Tickybox turns SIXTEEN today.

Unpossible!

Whoa

Sophia, she does Mark and Sarah talk about Songs podcast, if you want to hear her!

Uh, no, she is at most 10 years old.

• hums quietly under my breath about the passage of time*

Sophia, that's lovely.

That sounds sad and lovely, Sophia. I’m sure Maria appreciated being able to send things along with someone who had a connection.

It’s the day after my second Pfizer jab. My arm hurts less, possibly because I didn’t whack it into the towel holder this time around. Otherwise I feel really tired. Also a bit congested, but that’s probably allergies.

Last night we had minor drama in my apartment complex. We have a small wooded area next to our lot that hosts a surprising amount of wildlife, so we’re used to seeing the occasional raccoon. But just after sunset, I noticed a raccoon under the parking lot light that was acting oddly. It was just sort of sluggishly wandering around in circles over a few square yards of pavement. One of the neighbors drove into the lot and had it in her headlights, and it just sort of stared at her. She parked, and it resumed its weird movements, paying her no mind at all. This is not normal for a raccoon. I figured it was hit by a car, bitten by a snake, or had rabies. So I called 911, and they said they’d send the police and/or animal control. Two hours later, no one had showed. The raccoon was still there, although looking more sluggish. I called the police again and eventually got a call back—the officer had gone to the wrong apartment complex. She eventually made it here, took a look at the raccoon and said, essentially, yep, that’s weird. Then she called animal control, who got here an hour after that and took the raccoon away with them. Still no idea what was wrong with it, although I expect if it was rabies we’ll see something about it on the local news site.

Aw, poor critter.

Years ago, I lived in a small garden apartment complex close to a park. There had been reports of racoons with rabies, which led to my sister being terrified of coming by my apartment, especially at night. (It also led to suggestions that someone create a comic/graphic of The Adventures of Rabid Raccoon ... which never came about.)

Awwww. I was subscribed to Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine when I was a kid. [link] I have vague but fond memories of that.

Not at all the same, but have you guys heard of the Rocket City Trash Pandas? [link]

They are a minor league baseball team: [link]

I like their logo and their merch designs: [link]

The passage of time freaks me out: Tickybox turns SIXTEEN today.

That hit like a ton of bricks, along with Cashmere's Owen turning 17, two days ago.

We're old. I mean, wasn't RLiz (or maybe Madrigal, or maybe both) about that age in the early days?