AHNTS!
Some time last year I participated in the Scool of Ants ant survey. It took them a million years to get back to me, but I finally got the results of the 3 species I turned in. Two are very common-- the California Harvester Ant and the Thief Ant. I thought the 3rd one i'd gotten was the ubiquitous Argentine Ant, but it turned out to be an uncommon exotic ant that is cosmopolitan, but prefers desert or semi-desert areas. So far, according to the survey, in the US this ant has only been found in California and Peurto Rico. I'm the only person in SoCal who's found it. I was shocked.
Last night Gandalf came running in with something flapping in his mouth. For one panicked moment I thought it was a bat (OMG rabies!!) but it turned out to be one of those giant hawk-moths. He chased it aorund the kitchen for a while until I tossed it back outside because I was afraid it would end up under the fridge or stove. Yes, all of our guys are up-to-date on their shots, which is a must here because about half a dozen rabid bats turned up in Santa Clarita last year. But even with the shots, any known exposure requires a booster shot and quarentine, something I would prefer not to have to go through.
I finished the two furry anthologies I'd commited to reading and reviewing, so I'm back reading things of my own choosing. So far I finished a novella about mutant army ants attacking a military garrison on a remote Atlantic island, and now I'm reading the lurid tell-all by a screenwriter who tried to work with actor/director Mel Gibson and became the target of one of his screaming rants. I particularly loved the reviews on Amazon where people said both the screenwriter and Mel Gibson were completely nuts, and they both needed professional help.
This week on Howard Stern they had 'doody-gate,' where someone had explosive diarheeha (sp?) in the private bathroom, got it all over the wall, floor and lightswitch, and no one would admit to being the culprit. Germ-a-phobe Howard was so angry and horrified that he swore to fire the guilty party if they didn't come clean (no pun intended.) Thier office is hi-tech enough they have a keycard system in place for the bathroom, so they were able to reduce the list of suspects to 3 people. Howard went as far as to have samples taken of the mess in the bathroom for DNA testing, and the threat of being fired once the DNA tests were in managed to get the guilty one to come forward. He claimed he didn't know how bad the mess was, something Howard was skeptical of, because how would you miss poo all over the floors and lightswitch?
Still watching the olympics on and off, and trying to finish up some commissions.
Last night Gandalf came running in with something flapping in his mouth. For one panicked moment I thought it was a bat (OMG rabies!!) but it turned out to be one of those giant hawk-moths. He chased it aorund the kitchen for a while until I tossed it back outside because I was afraid it would end up under the fridge or stove. Yes, all of our guys are up-to-date on their shots, which is a must here because about half a dozen rabid bats turned up in Santa Clarita last year. But even with the shots, any known exposure requires a booster shot and quarentine, something I would prefer not to have to go through.
I finished the two furry anthologies I'd commited to reading and reviewing, so I'm back reading things of my own choosing. So far I finished a novella about mutant army ants attacking a military garrison on a remote Atlantic island, and now I'm reading the lurid tell-all by a screenwriter who tried to work with actor/director Mel Gibson and became the target of one of his screaming rants. I particularly loved the reviews on Amazon where people said both the screenwriter and Mel Gibson were completely nuts, and they both needed professional help.
This week on Howard Stern they had 'doody-gate,' where someone had explosive diarheeha (sp?) in the private bathroom, got it all over the wall, floor and lightswitch, and no one would admit to being the culprit. Germ-a-phobe Howard was so angry and horrified that he swore to fire the guilty party if they didn't come clean (no pun intended.) Thier office is hi-tech enough they have a keycard system in place for the bathroom, so they were able to reduce the list of suspects to 3 people. Howard went as far as to have samples taken of the mess in the bathroom for DNA testing, and the threat of being fired once the DNA tests were in managed to get the guilty one to come forward. He claimed he didn't know how bad the mess was, something Howard was skeptical of, because how would you miss poo all over the floors and lightswitch?
Still watching the olympics on and off, and trying to finish up some commissions.