Happy Birthday to me

I'm officially over the hill, as shown by this fine hat my sister (who, for the record, is 50 and soon to be 51) sent me:

But wait...there's more! In addition to the hat, I was also flocked by both sisters (the other, by the way, turns 50 in May), and not in a bad kinky way:


The sad thing is that the flock returns to it's natural habitat (which I assume is a storage locker or the back of a pickup) some time today. Ah well...

Up next on "Dirty Jobs"

Sewage Diver.

"At the end of each shift, the divers scrub their wetsuits with detergent, removing the stink of urine and rotten waste. "

Somehow I don't think we'll see Mike Rowe down in Mexico City pulling a body out of the sewer any time soon.

Not powerless in Seattle, thankfully!

Well, not in our 'hood, anyway. The lights blipped a couple times on Thursday night (naturally, I was working on the computer at the time...I really should get one of those battery backup thingies one of these days), but not enough to knock out the alarm clock. The Chicken house didn't suffer any damage from the wind or the rain (although I took down the bird feeders to be safe, and the wind chimes to keep the neighbors from calling the cops), and now that it's cold (low 30s) we're snug inside with heat and power.

My Mom, the elder Mrs. Chicken, is not so lucky. No damage to her house, but no power either. And since her neighborhood (on the outskirts of Bellevue) draws it's water from a well, that no power means no water. So Grandma is camping out in our basement where it's warm, dry, and there's water aplenty!

Another candidate for headline of the year

From the good people at Yahoo News:

Flatulence forces plane to land

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency
landing Monday morning after a passenger lit a match to disguise the scent of
flatulence, authorities said.

The Dallas-bound flight was diverted to Nashville after several passengers reported smelling burning sulfur from the matches, said Lynne Lowrance, spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority. All 99 passengers and five crew members were taken off and screened while the plane was searched and luggage was screened.

The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal a 'body odor,' Lowrance said. She had an unspecified medical condition,
authorities said.

'It's humorous in a way but you feel sorry for the individual, as well,' she said. 'It's unusual that someone would go to those measures to cover it up.'

The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane. The woman, who was not identified, was not charged in the incident.