Why do cats scratch around in the dirt after pooping like they are trying to cover up their mess, but rarely--if ever--check to see that they were successful in doing so?

Cluck Like a Chicken

With the death of Rosa and her two friends, we have one chicken remaining. We call her "Sola," which is short for "Solamente."

The odd thing is that she has started crowing like a rooster every morning. She never did this in the past, so it may be connected to grieving or her new aloneness. However, it is so exactly like a rooster crow - and not some hen cackle - that we have decided she may be a transgender chicken.

Until I know what her rights are, I will keep removing the eggs from her nest so that she doesn't get embarrassed.

New Work

I began my work as director of the Albuquerque Opportunity Center yesterday. To kick off the day, I celebrated with a breakfast of Dresden Stollen that I had saved in my freezer since Christmas. Thanks, Matthias!

Call the FDA, SPCA, FEMA...Someone!

As I prepared breakfast today, I reached past the corn oil (made from, not surprisingly, corn), past the sunflower oil (made from sunflower seeds) and even past peanut oil (made from peanuts) to get olive oil. Guess from what that was made? That's right: olives.

So you can imagine my horror upon taking a shower afterwards when I reached for the shampoo...and read that it is made with -- BABY OIL!

No Time Like Time Off

I'm sitting in my office with a mug of tea waiting for my first client of the day. It has been a good week to enjoy time off. I had a $100 gift certificate to spend at a posh store (The A-Store) in Nob Hill and $40 at Peacecraft, a workers' rights import store. Got a haircut yesterday and have used other time to establish a list of the places to visit and things to do that I've not been able--or have not done--during the past season of busyness.

It's funny that the endless jobs may have actually served to keep my attention. In either being at a job or rushing off to another obligation left little tiime for me to dwell on my own loneliness or depression. Perhaps that is one of the things that having a kid does for you; it keeps you present in just getting life done without the option of wallowing in too much introspection.

Now that I am shifting into more focused and regulated work, it also means that my time alone and not at work will be more noticeable. I'm aware that that has been difficult for me in the past here in NM. I'm not too concerned, just aware and taking precaution to be sure that life outside of work has meaning and holds enjoyment for me.

Some of the meaning includes:

• meditation;
• prayer;
• hypnosis;
• making sure that I connect with friends;
• and perhaps more involvement with church, either in becoming a reader for the Sunday service and/or joining the choir.

Some of the activities include:

• visiting museums and art exhibitions on a more regular basis;
• getting memberships to parks, museums and the like;
• shopping at interesting world food markets and actually taking time to cook for myself;
• attending local theatre productions;
• reading;
• hiking;
• some regular membership exercise like Bikram's Yoga;
• and I have a little pouch with a photo of me hang gliding into which I am sticking spare cash to save up for lessons.

Tomorrow I am going to Cliff's Amusement Park with a 10-yr. old friend from church.

My Week

Ahhhh.... No work obligations other than hypnotherapy clients! I met two new clients today. One scheduled a follow-up appointment and one scheduled a 6-session package. I have one repeat client and another new one both on Thursday. Other than those appointments, I am using the week to clean house, get a massage and use gift certificates from my birthday to shop at cool stores.

And I'll get a hair cut.

This time, I'll return to the Blue Door Salon and my trusted hair stylist. I have been going to the cut-rate salons and barbers to save money.

At the last place I went to, the mother of the woman cutting my hair was sitting in the chair next to us chatting away with her daughter. They didn't mind including me in the conversation, which went like this:

Mother: Well I tried to get a job this morning.

Daughter: Where'd you go?

Mother: The Cherry Blossom.

Daughter (nodding to me as if I knew the place): You know, the massage and sex parlor south of Osuna.

Mother (referring to the physical environment, not the type of business being conducted): It was kinda dirty though.

Daughter: But if they pay good money, I'm sure you would be good at it if you wanted to.

Mother (to me): Of course I'd just be the receptionist.

10 to 3

10...the number of posts since July 7

3...the number of comments since July 7

(2 from same reader; 1 from someone I don't know.)

This means that:

• my writing is really boring,
• the government has blacklisted me,
• I have private and quiet readers, or
• all of the above, plus the fact that Johnny Depp refused to online chat on this site turned folks away.

If you do read this blog, did you notice the new layout for the music and book selections that I post in the righthand column? It finally occured to me to use some HTML code to order that stuff.

If you click through to order on Amazon any of the titles, I receive about 4% of your purchase. I try not to post stuff that I wouldn't recommend as worth purchasing, but my taste may not be your taste.

Wal-Mart Statistics

"Wal-Mart's sales are greater than the next five biggest U.S. retailers combined. By itself, Wal-Mart is China's fifth-largest trading partner, ahead of Germany and Great Britain. It employs 1.6 million people, four times as many as McDonalds. 300,00 more Americans now wear the Wal-Mart uniform than are currently on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines combined." (Source: the Albuquerque "Alibi," quoting a book. I forgot to detail the source credit in my notebook.)

I'm off to go work my 5 hours at Costco.

Chicken of the Sea

Why don't we refer to chicken as "Tuna of the Land"?

I disconnected my land line telephone yesterday.

Update...7-25-06

Here's the current summary of percentages for the quiz posted on this blog at Straight Ahead or Gayly Forward:

Gay:	Straight:
MissyMussy - Undisclosed, Incredibly High Queer Factor Odette - 50 Dennis - 47 Anonymous - 47 Mattias - 27 Jonathan - 10 John - 7 Andy - 7	Andy -63 Odette - 50 Jonathan - 23 Dennis - 20 Anonymous - 20 John - 17 Mattias - 7
Bi: John - 64 Jonathan - 67 Mattias - 66 Dennis - 33 Andy - 30 Anonymous - 17 Odette - (0...or 100?)

Add your stats to the list by taking the quiz.

Don't Stop the Music

I'm determining what you can listen to on the radio.

That's right. Your favorite program may no longer broadcast based on a week-long diary that documents my radio listening habits for the Arbitron Ratings!

Well, it's not really that dramatic, but I was randomly selected by the research group to record my radio listening. The results, compiled with thousands of others, translates into ratings. These ratings, in turn, shape what radio stations decide to program.

KUNM rated high with me for the following programs: NPR's "Morning Edition" and local programming of "Train to Glory," "This American Life," "Singing Wire" and "Happy Feet."

Monsoon Season

The monsoon season is upon us in ABQ.



Storms gather daily and thrash the ground with buckets of rain mixed with hail.



Here, a man is seen being swept down an arroyo on July 6th.
(He survived.)



Despite all of this water, the drought continues.
(ABQ is in Bernalillo county.)



P.S. Thanks again for clicking on the advertisements in this blog. To date this has earned me $130.10. (I received my first $100 check last week.) You can also order books and music by clicking through my Amazon ads; I receive about 5% of your purchase price. Cool, eh?

P.S.S. Still time to Take the quiz. It's free!

Sitting with the Silence

I called a friend yesterday (before the electrical shock) to share enjoying my current housesit. He said he'd call back around 7 to come over for the evening.

Because this guy reminds me of another friend who is equally fun but unreliable, I knew that I might be eating alone. Even so, I turned down an invitation for dinner with other friends.

My friend called back at 7:30 to say that his brother had stopped by for a bit and he'd call back soon to check in. I fixed myself a pizza to eat alone.

He called back at 10 PM to say that he didn't feel like going out. I watched "Brokeback Mountain" by myself and went to sleep.

Shocking!

I plugged my cell phone into the wall to charge its battery. There must be an electrical leak in the wall plate because a jolt blasted through my fingertip, up my hand and along my forearm to my elbow, shaking my arm like jelly until I was able to jerk it away. The jittery numbness lasted for quite awhile.

Downsizing

After a flurry of activity (sample day:)...

• 4:30 AM up to take friend to airport
• 9-10:30 AOC meeting
• 11-2 Home Instead client
• 3-6 A Man
• 6-8:30 shelter work
• all while housesitting 3 homes.

...I am finally letting go of my over-the-top work obligations. No more homecare clients, no more mystery shops. Just some housesitting, the shelter and hypnosis work. I'll continue the Whirlpool demonstrations at Costco through August.

This week it is only Home Instead clients and, on Saturday, Costco.

Next week: nothing!

I am using the down time to reorganize my budget, personal time and to continue simplifying my home. I will hopefully get a massage and pamper myself if it fits the budget.

I start as Program Director of the Albuquerque Opportunity Center on July 24.

My Photo on Rhetorical Letter Writer

Check this out! It's a photo I took of a place here in Albuquerque. The comments are fun to read.

R.I.P.

Rosa and two of her friends were killed today. A dog broke through the fence and made the attack.

Straight Ahead, or Gayly Forward?

In direct opposition to my long-held belief that, if I was not partnered by age 40, I would throw a big "I'm Single" celebration and never again pursue possible romantic interests, I asked out the manager at Border's Bookstore.

After weeks which strecthed into months of making eye contact and sensing reciprocal energy (funny how often I found myself taking A Man on outings to the bookstore!), we struck up a conversation. I asked if he'd like to go for coffee sometime. He told me his work hours with sufficient detail that I inferred that he was interested.

I returned to Border's the next morning to set a date and he informed me that he is playing soccer in nearly all of his free time for the rest of the summer! Another case of friendly guy genuinely open to getting to know a new friend who subsequently figures out that he is being approached for a "gay date" and freaks out.

Why are so many of the guys I'm attracted to straight? It's the same question (in reverse) that I hear some of my straight female friends asking: Why do all of the good guys turn out to be gay?

Anyway, I found a little quiz for everyone to take (the men at least...women, you'll have to help me find the appropriate equivalent). I propose that everyone then be required to wear their percentages on their sleeve so that the playing field is clearly identified.

Take the quiz.

By the way, I came in as 47% queer and 20% straight. I don't know what the other 33% of me is. The test didn't tell me.

Taking Care of Other People's Flowers

This is not an insightful post (he typed, as if all his other ramblings had been overflowing with deep wisdom). It is just an update like recent posts of what I'm doing in life. It's intended for those who care to know.

And it is my lazy excuse for not calling or writing friends more frequently.

I have been away from home housesitting since the 25th of June. Yesterday, I took on a second house. I will be housesitting both places until Wednesday, at which point I will give up one to take on two others. I will housesit three places until Sunday, at which point I will be housesitting just one (not my own). I won't see my place again until first week August.

Already people are scheduling housesitting days in both August and September. I'm considering disconnecting my home phone line.

I just killed virtual Chia pet number five.