Raccoons

A couple of nights ago, a pair of raccoons engaged in a romantic encounter in our woods out past the barn.  

They were anything but subtle about it - you could have heard them for miles.

According to PBS, the raccoon mating season runs from January to June, so I don't know if Ms. Coon's vocalizations were simply from ecstasy or if they were a raccoon version of yelling rape. 

1.2 Billion

One point two billion dollars - that's what NBC paid for the right to broadcast the 2016 Olympics from Rio.

 After last night's opening ceremonies, they ought to be asking for some of their money back.  In spite of the NBC announcers gushing on about how wonderful what we were seeing was, it just wasn't.
The only emotion it generated in this viewer was annoyance at their editorial about climate change - totally inappropriate for this venue - but even that was only mildly irritating.
If you're interested in how to see the actual competitions, Fortune Magazine published this guide.

Sunflowers

What's wrong with this picture?

Scientists at UC Davis released a report today on a long-term study of why sunflowers follow the sun.  They did various things to torment the flowers - put them in pots and turn them 180 degrees each night, place them in artificial light on a 30 hour cycle, etc. - all to prove what we already knew, that sunflowers actually do follow the sun each day.

As to how they do it, they showed that the shady side of the stalks  actually grow faster.  

And as to why, like most everything else in nature, it comes down to reproduction - they proved that bees are more attracted to warmer flowers, so I guess you could say the sunflowers are just trying to get laid.

Back to my original question - what's wrong with the picture above?  It (and every other photo I found on line) shows  the sunflowers facing away from the sun.  I have no idea why, but I thought it was interesting.

A Slow Day

Writing a daily post for my blog can be a challenge.  

Trying to find something clever and/or profound to say on a daily basis is almost impossible, even when I steal and re-post something I found on line.

Today was one of those days when nothing came to mind, so I decided to go back and see what I had posted on August 4th of previous years. 

That was a bust.  

There were several years when I didn't post anything at all - usually because we were out of town on one of our vacation trips - and of those days I did post something, there were none I felt I needed to bring up again. 

Oh, well.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Rio

The 2016 Olympics get underway in Rio de Janeiro this week.  Here's a preview of the torch lighting at the opening ceremonies...

 

Down the List

For a long as I can remember - and that's a long time, 50 years or so - Houstonians have pointed with pride to the Texas Medical Center, not only as a major source of revenue, but as a the place to go for whatever disease you might have.  People come to the Med Center hospitals from all over the world because of their reputation as being the go-to place to fix what ails you.

So, it was a bit of a surprise that this year's list of America's top  hospitals only lists one Med Center facility in the top twenty, and that was Methodist way down at number nineteen.  

Methodist did come in as number eight on the specialty list as a place to treat diabetes, but despite all the advances made there during the DeBakey years, they were listed as twenty-one for heart problems.

Baylor/St Lukes made at least one specialty list, and TIRR-Memorial Hermann was listed as number two among rehabilitation facilities.

The top hospital according to the US News and World Report was the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Thirty-eight Special

Was minding my own business yesterday afternoon, watching golf on TV, when the doorbell rang.  It was a guy wanting to put sealer on the asphalt on our driveway.  I told him I wasn't interested, but he persisted, offering to do the whole thing for thirty-eight dollars.

Something didn't feel right, but after he repeated the offer several times, and me emphasizing that $38 was the full price, I finally gave the OK.

Once they got started, his brother approached me with their brochure, which clearly stated that the sealer was $38 a Gallon!  

I told them to stop right there.  They could either finish the job for  $38 - and put up their sign like we agreed - or they could take the $38, pack up their stuff and leave.  Either way, I wasn't paying them one cent more than the $38 we had agreed upon.

Things got very tense.  

The brother threatened to go get their uncle's bulldozer and tear up my driveway to recover his materials.  I assured him that wasn't going to happen, so he then threatened to have a lien placed on our property.  At that point,  Honey said she was calling 9-1-1.  

The guy who had come to the door then said it was all a misunderstanding and that they would leave.  I offered them the $38 again, but the brother said they didn't want my damn money, and started loading up their truck.

I didn't check my blood pressure, but it took over an hour for my heartbeat and respiration to return to normal after they left.