I had trouble getting the camera to focus on the surfaces rather than the reflections in them, but the windows, windshield, and the mirrors are all completely smeared with weird [...]]]> So apparently, there is a remake being made of Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and tryouts are being held in our driveway, with all three vehicles as props:

I had trouble getting the camera to focus on the surfaces rather than the reflections in them, but the windows, windshield, and the mirrors are all completely smeared with weird streaks and smudges. We found this on the Jeep, the Outlander, and my work van the past few days.

Here you can see the streaks, which we think are actually wingprints, better. It must have taken hours (or several birds) to make this much of a mess, in spite of the fact that we have yet to actually see one of the culprits in action.

All of the mirrors also sport this decorative statement. Apparently a scatological offensive is also considered appropriate when squaring off with a rival, or in this case, your own reflection.

I googled ‘birds attacking car windows’ and apparently this is common in mating season, with robins and cardinals being likely culprits. I wish they’d knock it off, it’s disgusting. We didn’t have this problem last year, wonder why we are now? Is there something different going on this year, or is this all the work of one nutcase bird who perhaps has been into some fermented berries somewhere?

“…FROST/FREEZE INFORMATION…

ENOUGH INSTANCES OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES HAVE OCCURRED THIS MONTH TO EFFECTIVELY END THE GROWING SEASON ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS…AND ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT OF THE CAROLINAS. THEREFORE… THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG WILL NOT ISSUE FROST OR FREEZE PRODUCTS FOR THESE AREAS UNTIL THE GROWING SEASON RESUMES [...]]]> The following weather alert is showing in our weather toolbar right now:

“…FROST/FREEZE INFORMATION…

ENOUGH INSTANCES OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES HAVE OCCURRED THIS MONTH
TO EFFECTIVELY END THE GROWING SEASON ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS…AND
ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS AND PIEDMONT OF THE CAROLINAS. THEREFORE…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG WILL NOT
ISSUE FROST OR FREEZE PRODUCTS FOR THESE AREAS UNTIL THE GROWING
SEASON RESUMES IN THE SPRING OF 2009.”

Yeah, the black shrivelled basil plant kinda tipped us off that the growing season was over, but thanks for warning us… or, I guess, not warning us?

As I was coming in the door from work, the phone was ringing and I had to run to answer it (OK, actually I had to run to find the handset, because I always [...]]]> No, I am not about to reveal some deeply personal bit of trivia that should have stayed personal, don’t worry. 

As I was coming in the door from work, the phone was ringing and I had to run to answer it (OK, actually I had to run to find the handset, because I always leave it laying somewhere obscure) in time. It was from what looked like a legal firm in a 919 area code, and the woman on the phone asked for a familiar-sounding man’s name. I told her she had the wrong number and she apologized and hung up. Of course I immediately googled the number…

The number was indeed for a legal firm, one that appears to specialize in collections, and I also remembered why the name sounded familiar. It was the boyfriend of the previous tenant in our house. A moment of confusion followed: how did they get our phone number to try and reach someone who previously had our address? The ‘why’ I could easily see; someone putting the phone in another person’s name to dodge creditors is a pretty common scenario, but I was baffled as to how our number came into it.

At first, I figured it must be some special reverse search software that creditors and people like that have access to, but the truth is actually more disturbing. It took a quick google on “lookup phone number by address,” and then a few mouse clicks, for me to bring up the name and address our phone number is listed under. Even scarier, for a fee the site would also give previous address history, court cases, email addresses, and all sorts of other info on any individual searched.

To have this sort of information out there on the Internet, for anyone to access, is rather disturbing.

I thought he had kind of weird eyes, but maybe that’s due to being creeped out by the article combined with a bad red-eye remover touch up in the photo?

Update: The CNEWS article with the creepy-eyes picture was pulled off the site for some reason so I’ve updated [...]]]> Cat predicts deaths of nursing home residents

I thought he had kind of weird eyes, but maybe that’s due to being creeped out by the article combined with a bad red-eye remover touch up in the photo?

Update: The CNEWS article with the creepy-eyes picture was pulled off the site for some reason so I’ve updated the link to the CNN version. There is also an article in the New England Journal of Medicine but it’s not available online.

Update 2: The original link I tried to post on CNEWS is back up.

Lindsy and Simon For the record, Lindsy can’t stand the cats and this is the first time she hasn’t ever immediately [...]]]> – or maybe it is the upcoming full moon tonight. Right on the heels of our actually managing to get pictures of all the animals together (well, at least in two groups) we now have THIS:

Lindsy and Simon

For the record, Lindsy can’t stand the cats and this is the first time she hasn’t ever immediately gotten up and walked away in disgust when Simon tried to be near her… well… at least she actually waited almost five minutes before walking away in disgust.