Betty Adams's Blog, page 74

Fat Fall Time

Wow, those squirrels are fat. 
The Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels who scamper around me during work are displaying some predictable, and adorable, behavior. They sit there on the old fence posts, chewing away at the pine nuts they have pulled down from the surrounding trees. They watch me curiously as their fall-fat little bodies jiggle around under their fur. Then I get home and wonder why I am suddenly craving nuts...

Speculation

I should probably check up on what my editor is doing with my manuscript...

First Frost of Fall

The first frost of the season moved in and Old Man Winter painted the windows with millions of intricate works of art. 
Which I spent fifteen minutes cheerfully scraping off of my work truck.   

Notice the Little Things

You can't notice everything. Babies do. They notice the sounds of every language. Until they don't. A thinking adult human has to filter out most of the world to say sane. 
However sometimes you just have to take the time to notice one little thing. A patch of moss on the side of a rock. A pale white violet tucked into a seep. Enjoy the little things when you can. 

Hopping Along

Angry Grasshopper just want you to leave her alone! 

Humans are Weird - Jump

Humans are Weird – Jump

“Friend Forty-seven-clicks!” Twistunder greeted the Winged who was hunched over the communal pool. “It is good to see you!”
“Ah?” the Winged raised his amber head and blinked as he focused his attention on the undulate. “It is good to see you too Friend Twistunder.”
Twistunder swam leisurely up to the prominence where Forty-seven-clicks was staring over the surface of the pool. Twistunder felt a stirring of unease as he approached. He was not particularly good at reading the emotions of the flying mammals. However the relative increase in folds and creases in Forty-seven-clicks’s facial membrane would seem to indicate distress.
“Do you wish to talk about your emotions Friend Forty-seven-clicks?” Twistunder asked.
Forty-seven-clicks bared his teeth and squinted his eyes in a gesture that even Twistunder could see was frustration.
“I would rather talk about human madness,” Forty-seven-clicks chirped out in anger.
“What did a human do this time?” Twistunder asked, genuinely curious.
“Not a human,” Forty-seven-clicks corrected as he dipped the tip of his wing in the water. “The humans psychology as a whole.”
“How so?” Twistunder asked.
“I was out on a long range scouting run,” Forty-seven-clicks said with a sigh, slumping down onto the perch. “We had a transport but it was flat-land only so we had to get out and fly or climb to explore.”
“There was a human in your flight?” Twistunder asked.
“Yes, a healthy young one,” Forty-seven-clicks replied. “So the expedition is going just fine but we get to a steep cliff where we needed to get out of the transport. I flew up. I needed to rest at least five times and even the human needed to rest from his climbing but eventually we reached the crest. The winds were strong so I followed protocol and attached myself to the human’s neck harness. After we finished the formal survey the human walked to the edge of the cliff and just…stared.”
“What was he staring at?” Twistunder asked.
“The emptiness of space,” Forty-seven-clicks replied. “That is all we can see at that distance, even with our superior sight.”
“Then what happened?” Twistunder pressed.
“The human’s heart rate accelerated,” Forty-seven-clicks said. “His breathing increased. Something was stimulating him.”
“But all he was looking at was the emptiness of space?” Twistunder asked.
“Then he asked me, without making eye contact, if I ever got the urge to jump off of cliffs too.” Forty-seven-clicks said.
Twistunder pondered this a moment. “That phrasing would imply that the human had the urge to jump off of the cliff.”
“Yes!” Forty-seven-clicks hissed out.
“Humans cannot fly,” Twistunder continued.
“Of course not with those ridiculously giant bodies!” Forty-seven-clicks said.
“It would be fatal to leap from the height you describe,” Twistunder said with rising horror.
“So I called off the mission and reported the human to the psychologist!” Forty-seven-clicks explained.
“That seems perfectly reasonable,” Twistunder said.
Forty-seven-clicks threw himself down on the perch and hung his head over the water.
“You would think,” Forty-seven-clicks said. “But apparently it was simply my ignorance that interfered with the mission. The urge to jump from fatal heights is a psychological standard in humans that I would have known about had I read the informational packet fully.”
Silence settled over the friends and Twistunder mused over this revelation.
“Having impulses that you do not act on is one of the defining elements of sapience,” Twistunder said slowly. “But I have never heard of such an illogical example of this.”
“Well now you have,” Forty-seven-clicks said with a sigh. 

Book Suggestions - The Dove in the Eagle's Nest

Book Suggestions - "The Dove in the Eagle's Nest"
Charlotte Mary Yonge
There was a time when feudal lords still believed that a castle could be impenetrable. When nature alone was thought to be defense enough. There was a time when there was only one Christian Church in all of Europe. There was a time when even a Lord of Europe might be stolen away to become a slave a world away. But the fifteenth century has begun. The sounds of cannons boom over mountain fortresses. Scattered city-states are becoming empires.  In the depths of Germany questions are stirring.
Two women, baronesses, stand in a mountain crag. One holds that her Eagle's Nest is invulnerable. The other has seen the power of the dawning scientific age. One stands for the world that was. One for the world that will be. 
Take a step back in time to a world in the middle of multiple revolutions. 

Fall is Here!

Well at latitude 43 and elevation 7000 at least. The willow shrubs that climb the talus slope behind my apartment are quietly shifting from green to dusty yellow. Meanwhile we are eagerly waiting for the (much lower elevation) aspen stand to change. That is full fall. The entire forest whispers and murmurs while the leaves swirl around you.  The dark green of the the conifers catch the falling leaves and hold them in bright contrast. 

New Housemates

While trying to think of something clever to post about on this blog my new housemates arrived in a white panel van. Time to make my living space ... less different. 

Roosters and Hens

Much of yesterday and today was spent in arranging for the proper delivery of rescue animals. A chicken and a rooster.