Recently in Weird Category

INCIDENT: Yesterday morning I found her dead in the toilet in our guest bathroom. By the time I fished her out with chopsticks, rigor mortis had set in. The apparent cause of death was drowning. And I hoped  she didn't struggle too much. At least, she seemed to have enjoyed her stay with us.

In the third drawer down, there was a comfortable bed. Our handmade, clay gravy boat had tips of cotton swaps, countless pieces of my #10 envelopes and unidentifiable materials she gathered from around the house. I would rather have given her a couple of #10 envelopes. Dozens of my #10 envelopes are now missing corners.

She had ration, several pieces of dry dog food next to her bed. She had water.... I hope she slipped and fell. I'd hate to think that dire thirst made her take the plunge.

LESSON: To one living being, #10 envelopes are for mailing. To another, they make a very comfortable bed.

Some even dared to ask about the famous claim to '300 days of sunshine' a year. Questioning Sequim's perennially "sunny" weather results in robotic 'boos' and scorn as if we broke a secret society's vow of silence. Half the people we ask claim the cloud, fog and rain are unusual. The other half say it's always been like this except for a few sunny weeks in summer.

So far this year, noticeable precipitation was recorded on 135 days. I used station KWASEQUI12, a non MADIS station, and eliminated precipitation less than 0.01 in. Precipitation includes snow, freezing rain, hail, rain, "rain shower," and other states and forms of water.

While rushing to Schleswig from Frankfurt, Shelly paid twice for the rest stop toilet. The first time to pee, the second time to videotape this cool technology. Why don't we have this cool technology at the local Texaco?

F.A.A. bulletin 98-28, which took effect on August 13, 1998, states:

"In addition, nothing can be stowed in the seat pockets except magazines and passenger information cards. It is not a good safety practice to stow meals, either brought onto the airplane by passengers or served by the air carrier, in seat back pockets."

And there is anecdotal evidence of Amazon's Kindle being banned from the seat pocket.

What if I stow my G1 phone deep into the abyss of the seat pocket, and no one knows it's there? What if the passenger next to me slipped a fancy metal pen into the seat pocket in front of him, and it flew out and hit my right eye during a severe turbulence? Well, so can a lot of loose items around the cabin.

The F.A.A. hasn't explained its motive behind this strange and arcane rule. The Times shows that a spokesman for the agency didn't initially know much, if at all, about the rule. The paper also notes that airline executives are guessing that check-in luggage limit might be forcing passengers to stuff more baggage into the seat pockets.

There may be another reason. The F.A.A. is acting in concert with the airlines to make the seats appear roomier than they actually are. A combination of obese passengers and bulging seat pockets would make the seats look tiny.

This cocky rooster, oblivious to traffic and ignorant of the 'mother-daughter-crossing sign,' climbed a 40-degree hill to be on Medsker Road. I did not stay long enough to see if he made it home that evening.

This is Sequim, Washington, where chickens, deer, elk, coyotes, raccoons and baby quails all have to share the road.