More Garden Beauty

Every summer, my flower gardens in St. Albans, Vermont get better and better.

They are not anywhere near where I want them to be yet, but it's getting there, slowly but surely. Here are a few photos to show what I've been enjoying.

The sun glows through a day lily  

Day lillies compete with wildflowers
at the edge of my property.  

A riot of color in front of my house.  

Man Does Amazing Stuff With Soccer Ball

Get your head out of the gutter. After reading the headline to this post, you think I'm going to write about something icky.

But please watch the G-rated video, below, of a guy named Andrew Henderson playing around with a soccer ball. (OK, football if you want to get all British about it)   The guy is amazing. Maybe I should practice like Henderson and make this my new career? Nah. I'll do something else. But I'll still marvel at Henderson.

Watch:

Another Anthony Weiner Scandal. No, Not THAT Anthony Weiner.

What is it about people named Anthony Weiner having issues with sexting scandals?

We all know the Anthony Weiner who is the New York mayoral candidate who keeps getting in trouble for sexting, sending women pictures of his junk. We all agree that's pretty icky.

New York's Anthony Weiner can take
comfort of sorts knowing there's an
Anthony Weiner out there weirder than him.  

Now, the New York Daily News brings us an update on another Anthony Weiner, this one from Revere Massachusetts, who, if accusations are true, really out Weinered the more famous Weiner.

According to the Daily News:

"This Anthony Weiner, 25, of Revere, Mass. used his wife's phone to send a text luring the 21-year-old Winthrop man to another house in Revere. Once there, the guest was greeted witha  bat to the head.

Prosecutors said Weiner tied the man to a chair threatened him with a power tool and a BB gun, and only released him when the terrified vicim began vomiting."

Yikes! It's unclear from the report what led the Revere Weiner to do all this.

I'm sure his wife is impressed. She probably even bought a new phone. I wouldn't want to touch it after what Revere Weiner did.

I think Revere Weiner's marriage was rocky to begin with. The Daily News reported that he punched his mother-in-law during a brawl on his wedding day.

Maybe it's best that people looking for a date avoid anyone named Anthony Weiner.

Bear Steals Big Trash Dumpster From Restaurant: Even Animals Are Criminals Now

This blog seems to have gotten into a bit of an animal theme lately, but what the heck.  Today, we have surveillance video of a thief. Namely a bear, who decides to lift a trash bin from the alley behind a restaurant.

Don't believe me? Watch the video, then more details about what happened below the video:




According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, this bear likes German food, as the trash bin theft happened at the Edelweiss Restaurant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said the delightfully named restaurant manager Dieter Schnakenberg,

The bear rolled the trash bin out into the front parking lot, tipped it over, and had his snack. The very next night, he returned to the restaurant and stole another trash bin, Schnakenberg said.

Since then, the restaurant, after consulting with Colorado fish and wildlife officials, took steps so bears cannot steal more bins.

Great. Now the bears will probably shoot out the restaurant windows in a drive by shooting and just raid the kitchen.

"Spin Sister Dogs" Dancing For Dinner Are A Huge Day Brightener

Via Gawker, I found a video that is guaranteed to give anyone a much needed smile. It sure helped me mood.

A still from the wonderful Hope and Rosey
dinnertime video  

In the video, we meet Hope and Rosey, two sisters, both English Springers, who have been happily taught their routine when they get dinner, do their thing.

They dance as their human companion sings their dinner hour song in the most hearty, happy voice you can imagine.

It's a beautiful video, trust me.

The video appeared on Reddit under the headline about the dog's owner which reads, "It's impossible to imagine that this man ever has a bad day," which is about as true a statement as "The sky is blue."

Under the Reddit headline, somebody wrote "This type of happiness only comes from keeping such awesome dogs."

Followed by this comment: "The dogs are probably awesome because of his disposition."

Also true. I think that works with people, too. People who are around others that exude happiness get happy too. It's something that is always worth reminding myself.

OK, I've prattled on. You want to see the video. So do I, again. So here it is:

Major Transition: I'm No Longer A Reporter At the Burlington Free Press

The inevitable happened today.

I was laid off from my job as a reporter at the Burlington Free Press in Burlington, Vermont.

I say it was inevitable because the newspaper industry is struggling, and newspapers have been shedding jobs for years.

This is only the latest round of industry layoffs. At last check, at least 170 people had lost their jobs this week at Gannett, the owner of the Burlington Free Press and numerous other papers and media outlets.

From what I understand, I was among 13 people to lose their jobs at the Free Press. I guess it was my turn to face the axe.

Of course, I should have been preparing for this, saving more money than I have been, updating my resume more than I have, but you always hope against hope it doesn't happen to you. Subconsciously, probably, I didn't do more to prepare because I didn't want to jinx the gig.

Which makes no sense, of course, but brains are funny things. Brains like mine are an endless well of odd thoughts and superstitions. Even if I am rational most of the time. Go figure.

I'll be OK, of course. I'm still sorting things out today, so I haven't really formulated a real plan. This just happened a few hours ago, for Chrissakes!

It was a weird moment when Executive Editor Michael Townsend  brought me into an office and let me know what was going on.  Yes, I was the one being let go, but I didn't envy Townsend. He's had to lay off people before, and I know how much he hates to do that.  I hope today was the last time he'll have to break such news to his employees.

A human resources specialist from Rochester, N.Y. was in there to go over how to apply for unemployment, deal with disentangling myself from Gannett and move on.  

The HR lady -- she told me her name, but I was a bit distracted by the situation and it didn't register -- was polite in an efficient sort of way. You could tell she's done this many times before. Which is in itself sad. I wonder if having to do that to people getting laid off makes her sad. I kind of felt bad for her.

As for myself, I knew immediately the worst thing I could do is get all emotional.   It's funny, when a minor bad thing happens to me, like I stub my toe or spill my Diet Coke, I have to contain a certain amount of frustration.

When a bigger bad thing happens, like when I got run over by a semi-truck, or our dog Bailey died, or when I got laid off from the Free Press today, I stayed calm and collected.

Of course, getting laid off from the Free Press might not necessarily be a bad thing, at least not a bad thing like getting run over by a semi or having a beloved dog die.

Unlike the other two scenarios, there's plenty I can do about the situation. Look for another job, of course. I'm faced with a clean slate, which is simultaneously scary and thrilling.

I know there's not a  zillion jobs out there and employers won't necessarily be beating down  my door to hire me.  But, having been a journalist for so long means I certainly know how to communicate, which for almost any job is half the battle.

I can also sit back and think about what other interests I have besides journalism. Is there something else that has been bubbling in the back of my weird brain, waiting to come out as a vocation? Now's the time to consider it.

The only thing I'm truly upset about is the effect my layoff has on other people. My husband Jeff is already talking about cutting back on things. I can tell he's worried about it, though he says his main worry is my well being.

I believe him, of course, but I do want to fix things so he doesn't feel like he has to worry. Why should my situation drag him down?

I worry about Barb, the wonderful lady that takes care of our Jackson the Cocker Spaniel.  We'll have to bring Jackson less often there, to save money for now.

So, I'll spend the next several days figuring things out. Luckily, I'm resilient enough so that I'm not angry, depressed, or overwhelmingly scared. Those negative emotions are understandable, but they paralyze you, get in the way of moving on, and prevent one from continuing life's journey.

Life's journey is too much fun to abandon, so believe me, I'm staying in the game more so than ever before.

I'll land squarely on my feet. I just don't know where yet. Wherever I do land, it will be surprising and cool and different and refreshing.

I feel it in my bones.

Head Transplants Would Be Confusing

A few weeks ago, an Italian neuroscientist said head transplants are now within the realm of possibility, though a lot of other scientists say that's bullcrap, to say the least.

Even when you omit how complicated the surgery would be
head transplants would create a whole host of problems.  

The surgery to do a head transplant sounds  incredibly complicated, so I don't anticipate it happening anytime soon. But if it does happen, I'm afraid it will get awfully confusing.

What happens if they screw up and you get a person with the head of a young man and a body of an old woman, or vice versa?

Will the head of a young body builder type bro with the body of an elderly woman still try to pick up hot young things. Will the head of an older woman and the body of a young body builder type bro still be accepted at her knitting circle?

Will this turn into a vanity thing. Out of shape? Don't bother with all that wearying exercise, just chop off your flabby body, find another body that's totally fit, attach it to your head and your home free!

You then get the spectacle of a horrible, 60 year old billionaire walking around with the body of a 20 year old bodybuilder. For a little while, anyway. Then the body gets out of shape, so he goes out and gets another one?

Where will the constant supply of buff bodies come from?  Fit young people don't die very often, and you presumably need the person to die to get their body . Or do you pay the fit young people hugely and live the rest of their lives as just a head, sitting on a desk like a knicknack, sort of like those pendulum things that bored executives play with.

What do you do about fingerprints and other identifying features. Your head is Joe Smith, but you have the body and fingerprints of John Davis. Could cause some security issues don't you think? Especially if some dedicated terrorist obtains the body of somebody he killed and uses that as an alternative identity.

All this means that I'm not sure if this head transplant idea will work. There's lots of other transplants that seem to be working well nowadays. Heart transplants, nerve transplants, even face transplants.

These piecemeal transplants probably don't solve every problem in the world, but they don't create a whole lot of new ones, either.