Sights on our daily walk

Yesterday my wife and I were taking our 5 mile walk and we decided to go up towards the other end of Pacetti Road. We saw a 'no trespassing' sign which made me think of the song "Signs" by The Five Man Electrical Band so we hopped the fence to see what was on the other side. We found this piece of what is known as 6 mile swamp.

Imagine what it must have been like in the late 1800's for the loggers who would live here for weeks at a time cutting the cypress trees for lumber. There are still a few old cypress remaining, covered with bromeliads and looking like they belong in the Jurassic period. It's a primitive, richly growing area that Thoreau would have appreciated.

On the way home we passed the first Catholic church in our little village. It was recently closed after being active for more than 70 years. The old church stands here as a reminder of the spirit of the farming settlers and a testament to the passage of time.

We Found A New Friend While Walking

My wife Karen and I were doing our daily 5 mile walk along Pacetti Road. She was walking in front when she suddenly stopped and put out both arms. I asked why the heck she stopped in the middle of the road. Karen whispered "Look!" and pointed in front of her. I stepped around her and saw a cute little pigmy rattlesnake sunning himself in the road a couple of feet away. I was afraid he was going to get hit by a passing car so I carefully walked up to shoo him off of the road. As I didn't have a broom or anything to use to send him on his way it was fortunate that he made it easy by scurrying off as I approached closer. You never know what you are going to see on these walks!

I've Got A Tiger By The Tail

I've spent the past week working on a new pacing guide and exam for Biology and Anatomy down at the school board building. I can confidently say that they've more than gotten their money out of me timewise on this project. I still have about 2 hours of loose ends to tie up but have put in 18 hours so far on a project they paid me 12 hours for.

And now for something completely different! We had 5 cats adopted out this Saturday from Goliath and Bebe's World's rescue group at Petco. Our head lady Lisa was gone on vacation so I took over medical duties. This mainly consisted of snipping spay sutures, doctoring ear mites, vaccinating, and giving medicine for worms. One group of 3 grey semi-ferals I had never seen before had to be treated for roundworms. Since they had been so good all day being petted by strangers we thought it would be easy to hold them as we medicated. Wrong!! As soon as the first guy tasted the bitter medicine, he leaped out of the other volunteer's arms. I grabbed and held on for dear life so this hissing monster wouldn't take off out the door. After a couple of "oh shit" comments I yelled "open the door!". I thrust this very angry cat inside and slammed the door. I then took damage assessment. Blood was dripping from both hands and the pants were a total loss due to being filled with cat claw holes and covered with blood. I wiped off all that would come off of the pants and disinfected the scratches. After that I continued the medicating in the cage by wrapping the other 2 guys in a towel before shoving medicine down their throats. Afterwards, the day got back to normal and we closed out the afternoon with 2 more adoptions.

Here is the left hand 2 days later partially healed. It actually looks a lot better now than when I was sitting there with blood dripping on the floor. Oh well, occupational hazard.

Bunny Table Items

We have been collecting bunny related items for our 'bunny table' for a number of years. Here are three interesting items.

This is a ceramic bunny coming out of a hat.

Here is the handle of a rather odd bunny letter opener.

and this is the top of a bunny ink pen.

Guilty Pleasures: Richard Marcinko

I started reading about the Rogue Warrior since his first autobiography came out. Dick Marcinko founded Seal team 6 and was instrumental in establishing the modern Seal program. Later he was head of Red Cell, a group that tested the security of military installations. Along the way he gained the reputation of being a real life version of a cross between Dirty Harry and the Terminator. I didn't know whether he was for real or a blown up caricature of a macho warrior so I asked a coworker who was a former commander in the Navy. When I mentioned Marcinko's name, my coworker's eyes widened and he said "That guy is absolutely a wild man!" Yes, I guess it wasn't hype. Richard Marcinko parlayed his reputation into a career as a bestselling writer of fiction adventure stories centered around his life. Marcinko has been shot, blown up, and has survived more life-threatening scenes than you or I could ever imagine. Today Dick Marcinko is the head of a security consultant company and a motivational speaker on the side. What his biography and books don't mention is that he is also a genuinely nice person.

Here is a signed copy of one of his Rogue Warrior novels. It says "To Ken, Thanks for trying to mold young minds. Attack all of life's challenges." I can't think of a better philosophy of life.