Tangentially Yours,

Flirtatious: "How's the water?"

Real Mood:  Meanderingly Driven

Prediction: Strawberry Silk Pie will overtake Strawberry Shakes in popularity in Bath, North Carolina by 2009.

Congrats to Casey and Jeff. They produced Mac in Pasadena this week.  They promise to keep him well-fed and happy.

Jeff joins a bunch of  all the hornbills I see around town on Valentine's Day morning. One of them is this guy pushing his kid in the swing while mommy sleeps in.

I think it was too early for the Gorillas, Mallards and stray dogs.

A couple of days ago I look up on the hill behind our house and spot a pair of owls.  Isn't this a little early for mating? I get this weird "Harry Potter" like feeling that they are telling me something. But What? 

Then later in the day we are out on a walk and a prarie dog stands up and barks at me. What's that mean?

Today I see a flicker banging away at the trunk of our ash tree while probably 30 finches and sparrows chatter around him. They are fighting over bird feeder access.  It is as if the Flicker doesn't even know they're there.

Now that's focus.  I wonder if there is a direct correlation between hunger gradients and levels of concentration?

Which reminds me that I stop by the "Daily Grind" to break a 20 Dollar bill so I can drop a 5  dollar bill to get out of the parking garage. Many of the employees at the Daily Grind are from foreign countries because they can work on campus, without a green card, I think. I at least know they can work at the Daily Grind where as they can't work out in the broader community.   

They also work at the new parking garage where they charge 5 bucks a day.

Anyway I pick up a pastry and ask for a cup of coffee.  The woman at the cash register is of Asian descent.  She quickly rings up the coffee...and then turns to a supervisor and says, " Is that a scone?"

I can sense a Brit saying, " are those pig knuckles?"

We're still sporting a lot of differences on the planet, arn't we. My friends Duane and Nancy tell of their Peace Corps experience in East Africa. They say field mice stuffed into bamboo is a delicacy. You buy it at the market by the foot.

We were out for breakfast this morning.  I'm not sure what the wait person is thinking about. 

"What would you like to drink sir?"

"Well, water and maybe some coffee."

She returns with a coffee pot and cups.  No water!

"Can I get that water?"

"Oh, sure.  I'll get that right away."

She heads to the kitchen and picks up an order for the table next to us.  She serves our neighbors and hardly notices we're on the planet.

"Excuse me? The water?"

"Oh, yes. I'll get that right away."

Off she goes to the kitchen. I notice she gets called in a direction away from the fountain.  She responds to that call.

Well it seems she's been called to pick up our order. She doesn't want it to get cold and brings it right to the table.  I'm about to say, "forget the water!"

But I think she finally focuses on my brain waves and beats me to the punch.

"I'll get that water now."

This woman is not sporting a lot of fatty tissue.  She's one step up from anorexic I'd say.

I'm half way through my Southwest Chicken Skillet and she returns saying, "Here's that water sir."

I think they need to feed the poor woman.  Then she could focus.  You know focus like a FLICKER. 

I see a picture of a new pie offering called Strawberry Silk pie. Maybe she can have some of that (with water).

Extra Credit to any student who can turn all this into a story. It will be fun for the rest of us to watch while we're munching on our Strawberry Silk Pie. (Maybe you can't munch on silk. Maybe you can only gum it.)   

Only about 45 days to go to the SUPER INCREDIBLE MIND NUMBING OXYGEN SUCKING SPIRITUAL JOURNEY INTO THE MOST OVERPOWERING ANNIVERSARY OF THE ENCHANTINGLY UNBELIEVABLE BLOG OF OUR TIME, PaulsModestMusings. HAVE YOU GOT YOU'RE RESERVATIONS?