Keep Santa Cruz Weird

Sometimes I tire of people here in the East who make jokes about Californians being strange. Then my Mom goes and blogs about her neighbour's lawn being decorated with corndogs. What can I say?

I know some Canadians who have never even heard of a corndog. How are you going to explain this to them?

The Axolotl

The Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar has a haunting short story about a writer who becomes possessed by an axolotl, which is an unmaturing larvae species of salamander from the ancient lakes beneath Mexico City.

The writer discovers the axolotls at the Paris aquarium and returns day after day to stare at them, utterly transfixed by the otherworldly creatures. In their faces he sees that they are suffering, imprisoned in a slug-like body and a glass underwater tomb.

Over time, the writer realizes that he is an axolotl himself and is on the inside of the glass tank, looking out at himself as a human looking in. The axolotl is terrified that he is a sentient being trapped in an axolotl's body. The terror of the axolotl consumes the writer and becomes the only thing he can think about. The axolotl hopes the writer will one day write a story to let the world know about his pain.

And, apparently, that is what happened.

Bigger than Hogzilla

Saw this in the newspaper this weekend...I had no idea hogs this big existed anywhere, much less in the wild. But it's dead now. Nice one, kid.

By the way, he just finished the sixth grade on the honor roll at Christian Heritage Academy, a small, private school on the Mississippi border. The boy, not the pig.

Here Come the Hummingbirds

Watch out Canada, there's a swarm of ruby-throated hummingbirds headed our way! The first sighting of the year documented on this site happened on April 11 near Hamilton, Ontario.

That's the earliest Canadian sighting recorded since the site started in 1996. Of course, that poor early bird has probably frozen to death with the freezing temperatures we've had this past week. Oh well, there's more where she came from. (I know, how insensitive.)

Annie Bones joins the blogosphere

Another amazing animal story! My mom and her partner Irene have a dog name Annie Bones who has started her own blog! I tell you, who doesn't have a blog these days? Click here to see the musings of the sweet creature and her life on the beautiful coast of Northern California! Ah, to be a dog again...

Ten were harpooned and one returned to give thanks.

I love amazing animal stories. Here's a great one by Tai Moses (full disclosure: Tai was once my roommate back in the day) about the whale who returned to give thanks. If a whale can show so much human-like gratitude when humans do something good, you can bet they aren't too happy when we chase, harpoon, and kill them. Just imagine.