Squirrels are happy fellows, forest favorites, types of tireless life.
Of all Nature’s wild beasts, they seem to me the wildest. May we come to know each other better.
-John Muir
I have a new little friend.
I call him Squirrelly.
This birdfeeder is mounted outside my kitchen window, on the second floor. I believe that Squirrelly is climbing the drainpipe to get to it. When he has eaten his fill, he launches himself out into space, sheer drop to the ground below.
How did he even know there was food in there?
He eats all the peanuts out of the feeder, but I cannot help but admire his tenacity. And since I know there was a curious lack of acorns this year, I let it go.
Maybe I can train him to sit and beg. Maybe I can entice him to don a little top hat.
Can’t you just picture it?
If you look closely at this picture, you can see me with the camera reflected in his eyes! What great pals we shall be.
Goat Accused of Attempted Armed Robbery of Mazda 323. Also of practicing black magic.
Read all about it here. And that, my friends, is what they call the “hook”.
Now that I have you here, make yourself comfortable. I found lots of interesting stuff this week.
I’m Mad as a Hatter: High fructose corn syrup, the alleged “natural” sweetener, comes with a side of mercury. I find this highly alarming, as my husband believes that HFCS is a food group. Apparently, the FDA has known about this for years, and I can only hope there is a huge fallout from this.
Also, guess what? BPA in toilet paper. Lovely. Really.
Evidence that a little dirt never hurt anybody; and may, in fact, be good for you:
In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system.
Pledge to Go Veg for 30 Days and PETA will pledge a donation to The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, supporting the planting of fruit trees in poor villages. But hurry! Pledges need to be made by the end of January.
Some libraries are loaning their patrons Kill A Watt meters: A brilliant and practical way to educate homeowners about their power usage. (Learn how you can tweet your numbers on Twitter here.) I don’t see this happening at our local library anytime soon, though, as they have recently tightened regulations for new borrowers. I’d probably have to sign over my firstborn to be trusted with a Kill a Watt. (via Treehugger)
10 Disturbing (alas, fascinating) Facts about Women and Body Image: My boys were blown away by this one:
At 5′9” tall and weighing 110 lbs, Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 which is considered severely underweight. Because of her ridiculous proportions (39” bust, 18” waist, 33” thighs and a size 3 shoes!), if she was a real woman, she wouldn’t be able to walk upright – she would have to walk on all fours.
The target market for Barbie Doll sales are girls ages 3 to 12.
“Wind tends to blow stronger at night when the electric load is low,” he said. “If electric vehicles charged at night with wind power, the grid operator could use the energy in the batteries, when vehicles aren’t needed for driving and are plugged in, to help maintain grid reliability. The vehicle owner would then be paid for providing these energy services at a greater value than what they paid for the electricity.”
The Greenhill Car Wash is being outfitted with a solar system and water-recycling system, and they use “eco-friendly chemicals”. So if your car, like mine, is covered in salt from the latest wintry mix, consider voting with your dollar and supporting these guys for taking the green initiative.
meters:
, 
, and season-bloody-FOUR of 
. All I can say is: 