Remember...

"Now, I understand about indecision, but I don't care if I get behind. People living in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind..." --Boston

Something important (at least for me) to remember. Peace of mind is coming...its called summer. I can't wait until this summer, I have not had one off since I was 15. And now the nerd comment: I can't wait to do a whole bunch of reading this summer!

trunk thought

Saw a bumper sticker on a trunk of a car today: "Birth control and education prevent abortion." Seems like we can all get along now, huh? If abortion is bad, the first two things prevent an abortion, therefore, it seems the problem is solved...

'nuff said...

Here's an interesting tidbit from Harper's Magazine (Feb. 2009):

"A gay penguin couple in China's Polar Land Zoo were ostracized by other penguins and then placed in a separate enclosure after they made repeated attempts to steal the eggs of straight penguin couples and replace them with stones."

Wow, would I have loved to have seen that one!

one last word on cougars

For those who don't believe me, we know it was a cougar because they have very small heads (check), very large back legs (check), and the clincher: their tails are 2/3 the size of their body (i.e. very long, the longest of any mammal) (final check). That makes it a cougar in my book, or as the folks in mid-MO call them: they are "just" mountain lions! I think the word "lion" should denote bad-animal-to-see-in-the-woods. Oh, to go back to the mountain goats in Columbia, they seem so benign now.

Freaking Cougars...?!?!

So, since my last post, I have done some detective work (although most came by luck) and found out that the "body" Theron and I saw on our bike ride was the skeleton of a young cougar! AHH! There was an article in the Post a few months ago about how they are now being spotted in eastern Missouri (I suppose Warren Co. would be ideal, then). Here's the scary part: they can run up to 30-50 mph (there goes the idea of pedaling faster than they can run), they stalk from above (like the bluffs that are always next to you when on the trail), and when they pounce (from up to 45 feet above the prey), they usually break the prey's neck because of the sheer force with which they land (great!). Well, I guess if I get attacked by a cougar, I probably won't know it. Oh, one last chilling detail: of those who have been attacked by cougars and lived, they NEVER saw it coming and never saw it when they were fighting it off - they leap onto your back and hold you from behind while biting off your air supply via the neck! Theron and I are thinking of purchasing some sort of security device to ward of any would-be cougar attacks...a shotgun maybe?