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Post by Siren on Jun 13, 2006 11:29:07 GMT -6
BOLL, Gams. I nearly spewed cereal all over my computer monitor. I don't think I ever told you my best pregnancy story. My mom was very pregnant with my oldest sister. Probably hadn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks. She and my dad are in bed, and Mama has finally found a comfortable position. Then Daddy says, "Hon, could you roll over? The baby's kicking, and it's keeping me awake." As my mom has said, "If I didn't kill him then, I never will."
Hundreds of little frogs?? How sweet! My mom caught a perfect, baby toad in the garden that was just a little bigger than a nickle. Absolutely adorable!
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Post by Phalon on Jun 14, 2006 9:49:57 GMT -6
Too funny, Siren. Your Dad and Hubs....men - pfft; sometimes they just don't get it, and things that come out of their mouths make my verbal flubs sound eloquent. A few days after BP was born, the whole pain of labor and birth all too fresh in my mind, he and I were sitting on the front porch. A minor procedure - just a snip here, another there to ensure I would not have to relive the pain of labor again - and he sat with an ice pack held on the area the snips took place. In all seriousness, he says to me, "This has got to hurt worse than childbirth." Grrrr. I love him dearly; we will be celebrating our twentieth anniversary in a couple months, but as your Mom said, "If I didn't kill him then, I never will."
My gun would not have been shooting blanks as that minor more-painful-than-childbirth procedure left him shooting, and the look I shot him could kill. Luckily, he ducked.
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Post by LMV's Old Account on Jun 15, 2006 18:51:01 GMT -6
well its winter where i am at the moment lol
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Post by Gabbin on Jun 16, 2006 22:57:52 GMT -6
Gads, Gams! You what the heck! Did you have the procedure on your porch, too? It sounds like the birth, the snips and the ice on the Antarctic regions were all going on while Bert, or whatever your neighbor's name is, was shuffling by. Gosh.
Siren-Those poor chickens. They should join those cute tadpoles, maybe they can metamorphosis into frogs or something. I love frogs.
Kat! Hello Kat. I just stopped in to do something, check my mail, I think. Oh, and rebuttal Games and haunt Siren a bit as well.
Seasons-Harrumph, Games. I don't let those old stogies of science mess with my mental seasons. Oh, no. Summer is heat and I am in heat...wait, let me rephrase that. The heat is on, it's on the street and, when my water hits the pavement it becomes steam and I got steam heat (that one for Siren). I went on a long 5 harpsichord minuet search and came up with this answer to a question nobody has asked yet.
Okay, here we go;
If June 21 is the day when we receive the most sunshine, why is it regarded as the beginning of summer and not its peak? And similarly, why is December 21, the day of least sunshine, the beginning of winter and not mid-winter day?
Blame the oceans, which heat up and cool down only slowly. By June 21 they are still cool from the winter time, and that delays the peak heat by about a month and a half. Similarly, in December the water still holds warmth from the summer, and the coldest days are still (on the average--not always! ) a month and a half ahead.
And what about our distance from the Sun? It, too, varies, because the Earth's orbit around the Sun isn't an exact circle. We are closest to the Sun--would you believe it? --in the cold wintertime, around January 3-5. This may have an interesting implication for the origin of ice ages, as will be explained later. It also ties to an interesting story of the unusually bright Moon of December 22, 1999.
So, there we have it. I still say it is Summer, Suzanne so don't ya blow your horn, Lena on me if your feeling sad about it, though.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 17, 2006 6:11:15 GMT -6
Being in heat always leaves me completely spent by the time it's over; such a draining experience.
It's turned hot here fast; yesterday nearly ninety and today predicted in the nineties. Working outside all day leaves me wiped. I'm not used to it, and prefer to ease into this slowly, not go from sixty to ninety overnight.
Off to work where I'm sure I'll melt.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 18, 2006 22:48:26 GMT -6
I love fall; it is my favorite season. But late spring/early summer runs a close second. Out on the trail everything is so lush; gobs and gobs of green canopy overhead as I zip through below. Lots blooming too, and I've got varieties of much of the same in my yard: cranberry viburnum, red-twig dogwood, the perennial geraniums, daisies...and wild phlox! I was pleased to see I've got some of that coming up next to the shed; it's amazing what'll come up on its own in untouched areas. Anemones though, dang, I've been looking for the wild species at nurseries for years, and can not find them.
There are tons of blackberries blooming out along the trail too. I never realized what a beautiful flower blackberries have, much bigger and prettier than raspberries flowers, and I couldn't tell the brambles apart until I saw them blooming. Mine at home don't have thorns; the wild ones do, but I'm sure it won't stop me from picking them when they're ripe. It reminds me of a quote, I heard, which I don't know the author, or the exact wording, and actually it's a rose that is being described, (eye roll); am I actually quoting? It works here though. "Some people complain that blackberries have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have blackberries." Can there be a better fruit?
And the temperatures of early summer! High sixties and low seventies: perfect. It lasted all of approximately two and three quarters days. Argh.
This weekend was summer's kick-off - Harbor Fest, the first festival of the season. That festival smell - greasy food you wouldn't normally touch with a ten-foot pole, but do, just cuz it's festival time. Free concerts at the marina - this year it was a Cajun/Zydeco band, and a trombone band, amazingly good at playing rock tunes, but unfortunately titled, "Bonearama" from New Orleans, and a local rock blues band.
Boats lined up and down the channel, listening to the music....yachts and sailboats; dinghies too. I though how fun it'd be with Gabs and Co. to zip in, out and around the field in our dinghy, creating wake where there is supposed to be none.
A "No Wake Zone", which means I should be sleeping.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 21, 2006 11:59:45 GMT -6
Outside plans put off all day due to the threat of storms. Pfft. Dark skies, but so far not a drop.
I did get out skiing this morning, and saw my first snake of the season. I've been waiting - watching for them, and eyeing every twig, stick and branch laying in the trail with suspicion. No black rat this time; remember that one from last summer? It was only a garder snake I nearly ran over today. Garter or garder? I'm not sure. Garter - just the thought of snakes wrapped around thighs is just too....<shiver>...scary. And restricting. Or is it constricting? Which? Tell me gently; I can take a little restrictive constrictaism, as long as it's not done with a viper's tongue.
Cuz snakes - ack! I've got a friend who has an acre or so planted with raspberries and blueberries behind her house. She always tells me I can come and pick all I want, but to be careful of the snakes.
I found out last week what kind of snakes she was referring to. Yep, it is the gargantuan black rat snakes which terrorize the berry pickers. She ripped out shrubs along the foundation of her house this year - beautiful roses and boxwood, for the sole reason that the black rat snakes used to sun themselves on top of the bushes, and freak her out every time she walked out her front door, staring at her with those beady black rat snake eyes.
Oh, and I thought a golden retriever bounding from the underbrush was a cougar this morning. I really gotta have LX stop watching Animal Planet. Or stop eating Mexican food late at night. (edited to add, 'or posting without proofreading first') Next thing, it'll be Katina's deadly enchiladas that are attacking.
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Post by fallenangel on Jun 22, 2006 19:46:34 GMT -6
Had a little rain shower come in today not sure if it helped or not . Calling for thundershowers tomorrow. Heres hoping for a cool down.
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Post by katina2nd on Jun 22, 2006 20:32:34 GMT -6
Lady P, I really worry about you, you just don't seem to be taking the "enchilada" threat seriously, and you do that at your own peril.
Let me ask you this, have you seen any "giant black River Rats with red glowing eyes" recently, and if not, don't you wonder where they've all gone, or, to be more accurate, what's driven them off.
I can only add, if you happen to see a small dark shape in the middle of the trail while out skiing at any time, perform the fastest u-turn you're capable of and go as fast as you can in the opposite direction, and the best of luck to you.
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Post by Phalon on Jun 23, 2006 6:00:04 GMT -6
Hey there, Yinyang. I imagine it's bordering on being unbearably hot where you are now, or if not, close to it. Hope you get your cool down.
Katina....Deadly enchiladas - pfft. Giant black rat snakes; they are but worms in the grass. Cougars - cuddly pussycats in comparison to the most recent Australian wildlife species making its way across the ocean. There is a new terror soon to hit the trails.
I saw a late breaking news flash on LX's beloved Animal Planet channel. Six ounces of pure deadly might - the dreaded Sugar Glider.
ACK!!!! God help us all.
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Post by katina2nd on Jun 23, 2006 8:51:10 GMT -6
Ah yes, "Whispering Death" we call em' down here, due to the way they noiselessly glide through the upper canopy of the forest in search of their prey, covering distances of up to a hundred metres in their "flights".
I tell ya Lady P, you have no idea how nerve racking it is walking through the aussie bush, with the constant threat of imminent attack from above and below; and don't even get me started on the Hairy Nosed Wombat, the rampaging Koala or the swooping Magpie, not to mention the giant Witchety Grub.
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Post by mabd on Jun 23, 2006 10:27:58 GMT -6
... and don't even get me started on the Hairy Nosed Wombat... Good to read you again!! I have always had a warm place in my heart for the Hairy Nosed Wombat. Humans often define periods of time by the dominance of one animal, say, the saber toothed tiger. The HN Wombat loves to eat paper, the finer, the better, and can live in the worst conditions. I figure that when the age of humans is over, the HN Wombat is our best hope for keeping some aspects of the human intact. Here's why. I suggest that there is a general consensus that Shakespeare is <fsvo> a better writer than someone like Danielle Steele. I further suggest that this means there are many, many more copies of Shakespeare's work and that they are often printed on better paper than Danielle Steel's stuff. Ergo, the HN Wombat will prefer (and eat) Shakespeare over Steel. This means the HN Wombat will, um, embody bits of the hierarchy of human knowledge.
Course, I came up with this way back when I used to watch roller derby while reading the Sunday papers...
Maeve
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Post by Scrappy Amazon on Jun 23, 2006 10:38:36 GMT -6
I've got a friend who has an acre or so planted with raspberries and blueberries behind her house. She always tells me I can come and pick all I want, but to be careful of the snakes. I found out last week what kind of snakes she was referring to. Yep, it is the gargantuan black rat snakes which terrorize the berry pickers. She ripped out shrubs along the foundation of her house this year - beautiful roses and boxwood, for the sole reason that the black rat snakes used to sun themselves on top of the bushes, and freak her out every time she walked out her front door, staring at her with those beady black rat snake eyes. Madam Phalon....tell her to put out moth balls where they hang out...or lay down some cedar chips...they'll stay away. Along with the mice and spiders etc...
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Post by fallenangel on Jun 23, 2006 14:46:11 GMT -6
I love your when animals attack stories. The sugar glider ? Isnt that the cute big brown eyed one or am I mistaken. My cool down arrived today in the form of much needed rain.Just in time for the annual seafood get together tomorrow. byb !!
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Post by Siren on Jun 23, 2006 19:34:37 GMT -6
We got rain, too, yinyang. Yay!! And a bit of a cool-down as well.
While y'all are talking about vicious nasties, how about chiggers? They're horrible here. But a little bleach in the bathwater after a walk in the brush gets rid of them before they get set in. Gotta check for ticks while you're drying off.
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Post by Gabbin on Jun 24, 2006 23:13:23 GMT -6
Ick Siren. I hate ticks. I have had two run-ins with them. They like my fine soft silky shoulders. They slowly make there way up my body and settle in there near the warmness on my back. Heebie jeebie time.
Wombats. That would be a good women's softball team name. Well wead wombats if they chew on Shakespeare.
Maeve-Why is your type so tinsy? Are you trying to type for wombats?
I remember the enchiladas. The only killer enchiladas I ever see are on the plate in front of me and next to the margaritas.
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Post by Gabbin on Jun 24, 2006 23:25:44 GMT -6
I whacked weeds in the wilderness today-a summer thing I do. No matter where you live you can help with trails and consevancy matters.
Today, noxious weeds. It was very interesting, though, and a beautiful area. One has to be careful not to cut down the Canadian thistle cuz it will spread more. Only cut down the thistle with thorny stem. And houndstonge. We were given cute little pick/shovels. I forgot my gloves and ended up with blisters popping away.
Someone on the trip brought two cute Scottie dogs with mustaches and bushy eyebrows. Very cute but tough on them. The poor pups had to hike a mile in dust and bugs and such.
I learn so much on these trips and, I get my yayas out.
Oh, yes, we punned weeds....
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Post by LMV's Old Account on Jun 25, 2006 7:36:28 GMT -6
*cries* argh In melbourne its either too *&^%(@&% hot or too*(&^%*%&$ cold argh
*%*LMV*%*
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Post by Gabbin on Jun 25, 2006 21:52:01 GMT -6
Yes, but you don't mind much anymore, Ms Fianceed (past tense new verb).
Our weed song was; Weed belong together, I believe. We called ourselves the Weedle Woman on the Praireweed.
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Post by LMV's Old Account on Jun 29, 2006 3:53:20 GMT -6
Looks at GABBIN * you know sometimes you are really funny and strange*
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Post by Gabbin on Jun 29, 2006 22:37:41 GMT -6
Yep, I know. Here, online, especially.
I love summer. The 4th is coming up, yeah.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 4, 2006 5:30:13 GMT -6
Gabbin, you didn't sing, "Why can't weed be friends, why can't weed be friends, why can't weed be friends? Why can't weed be friends?" repetitively as you waged War on those invasives? And then answer your own question, "No, it wouldn't work; weed never get along because you're so damned noxious."
Those invasives - argh. Here, most apparent because they are blooming now, are the Japanese multi-flora rose, crown vetch, and the dreaded purple loosestrife - all garden escapees. I'm pleased to see more and more people coming to the nursery seeking out native plants, once snubbed as being too ordinary and thought of as "just weeds", rather than showier imports.
Two of these native "weeds" blooming now both on the trail and in my garden are the American elderberry and milkweed. Ordinary? Pfft. Such beauty. Huge, flat cymes of white flowers cover the elderberry, and the scent of milkweed - sweet heaven.
And to ramble random summer-time thoughts further...
Lots blooming in the garden along with the elderberry and milkweed. This is my yard's two, maybe three weeks of glory - the time my gardens are at their best. I feel like inviting everyone I know by the house now, cuz after this short period, it's mostly a struggle to keep it all going when the drought starts taking it's toll, and before fall sets in, and things look good again. Blooming now, I've got butterfly weed - an orange cousin to the pink milkweed, creeping thyme, various early daylilies including the tall commons ditch lilies, yellow woodland oxe-eye daisies, shasta daisies, nepeta, salvia, yarrow - both yellow and red, and the teeny, tiny white flowering kind, low growing sedums, a couple varieties of coreopsis, coneflower - both purple and the new orange variety, Ladies Mantle and agastache. Am I missing anything....I'm sure I am. Ah yes - the roses! The Fairy roses - massive this year - they've grown well beyond their three foot limit, spilling over the edge of the bed, covered in hundreds of tiny, pale pink blooms. The Red Fairy - still a smaller plant I stuck in this spring, is not to be outdone by its larger sisters, and is putting on it's cherry-red show too. And the Seven Sisters has outgrown its trellis and threatening to take over the garage.
Sitting around the neighbor's fire-pit, drinking cheap wine. Roasting marshmallows for the kids to make s'mores, (ick - strictly a kid food in my book). Cleaning gooey faces with Mom Spit. Chasing fireflies in the dark.
Making bubbles, perfect orbs of iridescence, and watching them float over the house.
"Working" the holiday weekend pancake breakfast with the Girl Scout troop, busing tables and yakking with the tourists.
Roller-skiing in the woods. The deer-flies south for the winter, but they're back now. Irritating, I can not out-run them on skis, and they bite. Flying wings, like stealth fighters, they dive in for the attack, and follow me down the trail. Much worse than no-see-ems or mosquitoes. But aside from the mild irritant of the deer-flies - the exertion, the speed, distance, (four miles, Gabs; they've got the markers back up), along with the music and solitude being in the woods by myself - it's a very therapeutic thing for me.
And though I'm working today, holiday hours, and I've got time to hit the trail now before getting ready for work - if I hurry.
Later Sweet Taters; enjoy the Fourth.
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Post by Siren on Jul 4, 2006 14:47:21 GMT -6
A Independence Day celebration at the harbor. Sounds grand, Gams! And so different than dry, hot here. I went to nearby Bethany to take part in their parade, and will return a little later to help with the live entertainment before the fireworks. Last year, the burn ban made July 4th quite a bummer - no fireworks. But this year, though it's mighty dry, the grills are blazing, the hotdogs, steaks and burgers are sizzling, and the fireworks are popping.
Gams, my mom has an unknown "weed" that she nurtures every year. It grows tall, looks a bit like a Queen Anne's Lace plant, and blooms a beautiful purple - much prettier than some of her purchased plants.
Everyone be safe and have fun!
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Post by Phalon on Jul 5, 2006 17:44:56 GMT -6
Sounds like quite the busy Fourth for you, Siren.
We had a relaxing one here. Hubs took the girls to the parade; I missed that - I love parades. Work was busy, but not too busy. Afterward, we grilled out, had friends over for a small, but fun fireworks display. Marathong-turned-Triathathong friend's Hubs sold his classic Camero, and bought a Harley. I love the sound. Had my first ride on a hog - just a short trip around the block - but, damn, it was good.
Tonight is our town's big fireworks display over the lake. On the fifth? Why the fifth - no one knows. It's either because last year crowd control was a problem, (I read in this week's local paper, our town of five thousand tripled in size last Fourth of July. Funny; I never realized our town was that small), and they are hoping most of the tourists have gone home. I've also heard they are hoping most of the tourists will stay an extra day or so. And that the pyrotechnicians come half-price after the Fourth. <shrugs> Who knows. They change the date of Halloween at whim to cater to the merchants too. Argh.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 11, 2006 21:30:27 GMT -6
Rain, rain, rain. Yes, glorious, cooling, renewing rain. Damn, we needed it. It rains all around us, but with the shape of the shoreline, the fronts split, heading both north and south, missing us completely. We've had nothing for nearly two months but a brief five minute shower or two.
Not today though - it's been raining since mid-afternoon. Nice steady rain that everyone is rejoicing in. It didn't stop the customers at work; happily they wandered through the mud dripping wet picking out plants, or just enjoying the beautiful weather.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 16, 2006 22:39:48 GMT -6
I was sitting out on the porch this evening and it sounded like a gentle rain hitting the siding. Pfft. No such luck. It was stupid-@ss beetles flying into the side of the house - Japanese beetles. Argh - I hate them. They are pests in the worst degree; no natural predators, and they cause wide swaths of planticide wherever they chose to live and breed.
They rise from the ground, emerging from their grub stage when the weather turns hot. Ravenous creatures with insatiable appetites, they care about nothing other than eating and sex, and do both at the same time. Orgy-style, piles of them hang off my plants in a frenzy of mating and devouring every leaf in sight. There are plants in my yard completely defoliated; nothing but stems left. Other are left looking like weird hybrids - lace-leafed plants with only the veins and outer leaf edges remaining.
My Xena-Sis meticulously picks them off her roses and gets sick pleasure from drowning them in buckets of soapy water. I am not that thorough; I have too much in my yard to hand-pick them. Instead, I hope the purple-leaf sand cherry - their breeding central - will lure them off some of the other plants, and I spray the sand cherry with Sevin, gaining satisfaction that at least I've killed a few hundred.
Then I sit back and sigh while the rest of my garden is destroyed.
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Post by Siren on Jul 17, 2006 9:34:59 GMT -6
"Ravenous creatures with insatiable appetites, they care about nothing other than eating and sex, and do both at the same time. Orgy-style, piles of them hang off my plants in a frenzy of mating and devouring every leaf in sight."
What a vivid image that is, Gams! My goodness, what hedonists they are! That post could've had the disclaimer, "The following material is not suitable for all insect viewers. Parental grub guidance is suggested."
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Post by Phalon on Jul 20, 2006 22:00:00 GMT -6
Yep, no one under six legs admitted; a real insect brothel. All that pheromoning and groaning, and suddenly, "RAID!" The pupatety wagon comes and hauls them away.
Actually the whole sordid scene reminds me of something out of the insect world version of the movie, Caligula. Bluck.
On to more pleasant things. Feast or famine, and right now we are feasting in delicious rain. It's rained more here the past week in inches than it has all spring, I'd bet. Sheets of it came down last night, and by morning it was just a nice sprinkle. I could almost imagine seeing the grass grow - or at least turning a greener shade of brown.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 22, 2006 23:53:52 GMT -6
A beautiful, beautiful, oh-so-gorgeous day here today. Barely reaching eighty, a nice breeze and plenty of sunshine made it perfect weather. The customers were fun; regulars and tourists milling about and chatting, some staying hours it seemed, (No Ma'am, we do not serve coffee and doughnuts). A great day to be outside.
Now it's down in the high fifties; the air conditioner is turned off, and the sound of crickets chirping is wafting in through through the open windows. Lovely music for which to fall asleep. Goodnight Lovelies.
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Post by Phalon on Jul 31, 2006 23:59:36 GMT -6
Such a change in weather from the last time I posted in this thread.
The heat has officially done me in this past week. Actually, it's not the heat; it's the humidity. Envy those of you in those "but it's a dry heat" climates. BOLL - that one's for you, Scrappy. Sauna or oven - either way it feels like Hell.
And the Sinus Headache from Hell that Refuses to Die has now got a new buddy to plot with in the mission to drive me mad: The Ear Infection from Hell. Swimmer's Ear? I can hear the fluid sloshing around in there. Maybe that's my brain turned to mush.
I've fried my eyeballs in the sun. (eye roll) OUCH!
Wake me up when August is over.
Shhhh....Quiet down, Head. That throbbing is just a bit too loud. Don't ya know I'm trying to sleep.
Some pajama party this is. Pfft.
But at least I beat the girls in minature golf. HA! Even got a hole in one, (I minature golf as well as I bowl). Hubs won, but he kept score so I'm sure he played around with the numbers. (eye roll) OUCH!
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