What Month Is It?

My Christmas cactus, which normally blooms in December and January, bloomed the first two weeks of April. Last weekend, it was 62 degrees Farenheit. Today, it was 100 degrees Farenheit (that's 38 degrees Celcius). Where is this nature craziness coming from?

Where Did My Chin Go?

I was looking at those photos of DoodleMonster and I that I posted, and realized that middle age is starting to take a more rapid and widespread toll.

First, my chest slid down.
Then, my middle expanded.
Thirdly, white hairs started appearing on my head (thank goodness they're still curly!).
Now, my chin has disappeared.

What's next?

National Craft Month

March was National Craft Month, a deliberate design by manufacturers to get susceptible people like me out to buy more yarn. But I fooled them this year. I did not buy any yarn. I used up bits and bobs from my stash to participate in Ravelry's International/National Crochet Month Scavenger Hunt challenge. Crocheters were given 14 or so tasks to fulfill, and while I didn't complete all of them, I did have fun writing a limerick and lyrics for an ode to my yarn stash (no, I will not submit you to them here; your ears are safe). And I crocheted, quite a bit, actually. One challenge was to make something for charity, which is just too easy a challenge for someone who almost exclusively crochets and knits for charity. Here are the fleeces edged with three different borders (picot, granite stitch, and fans), and two blankets completed for the challenge. And just for fun--we had to pick an unusual holiday in March and crochet something for it, so I chose Pi Day and made a pi. We also had to make a 4-leaf clover in lieu of a shamrock. The challenge was a lot of fun, and I look forward to it next year.

Totally Cool Wednesday Science Geek Love Fact

This week's Weird Wednesday Science Fact:

Photo in today's Nature article about the newly-identified feathered dinosaur found in China. Feather fossils! One hundred and twenty-five million years old!  Total science geek love. 

Canine Cavorting

This past weekend was a big dog weekend. DoodleBug and I helped out at the Rescue a Golden Meet and Greet at a local bookstore on Saturday. Seven goldens, and only mine rolls around on the floor, scratching his back, or sits in chair at the table like a person, or leaps straight up into the air.  Insert sigh here.

On Sunday, we staffed the Delta Society/Pet Partners booth at the 5th annual Autism Walk on campus. Thousands of people on campus, hundreds of people walking through the tent where our booth was, probably one or two hundred stopping to play with him.  One mother brought her 8- or 9-year-old son to see him. This boy was ambulatory, but pretty unresponsive, not talking, not making eye or face contact, with his fists up by his ears. His mother was kneeling, tugging at his arm, trying to get him to squat down and pet Cuddley, who was sitting there. Suddenly, the kid just collapsed right onto my dog, just sort of let go and sank right down on him, pointy elbows straight into his back.

My boy just sat there, a big, fluffy statue. Not a muscle moved. He didn't startle, he didn't flinch, he didn't react at all. The mom helped her kid up and they walked on and I gave Tall Boy a huge hug and told him what a fantastic boy he was.  I admit I was surprised he was so good, when he has so little experience visiting, much less with a population of kids like this.

He was super good with these kids, even the non-ambulatory, completely unresponsive ones. He sat next to the wheelchairs or strollers and let the parents try to pet him with their kids' hands. He did relieve his stress by digging into the blanket I'd put down on the ground, tugging on his leash, or leaping into the air when no one was around (but he was probably bored, too). But as soon as someone approached to pet him, he sat down perfectly still and wagged his tail and wiggled his butt, but that's all. He's got superb therapy dog instincts.

Some photos from Saturday at the bookstore:

I have tried re-sizing that middle photo 5 times, and it gets uploaded sideways every time regardless of size, so just bear with it; sorry.

Spring on My Shoulder

I couldn't really use my entire tax refund for my credit card bill, could I? It is okay to occasionally splurge on yourself, isn't it? I skimmed just a bit and bought myself this fabulous Tom Bihn Little Swift in kiwi. I love this bag, and I'm not even the purse lover my sister is. I'm so used to my Medium and Small Cafe Bags (also by Tom Bihn), that are more messenger-bag style, that a shoulder bag stills feels weird. But I love it. Love it! How can they discontinue this fabulous color? The only problem? Like all Tom Bihn bags, it will be indestructible.

Where've Ya' Been, Mossy?

I have not been ignoring you, gentle readers. I have been having massive cell phone/Internet problems at home, as two of the five towers near my home are down, meaning the other 3 are operating at way above capacity. I know this because of my twice- or thrice-weekly phone calls to a certain cell phone company/Internet provider which shall remain unnamed (but which starts with a capital s). After a couple of weeks of problems using my cell phone, I went to the s store and they told me it was my battery (which they nicely replaced for free). Same problems with connecting ensued over the week, so I bought a new phone, even though I really didn't have the money to do so. Imagine how cheesed I was to discover the problems persisting! And thus began my twice- or thrice-weekly calls to the customer service line and weekly weekend visits to the store.

Interestingly, every time I have to go through this step-by-step summary. Each very nice customer service representative tells me that they are very sorry; they are writing everything down; they will issue a ticket for a repair. Every single time. I finally got fed up and when the third person in the same half-hour phone call asked to go through it again, and I am ashamed to admit I got a little testy. What are they typing then, as I can hear the keys tapping over the phone? Sudoku? The New York Times crossword puzzle?

I am very frustrated. My students are taking their online exam in one week. When this all started 5 weeks ago, I told the s company representative, "Well, as long as everything is settled by the time my students are taking their exam on arch 28, so I can be online in the chatroom for them..."  At this rate, who knows when it will get fixed? Grrrrrr!

The funny part: the representative tried to call me, and couldn't reach me (the phone simply doesn't ring, one of the many issues I've complained about).  And they think they are telling me something I don't know when they say "It appears that the tower one half-mile from your house is not working."  Oh, really? Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. I guess that explain why my phone doesn't work and I can't get online from home.

I apologize. I swore I would never use my blog for ranting, and here I am, ranting. I hang my head in shame.