I finally did notice this one, they’d probably gotten started in the very early morning hours. Only a couple were still displaying a slight forehead bump that’s the last read more

Profiles of Nature 18


Welcome back – it’s good to see you again! [I told you they hadn’t gotten any brighter – pay up, dawg!] Our model this week is Osmar (one syllable,) a recent arrival in the states from New Mexico – which is still in the states, but it’s disturbing how many people don’t know that (mostly Republicans, read more

In comparison


Just a sunset shot from last night. The passing storm had left some clouds in the sky, which haven’t been there at sunset for literally weeks even when we had them in the late afternoon, they’d magically cleared by sunset. Without clouds of some kind, you get no colors and nothing to show the light strata as the sun disappears. It wasn’t read more

More things happening

In the next couple of days (May 5th and 6th, to be precise,) the Eta Aquarids meteor shower should be peaking – this is one of two meteor showers caused by debris from Comet Halley (the other being the Orionids in October.) However, Aquarius is the radiant and read more

Running a little late

The rains mentioned in the previous post did indeed come, but many hours after they were predicted – about twelve after finding the mantids. We’d gotten a bare sprinkling in the morning, which wasn’t anywhere near enough, so I’d gone out to water all the plants. Later in the day, naturally, we got a thorough soaking, which is how it goes, isn’t it?

On the back porch, read more

They’re trying to avoid me

It’s almost 4 AM right now, and don’t ask me about my sleep schedule. But yesterday evening (as in, about seven hours ago,) I checked on the mantis egg sacs in the yard because I know they’re due – actually overdue, going by previous years. Nothing was happening then, so as I stepped out this morning at 3-ish I only glanced down at the nearest one in passing, since it sits read more

On this date 58

Yes, this topic has not died yet, but there’s a special reason for it to occur this time, and we’ll get to that. Right now, let’s see what was happening on this date in history. Pretty recent history, and nothing at all historical. Pretty self-centered, to be blunt. But it’s a blog, which as I’ve said before, is an exercise is thinly-veiled narcissism. If it’s read more

1 80 81 82 83 84 207