Sluuuuuuuuuuuuug

I've had this on my phone for a while now. When Bernie and I went to help Michael move, I discovered this little fellow slithering alone. I was impressed by the size of him, bigger than my finger, and his leopard spots. I was a bit worried for him as he was booking it toward the street, but who am I to speculate on the motivations of the spotty and slimy. He knew his own business, I'm sure.

Also, I am twelve. "Look at this picture of a gross thing! Loooook!"

Piglet baby

I am now obsessed with this picture.



Look at that snoot.

It is now my Twitter avatar and the background on my phone.

Piglet baby. <3

MR. AND MRS. GIANT TURKEY

Had a productive weekend, I am pleased to say. This past weekend was the first I've had in a month that wasn't totally committed, so I used the much-needed free time to do whatever I needed or wanted to. Spent a lovely Saturday getting my hair cut and hanging out with friends playing games at the house. Sunday was devoted to chores. The house has been in need of a good cleaning for a while now, and I took care of some things that probably don't get done regularly enough, like polishing the wood and scrubbing the grout in the shower. I am proud of my hard work. This evening I finally got around to parking the mini-fridge in my bedroom out on the back porch to let it defrost. The tiny little freezer compartment has over time become consumed with frost, which is now encroaching on the rest of the space, so it's high time that got taken care of.

Also washed my hair for the first time after the new cut. As I predicted, negotiating where to part it such that my new sideswept bangs lay properly is proving tougher than I would have liked. The place I customarily parted it doesn't quite distribute them the way the stylist had them. It doesn't look bad that way, but I liked the new way too, and I want to figure out how to execute that look on my own if I so choose. I'll have to mess with it some more.

On a final note, on my way home from the gym today I came across two of the biggest turkeys I have ever seen walking around as I went down South Street. I noticed them because a fellow runner had stopped to take pictures of them, so I whipped out my phone and happily snapped a few shots of my own.



Meet MR. AND MRS. GIANT TURKEY.



PLEASED TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE.

Though there are quite a few of this sort of bird hereabouts, and I always greet such a sight with a delighted cry of "TUR-keys!" these two were particularly remarkable because they are so big and so flashy-looking that I'd swear they weren't the regular old wild birds you usually see around here. They look to me like they were domestic turkeys escaped from somebody's farm. If so, I wonder how they got there, and what's going to become of them. Quite a surprising sight, and one that made me very happy to come upon.

What the dog is doing

Being nicer, I suppose, than the average kid who has left home, I call my parents pretty much every morning. It makes my mom happy, and while sometimes I don't feel like having the obligation, it's usually more of a pleasantry than a hardship. For most of my time since leaving, the nature of my family has meant that two topics of conversation were pretty much always part of the call-- "What'd you have for dinner last night?" and "What's the dog doing?" We're funny people.

For the last two years, since Carmen passed away, that second topic sadly had to be retired, as there was no longer any dog of which to discuss the doings. Not, of course, that her doings were particularly noteworthy; we were just inordinately interested. :-) But it's nice, now that they have Merlin, we can go back to talking about canine endeavors that are fascinating to no one but us.

I learned today that Merlin likes to crawl under my dad's desk while he's working at it to lay at his feet. :-D

Merlin dog!

My parents just got a new dog!

After our old dog Carmen passed away at age fourteen, my mom has really missed having a dog around the house, and she finally determined she was going to get another one. She decided she didn't want a puppy with all the accompanying puppy behaviors, so she thought it might be nice to find a rescue dog, who would be slightly older and in need of a good home. We'd had wonderful experiences with Brittanys because of Carmen, so she thought they might get a similar type of dog. So she contacted the Mid-Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue Service and they connected her and my dad with a sweet, energetic six-or-seven-year-old boy that they just brought home yesterday. They went to meet him yesterday, saying they would get to know him a bit and decide if he was the right dog for them, and it turned out that they loved him, so he is now our newest animal family member. They didn't know what his real name was at the rescue and had given him some placeholder name, so Mom decided to call him Merlin. She always wanted a dog named Merlin. :-)



They say he's very obedient, always looking to someone for direction, though they think as he gets more used to his new home he'll be a lot bolder. He particularly loves my brother. He likes chasing balls but doesn't like to give them up once he's caught them. I wish I could meet him, but it will probably be a long time before I get a chance to visit home again. My parents, particularly my mom, are very happy with him, so I am very happy they've found him.

Signed on to the Caesar build crew

This morning I saw two cardinals flitting after one another; they were so pretty and bright. I guess spring is actually here now. Redbirds always make me think of my grandmother; they were her favorite and her kitchen was decorated with images of them.

I have agreed to help out with build for Julius Caesar. Next week is their tech, and my schedule happens to be fairly light then, so I feel like it would be nice of me to offer a hand and support Hold Thy Peace. Also, Bernie has so much on his plate as technical director that I want to make sure he has the help he needs. I won't be staying til the wee hours, what with the doing them a favor and the having the job in the morning and all, but maybe if one more person helps out, things will get done earlier.

The set consists of wooden platforms and white muslin curtains that will go from the flies to the floor on the stage. I'm not exactly sure what the final configuration will look like, but I like the idea. Bernie has made a pretty careful plan, so I'm hoping to help make sure it gets executed. Today he and I are driving out to Home Depot to pick up the last few necessary bits of hardware. The curtains are being sewn by a group assembled by the show's costume designer Shana. Brian Melcher has promised to bring back the purchased wood. We're planning on getting into the theater shop this coming weekend to start a little early on getting things together. I should have some time Friday before I'm going out with my brother and my dad, and on Saturday it shouldn't take so much time to get to Othello that I'm not available for some period beforehand.

I kind of like build, honestly. I like making things, putting stuff together, and there's a real feeling of camaraderie when everyone's working hard together to assemble their show. I quit liking it when things start going past midnight, of course, but in the beginning at least it's a pretty cool feeling. :-)

Turkeys!

The family of turkeys I saw at the top of the secret passageway leading into East lot was in my backyard this morning! At least, I think it was the same family, seeing as it was so close, and there was also a mommy turkey, a daddy turkey, and NINE little baby turkeys. That's a big family! They were surprisingly brave little guys, allowing me to get really close to them and not even startling when I delightedly yelled out "Turkeys!" on seeing of them. I love seeing animals, especially wild ones just out and around. I always gush over them like a little kid.

Eaglies!

My mom linked me to this live webcast, where you can watch a nest of eaglets. There are three little eaglets, each visibly a little older than the last, fluff around in their nest, getting fed by their mommy and daddy eagle and generally being cute little puffy-babies.

I like the eaglies. :-)