Poor Dad!

I was working with my dad yesterday and he was bent over a hole in the pavement while sawing this pipe when suddnely he lost his balance and smashed his face really bad into the edge of the asphalt. It was horrible! Blood was running down the bridge of his nose and he had gravel chunks embedded in the wound. He was just all scratched up all over his face and arm. He had to get stitches and now he has raccoon eyes. I'm just so glad he didn't smash his teeth in. Poor daddy!

Help me Yan Di!

The use of tea has been traced back to about 5,000 years ago to the ancient time of a legendary ruler Yan Di, the holy farmer. The Chinese people often call themselves descendants of Yan Di. Yan Di, who was thought of as the god of farming, invented many farm tools and taught people how to grow crops. Archaeological excavating and historical records prove it is a fact rather than legend that the holy farmer founded methods of agricultural production. According to Chinese legend, the holy farmer was also the god of medicine. In order to save the common people from pain, he would select various wild plants as medicine. He would taste the wild plants himself first to learn their effect on the human body. Legend has it that one day he was found poisoned seventy-two times while tasting herbs on a mountain. Later he found a plant and brewed the leaves in a pottery tripod and then he drank the liquid. As a result, the toxins in his body disappeared. The plant was tea. Ever since then the Chinese people have treated tea as a precious medicine.

So I'm hoping I can light a candle for this god so he will help me with my exam next week. Or maybe I should just drink lots and lots of tea.

Uganda Photos

There will be more to come. I'm just pressed for time (as usual).

la la la

Weekends provide some much needed downtime. I suppose they should be for hanging out with friends but at the end of the week, all I want to do is drive to Gig Harbor and just for one night, hang out in front of the fire, talking with my parents and reading for my class. This has been my Saturday night for the past 3 weeks.

Yesterday I went to a funeral for a 6 month old baby. It was open casket and the baby's five year old brother and grandpa were standing in front of it as I waited my turn. I have never seen such a small casket. I couldn't stop crying. The baby's mother was nearby with her head in her husbands lap, wailing. I learned what its like to hurt in that way this year, but it must be so much more intense when its your young child. Going to the funeral was a painful experience but necessary. I don't want to shelter myself from other people's pain anymore. I know how it felt to watch my dear sweet Grandma die, and I am still in mourning for that. I still cry every few days. Something will remind me of her, like a cute old lady in a grocery store, and I will duck into the next aisle to hide my tears.

Anyway, I'm late picking up Randy, but I was going to try and post some pictures from Uganda. I guess we will wait on those and I'll post them over Thanksgiving break.

And Tengo Makes Three

So I'm getting Josie a child Sigg bottle and an adorable book about to gay penguins that raise an egg together. It is actually a true story and is totally adorable, but that didn't stop crazies from trying to have it banned from their schools.

Gay penguin book shakes up Illinois school

SHILOH, Ill. — A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children — and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.

The concerns are the latest involving And Tango Makes Three, the illustrated children's book based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo that adopted a fertilized egg and raised the chick as their own.

Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book — available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis — tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.

Their request: Move the book to the library's regular shelves and restrict it to a section for mature issues, perhaps even requiring parental permission before a child can check it out.

For now, And Tango Makes Three will stay put, said school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw, though a panel she appointed suggested the book be moved and require parental permission to be checked out. The district's attorney said moving it might be construed as censorship.

Filyaw considers the book "adorable" and age appropriate, written for children ages 4 to 8.

"My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," she said. "It means you represent different families in a society — different religions, different beliefs."

Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."

"That's when I ended the story," she said.

Del Pinto said her daughter's teacher told her she was unfamiliar with the book, and the school's librarian directed the mother to Filyaw.

"I wasn't armed with pitchforks or anything. I innocently was seeking answers," Del Pinto said, agreeing with Filyaw's belief that pulling the book from the shelves could constitute censorship.

The book has created similar flaps elsewhere. Earlier this year, two parents voiced concerns about the book with librarians at the Rolling Hills' Consolidated Library's branch in the northwest Missouri town of Savannah.

Barbara Read, Rolling Hills' director, has said she consulted with staff members at the Omaha, and Kansas City zoos and the University of Oklahoma's zoology department, who told her adoptions aren't unusual in the world of penguins.

She said the book was then moved to the non-fiction section because it was based on actual events. In that section, she said, there was less of a chance that the book would "blindside" someone.

Rabid Fox Bites, Clings To Woman's Arm

Rabid Fox Bites, Clings To Woman's Arm

PHOENIX -- If she had to give the rabid fox that bit her a nickname, Michelle Felicetta would call it "Thrasher."

Felicetta was hiking a three-mile loop of trail at the base of Granite Mountain in Prescott, Ariz., on Monday when the fox approached her on the trail just like it was meeting her, she said.

"This fox made eye contact with me and started walking towards me," she said. "That's when I knew something was really wrong.

"I went to back up slowly, and as soon as I went to back up, it came and attacked my foot."

The fox grabbed hold of Felicetta's big toe, but she grabbed it by the neck before it could bite her knee. It bit her arm, instead.

"I was choking it with (one) hand," she said. "I was trying (to) get it off … Everything I tried -- he wouldn't let go, and I even considered trying to rip him off, but he had such a good hold it would have done damage."

With the fox hanging from her arm, Felicetta ran a mile back to her car. She managed to pry the fox off of her, wrapped it in her sweatshirt and threw it in the trunk of her car before driving to Yavapai Regional Medical Center.

"As soon as I saw blood, I knew it was probably rabid," she said. "I knew I had to do something."

When an animal control officer tried to take the fox out of the trunk at the hospital, it bit her, too.

"She thought she had the noose thing around its neck," Felicetta said. "But it slipped out and actually attacked her."

Both Felicetta and the animal control officer have to undergo a series of rabies vaccinations over the next few weeks.

Felicetta said the ordeal was "very hard" for her.

"I love animals; I love nature," she said. "I'm very respectful, but as soon as this incident happened I knew something was wrong with the fox."

Monkeys in Uganda

Tacoma = love!

Alright, here begins my very long picture post of a typical evening in Tacoma. It began at Urban Exchange where Jonathan gave me a freaky makeover for a fashion show which involved me dressing up in different outfits and pretending to be a mannequin. Jeff and Ashley appeared and we ended up taking some real live mannequin ladies (and their legs) over to Jeff's for a little fun...

Alright, now that thats done, it is time for me to get back to watchin Bill Nye the science guy on youtube so that I may hopefully wrap my head around DNA synthesis.

Mr. Zucchero Zucchini Houdini!

The Reef!

How sad is it that the Reef caught on fire! I would still be working there if I didn't get workstudy this year.

Fire closes King Solomon's Reef in downtown Olympia

OLYMPIA – A kitchen fire started about 7:15 a.m. today at the downtown King Solomon's Reef, filling the restaurant with smoke and causing firefighters to punch at least one hole in the roof as they put out the blaze.
One customer who was in a bathroom when the kitchen fire started missed the initial evacuation of staff and was briefly trapped in the restaurant, Olympia Assistant Fire Chief Greg Wright said. Wright said it’s possible the man could not find his way out because the thick smoke spread quickly throughout the restaurant, limiting visibility.
Firefighters had to break out a front window and drag the man out before he was transported from the scene by an ambulance, neighbor Tammy Worthington said. The man was "pounding on the front windows trying to get out," she said. "They busted the window out and they dragged him out," Worthington said.
Wright said the man was transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital. Wright said he did not believe the man’s injuries were life-threatening because he was able to give a statement to firefighters from the hospital, albeit with a face covered by soot. All of the staff members and about four or five other breakfast customers were able to leave safely, Wright said.
The kitchen fire caused extensive smoke damage and likely will close the restaurant, at least for today, Wright said. Beyond that, Wright did not have details about how long the Reef, a fixture in downtown Olympia for many years, would be closed.
Wright estimated the dollar value of the damages at about $100,000.
Ryan Miyake, who was having a cup of coffee at the Reef when the fire started in the kitchen area, said everyone was calm as the restaurant was evacuated, but the area filled up with smoke quickly.
"I was sitting at the counter and I saw the cook come over to the waitress and say there was a fire," he said. "They just couldn’t get it under control. By the time I got out the door the smoke was mostly at head level."
The fire was quickly extinguished by firefighters from the Olympia Fire Department, Lacey Fire District, East Olympia Fire District 6, North Olympia Fire District 7 and South Bay Fire District 8, Wright said. About 35 to 40 firefighters battled the blaze in all, he said.
Fourth Street was shut down until about 8:30 a.m. because of the firefighting activities. Wright said firefighters punched one or two holes in the roof of the Reef, to allow heat and smoke to escape.
The owner of the Reef, Rich Phillips, was on scene this morning, but said he did not want to immediately comment. Said Wright, "The owner said he’s going to clean it up and get it back open as quickly as he can."

So I am back from Uganda and so totally overwhelmed with busyness! So much to catch up with. But its so soggy and dark out, all I want to do is snuggle kittycats and drink pot after pot of good earth green and jasmine tea.