That's some well aged muktuk!

19th-century weapon found in whale

By ERIN CONROY, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 12, 6:24 PM ET

BOSTON - A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago.

Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.
"No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Calculating a whale's age can be difficult, and is usually gauged by amino acids in the eye lenses. It's rare to find one that has lived more than a century, but experts say the oldest were close to 200 years old....

I am the worst blogger ever.

Here is the rundown. For the next week I am dogsitting for my mom and dad who went to TX for a family reunion (otherwise known as Deliverance: The Sequel) They had the good sense to put the young dog whom I do not like and could not control even if I wanted to, in a doggy sleepover summer camp. I imagine he will make lots of lanyards, go canoeing, maybe roast some marshmallows and sing Kum Ba Ya. Thankfully none of this is my concern.

The dog who is still here is a 12 year old chocolate lab who is completely deaf, has hip dysplasia, and yet is still quite strong and he can move quickly when he wants to. However he cannot hear me when I say stuff to him, so I have to communicate with rudimentary sign language and keep him close enough to be able to "hear" me at all times.

The class reunion went off much better than I ever could have expected, thus provin what I have believed all along: worrying is somehow beneficial. I can't explain it. It's just true. Anytime I make the mistake of not worrying, bad and seemingly unpredictable things happen. The more I worry about everything going to hell in a handbasket, the less bad thingshappen, and especially not thebad things I spent adaquate time worrying about. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

I am right now finishing a bag of Blazin' Buffalo and Ranch Doritoes (I think they were left over form the reunion. mom and dad were set up for a while with potato and macaroni salad, American cheese, chips, and raspberry pie.) I am sure that they contain all sorts of things I am not supposed to eat. Maybe I should worry about feeling sick later so that I can prevent it from happening. I give one to the dog. Don't tell dad. I told the dog not to, but maybe he's like that dog from the baked beans commercial. Only he'll talk really loud because he's deaf.

The crappiest bit of news by far is that my computer is blotto. Hopefully I can recover the files from the harddrive when I get to Seattle. The main reason I accepted this dog sitting gig was so that I could use the computer. I can check my email several places downtown but they almost all charge and the one that doesn't has a 15 minute limit. They also bought me a soy cheeze pizza and some nectarines.

Joel has signed a year long lease on a wee 2 br apartment in Capitol Hill. Difficult decisions regarding furniture must be made. But the location is quite good at least. And it is the only part of Seattle I am at all familiar with.

Also, I touched up my pink hair color in their bathroom (not the one they have been remodeling for the last 10 years) and managed not to get any on anything except for ONE small spot on the rug. I started trying to scrub it out and it turns out the sailboat on the rug used to be white, not beige! Who knew? The pink did not come out all the way, but it's got a nice clean white spot all around it to draw more attention to it. Nice.