Question to US sports and/or Star Trek fans.
A crossword clue and answer was: “College player sitting out a year: Redshirt”.
On Star Trek redshirts on away missions generally got killed or whatever.
Are these two things related? 🤔🖖🏼
My Honda del Sol was first backed into by a very apologetic neighbour. One time a fire engine took off a corner. Various folks crashed into it, smashed windows, scraped past on our narrow, winding road. One guy tried to jimmy off the spoiler. All while parked. 🚘
Back in 1998 I bought a brand-new to me second hand Honda del Sol sports car. Within a week it had been damaged — only 1 among many incidents (18, I think). The worst <6 months later was when thieves took all 4 wheels overnight. Trouble magnet car. 🚘
As expected, I very much enjoyed Catch Me When I’m Falling (A Charlie Mack Motown Mystery Book 3) 📚:
Someone is murdering the homeless in Detroit’s Cass Corridor… These horrific crimes wouldn’t require an investigation… except one of the bodies is Charlie’s mother’s friend.
Waimangu Volcanic Valley is only a few Km out of Rotorua and a favourite spot. We spent only an hour there. 😒Sometime I want to go back with a picnic and spend the whole day. That blue is the true colour of the highly acidic Inferno Crater Lake. 🌋 Waimangu is a gorgeous spot.
Last weekend we visited Rotorua, ~5 hours drive north of here. The Redwoods Treewalk was a highlight.
9-20 metres above the forest floor, this award-winning, eco-tourism walk is 700 metres long, spans across 28 suspension bridges and 27 platforms
The night lights were magic!
Seal season
Waikawa Beach is littered with driftwood all year. Sometimes it turns up in the form of a thick mulch of tiny fragments. Mainly though it's variously sized branches and logs and chunks of wood, generally dark, sometimes light, lying hither and yon.
At this tail end of winter that can be a problem, as from around July we start to see seals on the beach. From a distance they closely resemble bits of driftwood, and you may have to watch carefully to see that dark lump at the water's edge is moving independently of the waves.
Even harder is when they tuck themselves into the cleft of a branch so you can walk past and not even realise they're there until the return leg of your seaside stroll.
One morning I watched a small dark brown odd-looking dog, or so I assumed, make its way down from the dunes, across the breadth of sand and into the water. That was when I realised it was a seal that had presumably been enjoying a quiet rest and coincidentally crossed paths with the dogs and me on its return to the water.
It's uplifting to spot the seals, but also a concern. The beach is a wonderful place for dogs to run off-leash, but not if they may encounter a tired seal pup. Not only are there strict laws about staying away from and not harming seals, but as I understand it a seal could inflict quite some wounds on an imprudent dog.
The other concern is with vehicles. Thank goodness the speed limit on our beach was not long ago reduced from a mind-boggling 100 Kph to a much more reasonable 30 Kph. That's still plenty fast for an inattentive driver to collide with an animal that closely resembles driftwood. Even more to the point, there are plenty of drivers who regard that speed limit as a mere curiosity and cheerfully race between Ōtaki and the Waikawa River.
This season so far one resident has spotted a live seal near the river, and another reported a dead seal at the base of the dunes. That one was more than a metre long, so it wasn't a juvenile.
The Kekeno, New Zealand Fur Seal is one of our taonga. Keep your eyes open on the beach this month and you may be lucky enough to spot one.
Published in Ōtaki Today, August 2020, Page 22.
Genomic Study Reveals NZ’s Tuatara Is Like No Other Animal
According to new sequencing of the tuatara’s entire genome … this strange creature is neither lizard, bird, nor mammal. Rather, it’s some strange amalgamation of all three.
I got to see this tuatara up close in 2007. 😀
Well, the klaxon sound blaring from my phone just before 7 a.m. certainly took me by surprise.
Today most of Aotearoa New Zealand moves back to Covid-19 Alert Level 2 because after 102 days of relaxation we have 4 new cases of unknown origin. 🦠
Poor old Oshi is home and resting comfortably after his surgery today. 🐶 4 teeth were extracted. His eye has a bad ulcer, probably related to the rotten tooth that was below it. Xrays show the arthritis we knew about, but no other serious problems.
On the other hand, the overnight camel trek in Morocco in 2015 was a pretty unusual mode of transport. Sunrise gave me a great shot.
In October 2002 we took a tour on a mini submarine in Vanuatu. It was a tiny boat with a glass ‘bell’ below water. Definitely the most unusual mode of transport I’ve ever used. I think these days I’d take better photos.
Canon PowerShot A20.
A couple of weeks ago Sasha had Xrays and minor surgery. This week is Oshi’s turn. He’s pretty poorly: an ulcerated eye, rotten tooth and general malaise. 🐶 He’s stayed at the vet’s tonight ready for surgery tomorrow. Photo shows his swollen eye with the dye to show up ulcers.
I’m excited to see this video series: Dianna’s Intro Physics Class. I’ve long wanted an intro course for adults. I last learned about physics a good 50 years ago and have forgotten everything. Meanwhile, the world has moved on. Much to learn…
In Rotorua on the Sulphur Lake sculpture trail (PDF), Rory McDougall: Ghost Soldier:
For the soldiers who returned in spirit. … I try to achieve the motion of passing through and ascending upwards using negative space in silhouette – a ghost soldier.
black-and-white #mbaug
I’ll write separately about the Redwood Treetop walk in Rotorua, but at night they fill the forest with amazing lights, including these ‘fireflies' which flit around. The photo does it no justice at all, but it was absolutely magical. If you’re ever lucky enough to visit, see it!
Another view of some of the thermal pools at Polynesian Spa, with lake beyond.
One of the delights of the Polynesian thermal pools in Rotorua is being able to look out over the lake while soaking.
