The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind

And blow, it did. Pardon me for sounding like Yoda.

Last night Hurricane Zeta, or what was left of her, blew through north Georgia. Around 4 or 5 this morning we had some of the strongest winds I have ever experienced. Today many trees are down and many roads are closed.

We are fine. Our house and yard sustained no damage, but our next-door neighbor's Bradford pear tree was uprooted and currently is lying (laying?) across the sidewalk, partially blocking our street. The authorities are saying our highest winds were between 50 and 55 miles per hour, not extremely high as such storms go. The eye of what had been Hurricane Zeta passed very close to Canton on its way to somewhere else. Locally, one man died just a few miles from us when a large oak tree fell on the monile home where he was sleeping and he was crushed to death.

In other news, the pathology report on the biopsy of the growth over my left eyebrow confirmed that it is a squamous-cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer. I am having a consultation with the surgeon on November 9th to determine the next step, which will probably be to schedule what is referred to as Mohs surgery, named after the physician who first performed it. In Mohs surgery, a layer of skin cells is removed and examined under a microscope. If cancer cells are present, another layer is removed. The procedure is repeated until a layer is reached in which no cancer cells are present. I had never heard of Mohs but it apparently is quite common and its success rate for the treatment of both squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal-cell carcinoma (BCC) is 99 per cent.

And all these years I thought BCC meant blind carbon copy. Do not make me feel any older than I already am by claiming not to know what a blind carbon copy is, or carbon paper, or a typewriter.

Here, for your amusement and amazement, is Leroy Anderson's "Typewriter Song" performed by the Brandenberg Symphony (3:56).

You're welcome.

The rare song of the Secretary Bird

Here is a rare photograph of a Secretary bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) in the wild, taken by Yoky on 25 June 2008, at Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Hearing the song* of the Secretary bird is even rarer.

*song (sɒŋ), n., [Old English sang; related to Gothic saggws, Old High German sang; see sing] 1. (a) a piece of music, usually employing a verbal text, composed for the voice, especially one intended for performance by a soloist; (b) the whole repertory of such pieces; (c) (as modifier): a song book. 2. poetical composition; poetry. 3. the characteristic tuneful call or sound made by certain birds or insects. 4. the act or process of singing: they raised their voices in song. 5. for a song at a bargain price. 6. informal (Brit.) on song performing at peak efficiency or ability. songlike, — adj. (from The New World English Dictionary)

Today the readers of the rhymeswithplague blog have an opportunity that usually occurs only a few times in the lives of very few people, the opportunity to hear the song of the Secretary bird. Count yourselves among the fortunate.

Click here (1:51).