I didn’t get to sleep in this morning, the way I’d intended. That didn’t stop Harriet from going back to bed, though.
Author: Shelly
Sunrise
I caught the sun coming up just as I was getting ready to leave for work. A small window of relatively clear sky opened up to the northeast, but the rest of the sky was heavily clouded. Within ten minutes, the entire sunrise was obscured by clouds.
Happy Damned 4th
Morning Sun, 4th of July
It’s sort of craptacular outside this morning. Hopefully it won’t rain all over everyone’s obligatory BBQs.
Black Raspberries
There are zillions of berries in the thicket and along the back tree line, but there are also zillions of birds (at one point yesterday, I counted 30 of them in the grass alone), who eat the berries. As soon as the berries ripen, they are eaten. I was hoping to snag some berries, because they are very tasty and I know for certain they have not been chemically treated. Oh well. I get more enjoyment from watching the birds than a bowl of berries could possibly provide.
Bones
Vole or Mouse Skull from Owl Pellet
I got a bunch of small bones, including an intact skull, from a friend, who got them at a DNR workshop. The bones are from an owl pellet. The pellet contained a large amount of fur, this skull, and assorted other small bones, including several tiny jaw bones with intact teeth. The skull is about 1 1/4 inches from top to bottom, to give an idea of scale. It’s tiny and very delicate.
Sunset
Northern Sky at Sunset
Fresh Veggies
Some of the veggies I brought home from work. I hope my coworker continues to bring in her surplus, because they’re delicious. She said her tomatoes should be ready soon, for which I shall be eternally grateful. Grocery store tomatoes are terrible. However, while at the store this morning, I suddenly couldn’t stand it any longer, and had to pick up some green tomatoes. It’s just not summer if you don’t have fried green tomatoes, right? Only, the stickers on the greenies say they are “vine ripened.” M’kaythen!
I managed to find a couple that had a decent amount of pink and light orange in them. They make better fried tomatoes, because the flavor has developed a bit. Pure green tomatoes are too hard, even after frying, and they just don’t taste as nice.
Storms
We’ve had a few nice storms recently. I’ve been at work during the daytime ones, and only one had interesting cloud contrast.
A few months back, bits of stone started falling from the south side of the main library, so a company was brought in to repair the facade. They’ve worked their way around to the northwest corner of the building, which is sort of entertaining, as we are a captive audience. I’m sure I’ll feel differently about it when they are working right outside our windows, but for now, it’s kind of cool to watch them haul hunks of limestone up and down the building.
(It’s 7:30am on a Saturday, and guess whose television is blaring away already? I was really looking forward to sleeping in this morning, but alas, it was not to be.)
New Letters to Esther
January 9, 1921 from Mrs. Forest Shoemaker
It’s been almost a year since I worked on Esther’s letters. I didn’t realize it had been quite that long until this morning, when it occurred to me that I hadn’t touched them since I moved last fall. Yikes!
The newest letters are from January 1921. There is a scarlet fever epidemic in Geneva, so Esther’s family can’t write to her or her brother Clark, who is attending Purdue University. Family friends have taken to writing to Esther and Clark. Clark must be feeling lonesome, because he not only writes to Mamma to tell her to encourage Esther to write to him, but he chastises her for neglecting him.
Welcome to My Brain
I’ve been working on a bunch of books from Ethiopia. As I was tooling around Classification Web, looking for an appropriate subject and call number for one of them, I had a weird disconnect. I’d settled on Occupations–Ethiopia, which was fine. Only, when I went to find a call number to go with my nice, shiny, new subject, my brain suddenly decided that occupations–something that two seconds before it had understood perfectly well to mean jobs–were something of the military invasion variety. For a moment, I was confused to find myself in the HBs (economic theory and demography). That’s not the funny part, though. When I went back to the book, I had a “What the hell does this have to do with military invasions?!” moment.
Need more sleep and caffeine!
Also, this is Milton’s fault, oh yes, it is.
