Cold

[ksmith]

That’s pretty much the update. It’s COLD, with occasional light snow. I am very much looking forward to spring.

Gaby, however, doesn’t seem to mind the chill. She lurks under the bird feeder and waits for squirrels.

Tax forms are showing up in the mail, so I will be working on things financial over the next few weeks. Annual physical stuff, which I hate but has to be done.

Not much else happening, so I will close with the news headline of the year, courtesy of writer Liz Williams over on the Facebook:

Ghost ship full of cannibal rats could be about to crash into Devon coast.

There are fears a ghost ship full of diseased cannibal rats could be about to crash into the coast of Devon or Cornwall.
The abandoned Lyubov Orlova has been missing since it cut adrift while being towed from Canada nearly a year ago. The 40-year-old liner has been driven across the Atlantic by high winds and is thought close to the UK shore. Based on emergency beacons activated last year aboard the ship, it is feared the 40-year-old Yugoslavian liner registered to Russia could crash into the shore of Devon, Cornwall, Ireland or Scotland.

Those searching for the ship say there are likely to be thousands of disease-ridden rats on board with no source of food except each other, according to The Sun.

Belgian-based searcher Pim de Rhoodes said: “She is floating around there somewhere. There will be a lot of rats and they eat each other.”

Shades of James, Stoker, and Benson.

Read more: http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Ghost-ship-cannibal-rats-crash-Devon-coast/story-20487193-detail/story.html#ixzz2rFbSk8u4

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Comments

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

Untowable ships full of diseased rats usually respond well to a torpedo or two, if applied sufficiently offshore for the rats to drown before reaching land and the ship to sink deep enough not to be a navigation hazard. If some insurance company is insisting 'No, you can't do that!' tell them they will be responsible for every cent of damage caused by the loose cannon...er, ship, and they'll change their tune.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I guess my only concern would be rats floating to shore on wreckage. I imagine it would be very difficult to ensure that every bit of the ship sank.

If they were far enough out, probably not an issue...although rats can be pretty sturdy.

I can't imagine what it must be like aboard that ship.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

It could (and should have been) done so that no debris comes ashore. I don't know how far a diseased rat (assuming they ARE diseased) can swim--or a healthy one for that matter--but a rat swimming around on the surface will look like dinner to several kinds of sea-life.

And I'm sure if it had been sunk in mid-ocean, no rat would swim to shore.

[equesgal.livejournal.com]

We have yet to have anything that looks remotely like winter. I actually wish it would snow. If not, all next spring through winter is going to be fire season.

[khavrinen.livejournal.com]

Entropy being what it is, one would think that -- if the ship could be kept from running aground long enough -- the problem of cannibalistic diseased rats would solve itself.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I saw a map of moisture/rainfall for the year--Cali is pretty dry. The whole PacNorWet hasn't been all that wet.

Hope you get some rain or something soon.

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Eventually, yeah.

Because I don't think we'd want the winners of that contest to land on anyone's shores.