JZ, do you know Kipling's poem about camels? "Oonts" [link]

excerpt:

The ’orse ’e knows above a bit, the bullock’s but a fool,
The elephant’s a gentleman, the battery-mule’s a mule;
But the commissariat cam-u-el, when all is said an’ done,
’E’s a devil an’ a ostrich an’ a orphan-child in one.

O the oont, O the oont, O the Gawd-forsaken oont!
The lumpy-’umpy ’ummin’-bird a-singin’ where ’e lies,
’E’s blocked the whole division from the rear-guard to the front,
An’ when we get him up again—the beggar goes an’ dies!

’E’ll gall an’ chafe an’ lame an’ fight—’e smells most awful vile;
’E’ll lose ’isself for ever if you let ’im stray a mile;
’E’s game to graze the ’ole day long an’ ’owl the ’ole night through,
An’ when ’e comes to greasy ground ’e splits ’isself in two.

O the oont, O the oont, O the floppin’, droppin’ oont!
When ’is long legs give from under an’ ’is meltin’ eye is dim,
The tribes is up be’ind us, and the tribes is out in front—
It ain’t no jam for Tommy, but it’s kites an’ crows for ’im.

I think it's a pretty good description.

dcp, heh. That sounds just about perfect.

And since we're both around and posting at the same time, I finally have a chance to say how terrific I think your wildlife photography is. You posted a link long, long ago to some pictures you'd taken of a bird's nest and the hatchlings, and I bookmarked your album and go back every now and then and look again. And the kittens, and the pensive collie -- your animal photography is just marvelous. Thank you so much for posting that link to it all that time ago; it's given such great pleasure!

Glad you liked them. Thanks for the kind words.

I found that just keeping a camera handy affects the way I look at things, and switching to a digital camera freed me up to actually snapping the shutter on lots more pictures than I used to, which meant I captured a lot of good shots I would otherwise have missed.

Also, they are a lot easier to share.

The Manolo wonders: the pope -- separated at birth? ::snerk::

I *KNEW* his face was pinging my memory for some reason.

Jess, good luck with the jury duty summons. Did you get it before you moved? I'm thinking when you call, you could blame your flakeage on the move, in part.

But that was a long time ago, and just writing it down has made me tired. Arguing with the people whose boneheadedness is the reason I moved out?

I so get that. I suspect my old landlords are going to hold back some for the cleaning they will say they need to do, but if they do, at least I don't have to clean.

Man, I loves me some Barbara Boxer.

Timelies!

Today I took the CTA L to work. The L is not as good as Metra. One example of this is that I've never smelled urine on a Metra train, but it happens once in a while on the L. Like today. So not only did I smell urine during my first train ride, but I've since discovered that I have taken on the urine smell. Yes, I smell like someone else's urine.

Coincedentally, I am wearing one of my Urinetown t-shirts. I think I shall try to avoid people today.

You could claim the shirt is scratch 'n' sniff.

Teppy, I must return the compliment by expressing a small sneaking fondness for Voinovich.

I'm happy that some Republican thought maybe we should think twice about having a crazy man as our UN Ambassador.