Like yesterday, today was a day off for me. Unlike yesterday, I felt no compulsion to use my time wisely. I woke up late, lobbed around, wallowed in the sludge of the Internet for a while. The only thing I had planned for the day was to go to the bookstore with the kids. Marshall had a gift card to use. So we went, we bought books, we came home. Or, as they say in Latin, “veni, vidi, vici.”
That’s all I have to say about today, so I will now share with you some things from yesterday.
1. I saw something fly over the road as I was on my way back from BJ’s. It looked like (and I know this is going to sound weird) a small pterodactyl. Obviously pterodactyls are extinct, so it wasn’t one of those, and mostly likely not a dragon (I haven’t seen a dragon in forever). I don’t think it was a kite, because people don’t usually fly kites over main roads. By the time my mind had registered how oddly shaped the thing was, it had already disappeared from sight. Even if I had been a stunt driver and able to turn the car around immediately, I doubt I could have spotted the thing again. So it will always be a mystery. (But a couple of weeks ago, I definitely saw a guy walking down the street with a large lizard perched on his shoulder. My kids didn’t believe me, but it was true.).
2. While I was shopping at BJ’s, someone left a religious pamphlet under the windshield wiper of my car. In my typical oblivious fashion, I didn’t notice it until I was halfway home, but once I saw it, it was hard not to focus on it. It ticked me off, not just because of the distraction. I don’t go around trying to interfere with anyone else’s belief system, and I wish others would show me the same courtesy. A pamphlet under the windshield wiper is less annoying than, say, when they come to my house to preach directly to me (something which they do periodically, even though I’ve asked them not to come back). But even the pamphlet is obnoxious, and I wish they’d stop wasting paper.
3. In its current iteration, relaxing outside requires a pool with water in it, a chair, a towel, a drink of some kind, my camera, a book, a notebook, and a pen. But the most important ingredient is the sun. Without the sun, there’s no point to being out there. After 5:00, the sun drops too low to shine in the yard, the day loses its warmth, and the mosquitoes come out. So I must go out by 4:00 if I’m to have much basking time. During the workweek, I sit next to a window, so I can look outside and see that the sun is shining, but I can’t go out until I’ve finished my work for the day. Usually I’m done just about 4:00. You’d be amazed at how often a sunny day turns cloudy at almost exactly that hour. But yesterday I went out in time for basking and the clouds didn’t hide the sun away.
I think great blue herons look like pterodactyls when they fly, so that would be my guess for what you saw. (On a tangential note did you know that pterodactyls aren’t actually dinosaurs? I was surprised to learn this a few years ago.)
I’m not sure the wing shape is right, but blue heron seems like a pretty good guess. I’ve never seen any around here. There is a stream that runs alongside the road, though, so it would make sense. More sense than a pterodactyl, anyway. 🙂
I don’t know if I knew that pterodactyls aren’t dinosaurs, but it is a good thing to know. I’m not sure we’re even supposed to use the word “pterodactyl” anymore. On “Dinosaur Train” the winged reptiles are called “pteranodons.” And though the whole premise of that show is pretty silly (talking dinosaurs on a time-traveling train), the writers do seem to aim for scientific accuracy otherwise.
Pteranodons are a genus of pterosaur, as are pterodactyls. So both are types of pterosaur, but it would be like calling all primates humans. http://sciencenetlinks.com/daily-content/12/29/
It’s a good thing I have a science-y friend who has already done the research 🙂