Study: one in four mammals faces extinction. Man! I hope we're not the one! I didn't realize it had gotten this bad. (I think I contributed to the extinction of the local ground squirrel population.) That leaves two other mammals that we need to focus our efforts on and save. I suggest the cow and the horse.

My math might be wrong. Of course, they're math might be wrong too. I mean, according to geological evidence, there have been mass extinctions multiple times over the course of earth's history. A lot more than 25% of species died (but let 's not quibble.)

In other news, a houseboat was found with dead bodies on it. Drifting down the Mississippi River. "There were no marks on the bodies that indicated foul play," so you know what that means: a deadly virus laying in wait before it infects us all, or food poisoning. Or it's a publicity stunt for Fringe, the new show everyone's talking about. (From the creators of LOST!) Anyway, happy Halloween.

I've been meaning to write up a bit about Fringe, but it's just not bad enough. It's not really good enough, either, though I prefer it to the Dancing With The Stars, which is on at the same time. But DWTS is on two nights in a row with the second night at two hours long, so Mrs. Ditchman let's me watch Fringe for an hour. I had high hopes for it, but it's merely formulaic old tripe with dumb lines and **spooky** bits about science. It's X-Files for the digital era, really, and we all know how that show turned out. Wait a minute -no we don't! (Exactly.) Anyway, I missed it last week because there were more compelling conflicts on Dancing With The Stars that night. I may never go back.

Did everyone spend all weekend working on their house? And then at the end of the weekend, did everyone wonder what it was they got accomplished? And then did you all put your tools back in the truck so you could ditch out in the morning and go work on someone else's house? Maybe this is why I'm so tired and burned out on work all the time: because it never ever really ends. It's a like a TV show. Remember in the A-Team when Murdock and Faceman and the gang were running from the obsessed general "for a crime they didn't commit", but then they'd stop to help some sorry sap, and then in the end there would be the general right there on their tail. And then next week: same thing. Man, didn't those guys ever get tired of living out of the van?

"If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire..." this guy to build you an aluminum patio cover. I've got a big, big one this week. The customer's house burned down in the fires a year ago. Funny thing is, his old aluminum patio covers remained standing. I saw the amazing pictures. The whole house burned down, but the cover was still there, holding up the wall to which it was attached. Even the studs on the inside of the wall burned -it was all just stucco hanging there. They should build entire homes out of this stuff (Aluminum. Not stucco.).


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