Mermaids and whales -- posted via Zarina

Mermaids and whales

Recently, in a large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin, and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said:

THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

"To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans) They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia ... Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected, and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they don't have kids either. Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who's skin is all scaly and smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me... I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my grandkids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a latte with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think,‘Good golly, look how smart I am!’"

William's Letter to Senator Feinstein

Dear Senator,

Our state is in serious financial difficulty, our nation's economy is in severe recession. There are bills relating to energy, the environment, and healthcare occupying the congress and the nation.

And, apparently, the issue topmost on your mind today is dictating to the people of Alaska how they manage their food supply! Hunting wolves is not about sport, it's about making sure that the caribou herds are large enough to feed subsistance people in remote parts of Alaska. The herds have been decreasing but with cutting down on the wolf population, they are rising again. Why hunt from airplanes -- Alaska is twice the size of Texas with very few roads so driving out in a pickup is not particularly practical. This is not a matter of sport, it's a matter feeding native populations who have no convienient supermarkets.

Yes, it's sad the wolves get killed and not a particularly pleasant death. On the other hand, the young caribou or moose who is chased down and torn apart by the wolves as he dies doesn't have a very pleasant death either. Nature is messy. Those of us who get their dead animals neatly packaged in plastic at the grocery store should not pretend moral superiority over people who actually kill their own food.

California has a reputation for cultural arrogance which you have enhanced today by interfering in the management of Alaska's wildlife. Perhaps we should stick to taking care of our own people's needs and let them manage theirs.

William Shipley

Splitting Tree

The tree closest to the house is splitting and leaning. It leans on the wall in one direction and our house in the other. We've been taking it down a trunk at a time ('cuz it fills the bucket and it's hard work).

It's really sad. I've always liked that stand of trees. They shaded the living room and really helped cool the house. But they've been there practically forever. They were one of the first volunteers to come up (that we didn't mow down).

We've lost a number of them recently -- they've come to the end of their life span I gather and are becoming susceptible to boring weevils. Also their root systems are probably pretty tangled and taxed by now. They've been leaning away from each other for a number of years. If we realized what was happening, we might have culled the herd, as it were. But it's too late now.

A few of them are still ok, and hopefully as we take down the bad ones they'll improve or at least not get any worse. We shall see.

I got a little water on the lens taking pics of Loki out back while he helped us fix the sprinkler system. He's always so eager to help. ;-j

Loki Helps with the Sprinkler Head

I fear for the sprinkler head. ;-> Thank goodness we bought the brass one and not plastic or he'd've chewed it off by now. He can change the settings on it tho. I got a little wet taking pictures (as did the camera, sadly).

We shall see how watering goes in the future. Hopefully he'll get tired of the game. ;- j