How to make cushions, Arden style

When we are supposedly 1,000 orders behind, and having to work Saturdays and 12 hour days to gain back ground (ha ha), this is the kind of thing that really helps. American Hotel Register orders their lot for this week. Most of it was stuff that was already made and thus crossed off; two lines, a kind of seat pad called a S30 (25 of these) and a chaise cushion called a W25 (5 of these) were highlighted as being rush. This was on Tuesday, a day I missed sick. The order was given to Laurie, and then taken away (presumably because the particular special fabric for the 2 rushes was not in-plant yet). Thursday morning it is given back to Victor, who despite allegedly dogged efforts, never got a chance to do them. I was given an order for Grandin Road (where do we find these people?) with the understanding I was going to get the AHR order afterwards. This was right around 9 am. The Grandin was amazingly (for them) easy, and I flew through it until I got to the 30 pillows out of a particularly obnoxious striped fabric that, no matter how careful you lay it up, it finds ways to twist and bend and screw up your project. Midway into this, supervisor Rhonda asks about 3 items for Meijer that I was supposed to do yesterday. I replied that while I had UPC labels for them, they were not on the work order, so I tossed the labels and moved on. She says (this is 11 am) that she will bring new UPCs soon so I can make these too. I tell Laurie at lunch, in three hours Rhonda will bring me the labels, because that's the usual snail's pace she works at.

Of course, a good quarter of the pillows were messed up, and I just finished them when I got the labels from Rhonda (just prior to 2 pm, three hours on the dot). As I finish that, big boss Lisa comes by and asks am I still cutting Grandin Road. I say no, this is the 3 chairs that missed the Meijer work order, and she says, when you're done, the fabric came in to finish the last pieces of the Amazon.com order that was all but done early last week. Then came two requests for fabric ties, a pair of mysteriously misplaced pillows, and finally it was time to do the rush order.

It is now ten till 4. The fun starts.

First thing I see is S30- a pattern I have no idea what it is or where to find it. I ask Victor, no go. I ask Lisa, she says ask Bob the engineer. Bracing for a 2 minute task to blossom into 10, I brave Bob's office and tell him what I need. He prints a cut sheet for me, whereupon we see that this has one of those exotic radii on the top which requires he print me a paper pattern. This takes a minute, so I go to get the fabric. This fabric is on the rack right behind Victor, with a big sticker saying L919 right on it, staring at Victor for the last day and a half. Victor, do you know what L919 is? No, ah never heard of it. OK, so I'll get our material handler Jamie. He remembers receiving it and goes to fetch whilst I measure the table for the W25s. He brings me a 19.5 yard roll and says there's another roll "Right behind Victor on the rack". Ha ha. Now I've already wasted more time than I like, so I go to get the now-printed pattern from Bob. Bob decides we shouldn't trust the printer without checking the pattern (I never do, believe me) and so he proceeds to attempt confirming a 27.5 inch dimension with his trusty 12-inch ruler. Satisfied at last, he lets me go.

I quickly decide that due to trying to get bands out of limited fabric, I'll be better off doing them separately. I pull the fabric the requisite 79 inches down the table and begin securing it. Annoyingly, I learn that on top of being a very busy stripe which I have to get each stripe to line up on, it's also a fabric that has a tight final string along the edge. This makes the fabric ravel and you have to make little cuts along the edge to make it lay flat. And then I discover, unlike most of these types of fabric, it does this on both sides. Sigh.

As I'm laying this up, over comes the new girl with instructions from Victor to help me by filling out our information labels that go on the completed shells (henceforth known as a 4X4). I get her started, fight the fabric, show her where to find this thing, fight some more, etc. Just as I finish the 5th and final ply, she notes that the cut sheet doesn't name the welt cord size (we have 2). Grateful for the interruption, I go seeking out QC Monika to look it up for me. Don't find her, settle for the computer babe Shaylee. She looks it up. It says "weltcord". No size. Lovely. I go find Monika, she says its "100% sure it's 8/32" but also brings up that virtually every time we do a W25, the customer wants the sew-across in a different spot. Usually we get an e-mail as to where it goes, and I should check with Bob. I find Bob, Lisa, Bob's lackey Jeff, and two guests from corporate all huddled together in the front office. Explain the situation. Lisa says set it aside, she'll have to e-mail for an answer. Sigh. It is now 5 pm.

Now I roll up the fabric I've so lovingly laid out, set it aside, and start on the S30s. Two across, three down and room on the side for bands. Halfway through, the first roll runs out and I get the second. I wonder why the plastic wrap is all shredded and the fabric is dirty. Then I see that the person at our North Carolina plant who sent it to us put the address label and packing envelope on the fabric itself and then wrapped it in the bag. I guess UPS kinda decided they might need to know where to send it, thus the shredded bag. Finish laying it up, draw the bands, a good 5 inches left on the side. What to put there- ties? Zipper bands? Zipper bands...

Zipper bands are two pieces of fabric that get the zipper put between them the have to be big enough that when sewn they are the same width as the band. Usually no problem. But this is a stripe, and thus I have to make them special so that when the are sewn, the stripes match with the band. And I have 3 strips of band, 3 different stripes. Ugh. So I draw ties- wait a minute, this is AHR, so I'll bet they get the special wide ties. Check with Bob yet again, yes, Chris, you are right. So one strip for ties, good for 1 tie each times 8 plies. I'll only need 42 more.

So I start cutting, and as I do I think with my fine Photographic memory and say, something(else)'s wrong here. Sure enough, the width of the zipper the cut sheet calls for is too narrow for the band. Back to Bob. Yes Chris, right again. I think the band is right, let's change the zipper. Thanks ever so, Bob, considering I'm already half done cutting the bands. Sigh.

Finally, the shells, all the bands save one (3 bands X 8 plies is 24 and I need 25), and my whopping 8 ties are done. Next comes the process of drawing a correctly matching set of zipper bands - six different spots on the fabric- and then repeating the process eight times. Then carefully tying the proper bands with the proper zippers so they can be sewn together properly. Then get a sheet of fabric 178 inches long , folded so the stripes continue to match, and draw 25 1 1/2 inch strips for welt and about 8 2 1/2 inch strips for the rest of the ties. Got it drawn? Good. It is now 6: 25 and time to clock into screw off. Time spent: 2 1/2 hours. Overtime spent: 2 hours. Completed cushions, ready to sew? Zero.

Just what you weren't expecting...

... is to see a monument you'd reecently seen for the first time burn to the ground. From USA Today via the Cincy Enquirer:

MONROE, OHIO — Monroe fire officials set damage at $700,000 after lightning struck and burned down a 62-foot-high Jesus Christ statue and an adjacent amphitheater at Solid Rock Church late Monday.
Church leaders are vowing to rebuild the iconic "King of Kings" statue — also dubbed "Touchdown Jesus" — which alone was valued at $300,000.
Monroe Fire Capt. Richard Mascarella said the other $400,000 in damage was to the amphitheater when flames from the sculpture spread to the back wall and roof.
"The heat coming off the statue singed the entire back wall of the amphitheater and burned through it," Mascarella said. "Portions of the roof are destroyed, so they will have to replace a large part of it."

A pond surrounding the statue that used to be full of fish is now filled with remnants of the structure, made of fiber glass and foam. All the fish are either dead or dying, Mascarella said.
Church leaders also plan to repair the amphitheater and the pond and the structures were all insured. Insurance adjusters were expected at the site Tuesday afternoon.
The fire is not suspicious. It was ignited about 11:15 p.m. Monday during a severe thunderstorm that spawned lightning across the Greater Cincinnati region, Mascarella said.
John Centers, a Monroe assistant fire chief who lives about a mile from the church, said he was outside on his deck watching Monday night's storm when he saw a very bright flash of lightning accompanied by loud thunderclap. At first, he didn't think much of it, "because there had already been so many ground strikes that night," Centers said. But he could tell that the lightning had struck fairly close by and "it was a very significant ground strike."
"The pattern of light flashed all the way to the ground," and was in the general direction of the church, Centers said.
He soon realized that must have been the lightning that struck the statue because within four minutes of his witnessing the strike, firefighters were being called to the blazing statue.
And it burned quickly: "It burned to the ground. The whole statue is gone," said Kim Peace, a police dispatcher.
Authorities on Tuesday were urging motorists to resist the temptation to stop on Interstate 75 and snap photos, fearing that drivers pulling on and off the berm could cause crashes.
.
The large "King of Kings" statue was a Butler County landmark since it was erected in 2004 outside Solid Rock Church, 904 N. Union Rd., along northbound Interstate 75 in Monroe just north of the Ohio 63 exit.
Fire crews were called to the church at 11:15 p.m. after several people phoned 911 to report the blaze as a severe thunderstorm swept through Greater Cincinnati, producing a spectacular lightning show, Peace said.
"The lightning was just amazing," she said, wryly adding: "It was a lot of fun in here last night."
When fire crews arrived, they found the statue fully involved and an adjacent amphitheater burning. The fire extended into the attic of the amphitheater, destroyed equipment, before fire crews contained it, Peace said.
No one was injured.
There were grounding devices built into the structure, Neu said.
"Everything around the structure and even the structure itself has lightning resistors and grounding rods," but he added that the unpredictable nature of lightning doesn't make those devices entirely effective.
The sculpture stretches 40 feet wide at the base. It was made of plastic form and fiberglass over a steel frame. The frame is the only thing visible this morning.

To say that seeing that statue unsuspecting as we did on my birthday trip to Cincinatti was awesome was an understatement. It was a moment in which the most eloquent of men would quote Frank Barrone: "Holy crap!" Alas, perhaps the Solid Rock Church- and we ourselves, forgot what God Himself said in Exodus 20:4:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Perhaps not what the Divine Author meant, but once again we see the manifest difference between God's awesome power and man's conception of it.

fun with numbers

Decided to look at the rosters of the Champions of the leagues we followed this year and see how the nationalities fell out. First, here are the totals for the top ten nations:
Canada, 73
Finland, Slovakia 37
Sweden 29
Czech Rep. 25
Korea 23
Russia 22
Switzerland 21
USA 19
Italy 16

The most glaring things that stand out are the high number for Korea (with Anyang Halla winning the Asia League title) and the relatively low one for Russia (which will be explained later). But now let's look at the players outside their home nation's league, keeping in mind that the NHL is home for Canada and the USA, and the Asia League is also multinational.

Canada 53
Finland 19
USA 11
Slovakia 10
Sweden 9
Czech Rep. 4
Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, France, Hungary, Latvia 1
RUSSIA 0!!!

That's right- with all the Russians playing in leagues around the world, not one was on a championship roster outside of Ak Bars Kazan! As you can also see, the USA did much better in exports, and despite the rush for Czech players after the world cup, they also didn't find their way onto many championship rosters. One last thing I want to look at is, who had to take in the most imports. So here are the nations who had the lowest nationals on their champs.

France 8
Great Britain/Ireland 9
Norway 11
Austria, Germany 13
Denmark 14
Italy 16
Finland 18
Sweden, Switzerland 20

Here the USA becomes a special case of being intertwined with Canada and thuis doesn't chart although only (!) 8 Americans were on the Blackhawks. Finland also seems to be a special case, because although they had the fewest nationals on their champs out of all the elite teams, they had even more on other nations' champs(18 to 19). However, I don't know how to explain Russia, who had a devastating trifecta of no players on foreign champs, a poor showing in the Olympics, and losing the world cup to the Czechs. Finally, I'll give a shout out to the one nation who landed a player on a championship roster and hasn't yet been mentioned: Japan, who had one player on Anyang Halla.

Step into my time machine, week seven

This week, we had nine top 100 debuts, 5 top 40 newbies, 2 in the top ten, a brand new numbe one, and 2 new features on an experimental basis. So let's get started. Coming in to the charts this week amongst the 9 rookies are Feelings by Morris Albert at 97, Fight the Power pt. 1 by the Isley Brothers at 93 ( a song handicapped on the chart by using the term "bulls**t" in the chorus), and Freddy Fender's follow up to his just fallen #1, Wasted Days and Wasted Nights at 88. The big dropper this week belongs to the former number one Jackie Blue, who spends what is most likely its last week on the charts dropping 41 notches to 60. The week's high climber has something to do with that number 41 as well; that is where Olivia Newton-John landed with Please Mister Please after a 20 spot leap. And we close out the look at the lower end of things with a note that Sail on Sailor moves up 4 to 66 this week.



Coming into the airplay section of town are 5 tunes: Smokey Robinson sneaks in with another song I just don't recognize, Baby That's Backatcha at 40; Steely Dan edges in at 39 with Black Friday; Melissa Manchester appears at 37 with Midnight Blue; War roars in at 36 with a song I spent a lot of that summer singing on the back of my nephew's mini-bike, Why Can't We Be Friends; and 10cc's attempt to finally take themselves serious (listen to some of their older stuff once), I'm Not In Love, shoots 10 to number 31.



At this point, I interject one of the new features. A lot of good songs get lost on the road between top 40 debut and top 10, and I thought I'd give a shout out to one each week. This week, I salute the late, great Teddy Pendergrass and Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, who appear to have peaked at 13 with Bad Luck, a song I'd forgotten about for years until I saw the title a while back looking for songs to burn to CD and said, hey, I remember that! Unfortunately, the song appears well-named as far as top 10 success goes.



Our 2 top ten dropouts are Ace's How Long at 21, falling 17 (which seems funny, because I always associated it with I'm Not In Love popularity-wise, but it seems they were 2 ships that pass in the night), and EW&F's former top dog Shining Star- a falling star that dropped from 9 to 25.



Leading off the top 10, up two spots is Mrs. Waylon Jennings (or if you prefer, Jessie Colter) with her #1 country hit I'm Not Lisa. Up two to 9 is a song by veteran r&b man Joe Simon, his biggest crossover in his career, Get Down, Get Down (and no, after playing this, I still don't remember it. Sorry, Joe!). Freddy's got his new one coming, so he grabs a parachute and drops from 1 to 8 with Before the Next Teardrop Falls. In the cleanup spot, as is so often the case, is last week's # 10, Michael Murphy's Wildfire. Chicago edges up one with Old Days; Grand Funk Railroad does the same with Bad Time. Love won't let Major Harris wait; the hit by the former Delfonic jumps "4 big notches" as Casey used to say, to number 4. Linda Ronstadt gets a fair idea of when she'll be loved, as her latest moved up 2 to 3. Sister Golden Hair by America moved up one into the runner-up spot; and our brand new #1 is John Denver's live version of Thank God I'm a Country Boy.









The other new feature I'm modelling this week is "all those years ago"; a look at what was Number one 20, 30, years ago. On this week in 1990, the legacy band Wilson Phillips was tops with Hold On; 30 years ago this week, one of my least favorite offscourings of the disco era, Funky Town by Lipps, Inc., was number one; 40 years ago, the Beatles had come to the end of their Long and Winding Road (40 years? is that right?); 50 years ago, the Everly Brothers were Cathy's Clowns; and 60 years ago, the number one song had a neat little story to it. Movie director Carol Reed was putting the finishing touches on a movie called The Third Man which featured Orson Welles, among others. In a Vienna cafe, he heard a cafe musician of no fame named Anton Karas playing the zither. Inspired, Reed had this unknown musician do the entire score for the movie- with the result that no less an expert than Roger Ebert said, "Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'?" His version of the theme, just him and his zither, and a orchestral version by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, combined to sell an estimated 40 million records. Again I listened to both, and it's a catchy, wistful number, but alas once again one I didn't remember. Of course, being 12 years from conception at that point, I guess I do have an excuse.

Bits and Pisses, chapter 2

Let's start out with, on the way home, I saw my first longhorn steer. In a pasture on CR1000. I told Laurie if he was in he back seat (obviously a theoretical exercise and not a physical possibility), his horns would have points out both windows. Then, a mile or so later saw Mr. Bunny Rabbit.

Next, let's go on to the reason Pete Carroll and his basketball buddy Tim Floyd deserted the USC program when they did- a 30 scholarship penalty, vacating 14 wins from Dec. '04 through the 2005 season, and possibly losing the national title they "earned" against Oklahoma in the 2004-5 season. Funny how that Seahawks job seemed so much more attractive this year. I'm sorry, but I sense a certain amount of gutlessness about a guy who knows what's coming and ducks and runs. Kinda points to that character issue, and leadership coming from the top. Have a happy 2010-11, Lane Kiffin!

Not that I wanted to, but its time to give my two cents on the Big 12, now that its demise is beginning with the defection of Colorado to the PAC 10. Congratulations to the Buffs (and to whichever teams follow them into the PAC- whatever). You are now a member of a conference stuffed with dishonest bastards like the aforementioned USC Trojans, not to mention the worst elite conference referee crew around (the Big 10 refs ain't bad, they're just dishonest) and a fan base situated across the rockies, where nobody (again excepting USC and maybe UCLA) cares who you are on this side of the rockies. The Big 12 had become my favorite conference over the last couple years, but between the Mike Leach screw job, the firing of Mangino, and now this, maybe I'll just pay more attention to St. Francis this year. Word is the Big ten will grab Nebraska and maybe Mizzou, and UT, Tech, OU, Oklahoma St.,and A&M joining the big "let's get a big network deal and roll in $$$" party out west. Frankly, I'm disgusted. Big East, look out; you are no doubt next contestant in Consolidation Follies.

Thirdly, Hey Chicago whaddaya say? The Blackhawks are the North American champs after a 4-3 OT win in Philadelphia (home of the nation's lowest drinking age, apparently).

The 'Hawks go from last in division to NHL champs in 3 seasons. Philly goes back to being an overrated collection of goons bookended by Briere and Pronger. Enjoy your fluke playoff run this summer, because unless Leighton grows a clue over the offseason you won't be back soon.

And as promised, here's more about the 2 new KHL members, including proper spelling. HC Budivelnik is out of Kiev, Ukraine, and is the first Ukrainian team to play at an elite level in years. Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk is based in the eastern Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk, an oil-boom town of 54,000 about 1180 miles east of Moscow.

Finally a tip of the hat to Bob Sachs, president of Arden corporation. After reading the letter I sent him (see "the breaking strain" last month), he sent me a letter back thanking me for "sharing my concern" and updating me on the efforts being made to "minimize the problems we faced this year" in the future. I have said this before, and I'll say it again- no matter what I occasionally think of he company as a whole, Mr. Sachs is personally a very kind, very generous man. A lot of the nastiness began after the company went to the "bankers" to whom we sold our corporate soul, men whose only concern is who's making me my money. I do not number Bob Sachs among them.

Bits and Pisses

Lotsa little things to talk about today. First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their comments this week on the "time machine" column. And to Suzanne- I bow to you on the Partridge family thing. There is a certain song that they DO do, that I won't name to save myself any further embarrassment (A genuine Marvel Comics No-Prize to anyone who can figure out which) that I constantly confuse for no good reason with Burning Thing. A little more research would've served me well there.



Next, remember the story with Scrappy and Mr. Bunny Rabbit last week? Round to came the next day. Exact same location and circumstances. This time, Bunny follows the fence and takes a right at the bush, going through a hole under the fence. Beagle follows the fence as well, skipping the right and dashing on behind the bush. Upon figuring out that that was fruitless, he once again decided to try the ditch, oblivious to Mr. Chipmunk scurrying away on the other side. I do have to give him one credit, though, he was able to identify and notice a dead chipmunk Sunday (albeit after he walked halfway over it and backed up to see what it was). In the meantime, we have no more stopped to reflect that it has been a while since our last deer sighting when Laurie spots one standing in the trail through the fence row, watching us with more bemusement than the excitement we watched her with. So, the new animal count for the year is adjusted to 12 deer, 8 rabbit, and 2 chipmunk ( not the dead one; I remembered one I saw months back and forgot to tally).



Thirdly, Congrats to the Blackhawks on an exciting game 5 win in which they finally made Chris Pronger look less than invincible. Also, the Czech world cup win has suddenly made Czech players hot property in the KHL. Goalie Domenik Hasek ( a sure NHL hall of famer) signed on with Spartak in the biggest name news: others included former NHL star Petr Sykora travelling to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Extraliga's leading scorer Roman Cervenka joining countryman Jaromir Jagr at Avangard Omsk, and league champion Pardubice's head coach Vaclav Sykora becoming the new assistant at SKA St. Pete. And in other KHL news, the merger of MVD and Moscow Dynamo and the booting from the league of Lada Togliatti brings in two new teams, of which I will look up more later- Budyvanik and Yurga Khanty Mansijsk.



And I couldn't live with myself without wishing a happy retirement to Helen Thomas.





The announcement came after the White House Correspondents Association decried her remarks as "indefensible" and began to consider whether Thomas should continue to have the privilege of a front-row seat in the briefing room. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called her remarks "offensive and reprehensible" on Monday, as other former White House spokesmen called for Thomas to be fired.
The announcement Monday marked an abrupt end to a career that has spanned decades. Thomas, known as the dean of the White House press corps, has covered every president since Dwight Eisenhower. Her 90th birthday is Aug. 4.
The controversy escalated quickly over the weekend after the video surfaced online showing Thomas last month saying Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine," suggesting they go instead to Germany, Poland and the United States. The video, shot by New York Rabbi David Nesenoff, was posted on several prominent websites and prompted a swift apology from Thomas on Friday.
"I deeply regret my comments," she said in the statement, claiming they "do not reflect my heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance."



I am truly surprised that her employer didn't take into account her heart-felt beliefs before making this superannuated excuse for a journalist walk the plank. Rather than be unflattering to such a paragon of liberal ass-kissing and show a current picture, I found a slightly more flattering image:


I believe this was taken by Matthew Brady during one of the press conferences Lincoln held about the Emancipation Proclamation. I think her story had to do with transporting the freed slaves to Africa or Poland, but I could be mistaken.

Step into my time machine, week six

I'm supposed to be at work right now, but Friday left me exhausted, disheartened, and needing a break from the constant push-push. They tell us four or 5 more weeks of this garbage. It can't come soon enough.

Anyway, on to happier things. 11 top 100 debuts the week of June 7, 1975, along with 6 new top 40s and 2 new top tens- and another new number one. Among the new hot 100s that actually did something, we had Lynyrd Skynyrd at 98 with Saturday Night Special, Donnie and Marie coming in at 88 with Make the World Go Away, Aerosmith at 87 with Sweet Emotion- which would sputter out this trip and make a comeback after Dream On hit big- and Mac Davis with his original of Burning Thing, a song that would be more widely heard done by the Partridge Family and Kenny Rodgers. As we ease on up the chart, we see Sail On Sailor move a pair of baby steps to 70; then we hit the countdown's "biggest loser", Led Zepplin with Trampled Under Foot, having been trampled to the tune of a 37-notch drop to 65. Into the top 40 comes Carly Simon with Attitude Dancing, a song I didn't recognize upon playing and was not upset at my loss; Seals and Crofts with I'll Play For You, which sneaks into the big boys club after a creeping 12-week journey through the lower regions; Tanya Tucker with a song I'd forgotten about until I started time-machining, Lizzie and the Rainman, a really neat story-song that comes in at 38; Wings with Listen To What the Man Says, the biggest jumper in the countdown leaping from 69 to 37; BTO goes up 12 notches to debut at 27 with Hey You; and 3 notches ahead, Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony makes a similar move with the quintessential disco hit, The Hustle.

As we head into the top ten we look at the 2 dropouts. Former number one Jackie Blue fell to 19 this week. And though it seems like Only Yesterday the Carpenters peaked at 8, they fall this week to 22.

Number ten and climbing like wildfire 7 spots to land the leadoff spot, is Michael Murphy with Wildfire. Falling 7 to 9 is EW&F's former number 1, Shining Star. Climbing 4 spots to 8 is the number one r&b song by Major Harris, Love Won't Let Me Wait. Chicago claims the cleanup spot with Old Days going from10 to 7. Grand Funk's Bad Time moves up one to 6; Linda Ronstadt leapfrogs them, up 4 to 5 with When Will I Be Loved. Last week's top dog, Aces' How Long, drops to number 4. (thus, the answer to "how long?" is, one week.) America climbs two spots to 3 with Sister Golden Hair; John Denver does likewise to 2 with Thank God I'm a Country Boy. And it is tex-mex veteran Freddy Fender who ascends to the top spot this week 35 years ago with Before the Next Teardrop Falls.


Just a non music note before I go: To our animal sightings list we add a chase between Scrappy and Mr. Bunny Rabbit Thursday night (bunny went straight into a bush; dog decided to turn left and see if he wouldn't be easier to find in the ditch), and a sighting of Mr. Possum ambling along the fence row around midnight last night. So our updated sightings list is now at: 11 deer, 7 rabbits, two skunk, two possum, a raccoon, one needlessly panicking ground hog, a pheasant, and a black squirrel.