Off a-visitin’.

You think I'm impressed by five degrees?

Warning: This post is about as unconnected to language or linguistics as I am to Kevin Bacon…who was in “A Few Good Men” with Tom Cruise, who was in “Rain Man” with Dustin Hoffman, who was in “Little Big Man” with Faye Dunaway, who was in “Mommy Dearest” with Mara Hobel, who was one of my childhood friends.

Which I guess would mean that this post is only 5 degrees of separation from linguistics.

Aaaaanywho…

Do not bother me unless you can get it to three degrees.

A few months ago, I was reading through some of the blogs on my reading list, and I linked to this post on the blog Three Cat Yard. The Peppers were a group of kittens being fostered by Robyn at Love and Hisses. The post described the genetics of the kittens’ coloring. This made me extremely curious about my own cats, so I took up the author’s invitation to send in a question, and I got an awesome response.

A few weeks later, I got an email from Kate, who runs the blog From Alone to Home: Stories of Adopted Pets.  She’d seen the post about my girls and wanted to know if I’d write their story for her blog. Of course I did! So, I wrote and she posted yesterday. So if anyone is interested, pop on over and find out how I found my girls.

I’m out of town for the next few days, and when I come back, I’ll be back to posting and commenting more regularly. Have a great week, everyone!

Are they clicking on the links? Are they? I can't see, can you? Hey, is that a ribbon? I don't know! Focus! Pay atte-- hey, is that a mouse?

Happy Hallowe’en!

It’s been a long, unexpectedly snowy weekend with no electricity (until today, finally!) but the girls would like to wish everyone a Happy Hallowe’en! They would like you to know that As a Linguist will be guest posting on Wednesday, and to please return to find out where. At least that’s what I think they said. It’s just as likely that they were demanding their cheese. They do love cheese, those girls.

Intermission.

The days have grown cooler finally, and the leaves are slowly beginning their colorful descent to a still-sodden ground. It’s been a relatively tame autumn this year. Hillsides that often burst with shades of orange, red, yellow, green, and even purple are now blanketed only with muted hues of yellow and green, an occasional spot of red, and some pockets of no color at all where leaves have already fallen. It’s a faded glory to be sure, but when bright, delicate morning light streams through the trees, it’s beautiful enough that one must take pause. Continue reading