Various and Sundry, June 24

From a traveling correspondent, I recently learned of Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, OR, which features a Voodoo doll doughnut: "Raised yeast doughnut filled with raspberry jelly topped with chocolate frosting and a pretzel stake! (characteristics of Voodoo Dolls are all different)," according to their website. Apparently, the store has been closed for 3 months but is opening again on the 4th of July, so that Portlanders can be patriotically pastrified.

In other travel news, you can Savor the Central Coast this September, including a wine tasting poolside at Hearst Castle. "You’ll feel like a celebrity as you sip wine under the stars and sample tapas beside William Randolph Hearst’s Roman-style Neptune Pool at historic Hearst Castle." Well, I don't know if I'd feel like a celebrity, but I do think it's pretty cool.

Hmmm...seems to be travel on my mind.

Not a lot of obits that caught my eye this week...with the exception of Bill Haast, a professional snake handler who died at the age of 100 of "natural causes," which begs the question, isn't a snake bite a natural cause?

A secret of his success was the immunity he had built up by injecting himself every day for more than 60 years with a mix of venoms from 32 snake species. He suspected the inoculations might have explained his extraordinarily good health, but he was reluctant to make that claim, he said, until he reached 100.

I don't think I'll try his technique.

Book bloggers will appreciate this rant. I can't do it justice with an excerpt. You'll just have to read it.

And finally, for some reason, I cannot get enough of this video. I can just imagine one of my cats doing this very thing.