To Every Season . . . .

I think my long time raccoon friend has died. She had been looking rather ill and old. Three weeks ago I worked out of town for a few days and since I've returned - I haven't seen her.

But - life goes on. Last night I was sitting on the porch and low and behold - a new raccoon came poking around.

I put some food in the bowl and sure enough - any smart raccoon knows to never pass up a free meal.

It's Like Hockey, But Without the Action

Quote from my friend Jason. Talk about succinct. LOL

I’ve been watching the FIFA World Cup. Well, trying too anyway. I get bored so I end up doing stuff like unloading the dishwasher, starting a load of laundry, that sort of thing.

And, of course, the 3 teams I had picked to root for are out of the tournament.

America is a Ghana.

England was unable to repel zee Germans.

Argentina evicted Mexico.

If you want to have a good time – find a local Sports Bar (Sparks Mexican Cantina, Horner Blvd) that turns off the TV sound and instead plays the Telemundo radio broadcast.

You can’t help but get excited listening to Andres Cantor . . .

http://deadspin.com/5572603/now-heres-andres-cantor-calling-landon-donovans-gooooooooool


"Halfback passes to the center. Back to the wing. Back to the center. Center holds it, holds it . . . . holds it . . ." - Kent Brockman, The Simpsons

Interesting Graphic +Addendum

The Deficit has me worried. Really worried.

Actually, I've always kept a bit of an eye on the deficit. Hence, the National Debt ticker I've had on this blog for quite some time.

I ran across this very interesting graphic. Of particular note - Iraq war estimated total and the US Government worst case financial crisis cost (i.e. debt).

Here's the link:

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-billion-dollar-gram/

Also - take a look at the 'predicted' cost of the war - back in 2005.

I knew the numbers put out by the Bush Administration, especially Dick-head Cheney and Rumsfeld, were bald faced lies the moment I heard them.

Focus

No, not focus on the debt. My car - Ford Focus.

Wouldn't start this morning. But it didn't behave like a dead battery - it made some very odd electrical sounds and all the dashboard lights and gauges flickered and the needles started dancing around.

No time to mess with it at the moment. Used the truck to get to work.

Came home this afternoon to see if I could jump start it and get it to the Ford Dealer. I've jumped started many cars - I've never had one pop and spark like this one when I tried to hook up the cables. More like a ka-pow rather than a spark.

OK - this is not good. Let's call a tow and have it taken to the Ford Place.

I'll update this entry when I find out what the problem / repair is.

Addendum

The Dealer says it just the battery. I hope that's true - but like I said - I've never had an almost dead battery make the instruments behave like that before.

On the way home from work - I also had wondered if it was just the battery. So, I stopped by Advance Auto in Pittsboro to see if they had the right sized one for it. Yes they did - $92 plus tax. Get the car over to them and they'd put it in free.

Well - when I got the fireworks trying to jump start it - that's when I wondered if it was something more serious.

Bottom line - replacement battery is $189 at the Ford place. This does not include the towing cost.

I expected it to cost a little more at the Ford place. But over twice as much?

That's a rip off.

Wednesday Addendum

Final bill was $156 and change. About $110 for the battery and $30 for labor. Plus some miscellaneous charges. So, not as bad as I was told over the phone - but installation would have been free at Advance Auto.

Thanks to Dave S for helping me shuttle cars back and forth.

Walter +Addendum

Sir Walter Raleigh used to hang out on the Fayetteville Street Mall - back when it wasn't a street.

Now that Fayetteville Street is once again open to traffic - Walt has moseyed on over to the new Convention Center.

Sometimes he gets dressed up; often wearing a Hurricanes or NCSU jersey. One time I saw him in a chef's outfit when there was some sort of food convention going on.

Also, people will dress him up unofficially. And by people - I mean students / kids.

Driving home today, I noticed he's gone drag. Of course, his poofy balloon pants were always kind of gay anyway.

I don't know if this get up is official or impromptu. Or, it might be left over from KinkyCon held a couple weeks ago.

Addendum

He's dressed up for Komen Race for the Cure.

The street center lines in downtown have been painted pink as well (pink tape actually).

Who Are These People?

So - I'm driving home from work Friday.

My parking deck exits onto Salisbury Street - which I take (with an eventual cut over to Blount Street) to get to the Beltline / I-40.

Salisbury goes right between the new Marriott (on the left) and the new Convention Center (on the right).

Driving along - I begin to see a few, then more, and then A LOT of strangely - correction - bizarrely dressed people. A few of 'em were, ahh, well - cover up the kid's eyes - if you catch my drift.

The Marriott / Convention Center block - hundreds of 'em.

OMG - it's a Deviated Prevert Convention!



Right here in Raleigh.

Does the Mayor know 'bout this? Has anybody called Gen. Ripper?

Turns out it weren't nothing sinister. Just something called animazement.

Honest to God - I'd never even heard of cosplay before.

To each his own and all. But sometimes - well, just maybe, them Japanese folks don't need to export everything they come up with.

I'm just saying . . .

Hey - I wonder if my friend [#### ####### redacted] was there?

LOL

Tired Raccoon

 

 

This is one of my friends who visit me every afternoon. She, and one other one, live pretty close by.

This one had a bunch of her fur worn off behind her head to the front part of her body. It looked like she had gotten trapped in something and had a hard time getting free. The fur's grown back. But as you can see, she's got a lot of gray.

I think she's getting pretty old. Her behavior seems to be pretty tired - she pants a lot in the heat and she just seems run down all the time.

She's always been a bit neurotic. Extremely skittish - which is a good thing for a raccoon around humans. But she's always been far more nervous than the other raccoons. She's still the same way - but she's gotten a lot slower in the past year or so.

I believe she's had her littler of kitts. She appears to be nursing. I think her den is right in my back yard (heavily wooded) or not far from it. Hopefully she'll be able to raise this year's offspring.

Here's a photo of the other, younger and much healthier looking, raccoon.

 

I think this one is a female too - but I'm not sure.

This one is far more laid back. Not a pet by any means - but she's far more comfortable around me than the other one.