I went back to the Waco zoo yesterday. Here’s a little video I made of the lion cubs playing. Photos to come as soon as I work out some problems with my computer.

As I was leaving my house to return to work from lunch, I got stopped by my neighbor and we started talking (I was in the car already). Section 8 decided he wanted in the car. First, he got up and sat on the sun roof – sniffing around the open edge.

Since he couldn’t get in via the sunroof, he decided to try something else. First, step? Going down the windshield.

Next step – while standing on the hood, try and climb around the door frame and into the open driver’s window.

When that doesn’t work, sit down and stare off into space to protest.

Virgin dragon to give birth in holiday season

In an evolutionary twist, Flora has managed to become pregnant all on her own without any male help. It would seem the timing is auspicious: The seven baby Komodo dragons are due this festive season…

Other reptile species reproduce asexually in a process known as parthenogenesis. But Flora’s virginal conception, and that of another Komodo dragon earlier this year at the London Zoo, are the first time it has been documented in a Komodo dragon.

Back from yet another fun trip to NY. Too bad I now have my traditional post-NY head cold. Oh well, it was worth it! Picture set.

Jess and I went to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco yesterday. It’s a very lovely zoo with nice landscaping and, generally, roomy display areas for the animals. And they 2 lion cubs! Can’t beat that. [Photo set]

As I was getting ready for bed, I thought I heard a baby crying. It sounded awfully loud considering the only baby I know of on the block is across the street. I thought maybe they were loading the kid into the car or something (kind of late, but…). So, I ignore it. It keeps going on and I slowly realise it’s not human. It’s a cat. It’s damn Batsy. He’s sitting outside my living room window howling non-stop. I try and ignore it, but I can hear it in my bed even with the covers piled on top of my head. To make matters worse, the howling is agitating my cats big time. Mishka is growling at Batsy (the window goes almost all the way down to the floor, so Mishka is eye to eye with Batsy) and throwing himself at the window. Freya keeps running into the bedroom, jumping on me, licking me to alert me to the problem, nipping at me when that doesn’t work, then jumping down and running back into the living room. Lather, rinse, repeat.

After about 20 minutes of this, I decide to give up and put Batsy in the garage half of my converted garage. (Yeah, I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s the half that’s not converted.) I can put him there, he can’t get to the other cats and I will just have to hope he can’t get into the cat food containers and have a party. I go out there in my pajamas (t-shirt and shorts) and open the garage door. (Did I mention it’s 26 out?) I coax Batsy in, but as soon as I start to lower the garage door, he bolts. Okay. I put food out and get him further into the garage before trying to close the door. Nope. Stupidly, I pick him up and give it a try.

Did I mention how stupid that was? He freaks, I can’t control him, he scratches me but good, jumps down and goes under the door…as it’s going down. I do my best to stop the door, but it does make contact with him. I don’t know how hard it hit, but he kept going, so I hope it wasn’t too hard.

You know, given my track record here, it might be better for him if he stays an outdoor cat!

My 5 Million Dollar Home is going to be a star. Well, a local star. Well, might be in a photo on a credit union website. It’s convinced, however, that it’s going to be a star and has gotten all kinds of attitude. It threatened to go out without its panties on.

You see, we were doing a photo shoot for my employer’s website yesterday. I went along to watch and see how a real photo shoot works. The theme was supposed to be “hip young urban guy who’s just starting to work his way up the corporate ladder on his way to work.” So, we had a guy sitting on a Vespa in downtown Austin. They started shooting and then the photographer asked where the
guy’s messenger bag was. The art director had forgotten to bring one for a prop. They spot the Crumpler and the rest is history.

Now I have to figure out how to deal with an uppity Crumpler.

I just had to have that can of soda, didn’t I? And, I just had to be clumsy, didn’t I?

The Who? Totally rock. Despite being damn old and half-dead (literally, half-dead), they rock. I was blown away and very pleasantly surprised by the show they put on. (I’d feared the worst.) It didn’t feel like “old guys trying to pretend they are angry young men or at least still young and hip” – it just felt like them being them. And Pete can still wail at that guitar like there’s no tomorrow. Yeah, Roger’s voice isn’t want it used to be and he has trouble with the high notes, but I didn’t care. They did an extended version of My Generation that was fantastic. And their mini-Tommy encore was amazing…and that’s from someone who’s darn sick of Tommy-hype. All the concerts are filmed and recorded and are being released (unedited and unsweetened) on DVD and CD. You can buy “your” concert – and all the profits go to charity. Pretty damn cool.

The opening act was The Pretenders and they too were surprisingly tight. Chrissie’s voice is still amazing.

This huge, old cottonwood tree has been a problem since I bought my house. In addition to all the nasty fluffy stuff it releases in spring, it’s old and brittle and drops limbs from time to time. One time, it dropped a limb on the phone wires that are on the south side of the tree – pulling down the lines and pulling a soffit off the back of my house.

If all goes as planned, this tree will be gone by the end of the weekend. I don’t like the idea of cutting down such a large old tree, but I can’t sit around and wait for it to fall on my house.

Anyway, I felt like I should at least document it before destroying it.

Oh, and thanks, Grandma. Your gift is paying for this.