Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I Do Not Like This Uncle Sam...

Via my mom:
I do not like this Uncle Sam,
I do not like his health care scam.
I do not like these dirty crooks,
or how they lie and cook the books.
I do not like when Congress steals,
I do not like their secret deals.
I do not like this speaker Nan ,
I do not like this 'YES, WE CAN'.
I do not like this spending spree---
I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.
I do not like your smug replies,
when I complain about your lies.
I do not like this kind of hope.
I do not like it. nope, nope, nope!
Go green - recycle Congress in 2010!

Shotgun Tracts...

On the lower Mississippi River, there's a stretch of land where the properties are all long, skinny tracts, with each having a tiny sliver of riverfront.  These are the shotgun tracts of the lower Mississippi...

Chaparral Morning...

Beautifully cool (57°F) and clear, with a half-moon high in the northeastern sky, just alongside the Pleiades.  Jupiter is still bright and high in the south; Orion is well up over the northeastern horizon.  The moon was bright enough for the dogs and I to see well without any light – I could even detect the red of our new roof.

Speaking of which, Chris and the boys are back from their vacation, and they went right to work yesterday.  When I got home from work they'd already left, but the roof is now more than half completed.

The three field spaniels were happily snuffling in the moonlight this morning.  No signs of alarm; they were just enjoying their enthusiastic inhalations of the morning's aromas.  Even I could smell the spicy chaparral aromas this morning – sage, especially, but also many other components.  The crickets were almost silent for some reason (possibly it was too cool for their liking).  Race, the border collie, was completely absorbed by the pine cone he'd found – he has a game he plays repetitively and compulsively.  First he drops the pine cone just in front of him.  Then he slowly backs a foot or so away, all the while staring at it intently.  Then as soon as one of the field spaniels or I makes an inadvertent move toward the pine cone (since none of us care a whit about it), he darts in and grabs it, delighting in his victory over us.  Then he does it all again...

Geek Humor...

Via colleague James C.:
Q.  Why do computer geeks get Halloween confused with Christmas?
A.  Because oct 31 == dec 25!
If you don't get it, just take comfort in the fact that you're demonstrably and provably not a geek. It would be hard to explain to the ungeekly...