The deep-sea mystery of an elusive fossil worm that leaves trails in the form of a hexagon. From Natural History magazine’s home page, go to ‘web archives’, then scroll down to the entry from September 2004, ‘Secret Survivor’. The pictures show the intriguing geometry produced by these creatures.

A pushmower down the street. The kids across the way yelling at each other. Windchimes blowing to a chilly breeze. A robin in a neighbor’s tree. No drama. Dull. Boring. Incredibly peaceful.

After they hatch, there will be many birds out there looking to feed their progeny. Odds are very much against the mantis nymphs. Lately, the little finches and sparrows are flying right up to the windows, going after spiders and crane flies, so I am keeping the egg cases indoors in a big jar till it’s time to move them outside into something bigger, possibly an old aquarium. And yes, I will find some food for them.

In a word, enormous. I had no idea microwaves have grown to such sizes. The toaster oven/microwave has its charms, but I didn’t like the side toaster feature. Having exhausted the local possibilities, we’ll see what’s available online today.

Last night we showed up at the sale late, that is, after the massive crowds had gone. Normally, it’s elbowing, jostling, and on memorable evenings, verbal abuse and shouting among the testier buyers. Heavier ones use their bulk shamelessly. Overflow books are in boxes underneath the tables, so at any given time, large people are pushing politely from both sides above, while others are scrabbling down there at your feet.

I mostly go to get videos that are being phased out for DVDs. This is where I found Picnic at Hanging Rock, for example. The price is now down to $1 each. I found one of my all-time favorites, Playing By Heart. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which I’ve not seen. Joe vs. the Volcano, which has those wonderful trunks. Paulie.

Once I got into a conversation with a woman in line that had similar interests, except she looked for PBS specials, English series and such.

One year I had some noxious flu for three weeks. Nothing to take my feverish mind off the suffering except Harry Potter books, which gave me incredibly vivid, terrifying nightmares. Now I will have Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome for convalescent imagery. And many, many others.

Yesterday, as I went out to rent a video, the sky to the northeast was dark gray, and inside the store, people in line were talking about how bad it looked. There were a couple of poufy, pouchy spots that were almost the beginnings of mammatus, or as close as we get to the phenomenon.

But here, we never get clouds like this.

Of course, it’s a little blurry, my hands were shaking. I would have cleaned the pot up a bit too, but that would have entailed moving the spider. I might get a better shot later, it is in a jar at the moment. After I look up what it is, it will be free to roam the yard once more.