Good morning, one and all!
We really enjoy the wildlife here, although some of it is much different than we're used to.
There are alligators in the lagoons, and we like seeing them. We have not heard of any problems with them here, even speaking to residents that have been here for decades.
We often walk along the sidewalks that follow the lagoons' edge, and sometimes get closer looks at the gators. The sidewalks are anywhere from six to twelve feet (approximately) from the water's edge.
The other day I got taken by surprise, a bit, when I walked up next to a gator that I hadn't noticed, at a point where the distance was only six feet, or so. This particular gator was as large as we've seen in our lagoons. I'd estimate its length at 12 to 13 feet.
It just laid there in the sun and didn't move. I just kept on walking and didn't mess my pants. Job well done, all around....
Someplace. It will eventually emerge from the upset.
... I've never understood the draw of Baked Alaskas.
Embedded image fail.
Supposed to be Speedy sloth from Zootopia.
I asked her why she never corrected me. She said that I was pronouncing it correctly but ever since her third grad teacher mispronounced her name as "Sonia" people have been calling her that and she just kind of adopted it.
Parents giving their kids weird spellings of their names is really inconsiderate to the kid. It doesn't make your kid any more special, you are just dooming them to a life of having to spell or pronounce their names every time they have an sort of official interaction. Kind of a pet peeve of mine.
My children are, John Allen and Angela Dawn. Angela's are Alexis Olivia and Clayton Riley.
My brother in law is Daniel. When he was born they were too poor for a middle name.
My mothers family just gave the girls first names. When they married they kept their maiden sir name for a middle name.
My daughter kept her three names and added her husbands for the last.
As someone with an uncommon (yet still not made-up) name, I went through a few phases of liking and not liking it.
In elementary school I just wanted a "normal" name like all my friends. I could never find any of those personalized items at the store like a cup or those little license plates with your name on it for your bike.
I get annoyed having to correct people sometimes.
Starbucks is fun.
Anyhow by the time I was 15 or 16 I kind of liked having a different name.
I also think once Matt Damon became famous at least most people have heard the name and now can even spell it correctly. So that helps.
I have met only five people with my name, one of them is female, and one also spells his differently (Daemon).
So I think a unique or interesting name is overall a good thing, but not a weird or made-up name just to be weird or made-up.
Some of those names with accent marks that do not affect pronunciation are probably my biggest pet peeves.
Parents being clever can end up just being cruel though.
Sometimes they do well though.
For example, I like the name Aldrine.
I don't know how many of you know the story behind it.
His parents wanted to give him an American name. They named him after Buzz Aldrin. But they added the "e" at the end to make it "more American."
I think that's a great story too!
I hope that chili recipe shows up and you share it! We have a recipe that was my dad's. It's very good, but there's just something missing and I've never been able to put my finger on it. Dad did something to it that he never wrote down, because ours isn't quite the same. I'm always up for a new chili, but I don't want to just start going through recipes.
Add character name drop fail to the list.
Bunker-scope shows a sunny, blue sky day out there.
Monday night and yesterday we had all sorts of precipitation falling: rain, sleet, graupel (it's a real thing), snow, and some other stuff. Wind. Snow squalls causing white-out conditions. Lots of fun!
Today is calm and bright.
Graupel. I always called it snow pellets. Never knew it had a real name!