Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Squirrel's Nut Cache - 7/8/2010


The Nut Cache - a collection of recent things I found interesting, or amusing, or nutworthy.

We've got a pile of nuts today, and one includes the majestic møøse! Yes, it is another Møøse story. In this case, a møøse in Maine. This møøse was spotted in a cemetery near Portland, Maine. Perhaps he was visiting a relative's resting place... or the resting place of someone who ate one of the møøse's relative's... or the brother of a sister who was bit by a møøse once. No realli! Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti...

While everyone is watching Arizona and the reaction to their new tougher enforcement of immigration laws, Oregon is quietly dealing with their own illegal immigration issues. Quietly, yes, but quite harshly as well. Oregon is not at all interested in deportation, it seems. Recently, and with very little publicity, Oregon officials had 109 unwanted immigrants from Canada put to death. There will be a memorial service for the deceased this evening at the Galveston Bridge in Bend's Drake Park.

From mammals and birds, we now turn to reptiles. The police dispatcher was very suspicious of a hoax when, at 2 o'clock in the morning, someone called to report a crocodile loose in the city streets. Now, Miami, FL police would have seen such a call as pretty much a routine matter, but this call came in to the police dispatcher in the little town of Gross-Rohrheim, Germany! Well, the call wasn't a hoax. Seems a crocodile had wandered off from a small travelling circus. The wayward reptile was soon reunited with his owners. That little crocodile has no idea how much trouble he'd have been in if he'd wandered off in Oregon instead of Germany!

I read a lot of headlines and news digests each day. I've always been a bit of a "news junkie" going back to when I was in high school. Most news makes me sad, or angry, or annoyed. Tuesday I was reading the police blotter from the Honolulu Star*Advertiser, and there, amongst the brush fires and car accidents, is this little gem of a headline, "Man allegedly threatens 4 with spear." The story is brief, and contains few details, except that the man was arrested for "first-degree terroristic threatening." We must assume that his was an unlicensed military-style assault spear...

I've never been a world-class athlete. Oh, I've played a bit of sports and had my small athletic triumphs, but nothing at the levels that professionals aspire to. I can only imagine what it must be like to have been a champion and to still have that drive and desire, but no longer have the ability that you once had. Former champions sometimes do strange things trying to reclaim that past glory. Sometimes they even get themselves arrested. One year, you're the champ, then one day your being hauled out of the arena in chains. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there.

I can see how this could happen. People make mistakes. Especially when they're drunk. And the guy only missed his house by less than 20 miles. No big deal. But it is a timely reminder that it really is a good idea to lock your doors when you go to bed. Also, you might want to leave a bathrobe on the back of the couch, just in case...

And the Nuttiness goes on and on...

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