When Nature Attacks!

Today I was surprised to see a red tail hawk in the parking lot just across from the entrance to my office. The bird was in the process of dismembering some sort of small mammal, maybe a rat. I heard later that the hawk picked up the animal, carried it on to a nearby car, pooped on the car, then flew off. Awesome. Even more awesome when I learned that the car belongs to our esteemed union president.

This has nothing to do with that...

One's sense of smell has a powerful ability to induce nostalgia. I just walked into the hallway here at work and was overwhelmed by the odor of grilled food and cleaning products. Presumably this is a sign of good things going on at the cafe down the hall, but it also sent me immediately back to Chatterley's, in New Hartford, CT. I spent many an evening (too many, in hindsight) in that bar. Every time I walked in there I would smell the grill (mmm... cheeseburgers...), smell the cleaner they used on the bar, and smell the stale, musty spilled beer. They don't serve beer here at the Foundry, but the other two smells are strong enough to make my mind conjure up the beer stench anyway...