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Sunday, March 30, 2008

Sheffield Turkeys

Seen today in Sheffield, Vermont


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Sophie's Big Day Ends Badly

Sophie wakes up very slowly.
This photo was taken after her breakfast.
Sophie has wild days. Today she went to Dog Mountain
where there are many big birds to chase
and lots of mud to run in.

Her wild fun in the mud required a bath once she was home.
Sophie is not a fan of baths.
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Good Mourning, Dove!


Outside temperature: 6°F (-14.4°C)
Doves close their eyes when they eat.

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Saturday, March 29, 2008

WBUR & NPR's On Point : The End of the Math Wars?

WBUR & NPR's On Point : The End of the Math Wars?
For 20-odd years, mathematicians, parents, and teachers have been arguing over the best way to teach your children math. Well, a national panel formed by President Bush two years ago has just issued its findings, and is pushing schools to go back to the basics — memorization, multiplication tables, and less so-called "fuzzy math."

This hour, On Point: we ask experts if it all adds up -- and with their help, we do your kids' math homework.
  • John Hechinger, education reporter for The Wall Street Journal
  • Mary Eich, a former math teacher, she is the K-8 math coordinator for the Newton, Massachusetts, public schools
  • Wilfried Schmid, professor of mathematics at Harvard University and a member of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, which recently released its report
  • Joseph Rosenstein, professor of mathematics at Rutgers University and director of the New Jersey Mathematics and Science Education Coalition
Click here to listen.
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Sugar on Snow Supper

Amelia, me and two of her friends went to the Sugar on Snow Supper tonight at the Orleans Federated Church. There were plates of ham, potato salad, beans, cole slaw and rolls on each table. Then we were given our own bowl of snow, warm pitchers of maple syrup, pickles, and plates of plain baked doughnuts. We are stuffed! It is too cold outside tonight to do anything except watch movies. We hope you are warm as we sit beneath dogs, cats, and blankets while we watch Ratatouille.

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Friday, March 28, 2008

Friday Fractal: Dobson's Fly

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LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter

Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Psalm 16 (Ps. 16:11)
1 Peter 1:3-9
John 20:19-31





Psalm 16
Gud Stuffs

1 Hai, Celing Cat, I can has protekshuns?
2 I sez 2 Ceiling Cat: "Hai! Celing Cat! U R teh ooberest! LOL!!!11"
3 if u no lyke den u suck.
4 If u no lyke Ceiling Cat den F U, n00b! Sumthin bout libashuns!
5 Ceiling Cat can has my stuffses.
6 Thx 4 mah howse, Ceiling Cat!
7 U tells me 2 do stuff!
8 Ceiling Cat alwayz be wit me, kinda creepy
9 but oober asum!
10 Cuz u no leev me 4 woomun, Ceiling Cat, even if her chesticlz be hyoooooj!!
11 You teechz me 2 not suck

Acts 2: 14-32

14 Den Peter stowd up wit teh eleven an sed to teh cwowd: "Oh hai!
15 Weez not drunk sillee! It be nine ay em, DO NOT WANT!
16 U know wut Joel teh profitz sez? Wel I tell yu:
17 'In teh last daiz, Ceiling Cat sez,
Im in ur urthz, puurin teh spiritz on all kittehs,
Ur suns and doters can has profisies,
Ur yung kittehs can has fun time in teh eyez!
Ur old kittehs can has fun time in teh branez!
18 Yo!
I can has be puttin my spiritz on even teh servents! RLY!
And dey can has profisies.
19 Iz gunna show u all ov teh fun stuffs up in teh Ceilin, srsly.
Oh! Yeh! Iz almos can has no memowies. Iz awso gunna show fun stuffz on teh urthz.
Oh wate, dos not fun! Urthz can has firez an smoke. Kawf! Kawf! DO NOT WANT!
20 Teh big day staw, no moar!
An teh moon can has be all blud and stuffz. Yuk!
but den Jeebus can has be back! Yayz!
21 An evewywun who be like "Jeebus!" can has cheezburger! Rly!'

22 Hey kittehs of teh Israel, lissen to dis: Jebus wuz of Ceiling Cat, srsly. He doed ALL teh cool stuffz an stuff.
23 An den yu kill him, rly.
24 But den Ceiling Cat browt him bac! He can has teh powah! Deths... wuz dat? lol.
25 Dis iz wut David sed:
'Ceiling Cat alwayz be wit me, kinda creepy
26 but oober asum!
27 Cuz u no leev me 4 woomun,
Ceiling Cat, even if her chesticlz be hyoooooj!!
28 You teechz me 2 not suck'
29 Kittehs,I can has wordz that teh David... he is ded.
30 But he wuz profet, srsly. Ceiling Cat sed dat his kittehs one day be on teh thronez.
31 Den Ceiling Cat wuz all sayin about Baby Jebus raisen frum teh ded!
32 Baby Jeebus wuz all bac from the ded, yu kno dis. Yu saweded!

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Jeebus’ dad, Ceiling Cat, is win, cauze he gave us Jeebus and made him a zombie,
4 and will let us has chzburgurs and cookies wit him latr,
5 if u leik him.
6 Don’t run out of happy cuz some stuff is teh sux,
7 cookies and chzburgurs r better than gold,
8 and tho Ceiling Cat is leik invisible bike,
9 u can has them if u leik Jeebus and believe in Ceiling Cat.

John 20:24-31

24 Naow Thomas teh dscpl wuznt wiht teh otehr dscpls wen Jesus camez.
25 Teh otehr dscpls sayed "OMG we haz sawed teh Dood!" But Thomas sayed "His wounz--show them to me."

26 Ltr, teh dscpls iz in teh hous wif Thomas. Teh doorz iz lockded, but Jesus waz liek "Oh hai!"
27 And Jesus sayed "My wounz--let me show u them. Srsly, stfu."

28 And Thomas sayed "OMG! U rulz!"

29 Jesus sez to him "Becuz u seez me and beleevs, iz goode; but iz moar bettr ifs sumone duznt seez me but stil beleevs."

30 BTW: Jesus haz does a lotz moar of teh otehr stuffs, and I rites tehm downd, but I eated tehm.
31 But I dint eated theez stuffs, so u kin beleev Jesus and hav teh lifes, k?

________________________________________________

Messages from LOL Cat Bible:

60% of the Bible is translated.  
I joined twitter, so if you are really 
inclined you can follow what I'm doing.
Ceiling Cat sez yu mabee shud maek dis paypacraft. 
Its awsum! Lurn how an upload pikchas heer!
________________________________________________

HALP!
We hope to have many other Holy Kitties featured this year.
Please e-mail your photo, caption and link to me at
Get ready now cuz the wild weekend is coming!
Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator (submit your post here)

Weekend Cat Blogging #147 Mar 29-30: Amar and Luna at CatSynth
(see the week’s host to enter your WCB post 
in the comments for the weekend roundup)

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos Edition 38 • 03-30-2008
The Brats at Pet’s Garden Blog
Optional Theme - Eyes Or Ears
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats #211 is going to 
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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Signs of Spring: The Raccoon

I have never seen a raccoon here on my land or woods. I have been told that if you have skunks, you won't have raccoons. I don't know if that is true or not, but we saw this raccoon in the bird tree last night. She has been raiding the bird feeders this week by ripping them off the tree and tossing the lids away. We thought ravens (who have also been hanging around) doing that. Amy took these photos while I shone a flashlight on the raccoon. (The flashlight died after five minutes. We're so prepared for a power outage.) The poor raccoon was too skinny. The deep snow is making food gathering difficult.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

It's A Fisher Cat

The other day, I posted about this mysterious mammal across the road in the beaver bog. It was confirmed on Sunday and Monday by a biologist, teachers, Vermonters and students: this is a fisher cat. I had several offers from folks to come shoot it but it was pointed out to me that the fisher most likely is hungry because the snow is so deep. As the snow pack recedes, it will probably return to its normal territory. Sure enough, this photo was the last sighting. 

It was also pointed out to me many times that I am running a fisher cat luncheonette (the favorite food of fisher cats? Kitty cats.)

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Signs of Spring: Pests and Moans

Cluster flies and Asian Lady Beetles (click here for my posts) are reappearing now that the sun is stronger and the windows warmer. And the car has a broken rack and pinion. How much will that cost? The entire cost of the camera that I have been saving for during the past eighteen months. I am reacting much stronger than I ever thought possible. My camera is my only enjoyment in life (sad, huh?) and I am devastated. Damn Saturn cars. The car has been a disaster and a hazard ever since I bought it. I can't even afford to get a Subaru because I have been buying $400 of heating oil a month. 
February 25, 2008:
Hello,

We're running a travel piece on Vermont featuring St. Mary Star of the Sea Church for New York Magazine’s website. I found your blog through Google image and your photos might work for the piece. Would we be allowed to use your photos? As a rule, we include photo credits.

Here are the photos we would like to use: (here)

I'm under a bit of a time crunch, as my deadline is Tuesday (2/26). If you have any questions feel free to write back to me here or call me at 212-508-0718.

Thank you so much,
Maura Lynch
I'm so easy. I called Maura immediately to confirm she was a person and gave permission for the magazine to use the photos. Then I e-mailed all of my kids and told my digital photography class. I gloated. Maura warned me that they may not use the photo. Well, they didn't. They didn't even publish when she said: the article came out a few weeks later. And it wasn't about St. Mary's. It was about Jay Peak. It was pretentious and condescending (aren't those symptoms of anger and hostility?). New Yorkers who vacation here already have a pretentious, aggressive and condescending reputation to live down. 

The last paragraph of the article: "The Chronicle, Orleans County’s weekly paper, offers local art-gallery, museum, and yoga-class listings and unparalleled glimpses of life in the Kingdom (recent headline: “Arland Macie knows how to run a wheelbarrow")."

I have all the old Chronicles (our weekly newspaper) but I don't remember that article. Anyhow, I get the creeps when people get chuckles at the expense of other people and their lives. 

I'm glad they didn't use my photo after all. 
End of moans. 

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: Downy Woodpecker

The bill on this little girl is half the length of her skull, so I am pretty sure she is a downy, not a hairy, woodpecker. If you think I'm wrong (which I have been, 100% of the time, so far), please holler! I like her pose here.

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Sunday, March 23, 2008

Blog Your Blessings: Book Review: Silent Spaces by Sandy Carlson

I have finished reading Silent Spaces by Sandy Carlson. Sandy's photography of graffiti first caught my eye a long time ago. I have since learned that she also writes about faith and is a poet. This book is a collection of letters, poems and family memories of her uncle, Laurence, who died in World War II in the Pacific.

I have been told countless times that memories comfort the grieving and they help to keep a person alive. Memories of your family that are given to you by members of your family add a dimension and context, even veracity, to the memories of an individual who has died. In my birth family, the dead are gone and are not spoken of again. They are actually hidden and secreted away in many ways. Sandy's book was a lesson for me in how other families deal with loss and memories: they share them in many ways.

Set in New England, I understood the sites, activities and images in this book. The sea shells and stone walls, even the deer, pumpkins and "dun trees," that may be familiar to everyone, I know in the context of the seasons that we have (seasons are used by Sandy as a metaphor throughout the book). Winter light, swamps, and old photo albums found in attics are so familiar to me that I can smell and feel the air as I read about them.

Sandy's book was an emotional and spiritual blessing for me. Every reader will find valuable insights when they read it. Click on the image above to buy the book.


To read more blessings click
or Blog Your Blessings

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

My Mystery Mustelid

This animal has been hunting and swimming in the beaver meadow across the road for a week now. Amy thought it was an otter. I was thinking mink. But now I am thinking fisher cat (but it is probably too small for a fisher). Can anybody help identifying it? It is brown with a bushy or thick tail. Fishers and minks have bushy tails. This animal we see seems to run aimlessly (to me) around the meadow. We see it all times of the day.

above: long shot
below: closeup of the animal from the above photo

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Photo Hunters: Metal Porch Bench

Springtime In Vermont


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Friday Fractal: catsynth.com — The Logistic Function Revisted

Catsynth posts about the logistic function in this post and it is fascinating. The images are lovely. Catsynth says they are "not strictly fractal", but they certainly are related. Be sure to check these posts out.


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Friday, March 21, 2008

LOL Cat Bible: Lectionary Readings for Easter Sunday

Resurrection of Our Lord

Isaiah 25: 6-9
Psalm 114 (Ps. 114:7)
1 Corinthians 5: 6b-8
Luke 24: 13-49





1 Corinthians 5: 1-13
GTFO Bad Kitteh!

1 I hearz there is rong harblez in ur church, d00dz doin thingz even teh paganz dont do. Liek dis wun d00d is puttin harblez wif his daddi's wief. HARBLEZ NOT GO THERE!
2 N u iz all liek "O graet!" Why u not kickz him out?
3 I iz not even there but I iz wit u in spirit, so I can sez "Kickz him out!"
4 Get togethr
5 n gif dat d00d to Tacgnol so he can be saveded! Not so Tacgnol can be saveded LOL, to save dat d00d.

6 U bragz too much! U know a litl catnip maeks teh whole toi excitin.
7 Get rid of the old catnip so u can be a new toi wifout it. Datz what u iz aniwai. Bcz Christ, our babi sheep, has been sacrafiseted.
8 So letz have te feest. No old catnipz tho. It wuz bad. Just cookiez of truthz.

9 I rieted u n sez "Dont hang wif peeplz who put harblez teh wrong placez.
10 I dont meen peeplz who is not in teh church tho, dey dont know betterz.
11 But doant let dem in teh church. If sum d00d in teh church is actin bad, doant evn eat cookies wif him.

12 It iznt my jobz to juj peeplz outsied teh church. Just insidez.
13 God will juj teh wunz outsied. "Thro teh bad d00dz out"

Luke 24
Jesus comz bak

1 Teh ladiez taked sum catnip to Jesus's tomb. Thatz whear he wuz burid.
2 Teh stoen in front of it had bin movded,
3 but when dey wented in teh bodi wuz not dere.
4 Dey wuz kinda confuzed an dese two d00dz showded up. Dere clothz wuz shini liek lietnin.
5 Teh ladiez wuz all scareded but teh d00dz wuz liek "Why is u lookin for a livin d00d in teh plaec whaer teh dead d00dz iz LOL.
6 He iznt here, he got up! He told u he wuz going to.
7 He wuz liek 'I iz gonna get capshrd bai teh bad guyz an killded on teh cross an com bak to lief on teh thrd dai.' "
8 Den teh ladiez remembrd an dey wuz liek "We forgotted LOL."
9 When dey gotted bak dey telld all dis to teh elevn followrz dat wuz left.
10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary who wuz James's mom, an the ladiez who wuz wif dem who tellded teh stori.
11 But teh d00dz wuz liek "STFU" an didint beleev dem.
12 Peter at leest wented to teh tomb. He saw teh stripz of cloth dat Jesus had been rappted in an he wuz liek "WTF?"

Goin to Emmaus
13 Dat day a coupl of teh follorz wuz goin to Emmaus.
14 An talkin about whut had jus happnd, liek u wud expekt.
15 Whiel dey wuz talkin Jesus comd up, but he uzded majik so dey wudnt recognaiz him, like Gandalf in LOTR LOL.
17 He wuz liek "What iz u talkin about?"
Dey got all sad.
18 Wun of dem - hiz naem wuz Cleopas - wuz all "U izint from around here, iz u? Bcz u doant know whatz goin on lateli."
19 "Liek what?" sed Jesus.
"Liek dere waz dis d00d Jesus," dey sed.
20 Dey killded him on teh cross
21 an we wuz hopin he wud saev Israel. Oh an dey killded him three dayz ago.
22 Plus dis mornin sum of teh ladiez wented to teh tomb.
23 Dey didn't finded hiz bodi but dey tried to tell us dere wuz anjilz dere sayin he wuz aliev.
24 Sum of our frendz wented to teh tomb. It wuz empti but dere wuzint enni anjilz dere."
25 Jesus wuz liek "Foolz u iz actin liek n00bz.
26 Itz not liek Jesus didint explaen all dis whiel he wuz here."
27 So he explaended evrithin in the Bible about himself, from teh beginnin. Dey stil didint know who he wuz k.
28 When dey gotted near Emmaus he pritendid he wuz goin farthr.
29 But dey wuz all liek "Itz laet, u can stai wif us plz." So he did.
30 When dey hadded dinnr he taked teh cookies an sed "Thank u Ceiling Cat" an shaerd dem wif evribodi.
31 Den dey finally recognized him, so he disapperd LOL.
32 Dey wuz all, "WTF?"
33 Dey wented straet bak to Jerusalem to teh othr followrz
34 an wuz liek "Itz true! Jesus iz aliev an Simon seed him."
35 Dey tellded what had happnd.
36 OK so de dissiplez iz together, and Jesus is poof appear and liek "Peaz."
37 They is all liek "hax!"
38 Jesus iz liek "wtf nubs is me."
39 Dissiplez is liek "o rly!" and Jesus is liek "ya rly."
40 Jesus is liek "srlsly guys. chex out my handz and feetz.
41 Dey still not believe, so Jesus is liek "It can haz be food times now?"4
2 Dissiplez is liek "here haz fish"
43 Jesus is like "kkthx" and eated teh fish.
44 Jesus is liek "nubs I told joo. it was writed."
45 Den Jesus is liek "I open ur minds."
46 Jesus is liek "srsly. Iz writed teh messiah sufferz and rizez again from teh ded."
47 "Also preech peez with mah namez."
48 He is liek "u r all being teh witnesses."
49 He is liek "I haz presents, but joo needs 2 waits."
50 Den teh Jesus is liek "come out to Bethany" and he is liek "blessins on joo"
51 Wile he blesses he is liek go to heaven. srsly.
52 The disciplez is liek "praise jebus" and goes back to Jerusalems.
53 Then dey is all liek in teh templez, praisin Ceiling Cat.

Humorous Pictures
Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

HALP!
We hope to have many other Holy Kitties featured this year.
Please e-mail your photo, caption and link to me at
Get ready now cuz the wild weekend is coming!
Board the Friday Ark at The Modulator (submit your post here)

Weekend Cat Blogging #146 Mar 22-23
is being held by Kashim & Othello at Paulchen’s
(see the week’s& host to enter your WCB post
in the comments for the weekend roundup)

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos Edition 37 • 03-23-2008
with Samantha Black and Mr. Tigger at Life from a Cat’s Perspective
They’re stepping in for Megan & Bad Kittens Three at Bad Kitty Cats Journal
who are moving and won’t have innernets. Isn’t that sooooooo nice?
• Optional Theme - Easter Edition
(submit your post here)

The Carnival of the Cats #210 is going to Chey’s Place
Sunday Evening 3/23/08
(submit your post here)
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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Friday Fractal: Oxidizer Flames

The Third

The Second

Thanks to Chris Pirillo, I finally learned how to use Oxidizer. If you have a Mac, download Oxidizer for free and follow Chris's directions. Have paper nearby to take notes (I only took notes on the size of the image I want), and have fun. And it is addicting fun. This weekend I will begin to photoshop my flames. These can all be downloaded for desktop pictures. They are both 2560x1600.





My First Flame

♥ ♥ I love you, Chris! Thank you! ♥ ♥

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: The Last Day of Winter on Barton Mountain

This is the last photograph of winter in Barton, Vermont.
Cross-posted with text here.

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Monday, March 17, 2008

HoT and CoT: Reanimated Buddy

For many months he lay near the computer, dead to the world, or so we thought . . . until my remote Buddy-cam caught him when he managed to vault the kitchen counter. This has not happened for many months now. Buddy required 9 more hours of sleep after this rigorous activity. Then he moved upstairs to my bed to finish off the day. And night. For twenty-three hours more. (Yes, that thingy under the sink fell off Saturday and we have to figure out how to get it back up. That should require like a year or two of deep thought.)

This is a combined post for Cats on Tuesday and Heads or Tails.
Thank you so much for visiting.

To see more Heads or Tails participants, visit Skittles
or click .


To visit other COT participants, visit Gattina
Happy COT!
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