Unnatural Habitat

On our most recent walk at the college, Sam and I were stunned to see the duck-less duck pond getting torn apart. We'd been over to the college about a week earlier and the pond, though still a depressing shadow of it's former self, looked the same as it always had, recently speaking, that is - overgrown, duck-less and depressing. At least, though, it was still partially filled with what was presumably "water".

But not the other night. The other night, the fence was partially torn down. Trees were partially cut down. And the so-called "water" was little more than a pool of disgusting looking muck (ok, so not much change there).

So what's going on? We're not quite sure. 

Near the end of our walk, we came upon a guy who seemed, by virtue of his intimate knowledge - both school building-wise and pond-wise, to be someone who worked at the school (officially or unofficially, we're not quite sure). 

According to this guy, they were dredging the pond. That would explain the dredging equipment. Beyond that, he wasn't sure what the plan was. 

He did, however, enlighten us as to the mystery of the no-more-ducks. According to this guy, who I will now call "Bob", the disappearance of the ducks had nothing to do with the so-called hoax known as climate change - or the possibly related rapid increase in algae growing in the now (or once) putrid smelling and putrid looking so-called "water".  

No. According to Bob, the ducks were gone for two reasons: a red tailed hawk nesting in the nearby birch trees and later, a turtle, presumably of the snapping variety, which some lady had for some reason released into the pond.

Bob said that the hawk had started feasting on the ducks after getting tired of chasing down the nearby rabbits. (Actually, Bob didn't say anything about the hawk actually getting tired of chasing the rabbits, but he did mention the hawk chasing the rabbits and I can only assume that the hawk wised-up and found the ducks were a lot less effort to catch. Plus, there's still a lot of rabbits around. Ipso facto.)

Bob said that the turtle only added to the problem. After the lady dropped it off (I'm assuming Bob witnessed this), the turtle began eating the frogs. This seemed entirely plausible to me because now that Bob mentioned it, it seemed to me there were indeed considerably fewer frogs - I had just been distracted by the more devastating (and visible) loss of the ducks. 

Anyway, when the frog population dropped, the turtle joined the hawk and also started going after the ducks. (Presumably the hawk and turtle were working on an individual basis. I don't think there was a formal hawk-turtle alliance).

Bob went into a fair amount of detail about this; about how there would be about a dozen ducklings in the morning and a day or two later, it would be about half of that. A day or so after that, about half again. Bob also went into specifics, casually, about how the ducks were getting killed. I won't repeat the specifics of it here but let's just say it involved the ducks and the throats they used to have.

At some point, Bob mentioned that he finally caught the turtle and released it a mile or so away, down-river, in a more natural habitat. Good move on Bob's part, if you ask me. I didn't think to ask Bob what he planned to do about the hawk.

Anyway, it was getting late, my legs were getting tired and Sam was already grossed-out. Plus, as I said, Bob didn't know what was going to happen to the pond.

Sam and I said goodbye to Bob, thanked him for his wealth of knowledge, and we headed home - slightly more informed and significantly more disgusted than when we left.

Newsflash!

 

Apparently, the bulk food store is now selling birthday cakes! When did this happen? Wish I had known about this weeks ago.

Mysteries of the Universe

 

Pretty Flowers

 

In the last week and a half, I've been to the hospital for x-rays, seen an orthopedic surgeon, and gone to a physical therapist. Each of these people are in the same so-called medical network. The hospital is about five hundred yards from my primary care physician's office, the other two offices are in the exact same building. 

At each visit, when I walk into their office, the receptionist asks for my name, stares at the computer for a minute, and after a few clicks, asks me to confirm my date of birth, address and so on, indicating after each response that I've given them a correct answer.

What I want to know is, why, at each one of these places, am I having to fill out variations of the exact same three forms, asking me the exact same questions - what prescriptions am I taking? What is my medial history? What is my family's medical history? What are my allergies? And on and on and on. Why do they keep asking me this? Why is this not in their system?

A few years ago, I went through this with a different specialist, also in their network. When I went back for a follow-up a month later, the nurse practitioner asked me the exact same questions AGAIN. When I responded that I just went through this a month earlier, she didn't miss a beat. She just continued on. 

The only thing that seemed to get a reaction from her is when she got to the point of asking me about my medications, I could remember all of them - except for the one that was prescribed for me one month earlier by the doctor I was there to see. 

When I couldn't remember what the prescription was, Nurse Ratched replied with a sarcastic, "Well, that's helpful." 

I told her that "this very doctor is the one who prescribed it for me. I would think it would be in your system - but apparently your system doesn't work that way!" She stopped writing, glanced up at me for about three seconds - then started writing again. 

What she was writing, I can only guess.

Warm Weather and Happy Thoughts

 

Today was the warmest day of the year so far. It was probably the warmest day since last fall. To celebrate, Sam and I went for a walk on the finally non-ice covered bike path for the first time in I don't know how many months.

I had kind of forgotten how nice it was to walk this route. There was a gentle, almost spring-like breeze. Out on the water, large flocks of geese noisily bickered over god-knows-what. Further in the distance, a few swans floated downstream. 

As enjoyable as it was, it would have been even more so had some of the other folks bothered to wear their friggin' masks.

For Sam's sake, I tried not to let it get to me. Instead, I focused on the fact that perhaps some of these specimens may, at some point, find themselves lying in a hospital bed, alone, with nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and think, "If only I had worn a mask."

 I found this helped my attitude considerably.

Twenty-four Years of Sam

Sam and his Grandpa, circa October 1998 (I think).

Happy birthday to one of my favorite people.

Best Wishes

When I picked Sam up from work on Wednesday, I was met, as I often am, by Sam's supervisor. Usually she wants to catch me up on something about his day or to flag my attention to something upcoming. Sometimes it's just for a little small talk. 

This time though, she was trying to catch me before Sam came out. She wanted to know if it was ok if they surprised Sam with a birthday cake when he came to work on Friday. 

These people are so good to him. I don't know how long this job will last but, however long it is, they have my unending gratitude for their thoughtfulness and the kindness they've shown him. No wonder he loves going to work.

Helpful Advice From the Cranberry Sauce Company

I wonder why the cranberry sauce company felt the need to do this.  Were too many people calling customer service, complaining that they couldn't figure out how to open the can?