From the home front: just a few observations and deep thoughts.
While we were on vacation, we had one of our neighbours come by every day to water, pick up the mail, etc. When I came back, strangest of the strange, one of my plants was missing. MISSING! There weren't any signs that it had been dug up (loose dirt or anything), and there weren't any short stems sticking up signifying it had been eaten by a passing deer. So I was quite confused.
I asked Sara, the neighbour taking care of our place, if she'd noticed anything. Not being on the lookout for wandering-off plants, she hadn't.
Hmmm....
Now its growing back. Apparently, the deer must have thought it extremely tasty and chomped it down to where there was nothing showing. Strange, because the identical plant just a foot away from this one hadn't been touched.

Deep observation #2: I hope algae isn't bad for you. Well, not you, but me. I hope it's not bad for me.
You know how when you leave your fishtank in the light for a while, it grows algae all over its walls and then it's all green and nasty? Well, my water filter pitcher is on its way to being so. Gross, huh!