More Random Musings

I'm still feeling rather laid back after my lovely day yesterday at the Botanical Park.

I'm glad I went when I did.  Later in the afternoon a thunderstorm moved through.  Lots of wind & rain.  I was glad I was home.  I did worry about a young man who came to my door wanting to give me a religious brochure.  As always I politely said no, thank you.  I hope he was able to find shelter from the storm.

Earlier in the summer I visited my mom who lives in west Texas.  There are a number of odd place names on the way to & from Albuquerque.  For example:  there is Cannibal Draw (near Big Spring, TX).  I wonder what happened there to give it that name.  I keep telling myself I'm going to do some research on it.  However, I've been a bit lazy in that regard.

One of the routes I've taken over the years goes through Lincoln County - where Billy the Kid earned his notoriety.  Lincoln NM has a small cemetery.  Some gravestones are old.  Some are newer.  Some don't even have a formal headstone - just a large stone (about the size of a bowling ball) at the head and foot of the grave.  Kinda sad when you think about it.

There is one headstone that amuses me.  It's for a husband and wife.  His claim to fame is that he was a 'pal of Billy the Kid'.  I guess if that's your 15 minutes of fame, then you might as well run with it.

Papillon

A Lovely Summer's Day

I spent part of the day at the Rio Grande Botanic Park.  One of the reasons I went was to see the Butterfly Pavilion.  As to be expected, there were lots of lovely butterflies fluttering by.  (Oh, there was also the cutest family of ducks outside of the pavilion.  A mama & about a half dozen babies who acted like they owned the joint.)

After the Butterfly Pavilion, it was fun & rather soothing to wander through the rest of the Botanic Park.  Lots of flowers - begonias & roses & daylilies among others.

My favorite spot in the whole park is the Japanese garden tucked all the way at the back.  Extremely soothing.  Lots of shady spots to sit & reflect & relax & just commune with nature.  A couple of dragonflies seemed to be posing for me.  (Let's hope those photos come out OK!)  A few people walked through but for the most part I was all by myself. 

I did swing by the Heritage Farm area of the park.  I was minding my own business taking photos of daylilies when something in the foliage STARTLED me.  It obviously wasn't some small critter or a lizard, but was of significant size.  I backed up a bit & at first thought it was a cat.  Nope, it was a fairly hefty chicken.  During the day, the farm area lets the chickens go free-range.  (They're put in their coop at night - no reason to provide hot snacks for the local coyote population.)  It obviously agrees with them because they're of good size & have a rather carefree attitude.  It was fun to see them doing their thing.

Papillon

Hitting the Bottom Line

I have yet to figure out why people crank up the bass to its maximum when playing their music.  A couple of days ago I was driving around town & a man drove by.  The bass was cranked up so loudly that it sounded like his speakers were going to explode.  I made sure to give him plenty of room just in case they did.

A similar incident happened several years ago.  I was stopped at a red light.  All of a sudden my vehicle started to vibrate.  I was worried that I was looking at some pretty pricey repairs until I realized it was a car behind me with the bass cranked up.  I wouldn't be surprised if local seismographs were registering that car.

What brings all this to mind?  I live several blocks from a local city-run swimming pool.  (I moved into the house before the city put in the pool.)  Occasionally during the summer they will host evening pool parties.  I don't have a problem with that.  What I do have a problem with (sometimes) is their music.  When tonight's party started they had the music & the bass line cranked up so high that it felt like my heart was beating in time with the music.  You could feel the windows vibrating in sympathy.

Someone (not me!) must have complained because for a while there was silence.  When the music started back up, it was at a much quieter level.  I can still hear it, but now it's in the background (for me) instead of feeling like they're situated smack dab in the middle of my living room.

Party on!
Papillon

Bunnies & War

Gee, ain't I a stinker! - Bugs Bunny

Of course you realize this means war! - Bugs Bunny
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There's a fair amount of wildlife in my neighborhood.  Coyotes, quail, squirrels, and, of course, rabbits.
Up until now, I've had a pretty good relationship with all of them.  I don't bother them & normally they don't bother me.

Recently I bought some bedding plants.  So far the rabbits have ignored the sage & rosemary.  But they zeroed right in on the peppermint.  I noticed the plant was looking a bit nibbled on.  However, I draw the line at them stripping it right down to the stems.  If those wascally wabbits are too proud to eat the weeds growing in my yard, then I'm not going to enable them by provide them peppermint to cleanse their little palates.

Fortunately, I caught it in time so there's still some greenery left & the plant looks perky enough.  What's left of it.

Thinking of Bugs Bunny, I once used one of his quotes while at work.  I think I'd gotten to the office & was commenting on someone's driving during the morning commute.  I concluded by saying "what a maroon!"  A coworker then corrected me saying, "It's pronounced moron."  All I could do was stare at her & then turn & walk away.  I've never been quite sure if she'd been so culturally deprived as to never have seen a Bugs Bunny cartoon or if she was, in fact, a maroon herself.

Off to water the plants,
Papillon

Summertime

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.


-- Henry James

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Days like today always remind me of my favorite summertime sound - the quiet 'chink' of ice against the side of a glass full of lemonade.  Note:  it's gotta be a glass glass, not a plastic glass.
 
We actually got a bit of rain today.  A teeny tiny bit of rain.  After supper, I went out to water some plants & there was a very fine spray of rain.  It has since passed on.
 
I think my brain is feeling the summertime heat effect - as in it's too hot to think.
Either that or my blood donation from earlier today is resulting in not enough blood to carry oxygen to my brain.  (Just kidding, all you phlebotomists!)
 
People always tell me they can't understand how I can be a regular blood donor.  They HATE needles.  Well, duh!  So do I!  But it's only one needle during a time period that's a minimum of 8 weeks.  I'm especially amused when people who have tattoos make this statement.  Unless that's a temporary tattoo, you've had WAY more needle pricks than I've ever had.
 
Plus, it's the ultimately lazy way to help the community where you live.  You do it once every 8 weeks, you do it lying down, you're giving a resource that's regenerated in a very short period of time, and when you're done they give you juice & cookies.
 
Today, they were earmarking some donations (including mine) for babies (& probably other folks with immune system problems).  It got me to wondering - does blood donation affect the recipient the way organ donation sometimes does?  I've read where people who have received donated organs have later exhibited some characteristics of the donor.  Liking spicy food when the donor didn't like it before.  Craving candy when the donor didn't crave it before.
 
I'm hoping my blood's recipients turn into voracious readers.  Reading anything & everything.  Broadening their minds & horizons.  Delving into the past.  Speculating about the future.
 
Read on!
Papillon

Cat Weirdness

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." - Unknown
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Dogs are essentially omnivores.  With certain exceptions like onions & grapes, they can eat most anything.

Cats need lots more protein.  I once saw a documentary where a British expert said that the perfect meal for a cat is a mouse.

That being the case, why do cats like to eat the strangest things? 
Examples:
- A friend used to have a cat who liked broccoli with cheese.
- My family used to own a Siamese who LOVED graham crackers.  And champagne.

The champagne leads to a funny story.  The cat didn't originally love champagne.  But one New Year's Eve I put a drop of champagne on my finger & offered it to him.  He acted like I'd just offered him a drop of liquid arsenic.  I dab the drop on his nose.  He licked it off.  You could see him thinking about it - 'hmm, not bad.  Better than I thought.'  So I offered him another drop.  He licked that up.  Next thing you know, he's trying to drink out of my glass.

My current cat is carrying on the family tradition.
He likes:
- croissants
- wine (but not hard liquor)
- butterscotch pudding
- Wheat Thins
- and the list goes on.

Interestingly, he's not overly fond of Thanksgiving turkey.

Papillon

Eating an Elephant

There's an old, old joke - how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

The latest book I've read is One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer, PhD.  It's an interesting book based on the premise of Kaizen. 

Kaizen is the Japanese term for 'eating an elephant one bite at a time'.  The premise is - no problem is so very big that it can't be solved one very small step at a time.

Overweight & don't have time to exercise?  Start by marching in front of your TV for one minute per day.  Just one minute.  Per day.

Doesn't sound like much & it's not.  But if you get used to doing one minute per day for a week, then you get your brain used to exercising for one minute.  So the alarm bells & red flags & other warnings don't go off in your brain that you're exercising for crying out loud.

Then you can bump things up to marching in place for a whole commercial break.  Then for a whole show.  And the next thing you know, you're exercising & you haven't freaked out once.

So this is my homage to solving BIG problems one very small step at a time.

Try it, you just might like it.

Papillon