A few questions to ponder:

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are going dead?

Why do banks charge a fee for insufficient funds when they know there is not enough money?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check to make sure when you say the paint is wet?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Who's idea was it to put an "s" in the word lisp?

Why is that no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum cleaner one more chance?

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try?

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

In winter, why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat back then in the first place?

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?

And last but not least...WHY IS THIS CICADA CRAWLING UP THE SIDE OF THE BUILDING??????

Should Washington State change the motto to "Land of the falling cows"?


(11-06) 13:47 PST Manson, Wash. (AP) --

Charles and Linda Everson were driving back to their hotel when their minivan was struck by a falling object — a 600-pound cow. The Eversons were unhurt but the cow, which had fallen off a cliff, had to be euthanized.

The year-old cow fell about 200 feet from the cliff and landed on the hood of the couple's minivan, causing heavy damage.

A Chelan County fire chief, Arnold Baker, said the couple missed being killed by a matter of inches in the accident Sunday on a highway near Manson.

The Eversons, visiting the area from their home in Westland, Mich., to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, were checked at Lake Chelan Community Hospital as a precaution.

Everson, 49, said he didn't see the cow falling and didn't know what happened until afterward.

He said he kept repeating: "I don't believe this. I don't believe this."


Here's a link to a video about the story: Falling Cow

Punkn asked for it...

This picture was taken in the mid 90's I think, on a trip to Southern California with a girlfriend. We went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and stopped at the Lorikeet exhibit where you could buy cups of nectar for the birds to eat/drink. I have one on each shoulder, and one on my right hand, drinking nectar. At one point, I had cups in each hand, and there were Lorikeets all up and down both my arms. And before flying off to the next victim, they left a parting gift, that fortunately cleaned up well.

Don't tell Iggy about these pics, he'll get jealous. I took these while sitting in my overstuffed chair right next to the sliding door. I just turned around, balanced on my knees, and snap! He was wandering around my balcony eating all the sunflowers.

He isn't running away in this next picture. He was just casually working his way across my balcony eating sunflower seeds. I don't know if he really ever saw me.

That same day, I heard the chirping of a Northern Cardinal, turned around and there was one on the balcony also eating seeds that had been dropped from the feeder. I initially thought this was a young male in his first year and that's why he wasn't in his bright red summer colors. But now I'm not so sure. I'll have to look at the picture more, but this could just be a female. I love Cardinals.

Saturday night, I also got a picture of the full moon. You can't tell, but it was just above the tree line to the East. Unfortunately, it was completely dark by then, so all you see is the moon and nothing else. Mine isn't as interesting as Lainie's.

Here's a little video I did last night...or should I say this morning. The picture isn't important, just the audio.

After struggling to sleep last night, and finally getting there about 1:00am, I was awakened at 3:08am by these noisy neighbors. The same ones that routinely come out onto their patio at 11:00pm or later and sit out with the light on half the night, while I'm trying to sleep. Many times, I've had to close my sliding glass door, close my blinds completely, and turn the fan portion of my a/c on to drown them out. But this was louder than normal.

That's why I called the police. Yes, I finally did it. I called them and about 10 minutes later an officer came and talked to them. I didn't hear what was said, but they very politely went inside and turned the lights off. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after that, they were back outside on the patio with the lights on again. So after all that, I still had to close my sliding door and turn the fan on to drown them out. I was quite bleary-eyed this morning after getting only four hours sleep.

Tonight on the way home from work, I stopped at the leasing office to let the resident relations gal know what happened. The get bi-weekly police reports of all the calls made to the complex, but she appreciated knowing from me what happened. She said she would contact them to let them know she was aware of the police call and remind them they need to respect other residents that might be sleeping. Dawn also mentioned that they too are in the restaurant business (I think all my neighbors are, with the exception of the guy downstairs.) That explains the nighttime hours they keep, and why they are up most the night. They sleep all day and work evening shifts.

So far tonight, no sign of them, but then it's still early for them. I'm sure by the time I'm falling asleep they'll just be getting home.

I'm off watching the Olympics, so whatever everyone's been doing the last week, you can just keep on doing it. I'll be back one of these days.

Go Cubs Go!!!

What a long and wonderful day. It started at 6:00AM when my alarm went off, and ended when I got home at about 8:30PM. My aunt and I met the tour bus at her bank at 9:00AM, along with about 30 other people. The bus drove to another town nearby to pick up the rest of our group at another branch of the bank, and we were on the road around 10:00AM. Along the way, the two bank employees that were leading the group had a mini trivia contest for giveaways. The very first question was "What is the significance of today's game?" I was the first person to raise a hand, and after answering "Today is the 20th anniversary of the first night game at Wrigley Field," I won a bag of peanuts. So Iggy, I did in fact eat some peanuts at the game, and I threw the shells all over the place.

Our bus dropped us off outside Wrigley Field just past 11:30AM, for a 1:20PM scheduled start against the St. Louis Cardinals. We were on bus 218 (very important to remember the bus number so you get on the right one after the game), and we were seated in section 218. How convenient! Since we were part of the first 10,000 fans to enter, we got the commemorative hat for the 20th anniversary of the lights at Wrigley Field. The hat says Wrigley Field Home of Chicago Cubs Opening Night

The game was very close, the Cubs scoring two runs on solo home runs by Jim Edmunds (one in the 2nd and one in the 7th), a former St. Louis Cardinal, no less. The Cardinals scored on a solo home run by Joe Mather in the 3rd, and a run scored by Skip Schumaker in the 6th. After 9 innings, the score was all tied up, 2-2. I purchased a scorecard and was able to keep score for the entire game. I guessed at a couple of the scoring marks, but it's not something I do very often, and was kind of fun. It forced me to really pay attention to every play, instead of just sitting there watching and waiting for a hit or a run. The scorecard only went up to 10 innings, so after the 10th inning, I had to stop, and of course, that's when the game was won, by Henry Blanco getting a base hit to bring in the winning run.

Cubs win! Cubs win! Holy Cow! The Cubs now have a 5 game lead over Milwaukee in the Central Division. St. Louis fell to 7 games back, and there are two more games this weekend between the Cards and the Cubs.

This was only my 5th Cubs game, and I loved every minute of it. If I win the lottery, one thing I'm going to buy is season tickets and go to lots and lots of baseball games!

Oh yeah! I almost forgot! During the game we saw Rich "Goose" Gossage walking up by the Suites, and it turned out he was singing the 7th inning stretch. He was a relief pitcher, played from 1972-1994, for nine different teams, including the Chicago Cubs in 1988. He was well known for having wild facial hair during his playing days, and even today is recognized because of his moustache. And the traditional "first pitch" was thrown out, or should I say sling-shot (shotted?) by three members of Blue Man Group.

Tomorrow I get to go to my first Cubs game of the season and they're playing the dreaded St. Louis Cardinals! It's also the 20th anniversary of turning the lights on at Wrigley Field. August 8, 1988 they turned the lights on for the very first night game of baseball at Wrigley Field.

My aunt gets in on a package through her bank, and I was supposed to go with her son since we both love the Cubs. But her son got his schedule mixed up and is cooking the wedding rehearsal dinner for a friend tomorrow. So instead, my aunt is going with me. She's not that into sports, so it should be interesting. I have to be at her house at 8:30AM, so I don't even get to sleep in tomorrow. The game starts at 1:20PM, it's a three hour game, then we have to take the bus all the way back to her town, and I get to drive the 40 minutes home from there. Will be a long day, for sure!

Go Cubs Go

That's the song we'll all be singing if they win! Go Cubs Go!!!

Last weekend, while cruising the back roads in south central Michigan, my Aunt, our friend, and I came across THIS:

It's an adult Trumpeter Swan and his/her cygnet (baby swan.) But wait, there's more:

A whole family of swans. Here's mom or dad with all three cygnets.

Here are both parents with the three cygnets. They had absolutely no fear of the cars driving past or of the people stopping to take their picture.

We saw them almost by accident, as the pond we were going by normally has Egrets, Cranes, and Herons. I now know that Trumpeter Swans like that place too! I've never seen them before, so it was a big first for me. Definitely the high point of the weekend!