Red-Handed Jill

For those of you not in the San Francisco Bay Area... Gas here is now well over $4 a gallon and diesel is over $5.

That's great news, considering. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for you!

I saw this earlier today - what a great find. (I wasn't even aware that they had buried anyone at Stonehenge, even for just a century as previously believed.)

A cold glass of milk would probably go well with that:

How about a female pirate with ample cleavage strategically holding a treasure chest in front of her with a map draped/hanging from it. Rather than an X at the treasure, there is a pink ribbon. Text is "Save the Treasure Chests - Support Breast Cancer Research!"

^ Yes, and with a cannon, swords, knives, pistols and black powder in the back seat. I kept praying he wouldn't look too closely. < Luckily, he didn't, but I really sweated that one. V Pass the question.

Getting ready to re-design all of our company's marketing collateral. (They've discovered that I do graphics.)

Annoyed. I was in a lunch meeting today to learn about the HSA account that is a recent medical option at our company. Several of us had meetings and such to go to afterwards, so we didn't have the luxury of sticking around; we wanted to eat and find out the important points of this account. However, we had the misfortune of having the presentation done by a woman, who was - in the most flattering terms - oblivious. She prattled on about where to find things in their website, information that we could have easily discovered for ourselves. And although she mentioned stopping for a break so that a roomful of very hungry people could actually get some food, she continued to prattle on, oblivious to the eyes glazing over and the eyes being glued to the sandwiches (call me wacky but I thought the point of a lunch meeting was that we interact with the food rather than just stare at it longingly...) I tried to get the HR manager's attention, but she was too busy filling in the huge informational gaps the idiot was neglecting and giving us the information we actually needed. Also, since I am hypoglycemic, I was starting to get the shakes so when I had more than enough of this woman's idiotic babblings, I got out of there, made my own damn lunch and got ready for my meeting. Near the end of the presentation, our HR manager said that perhaps the employees should be given the chance to eat. I listened as everyone descended on the table like a pack of wolves, grabbed their sandwiches and bolted out of there. I nabbed a small piece of sandwich - it was soggy from having waited all that time. GRRRRRR - next time I'll just ask for a memo; I can find the information I need for myself and not waste a precious hour of my time listening to an idiot. EDIT: Talked to our HR person. She concurred with my assessment and said that she is switching brokers so as to not deal with this woman ever again. YAY!

Cruzan's Black Strap rum is made the same way, but it's less sweet, more molassesey (is that a word?) That Thomas Tew rum sounds great, though. I dropped them a note to see if there's a way to purchase it on-line, since I'm clear across the country from them.

No surprise there - Patt is a sensation wherever folks appreciate fine craftsmanship. Patt - you should do a series of shirts with that Bomb Bay logo - I'd buy one!

I'll cross my fingers and toes that you get the job, Cheeky - and can thumb your nose (or indicate your feelings with other gestures...) at your ex-boss!

Got eleven out of twelve (it's been awhile since I saw The Goonies...)

What kind is he using? Real black powder does gunk up the works, which is why you should clean your gun after each session of use. Here's a useful page about the various types of black powder, including synthetic: Black powder page Jack and I use Pyrodex and have found that it gunks up our muzzleloaders less than Goex does.

It's east of Aptos by about ten miles. Here's an updated map of the fire: Map of fire - updated periodically.

Looks like the fire is headed in the opposite direction, but due to the winds we've been experiencing these past few days, they aren't close to containing this and it's headed towards a couple of communities. (One of which I spent much of my teen summers in.) Keep your fingers crossed for lighter winds!

When I lived in Pacifica, I was in Critter Central. Raccoons, deer, possums, skunks, hawks, snakes and a host of other creatures used to hang out in my back yard. I lived near the ocean, just beyond the end of a forested valley. In Redwood Shores, I'm right on the SF Bay and it's mostly birds - so many different kinds, it's unreal. Lots of Canadian geese, for some reason. And since it's late Spring, there are goslings galore. And there are jackrabbits, raccoons and skunks around as well.

A friend of mine was in the exact same boat as you. Same stage, same treatment and she got through it with flying colours and has been in great form ever since. I'll keep sending good thoughts your way for the same result!

Winding down from a sea chantey evening with Skip Henderson and the Starboard Watch.

The wee owls were out again this afternoon, frolicking around their burrow. Okay, they were hopping up and down and flapping their short little wings. I wish I could get close enough to the owls to photograph them. I did last year, but that was later in the season.

Wow - congratulations!!

As far as I know, Claire (aka Tales of the Seven Seas Pirate Mum) and Bob are the only two NorCal pirates who live in that area. So far they aren't in any danger - the fire is downhill and over twenty miles away from them. They are checking in periodically, though.

The theme of yesterday's walk was Baby Birds. During my afternoon walk, I meandered by the field where a couple of burrowing owls have set up their nest. Some ground squirrels got a bit too close for comfort so I chased them off and got to see why they were hovering so close. The baby owls were taking one of their first forays into the outside world. Burrowing owls are about eight or nine inches tall as adults. The babies were about four inches tall, round and still had the last vestiges of fluffiness. Naturally, they were as cute as all getout. As soon as they saw me, they were hustled back into their burrow by their mother, who gave me a look of reproach. The ever-vigilant father owl just continued to give me The Eye. (Later, when I drove home, I passed them. All four babies were out of the nest and were hopping around. I mean literally hopping. Four little round baby owls hopping about is just so darn cute.) So I continued my walk and encountered a female duck who looked very distressed. I could hear the ducklings but couldn't see them. I looked around everywhere and then it occurred to me that they weren't above ground. So I walked over to a grating and sure enough, there were the ducklings. They had somehow wandered over behind the local Walmart and blundered into this drain area. I tried to pull the grating off, but it was too heavy (which, I believe, is the point...) So I found someone about to step into Walmart and talked him into helping me lift the grating. We managed - just barely - and I reached in and pulled the ducklings out one by one. Most of them went running over to their mother, but some needed a bit of help. One of them promptly ran into another grate, so we had to lift that one and rescue him again. They were at that UBER cute stage - you know, when they fit into your hand and are fluffy but have just lost that new-hatched floppiness. Hopefully, they won't fall back into that grating.

Ransom - if memory serves, Lady Jaxx put on a mighty good party after hours at last year's NorCal festival and I'll bet she's got one planned for this year as well.

^ My favourite pub doesn't exist any more. It was a hole-in-the-wall place called the Prince of Wales Pub. Very homey and welcoming. The owner of the pub got the lease pulled out from under him by the new owners of the building, so he's looking to re-create this pub elsewhere. Can't wait to hear when that happens! < Hmmmm... makes me want a pint of Guinness. At the PROPER temperature (cold Guinness- GRRRR!) V Pass the question.