First of all, I dunno why but this octopus stuff just cracks me up. I’m not the best word nerd on earth but I am just geeky enough. Er, well, and, er, yesterday ol’ JCB (aka My Webguy + Sam the Archaeologist’s husband) got on to BoingBoing, so I guess it’s just a bouncy kind of day. Boing. Boing. Boing.

Anyway. Octopus. Octopi, octopuses, octopodes, octopolis, octopussy. I took this photoooo of an ice shanty the other day at Houghton Lake here in the Great Lake State. Googlemap it if you want. It is *not* the Houghton up in Da Yoop where engineers go to school (my bro’ and DogMomster went there). It is a beautiful vacation spot three hours north of Megalopolis where the cFam has owned a cabin since the 1960s and I took the photo from a lake access point about a quarter mile down the road from the cFam cabin.

There are no octopodes in Houghton Lake. Mostly it’s the usual northern Meecheegan type of fish. Walleye, pike, bass, bluegill. Once there was a piranha though! It was a number of years ago and I read about it in the Houghton Lake Resorter. I can’t exactly remember the details, but it was summer and a fisherman apparently got a bite and then the fish kind of flew out of the water with its teeth hanging out. He took the [dead] fish to the Michigan DNR, who confirmed that it was a piranha. Not a native fish. A fish that someone had been keeping as a pet. And, for whatever reason, that person let it go in Houghton Lake. A northern lake that freezes in the winter. Not a good environment for a piranha. I hate when irresponsible people obtain pets that they can’t take care of and I feel sorry for that piranha but that would be a whole nother rant that I don’t want to do tonight.

Back at work full time today. The sun rose as I was on my way to work and set as I was on my way home. I am always conflicted at this time of year. In a way, like most people, I want more light and I look forward to spring, or what passes for spring here in the Great Not-so-white North. On the other hand, I sort of love the dark time of year. I think that a lot of the holidays we celebrate started out because people tried to introduce light and warmth (and fun) into a dark, cold time of year.

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