Wonder woman.

Well, here’s a headline you don’t see every day: Woman gives birth, fights off bees, starts wildfire in Northern California.

And yes, it’s exactly as delightful as you’d wish, although I’ll admit that the situation it describes couldn’t have been pleasant to endure. Still:

The bees wanted the placenta, she said with a chuckle.

Sort of gives new meaning to the phrase “mother and baby are doing fine.” They are, it’s just…it took some doing.

So, how was your day? Mine was eh. Half a day in Ann Arbor, lunch at a coney island, which is always restaurant choice No. 58 on a list of 60. (Nos. 59 and 60? Buffalo Wild Wings and Hardee’s.) But it was a group, and I was outvoted. I wanted bibimbap from the Korean place two doors down, but it was closed. I’m a late convert to bibimbap, and I’m glad I lived long enough to discover it, and now I have some catching up to do. Had a gyro, which I immediately regretted, even as I ate every delicious bite. I think gyro meat is one of those protein sources it’s best not to think too hard about. Fortunately, I only have one about once in a blue moon.

It’s been a cool summer so far, so much so that slipping into the heated pool at 6:45 a.m. today was a relief from the morning air. I bought dark goggles for those outdoor backstroke lengths staring up at the sun, but didn’t need them today — overcast. It’s what we do here in Michigan half the year, you’d think we could get a little break in the sunny season, but nooooooo. But I did my damn laps. I’m a fairly terrible swimmer, but my slow, plodding style is better than sleeping another hour. I puffed through a mile last Friday; it took 40 minutes.

I hope that would please the First Lady, who invited a bunch of Girl Scouts to have a campout on the White House lawn last night as part of the Let’s Move program. It looks like it went well:

Did I ever tell you my best camping story? Probably. I’ll tell it again: On Alan’s and my first camping trip as a couple, we…well, we overpacked. But hey, no problem — we were car camping, so it’s just a matter of squeezing it all in. We went up to the Au Sable River over Memorial Day weekend, and it was crowded in the National Forest campground, but we took an extra day off at the end of the weekend, and by Monday night, it was as quiet and peaceful as you want the forest to be — no canoes on the river, no rednecks blasting Lynyrd Skynyrd around the campfire, nothing. On Tuesday, we carried all our crap back to the car, which was a distance from the site, around a bend in the path and entirely out of sight of the campsite and the river. As I picked up the cooler on the final trip, there were but two beers left, still cold in the melting ice. I took them out and put them on the picnic table and said, “Let’s load this stuff, come back, drink these last two Budweisers and hit the road.” Alan said it sounded like a plan, and we humped the last load to the car.

When we came back three minutes later, there were two wet rings where the beers had been. I looked up and down the river. Nothing. I looked up and down the path running alongside the river. Nothing. I listened for any sound other than the wind in the trees. Nothing. Someone must have come along, seen two ice-cold beers sitting on a picnic table with no one else in sight, looked up at the sky, whispered “thank you, God” and made off with them.

I hope, somewhere in Michigan that weekend, someone told a different version of that story.

OK, so the bloggage, then:

I hope Caitlyn Jenner is happy with how she looks now, but man, those are some positively Seinfeldian man-hands, and I agree with Tom & Lorenzo — she should go up a size.

Roy takes on the First Things (“Opus Dei stroke book”) symposium on same-sex marriage with a lot more humor and insight than I ever could muster.

Wednesday already? How the hell did that happen?

Posted at 12:30 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' |
 

36 responses to “Wonder woman.”

  1. Dexter said on July 1, 2015 at 1:52 am

    Steve’s Lunch in Ann Arbor was where I discovered bibimbap. That diner closed many years ago; when it was open for business it was always packed; you had to sit on tiny counter stools, but man was the food ever great. Nobody I knew ever questioned the name, an odd name for a Korean diner, eh?
    Sasquatch got those beers, I assume. In “Trailer Park Boys”, he’s “Samsquanch”, but that’s another story. Here’s the strangest way my friends and I lost our last two cans of beer once, long ago, 1977 in fact.
    We chartered a bus to a Cubs game in Chicago, and I only knew about a half dozen of those men, but soon it was clear, we were a bus full of hard-drinkin’ drunks. We were all shit-faced by the time we rolled through the neighborhoods headed to Wrigley Field to see the LA Dodgers and Cubs. One cooler had just two cans left. One of the drunks I did not know saw an African American man walking on the sidewalk. On this older bus the windows slid open. He opened that window and yelled “(N-word) on the left!” , and chucked a full unopened can of Stroh’s at that man, hoping to conk him on the head. I was so embarrassed and repulsed by this behavior I wanted to get off that bus and never see these assholes ever again. But really, I did have to get home sometime that day. So a funny thing happened. The drunk can-slinger missed his target badly and the cold Stroh’s landed perfectly at the targeted man’s feet. He picked it up waved, smiling, and yelled “thank you.” After that day I never saw any of those bastards again except the six I worked with , so much the better.

    Chris Christie attracted some protesters Tuesday, and as I listened to a comedy sat-radio station, the host said “…and what was that guy there doing riding a camel?” Well, it took a couple seconds for that joke to set in. Get it? It’s a camel toe. http://i62.tinypic.com/29gokde.jpg

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  2. Dexter said on July 1, 2015 at 2:19 am

    Oh yeah…an earthquake, too. I didn’t feel this one at all. http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2015/06/30/3-3-magnitude-quake-in-Michigan-felt-in-northwest-Ohio.html

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  3. Linda said on July 1, 2015 at 5:57 am

    I’ve become a convert to Korean food in general, and wonder why it’s not more widely popular in the states. It’s hearty, stock to your ribs food with robust seasoning. In the winter it beats sushi hands down, and many other things.

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  4. Wim said on July 1, 2015 at 5:58 am

    You notice that with these Opus Dei wingnut god-botherers, every SCOTUS decision they don’t like is Dred Scott, and every foreign adversary is Hitler?

    They’ve got to get some new material. I’m just saying.

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  5. adrianne said on July 1, 2015 at 6:49 am

    I had bibimbap for lunch Tuesday, as it happens, at a cute little Korean place down on Broadway called Barn Joo. With the entree came a bracing mint lemonade. I tried to eavesdrop on the table next to me, but the young women were all speaking Korean at a rapid pace, so I gave up.

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  6. alex said on July 1, 2015 at 7:31 am

    Christie’s crotch looks more real than Caitlyn’s boobs.

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  7. Jolene said on July 1, 2015 at 7:40 am

    Jenner’s hands are the reason for the hands-behind-back pose on the Vanity Fair cover.

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  8. alex said on July 1, 2015 at 8:08 am

    You’d have to be a world-class athlete to descend stairs in those shoes. They ought to incorporate that into the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course. And throw in an Opus Dei panel to test prowess at mental gymnastics.

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  9. beb said on July 1, 2015 at 8:30 am

    I had to click on Dexter’s link… now I’ve got a bad taste in my mouth I can’t get rid of.

    Camping out on the White House lawn… now that’s a lifetime memory. The POTUS doesn’t know “Kumbiya?” He could always fake it with another chorus of Amazing Grace.

    Roy’s recounting of the Opus Dei symposium was funny though some of the paragraphs he quotes seemed like word-salad. On the other hand this quote: “It’s time for conservatives to apply principles to their purses. Coca-Cola, ESPN, and Walmart are prominent cases of corporate culture warfare, and every time a conservative buys a Coke, watches SportsCenter, or enters the megastore, he helps them do their damage.” if actually followed through would leave most of theOld Confederacy with nothing to eat, drink or watch on TV.

    And in Chris Christie related news (shudder… damn you Dexter) here’s a hatch-job that ought to get a blue ribbon for axing. http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/06/after_14_years_of_watching_christie_a_warning_he_l.html

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  10. Heather said on July 1, 2015 at 8:43 am

    There’s a really good bbq joint a couple blocks from me that offers bibimbap with pulled pork or brisket. So delicious.

    Man hands clued me in to the “surprise” of “The Crying Game” early on. But Caitlyn still looks great.

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  11. Dorothy said on July 1, 2015 at 9:51 am

    I don’t get to Columbus too often these days, but back in November when my daughter was visiting and stayed with her brother in Grove City, we all went to Bibibop, which Josh had just tried a week or so before we returned with him. LOVED it. Plan to go back. It’s set up like Chipotle or Piada. And speaking of food, did you ever go to Miller’s Chicken when you went to OU, Nancy? We’re going to see the Quilt National show at the Dairy Barn on Friday, and Googling for restaurants around Athens, I found great reviews for Miller’s.

    I saw video of the President giving hugs (while in a sitting position) at the camp out last night and loved it. What a fun idea – I hope the girls had as much fun as it looked like it was. And I wonder if Shelly O stayed in a tent all night to be one of the girls? Something tells me she probably did not…

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    • nancy said on July 1, 2015 at 9:57 am

      I understand there was a serious thunderstorm overnight in D.C., so don’t know if they gutted it out or evacuated. One of my Twitter peeps posted a picture of Julie Andrews singing “My Favorite Things” to the Von Trapp kids, so maybe they all ended up in the residence, as they say. We already know at least one member of the family can sing.

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  12. AndreaJ said on July 1, 2015 at 10:11 am

    Unfortunately, the Girl Scouts had to spend the night in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building due to thunderstorms. As a co-leader of two Girl Scout troops, I would love to see this as an annual event with perhaps a lottery system to determine which scouts get to attend. http://blog.girlscouts.org/2015/07/recap-ultimate-girl-scout-campout-at.html

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  13. Kirk said on July 1, 2015 at 10:30 am

    Haven’t been there since I finally totally retired in January, but we used to go over to a Korean-American place in downtown Columbus for dinner. My favorite was jap chae — Korean glass noodles with various veggies and spices to give it a kick.

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  14. ROGirl said on July 1, 2015 at 10:55 am

    Steve’s Lunch in Ann Arbor. Classic diner, classic diner food — didn’t even know he served anything else. Maybe he started doing that later, when foodies came on the scene. Huge omelets with hash browns on Sunday night when the dorms didn’t serve dinner. The owner and his wife were always behind the counter.

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  15. Sue said on July 1, 2015 at 11:00 am

    Oh dear me, beb, religious conservatives are boycotting Coke for engaging in corporate culture warfare, and I’m boycotting Coke for continuing to support FIFA’s and Qatar’s human rights abuses in the construction of the World Cup venues. They’re mad because Coke’s ok with gay marriage, I’m mad because Coke’s ok with dead Nepalese workers.
    Together we will bring Coke to its knees, I just know it.

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  16. Sue said on July 1, 2015 at 11:05 am

    “You’d have to be a world-class athlete to descend stairs in those shoes”
    Looks to me like Caitlyn hasn’t mastered walking in heels yet and knows it. In most of the pics she’s carefully watching her steps.
    I spend most of my time in gym shoes and find that I can’t walk in heels anymore. It’s not the feet, it’s the ankles that don’t know what to do. I can’t imagine trying to learn to walk in heels at her age.

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  17. Dave said on July 1, 2015 at 11:10 am

    Dorothy, I had Miller’s Chicken several times when I was in Athens. My reviews wouldn’t be very current, it was 43-44 years ago.

    I’ve never been on one of those bus trips, as Dexter describes, but every story I ever heard about them describes them as a drunken fest on wheels. Does anyone go for the game?

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  18. Jolene said on July 1, 2015 at 11:18 am

    Thanks for the extra Girl Scout pictures, Andrea. What a great event! Among other great things the Obamas have done, they have created a ton of opportunities for people, especially kids, to visit the White House. Every year, Michelle has had kids there to help plant and tend the garden, and she’s hosted a meal attended by kids who were winners in a contest to create healthy recipes with the menu consisting of food made from the recipes they submitted. She and her staff also participate in a mentorship program for older girls.

    Whenever there are concerts at the WH, they are preceded by master classes in which at least some of the performers work with local students, and, of course, there’s the WH Science Fair, which gets quite a bit of presidential attention.

    I know there’s more, but that’s already a pretty impressive list.

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  19. brian stouder said on July 1, 2015 at 11:55 am

    Hey – guess who has a 50th birthday today?

    http://wane.com/2015/06/30/zoo-birthday-celebration-set-for-wednesday/

    We love that place!

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  20. Deborah said on July 1, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    So, Little Bird had a cool experience today, and statistically speaking kind of rare. She met another person in Santa Fe with NF (Neurofibromatosis) the same condition she has. We did the math and figured that there might only be 25 people here with the condition. We were in the grocery store and recognized the guy’s symptoms, which among other things are fibromas or button sized tumors. This gentleman had quite a few on his face, so they were easy to spot. I encouraged LB to talk to him, mainly to find out what Dr he went to since that’s been such a problem for us. It turns out that he has the same experience with Drs who don’t know much. He said his father had it too. It’s genetic, but occurs as a spontaneous mutation in maybe 40% of those who have it, which is what we think is the case with LB, since neither her father or I have it, and it’s a dominant gene, so one of us would have to have it too for it to have been passed on to her. She actually has never met another person with NF except at NF Forums.

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  21. brian stouder said on July 1, 2015 at 3:41 pm

    Speaking of “Wonder Woman”, we (and by “we” – I mean 95% Pamela, and 5% me) continue to deal with our water-pipe break (lesson: check your clothes washer connection every couple of years!).

    She’s been rooting through things that have accumulated over the years – as the house will be completely emptied before repairs can be done – sort of moving without having to re-locate – and we’ve been giving away all sorts of odds and ends (undamaged board-games and toys and books and clothes and other knick-knacks); Goodwill mainly, but also to family folks and others.

    We have lately had the very great pleasure of giving away some number of books that have collected dust for many years. A young friend of our 11 year old expressed an interest in the Civil War, and I gave him my soft-bound Shelby Foote trilogy, which has collected dust for the past 20+ years, along with some other goodies, and he seemed genuinely happy to have them. Most of my Lincoln books are likely staying with me to the end, but who knows?

    And so it goes, as they say…

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  22. coozledad said on July 1, 2015 at 3:43 pm

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/magazine/the-condition-of-black-life-is-one-of-mourning.html

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  23. J. Bruce Fields said on July 1, 2015 at 3:46 pm

    You can still get Korean food at “Rich JC”, at the same location that used to house Steve’s Lunch. I’d assumed it was the same place under a different name, but I guess I was wrong; some anecdotes here:

    https://localwiki.org/ann-arbor/Steve%27s_Lunch

    “Before everyone forgets about it here are some tidbits on
    the place my parents Mr. and Mrs. Lee used to own in the
    1970s.”

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  24. J. Bruce Fields said on July 1, 2015 at 3:47 pm

    Oh, and for your future lunches:

    https://localwiki.org/ann-arbor/Bi_Bim_Bop

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  25. LAMary said on July 1, 2015 at 3:53 pm

    Lots of Korean places to eat here. My sons are big fans of late night Korean food runs.

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  26. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on July 1, 2015 at 3:56 pm

    After my recent visit to northern New Mexico, I’m craving carne adovada something fierce. Not something Taco Bell or Chipotle seem to offer.

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  27. MarkH said on July 1, 2015 at 3:59 pm

    Forget Korean.

    Pig Roast, Saturday at Nancy Whiskey’s, featuring, among others, Deadly Vipers on stage. Now that looks like a party. You going, Nancy?

    http://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/07/01/punk-rock-pig-roast-feeds-appetite-party/29541143/

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  28. LAMary said on July 1, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    You only find that stuff in NM, Jeff. I crave it all the time. I can get close to that flavor in chili verde but never right on it.

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  29. BethB said on July 1, 2015 at 4:22 pm

    Thanks for the link, coozledad. This was an incredibly moving article.

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  30. brian stouder said on July 1, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    Cooz – marvelous link.

    This one is the other extreme; dark, cold – and astonishingly shallow

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/07/01/dylann-roofs-eerie-tour-of-american-slavery-at-its-beginning-middle-and-end/

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  31. Deborah said on July 1, 2015 at 5:39 pm

    I just got an email from my rightwing sister. I wished her a happy wedding anniversary, yesterday was her 43rd. I’m still reeling about what she responded with, the nicest part is that she called Hilary Clinton a crook, a liar and that she takes bribes. And believe me that was the nicest thing she said about anything. Oh boy, the next few months aren’t going to be fun for her at all. Did I just say a couple of days ago that I was feeling bad for the people who were on the other side of the marriage equality decision because they were hurting from the burn? Forget that.

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  32. Jolene said on July 1, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    Brian, your link reminded me that, a few days ago, the Post published an AP article about the life of the Charleston shooter.. Such a lost, uncared for creature. Almost made me feel sorry for him.

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  33. Bob (not Greene) said on July 1, 2015 at 7:40 pm

    If you haven’t seen this yet, set aside 40 minutes for this. Stephen Colbert is just so great. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rVPlMM_aSn4

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  34. coozledad said on July 1, 2015 at 9:36 pm

    Bob (not Greene):Steven is a bizarre combination of mania and subtlety.

    I think it comes down to him internalizing the material he’s handed, and editing it on the fly. It almost has to be half improv.

    He’d kick ass in a dramatic role.

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  35. LindaG said on July 2, 2015 at 9:34 am

    Cooz, be on the lookout for an episode of LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT called “The Saint.” Colbert plays a dramatic role, and he does, indeed, kick ass.

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