Visit the kelpforest....

After school a Friday or two ago, Angus announced he wanted to go see some sea lions - I'd mentioned I'd seen they were taking over the Fish Harbor dock in front of the Army Corp of Engineers trailers. I figured it would be a way to work in a few more waymarks as well.



War is chaos. This is the WWII Pacific Submarine Memorial West. Turbine end of a torpedo, a great causer of chaos. 

Torpedo
Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station
Seal Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
16 April 2010

( +8 )

26. chaos ☺
27. numbers ☺
25. calmness ☺

I spent the 4th laid low by an ear infection, so these are my belated fireworks.

Blooming succulent
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
06 July 2009

( also explosive... )

I just found out that someone who works in my office has been in Iraq for the last couple of months. I was aware she had joined the Air Force Reserves as a medic awhile ago, and had been called up when the war first started; however, she went to Texas and never left the country. This time, apparently, her mother and grandmother don't even know she's there - they think she's in Germany. I only heard because our office manager was talking about putting to together a box for her, and including things like bubbles because part of their job is also taking care of Iraqi kids.

I don't know her all that well; she works for a different region now, but we used to be on a softball team together years ago. A petite boyish woman who seemed like she was barely out of her teens (although I think she was actually older than that), she was always pulling practical jokes on people; she had one of those rubber spiders you can make jump by squeezing an air bulb in your pocket and liked to startle people who came in the stock room with it.

Take care and stay safe, Sheila.

Another office sympathy card this morning, for a co-worker in another office - previous thoughts on those...

IT has been saying for a couple of months now that they are testing a new spam blocker; I hope they get it in place soon, because I'm getting a little weary of deleting 20 ads for "Re: VzlAGRA" and worse every morning (and whatever "middle bird" is). I have to laugh at some of the random "names" these are ostensibly from though - "Abbey entombed" and "Perhaps ominous" - really?

After the kids had done their portion of homework last night we went to Target for a bit to see what costumes were available. The sewing machine is busted, and I haven't had a chance to take it in for repair, so no homemade costumes this year. The place was pretty picked over - the aisle for adult costumes was completely empty and not much left for kids either. Avalon had requested to be a princess, but a glittery wand in the dollar section caught her eye, and she picked out a woodland fairy dress - which had me breathing a sigh of relief because at least it's not pink, well, a tiny bit of trim, but mostly dark red velvet and greeny-brown leaf trim. Nothing for Gareth.

Hmm, Gareth. Despite telling me last year he wanted to be Double D again (and he actually reiterated that up to about July), he's been getting very interested in planes and military things lately; I have a feeling it may have started with watching the Discovery launch on the 4th. Plus he often watches TV with Grandpa, who often watches the Wings or Military Channels. About a month ago he told me he wants to be an Army man. When I asked him why, he told me that he admired them and they protect our country and our freedom - it's a noble thing for him. When he puts it like that, I don't think I can forbid it - while I don't agree with the mindset the military tends to instill, I can grudgingly respect the need for them (It's the people giving them their orders I have a problem with). His grandfather and granduncle were in the Navy in WWII, and my cousin, now a pilot for UPS, also was a career Navy officer, so it's not like we've never had military in our family. But I have reservations about my little boy dressing up as one. Maybe I can give him a sign saying "Bring us home..." or "Will I have to go to Iraq?" Sigh. I tried to talk him into being a pilot, but he's pretty adamant.

Dammit. I shouldn't have to think about stuff like this for Halloween - it's supposed to be fun, not full of issues. And where did this come from in a six-year-old anyway?

Sad news today when VT got back from the docks. She had noticed the lady who moves the chute from the weigh basket to fill the bins up with fish, had been replaced by someone else.

When she went upstairs to record fish receipts, the women in the office told her that the woman's son had been killed in Iraq a week and half ago. His body was sent back this weekend and the funeral was held today. He had only joined the Marines last March, against his parents wishes, and had been in Iraq for 2 months. He was 23.

I don't know her and I've never spoken with her. I've only heard her speaking Spanish to her co-workers. But she smiled at me every time I went there. I am so sorry.

As I was finishing the last entry, I suddenly started hearing jet engines. My office is right next to the Los Alamitos National Guard Air Base; a month or two ago we saw Shrub's plane parked over there all afternoon (if you remember I posted a picture about it). This sounded like multiple planes taking off and the noise just kept on going. I turned off my computer, covered it up for the weekend and went downstairs; I met M. in the hallway and mentioned "what's the deal with the jets?" She morsely mumbled something about WW III starting and went back upstairs. I headed out to the parking lot, looking for the planes as I went. It turned out there was only one, flying around in a circle, at what must have been an excrutiatingly slow speed for an F15. I stood watching it, and a car pulled up and parked - an older man got out and started watching, too.

"How long has he been doing that?" he asked.

"I dunno- that his third time around since I've been watching," I replied.

He told me he had been driving down the 405 and thought it might be interesting to see it land, but here it was just going around in circles.

The jet made one more circle and once again flew parallel to the runway, but several hundred feet up. As it passed over the end of the runway, the pilot must have hit the throttle; I saw a burst of exhaust, the roar suddenly increased in volume, and the plane leaped away as though stung, heading southwest. Probably halfway to San Clemente Island or some aircraft carrier out at sea before I pulled out the parking lot.

As I headed toward down the road, I noticed another F15 sitting on the runway, canopy open with two neon yellow fire trucks sitting beside it. The airborne bird's wounded comrade?

As I write this, I remember that shortly before all the jet noise, there was a loud bang that rattled all the windows. V. speculated a duck had hit the glass again, but I noticed the local murder of crows had all taken off as though alarmed. Maybe it was a sonic boom from one of those planes.

So, are we at war yet?