By a friend whose twelve year old daughter she claims is the youngest punk genre fan. Scene during the recent Vans Warped Tour:

The Vandals a local OC band (note lack of article “the") get up on stage. David Quackenbush, lead singer, pauses after a song to announce, “George Bush is the worst president we ever had!”

(Remark is immediately met with cheers and supportive hoots.)

He continues: “But his son, he’s got to be the BEST president we ever had!”

(Silence along with obvious stupefaction and great confusion.)

No, she hasn’t come home.

We called animal control. Sherrifs wouldn’t come out unless the animal in question were there and animal control put us on hold for over 40 minute. Grrr. I know what their office is like and they ought not do that to anyone, there is no excuse.

We’ve mentioned what happened to several people and three of them, so far, have suggested that it sounds like it could be a raccoon. I guess that they’ll go after a cat (thin and svelte though she may have been) if they are hungry enough. This is really contrary to the image I had of raccons! Everything I knew about raccoons I learned from Ranger Rick magazine. So I guess they aren’t really dressed like park rangers who teach kids about nature and conservation?

We’ve encroached on nature so long, perhaps nature is returning the favor?

Mrs. Verona Johnston turned 114 on August 6. It’s not so much her age as her attitude that is impressive. Regarding changes in her life:

“Electricity was the most important thing that happened to us,” she reflects. The computer was intimidating, but she gave it a whirl: “I worked that mouse.” And she’s ready for more. “You can get too old to enjoy life,” she says, adding slyly, “I never got that old.”

We are living in Wild Kingdom. Last night, we went looking for the cat who didn’t come home to be let in when we went to bed. JM and I hear a howl or whine that sounded very much like a dog that is hurt, you know, that high pitched squealing sound they make. Nothing for a bit, then we hear a rustling on the slope behind our back garden fence. JM runs to get the flashlight to try and spy out what is making that noise. I ask him to try and see if he can catch the reflection of eyes with it, but nothing. Just the rustling.

This morning we found our cat’s tail by the fence. Poor Compy. JM thinks there’s a chance that she is still around because cats will run and hide when they are injured. I don’t know though. The bad thing is that her tail was on our side of the fence. Whatever got her can jump it. We are calling animal control today.

Songs that have been in my head, against my will, and refuse to leave:

Sweet Caroline ~ Neil Diamond
The theme from Love Boat
“Dentist” from Little Shop of Horrors (funny, but not appropriate for 5 year olds)

Speaking of Neil, there are two types of people in the world: those who love Neil Diamond, and those who don’t. I don’t. Hubby does (though concedes his Christmas album is very sad). I know that’s a line from some movie or show, but I can’t remember which and it’s driving me nuts.

For one, he survived the wedding just fine Saturday, I finally started him on antibiotics. At the doc’s urging, we thought we’d wait and see if the issue would sort itself out. He is relatively ok during the day, at most complaining often, but would wake up a lot and tugged at his ear so hubby decided we better get the meds. Last night, it seems that they kicked in. He slept all night! Woohoo! He also woke up in a better mood, no longer screaming like something was after him. Praise God! (more…)

Ok, so my youngest sister is still living in Manila with her husband, apart from us, her elder two sisters and brother (with respective in-laws and children). She had the misfortune, if you will, of being born after my father adopted Filipino citizenship in order to take a job he wanted in Manila. For the last several months, we’ve been looking into the possibility of her gaining US citizenship so that she and her husband can move here to be with us. That country is no longer the same one I grew up in; it seems to be a physical evidence of the law of entropy as far as the social climate is concerned. So she’s retained the services of an attorney to help her who has submitted the necessary paperwork with the US embassy in Manila. There’s more. (more…)