A Meme Going Around

Books Are Good

"List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- The first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes."

Well, I'm not sure about 15 minutes. I started making the list while flipping between reruns of Stargate SG-1 and Top Chef Masters, but perhaps I spent less that 15 minutes actually composing the list. Then I looked up a couple of authors. Also I write long, so I've "extended" the list a little bit. (grin) Couldn't possibly not add the last one when I thought of it. (double-grin) These are all titles I read and re-read growing up.

1. Dune / Frank Herbert.
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey / Arthur C. Clarke
2a. The Lost Worlds of 2001 / Arthur C. Clarke
3. Marooned / Martin Caidin
3a. FYI: Marooned (1964) / Martin Caidin just acquired
4. Almost Midnight / Martin Caidin
5. Andromeda Strain / Michael Crichton
6. Lord of the Rings / J.R.R. Tolkein
7. The Mysterious Island / Jules Verne
8. Have Space Suit, Will Travel / Robert Heinlein
9. Gateway / Frederick Pohl
10. Janissaries / Jerry Pournelle
11. Time Enough for Love / Robert Heinlein
12. A Wrinkle in Time / Madeline L'Engle
13. Congo / Michael Crichton
14. Ringworld / Larry Niven
15. Star Surgeon / James White
16. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet / Eleanor Cameron

Dr. Phil

Hey John Scalzi! Look At This! Bacon Ice Cream!

I'll Be Good

And I won't bug John about something involving bacon. Why do I want to be just of those annoying people who sends him e-mails about everything bacon related? Besides, since I put his name in the Subject line, he'll probably find it anyways. (grin)

Father's Day Is Coming

Stromboli's, an excellent local Allendale restaurant, is advertising their Father's Day buffet.

It's Manly Food I tell you!

Stay for lunch and get bacon ice cream for dessert!

Besides the current American food habit of putting bacon in or on everything, bacon ice cream doesn't sound like the biggest travesty in history. Indeed, I'm sure I've seen something like this -- or worse -- on any number of the food competition shows from Iron Chef to Top Chef. I'd make sure the bacon was nicely cooked in plenty of maple syrup myself, if I were making bacon (maple) ice cream. (grin)

Along The Highways And Back Roads Of West Michigan

During the winter I refer to US-131 from 76th Street in Grand Rapids south into Allegan County as the Allegan Skating Rink. Particularly treacherous is the grade from 84th Street to the county line and on to Exits 68 Dorr and 64 Wayland. Between 6 and 6:30am lots of cars and trucks end up in the ditch. Well, maybe not so much anymore, as they are installing a steel wire barricade.

Nowhere To Go now.

I haven't decided if keeping the Wrecks On Ice show on the shoulder and potentially blocking the traffic lanes is a good thing or a bad thing. Cars running hip deep in snow don't always take that much damage over hitting guardrails and steel cables, but sliding across the median into oncoming traffic? That's never a good thing.

Meanwhile the other morning I spotted a wild turkey ambling by the side of the road on 84th Avenue, about three-quarters of a mile from our house. As it slipped back into the tall grass, I slowed because, like deer, you often see more than one turkey and you don't want to hit them. Yesterday morning a car at M-45 and 92nd Avenue hit a turkey at speed and ended up damaged on the side of the road. Anyway, I stopped and took this quick picture of the wild turkey chicks at the edge of the grass, running and peeping.

After I took this picture I saw Mom glaring at me just to the left of this frame in the deep grass.

( Update to the Placid Waters development after the cut. )

And that's the doings here in West Michigan. Oh, and if John comes by -- aren't you glad I didn't clog up your inbox with desperate messages about OMG THERE'S BACON ICE CREAM NEXT SUNDAY? Though if you did show up for Father's Day in Allendale, I'd buy you a bowl. (grin)

Dr. Phil