Of the puzzlement of the Human Skulls~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I'm feeling slightly better, but I still fall asleep at the oddest times.  Well Sis did say to me, and it was echoed by Doyle, if you feel sleepy lie down, now, don't fight it.  And they are right.  And with Belladonna and Weiner Dog snuggled next to me for extra body warmth it's a good thing.

Although in one of my waking moments Doyle asked out loud "What is up with all these Human Head skulls being found here and there?"

And he's right----in the last 18 months a total of 3 human skulls have turned up.

The first was in a recycling station in or near  Oakland,  nearly 6 months later another one was discovered on the side of Skyline Road in Oakland, on a paper plate with plastic mardi gra beads and now a day or two ago a 3rd found in a Homeless encampment also in Oakland.

I've reprinted the article here from the Contra Costa Times----
  by

Natalie Neysa Alund

OAKLAND -- A homeless man at a camp cleared by officials Thursday afternoon near downtown was found with what appeared to be a human skull among his possessions of arts and crafts, two shopping carts and tarps.

The man emerged from his large brown and gray tent with the skull in hand at about 1 p.m., surprising police and Caltrans workers evicting people from the camp at Seventh and Castro streets, underneath Interstate 980, authorities said.

"I couldn't believe it. It was crazy," said Rickie Terry, a Caltrans worker, who said he didn't spot the skull when he and others visited the site two weeks ago. He also said he didn't remember seeing a freshly-dug hole in the dirt about 50 feet away from the tent.

Later, the homeless man said he found the skull while digging in the area but refused to give his name or answer any more questions. Police did not arrest the man, but an officer said he did take down his personal information in the event they need to contact him.  

Another man at the camp, Chris Craner, 43, said they often dig holes to bury their garbage in the camp, but he had never seen the skull until Thursday.

"I would know about it if there was a skull here," Craner said, standing by three women -- one who held a white-and-brown spotted puppy. "We would all know about it because we're a close-knit group."

Police interviewed the camp's residents and sent a picture of the skull to the Alameda County Coroner's Office to confirm whether it was human. About 2:45 p.m., police and a coroner's assistance bagged the partially intact cranium and took it to the coroner's office, where it will be examined.

Police earlier had issued notices for the half-dozen people who live there to leave the site, which is owned by the state.

-30-

It was later announced that this skull was indeed human but of a Native American, the question is was it found there at the homeless camp or some place else, to be determined.

However with the two previous skulls no word has emerged about their situation or any follow up.

It seems that Oakland is becoming more macabre and Gothic than we imagined, Just think Darklings, just a short distance from all those protest marches was buried a human body, how little do we know what is under our very feet.

And now I'm feeling tired again and will take a nap, thank goodness Sis will cook dinner for herself,  Doyle and Brian while I'll have Wor Won Ton Soup that Doyle is going to pick up in 30 minutes.  It is nice to be pampered when one is ill.

 

Of Update on Doyle and Sharks' Teeth~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well I saw Doyle last night and was informed by the nursing staff that his fever finally broke and is now normal.

He was very drowsy, but managed to eat a bit of dinner, the diagnosis on the infection is epididymitis, trust me Boys you do NOT want this pain.  It can happen from anything, even a blow to the vital area's.

And Doyle wracked his foggy brain and realized that when he and another investigator went to talk to someone, that person was "out of it" and attacked them so they had to call the police and Doyle did get hit in the vital spot---so it had been building up until it finally flared.

But he said it did explain why he felt so tired on and off. 

So now intensive antibiotics, pain meds, he'll be in the hospital for most likely the rest of the week, and then follow ups.

But he is in good hands, and I hope to see an improvement with him today, it depends upon how much pain meds he'll need. 

I am still tired although I slept well last night, but still woke up tired this morning.  I hate that, it makes me feel very draggy.

Well it was nice to see a bit of interesting news in regards to the area where we live, paleontologists working along side a construction crew found fossils of a huge whale, shells the size of dinner plates,  Megaladon  sharks like "Bruce" and early mammals, one that's distantly related to the Hippo.

This all occurred in Silicon Valley in the foothills of Fremont, at the Calaveras Dam project.  The construction project did expect to find some fossils but nothing the size of this find, so they are going to put more people on it.

This is something that has been going on for some time, when there is a construction project either paleontologists or archeologists will work along side the construction workers.  And it helps map out the type of flora and fauna in this area.

Frankly I'm not surprised considering the findings when they drilled the 4th bore for the Caldecott Tunnel, its exciting in a way.

Now they will have to find a museum to house these finds, because it is a large "treasure trove".

Now I need to have my third cup of coffee and get my body back on track, such excitement in my family life one really doesn't need, it is draining as oppose to feeling uplifted. 

But at least Doyle is doing better.

Later Darklings 

Of Full Moons and Friday the 13th~~~~~

Yes Darklings,

Two posts in one day----well I just had to post this tid-bit for you.  Especially if you like to howl and Bay at the moon, which I and Sis might do later tonight.

Because this is a very special moon, its a Friday the 13th Full moon a rare event.  

Yes very Rare---for me to see this next Full moon I will have to live to be 102 years old.

I think I will try to do that, just to freak my nieces and nephews, of course my nephews will think I'm a crazy old hag, but I know one niece who will think I'm pretty "cool". 

So Darklings---it's a Friday Night, it's the Thirteenth, and there's a Full Moon----Get you Howling On!!!   AAARRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Later Darklings---I feel like running with the Wolves tonight.

Of the Heat, "Dancing like an Egyptian", Margaritas, Truck crashing into funeral holmes and Blood Tests~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well where do I start first???

I guess with the Heat, we had an unseasonable (although the weather man says it does happen) Heat wave here, and we are still getting through it.  There were some glitches with BART not much but enough to cause delays,  and the cooling system at work is so old it just could not handle it properly.

But at least we were out of the sun, the heat trapped in the "canyon's" of tall buildings makes it hotter, just blazing and inland it went to triple digits , it still high today.

Down in San Diego there having fires destroying homes, and we've been having problems as well,
I think the heat has affected some of the staff.  Our boss said it was O.K to play music on the radio to get our minds off of the heat, the next thing I Knew several of our staffers, Hank, Chris, David and Josh, went dancing across the room with towels on their heads like Ancient Egyptians and were dancing to "Dance Like an Egyptian", you know with all those crazy stiff arm movements, and then Brenda brought out non-alcohol Margarita's Lots of Ice.  It tasted good,  the boss gave up and said "If you get some work done I'll over look this."  We did, but it was fun.

I wore my long cool black cotton clothing, wore a black straw hat, used Neutrogena's Sun Screen at SPF 100 level and also used my black parasol, this pale skin is not going to get a tan, I do have to look my Elderly Gothicness.

If any of you have seen my earlier posts about Dark color clothing being able to block the sun's rays, do re-read it.   And I bought several bottles of Neutrogena's SPF 100 Sun Screen, Summer is starting early and the heat is making people crazy, even me.

There has been a lot of grief in the news and a few surprising things, but I think one of the more bizarre is a truck delivering supplies to a Starbucks lost control and crashed into a 90 year old Funeral Home, the truck caught fire and burned up the outside stucco of the building but nothing was damaged inside----as least no deceased customers had an unexpected cremation, and the person who lives above the funeral home and is a caretaker (a woman) was not hurt, the driver and passenger survived with minimal injuries.

The owner of the family owned and run funeral home, said that the Stucco facing prevented the fire from spreading and gave the firemen time to get there and prevent it from doing interior damage.

I've always remarked to people who drive pass me at a high rate of speed "Slow down, they'll hold the funeral for you!"  But Starbucks and a funeral home????  I love the bizarreness of it.

Well Coralline and I have chosen the nail polish color for Summer, she insisted I not wear a very dark color for the Summer Months, telling me that after Labor Day it would be perfectly alright.

I, of course, raised my eye-brows at this edict but decided to see where this would lead,  Well for Mother's day we got to my Brother's house for the Bar-b-Que but it looked like the grill was going to be fired a bit later in the evening and frankly with the weather it worked out just fine. 

Where my brother lives there's a CVS less than a block from the house, so making sure Doyle, the dogs and our elderly neighbor were comfortable, Coralline and I took a walk and there we looked at all the newer nail polish colors being offered for the Summer.

Most of them were too bright or glittery for me and I wasn't happy with the grey greens, and Coralline didn't want me to wear reds or corals or bright greens so we were looking at the blue palette and finally with the ESSIE brand we settled on two colors both a sort of Periwinkle Blue but one was slightly lighter than the other, I settled for "Boxer Shorts" and Coralline went with "Teeny Bikini" (the lighter color).

The shade is just right for Gothicness with a Summer bent, darkish but not too dark and not to light, Summery without being dull.  Coralline gave her whole hearted approval.  And at the Schools she's at for the last few weeks, they will permit color nail polish, and bright and fun hair clips, with the School Uniform. 

Frankly the color goes with almost everything I wear from blacks, greys, dark blues, dark purples, deep maroons.  So I'm all set as they say.

The bar-b-que was hosted by my brother and Doyle and the Boys, us women folk did not have to lift a hand, they even did the clean up although Coralline did have to help, after all she said "Its Mom's Day".

My Sister had a lovely time visiting her children and Brian had a chance to see his kids as well, but I do have to say on the way there and back we saw a lot of places with long lines of people waiting to eat.   Thank goodness the weather was great for a bar-b-que.

Then the Heat Wave---Oy Vey!!  and the Silliness Oh Boy!! But what can you do??

I took today off from work because I had to go to the lab for fasting blood work, Doyle is having a problem with the car, it was the starter motor, so here I am fasting, fasting, getting a headache, getting light headed and all I can do is drink water when I'm dying for coffee and a aspirin.

And because of my light headedness I don't dare drive, so Doyle calls the repair shop and has the car towed in and fortunately its near the hospital, so the owner loans his car to us and Doyle drives me there and when I get there the lab has moved, so I've got to walk a block and a half in the heat, for some vampire to take blood out of me,  But she made it painless remarking how nice and hydrated my veins are, and loved the color of my nail polish and where did I get it. 

Well that was nice.

 I had taken my coffee that I had made and put into a heat container, with me, as soon as I gave 3 vials (one was large) of blood and the Urine sample, I started gulping that coffee ignoring that it was still hot, it tasted so goooooooooooodddddd and topped it with an aspirin.  

We drove back to the repair shop and miracle of miracles they had a spare starter motor in stock and we were on our way, but Doyle did take me to lunch at our old retro-favorite the Merritt Coffee Shop, and even though it was lunch time I wanted Bacon and Eggs with whole wheat Toast---I know heart-attack city---But there are times when I don't care.   

Now I'm unwinding, Sis called and said she was picking up the fixings for a nice spinach salad with the pre-cooked grilled shrimp from Trader Joe's, We all ready had lavender Lemonade on ice, and Doyle took the insulated bag with some blue ice to buy Lime Sherbet for dessert.  

Tomorrow night we are going to the Friends of the Library Book Sale out at the old Navy Base, I'm so looking forward to that, one never knows what treasure one will find.

And now I'm going to flop on the couch with a fan on me, we have a box fan at floor level for the dogs and we are going to get cool and nap till dinner time.

Remember My Darklings Neutrogena SPF 100 Sun Screen.

Of a Crazy End to 2013 and a Crazy Beginning to 2014~~~~

Well Darklings,

I don't know about you but I have a feeling that if this last week is any indication I feel that 2014 is going to be a crazy year, bizarre, unbelieveable, strange and well I don't have any more discriptive words come to mind at this time but I'll think of a few.

First on the Family front----nothing insane or crazy Thank Goodness!   We took Coralline home on New Year's Day after having a very nice breakfast after mass.  Traffic was very light, reminds me of what traffic was like back in the 1950's (yes Darklings I'm THAT old).

My brother was having New Year's dinner at his house, family and friends coming over, the games banished to the Garage, my sister-in-law's doing, she was going to have sanity in her home, while dinner was cooking, of course the men folk had to drift in and out because the garage is Not heated,  then the rule was when dinner is served all games are off and not put on afterwards, she even unplugged the portable T.V. sets and locked the garage, which meant that the men folk Had to make conversation and use their brains.

I Really Like my sister-in-law.  But it made the evening so very nice and people re-discovered the art of conversation, my Cousin Louise also came and it was good for her to re-connect to some of the family, Brian had been invited over to some friends house for the day and my Sister wouldn't be home until sometime Thursday morning.

But the house when Doyle and I returned home was a little quiet when we got in,  my brother and his family were going to visit and stay for a few days at a Aunt's house of my sister-in-law whom they hadn't seen in some time, and were up there in years, and the children start school next Monday. 

But the next Day Sis came home and immediately went to her old office to pack up her files and other more fragile things and move them to her home office,  I was at work all that day helping staff catch up on the back log and put in a very long day, Doyle was at his office as well also putting in a very long day and seeing about assignments,  so when I had a chance to call Sis I said "no cooking, we'll have our old stand by.."   (Yes Darklings---Chinese take out).

Sis had a chance to tell me what she'd had completed and asked if I could help today, of course I said yes, so today, early we were back at her office, the movers showed up and moved her office furniture to her house and got it settled in, it wasn't much and they were very efficent and it made better sense to have them handle it as we knew we couldn't do it and Brian and Doyle would be working. 

So now Sis's home office is set up, we're taking a break right now and then back to it to put her files and books and such in order and exactly where she wants them.  And on Monday she will be working from home, it took time and paper work to set it up but already I can see that she is much happier about it.  It is her own space, and designed the way she wants it.  Even I can see that it is a big improvement.

Brian is still going to be renting a room from her given that her house is almost as large as mine, she has enough space to have her children visit and it not be crowded.  I am very happy for her and she can still drop over anytime she wants, since I've given her a key to my home and she's given me a key to hers.   But she did need her own place and this is perfect.

Ahhh but about Crazy Endings and Crazy Beginnings----well Darklings I'm talking about UFO's, Twins and Skull's.

Just the day before New Year's people from all over California from Sacramento, Stockton, Auburn and as far South as the Hollywood Hills reported seeing possible UFO sighings of a formation of 6 objects flying in a triangular formation, hovering and then suddenly zooming off at a high rate of speed.  The FAA of course said that there was no unusual aircraft activity in those area's but people had captured video and cell phone shots of these unknown objects.

Then the day before in the Salinas Valley a photographer in an air plane spotted an unusual and intricate Crop Circle that seemed to spell out the numbers in binary code 192,  the farmer didn't have clue what was happening until he saw people with ladders near his field taking photo's,  two men had been driving near the field late at night and saw flashes of light over the field and took a video of it before the crop circle was discovered the next day.   After a day or two the farmer had enough and immediately harvest the crop to prevent damage and any injury by on lookers.

Twins were born only a few minutes apart but in different years,  the first baby a girl was born just a minute before midnight Dec. 31, 2013 and her sibling a brother was born a minute or so after midnight Jan. 1, 2014.   The parents say that each child will have a separate birthday party.   I think an astrologer is going to have fun with that.  And the sister can rightfully say "I'm older than you are..." nyaa, nyaaa. 

But the strangest was the discovery of a human skull in the Oakland Hills, just off of Grizzly Peak Blvd.   The skull was found sitting on a paper plate surrounded by beads (possibly Mardi Grah type beads).  The police had received a tip about the location of this bizarre find and found it to be where the tipster said it would be.  The skull is said to be old, but not Native American----there are here and there and espeically in the Gold Rush Country old abandon cemeteries it is possible that it could have come from there. 

Now this is the 2nd skull to turn up in over 6 months, the first one was found in a Oakland re-cycling center and nothing further has been found in regards to that earlier find, and now this.  Also over 6 months ago, some sort of voodoo ritual involving a pig or lamb's heart was found in a cemetery in Colma, pinned to the heart was a picture of a young couple---a curse?  Who knows.

All of this just tickles my dark gothic heart,  I think of Anton LaVey was still alive he'd find it most amusing.

I mentioned this to Sis and she has found it to be absolutely fasinating.  And tonight a new episode of "Dracula" will be on T.V.  I'm not sure how this show is going to develop but I'm also said that the last 3 episodes of "Sleepy Hollow" will be coming to end it's first season,  I find that the writers are having a lot of fun with early American history and old legends.  I must add "Sleepy Hollow" to my collection. 

And my Sister is calling me, she wants to have her office ready, so I think I'll call Doyle to pick up our old standby again.

Later Darklings and may you have an interesting 2014.

This is the crop circle that appeared just before Dec 31, 2013 in Salinas Valley.