Monday morning things

* Big new news of the morning: Mickey Rooney has died. And here's a CNN FAIL I spotted: they showed his lifepan as "1930-2014" on at least one of their graphics. Uh, he was 93. Being born in 1930 would make him **83**. Also, he couldn't have starred as a teen in all those late-30s movies. (And yeah, it's possible some stars lie about their birthyear but I don't think Rooney ever did)

And now I have that Animaniacs parody of the Small World song ("It's a big, big universe, and we're all really puny/just a little tiny speck, about as big as Mickey Rooney") running through my head.

* Gah, I hope this is allergies. I'm feeling really tired and unmotivated despite having had a weekend.

Well, okay, a weekend that had one meeting that involved some people airing bad feelings (not directed at me, I was a bystander, but still) and that kind of got me down. I don't like how some people (a) let stuff fester until it gets really bad, and then air it all at once and (b) look for a messenger to deliver their complaints instead of doing it directly themselves. Whenever I hear a second-hand complaint directed at me, my reaction is, "And why did the person in question not have the guts to come talk to me themselves?" I mean, I'm pretty dang avoidant but when something is wrong that I want fixed, I go find the person who needs to fix it and talk with them.

* I did spend part of Sunday working on quilts. I got most of the stuff cut for that lantern quilt (Still to cut: 100+ 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" squares and a couple bigger chunks of the background). It's one of those quilts that doesn't look like anything much until it's all together, so although I started sewing, no photos.

* I also got the beans in before the rain started. So hopefully they'll start growing soon. No joy on the beets; the couple that came up either got eaten by slugs or damped off. Maybe this was a bad batch of seed. If nothing more happens I'll just use that spot for tomatoes when it gets warm enough to put them in. Or maybe nasturtiums.

* I think I heard a screech owl when I was up shortly after 4 this morning. (I woke up earlier than normal; unpleasant dream involving rats, so it seemed preferable to just get up). There was something out front of my house making a mid-range "hoooooooooooo" noise. It didn't quite sound like a cat, which could be another animal out at that hour. (I have a big old pecan tree that could provide a roost/hunting vantage point.

I hope it was an owl; owls are welcome because they eat rodents.

(Added: It sounded a little bit like the "descending trill" here. Not exactly, so I'm not convinced, but I can't think of anything else that would be out that time of night that might make a sound like that. I suppose it could have been some other owl; we have barred owls here and I think great horned.