Category: strange events

A Heart in the Sand

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Heart On Sand Photos and Images | Shutterstock

We never got around to disposing of our cat’s litter boxes. They’re clean: I cleaned them after she died, because we thought we’d get another cat.. That was our summer. Then I got sick. Couldn’t get a new cat.

Anyway, a day or two ago we noticed something peculiar in the one litter box. It was a perfectly sculpted heart, about the size of an open hand. We don’t know how long it’s been there. Nor how it got there.

I can’t express how deeply we miss our cats. Robbie was the last of them. Our household is disordered, and I have all sorts of medical procedures waiting down the road for me. I can’t keep track of them.

All I know is, somehow a perfectly formed Valentine heart has appeared in our cat’s litter box.

 

Would You Believe a Flooded… Mecca?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Commuters make their way through a flooded road after heavy rains in Mecca on January 6, 2

You’d never guess where the above photo was taken.

Would you believe Mecca? In the middle of Saudi Arabia? (https://kyma.com/news/national-world/2025/01/07/torrential-rain-drenches-visitors-in-mecca/)

Mecca averages 2 percent “wet days” throughout the year. But they aren’t very wet. Mecca averages a tenth of an inch of rain per year. 

So… torrential rains, with flooding–what gives? Isn’t Saudi Arabia mostly a desert? Mecca was originally built around an oasis (but gee, it can’t be much of an oasis); and thousands of years ago, the broiling dry expanse of the Rub al-Khali was wetlands. With hippos.

Once upon a time, people would have flocked to their soothsayers to see whether the out-of-the-box rainfall were some kind of message from the gods. The Romans were always seeking guidance from Heaven. Not that they followed it.

What’s the story? Should we be searching for a meaning? Is this flood a message for Muslims only (Mecca is their holy city), or is it meant for everyone?

We find God’s word in the Bible. We don’t consult soothsayers anymore.

 

White House Weirdness

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Four years we wish had never happened…

Why did some yoink in the White House do this? Re-posted this weird video from 2021: “The time to move forward is now.” And everybody puts masks on. And we are also treated to a “Black Power” clenched-fist salute.

https://www.outkick.com/culture/creepy-video-from-white-house-has-americans-high-alert

What’s with these people? In a few days, SloJo Biden will have to vacate the premises. He and Kamalalalala couldn’t stay in office long enough to finish their job on America.

So they’re leaving us with this mask video?

Any theories out there? I’m listening.

[Sorry, it won’t let me post pictures today.]

What’s With the Birds?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

It’s a sunny day, cool but not cold, blue skies–nice weather for enjoying a cigar and catching some sunshine (which I think will do me good). Weather-wise, it was a day very like yesterday.

The trees around us have all lost their leaves; but yesterday–just yesterday, mind you–those trees were full of birds, like a fine crop of black fruit. And squirrels scampered around the yard.

But today… the whole time I was out there, I didn’t see a single bird. No, not one.

Where were they? Can anyone explain it?

I suspect it means we’re in for a change in the weather.

Hinky Headline, Hokey Law

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

400+ Funny News Anchor Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free ...

What’s wrong with this headline?

Newsom signs bill requiring janitors to take $200 sexual assault training (https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/newsom-signs-bill-requiring-janitors-take-200-sexual-harassment).

To me it reads like they mean to teach janitors how to commit sexual assault. “No, no, no, Swenson! You don’t say ‘How do you do?’ before you grab her!”

Buried deep in the text is a statement that the purpose of this new legislation is to protect female janitors from sexual harassment. Well, then, why the dickens didn’t they say so, right up front? Doesn’t anybody know how to write a news story anymore?

The article also leaves unclear the detail of who will pay for the training, the janitor or his employer. And it seems to be presumed that sexual harassment is NEVER committed by women.

All we can say for sure is that Newsom signed something involving janitors and sexual harassment… but we’re not sure what.

Snow… In September?

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Light flurry snow hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy

Two trips down, one to go–to the hospital for my first radiation treatment. And I’ve just returned from picking up my chemo pills. The radiation treatment will be today’s grand finale.

But get this. Coming out of the doctor’s office twenty minutes ago, we had… snow flurries! In September. First time in my life I’ve ever seen that. True, there were only a few of them and they didn’t stick–but in September? It was still summer just a few days ago.

Livy would have called for a prognosticator: it must be a sign from Heaven! It has to be interpreted!

Which I can’t do–and who can afford a genuine prognosticator?

And now I have to stop and get ready to go to the hospital. See yiz later.

 

‘What in the World Is This?’ (2018)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

https://clareflourish.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/narmer_palette.jpg?w=750

The Narmer Palette

Well, we can at least say it’s a famous artifact–the Narmer Palette, produced in the time of King Narmer, the first ruler of a united Egypt, circa 3150 B.C.

But then we look at the pictures…

What in the World is This?

In the middle of the composition we find two wranglers using halters to control a pair of animals with very long necks. No, they’re not giraffes. The ancient Egyptians had zoos. Their artists depicted animals realistically.

Either the long-necked creatures on the Narmer Palette were totally imaginary,,, or they were real.

And if they were real… what the dickens were they?

Rogue Dolphin Blamed for 53 Attacks on Humans

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

27,300+ Swim With Dolphins Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty ...

It doesn’t always turn out like this.

Oh, boy–Livy would’ve had a field day with this. See Roman history, under “Portents” and “Signs.”

In the waters off Fukui, Japan, a lone dolphin has been blamed for 53 attacks on humans, mostly by biting or ramming them (https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15427496). No one’s been killed, but a lot of people have wound up in the hospital.

There were 21 attacks in 2022 and 12 in 2023. In every case, witnesses reported seeing only one dolphin… and that with an injured dorsal fin which some of the “victims” made the mistake of grabbing.

Titus Livius would have said, “The gods are trying to tell us something. We’d better find out what it is!”

A Flipper movie it isn’t.

‘He Joined a Search Party to Find Himself’ (2019)

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

Search For Missing Person In Forest - Stock Video | Motion Array

It isn’t every day you find yourself–and with the help of a search party, no less.

He Joined a Search Party to Find Himself

Okay, it happened in Turkey and Muslims aren’t supposed to drink alcoholic beverages–but at least the story had a happy ending. They found the guy they were looking for. And it was as easy as pie!

How often do we get to say that?

Putin Endorses Kackle Kamala

Posted By: leeduigon(patty)Posted On:

putin economist

He’s looking for a friend in the White House

No, it’s not a put-on. Vladimir Putin has thrown his support to Kamala Harris for president (https://www.foxnews.com/world/putin-says-he-backs-harris-over-trump-adds-hes-ready-talks-ukraine).

A quote from the Russian boss: “She laughs so expressively and infectiously–”

[Run screaming to the sidewalk.]

This 2024 political season is about as crazy as it gets. I thought Putin was supposed to be The Bad Guy. Oh, tut-tut–Donald Trump is The Bad Guy.

O readers, make of this what you will. Gee, maybe she could sew it all up if she gets Xi Jin Ping’s endorsement, too.

It wouldn’t surprise me.