Cabbages and Kings

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Organizing my thoughts on this clear blue New Mexico morning does not come easily. Oh, but if only my head were as cloudless as today's sky. I won't be discussing "boiling hot seas" (global warming??) or "pigs having wings" (genetic engineering??). However, shoes, cabbages, and ships are all fair game.

Humpty-Dumpty
The canine next door has started making daily excursions to our house to play with Murphy and Telly. This is an amusing sight, because Neo is a Yorkshire Terrier. This scraggly wisp of a dog, scarcely weighing six pounds, likes to play with the Big Dogs, and is especially fond of Murphy, whose back leg he humps frequently and with great vigor. Murphy isn't quite sure what to make of this behavior. It wouldn't take much to shake Neo off his back leg, but he never does. He just stands there and lets Neo have his way. Telly, ten times bigger than Neo, is afraid of the little dog. Neo lets us know he's ready to play by barking at the back door. If that doesn't work, he comes to the front door and makes a lot of noise. He seems very full of himself. The black dogs already know that Neo's in charge.


A Mothership Fly-Over?
From Space Weather News for Sept. 14, 2007:

On Sept. 13th a remarkable fireball split the skies over New Mexico. Witnesses say it "turned night into day" and reminded them of a full Moon hurtling across the sky. In fact, it was brighter than a full Moon. At least two all-sky cameras captured the event while one amateur astronomer recorded radio echoes from the fireball's ionized trail. What was it? Probably a piece of reentering space junk, but this is not yet certain. Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates plus sights and sounds of the Great New Mexico Fireball.

Space junk? They can't be serious. It was the Mothership. I just wish someone had let me know. I would've been ready to beam aboard. Chronic insomnia has plagued me for years. The last time I slept through an entire night was in January 2004--that is, until this past Wednesday night. I slept like a baby until morning. Missed the whole fireball thing. Even the dogs slept soundly, which only reinforces my contention that the Mothership was doing surveillance and sprinkled fairy dust over all of New Mexico, to insure no one would be watching.

Being an interplanetary refugee isn't all it's cracked up to be. I'll be ready for the next pass.


Ah-choo!


Is it just me, or is everyone sneezing just a little harder and more often this summer? People all over Albuqueruqe are sneezing. But wait, it gets better. The City of Albuquerque's daily pollen counts (samples taken on both East Side and West Side) have registered in the low range for weeks, which leads me to believe whatever is making us sneeze simply isn't being measured. Albuquerque, once a haven for patients with respiratory diseases, now ranks among the ten worst areas in the U.S. for pollen. Pollen in the desert, you say, where very little grows? Native desert plants aren't the problem. It's all the exotic, non-native ornamentals folks have planted to make the city look pretty. Come on, folks, this is the desert! Why are you trying to make it look like North Carolina? To make matters worse, last summer's heavy rains set the scene for a massive weed invasion. I haven't gone outside with a ruler, but I'm quite certain some of our weeds grow six inches overnight. Or so it seems. Fortunately, the cooler winter weather should put an end to the sneezing...eventually...I'm counting the days...AH-CHOO!!!