Thank the heavens!

They had me worried there for a bit. Scientists were seriously considering letting sentimentality and public opinion decide the facts. Not that I have anything at all against someone considering Pluto one of their favorite celestial bodies, but for pete's sake it's not a planet! Sure it's got its own moon, but c'mon! Its orbit is kattywhumpus to the plane of all the "real" planets, plus it sneaks inside Neptune's orbit for part of its year. And where would it end? Xena? The next dozen objects they find out in the Kuiper belt? Would you seriously want your kid to have to build a solar system model with 10,000 planets?

Okay yes, Pluto has been a planet since the 1930s, but guess what -- the asteroid Ceres was labeled a planet for 50 years before they discovered it was just one component of the asteroid belt. That's how science works: corrections are made as new facts are discovered. For example, Brontosaurus was renamed Apatosaurus when it was realized the same dinosaur had been discovered twice (the official name going to the first find).

So sorry all you Pluto fans, your fav (along with Ceres, Xena, and who knows what all) is now properly called a dwarf planet. Although as a nod to sentimentality, I would have been happy with the proposal to call them all plutoids but that didn't stick. Oh well. Can't win them all.

Lockdown!

So last Friday at work we had a wee bit of excitement. Shots fired, squealing tires, manhunt, lockdown, the whole nine yards. The initial incident happened just across the street from us, so it made for an interesting workday. Especially since (on the lighter side) none of us had brought any lunch, and here we were stuck in lockdown! (Our boss helpfully suggested we had lots of dog food, lol. Thannnnks...)

we are legion

Fortunately for me, I don't suffer from nearly as many migraines anymore now that I have treatment for sleep apnea. But here is the latest info for those who could use it.

My Own Private Dustbowl

We have been fortunate here in the Pacific Northwest not to be slammed with the horrific heat waves that have afflicted much of the rest of our country. We've had some scorchers, mind you, but none of the deadly variety. Yet, anyway.

But what we (okay, I) do have is a dust bowl. In my backyard. Adjacent to the patio. Largely thanks to four wrestling (& occasionally digging) dogs, the grass in that area has vanished and left behind an apparently quite comfy dirt bed. At first, the dust only kicked up when the dogs were on that patch. At this point, though, the slightest breeze will bring up a dusty cloud worthy of The Grapes of Wrath. I suppose this wouldn't be much of a problem except for the garage...or rather everything IN the garage. Which is in the path of the dust cloud. So my nice blue suitcase is no longer blue, etc.

I would wish for rain, but then I would have a plethora of muddy paw prints (and dogs to go with them). I'll just hope I can vacuum my suitcase.

fields of dandelions

They make the back yard quite pretty, actually. And no, I'm not going to mow them down. At least not today. Well unless I get too bored with doing indoor chores. Ah, choices.

I'm a little off whack today, but at least I'm home. This is a make-up day off because I worked an extra one last week. I guess working Sunday & Monday nights & then Wednesday day this week was just a wee bit too much as well... my circadian clock (or some such body system) is punishing me a bit. Good gravy I may actually have to go take a nap. (Oh DARN!)

At least July is done. Just a few too many (painful) anniversaries; it will get better w/time but there were two new ones this time. (Fireworks were always a big thing for me & my dad when I was a kid, my mom's birthday, and of course the one-year mark for my dad's passing.) Probably a big chunk of why I haven't been blogging much, since I tend to retreat into my cave whenever I am troubled.

Hah of course I've also been getting used to this thing called Full Time Employment again. So between the two, I can't say I've had much energy for much of anything else! But BOY is it an awesome feeling to be able to just go ahead & pay monthly bills without having to double-check the ol' bank account. That's a sense of security that has been missing for a looong time and I LIKE it. I like it a LOT.

So what is new (or old, even) in your world?