Hide-and-Seek

A nightmare in real life:

(CNN) A 9-year-old girl is recovering at a hospital in Washington state after being attacked by a cougar while playing hide-and-seek outdoors with her friends, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Lily Kryzhanivskyy was attacked Saturday as she jumped out to surprise her friends, the department said in a statement. The children had been attending a camp near Fruitland in northeastern Washington, about 70 miles from Spokane. 

Lily was taken to a hospital for treatment, where she is out of the intensive care unit and making an "amazing" recovery, her mother said in the statement.

Better Call Saul Presents: Slippin' Jimmy - "After Bedtime"

It's a bit high-concept, but I do like this animated spinoff from "Better Call Saul."

 

Tucson Regional Ballet - Recital Time!

Recital time in the Old Pueblo!

A Really Nice Video of Albuquerque in 1969 and 1970

A really interesting video. I would have been 12 and 13 years old at the time, and concerned mostly about launching model rockets.

I Think I'm Getting Better At Ballet

I've mostly been on a plateau since I started ballet in 1982, but after 40 years, I think I'm finally beginning to advance to a higher level. Thank you, Pam Kay Lourentzos!

I just need another 40 years to really get good.

Illegal Crabbing

Trouble in the Farallones:

A Bay Area man has been sued by the San Francisco District Attorney's Office for allegedly catching hundreds of Dungeness crabs illegally in the protected North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve.

..."Our officers received an anonymous tip from a commercial fisherman who said he saw another fisherman’s crab traps in the Marine Protected Area. He was concerned that this fisherman’s illegal activities would put other law-abiding fisherman in a bad light," Fish and Wildlife Assistant Chief for the Marine Enforcement District Eric Kord said in a statement. "This is a large-scale incident of unlawful take from a Marine Protected Area, and we might not have known about it had another commercial fisherman not reported the illegal activity." 

Fish and Wildlife investigators allegedly discovered over 90 crab traps in the area, which they seized after "battling difficult sea and weather conditions." They say they released more than 250 Dungeness crabs from those traps back into the ocean.

...The district attorney's lawsuit alleges Tran gained an unfair business advantage by illegally fishing in a Marine Protected Area. It is a misdemeanor for commercial fishing operations to work in protected areas, punishable fines ranging from $5,000 to $40,000 for a first offense.

"Upon information and belief, this is the most egregious case of unlawful crabbing activity in San Francisco’s history, as well as the largest incident of unlawful commercial crabbing in any Marine Protected Area in the entire State of California," the lawsuit says.

SMUD Tree-Trimmers Hack Through The Treetops

I'm glad SMUD electric-utility contract tree-trimmers came through the tree tops of my back yard. I worried the top branches were beginning to get too close to the powerlines. Can't have any electrocutions or fires, can we? I told them to be very aggressive with the tree. I don't know if they heard me. I could barely hear them over the wood chipper, and they spoke mostly Spanish anyway. The workers thrashed past the utility lines, briefly knocked me off the Internet, and nearly knocked down the clothesline. The newly-trimmed tree looks funny, shaped like the letter "Y" rather than a decent oak tree, but I'm pleased. 

Waterwise, this is going to be a hard summer, just as precarious as 2015, and we need as much reassurance as possible.  I remember how a nearby palm tree burned in 2015 when I was away from the house.  It looked like a burned matchstick when I got home, and there was no explanation of how the fire started.  Fires will be so easy to start!