Bats, witches, and ogres

So the E-i-C and I have a new procedure, for days when she works in the City, wherein she parks the car near the Spawn's day care and drops off the Spawn in the morning, and takes the train in to work; and then in the evening, I take the train to the day care, pick up the Spawn, and take the car home, while the E-i-C takes a different train home. It's all very efficient. But that's not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is that because of this new setup, the Spawn and I were driving a few blocks through Golden Gate Park right after sunset, and there was a multitude of bats flitting over the street, one after the other, all the way from Sunset Boulevard to 44th Ave. So neat!

When I was a pup, on summer nights (yes, I am aware that it is currently November, but we here in the Bay Area are experiencing what the news media call a heat wave) my friends and I would go out at twilight and grab cut wood from the Grants' woodpile and throw it into the air at the bats. With marvelous dexterity, they would swoop in to the spinning logs, attracted by the sonar reflection they made, and dodge them just by inches. Never once saw a bat accidentally hit one, but they came soooo close. I've been fascinated by their aeronautical prowess ever since.

The Spawn's rash was completely gone by the time I got her home today. Toldja so.

With dinner, while watching today's sumo digest, I enjoyed a bottle of Van Steenberge's Witches' Brew, which is apparently a seasonal special and not featured on their website. 750 ml * 9.3% alc by vol = 70 ml of PURE ETHANOL, BABY. Consider me fueled.

Did I mention sumo? My favorite, Goeido, is not doing so well, at 1-5 so far (out of 15 matches in the tournament), and I am afraid he might be demoted from his new komusubi rank. On the other hand, everybody's favorite class clown Takamisakari is doing very well at 5-1, and is really doing a great job of using his upper body strength to overpower his opponents. As they say in the interviews, he's doing his "own brand of sumo." The E-i-C's favorite, "Estonian man-mountain" Baruto, is doing very well also. She likes him because he's such a gentleman - he always helps his opponent back up, doesn't get angry when defeated, and generally has a kind face and a sweet disposition. This despite being 198.0 cm (6' 6") and 177 kg (390 lbs). That is ONE. BIG. MAN.

Aaaand, tomorrow's sumo is on. Gotta go.