Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Toenivore (floofinition) – Animal who likes chewing on people’s foot digits.
In use: “Teak is a wonderfully loving and sweet animal who is also a toenivore, fond of taking on exposed feet, whether someone is walking by, sitting and reading, or asleep in bed, forcing the household to issue guidelines to ALWAYS WEAR SOCKS.”
Took a flight to the moon last night
Traveling real fast on beams of light
If you didn’t look you probably missed the sight
Don’t you know?
Slipped in by Mercury
Swept on in past the sun
Man, you wouldn’t believe the fun
Don’t you know?
Then we turned and left our galaxy
Flying like a bird on a universal breeze
Firing past time like it couldn’t be
Don’t you know?
Went on to the Universe’s edge
Stood there like it was a window ledge
Thought about jumping but fell back instead
Don’t you know?
Stayed in my room deep in dreams
Making up stories and fantastic schemes
Man, you should have been part of the scene
Don’t you know?
5:49 AM, 8:44 PM. Those are today’s times for the sunshow on Saturday, 7/17/21. Rise comes first, with a lethargic unveiling. Set comes later, a gradual withdrawal. Between those times, the sun will work its heat on us. Not too bad today, upper eighties to lower nineties. Forecasts say get ready for a new rampup.
Although the Bootleg Fire and numerous others still burn, our southern Oregon’s valley air is clear and ‘safe’. Went up and down yesterday. Down in the evening, which helped make a summer concert a pleasant time. Listened to a regional band, East Main Street, play covers of the Eagles, Beatles, CSN&Y, Seals & Croft, CCR, etc. You get the feel, right? Had beer, wine, drinks, BBQ. Celebrated birthdays. Wondered how many were vaccinated. But we were outside.
Today’s music is a Nirvana song called “About A Girl” (1994). My mind brought it up to entertain and distract me as I ambled around town yesterday. Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask as needed, and get the vax. Cheers
Ah, floofgic.
This week over at Carrot Ranch (www.carrotranch.com) the prompt was to write a story in 99 words (no more, no less) that included a feather.
This pedometer geek writer decided to continue the story of Aloysius, who was also called Rainbow. It was at the urging of one of my Red Room writer friends. It is as follows:
Aloysius’s Discovery
Aloysius, AKA Rainbow, serendipitously discovered that his multi-colored fur had magical powers. Blue seemed connected with sky. This began the day he found a blue jay’s feather on the ground. When he touched it with his front paw, he felt himself lifting from the ground. All four feet fanned out, and with his tail as a rudder, he flew.
Okay, Aloysius was a bit clumsy with flying at first, but with his trusty feather stuck behind his left ear, he soon soared over treetops and roofs. No one seemed to…
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Middle-aged, I was teaching others. Two younger people, male and female, were under my tutelage. I was teaching them to deliver something. The something was a small white contain, about the size of a six ounce jar of skin cream, with gold metallic lettering. Don’t know what the lettering said.
This was to be delivered to customers for use in a larger project. It was important to the customers. My assistants and I had three cars to choose from. Wanting one of them to drive, I let them choose which car. A small white car was selected. One began driving. Raining, we were on a crowded freeway. Underway, we discovered that they didn’t know where they were going because they had not taken the print out with them.
I acknowledged that as my error, as I was supposed to be teaching them. Lesson one, I told them: first, make sure you know where you’re going.
We stopped to address this. The male student began peeling the bottom of the white jar open. He was removing layers of lead. “What are you doing?” I asked, amused.
“I’m going to look inside the jar to see what it’s in it. That might give us a clue about where we’re supposed to take it.”
“One, there’s a black lid on top to open the container,” I said. “And opening it will ruin it for the customer. We’ll go back and get the address.”
We returned to HQ. This was a small office building, parking underneath, additional parking outside, on a small campus. Inside, another office working, female, at a computer, asked me, “What are you doing back so soon?”
I picked up the paper with the address. “We forgot the address. We didn’t know where we were going.”
Leaving with the paper, I became confused. Where did I park? I found my car, a red Porsche. Except, I remembered, I didn’t come in my car. That’s right, I came with the students in the little white car. I’d gotten into Porsche and had moved the car. Looking for a convenient parking space, I pulled it. It was reserved for another, but I thought management would take care of it. When I left the car, I discovered that it was white. That perplexed me for several seconds. I was certain that I’d been in a red car. How could it turn white. Dismissing that, I went into the rain, looking for the other car.
Floofphoria (floofinition) – Eperience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness brought on by an animal’s presence, thinking about an animal, or viewing an animal video or photograph.
In use: “During troubling times — when the pandemic’s numbers are rising from people testing positive, and the news seems generally bleak — people turn online for stories about animal rescues along with funny or touching videos about animals, trusting that the floofphoria will lift their spirits and make them feel a little better…for a while.”
Flooding in Europe. Wildfires all over the U.S. west. Record heat waves. Drought. COVID-19 cases spiking. It’s too much for a Friday. I’m going back to bed.
Today is July 16, 2021. Bad news sometimes seems overwhelming. Dark stories past those headline blares paint scenes of death, destruction, and despair. Unless you’re wealthy. Then it’s woo-hoo, life is grand.
Daylight hours seems to be drawing down fast. Maybe it feels like that because of dark news. Sunrise was at 5:49 AM. Less than fifteen hours later will come sunset, 8:45 PM. Temperatures are at least down. Feels chilly with temperatures in the mid sixties this morning. The sky is clear, though, and we’ll probably see 90 F again this afternoon. Although forecast to have a high of 84 yesterday, we saw 93.
I’m always disappointed when Alexa is wrong about the weather. She’s never apologetic about it. Never mentions getting it wrong.
Today’s song is by 311. “Amber” (2001) is about the color of someone’s energy. My energy had been high. Then came irrigation drip problems disrupting my plans, requiring digging to learn what has gone wrong. While doing that, the song came unbidden to mind. So, here we are.
Stay positive — you know, as I do (hah!) — test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Here’s the music. I’m going to go get my coffee. It won’t necessarily lift my spirits but will inure me against feeling so damn down. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 