2006-11-17 - 7:53 a.m.

...don't drink the brown water / don't eat the speckled ones, they're not ripe yet...

I am sitting here drinking the last of the bottled water in our house in my coffee machine. The entire city of Van has been issued a water quality warning. The intense flooding has resulted in extensive landslides into the reservoirs. All water must be boiled for 1 minute before drinking and toothbrushing, to eliminate threat of E. coli. What I find strange about this is that E. coli is normally not associated with landslides - it's associated with human wastewater. I suspect that we aren't hearing the whole story about the brown water...

Two nights ago I came home to our landlord standing precariously on the edge of the roof, wrapping it a third tarp. There had been another 'DWOIP' incident in the kitchen. Fortunately, I missed most of that excitement, so that I was good and ready for the carnage in the living room.

After dinner, K and I decided to cuddle in with a movie. I walked towards the sofa, and stepped on a pile of feathers.
And then looked down. And saw more feathers. and more. And then the poor battered source of the feathers, dead on its back. It was a HUGE bird, and a species I've never seen - a speckled breast and pink underwings. pink. K was kind enough to do the clean-up (sweet, helpful K). Once again, our tame loveable felines demonstrate that they are also excellent killers. But apart from the flurry of feathers, the bird was untouched. Not even a bit of the white meat was gone. It seems that felines are not fond of feathers in their food.

Boxes are still missing. sigh. off to a day of meetings.