A story of spontaneous combustion: "1932: Mrs. Charles Williamson suddenly burst into flames on a Janurary morning in 1932. She lived in Bladenboro, North Carolina. She had not been beside any kind of fire, and her dress had not been in contact with any cleaning fluid or other flammable substances. Her husband and daughter ripped the dress off her with their bare hands, but not any of them were burned by the flames. Not to soon after a pair of her husbands pants caught fire while hanging in the closet. The same thing happened to a bed, and curtains in an unoccupied room. Although the house was inspected by special investigators from gas and electric companies, arson experts, and police, there could be found no logical explanation for the sudden fires. The family described the flames as 'bluish, jetlike', and other adjacent objects were not affected. There was no smell, and no
smoke and until the object was consumed the fire would not stop."
John and dogs found a very large, very hairy tarantula spider strolling through our yard last night. Legs and all, it was about the size of a large palm. (not the tree, the one on your hand) They most often are found out and about when it's mating season and sometimes we have to swerve around them on the road. (Since they don't move very quickly, they're a lot easier to avoid than the ground squirrels, who can't seem to pick a direction and stick with it. Ugh.) The dogs wanted to play with it, but we just shined a bright flashlight on it for a while and stared while it stood frozen.
More pig memories.. the first time we saw a wild boar, we were coming home from a party at a friends house about midnight. We turned a corner in the car on our country road and the headlights lit up two very large boar just jogging at the side of the road. Oh - so THAT'S what they look like! Big and black and bristly and hairy with hooves and large front tusks, and small, piggy eyes. We were really glad we were in the CAR at that time and not face to face! *grin*
When the rainy season hits here in the winter, the ground gets soft and lots of grass grows. Before we knew what was doing it, we'd find chunks of grass and turf dug up and overturned in the morning. Then we realized it was wild boar rooting for food - probably bugs and grubs. For some reason, they practically dug this PIT about a foot deep and three feet long by our fence one day - must've been smelling SOMETHING good - I hope they got it!
A lot of the ranchers actually do 'pig hunting' out here. During that year where a lot of boar were just hanging out, one of the ranchers drove out from the back country along our road, got up to the front gate, we heard a shotgun blast, and after a bit he drove back through. He had a large dead boar on the back of his flatbed pickup. (He was a youngish guy who epitomizes redneck life - he's often drunk and driving his pickup like a maniac.) As he was driving through (I was out with Merlin at the time), he called, "I just shot a wild boar!" and he was all excited. Merlin, however, didn't like him, or the smell of him (probably smelled like blood and wild boar) and growled and bared his teeth. The guy had been about to pet Merlin (without thinking or waiting for an invitation - not a good thing to do with Merlin - he's a great protector dog) and he pulled his hand back so fast I thought he was going to throw his shoulder out of whack. *grin* He continued driving back to his home, and I assume had quite a few pork dinners. Ahhhh, country life.
Every morning now when we take the dogs outside they go nuts sniffing the yard - more nuts than usual. I'm wondering if we have wild boar roaming through now. We saw one that had gotten hit by a car at the side of the road the other day - first one we'd seen in a long time, dead or not. A few years ago, we had a pack of about *30* wild boar that used to come out around dusk, and start eating all the acorns from the live oak grove in the pasture behind us. It's kinda weird hearing screeching, snorting, and grunting so close by. And some of those pigs are HUGE and can get up to 400-500 pounds. That, with tusks, and an attitude, isn't something you want to run into unawares. One smallish boar, with mottled pink and white and black skin and bristly fur, used to squeeze under the fence and eat the acorns in OUR yard that the other boar couldn't get at - we named him Wilbur. At night, we'd take the dog (only had one dog then) out on leashes and there'd be Wilbur, under the largest tree, eating acorns. "Hey Wilbur - you have to leave now so the dog can do his business!" At first he left right away, and over some time we'd have to get closer to him to show him we were serious. He'd wander off and then as soon as we were inside, he'd squeeze back in and continue his eating.
Some of the concerns about the Harry Potter books and kids being exposed to 'dark' things: "Magical characters--witches, wizards, goblins, werewolves, poltergeists" appear. There are violent battle scenes at the end of two of the books. There are references to blood, murder, death. There are several references to swearing, including a few "damns." The use of alcoholic beverages is excused on occasion. I wonder if anyone's taken a good close look at the Bible's Old Testament lately - the seige on Jerricho, being turned into a pillar of salt, Sodom & Gomorah (sp?), and even Jesus turns water into wine in the new testament. I find the whole controversy to be about as interesting as the presidential debates and the lines drawn to be just as blurry and inconsequential. But maybe that's just me.
From the article Tom posted earlier... OREGON is a rogue state, say Robert McCaffrey of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and his colleagues. Okay, you sold me - I'm moving. *grin*
Ooooh - here's a guy planning his own personal ghost hunt (with a digital camera) in an old basement in a downtown area - a building that 'used to be a whore house and opium den during the china town days.' Tunnels, an old creepy vault, etc.
Hey - MANiC! thinks we have a "killer bog design" - Cool! And I DEFINITELY return the sentiment. Go check 'em out! It's really clever - I may have to sneak a peek at their code and see how they did it! *grin*
(So we're not the ONLY ones who see 'black things' scampering about! *grin*) Here's today's story of the strange: "It wasn't until the last month that I found out that I actually had a story to tell. I mean, we've all seen things and sure, I've seen little black things out of the corner of my eye follow me on the way to school. I didn't think they were real. Just some figment of my imagination, dredged up from reading too many Steven King books, right? Then, one night I saw one in plain sight, though it looked like a black cat, i knew we had no black cats in the house. It ran across my mother's bedroom and under her bed, but never came out. Ever. Every now and then I would just get this feeling, like the night wasn't the friendlist place to be in, and when I did, I got the hell in doors and into the light...away from shadows. When I was very young, I remeber waking up to a white figure floating above my bed, more comical looking and friendly than scary, and in one blink it was gone. All this was many years ago, and as I moved out of one house and into another, everything stopped for awhile. But then, I would get the feeling that something was in my room, footsteps would fall on my plush carpet with no feet to leave them. My stereo would come on for no reason, would not turn off, and then just as mysteriously go off again. When I moved to college, everything was peaceful once again. But one night in my girlfriend's backyard, I saw what I thought was one of her sisters hiding under her dad's (big) truck. While her sisters have done that before, it seemed strange that one of them would have such a maniacal smile on her face. We went inside, only to find all of her sisters had been in the whole time, and then the same feeling hit me again...the night was not to be ventured in that night. But I filed all of this away, dismissing it on an overactive imagination. But now...now they've come back. Or maybe it's not the same ones, I don't know. ... And then last night, I was on the phone with my friend, Curtis at 2:00am (both of us our nightowls, him more than me, but lately I developed this strange insomnia that won't let me go to sleep until 4 or 5 in the morning...), and I could feel somebody looking over my shoulder all the time, a precense beyond normal senses. I could move to another place, but would it really help?" (from Shadowlands) (Me again - I've never been as freaked by the 'black things' but sometimes when I'm outside the night feels extra alive, rather foreign too - and I feel more comfortable inside. My guess is that different energies are outside at night, especially out here in the country, and the fear is because I'm not familiar with them... yet?)
Oregon is rotating clockwise relative to the rest of the continental U.S., pushing up against Washington. It's obviously trying to get away from California, which not only teases Oregon mercilessly, but also smells bad.
Ghost Story Du Jour: The Haunted House In Liverpool (I picked this one because I grew up in Liverpool, but in NY, not in England. *grin*) ... "It was Christmas, I guess 1970 or 71 I was still little more than a baby and both of my Grandmothers were staying over for the festive season. I must have been out of my old nursery room because I know I was supposed to be moved back to the nursery (box room) to make room for the two old ladies. I also know I wouldn't go I was adamant that the box room belonged to "the Lady" and not for anything would my three year old self sleep in there. My Mum's Mother ended up taking the room in my stead, laughing at my parents foolishness for believing all this haunting rubbish. Anyway I don't know how many nights she had stayed but on one of the Christmas nights my Nan had an interesting experience. It must have been fairly late and my Nan was getting undressed in the box bedroom when another old lady joined her in the room. The other lady looked at my Nan and said "hello Amy (my Nan's name)love, I haven't seen you in ever such a long time." My nan fled, can't say I blame her, it's a small room to be cooped up in with someone who you know is dead. It later transpired it had been the previous owner of the house, a woman my Nan had known in the past, a woman who died under quite tragic circumstances in the house." (from Shadowlands)
(Thanks Tom!) From The Arrogant Worms:
I am cow
hear me moo-
I weight twice as much as you-
and I look good on the barbecue
yogurt curd cream cheese and butter's-
made from liquid from my udders
I am cow
I am cow
hear me moo
I am cow
eating grass
methane gas comes out my ass-
and out my muzzle when I belch
Oh the ozone layer's thinner-
from the outcome of my dinner
I am cow
I am cow
I've got gas
I am cow
here I stand-
far and wide upon this land-
and I am living everywhere
from B.C. to Newfoundland-
you can squeeze my teats by hand
I am cow
I am cow
I am COW
I am cow
I am cow
I am cowwwwwwww
I was looking out the window and suddenly I remembered this slide of an art project I saw at an art exhibition. This woman was clicking through her works with a title or explanation of each.. "Flower Arrangement" ... "Abstract in Oils" ... "Clay Drinking Vessel" ... "Woman in the Nude" ... and then there was this shot of a window frame in an old building with light streaming through what looked like yellow glass of varying hues - it was really pretty, and then she said, "A photo of a month's worth of collected urine in jars." She had then gone on to the next slide and we all said, "WAIT A SECOND - GO BACK! WHAT???" *grin*
Speaking of unusual cloud formations, I was inside yesterday and all of a sudden the light turned weird and yellow. I went outside, and in the blue sky there was what looked like a very low brownish-grey cloud moving just over the tips of the hills here. At first I thought it was smoke from a fire, but it didn't really smell like smoke, and it still moved like a cloud. I think the brownish-grey color came from it being so low to the ground while the rest of the sky was blue and the sun was bright - anyway, it was REALLY weird, but I loved the odd lighting effect - nice change of pace. *grin*
Today's Ghost Story: The Dark Lady in Green Bay. "When I was about nine or ten, my mother, my sister and I, lived in an older two story brick house. ... My sister got what was the "living room" area of the upstairs apartment (it had once been a bedroom, and I got the actual bedroom. ... Across the room from the door, there was another door which lead into a very smallish room, with slanted ceilings (it was in the "gable" of the house) and a very small window. Off of this little room, was a very little door that entered into a part of the attic. I was pretty excited about the prospect of having my own room once again... I even moved my desk in the little room, which for some reason I named "the nursery" even though I was older than that doll age and there was little physical evidence of the room ever being used as such. It was always extremely cold in there and after a month, I moved my desk back. I was also extremely uneasy about having that door open, and I would even prop things up against it, because sometimes, even though it had a pretty good latch, it would open by itself in the middle of the night. Then, one night, I woke up and thought my mother was in the room. My bed was situated so the door to the nursery was at the foot of my bed. Standing in front of the door, at my feet, was an adult shape, but it was all shadows. I think that I covered my head and tried to go back to sleep. Another time, when I was sick, I woke up and the shape was back. I got the distinct impression that I had called out to my mom in my head, and the figure was answering the call. I sat up a little bit, to see if it was shadows from the window or something, but the figure remained. Then I let out a bloody scream for my mom and the figure rushed across the room to the door leading into the hall. It passed directly through the light coming off of the street, and it was definately a solid black or shrouded figure. I got the impression that it was a sad lady. I never told my mom because I didn't think that she would believe me. Then, after a few more months, my mom moved us back downstairs because she could no longer afford the rent for the upstairs. We moved again after another year. There were some other strange things about this house. There were definate hollow spots in the walls and strange noises came from them sometimes. Also, the basement had several different rooms, including a coal room and this strange meat locker type room. Once I thought I saw a big grinning face in the dark where that door was. The strange thing about this, which makes me think that it wasn't just a nine-year-old's active imagination (ok, well, the face may have been), is that about two years ago, I was talking with my mom about ghosts and faces that you see out of the corner of your eye. I kept saying "Haven't you ever done that? Thought you saw someone?" and she kept saying "No, never." After I let the subject drop, she brought it up again. She said "Actually, remember the brick house on Shawano? Remember when you girls were sleeping in that upstairs part? I went up there one day when you were in school to pick up dirty towels and I was standing by your closet, looking out the window when I just got this funny feeling. Then I thought I saw a woman standing there looking at me, but when I turned my head she was gone. It was over by that little cold room in the front of the house. Remember that room?"" (from Shadowlands)
I have never understood the reason for the Electoral College. No, that's not true - I see WHY they keep it, but have always thought it was STUPID and a CONTROL mechanism. In keeping with the "you get what you focus on" idea, I have just run across this little tidbit about the 1992 elections. Clinton got 44,908,254 popular votes and 370 E.C. votes. Bush got 39,102,343 popular votes and 168 E.C. votes. Ross Perot got 19,741,065 popular votes and NO E.C. votes. That doesn't 'make me think' as much as it does confirm the thinking I've already been doing - that I've never felt like my voting in an election mattered one iota. And it's not just because I'm supposedly a Gen-Xer - LOL. Mostly now, I just observe as the presidential election broo-ha-hah struts around, thinking that's it's so dang IMPORTANT, while to me it looks like a ghost image.
Huh - I guess you really CAN'T believe everything you hear. Well, you CAN, but it usually causes more trouble than it's worth. *grin* When The New York Times reported on its front page this summer that the "North Pole is melting," global warming suddenly seemed real. David Letterman took notice and incorporated the apocalyptic news into his talk-show routine. So when the Times issued a correction ten days later, explaining that polar ice in fact melts every year, Letterman lashed out at the newspaper. Here's how the story, and Letterman's jokes, evolved. 1. "An ice-free patch of ocean about a mile wide has opened at the very top of the world, something that has presumably never before been seen by humans and is more evidence that global warming may be real and already affecting climate." (The New York Times, August 19) 2. "I've got a bone to pick with The Weather Channel....I read in The New York Times that the polar ice cap has melted. Not a damn word about it on The Weather Channel....It's like the biggest weather story in the history of man." (Late Show with David Letterman, August 28) 3. "A clear spot has probably opened at the pole before, scientists say, because about 10 percent of the Arctic Ocean is clear of ice in a typical summer. [Also], the lack of ice at the pole is not necessarily related to global warming." (The New York Times, Correction, August 29) 4. "I'm at home, screaming at [The Weather Channel]: 'You morons! The polar ice cap has melted through -- send a crew up there.' [But] now today, The New York Times -- hard for me to believe they're still in business -- [ran a correction]. It's a wonder we haven't been sued by The Weather Channel." (Late Show with David Letterman, August 29)
I saw a URL written on a dollar bill today: www.wheresgeorge.com - turns out this is a site for tracking where a dollar bill has been! Unfortunately, while I wrote down the URL, I spent the dollar while I was out, so I can't enter the serial number, series, etc. to see it's glorious history. :-( But, you CAN start tracking another bill yourself - all you have to do is register at the site, and, I think, put the URL on the dollar bill itself. What WILL people think of next? (For those who are curious about the legality of writing on a bill, the site has this to say: Where's George? does not encourage the defacement of U.S. Currency. The law defines "illegal" defacement as defacement that renders bills unfit to be re-issued.
Today's Story of Strangeness: Roger Williams was one of the most honored and most beloved of the new settlers in the New World. He arrived in Massachusetts from Cambridge, England, in 1631. He was subsequently banished to Rhode Island for his loudly outspoken religious views. Williams eventually became the leader of a tiny colony that was well known for its unprecedented religious freedom. When Roger Williams died in 1683, he was buried in a grave marked by a modest headstone. It was some time later that the officials of Rhode Island decided to erect a more appropriate memorial. When they opened the grave, however, it was empty. At first, grave robbers were suspect. But, it was much stranger than that. It seems that as the roots of a nearby apple tree grew, they pushed their way into the coffin where they overtook, and eventually absorbed the remains of Roger Williams. The evidence was there, in the coffin, where the tangled roots bore a remarkable resemblance to a human body. The commission decided to remove and preserve the roots which are now in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society. (via Blue Moon News)
Stone circles, dolmens, standing stones, cairns, barrows and hillforts: welcome to the first and most comprehensive online guide to European megaliths and other ancient sites
"In Space... No One Can Hear You Sulk!" It's the top 13 reasons Goths are banned from Starfleet. A very funny read, I was falling out of my chair laughing.
*cough* Yes, I still post here. *grin* Two things to share early this Monday morning.
Mid last week for three consecutive days I had dreams that seemed to move at amazing speed. I could never remember details of the dreams, but I was waking up feeling mentally exhausted and just attempting to think about the dreams made my head spin. I could catch confusing glimpses, but there was no way I could process the images fast enough to make any sense of them. It felt like I was downloading encyclopedias into my brain while I slept, quite a cool experience.
The other event took place last night. I was driving down the driveway at 4AM, going to get a coke at 7-11. I drive slowly at night here because deer commonly attempt suicide by means of smushing. As I was driving I got the impression that I should stop. When I "tuned in" to see what it was about I saw a girl in the back seat. She was in her 20's but very small, she had short brown hair and was holding her hands over her ears and yelling. This was all in my head since I was looking at the road and not the back seat, but it was a very vivid vision. I knew that I was not supposed to do anything, it was just about me seeing her for some reason. I saw her again twice in the rear view mirror, both times for about 3 seconds. A few minutes later her presence had left completely.
I haven't been through the entire site, but Bone Garden is a fun Halloween site, a virtual tour through a haunted mansion with lots to click on. Probably best with a faster connection speed than we have, but can still be fun if you like that sort of thing. Boo!
Whew! *grin* The new, October-November issue of the Conscious Creation Journal is now online. (I know Tom already mentioned it in his blog but he has a great explanation of how dimensions 'work' in his article. And if you click on the cover image, you'll see more of his art too!) I think I need to take a breather. (Yeah, watch me - later on this afternoon I'll probably be playing with new BLOG designs or something - I think I need to go to WDA - "Hello, my name is Kristen, and I'm a Web Design Addict." "Hi, Kristen.") *grin*
