WOTT #266 [ Edited ]

[hpmsrm]

Holy cow!  Here it is.....late Sunday evening and no one has started the week's WOTT.  So....I'll do the deed......delayed.

We got some rain the last two or three days.....about half an inch.  So the drought is in no danger of ending.  Lots of fog this morning.  Visability of about 1/2 a block when Alfie and I went out for our morning walk around 7:15 AM.

Our KC Chiefs performed right up to expectations.....lost badly to Oakland.  There are lots of us that believe a good college team would give these bums a run for their money.  The worst team in the history of the franchise....I believe.

My wife's iPad 3 continues to struggle with iOS 6.  But....the problem partly goes away because her favorite news source.....News Corp's (Murdock) "The Daily" went out of business yesterday.  Things got so bad....since she upgraded to iOS 6....that she would just have to skip trying to watch any of the videos.  They would load so slowly and, sometimes, would not finish loading at all.  Back when she still had iOS 5 on the iPad she never had those problems.   There are other problems but she dosen't tell me about them because she knows that anytime I have to deal with Apple my blood pressure skyrockets.  As I've mentioned before....when I contacted them back after she first upgraded to iOS 6 Apple's position was that the company was not responsible.....everything was the fault of the app owners.  So she just endures the inconveniences.  Guess I should just take it over to the Store which is about 40 miles away.  Have to have an appointment with the store's techs.  I don't think they take walk-ins.

I hope everyone has a great week as we draw closer to Santa night.  What'cha all asking for?

My photo of the week.  Our youngest son's 2 yr. old Boxer, Lincoln.  And yes....he's just as mischievious as he looks.....but a big lover too:

[docbombay]

What a great dog photo!  Unfortunately, I lost my dog two months ago to IMHA, but I very much enjoyed this picture, and I always have enjoyed the pictures of Alfie.

docbombay

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

Thanks to those wacky Mayan's, it might be getting H-O-T on Friday.  Nice knowin' ya.

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

Sorry about your dog, docbombay.

[docbombay]

Thanks, dh--it was very sudden and unexpected.  I know I'll get another dog when the time is right!

docbombay

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

---

docbombay wrote:

Thanks, dh--it was very sudden and unexpected.  I know I'll get another dog when the time is right!

docbombay

---

We swore that we'd never get another one after Mandy (our Shih Tzu) passed but the neighbors told us about Gizmo.  He had 8 homes in 12 months.  We got him and although he still has some separation anxiety, he is ours (or maybe we are his?).

[docbombay]

Gizmo is certainly a very cute dog--what breed is he?

docbombay

[hpmsrm]

Gizmo looks like a real lovey kind of pooch.  My wife's favorite kind.  Alfie, although affectionate, is not cuddly.  At least not on our terms.  He curls up next to me in my recliner but rarely on my lap.  And he is not big about being held.  Yet he will come up to me and, for no apparent reason, lick my hand or even my face.  Maybe I just taste good.

There was a remarkable video in the on-line version of the Kansas City Star this morning.  I wish I could figure out how to acquire a link to if for you folks to see.  A lady was in an open area in a park with a baby stroller.  She was sitting on the ground with the baby, heavily & warmly dressed, sitting on the grass maybe 5 or 6 ft. away from her.  A huge Golden Eagle swooped down and grabbed the infant.  The bird tried to fly away and, indeed, did manage to climb to a height of about 5 ft. but just could not carry the load.  By this time the photographer and others were running to the site and the eagle dropped the baby to the ground.  It appeared that the child was not injured but it was crying loudly because of that 6 foot plunge to the ground. I hope she took it to a hospital for examination immediately.  Concussion might be a possibility. The video ran in real time first....then again only in slow motion.   THAT is something I've never seen before.  I believe the Golden Eagle is somewhat larger than the Bald Eagle...with a wider wing span.  But I'm not sure.

The video came originally from YouTube so perhaps, if you're interested you can find it there.

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

The golden eagle video is fake -- some clever 3D rendering trickery.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/19/16021454-that-kid-snatching-eagle-video-fake?lite

[hpmsrm]

Yeah, S.J., I went over to YouTube and found it.  I saw the reports that it is fake.  Well...it sure is a good fake.  And it made the newspapers and TV newscasts.

Back in 1980 we got two puppies.  First a Yorkshire Terrier and secondly a West Highland White Terrier (like Alfie).  Well, of course the Westie grew to around 19 lbs. but the Yorkie never got over 4 1/2 lbs.  We were avid RVers and we would take the dogs with us when we would go camping out on our South Central Iowa farm.  We had lots of big hawks out there and I believe I even saw a bald eagle or two.  Lots of tall trees to nest in.  The dogs would run off leash when we would go for walks across the fields.  AND nothing ever happened.  But, believe it or not, I used to have VERY real nightmares about my tiny Yorkie being snatched up by one of those extra large birds and carried to the nest high in a tree.  In my dream I'd try to climb up to the nest but I'd always wake up before I got very high.  Those nightmares were very real.....the kind you clearly remember after you wake up.  I don't know if it was a message from on high.....but I started keeping her on a leash when we'd take those walks.

[oufanindallas]

It made our local news here in Dallas, it definately had a lot of people fooled.

[BeeBeeSA ACE - Wizard]

Phil - We seem to have aquired a very LARGE owl roosting at night in a neighbor's tree that lives behind me.  My "Chico" seems to need a potty break around 1 to 2 am.  I get up and let him out in the back yard and he starts barking to beat the band.  For the life of me I couldn't figure out what his problem was until a couple of nights ago when I went outside to see what the fuss was all about.  I heard the owl cooing over and over.  I went to get my flashlight, found it in the tree, and man was that bird big.  

I got the dog inside quick.  I could just see that owl swooping down out of that tree, grabbing the dog, and off he would go!!  I haven't heard it cooing in a couple of nights so maybe it  moved on.  Chico weighs about 10 pounds but I have no idea how much an owl can carry.

[Dcookie ACE - Geek]

---

dhascall wrote:

Thanks to those wacky Mayan's, it might be getting H-O-T on Friday.  Nice knowin' ya.

---

Hahahahaha!! I like this one!!  

[dhascall ACE - Professor]

doc - Gizzie is another Shih-Tzu.  We keep him trimmed short.

Phil - He is cuddly but man he can play hard!  He loves it when I get down in the floor to play with him.  He goes into mad dog routime and runs around the house and hurdles over my legs while sometimes jumping and standing on my back.  And when I give him "the evil eye" he lunges for my nose, growling and snapping but his tail is happily wagging.  After a few minutes of hard playing, he comes over and demands a belly rub.

[hpmsrm]

Ah yes, Dave.  The symptoms of a well trained human.  Gizmo has done a good job teaching you obediance.