Catnip Bandit
My cats like catnip, so when I saw a catnip plant at the grocery store I bought it for them. Since my cats don't understand moderation, I put the plant on my patio along with the other plants I am trying to not kill. Unfortunately I didn't consider the local stray cats, so the plant was pretty much destroyed on the first night. Last night I caught what I assume was a repeat offender hanging around. Cassie and I are keeping an eye out for him tonight. One of my coworkers compared my leaving a catnip plant accessible for stray cats to leaving marijuana plants accesible for college students.
It's been good to get such a positive response on the blog so far. Please note that there are some links underneath my picture on the right. "Laura's videos" goes to videos that I have posted on youtube; these are mostly zoo stuff. "Recommended videos" are some of the best videos that I have found on youtube. I highly recommend "Where is Matt?" - it's a little long, but an amazing overview of this guy's world travels. If it's fake, I don't care.
Speaking of world travel, I have been enjoying a re-read of Kon-Tiki. If you're not familiar with the story, here's a brief recap. Back in 1947, an explorer came up with a theory that Polynesia was settled by people from Peru who crossed the Pacific on balsa rafts. People were very skeptical of this theory, so he set out to prove that it was possible by doing so himself. The book is a diary of his experience, along with his five companions. These guys spent 101 days on their tiny raft and had an amazing time. It's a really great read. For more info, check out the article on Wikipedia here. There's also a documentary (it won an Oscar), but Katherine, Linh and I watched it this past summer and it wasn't nearly as fun as the book.
Thankfully, it appears that Love Bug season is waning here in Gainesville. I had never heard of or seen actual Love Bugs until I moved here. They do not bite or sting, and they don't buzz around you like flies. However, when you see them there are always two of them joined together (hence the name Love Bug) and car exhaust seems to be an aphrodisiac. They land on your window, or get smashed on the hood of your car, and it's just gross. They supposedly swarm in May and September, so at least it's over for now. Katy - I've heard they are big in Texas, so you have that to look forward to. Supposedly Love Bugs are making their way north, so they may be in Kentucky before too long.
Since the weather is not quite so hot, I've been enjoying walking to and from work. The University of Florida is a huge school - it has more students than UCLA and twice as many as UK. However, the southern end of campus is really dilute. The two routes that I can take from my apartment to the lab take me past either the "natural area teaching lab" (a swamp) or the farming area, consisting of fields of beans and sunflowers and a citrus grove. It's just lovely. Here - compare the google satellite images for UF microbiology building and UCLA Boelter Hall. Quite a difference. And get this - the building adjacent to ours is the "Weed Science" Building. Really.
Gotta go - watching Lost tonight!
Laura
It's been good to get such a positive response on the blog so far. Please note that there are some links underneath my picture on the right. "Laura's videos" goes to videos that I have posted on youtube; these are mostly zoo stuff. "Recommended videos" are some of the best videos that I have found on youtube. I highly recommend "Where is Matt?" - it's a little long, but an amazing overview of this guy's world travels. If it's fake, I don't care.
Speaking of world travel, I have been enjoying a re-read of Kon-Tiki. If you're not familiar with the story, here's a brief recap. Back in 1947, an explorer came up with a theory that Polynesia was settled by people from Peru who crossed the Pacific on balsa rafts. People were very skeptical of this theory, so he set out to prove that it was possible by doing so himself. The book is a diary of his experience, along with his five companions. These guys spent 101 days on their tiny raft and had an amazing time. It's a really great read. For more info, check out the article on Wikipedia here. There's also a documentary (it won an Oscar), but Katherine, Linh and I watched it this past summer and it wasn't nearly as fun as the book.
Thankfully, it appears that Love Bug season is waning here in Gainesville. I had never heard of or seen actual Love Bugs until I moved here. They do not bite or sting, and they don't buzz around you like flies. However, when you see them there are always two of them joined together (hence the name Love Bug) and car exhaust seems to be an aphrodisiac. They land on your window, or get smashed on the hood of your car, and it's just gross. They supposedly swarm in May and September, so at least it's over for now. Katy - I've heard they are big in Texas, so you have that to look forward to. Supposedly Love Bugs are making their way north, so they may be in Kentucky before too long.Since the weather is not quite so hot, I've been enjoying walking to and from work. The University of Florida is a huge school - it has more students than UCLA and twice as many as UK. However, the southern end of campus is really dilute. The two routes that I can take from my apartment to the lab take me past either the "natural area teaching lab" (a swamp) or the farming area, consisting of fields of beans and sunflowers and a citrus grove. It's just lovely. Here - compare the google satellite images for UF microbiology building and UCLA Boelter Hall. Quite a difference. And get this - the building adjacent to ours is the "Weed Science" Building. Really.
Gotta go - watching Lost tonight!
Laura
posted by Laura at 7:13 PM
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