Given the stresses of planning the second major trip of the summer, which like the first will include some intense professional obligations in addition to sightseeing, the blog has been sparse at best and banal at worst. So, I'm going to try another approach for a while, to get some creativity chugging along. (The fact that our neighbors' garage band is playing blues and oldies covers in their garage -- very well, in fact -- is causing me major creativity envy.)

Here's how it works. Each blog entry for the next week or so will relate to the one that came immediately before it. Maybe heavily, maybe tangentially. Maybe in a premeditated manner; maybe spontaneously. Maybe daily, maybe twice daily, maybe twice weekly. Or maybe I'll change my mind.

So, let's see, what shall I start with? I know -- how about a bug-related anecdote?

A few years back, I took an imaging course in Western Michigan University's microscopy lab. Like many other workplaces, especially those around universities, the lab sported topical newspaper clippings over many of its wall surfaces. One comic, consisting of a single long panel, has always stayed with me. It started with a drawing of a large, nondescript scarab pushing a dark ball of glop in front of it. The bug was labeled:

DUNG BEETLE

Behind it was a smaller frass pellet, labeled:

DUNG BEETLE DUNG

Pushing the pellet was a second beetle, labeled:

DUNG BEETLE DUNG BEETLE

... and behind this equally incontinent insect, a teeny-tiny-pellet labeled:

DUNG BEETLE DUNG BEETLE DUNG

Now, by itself this was a source of considerable amusement to a scatologically-minded entomologist wannabe, and of course I wanted to share the amusement, so I pointed it out to a few classmates and started to read the legend aloud -- and only then realized the true nefariousness of the caption. I really don't know whether the cartoonist intended this, but if you read that caption aloud, and you're either my age or a fan of classic TV, you'll realize to your horror that the caption can be sung to the tune of the theme from Bonanza.

Dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle,
Dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung dung dung.
Dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle,
Dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung dung dung.
Dung dung dung,
Dung dung dung,
Dung beetle dung dung dung,
Dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle,
Dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung beetle dung dung dung.

You're welcome. If you'd like an earwig to chase away the earworm, I can get you some from my milkweed patch.