Sunday, March 30, 2008

A sappy but heartfelt haiku

So many birds sing
Glorious cacophony
Spring is truly here

Thursday, March 27, 2008

More snow geese!






I am fascinated by these birds. Courtesy of the Hinterland Who's Who site, here are some interesting factoids:

The Greater Snow Goose
  • can walk 30 km when it is one day old
  • usually flies at 55 km/h
  • can fly as fast as 95 km/h and make nonstop flights of up to 1 000 km
  • has a migratory route of over 4000 km
  • mates for life
  • gathers in great numbers during its migrations: for example, 500 000 geese at a time can be seen in early April at Baie-du-Febvre, Quebec
  • has a wingspan of up to 1.5 metres (5 feet)


Its migratory route is rather narrow:

This map is probably a little inaccurate, as we are closer to the eastern shore of Lake Ontario than the diagram suggests. The snow geese have been landing in the field down the road every year for at least the last six. I'm always thrilled to see them.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Spur of the moment field trip

When I took the compost out a few minutes ago, I caught some brilliant white flashes out of the corner of my eye. The snow geese were landing in the field down the road!

William and I grabbed our coats and the camera, and wandered down the road to investigate.



Note the beautiful white plumage, with the black wing tips.



Cut-down cornfields provide a welcome resting spot for these weary travelers.



The field is big enough for their Canadian cousins.



And for these wild turkeys.



Time to fly the friendly skies again. See you next spring!

Nom nom nom




Black squirrels in my parents' back yard.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The part he left out

It's a little-known fact that my brother-in-law is the Chief Creative Officer at Cryptic Studios, out in Los Gatos, California.

Yesterday, he created a developer's blog entry to answer the question, what exactly do you do all day?

Jack left out the most crucial part of his day: calling us to "commiserate" about the cold. Last week, he left a message on our machine, saying that it was a brisk 69F and he might have to go and put on a jacket, and how that made him think of us because he heard it gets a little cold in our neck of the woods, too.

Grrr ....

Noted for posterity



At 0930 on 25 March 2008, the snow geese passed over the wilds of Pamelia.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

How many deer can you spot?


(click to embiggen)

I can see seven.

I took this picture from my upstairs window. The deer are grazing in the field about 400 metres north of here.

Edit: They've moved closer! Now how many are there?



I can see ten here.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Dear IRS Dudes

Thank you for your kind letter this week, reminding me to file our taxes so that we might receive our economic stimulus cheque. I knew this already, but the reminder was nice, nevertheless.

I was also pleased to learn that folks like us, who opted for the direct deposit option on our refunds would be first in line to receive the stimulus cheques. Hooray for modern technology! Hooray for internet banking!

I would like to take this opportunity to point out, for future reference, that the reminder letter was moot and redundant. It was sent out the day after Uncle Sam kindly deposited the refund into my bank account. If Amazon and Netflix can keep track of my interests and suggest books and movies which I might enjoy, then Uncle Sam is surely capable of knowing that I know I need to file a tax return .. having already done so. You could have shaved a buck or two off of the 42 million that you spent, sending those letters out.

I'm just sayin'

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Six degrees of Schadenfreude

While my Mother-in-Law was never directly implicated in Spitzer's witch hunt of that certain large insurance company, the investigation made her life a living hell.

Thus, the cackles eminating from Chez Miniature Rose grew even louder this morning when we learned that the {ahem} entrepreneur involved in the scandal grew up mere miles away from my inlaws. Way to go, little Jersey girl!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

But let me tell you why ...

There has been much cackling and giggling chez Miniature Rose these past three days.

It's not that I care about the soon-to-be-Ex-Guvnah's peccadilloes per se. He's not the first, nor will he be the last, narcissistic, powerful man to explore his {ahem} options.

It's the hypocrisy. It's the hubris. It's the schadenfreude. It's the unfolding of a 21st century Greek tragedy before our very eyes that brings such amusement to this house.

A couple of years ago, my Mother-In-Law called in the middle of the day. Before she even said hello, she blurted out, "I just want you to know that it wasn't me on the cover of the New York Post, and I haven't been arrested."

The rather large insurance company, for which my MIL still works, was a very lucrative target for Mr. Spitzer when he was the AG of this great state. I won't pretend to understand the larger picture, let alone the nuances of Mr. Spitzer's charges against this particular insurance behemoth. However, it was crystal clear to us, from the beginning, that this "campaign against corporate corruption" had nothing to do with business practices, and everything to do with The Steamroller's political aspirations.

Was it a mere coincidence that the photographers from the NY Post were waiting outside the offices of this insurance behemoth when several of its employees were frogmarched out of there like war criminals? Wasn't that a nice little bit of free advertising for Mr. Spitzer's gubernatorial aspirations?

On behalf of the entire state of New York, I'd like to apologize to the world for the scuzziness of our soon-to-be-ex governor. I wish I could offer y'all some mental bleach.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

It's Haiku Time Again!

Oh, Guv'ner Spitzer!
How is life in that glass house?
You are such a putz.

Dear Missus Spitzer
Get thee to a nail salon
Sharp nails make the point

Sunday, March 09, 2008

I don't find this stuff amusing anymore ..

.. the weather, that is.

Yesterday's "storm of historic proportions" delivered a great deal of freezing rain, followed by snow, which is being now whipped around by a bitter wind.

Note to Old Man Winter: enough already!

On the other hand, I found this to be highly amusing:

Humorous Pictures


That's not my cat. Gandalf is smart enough to stay inside during the winter. But the picture does sum up, with great accuracy, the weather we've been having lately.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Whuh?

I see that there is a class action suit against the makers of Airborne. Airborne is getting dinged, to the tune of $23.3 million dollars, for false advertising.

I'm a little distressed by this development. I am a serious devotee of Airborne, and have turned several of my coworkers onto this marvelous product as well. Touch wood, but I haven't had a serious cold in over two years. As an asthmatic, my lungs are my weak point. A cold can quickly become bronchitis or pneumonia, neither of which I can afford. Popping an Airborne at the first sniffle seems to be effective for me.

I do hope that this lawsuit does not sound the death knell for Airborne, because I have no intention of giving it up!

Icy morning, and a haiku for Heidi





Ice on the window
The cafe is still open
For my little birds

Monday, March 03, 2008

A haiku, for posterity

The robins are back
With their sweet promise of spring
For the cold-weary

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Oh well, whatever, nevermind

So, it turns out that those Limited Edition Coconut Creme Hershey's Kisses are au courant, after all. The shelves at Target are overflowing with them, and with Lemon Creme and Orange Creme Kisses, and all manner of other concoctions.

Having convinced myself that my wooshy stomach was the result of having consumed some very stale candy, however, I left all those confections right there on the shelf at Target. There's nothing like a wooshy stomach to serve as an aversive to all that sugar .. and sugar is not our friend*

*inside, family joke

Saturday, March 01, 2008

My own LOL Cat


Existential angst. I has it.