This is the first time I have NOT seen a mongoose while we were out jogging on the bike path. I normally see at least one mongoose when I go out on the bike trail. The mongoose was imported to Hawaii in 1883 to try to control the rats that were eating the sugar cane. Unfortunately, the mongoose is a daylight feeder and the rats are nocturnal, so the two never really met. Turns out mongooses will eat just about anything. The unintended consequence was that the mongooses killed all the ground-nesting birds on the island and a lot of other native species of animals. You can find a more detailed explanation of the mongoose story here and here.
Saturday night, I'm very happy to report at least ONE of my JOs upheld the Navy tradition of holding a wetting down. When I just looked it up on wikipedia, I was surprised to read that it traditionally involves either throwing the newly promoted officer in the sea, or dumping a bucket of sea-water over his head. That's the first I've heard of that (but it sounds like a great idea!). In my experience, a wetting down has always just been a party where the newly promoted officer puts on a nice spread of food and drinks for his wardroom. We had regular wetting down parties on each of my first two boats. I've been on the MSP now for 11 months, and this is the first wetting down we've had. I was surprised to hear one of the JOs said, "Nobody does that anymore." I hope this weekend changed that opinion and that we'll see more.
Sunday morning... Regression. I was so excited last Sunday when YS actually stayed in the pre-school at Sunday school. Today though, he wouldn't have anything of it. He refused to stay in the pre-school class and came up to the sanctuary with me. So we got one of the Keiki bags (they have coloring books and puzzles for little kids) and he colored for most of the service. On a positive note though, when we it was time for bedtime prayers and I asked ES what his favorite part of the day was, one of the things he said was "going to church" (he even said it before he said "and playing video games.").
The Amazing Race observations (Warning: Contains Spoilers - DON'T READ if you haven't watched this week's episode):- Okay, the dad and daughter combination... If I were her, I NEVER would have agreed to go on this show with a father who treated me like that. That guy just won't shut up and is incessantly criticizing her!
- My most-annoying player award for last week's episode is a toss-up between the goths and the grandpa. Kynt... Um... That dude is a wimp. Did you see his weak attempt to pole-vault across the muddy stream last week? It was pathetic! My 3 year old could jump farther than that (and make a more manly grunt in the process, too, instead of that weak whimper he made). As for the grandpa, Donald, man - I really did NOT need to see him get all muddy in his tighty-whities trying to pole vault that stream. Was getting naked REALLY NECESSARY???
- The most annoying player award for tonight goes to Lorena and her whining while she was trying to milk that camel. I'm shocked that they weren't last ones to reach the pit stop after the amount of time she wasted on the camels.
- Unlike previous seasons, none of the teams this season have jumped out as being my "favorite" (yet). None of them seem to compare with Uchenna & Joyce or David & Lori or BJ & Tyler.
So who has your favorite team been? Do you have a favorite this season?
Grandpa wasn't wearing tighy whiteys he was wearing a black speedo bathing suit (not that it was pleasant to see, but get your facts straight). ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh and BTW, I am hiding Lego Star Wars. Maybe Santa will deliver it back to you. :-)
Oh, I thought they started out white, but became black due to the mud. Either way, I still did NOT need that image in my head.
ReplyDeleteBlack speedo, muddy tighty-whities? What's the difference.
ReplyDeleteThe story I've heard regarding the tradition behind a wetting down is as follows: Back in fighting days of yore, when an officer go promoted he generally had a stripe added to his uniform jacket (instead of having all new stripes put on). That would leave him in the unfortunate position of having one really bright shiny stripe and the other (or maybe 'others' if he was lucky as there weren't too many ranks for officers back then) nice and salty. So there would be a wetting down, where (among other drunken debauchery I'm sure) the other officers would pour adult beverages onto his new stripes in order to dull them down a bit. Then they'd probably go flog some of the crew. Just for general principle of course.
Ah, the good old days.
EP - Thanks for that explanation! I had never heard that before, but it sure makes sense. You should add that on to Wikipedia.
ReplyDelete