Light on Snow, by Anita Shreve. About a young girl and her dad who find an abandoned baby in the snow. Maybe I should stick to magazines. Lately, the two books I’ve chosen feature a girl/woman who’s lost her mother. Not the best choices, but I didn’t know.

Still, it’s an excellent read.

In which I was very glad there are no steep hills in the neighborhood after my experience at the San Antonio Preserve. But hills will be on the agenda this weekend.

Lots of fellow walkers out, pleasantly warm. Someone was doing something with beef for supper, but not expertly. The aroma was heavy, not brothy light, and it involved a large amount of beef fat.

Still spending lots of time at the hospital, so Loretta has to wait till I get home to eat. Her sponge needed freshening, so I put her on my hand, and went to the sink. It took a few seconds to realize that she was chewing on my palm. I have a new respect for those mandibles. Here’s a remarkable photo that I wish was mine.

Or it might be spreading from one human to another. The disease spreads easily from pig to pig, but because the bacteria occurs on a pig’s tonsils, it would be hard for a human to become infected from an animal. Symptoms are not in keeping with the classic signs of the disease, fueling speculation that it is a different disease altogether.

In a survey of grain from Europe, the U.S., India, and Bangladesh, the rice from the U.S. was found to have up to five times more arsenic. How did the poison get into the rice?

If rice is planted on land formerly used to grow cotton, chances are good that the soil is contaminated with arsenic from pesticides. Scientists say it is difficult to determine the danger to the consumer.

Not too many of you click on the Google ads (tsk), and one of my sons suspects that there is some wordpress script that is defeating the purpose somehow or in conflict. I’m just glad the ads are no longer public service ones, or really obscure. At least the ones for stem cells are more on the mark. Alas, I will not be making my fortune this way.

Tian Tian: My jewel, I am most pleased that our little one is a male.
Mei Xiang: This information is being trumpeted over the internet?
Tian Tian: As we speak.
Mei Xiang: You told them?
Tian Tian: No, no. I wouldn’t have.
Mei Xiang: They sneaked in here when I went to eat, did they? Seized the precious one and performed their ghastly tests. Why can they not leave us in peace?
Tian Tian: Be happy, most treasured one. They did not refer to him as a ‘two-pound stick of butter’.

A bad year is about to get worse. The director of the National Weather Service predicts up to 14 more tropical storms, of which nine might develop into hurricanes. In the next three months.

Off the Gold Coast in Australia, the calf died after being caught in a shark net. Divers have been unable to retrieve the body, because the mother guards it so aggressively.

There are at least two, according to one of the doubting scientists who challenged earlier claims of sightings. He has now listened to audio recordings, and is ‘absolutely stunned’. The challenge has been withdrawn. Hooray!

A baby born at night as a lower chance of survival than one born during the day. Studies indicate the cause might be tired or inexperienced hospital night staff.

It once lived in South America, where it reached a height of ten feet and weighed more than 1000 pounds. Scientists speculate a running speed of 60 mph, and the ability to go after armored prey with its extremely powerful legs.

You could win a prize for your caption.

I always find things I really, really want here.

It can imitate flatfish, lionfish, and sea serpents, and possibly, jellyfish, stingrays, and sand anemones. But the truly amazing ability is the tailoring of each transformation to suit the situation.

Temperatures are expected to be miserably hot in August due, in no small part, to a number of factors, including development that has eliminated many parklands.