Pointless photo of the day:

Why buck a trend?

In post titles, I mean.

Or in post lack-of-content. That'd work too.

To be honest, I'm not exactly in blather mode just now. My head's not as sore as it was yesterday, but my neck's still not quite right so the background headache won't be going away any time soon.

It does tend to make a person a bit cranky.

And, apparently, not as wordy as I might be. That's more of a problem than you likely realise, because it's newsletter time again and I have yet to figure out what the front page article is going to be.

A shame, that, since I'm the one who's supposed to be writing it.

Ahhh well.

How 'bout we try for actual blather tomorrow then?




Ok with me.

Pointless photo of the day:

That's it for today.

I have a bad enough headache that I'm headed home to lie down for a bit.

A bad enough headache, even, that I can't be bothered to whinge about it. For a change.

See you tomorrow.

Pointless photo of the day:

So, this is me hunting spiders in my father's garden. Poor spiders. They're just trying to mind their own business, and then out of nowhere comes this giant hand attempting to "pose" them for unwanted portraits. It's really quite unfair, when you think of it.

Ok, so I don't usually pose the spiders. This one moved just as I was lining up the shot, though, so I thought I'd have a go at convincing it to go in the other direction.

I wasn't entirely successful.

I mean, I got it to move in the other direction, but apparently there was more than the one other direction.

I did get a picture of sorts, however. Just not the one I wanted.

So you want proof? Fine, then:

I would have liked to have been a bit closer. Oh, and the spider should have been on one of the flowers.

There's an art to these pointless spider photos, you know.




Ok, so there isn't. It's just a silly hobby.

It keeps me occupied, at any rate.






Sad that I've gotten this far on the page and still haven't come up with a topic, don't you think?

Ah well. Can't say I'm in the mood to bother at this point. Go back and look at the photos again, I guess. I'll see you later.

Pointless thought of the day:

Why is it that men seem to need so many nicknames for their underwear? I mean good grief. Gitch, ginch, gonch, gotch... and please don't get me started on the other, far too numerous variants.

Hmmm.

A quick search (in case you've ever wondered, it's not unusual for me to be doing random googling while I'm typing the blather. It's probably why the blather so often peters out unexpectedly. Short attention span, remember? Sometimes I get far more interested in what I was googling than in what I was saying) indicates that this may be a Canadian men thing. Most of the references I've found so far indicate a ginch-Canada connection.

Odd, that. Must have something to do with the long winters. Men get so bored they start naming their pants?




Um, sorry. Just lost my train of thought. And no, it wasn't because of the search engine this time. Max wants ooooout, and Max has a tendency to let a person know that by suddenly showing up on a person's lap while a person is trying to type. Unfortunately for Max, there's no outside without being on a leash. He's just going to have to wait for that.

Ok, let me scroll back and see if I can pick this up again...

Was I honestly talking about underwear nicknames?

Lord love a duck, as my mother would say.

Ah well. I need to go change laundry loads, so wherever I was planning to go with the underoos is just going to have to remain a mystery. To all of us, apparently.

In lieu of sense, then, here's a list of Canadian slang for you to scratch your head at. Do we really talk like that?

Beauty, eh?

Pointless photo of the day:

I've got nothing.

I'm tired and I want the work day to be over.

Ok then.

*thud*

That would be the sound of head hitting desk. Not in frustration, no, unless it's frustration over being up at three in the morning.

Sleep didn't go so well last night, apparently.

It's too bad, because I would have liked to sleep.

Actually, I've been thinking lately that I need a bit more than sleep. No, silly, not death. Things are nowhere near that bad. What I need is a few days to myself. A few days of not going to work or going to my father's place or going... anywhere.

Sometimes I just get a little burned out with people in general, and I'm thinking that me-and-the-voices could use some off-time.

What do you suppose the chances are?

I had a bit of accidental off-time a couple of weeks ago when I was sick, but surely that doesn't count, right?




I know. Don't call me Shirley.

Oh, hey. Since I'm apparently doing random links out of nowhere, here's my new favourite thing.

Seriously. I love that.

And if you need an encore, try this. La la la LAH!

Heh.

Ok, I haven't been able to think of any blatherage so I'm going to stop trying now. And maybe have a nap.





Sigh. If only it was that simple.

Oops

Yeah, I forgot to blog.

Have a spider, then.

The end.

Go away now.

I know I'm going to.

Pointless pet photo of the day:

That's me being rubbed by a cat.

I'm the one wearing jeans.

Max has this weird habit when it comes to rubbing up against people. No, it's not the rubbing part. Cats generally do that. The weirdness comes in with the way he goes about it. He basically walks past you and then whaps you with his hind end.

We call it bumming. As in congratulations, you've just been bummed by the cat.

The funny thing is that Penny (a.k.a. Lumpy a.k.a. the cat who doesn't get mentioned as much on the blog because she's the comparatively normal one), who used to rub people in the usual cat fashion, has learned how to bum by watching Max. No doubt she noticed that it gets a response, and she's since become a world-class bummer herself.

How many of my two fans have already caught on to the fact that I have nothing today?

Good for you. Ten points.

Ah well. Link time, then. This blog is kind of neat.




I'm going now.






But I bet you expected that.

Disrupting my existence

Ok, first... I still have a headache. I'm not surprised that I have a headache (my neck's clicking enough that I was expecting the continuation of the headache), but I'm not especially happy about it either.

Second... today's pointless photo is of a muskrat's backside. Yeah, the uncooperative little bugger is in there somewhere if you really look for him.

Third... the post title. My existence has been disrupted yet again, you know. OLFs -- as a rule -- don't deal well with disruption. My two fans might have noticed by now that I tend to be a little routine-bound. There's a reason for it. It's comfortable. I like that.

Right now, though, I'm a bit disoriented. My desk looks wrong, and it's going to take some getting used to.

It's the monitor, you see. I don't know what to make of it.

Um, let me rephrase that. It's not that I actually want to make something of my monitor. Really, I don't. Especially since it just got here, and I'm not that handy at construction projects anyway.

Shall I be a little clearer?

My boss asked me if I wanted to swap the old CRT that took up most of one side of my desk (yes, I still had a CRT monitor. I know that some of you are surprised to hear that they still exist...) for a newer flat-panel. It's a bit bigger (not giganto-bigger, thank Whomever. I'm very uncomfortable with monitors that seem to want to take over your entire field of vision), and it gives me more useable desk space.

The problem?

It's a bit bigger and it gives me more useable desk space.

Things look reeeally different now from where I'm sitting. The monitor's farther away from my face so I feel like I should be leaning in to read it even though it's perfectly readable as it is. There's a big open NOTHING on the desk where the old monitor used to be.

And there's no place for my monitor lizard.

I'm beginning to think that the whole monitor lizard thing is the real problem here.

There's supposed to be a lizard draped on my monitor. It's the way things work. Now? Well...

Gimme one second and I'll take a picture. It'll save me some description.

Sorry it's dark. I put my finger over the flash.

Because I can, yes.

That's my monitor lizard, monitorless. Now it's been demoted to protecting my very small elephant.

And yes, I do need a very small elephant on my desk.

Hmmm. I just noticed that in the photo my oversized cup makes it look like I now officially have the world's tiniest monitor. I don't, really. I have a big mug, that's all.

And a disorienting desk.

Yep.

Ah well. I'll get used to it. Eventually.






Just in time for something else to change, most likely.

I'm sorry, I have a headache

I was sort of at a loss as to how to punctuate the post title. I mean, I'm sorry I have a headache says it's rather a pain to have a headache (which it is), but I'm sorry, I have a headache becomes an explanation/excuse for yet another lame day of non-blather.

You see my problem.

And you also see which choice I went with.

Last night was one of those lovely sweatfests where the house is too hot to be comfortable in, and of course it was inevitable that Max (a.k.a Sucky Bob a.k.a The Big Furry Hot Water Bottle) was in one of his more cuddly moods. End result is that I'm feeling kind of dozy and headachey and it wouldn't take much for the blog to become a prime example of A-1 Whinge.

All together now: So what else is new?

Oh, hang on. Tom Petty just came on the internet radio. 'Scuse me a moment.

Ok then.

Did I mention the headache?

Oh. Yeah. I did.

I think I might be done with today's post, you know.




Ok then. Let's go with that thought.

Butterfly not-porn

Same type of butterfly as yesterday, however.

Yesterday was a bit weird in a passive-aggressive sort of way, wasn't it? I'm not entirely sure why.

Ah well. Today's butterfly escaped the usual crop job because I decided that I liked the Silverberry leaves that are surrounding it. Makes for a fairly wtf picture, I suppose, but that's what pointless photography is all about, folks.

That would be it's all about what I like, even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else.

Kind of like my life, come to think of it.








Erm, anyway. I'm kind of hungry right now which means that the blather is going to get short shrift yet again so that I can go find something to eat. Also, my day and usual routine started a bit late, so I haven't had time to try to think of anything nonsensical to drone on about.

That's the excuse today, at least. Tomorrow it'll probably be the music or the fact that I need a haircut.

I really do need a haircut. When the pointless ponytail is over a foot long (it is, you know. I just now measured it to make sure I wasn't overstating things), that's a little too much ponytail.

I should do something about that.

I should eat first, though.




Hey, what do you know? This turned into nonsense after all...

Butterfly porn

Well, that's what it is.

Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want me to elaborate?

It's two butterflies. Mating.

Northern Pearl Crescents, I think.

The female's on top.

Yep.

No one was expecting any actual information from this post, I hope. I'm not in the mood to do the linking thing, so if you're desperate to know more about these shameless exhibitionists you'll have to warm up your own google today. I'll be nice, though, and give you the scientific name to help.

Are you ready?

Ok.

Phyciodes. Phyciodes cocyta, if these are, in fact, Northern Pearl Crescents.

My Alberta Butterflies book seems to agree with me on that, so they might even be Northern Pearl Crescents.

And no, I'm not going to link to the book either. You'll just have to look it up yourself if you're interested.

It's a good book, though.





I'VE GOT NOTHING, YOU KNOW.

I imagine you'd guessed that part by now.

I also just accidentally posted this lame excuse for blather before it was finished. I know, how can you finish something that never really got started?...

Oh, whatever. I'm pretty obviously not in blather mode today, so I think I'll just post this nonsense (REpost this nonsense) and try fresh tomorrow.

Enjoy the porn butterflies.

Chapter 566: General Stupidity

As opposed to Major Difficulty, of course.

I don't imagine much will come of today's blather because I'm... hmmm. Why do I feel a shut up, Toronto office coming on?

Because she knows too much and must be done away with.

Oh, now you know I'd never really do away with the Toronto office. After all, if I did that I'd have to find someone else to text when I'm... um... doing something kind of stupid on a workday.

Yeah.

You know what's kind of stupid on a workday? Deciding that you don't care it's a workday. More specifically, deciding that you don't care it's a workday and behaving as though it's NOT a workday. That can be kind of stupid.

And cause headaches.

But I did remember to put on my shirt before I came to work. Yay me.

Don't worry if you didn't get that last bit. Very definitely an in-joke.

Anyway, I've now officially wasted enough of my lunch hour that I really should get back to work. And yes, Toronto office, work HAS happened despite what you might have thought this morning. I'm just that good.

Even if I am generally kind of stupid.

No flies on me, no

And I, too, can prove that some days it's best just to mail it in, as it were.

It's been well over a gazillion degrees, with a humidex of 1.7986333 times that added, for the past four days so you don't really want to hear my thoughts.

Oh, wait. I have none.

Cool shot of raindrops though, don't you think.

What do you mean all you see is the peony? Click on the photograph, silly person.

Even flies have to get moisture from somewhere.

This photo has a spider in it

Well, it does.

The funny thing is that I wasn't intending to take a photo of a spider. Not this time, anyway.

Ah, spiders. Do you suppose the whole spider thing that hangs around my brain will ever go away? I wasn't intending to become all OLF about spiders. I mean, I've always sort of liked spiders (mostly because I didn't like insects, and the spiders get rid of those), but I would never have imagined that I'd be spending so much time in my off hours hunting them down to take their portraits.

I blame doodling.

For those few of my two fans (er, something off about the math there...) who don't know the story, the spider thing started when I was working on a display (about spiders, funnily enough) here at work. When you've got spiders in your thoughts you start noticing spiders more.

There are a lot of spiders out there, you know.

Many of them have appeared on the blog at one time or another.

The spider thing was harmless enough when it was just my brain that was involved, but I'm suspecting that it's gotten a bit out of hand. It's spread, you see. I was telling the Toronto office about something that's up with one of my spider doodles (this one, in fact) and gave her the name of the spider in case she wanted to look it up, but she remembered it from my mentioning it before.

That's sad.

Not that she remembered. That's great. No, the sad part is that I'd mentioned it BY NAME before.

I'm such a geek.

And not in the chicken-head-biting sense.




Ah well. Not a whole lot I can do about it at this point, unless someone would like to suggest a topic for a new display so that I can... what was the phrase I used before... become all OLF (that's a strange expression, Bruce) about something that isn't spiders.

Of course, with my luck I'd just be adding a new obsession to the existing one...







Ah well.

Oh, I don't know of the day:

So... if you haven't already done so, click here. No, really. Go ahead.

Come on, you know you want to. All the cool kids are doing it...

----------

About the title: I really don't know. Don't know what to put on the blog, don't know the answer to most of the nature questions you people (yes, I know it's you. Don't pretend it isn't) phone in, don't know what to do about the fact that my knee's still being a pain in the... well, knee.

I just don't know.



Did I mention the part where I I don't know?

It's tough when your Monday is a Wednesday, you know (or do you?). Kind of turns your week on its ear.

If weeks have ears.

Do they have ears?

Did I mention that I've got nothing?




Yeah. Going now.

Pointless moth photos of the day:

I don't have anything today, and I'm not in the mood to do any fake-blathering. The music's too good, I guess.

A person's got to have priorities, after all. Mine at the moment is, apparently, chair dancing.

Anyway, here's a couple of photos of a moth that I took last week. I've no idea what kind of moth it was because it very stubbornly wouldn't open its wings (not like that would have helped me, but I can pretend it would have), but I think it's kind of interesting all the same. In a creepy alien sort of way.

See you tomorrow. Or whenever.

Ow.

Today's photo doesn't look like much because it was a too-backlit zoom that I was pretty sure wouldn't turn out. I was right. I decided I liked the shapes when I cropped it, though, so here it is anyway. The photo's title will tell you what I was actually taking a picture of.

If you especially wanted to know.

----------

So, like the tree in the pointless photo would have been saying ow if it had still been alive (and, you know, wasn't a tree), I'm ow-ing a fair bit myself today.

Not for the same reason, of course.

No, it's the stupid buggered-up knee again. I spent good portions of the last three afternoons ambling down the trails at work (note that I say ambling. I wasn't exactly breaking any speed records), and while two of those days went all right yesterday apparently didn't.

I honestly couldn't tell you why. I felt ok before and after the program, but by the time I'd driven the forty minutes to my father's house after work my knee didn't.

Work, that is.

Yeah, I'm happy. It's not swollen so I know I didn't wrench it or anything; it's just doing its best pain-relief commercial audition. So much fun. At the moment I'm downstairs doing the usual laundry-blogging day-off combo, and I'm not so much looking forward to the trek back up the stairs for lunch. I've been up and down a few times this morning already (four times, to be exact. I know for a fact that it's four times), and it HURTS.

Gah.

If I'd known this would happen, I would have never fallen off that bus in the first place.





Erm, that's how I screwed up the knee back in university. Falling off of a bus, yes.

I guess I should probably explain what I was doing falling off of a bus?

Well, I was on tour with the university choir I sang with. I'd turned my ankle at our previous stop (not at all unusual for me. I had a pretty bad sprain back in junior high and the ankle's never been right since. Appropriate, since it's my left ankle. It'd be strange if it was right), had put my brace on, had completely forgotten about the whole thing, and managed to have the ankle collapse as I was getting off the bus at our next venue. Fell onto my knees on a gravel parking lot.

Well, if you're going to do something like that you really should do it right.

Or left.

Or something.

Anyway, the end result was a wonky right knee to go with my wonky left ankle. On days when the ankle's bad I limp on the left, and on days when the knee's bad I limp on the right.

On days when they're both bad I just get reeeally cranky.



Ah well. Let's hope that whatever's making the joint unhappy today sorts itself out before I go back to work. After all, it's PANCAKE BREAKFAST on Friday (oh joy) so I really don't need anything else to be cranky about.

Yep, Little Mary Sunshine, that's me.





Oh, shut up.

And furthermore:

Ow.

Pointless photo of the day:

That'll be it for now. I'm prepping a program.

Yep, I'm playing naturalist today. Edible plants.

Of course, you do know that all plants are, technically, edible? They are. It's just that some of them will kill you after you eat them, that's all.

Maybe I should rename these programs Plants That Probably Won't Kill You After You Eat Them.

That'd look great on the advertising...

Pointless photo of the day:

It's a rose in jail.

Or maybe it's a rose behind the old quilt stand that my father has decided should live out its final days as somewhat of a trellis.

Or something.

To be honest, I'm having a pretty bad typing day today (the backspace key is going to want a raise soon). I think we'll just leave things at the pointless photo stage rather than attempting a blatherage.

You're welcome, hands.




You too, my two fans.

Later, then.

Well, bugger

Apparently I'm doing a program this afternoon.

A program that I didn't know anything about until this morning. Even just that upsets my neurotic little world. It gets better, though.

I have a program with a group that needs a translator.

A program on a day with winds gusting up to fifty kilometres per hour.

A program for which I'll be on my feet for two and a half hours.

A program for which I'll be on my feet for two and a half hours while wearing a sock with a fairly large hole in it (which I didn't discover until I got to work, for anyone wondering why I chose to wear a holey sock).

Oh, and I don't have a brace with me today.





Yep, bugger pretty much sums up the situation nicely.

All of this, of course, doesn't exactly put me in blogging mood. When not in the mood it's generally best not to even bother, so...





Bugger.

I... um...

Well, I haven't really bothered to think of anything.

There's news, eh?

I did post something on the work blog, but that only helps you if you know where the work blog is.

Some of you know where the work blog is.

For the rest... well, I haven't really bothered to think of anything.

Yeah.

Today's pointless photo, by the way, is of rose leaves. Or a spider. Whichever floats your boat, I guess. The rose is the one I talked about here. The spider is a long-jawed orb weaver. Male. You can tell that from the clubbed ends of his pedipalps. The pedipalps are next to the chelicerae, or jaws. The jaws are long. Thus the name of the spider...

Yeah.

Oh, sorry, I said that already.

What else can I say?

Well, it's a fairly dreary day, but for the first time in a while I can't claim that I didn't sleep well. I slept incredibly well, in fact. Several times, beginning at about seven o'clock last night.

That was sort of weird, actually. I'm frustratingly unable to nap, usually, so having a nap (and, more importantly, waking up after a nap) is incredibly disorienting. And that was last night. Disorienting, I mean. I fell asleep, woke up, had a shower, and went to bed. Woke up, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Hmmm. Think maybe I was tired?

In other news, I think I'd like to cook on an Aga. No reason.

Well, ok, reason. I've been mildly fascinated by Agas ever since the Two Fat Ladies showed up on The Food Network (I couldn't figure out what that beast of an appliance was that they were using in one episode and ended up having to ask a British friend about it), and since the subject came up recently in a spate of blog comments (not this blog, obviously. And what made the whole thing funny is that Agas really had very little to do with the subject at hand and... oh, I think you had to be there) it's piqued my interest again. What can I say? The things look marvellously impractical for the North American kitchen, I hear they're fairly temperamental and massively expensive...

And I'd like to try one.

Maybe I should tell my landlord I want one.





Right. In my one-room apartment where they can't even be bothered to fix my broken bathroom light switch.

Ahhh well.

This blather sort of lost whatever sense it had somewhere along the road, didn't it? That's what happens when we take the Stream of Consciousness Bypass, I suppose. It's time, however, to get back to the real world now. If you want something readable, go to the work blog.

You know. If you happen to know where to find it.

Pointless photos of the day:

That's all, yes. I was busy with something else this lunch hour.

Busy...

erm...

eating a hamburger.

What? It still counts as busy. Doesn't it?

Anyway, I'm a little sleep-deprived and loopy as it is, so my two fans can be thankful that all you're getting today (from me, anyhow. What the Toronto office does is completely up to the Toronto office) are a couple of slightly artsy photos of wet rocks.

There's nothing wrong with pointless photos of wet rocks, you know.

I'm, um, going now.

Enjoy the rocks.

Arbourist

So, my father and I were out in the yard when he says something like, "oh. So it's the elm tree this time." I, of course, wondered what the elm tree was up to until I looked up and realised that he was referring to what was happening to the elm tree rather than what the tree itself was doing. The tree was, in fact, being trimmed. By mouth.

Yep, the local mule deer population isn't getting any shyer. This particular one (I was a little slow in getting the camera out, so didn't catch it in the act) decided to have a salad while we were standing in the yard. A bit of elm, moving on the wild roses and whatever else in the neighbour's yard... It probably went very well with the nasturtiums, sunflowers, and strawberry leaves it had from my father's garden earlier.

There's nothing like a well-balanced meal, you know.

I should mention that at this point in the blather I haven't yet been able to upload the pointless photo that I've been referring to since the photo thingy seems to hate me today. I'm going to assume that I'll be able to upload it by the time I'm done blathering. You can assume that I was able to if you see a photo beside this post.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

In the meantime, let's all watch this. All of us, yes. Well, maybe the Toronto office is exempt since I sent her the link a while ago, but I really think that the rest of us should watch. Go ahead. You can come back here when you're finished.

I love that video. I've seen it I don't know how many times, and it still makes me laugh. And in case anyone wonders, I am a Joe Cocker fan. I figure that a person can be a fan and still get a laugh.

In fact, most of the people that I'm a fan of make me laugh in some way or other.

Laughing is important.

Especially when one needs a little cheering up because one had a pretty useless sleep and now has a nagging headache and is more than a little on the grumpy side.

Ah yes. THAT'S why we all had to watch Joe Cocker. To humour Yours Crankily.

The photo thingy isn't humouring me, that's for sure. So you'll have to do it.





Anyway. My sense of humour is a pretty big part of who I am. Sometimes people don't get it, sometimes it rubs people the wrong way, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to find people who are not only happy to go along for the ride but are also pretty good at pointing out the detours on the way.

In case you've wondered, my two fans get a slightly edited version of my sense of humour here on the blog (when I can be bothered to post anything that might even give you the sense that I have a sense of humour, that is. I know I've been horribly dry lately). I'm fully aware of the difference between humour in person and humour in print, and since my humour in general probably doesn't translate all that well I try to keep the reins on a little bit.

No point in pissing off people I don't even know just because I found something funny, as far as I can see.

Maybe I'm wrong there, though. Maybe I'm just using that as an excuse to keep the cyberworld at arm's length the same way my in-person shyness tends to keep the real world at arm's length.

If that's the case, I have to admit that it really doesn't bother me. Most things in life appear more tolerable at arm's length. Any closer and you just go cross-eyed anyway.





Dad says that the deer had pea leaves for breakfast.

You know the deer I'm talking about. The one in the picture that the photo thingy isn't letting me post.

At this point me 'n the headache are tired of trying to manufacture blather while waiting for the photo thingy to have its morning coffee already, so I'm just going to stop here. I'll try once more for the photo before I go for lunch, but that's only because I'm really starting to enjoy beating my head on the desk.

Who knows? It may even sort out the whole brain problem eventually.

Or not.

Going now.

----------

HA!

Hmmm.




Yep, wasn't even really worth the wait.

Ah well.

Dear Toronto office:

I've got nothing. Didn't you say you had something?

I'm sure you said you had something.

Oh, and today's photo? I think that's where the foxes across the street from my father's house are living. It was formerly the cellar of a house that was torn down. Fitting that there are new neighbours, I guess.

I'm going to go... I dunno... maybe draw something now. I actually managed another new doodle, you know. That's got to be a record for me lately.

Pointless photo of the day:

Blue flax, in case you wondered, is one of my favourite flowers. I could take pointless photos of blue flax all day.

They'd all look pointlessly similar, but I could do it.

Anyway.

I'm not going to bother with pretending to blather today, because I got busy with something else and now I have other things to do.

Er, so there.

I guess.

I dunno. Probably something whingerific.

I'd like to say something twitty about being as non-happy as a cat on a leash, but the fact is that Max likes his leash because Max knows that the only way Max gets to go outside is if Max is on his leash.

And yes, Max really does drag that retractable dog leash around the yard with him.

He's a very determined cat, is Max. Too "determined" for the lighter leash my father used to have for him.

Emphasis on the used to.

Has it become too obvious that I don't have anything in mind to blog about?

I suppose I could blog about being back on the weekend shift for the rest of the summer, but there's not too much to say about that besides... well, besides saying that I'm back to working the weekend shift for the rest of the summer. Erm, not that I'm only working weekends. I work other days too, at least on weeks when my stomach hasn't decided to rebel against the work world in general and hold me hostage in my apartment for a while.

And how is the stomach, you ask?

Eh. All right, I suppose. Or at least a bit righter than it was earlier in the week.

I ate supper last night, for one thing. That was new. Took a while to figure out if it was a good idea to eat supper, but I guess things turned out ok.

Unlike this aimless blog post.





Would it be all right with everyone if I put this thing out of its misery?

Ok then.

We'll do just that.

You want to know what sucks?

No, not the photo. Pay attention. We'll get to the photo in a moment.

What sucks is feeling sick (in the North American sense) enough that you can't properly brush your teeth because you're worried that brushing your teeth might bring on another round of sick (in the British sense this time).

Yeah. It's been a fun couple of days.

And you're so welcome for that mental picture.

Ah well. Thanks to the Toronto office for stepping in to keep the blather going, although since I haven't talked (er... texted) to her for a while she probably had no idea why she was keeping the blather going.

Extra points for that.

Anyway. Today's pointless photo. I don't have anything worth blogging about at the moment (gee. I wonder why?), so I'm just giving you a game of Spot the Animals instead. Yes, there are animals in the photo. No, I can't remember how many. Maybe you can tell me. Click on the thing to enlarge it, then get out your best naturalist eyes (as opposed to naturist eyes, which would probably be looking at things nakedly) and see what you can find.

As for me, I'm... probably not going to have lunch, judging from the complaining that my system is still doing.




Gah.

A pleasantly uneventful day

I mean how busy a day could it be if I was laying back in my comfy chair in the yard and had a chance to pass the time while he moved, allowing me to take three angles of this same critter. Seriously.

And yes, if you rolled your mouse over the photo and saw the reference at the bottom ... I do believe sometimes you're the windshield (or screen), sometimes you're the bug.

It's a lovely evening here in the Big Smoke so I am going to go enjoy it. Outside. And no the computer cables don't reach that far.

See ya' .

Yeh it's the black dog again but there's ... oops

Nope, no reason here. Na-uh. No pumpkins on me.

Ah, they grow up so fast you know. It seems like only yesterday Smudgelette helped boost me out of the car having been under a 12-pound baby dog for three hours from kennel to our home. And if you don't know anything about puppies, that's a hell of a heavy 56-day-old pup.

Anyway. The Duchess will be two on Thursday and she thinks she no longer needs to be carded.

Hmm, well first things first I guess. The ONLY time on earth I even consider drinking beer is in the summer BUT the temperature and humidity must combine to form a haze over the city and form what feels like water droplets hanging in the air, as you inhale. And no, I don't know why it's then that I drink the stuff but thanks for asking. You did ask. I know you did.

So yesterday I took a bottle of wobbly pop out to the yard and placed it on the side table, turned to fluff the pillow on my chair and ka-plop. Now I don't know about you but I've found in life that ka-plop is never truly a good thing. Even when it's an outdoor ka-plop.

After the dog who had caused said ka-plop had hoovered what she could while I fetched the hose - and she is that good - everything was hosed down to keep the ants away. Then with the the bottle dried off, I moved to higher ground, set the bottle down and do you know what the black dog did? Well, do you?

A hundred bucks if you can call me right now and tell me the answer.




As I watched her, she walked toward me, looked me in the eyes, lowered her head and with her snout pushing from about a third of the way down the neck she pushed the thing over to get another guzzle.


I figure by the end of the summer I will have the only Lab in a 12-step programme.

The addendum here: no, it was not a contest to see how many ka-plops I could insert in context.

Happy .. something or the other - your choice

It's the First of July which means it's a holiday for those who blather here.

Note how very carefully I avoided adding an almost called-for cliche of The Frozen North as being the "here".

I assure you most emphatically the Alberta office would beg to differ with the frozen part - even with it being a joke.

So today all you get is the pretty leaves for She Who Must At Times Be Jollied Along and raindrops for me because, well, I like raindrops. SWMATBJA is wading through humidity and haze and just plain damn hot temps so jolly her along we shall!

Or something.

Just think of the raindrops. The cool, raindrops. Become one with the raindrops. Beeee the raindrops.

And if that doesn't work, well you can always take a Nyquil and sleep through the rain forest conditions.

Oh and yes, the caption. Happy Canada Day - and I won't even spoil the sentiment with a comment on why I think that's a lame name for the occasion.