Look Out for Falling Rats While Driving...

Twice now ... count 'em ... TWICE now, I have had my car hit by a rat falling out of the sky! It's unbelievable. The first time happened several years ago. It totally blew me away that I would have my car in the exact right place, at the exact right time. But now, that it has happened again, it's beyond believability. Both times, I was driving along the interstate between Weyers Cave and Harrisonburg. Both times I was moving about 65 miles per hour. Both times, I clearly saw the hawk or falcon in the distance ahead of me, diving down out of the sky onto the grass of the brushy median. Both times, the hawk easily caught whatever it was that he or she was after for dinner. And both times, the big bird lifted off to take its meal home, just moments before my car arrived even with it. Both times, the bird was right over my car about 25 feet up when it lost its grip on its prize. The first time, I could see the rat struggling in the hawk's talons, as the bird fought to keep its grip and fly at the same time. The rat wrestled itself loose, not thinking about the consequences of its actions. Although escaping the hawk and momentarily regaining its freedom, the falling rodent struck the hood of my car, up near the front bumper before bouncing up, ricocheting off the side mirror and careening off onto the road shoulder. Today, the rat didn't seem to be struggling. (It had a long really-skinny tail, so I presume it was a rat again.) But I saw the big bird lose its grip anyway, just before my car went under it. I heard the falling varmint hit the roof of the car, right over the back seat, and in my rearview mirror I saw him bounce off and fall onto the roadway, to be flattened paper-thin by the truck behind me. When I got where I was going, there was a little mark in the dust on the roof of the car just behind the ham radio antenna. But no dent or anything. The traffic was so heavy, I doubt the bird could retrieve its hard-earned rat-pancake without risking its life. The bird's probably thinking, 'oh well, you win a few, you lose a few'. Two times now. Wow. Maybe I should call Ripley's... Then again, there are lots and lots of hawks and falcons, flying around, sitting on fence posts, perching on tree limbs, all up and down I-81. Maybe getting hit by a falling rat is not as rare as I think. Of course, I've still hit a lot more deer than rats, --- but the count is rising...

Candid Camera...

A friend took this when she wasn't looking a month or so ago. Question: Where was it? Hint: it was behind tight security, in a place that most people will never see in their entire lives.

Totally Maxed Out...

As much as I hate going to doctors, I finally broke down and went to my family practitioner today. I've had a cold and horribly sore throat for well over a week now and it's not getting any better, and I found out yesterday that two of my students have had strep. I'm certainly not afraid of dying or anything, but hey, strep is easily treatable if its caught early, so I figure I'd go in and make sure I don't have something serious. The diagnosis: I don't have anything serious. Other than a cold... which the doctors seem to think is kinda serious in someone as prone to pneumonia as I am. But I don't think it's serious. But, as a consequence of my doctor visit, I'm now totally maxed out on medicines. I'm going to finish taking everything the doctors told me to take, at least until I can shake this darn cold. But to be honest, I'm beginning to think it's all these chemicals I'm taking that are interfering with my ability to get over the cold. For the past 20 months, I've been on Nexium, Proventil, Flovent, Ventolin, Singulaire, and some of the time on Accolate. Now after today, the doctor added (yes, he told me to add this on top of what I'm already taking!) Symbicort, Advair, and Tussinex, for the cold. Since the drugs I've been taking for the last year and a half don't seem to be doing any good whatsoever, I've decided that once I'm over the cold and finish my present supplies of the the stuff, I'm just going to quit everything, cold-turkey, and see what happens. I doubt anyone will be able to tell any difference -- least of all me. All these chemicals can't be good for me long term. And the ironic thing is, --- in spite of all this "medicine"... I still can't breathe! The lung specialist diagnosed me with "persistent chronic asthma and COPD". Big wup. Okay, time's up. I figure a year and a half is long enough. Since I haven't seen any improvement at all, I'm calling it quits as soon as I can get rid of this cold. After all, what's the worst that could happen? Yeah, right. Like that isn't going to happen anyway sooner or later, huh? Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

Reserved Words...

If you were quick enough, you were able to read my post about having to work for several hours, in a 50-mph wind, on a cold night after a long day at the office, standing on top of an extension ladder, struggling with the wrong tools, in the dark, while suffering from a cold and laryngitis, wresting with a traditional TV antenna that had come loose from the house, and finally just removing it and letting it fall into the backyard. I got asthma bigtime from that shenanigan, and ended up having to sit up for another 3 hours trying to breathe. (If I lie down with asthma, I suffocate.) Well, I posted in heated rage and fury. I've now deleted that post, but I'll repeat a bit of wisdom handed down to me by my father, who received it from his German grandfather, John Lawrence "Pop" Singewald. It is this: You shouldn't use cursewords and other foul language in your normal daily conversation. They should be held back, reserved, for when you really need them. When a special occasion arises, one that's really out of the ordinary, a situation that calls for a really strong word, ... well, then you can pull out one of those words you've been holding back for just such an occasion, and it will be new, stronger, more forceful, when used in the appropriate setting. If you go around using those words all the time, then you won't have any special words for those times when you really need something powerful to convey your feelings in time of rage, fury, tantrum, etc. Discovering that some idiot has used a metric bolt along with an English one on a bracket 28 feet above the ground, while standing precariously on a ladder in 50 mph wind, a ladder whose feet are sinking into the mud making it lean dangerously, with a 110-pound rotator and sharp antenna swinging around your head, in the dark, at 2 a.m. in the morning, when you've got a cold and can't even speak instructions to a person who is on the ground holding a flashlight shining it in your eyes, .... well, that's one of those situations I've been saving some special words for. And believe me, they really came in handy! It was great having some words that very eloquently and accurately, precisely, fit the occasion. Because I don't use those words often, I was able to properly describe how I felt at the time. Appropos. Okay, moving on. I had to work all day today. I accompanied Dubby on one of her maintenance calls for some pro-bono consulting work (on my part) about network interference. Then, I went to the office to put the finishing touches on an exam for my students Monday morning. For Valentine's Day, Dubby got some very nice steaks for dinner. I lit a couple of candles on the table, and she heated some frozen veggies and made me a potato. We shared some scraps with the cat, who was, as usual, about as appreciative as a New Yorker whose been given the flu. From my point of view, it was very romantic evening, but I can't speak for Dubby. I'm guessing she would have preferred something a little better, but we'll have to wait until I can shake this darn cold. It's hard to be romantic when your nose is flowing like the Mississippi during spring runoff, and you sound like Lurch from the Addams Family show and feel like a wad of chewing gum on the floor of a NY subway station. Some things I've learned recently: The guy who plays Mr. Bean was the voice of Zazu the hornbill on the Lion King. Just as seals are not the same thing as sea lions, porpoises are not the same as dolphins. Although there is a "dolphin" fish, the term "dolphin" more accurately refers to the mammal. Both porpoises and dolphins are mammals, like whales. Flipper was a dolphin and not a porpoise. Porpoises are not used in shows and movies because they can't be as easily trained as dolphins. Dolphins seem to get genuine fun out of performing; for porpoises, it's just a job. In Monty Python's Holy Grail movie, John Cleese (the guy who said "she turned me into a newt" and "well, I got better", also played the frenchman on the castle ("your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries; now go away or I shall taunt you again.")

Spielberg's "Band of Brothers" series was actually filmed in Ashdown Forest not far from Poohsticks Bridge. (I, Dubby, LintMonkey, and Bopnopper saw Band of Brothers on a bus traveling in Belgium on our way to Bastogne, where the Battle of the Bulge was fought in the Forest of the Ardennes in the closing days of World War II. The movie portrayed many actual spots from the real battle, such as the Church (whose belltower today plays the first six notes from the Star-Spangled Banner ever hour as tribute to the American soldiers), the hospital where the nurse got killed, the foxholes of Easy Company out in the forest, the road to Longvilly, the location of the tent where General McAuliffe uttered his famous "Nuts" reply to the Germans demanding surrender, etc. -- and our tour guide was Henri, a fellow who had actually lived through the Battle. -- And in a twist of fate, I, Dubby, and Bopnopper later visited Ashdown Forest which is in England in County East Sussex, where we played Poohsticks on the very actual Poohsticks Bridge. At the time, we had no idea Band of Brothers had been filmed nearby.)

Number 11 on the Top 100 List... Wow!

For some strange reason, the cat has suddenly decided to take an interest in the "clicka clicka tappa tappa tap" of the laptop's keyboard as I type this. She has sat on my lap for hours in the past without ever taking any interest in what I was doing. But for some reason, she's now very interested in the noise the keyboard makes. She's staring at it like it was some kind of small rodent or something. Oh, well. Today was absolutely gorgeous, weatherwise. It was sunny, clear, and almost 70 degrees, which we don't often see in February. I decided to take advantage of the weather by hiking up Furnace Mountain. According to the trail marker, it is 3.7 miles from the stream at the bottom to the summit trail junction, and from there, another 0.5 miles to the summit. This makes for an 8.6 mile round trip, including the two 0.1 mile jaunts from the parking area at the park gate up to the trailhead and back. I left the parking area at 3:00 pm, and by 4:30 I was on top of the mountain, so you can tell I was going a little faster than my normal sauntering. I'm out of shape, and made much better time that I expected. Hey, I'm over half a century old, I have asthma and arthritis. I'm somewhat surprised I can still hike to the top of a mountain and back, 8.5 miles round trip, and not have to spend the next day in bed! In fact, I feel a lot better now than I did when I started. What I find amazing is that this hike is Number 11 on the Get Outdoors website's list of the top 100 trails in the United States! Even more amazing, the reviews of this trail say things like, "the trail guide calls this one strenuous and it's an understatement", and "this trail is far more strenuous than the topo maps lead you to believe". Do a Google search on "Furnace Mountain Trayfoot Mountain Overnight Loop" and take a look. And the top 100 trails listing can be found at: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/334-Top-100-Trails-of-2005.html Number 11 on the list of Top 100 Trails! Wow! Half-Dome in Yosemite was down at number 16, Mount Mitchell was number 28, Clingman's Dome was number 35, Mt. Pisgah is number 74, and Mt.Katahdin was 85. And Furnace Mountain is number 11! We've got some real jewels here in the valley. This trail is in the Shenandoah National Park in the Madison Run Wilderness area, and is one of the closest ones to our house. It has always been one of my favorites. At the summit, there is a large flat table rock, where the kids and I used to picnic in the summer and heat up our hot chocolate on the stove we'd take up there in winter. Aunt Becky's family went up there with us one summer, although I think some of the crew didn't go all the way to the top. I led the Boy Scouts up there one winter when there was a foot of snow on the ground. Even in the dead of winter, it's still a nice trail. Today was no exception. I saw two people the entire day, even though the weather was practically perfect in every way. Click on these pictures for a larger version to appreciate the beauty. The summit is up near the 2950' elevation, and the stream is down at 1290. So it's like walking up the stairs to the top of the Empire State Building and then going almost halfway as far again. The trail is steep and rocky. But all the way up, there are spectacular views, and you can see across the entire valley.

This gives you some idea of how steep the trail climbs for most of the way. My ears popped six times on the way up.

Without leaves on the trees, the view is magnificent and almost continuous the entire way up and back.

The picture below is the view from the summit looking northwest, towards Massanutten Peak in the distance. This view gives some idea of just how high a walk it is from the valley floor. Below is the view looking the opposite direction, southeast, through the wilderness area towards Skyline Drive, which is five miles away in the distance.

You need good hiking boots to hike this trail. It is quite rocky, and steep in many places. But I love it! The strenuous-ness keeps the trail from getting crowded, and I really enjoy the peace and solitude.

And I feel so much better after a nice 8.5-mile walk, too, after being inside for several weeks. I returned to the house right about dark, making it a fantastic afternoon, especially for February.

Winter Wonderland

Well, FINALLY we get a real snow. Even so, it's only 3 inches. Sheesh. But it was the nice powdery kind. It piled up on the branches and twigs, making for some beautiful trees. And then best of all, the sun came out and the sky turned a deep blue. You really gotta click on these pics to really appreciate the beauty of the winter scenery. It almost looks like the trees are in full bloom with white blossoms. If you click on the picture below look closely at the upper part of the picture, you can see that the snow even stuck to my ham radio antenna. On the picture below, can you find the bunny tracks?

This is Mr. K's house next door to us. It didn't snow enough to require me to clear the neighbor's driveways. I would classify this one as "the perfect (snow)storm.

Unusual Version of the Anthem...

This video was sent to me by the President of the American Belgian Association, a local club I joined in Antwerp made up of Americans who are living in Belgium. Charles is a retired American Army Officer who went to Belgium as as part of an American NATO contingent, and ended up falling in love with the place and staying there. He's always happy to find stuff related to his home country. He forwarded this to the club members, all of whom (except for me and one other) still live in Belgium.

Charles didn't say where he found this video. It is a video of the Star Spangled Banner, sung by five young ladies, reportedly at a Texas-Tech basketball game. The explanatory notes said the entire stadium was totally silent, you could hear a pin drop. The two girls on the right are six years old, the two in the middle are seven, and the one on the left is eight. You can tell they are from Texas. Pretty good, huh?

Make sure your sound is turned on, then click on the play button on the player control panel.