At the end of this link is a great picture of a squirrel that jumped in the frame during a time-delayed photograph. Be sure to read the caption beneath the picture.

I do not know if this is normal around here, but I am frequently discovering and having to deal with spiders in my apartment. Me being me, I catch and release these spiders, which have been ranging from pretty small to one exceptionally large spider that required a substitution in my usual capturing device (a glass) due to its size. I currently have one trapped underneath my desk and will be relocating it outdoors in a few moments.

In response to yesterday’s wholly unnecessary assault on my shoe (see Berry Stains from the Sky), I have decided to memorialize the event in haiku.

In the first poem, I write from what I imagine to be the perspective of the assaulting crow. The second poem describes the event from my perspective, starting with the crows on the ground, followed by the realization that they were distracting for the attacker from above.

summer is most fun
eating berries in the tree
poop on humans’ heads

young crows in the park
diversion! third crow in tree!
they laugh, stain my shoe

A young crow pooped mulberries on my white running shoes today.

I am pretty sure it was deliberate, and I am pretty sure he was aiming for my head.

I have long been a fan of the products at Despair.com — starting first with the Demotivators, some of which I find really funny (and true!) — and have known about the Made in USA by Robots t-shirt for a while (I find it hilarious). I saw the t-shirt  in person for a first time a few days ago at work. I was a little surprised, but in retrospect probably should not have been. If I had seen someone wearing it at NREL that would have been a surprise.

It has been sunny (and increasingly hot) the past couple of weeks.

On Friday, we switched to overcast and got more comfortable temperatures.

We went kayaking last Sunday. This was the first time I have been kayaking. It was pretty fun and was definitely good exercise.

The kayaks were rented in Lake Union at the Northwest Outdoor Center. We headed over to the Arboretum (in a double kayak). In the Arboretum we saw, at close range, a Great Blue Heron, a duck with many ducklings in tow, and a lot of turtles (mostly Red-Eared Sliders, I think). These are marked on the map by white, red, and yellow circles, respectively. The Great Blue Heron even caught a fish when we were there. Unfortunately, I did not get good pictures of any wildlife.

After touring around the Arboretum for a while, we headed back. Estimates place the route at a little more than seven miles.

I was not sure if loons spend any time here, but yesterday I saw one swimming and diving in Lake Washington. I had previously only seen them in Ontario and Minnesota and had little knowledge of their distribution.

Based on what other people are saying, it has been unusually cold most of the time that I have been here. Yesterday was pretty chilly, and it even snowed briefly during the afternoon.

A couple weekends back I caught an episode of A Prairie Home Companion. It happened to be their “joke show“, which included “The Sound of Chicken’s”, a parody of “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. The song was actually a repeat from last year’s joke show. Listen to it here.

The show was pretty entertaining, but in addition to the song, the following joke sticks out in my mind:

Q: What do you call a lawyer who has gone bad?

A: Senator.