Cactus Watcher Strikes Again

Via shadowkat

3. Do you wear slippers/indoor shoes at home? When you visit a friend, do you remove your shoes (do they expect you to)?

Removing one's shoes isn't as common in other people's houses in the U.S. I used to have a pair of slippers that I wore frequently long ago. I don't know exactly what happened to them, but for a long time I haven't worn slippers in my own home.

4. Is it International Owl Awareness Day? Do you have owls near where you live? Have you ever seen or heard one?

Once in a while I hear an owl here. We have a kind of dove that hoots here in Tucson, and I have to listen carefully to tell the owls from the more common doves. Back in Missouri I used to hear a Great Horned owl outside my bedroom window many nights. It was a real treat one day to see a Great Horned owl in daylight. I was riding home from high school on the school bus and it flew up from a lone tree about a half mile from home. It flew directly toward our woods up on the hill. I've seen others since, but that time was special.

5. Where did you go on the first family holiday/vacation you remember?

I don't really remember when it was, but it was definitely in the early 1950's. We must have been coming home from visiting my mother's brother in Oklahoma. Instead of taking Route 66, the short way back to St. Louis we went across southern Missouri. We stopped in Branson and took a jeep tour through Marvel Cave. Yes, the jeep went through the cave! This was before Silver Dollar City existed and decades before Branson became a touristy center of popular music theaters. When we moved on, we stopped at a forest-fire watch tower. My brother and sister climbed up it, but I was too little. We also stopped at Big Springs, the largest volume spring in the state. We went wading and I remember the water being icy cold on a hot day.


6. It’s International Scuba Day – have you ever been scuba diving? Would you like to learn?

No, and no. I have a more-or-less permanent sinus condition that makes diving deeper even in swimming pools extremely painful for me.

7. On this day in 1606, Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" probably took place in the Great Hall at Hampton Court Palace for King James I. Have you ever seen a movie version of a Shakespeare play – or seen one on stage?

Yes, I've seen several movies. Usually it takes me a few minutes to understand a word of Shakespearean dialog mixed with British accents, but then it all clears up for the rest of the play.

8. It’s International Cat Day - a day to celebrate felines, both wild and domestic. Do you have a favorite breed of domestic or big cat, or are you a ‘dog person’?

Honestly, I'm a dog person. But cats fit my retired lifestyle better now, and they seem to take to me quickly. My sister had a beautiful Himalayan cat, my brother had a blue-eyed Siamese. My Sirius is just a black Tabby, but we don't insult each other's family trees.

When you get old you can't help thinking back.

Her birthday is July the 3rd. Life dealt her a very poor hand as a young teenager. I first saw her up close 60 odd years ago. Everyone said she was smart and ugly. And they were right. She was doing teacher-for-a-day for my Spanish teacher's classes. Like me, she was a Freshman, but she was so gifted that my teacher had requested her to do all her Spanish classes that day. We were doing the usual group and individual language drills with her leading. I don't remember what the prompting question was. But the correct answer the fellow beside me gave was "Pues, vente a mi casa," which caused snickers across the room. He'd invited the ugliest girl in the room to come see him at his home. ( Read more... )

via shadowkat

22. If you took part in a quiz, what would be your specialist subject?

Russian Lit? I did my PhD exams in Slavic Linguistics, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch that! Anybody remember Stockard Channing's TV show where she'd majored in Serbo-Croatian?

23. In 1895, Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand detective writer and producer, was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Have you ever read any of her detective novels? If not, who is your favorite detective novelist?

No, Agatha Christie is my favorite.

24. It’s Barbara Streisand’s birthday – are you a fan of her music or movies?

I really enjoyed her music when she was a teenager. As she got older she got into more things I was less interested in. I still like her singing more than her movies. ( Read more... )

It was the second day of triple digit temperatures outside. It didn't get up to over 80 inside the previous night, but I couldn't sleep. Had to give up and turn on the A/C in the afternoon, yesterday. It didn't actually run for an hour or two. The house wasn't yet warm enough inside for that to happen. But it ran for the third time at sundown. The house is well insulated. Not having the house hold in heat during the evening helped a lot. I slept well. It's very early for these high temps outside. Running the A/C for a few extra weeks is expensive, but by the middle of April I'd need it anyway. I tell myself at least I won't be running the furnace much till next November.

22. What is your favorite writing implement – a fountain pen, ballpoint pen, pencil or something else?

Ball points and I'm picky about them. Fountain pens are a mess waiting to happen. I owned a couple nice ones in grad school. I decided they weren't worth the effort to keep clean for all the care they needed in filling and writing. I'll use a mechanical pencil for a quick note, once in a while. With paper being made cheaper all the time, I have to keep looking for ball points that give a dark line without bleeding through too much.

23. Do you own many mirrors?

Five, two of which came with the house. I guess I also have a hand mirror.

24. What are you watching this month that you are enjoying?

TV I presume... Not much.

25. When was the last time the windows in your home were washed?

I don't know.

26. When you leave your home, what essentials do you have with you?

Driver's license, wallet, sunglasses, keys, some form of money...

27. Have you received a letter recently?

I got a Christmas letter or two. Long e-mail letter on Sunday.

28. Do you own many notebooks? What do you use them for?

Lots, I don't know how many. I use them for everything I write down for myself, which is more than you might guess.

8. How often do you read fiction?

I quit reading serious fiction many years ago, when I tried my own hand at writing. Decided I just didn't need to be unconsciously copying someone else. I read the Harry Potter books when they came out, and have been reading Agatha Christie mysteries more recently.

9. This year is the 40th anniversary of the release of the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – have you ever seen it? Bueller…. Bueller…. Bueller…..

I did see the preview for it at a theater 40 years ago and decided it wasn't for me.

10. Have you ever owned a Tamagotchi?

I had to look that up. A silly electronic "pet" fad from the 1980s. No, never owed one.

11. Would you consider yourself superstitious?

The old saying is "I'm not superstitious, cause that's bad luck."

12. Do you have any siblings?

Not any more.

13. What’s the weather like today? Is it about average for the time of year?

Sunny. high 50s to high 70s. Maybe slightly above average.

14. How many flights of stairs would you consider walking up in a building, or do you always take the lift/elevator?

When I started grad school, living one term in an undergrad dorm, I occasionally walked up 11 floors to avoid the elevator, which sometimes got dangerously overcrowded at busy times. The next term I got a room in a grad dorm (where people always behaved more rationally) and I only had to walk up a floor and a half from the back door. If I happened to walk in the front door, I might hop on the elevator and ride up two floors to mine if no one was waiting. At my age, I avoid stairs whenever possible.

Going down? Never used elevator going down in my grad dorm. Sometimes trotted down the 11 floors in the undergrad dorm, sometimes rode down. Once I got on by myself and at some point on the way down one undergrad kid got on. I recognized him. He was a Freshman named Archie Griffin, already a star on the football team. Eventually he won the Heisman Trophy twice, the only person ever to win it twice to this day. I'm sure he didn't live in that dorm much longer than I did!

via shadowkat

8. Do you look back on your school days with fondness? What was your favorite subject to learn?

I really didn't think too much in terms of favorite subjects when I was in grade school and high school. Maybe it was math, because it felt like I was accomplishing something. I could add and subtract before I started school, but I liked solving problems even in first grade. Yes, geometry class in high school was more than a little boring, but doing the proofs on my own was more fun, thinking back on it. If you'd asked me back when, I might have said science class, but honestly my science teachers were a motley lot, and except for chemistry and physics in high school, I didn't learn much new in science classes, and also my Advanced Chemistry class teacher actually could not correctly pronounce such important words in chemistry as formula, oxygen, and chlorine. We knew what he was trying to say, and we never laughed at his speech when he was around.

In college, no question about it, Russian language classes with my favorite professor were easily my favorite. I eventually went to grad school in Slavic Languages and Literatures, and taught Russian at Ohio State during my time there.

9. What time do you usually get up and go to bed each day?

My cat has decided that I should get up at about 6:00. I'm getting old so I go to bed about 9:00 these days.

10. Are you impulsive, or do you take time to make decisions?

It depends. On major purchases I mostly take my time. Go this place or that? Buy this book or not? Have something simple or fancy for dinner? On those kinds of things, I'm impulsive.

I thought about replacing the calendar yesterday, but realized I hadn't bought one for 2026 yet. So I decided to go out to the bookstore and pick one up this morning. I went outside about 7:00 to due some weeding. (We've had warm weather, and plenty of rain lately, including about half an inch yesterday.) It was damp out but nothing you wouldn't expect the morning after a rain here. About 8:30 I got in the car to go to the store, and backing the car out of the garage I noticed it was misty on my street. That doesn't happen very often here. But I pulled out and went the short distance to the first intersection, still in the subdivision, and looked down hill. There was full blown I-can't-see-a-thing-fog just a few feet away. In the twenty odd years I've lived in AZ I've never seen that in my neighborhood before. Doesn't mean it hasn't happened. On the news, I heard of fog in the lower parts of Phoenix when I was there, but wasn't close enough to experience it. I don't live in the lower part of Tucson, but with all the rain yesterday, the air must have been really saturated between here and the mountains not far to the north. It's downhill most of the way. So that's where the fog was. When I got to the bookstore I could look back, and the dense cloud looked like it was slowly rising up the mountain itself. If I'd lived on the next street downhill, I certainly would have waited to go till the fog was gone

Fall has finally arrived here. I wore a jacket in the middle of the day for the first time on Tuesday. I started the furnace yesterday. It rained last night in Tucson, and snowed up on the mountain tops to the East and North.

Via shadowkat

17. Have you ever bought something via the Internet and regretted it?

No, but then it's been a long time since I bought anything via the Internet.

18. The definition of an antique is something that is 100 years old – do you own anything that old?

Actually I do. I have my father's high school senior ring somewhere. Not valuable to anyone else, but plenty of personal importance.

19. Are you wearing any finger rings today?

No. A timely question with the one above. I haven't worn a ring since my high school senior ring, long long ago.

20. When was the last time it rained where you live? Has it been drier than normal for this time of year?

It rained two Mondays ago. It rained buckets, probably more than the rest of the year combined. The ground is still damp enough for our desert plants for a few days.

21. Do you own a wine rack? What do you keep in it?

No. I'm not a great fan of wines.

22. What size is the smallest decorative ornament in your home?

There is a little plastic smiling sun in the window by the door with the text "Welcome." But that's been here since the previous owner. Something that I purchased as a decorative ornament? A little 3d wooden scene of an old-fashioned tavern, I bought in Mexico. In this house it's just this side of the door into the kitchen.