My thoughts and prayers:

Yahoo! News: Death Toll From India Monsoon Almost 700:

Rescuers scouring flood-ravaged neighborhoods and outlying villages found dozens of new bodies on Friday, pushing the death toll from record monsoon rains in western India to almost 700, officials said.

Some 370 of the dead were from Bombay and the surrounding area in Maharashtra state, said N. Nayar, an official at the government’s emergency control room in Bombay.

India’s financial hub was pounded by two days of unusually heavy monsoon rains this week, including one day marked the heaviest single day of monsoons in India since record keeping began a century and a half ago.

Old news, but worth posting about:

CSMonitor: Asteroid headed our way:

>NASA researchers have begun considering whether the US needs to tag the asteroid, known as 99942 Apophis, with a radio beacon before 2013. Timing is everything, astronomers say. If officials attempt to divert the asteroid before 2029, they need to nudge the space rock’s position by roughly half a mile – something well within the range of existing technology. After 2029, they would need to shove the asteroid by a distance as least as large as Earth’s diameter. That feat would tax humanity’s current capabilities.

Our band had a practice last night, for the first time, as a full band, in many, many months. Rusty, but it felt good. Between now and the music fest we should be back to fighting shape. To have an idea of our sound, check out Second Chance. We had plans to do many more recordings and shows, but after last year’s music fest, we kinda fell apart. I think we had five full practices in the last year. Now six. It will be good getting together for this one show and cause.

On September 15th 2001, just four days after 9-11, our nephew, Hunter, 3 and 1/2 months old, passed away from SIDS.

As a response, my brother’s family started the Sleeping Angels Fund to help families who cannot financially afford a burial memorial after losing a child so young. Sleeping Angels will be holding its second annual music fest in ten days, August 5th and 6th. Various bands across our area will be playing to help support the fund – including – possibly – my own on August 5th. I hope to see you there.

We seem to be having more fireflies in the neighborhood this year and my yard is no exception. I love fireflies. Yes, as a kid I stupidly caught some and kept them in a jar, with holes in the lid, so that they could breathe. Never again. But I still can’t help catching them; marveling in their beauty and delicateness, and watching them fly away.

The other day I caught one while outside with Xena, our dog. I couldn’t help but show her. Carefully cupping my hand, and whispering to Xena to “leave it”, she approached looking at the blinking bug in the palm of my hand. She sniffed carefully, stepped back, and came forward to sniff again – keeping her eyes on the firefly as it glowed. Then its wings spread – and Xena’s eyes opened wide in amazement – as the firefly took flight. Xena followed it with her head at first. Then she followed it – not chasing to catch – as it reached our fence, flew thru it, and then away.

Mom is now breathing, eating and drinking on her own. While she is still fighting pneumonia, she is far more stable and can now communicate fully with us. Thanks for everyone’s well wishes and prayers.

Thanks to those offering their thoughts and support. An update: Results from mom’s CT scan came back and indicate she has a moderate sized Pleural Effusion. They will be doing a Thoracentesis to test the fluid to see if it is related to her pneumonia or something else. They will not remove her tubes until this is resolved. What scares me is, from what I understand, removing an intubation tube is not a sure thing.

Dante and me spent some time with her yesterday. While she is with it – it is still impossible to communicate. They have her partially sedated since she is so restless – and who wouldn’t be in such a situation. Across the ICU, we could see family who I have observed in the waiting room these past few days, consoling one another. Their loved one passed away.

Boffins create zombie dogs | The Other Side | Breaking News 24/7 – NEWS.com.au (27-06-2005):

Scientists have created eerie zombie dogs, reanimating the canines after several hours of clinical death in attempts to develop suspended animation for humans.

US scientists have succeeded in reviving the dogs after three hours of clinical death, paving the way for trials on humans within years.

Scary. That picture they have there doesn’t help either. The thing of nightmares.