Ceramic *clink* *clink* *clink*

Stick lizards, of course, get their names from those little sticks they carry around. When their feet get too hot, they stick the sticks into the sand and climb up for a breather. Only found in southern Arizona, of course, which is a true Sonoran desert.

Don't tell Diane about this, okay?

Are these giant beetles edible?


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The ceramic chink noises have slowed down - they went to one about every 10 minutes, and now it chinks only on occasion. I still don't know what it is, but I guess it must have had to do with (1. probably recently taken out of the kiln when I found it and 2. Adjusting badly to temperature/humidity.)

Roger, you doof. Stick lizards don't climb up the sticks because it would both take them to long to get the stick into the air and a snake could easily heighten itself to the pitiful stick that such a small creature could carry. No, the lizard keeps the stick in its mouth because snakes must swallow their food whole, and nobody likes to get the toothpick stuck in their mouth when they eat a sandwich.

Still clinking, Portal?

My mom was chased by an owl once... she was sure it was because of her red hair. (Right, mom.)

I was once with her in Mexico and a gigantic cockroach climbed onto her foot, her BARE foot. It was bigger than a mouse. She screamed, I screamed, for all I know, that cockroack screamed, too. <shudder>

Clinking ceramics... y'know, I think I've heard of this before, but I can't remember where. The noise would come from a vacuum, I think. I know people who wait very quietly to hear the soft "ping" when home-canned goods lose their air and are sealed.

Ahh, Ossobusco.

We had these three palm trees in our yard where a very rare owl decided to nest. It then brought in its four other family members who all chirped incessantly. But we didn't mind because they silently got rid of our rodent problem (our dog would dig them up and put them in our laps). The only real problem that they presented at the time was the grotesque sight of dozens of rodent bones littering the area around the trees. Small price to pay.

Well, when a mama and a papa owl get together, they usually make a baby owl. And baby owls grow. And baby owls try to fly. How beautiful the little puffball was as it perched on our wall! Naturally, we decided that it was safe to approach such a cute little thing. We got closer, and closer, and then we realized that the chirps in the trees were nothing compared to what kind of shrill noises the babies can really make. Baby owl flies at us and ends up falling in our pool (I'll tell you now that she ended up healthy). And that mom comes to her defense (little did we know that we were the ones that needed defending).

My mom runs slowly so I managed to get inside and close the sliding glass door before she got there. Out of the sky I see how the owls really get their prey: Sharp claws three inches long. But it's ok because I'm safe inside. So mom runs into the glass, then manages to get inside and close the door again just as the owl flies directly into the window.

Both mama owl and baby owl are safe, but are sitting outside (and occasionally attacking) the sliding glass door. We can't get out so we call the animal control. Trouble is, the owls were an endangered species so they couldn't move them from their home. So, we sat inside until they finally went back home and they never bothered us again.

The end.

Yeah. For some reason, my mom believed that the owl just wanted to make a nest in her curly hair.
I didn't know that owls attacked their potential nest sites.

Thanks, Individual. I am just so gullible. I believed everything those crazy Navajos at the power plant told me. I'm going right back there and. . . .

Phew, individual. Whoo-ee! Picturing the puffball...

And, I want to know about those palm trees.... can you describe them..

I used to know palm trees, at least I had to for tests, as opposed to really know them like a few people do. But even me, I knew about thirty. Now I don' know nothin. Still, I'm interested.

I think those owls wanted to eradicate the wicked people who were messing with their baby.

My mom's story, faintly remembered by me, is that she was walking home in a small town in Iowa, minding her own business on a summer evening, when an owl appeared out of the trees and swooped at her, causing her to scream & run for home. She had brilliant red hair, worn long, and assumed that since the owl went for her hair several times, it was dangerous to be a redhead.

I have no idea if owls like red hair especially, but I can imagine complete panic...

Just for you...

Now the page is all out of alignment...

Dammit osso! You see what you made me do?
I hope I don't get into any trouble...

Doh, are we looking at fans, um? First off, phoenix dactilyfera but then who knows.. wonderful picture in any case..

edit, please

Doh, are we looking at fans, um? First off, phoenix dactilyfera but then who knows.. wonderful picture in any case..

Ne'er mind if I guess the palm, that is a wonderful picture...

If you've said it once, you've said it three times

Yes, the noises have pretty much stopped now. Only sporadic chinks. And no explosions yet .

All of this talk about Arizona makes me smile... My significant other wants to live in Arizona, but I am a big lush plant and water person (I love ocean, lakes, rain.) He likes the desolation and privacy of the dessert, I like people and things. So, if we ever did end up marrying, and he absolutely has to move there, he says he will build me a hanging garden, like the one Hammurabi built for his wife.

Also promising the moon and stars, I suppose.

Hanging Gardens sounds fabulous... the moon & stars, too.

Ever seen the Alhambra and Generalife gardens? There is one place where water funnels down small open aquaducts lining either side of a stairway in the shade. Uhhmmmm, nice & cool.