Just too hot

Here is a blue jay trying to bear the heat tuesday. It barely closed it's mouth, and held it's wings away from it's body, while looking at the food and water i put out. I'm not exaggerating when i say it's been hot, it hit officially 99F here in town, a record and over 20 degrees over average. It's been this way for a few days, over the weekend it got near 90, but the last two days were high 90s. It's actually buckled pavement on the interstate near town, and closed several of them. Pretty crazy. The squirrels were also having a rough time by my deck, moving slowly, they grabbed some of the food, but not as eagerly as usual. It does look like the temps will be going back to normal soon, at least i hope so.

Old cars in town

While going to run errands in town, i noticed a lot, and i do mean a lot, they lined the northbound road for a block and some cars on other blocks too, of classic and antique cars. This is just one, i have twelve more on my flickr. There were several Model A Fords, some black, some beige. Model As will always have a special place in my heart, as my uncle Al restored old cars, had a lot of them, and after he passed he left a lovely Model A to my parents. I took a small engine class in high school, but i'm envious of people who can fix cars and even more so those that can restore them. Every time i've tried to fix something on my car (minor stuff, lights, etc) i get frustrated or it doesn't go the way i expected.

The drivers were all in the South Fork Cafe, probably getting ice cream, as when i was out it was 90F, and climbing. I'm pretty sure these cars don't have air conditioning, and it's not only hot, but humid too. Hopefully no bad storms hit them while they are out, especially hail.

Memorial Day Bunnies

Before getting ready to go out yesterday, i spotted a wild rabbit in my yard eating the dandelions. I watched for a while, and a second one joined in. They didn't fight, but they did seem to not 'know' each other, dancing around each other and checking each other out. I take it as a good sign when i see wild bunnies being happy, and it usually does a pretty good job of making me smile, at least for a little while. In the may issue of National Geographic, there is an infographic of how many animals of different types that were killed for food in 2009, and there were 1.1 billion (with a B) rabbits, that doesn't even count those tested on for makeup, drugs, weapons testing, and for the fur, and whatever else people do to them. Did you know that the human HPV vaccine was found because of them? Sometimes the wild rabbits around here have symptoms of Shope papilloma virus (the rabbit version of HPV, the H stands for Human by the way), and it was the study of the rabbit version that lead to the human vaccine. Sadly didn't really lead to any help for the rabbits, i am leery to even let them play outside as the rabbit version can be spread by mosquitos and other insects that feed on blood. Anyway, people seem to assume the only reason i care about them is because they are cute, but there are many, many reasons, and knowing more about what we do to them and they have done for us makes me love them more.

Memorial Day 2011

Today is Memorial Day, wasn't sure if the events were going to be outside or in the middle school as storms have been rolling through yesterday and today. Not sure why the third guy from the left is giving me that look.

Unity in the Community 2011 - Cuban Dance

Last up at the University was a Cuban dance, i forget the name of it, but it was a dance to get ready for battle. The men had clenched fists, and the women had open hands. Very energetic with lots of motion and the men leaping over each other. This was the last event at the University that i caught, before i headed over to the Library in the evening, where some events were the same, but others different.

Unity in the Community 2011 - H2DC

Here is the hip hop dance group H2DC, i forget if they are part of the dance theater, but i'm guessing so, or at least a student group. They also performed at some of the other events there i photographed, if they look familiar. I do want to say those two microphone stands were my bane, without getting up in people's faces (which i hate to do) they kept getting into my frame, and were hard to avoid. Didn't help that i wasn't feeling so hot then (and still) that i wasn't up to moving around too much.

Unity in the Community 2011 - Sisters and Brothers of Islam

Here are the Sisters and Brothers of Islam group (two of them at least in the photo) doing what they called a hair dance, and in the later part there was a lot of hair movement. This group performs several times, but they do a good job, so i don't get sick of seeing them perform.

Unity in the Community 2011 - Native American Council

Here is the student who is presenting the Native American Council with a few dances. Very vibrant clothes, and very energetic dancing. She reminded me of the pow wows i've been to.

Unity in the Community 2011 - Spoken Word Poetry

Next up was spoken word poet, Sydney Arnold, a student at the university, who did three poems if i remember right. I was taken aback at first as she reminded me a lot of a weird blend of two of my ex-girlfriends, although it's hard to explain exactly why. Not that it matters, just thinking about it.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter, and since it's Easter, i'm posting a photo of two of my pet bunnies, Amanda and Jerry, who are going to be spoiled today, as they help me get out of the bed even when i feel bad physically and emotionally (like this weekend, partly sick, partly other stuff). Not sure what else to say, other than i hope everyone is doing well and hopefully it's warmer and nicer weather where they are.

Unity in the Community 2011 - Mongolian Foot Juggling

Next up was the Mongolian Foot Juggling performer. She did some impressive things with her feet, then went into a costume change and a dance, then showed some items like a miniature house, clothes, and other things.

Unity in the Community 2011 - Jasiri X

Here is Jasiri X, master of ceremonies for Unity in the Community, introducing the various acts and showing videos of songs he did on the projection screen. Odd that the light was so bright that it made it hard to see a lot of the videos.

Unity in the Community 2011

Yesterday was the main day for the Unity in the Community events in town, and while they were planned to be outside at both the university and downtown locations, it being 30F and snowing moved them inside, thankfully. I'm a little slow going through the photos due to not feeling so hot, probably from the weather and a thing that is going around, so i wanted to get something up today at least.

Mock Crash

This evening there was a mock drunk driving crash on the campus of UW-River Falls. It was interesting, i got there quite early and watched them set up, get the "victims" ready, and then present it, and i was very impressed how professional they all were and how seriously they took it. From what i could tell though the people watching, not so much. Some of them did, but a lot were goofing around. I know, it's fake, no one was really hurt, but after seeing so many actually get hurt by drunk driving and not paying attention, it's frustrating seeing so many people on cell phones, not paying attention, etc.

Just the other day, i stopped at a crosswalk for an elderly woman to cross, the same crosswalk where a lady was killed by someone who says they "didn't see her", and i was almost rear ended by an SUV. I was stopped, and saw a large object coming fast in my rear view, and heard tires squeal. It got less than a foot from my car before stopping. I don't know if they were on a cell or what, but i drive a bright yellow vehicle, recently had new brake lights installed, and they should have had plenty of time to stop if they were paying attention, going slower, or whatever caused this. If they had hit me, it would have probably pushed me into the crosswalk, hitting the woman. The irony of this, a few blocks later there was a car accident with an ambulance.

People don't take cars seriously, and how dangerous they are. Road rage is another common problem too, so many people get mad if someone goes too slow, passes them, etc. You wouldn't believe how many times where i pass someone who is going quite slowly (ten to fifteen mph below the speed limit), and when i pass them, they speed up like i'm trying to race them (i've been told it's because i drive a VW New Beetle, for some reason).  Life is too short to get upset over something that can spiral out of control.

Drive safely, pay attention, and calm down. Not only your life, but the lives of others depends on it.