Persistence of Memory

Other than the fond memories, the most permanent trace of the Macs weeklong visit involves Eric. Early in the week, we opened the door to the house, forgetting that Eric was inside. Not for long - he escaped into the dark at the speed of light. We all got flashlights and started the search like villagers chasing Frankenstein across the moors.

We found him surprisingly quickly in the pasture, and thought we were out of the woods. After we got inside, however, we noticed a strange smell - skunk!

We found a mystic potion for removing skunk odor, and bathed Eric in a vat with hyrdogen peroxide, baking soda and eye of newt. He came out smelling a little better, but to our surprise, he turned out not to be a Cairn Terrier, but a "Westie".

Even after a second bath, the sweet skunk aroma lingers on. On the bright side, it makes everything else smell better.


Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Persistence_of_Memory
http://ksks.essortment.com/skunkodorremed_rwlg.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Highland_White_Terrier

/`] Profit and Loss

Eric has picked up clues that his owners are religious figures who can predict the future. He has begun to refer to them as Prophet and Lawson.

Scottie Dogs

When I was a wee lad, I had two little Scottie Dog magnets with which I played and thereby learned the basics of both magnetism and dog behavior. It was the kind of education I imagine you'd get at a magnet school. The doggie's heads and tails were magnetic north and south poles, respectively, so head-to-head or butt-to-butt, they'd repel, but head-to-butt, they'd attract, much like real dogs. It's hard to recall exactly, but I'm sure I spent endless minutes of enjoyment with those little guys, which to this day probably explains my magnetic personality.

Eric not only looks like those little dogs, he also acts like them. The unfortunate fact of his life is that dog food has the same magnetic polarity as Eric - when you approach him with a dish, he is repelled. If you persist in trying to force dog food on him, you can end up traversing the entire county like Billy in a Family Circus cartoon. This explains his size. Cat food, as one might expect, is the opposite polarity. A small handful of kitty food can attract Eric like braces to an MRI machine.

Likewise, when you try to put Eric on a leash, its magnetism repels him. If instead, you hold out your arms and wiggle your fingers, the magnetism you generate will make him roll over on his back for a belly-rub.

/`] Youth in Asia

Upon hearing of the common practice in china of killing unwanted female babies, Eric was appalled, as he could hardly consider it euthanasia.

(from Little Adam)

/`] Horror Movies

Eric's top three all-time favorite horror films are The Time Being, The Principle of The Thing, and The Thought That Counts.

/`] Plural

Eric was pleased to find a two-for-one sale on pleurisy medicine.

/`] Bark Oboe Minuet

Eric tried to convince Findlay to support the presidential campaign of Barak Obama in '08, but Fin misunderstood and began to bark, play the oboe and dance the minuet.

/`] Keir's First Ericjoke

Eric says that when Fin was a puppy, he let his mind wander, but it never came back.

/`] Maize

Eric turned down a chance to visit a corn maze because it was redundant.

/`] Flew

Eric decided to get a flu shot so he could catch birds in the past.

/`] The World's First Educational Ericjoke

Eric agrees with the conventional wisdom that the U.N. Secretary-General is the world's hardest job - in the morning, how do you know whether to dress for taking dictation or taking prisoners?

And now, the educational part - what do the following have in common: Dag, U, Boutros Boutros, Kofi, Ban?

The answer can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Secretary-General

/`] Damunchia

Eric feared that he had dementia, but he just had the munchies.

New logo

I took Eric to the Eric Clapton concert downtown last night, and we were able to get backstage. Mr. Clapton was happy to pose with his namesake for a new blog logo photo:



Mr. Clapton's wardrobe and jaunty pose were inspired by the original blog logo:








P.S. The show was great:
http://www.whereseric.com/news/2006/10/eric-clapton-concert-9-october-2006-wachovia-center-philadelphia.html

/`] Prius

Eric teaches us that before our time, hybrid cars roamed the earth.

/`] No Bell

Eric was relieved to hear that he didn't win the Nobel prize, because he really wanted a bell.

/`] Archaeology

While digging in the back yard, Eric was surprised to discover that the fossil record had been replaced by the fossil CD.