Rear Ended on Ben White Blvd., and There is a Dead Rodent in the Room of Music and Contemplation

A few days ago I was stopped at a rather long stoplight in my neighborhood, just minding my own business and listening to a podcast of a couple that had deconverted from LDS (and xtianity) (and one of the influencing factors was a cosmology class taught by Gregory Benford that one of them took) (and note, in subsequent podcasts, they turned off the fan in the room, so that the sound quality is better)

Well, so anyway, there I am stopped at the light when "THUNK!" my car is hit from behind. I didn't hear anything break, but I did want to check, but as we were in the middle lanes (one that could go straight or turn left), and the light was about ready to change, I looked in the rear view mirror, pointed left, and the woman who hit me nodded. So, I'm just hoping that she will turn, because since she is behind me she could easily just keep driving, and there would be nothing I could do about it.

She does follow me, and we turn into the parking lot of a 7-11. As soon as we get out, I say to her, "I don't think you did any damage, but I just wanted to check."

It was a very hot day -- 103, and she was flushed and sweating, and she said, "I'm so sorry, I was stopped, and my nose started to bleed and I reached down to get a tissue and "bam!" There is no damage to either car. Her license plate was from Alaska -- she said she'd just gotten to Austin. I asked her if she was o.k. and if she had some water to drink. I was ready to march her into the 7-11 and buy her some juice or water, but she said she was o.k. and she did have water, so I thanked her for stopping and we went on our merry ways.

We just started letting the cats out again this week (Yuki had dental surgery a few weeks ago, and I wanted to protect our investment), and when I woke up this morning, the first thing I noticed was a dead rodent in the Room of Music and Contemplation. (too large for a house mouse) I am waiting for Scott to wake up to take care of this, but if he sleeps much longer, I think I can handle it. Yuck, I think we might go back to being inside cats. My preference is to keep them in, but it's hard to fight against one Scott and 3 felines.