Finally a picture

We've all seen comments by a particular person throughout the internet. I assume that most of you, like me, have wondered what this "person" looked like.

I give you...

ANON A. MOOSE

Strange invaders who Otter know better

Our town was invaded late Thurs. by strange men who docked their odd craft while calling out "Beeeds for yor weeemun!!"

For more info go here or

Here

They were intercepted coming upstream by a group of 4th and 5th graders on a nautical field trip to learn about the history and ecology of our "River" (Declared a river by act of congress, geologists say its a tidal slough) courtesy of the local Sea Scouts, The Bay Institute and STRAW





And since we're on a nautical theme, here's an update on the "rescued" river otters . BTW, they ARE RIVER Otters not Tidal Slough otters.

Do I look like I just fell off a hybrid turnip truck?

So, I just went over 30,000 miles last week, and the tires were showing quite a bit of wear. And just before the service appt, the tire warning light went on. I checked the pressures, added a couple pounds in front and the light remained on.

Service guy says you need new tires (duh). The wear was on the outsides of all 4 tires, and evenly worn down, not wavy. I read it as either low pressure wear or cornering too fast. (MOI?)

So I wanted to do some tire shopping. Toyota said about $525 with alignment. I asked what was the mileage rating for their tires. The service guy would not give me a mileage rating! He said it should be the same as what I had gotten (30K?) or better since they improve the tires all the time. Also they were "specially rated" for the Prius since it is SO much heavier than most cars due to the battery. Well I know tires have weight ratings. What they sell is nothing special.

Costco quoted $504 out the door for 80,000 mile Michelin's (no alignment, but I don't think it needs it)

My problem now is that I don't trust ANYTHING the Toyota dealer is going to say to me in the future, 'cause they obviously think I'm a bigger idiot than I actually am.

Lovett was great, but here's what's on tap for tonight!

A little eye candy for some.

Here's what we're doing tonite!

I can haz Liel Luvit!

The only bummer is, he's not bringing the horn section, DAMN!

All good things come to an end when they dryrot

Mission: paint the porch

Challenge: fix the dryrot

Now we just need to paint the REST of the house.

So while it's TRUE that I have been sitting on my tokus since my last post, I was at least doing something while in that position.

Smoke on the water

When the weather turned hot, spouse and I fled to the coast like little screaming girls. It's been nice, we celebrated our 31st anniversary last night with dinner at a new restaurant. It's been a bit hazy, but great sunsets. A nice 68 degree breeze, sit back and relax

My Neighbor the Artist hits the BIG TIME!

This was in the local weekly newspaper which is much esteemed by fish wrappers everywhere.

Can I get a big AWWWWW?

Video Here
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Otter pups' adventure
By RAYNE WOLFE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Two little river otters went on a weekend tear in Petaluma, stopping at Mario & John's Tavern and an auto parts store, but are now under the protective care of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue.On Friday night, some good Samaritans apparently moved three baby otters near the Petaluma River to a quiet creek area."We had a call on our hot line saying three little otters were found and moved to a better place for them. Next thing we know, we have a call from five miles downstream that two otters are running around this neighborhood," said Doris Duncan, Wildlife Rescue's executive director.The furry pair, estimated to be about 2 months old and each about as big as a shoe box, thumped across several porches, diving under fences as humans approached.The first otter, now dubbed "Wilson," was caught on Saturday morning by Petaluma Animal Control Officers Jason Pietsch and Andi Christman after a homeowner on Wilson Street found the duo sleeping between a garbage can and a flower pot.American river otters are common along waterways in Sonoma County but are rarely in plain sight. They tend to avoid human contact, said Pietsch."That makes them very hard to catch. They are very wily animals," he said.Duncan speculates the mother of these young otters must have been injured or died.Because they would not have survived long without their mother, multiple search efforts ensued throughout the weekend for the second slippery otter.On Saturday night, a patron at Mario & John's Tavern on East "D" Street walked outside and found an otter trotting along a storm drain."He was afraid he'd sound crazy or we'd think he'd been drinking too much. But he said it hissed at him twice and then ran across the street into some bushes," said Donnie Figone, co-owner of the tavern.A call to Animal Control delivered help, including Duncan and volunteer Rachel Griffiths, a Santa Rosa firefighter, armed with nets and gloves, but the otter proved elusive."What was amazing to me is that the neighborhood really came together. Everyone was helping us. Nobody minded that a lady with a net was in their back yard," Griffiths said.On Monday morning, as Griffiths was driving to Petaluma to continue the search, she received a call that Greg Bushey of Rohnert Park had boxed up the errant otter."He was at Dan's Auto & Truck Parts on Lakeville, which means the otter had to have crossed Lakeville. At first, he thought it was an injured cat," Griffiths said.By midday Monday, otter No. 2 was in a cat carrier on the road with Griffiths. The famished otter munched on a trout courtesy of Pietsch. The otters were reunited at a Wildlife Rescue satellite station -- and not a moment too soon. Otters are social creatures and miss their mates when separated."Wilson was lively on Saturday, but by Sunday, very mopey, almost depressed. When I put the second otter in, they were chirping and embracing each other, wrestling like little otters do," Griffiths said.An effort to find a possible third baby otter is ongoing. Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue is on Mecham Road in Petaluma and can be reached at 526-WILD. Petaluma Animal Control can be reached at 778-4396.Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue rehabilitates more than 1,000 wild animals annually and offers educational school programs."We couldn't do this without the support of our 300 members," said Duncan, who estimates the gas cost alone on the case of the otters will top out at about $200.Duncan said the baby otters will be moved to the Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care center, which has an otter habitat, including ponds with slides. They eventually will be returned to Sonoma County to be released back into the wild.You can reach Staff Writer Rayne Wolfe at 521-5240 or rayne.wolfe@pressdemocrat.com.

Social Butterflys

NWPRRHS (NorthWestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society for those NOT in the know) Awards dinner in the afternoon, then a bocce ball potluck with friends late afternoon early evening.
This little engine is known as the "Quarter Pounder"

My first "movie" with the new camera, excuse the ending, and NO, it did not run over my foot.

A little bocce, a little food and friends

A lovely midday hike in the Bouverie Audubon Preserve in Glen Ellen

Did I mention it was a guided tour?

A Rat's nest, literally

Did I mention lunch included? (NO, we didn't eat the eggs)

Retiree Luncheon and car show

And now for something completely different

If you're reading from the back to the front anyway.


Saturday afternoon, I went to wash a bug splatter off the lower right part of my windshield, and when I looked there was a starred chip in the windshield. Ever the optomist, I hoped it would be stable. Another call to the insurance Co!

Undeserved PUNishment

Just had this forwarded to me, I'm in heaven!

International Pun Contest :Here are the ten first place winners in the International PunContest:

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.'

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire inthe craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my Electron.' Theother says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. 'But why?', they asked, as they moved off. 'Because,' he said,' I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer.'

7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to Spain , they name him 'Juan'; the other went to a family in Egypt and is named 'Ahmal.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, 'They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal.'

8. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him.So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to 'persuade' them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop.Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time,which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him a supercalloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh.No pun in ten did.

Lily likes upside down Meercats

More blogger "improvements"

I don't seem to have been getting notification of comments, so I just found a bunch I hadn't noticed before. Sorry.

'Tis the season

My BIL and nephew, newly graduated from HS

Cat pics, the last resort for the uninspired blogger

Damn paparazzi! Can't I even have privacy taking a bath?

Learning Curve + Lily's a survivalist!

I have spent most of today setting up, installing software and learning to use our new camera. Our Pentax33L died a sudden inexplicable death. The viewing screen died. So, off to Costco for a new (on sale) Panasonic Lumix TZ4. First, the battery had to charge for 2 hours. Then the memory card had to be formatted. While this was going on, I visually scanned the instructions to find out how to do the basics. Like our last camera, this does MUCH more than we will ever use.

As for Lily, since we got her 3 years ago, she has always preferred to drink water from an algae laden ceramic bowl on our porch or from a dripping bathroom faucet rather than her stainless steel pristine water bowl. When she drinks, she most often wets her paw and licks the water off it. The last several days she has had us on the edge of our seats as she stuck her paw in a green transparent glass vase full of thorny rose blossoms to wet her paw.
Then, she goes into the kitchen and eats the kibble that Michaela has spilled onto the floor before eating her own food. She's preparing for tough times.
Is this a mugshot or what?

Michaela's eating habits have been odd also. Because of her kidney disease she was put on a diet of special kidney friendly kibble. She ate it with gusto for awhile, then suddenly wouldn't touch it. A friend suggested Beech nut chicken baby food. She ate THAT with gusto for awhile, then suddenly wouldn't eat it. She ate a little bit of Lily's dry food for awhile. Then she suddenly liked her special dry food again. Now it's smorgasboard (with a little roasted chicken bits thrown in.) Also she gets to lick the empty tapioca container.

Lastly, but of greatest importance, is The Boss is sick with another cold. Last time she lost her voice for like 5 weeks. Send your positive thoughts and antibiotics her way please!

Now I HAVE to watch Rachael Ray

The better half watches RR along with other cooking shows and the like. Sometimes I don't flee the room when said shows are on. One day, I actually watched a program about her rise to fame. Big deal.

Then THIS happened.

http://omg.yahoo.com/dunkin-donuts-pulls-rachael-ray-ad-after-complaints/news/9436

Are you F'ing kidding me?

THIS makes me pissed off that I'm celiac and also don't drink coffee so I can't BOYCOTT the idiots who came up with this one.

Should we all shave all our body hair and run around naked because terrorists have hair and wear clothes?

OK, I have to go breathe now (or is that something ELSE terrorists do?)