Tillikum the Orca, Weather and Bowling.

Now I am hearing people say something should be done to the Orca Tillikum because he drowned his trainer. Why? He was captured and confined by humans, you can see by his bent dorsal fin that he is not a very happy camper, and we expect him to go against his nature. He saw his trainer lying on the slipway (not a recommended thing for trainers to do) her hair touched his rostrum, he instinctively thinks 'prey' and grabs. That's what Orcas do. Normally with baby seals or something, but the instinct is there and cannot be got rid of. Nor can you, as I heard suggested, just let him go; that has to be done very slowly and carefully as in the case of the whale from the Free Willy movie. Took several years and a lot of money. Obviously they can still get Tillikum to perform, just don't be stupid and lie on the slipway. Oh, and cut your hair. The picture shows Tillicum doing what they call a slideout which is where Dawn was lying down. Sounds like I have no sympathy for the tragic death, I do, but it sounds like she was putting herself in a very vulnerable position and should have known better.

We are still watching the weather and I have everything crossed. Mks typg dffclt. LOL. We got quite a lot of the white stuff over night, but nothing like the east coast. The skies still look as though they have more up there though. Its a 1 1/2 hour drive to Hamilton and we are hoping the ploughs and salters will have done their job. By the way, there may not be a blog tomorrow as I will be bowling in my tournament. I hope you too will have your fingers crossed for me tomorrow morning. The tournament gets under way at 9:30 a.m. We went on our travel league get together yesterday, meeting friends at the My Thai restaurant in Waterloo where I decided to have Pad Thai and Matt asked for barbecued beef salad. When it came, there was no salad as such, just a pile of very spicy beef. We ended up having a doggy bag and bringing it home, Matt found it too hot for him. He filled up on a couple of donuts later at the bowling alley. The travel league always gets donuts.

Well, I'm off for today. All I can really think of is the tournament and whether we will get there and how I will bowl.

I found another quick recipe from Kraft Kitchens for a carrot cake which is one of my favourites. Maybe I will give it a go later. For a dinner party maybe, I guess I really don't need the sugars.

Short Cut Carrot Cake 1 pkg. (2-layer size) spice cake mix 2 cups shredded carrots 1 can (14 fl oz/398mL) crushed pineapple in juice, drained 1 cup toasted chopped pecans, divided 2 pkg. (250 g each) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened 2 cups icing sugar 3 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping 1. HEAT oven to 350°F. 2. PREPARE cake batter as directed on package; stir in carrots, pineapple and 3/4 cup nuts. Pour into 2 (8-inch) square pans sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 25 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centres comes out clean. Cool 10 min.; remove cakes from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. 3. BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Whisk in Cool Whip. 4. STACK cakes on serving plate, spreading 1-1/2 cups cream cheese mixture between layers. Spread top and sides of cake with remaining cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with remaining nuts. Keep refrigerated. Servings: 18 Tips Substitute yellow cake mix plus 2 tsp. ground cinnamon for the spice cake mix. Extra For a special decorative design, use a toothpick to draw 4 diagonal lines across top of cake; sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup pecans along the lines.

Have a great day