The Witless Wanderer

Memorial Day, May 30, 2011

2011-05-31T00:00:00.002-06:00

or
Why I'm Glad I Haven't Gotten My Tomatoes Planted Yet.

The Girls Are Back in Town

2011-02-04T01:58:00.003-07:00

Sachi is looking lovely playing "Me and my shadow."

Kitsu, as usual, is the responsible one, keeping sharp eyes on everything.

I am a lucky human to be under the supervision of such superior cats.

Keeping That Christmas Spirit

2010-12-17T23:16:00.005-07:00

What's a person to do when someone drives a car through the brick wall surrounding their yard

I've got to admire their Christmas spirit - and their sense of humor.

The Last of the Tomatoes

2010-10-25T17:51:00.005-06:00

Picked the last of the tomatoes Saturday in the rain

Here's why.

Awoke to a chill vista this morning. Brrr...

Here are the tomatoes:

Way cool MutantMater - front and rear views.

Floral Interlude

2010-09-29T00:23:00.002-06:00

Sunflowers from my back yard.

A Serious Question

2010-09-22T16:52:00.003-06:00

The fancy-dancy Italian hotel I'm staying in has no Kleenex. I've asked convention attendees who are staying in other places if their hotels have Kleenex.

Nope.

Went to a pharmacy, asked for Kleenex. They had a few of those little plastic travel packets, but no boxes of facial tissues.

What do Italians do when they have a cold?

(Do I really want the answer to this question?)

Lost in Siene

2010-09-21T05:12:00.003-06:00

This week I have been wandering witlessly in Italy; some days more witlessly than others.

Yesterday I went on a group tour of Siene and was looking the wrong way when my tour group moseyed on down the pike. I turned around and they were nowhere to be seen. Ah well, no biggie; I knew where and when we were to have lunch.

I wandered around on my own for a while then, a bit before the group was supposed to dine, I turned up at the trattoria.

"Scuzi," I asked the lady who seemed to be on duty, "has my group arrived yet?"

"Group? No group. How big?"

"About fifty people."

She looked appalled. "No! No room! No group!"

Darn! I must have gone to the wrong restaurant. "Gratzi," I said, and headed out to find the right place.

Up and down the street, nothing looked right. Maybe I was on the wrong street. They all looked pretty similar to me. I went down a connecting street to the parellel street. Up and down the street, still no restaurant or sight of my group.

I turned into another alley and, down at the far end of it, saw the tour leader hustling by with the big guy in the white and blue striped shirt. Unfortunately, by the time I popped out on the right end of the alley, they were gone.

I followed in the direction they'd been heading, but never saw hide nor hair nor raised red umbrella (our tour guide's "follow me" flag.) I started going around each block, around and around and around, until I was so dizzy I didn't know in which direction I was pointing. I went into a bookstore and bought a map to try to figure out where the heck I was.

Yup. Should have done that sooner. I was way the far end of the town from where I was supposed to be. I walked to the place I thought the bus should be. No bus. It must have gone to some remote parking spot to wait out the day.

Since I had no way of contacting the tour group, I sent a text to the Engineer: "Lost tour group. Will wait where we met tour leader near public toilets. If I miss them will take public bus back to Florence."

So I hauled my sorry, footsore self back to the spot I knew the tour would pass on their way to the bus pick up and hoped like heck I wasn't already too late.

About 20 minutes later, I saw a red umbrella bobbing above the sea of tourist heads. The tour leader ran up to me, shouting, "Where were you? The man said you were at the restaurant and then you left! Where did you go? I called everyone!"

Guess I should have gone back to the same restaurant again.

I sent the Engineer a one word text message: "Found."

When we got back to Florence, everyone knew I had been lost. The tour company had given a message to the head of staff who had relayed it to the Engineer, whose response had been to say, "Okay," before continuing with his business.

"Didn't you get my texts?" I asked.

He pulled his phone out of his hip holster and looked at it. "Oh."

Shows how worried he was.

P.S. No photos until I get home; BabyDell doesn't have the brains or the memory to handle them.

Test Your Knowledge - Wildflower Quiz

2010-09-11T01:17:00.002-06:00

Saw this quiz on High Altitude Gardening and had to try it.

Woo-hoo! Got a 100!

Test Your Knowledge - Wildflower Quiz

Snoozy Sister Cats

2010-09-11T00:55:00.003-06:00

Queen Kitsu Upon Her Throne

2010-09-09T01:29:00.001-06:00

You may kiss the paw.

Camouflage

2010-09-03T22:56:00.002-06:00

He's got it!
And cute blue spots too.

The Tomatoes Are Finally Ripening

2010-08-31T22:26:00.003-06:00

Black tomatoes, an heirloom variety, either Krim or Black From Tula.

Better Boys, my insurance tomato.

Sun Sugar, best cherry tomato ever.

Backyard Grapes

2010-08-31T21:09:00.001-06:00

Not ripe yet, but soon... soon...

Who Needs a Pot of Gold?

2010-08-29T23:00:00.003-06:00

It's just a little glimpse of a rainbow,

but somehow it makes everything seem better and brighter.

The world needs more rainbows.

How to Make Friends With the Neighbors

2010-08-20T23:40:00.002-06:00

It rained big time yesterday. About eight-tenths of an inch in 15 minutes. Not at all typical for Utah. It was windy too. One of the big quakies couldn't stand all the excitement and dropped over -- right on the next door neighbor's house.

She's a lovely, seventy something widow. I really did not want to drop a tree on her house. She didn't answer her phone, and when I called her workplace she'd just left. Darn!

So I called my tree guy, who, because Murphy rules, had just been out the day before working on the trees.

"Rick! Tree emergency! One of my big quakies just fell on my neighbor's garage."

He was right in the middle of cutting a tree off of a poor squashed car, but when he was done, he sent his guys on over with the cherry picker.

Then my neighbor called me and said she'd gotten home a little bit ago. Her garage door was only partially blocked, so she'd driven on in and parked. She hadn't called until her work had called her cell phone and let her know I was looking for her because, "I wasn't worried, I knew you'd take care of it." She's a good (and trusting) neighbor.

While the guys were waiting for Rick, who had the chainsaws in his truck, they roped up the tree so it wouldn't do any damage while it was coming down and cut off as many branches as their loppers could handle.

They waited...

Patiently.

Then Macho Time!

I don't think this technique would be approved in chainsaw safety class.

Don't chainsaws bring out the testosterone in a guy?

Fortunately, the tree had toppled over slowly and there was no damage whatsoever to the neighbor's house.

The same can't be said for my tree. Here's all that's left of it.

Men and Towels

2010-08-18T23:57:00.005-06:00

These are my kitchen towels. The Engineer is forbidden to touch the white one. I bought the black one for him so that I could pretend I don't know the truth. Every time he comes into the house, he walks straight to the kitchen sink and washes his hands. Such a cleanly fellow. Then he goes to the kitchen towel and dries them. Before I got the black towels, he turned all the white ones gray and brown and black.

I think what men do is only wash as far as the wrist bone. They get wet farther up their arms, though, and go ahead and dry the whole area, thereby placing all of the dirt above the soap line onto the towel.

Ick!

What I haven't figured out is how he does it to his bath mat. The only time he puts his bath mat on the floor is when he's taking a shower. As soon as he's dried off the towel goes on one rack and the bath mat on another.

So why does it have these big orange splotches on it? And, yes, I have tried bleaching it.

The more I wonder about it, the more I don't want to know.

There is a solution. I've already put it into effect: brown bath mats.

And don't think about it.

Soft Blue Lupine

2010-08-18T00:49:00.001-06:00

Tiny Yellow Flower

2010-08-17T01:37:00.000-06:00

Silly Human

2010-08-16T00:00:00.001-06:00

I was surfing the web and my computer got a little slow. Then I realized my hard drive was making that dreaded thrashing sound.

Evil Language! Had I picked up a virus or something?

So I shut down all of my processes and turned off the DamnMachine (that's my computer's name.)

The on light went off.

The noise continued.

What the heck?!?!?

So I synced my ears and my brain and actually listened.

It was crickets.

Guess I'm living up to my blog's name...

The Creek

2010-08-13T23:54:00.002-06:00

Making Friends

2010-08-11T01:20:00.002-06:00

I was all alone in the cabin one afternoon when I heard noises. Though I got up and walked around, looking for the source, I couldn't figure out what it was. I returned to the dining table and my book, but after a while had a creeping feeling of being watched. Turning my head I saw a chipmunk on top of the drop front desk a few feet from me.

He looked back at me and said, "Tail twitch, whisker wiggle, scamper," and scooted away.

Less that a minute later, he was back, staring at me with bright beady eyes and flicking his tail.

I got up from the table, retrieved my camera and a couple of blueberries, then returned to my seat. I leaned over, put a blueberry on the desk and chirped.

A few seconds later, the chipmunk appeared again and pounced on the blueberry. He nibbled on it a bit before running off to stash it.

I put out another berry and chirped. He came to get it.

By the fourth berry, he came running as soon as he heard me chirp.

I suspect I wasn't the first person to bribe the little guy.

He had a nice grooming, a little nap, then a big stretch and rib scratch before two of the other women staying at the cabin showed up.

He seemed to find that quite exciting and started darting around the cabin floor. I was afraid he was going to run up my leg, so I lifted my feet from the floor and he zoomed off in another direction.

Unfortunately the other two humans did not like him and chased him out with a broom.

Sigh. I know chipmunks chew stuff, but he sure was cute.

Blue Butterfly

2010-08-10T01:38:00.001-06:00

Over the Creek

2010-08-08T14:34:00.003-06:00

past the pump shed and through the woods

to Grandmother's cabin we went.

I made a new friend while I was there.

Nibbled Gaillardia

2010-08-08T00:59:00.001-06:00

Goodbye For a While

2010-07-29T22:48:00.003-06:00

I'm off ot the wilds of Idaho again. I shall return in a bit over a week. Hopefully with some good pictures and maybe a tale or two.

What Is It?

2010-07-28T23:58:00.004-06:00

I found this growing in my garden. For the first couple of leaves, I thought it was a watermelon seedling. Then it armed itself with some pretty ferocious thorns. Click here for the big version.

It ain't no watermelon.

But what the heck is it?

Blue Morning Mountains

2010-07-27T01:20:00.002-06:00

Rose Boquet

2010-07-25T02:47:00.001-06:00

A Short Wander Up the Canyon

2010-07-24T01:14:00.003-06:00

Sometimes it amazes me what beauty can be found in my own back yard.

Awaiting a Pollinator

2010-07-23T01:09:00.000-06:00

The Dangers of Flying Large

2010-07-21T11:07:00.004-06:00

I just returned from a week in Michigan visiting relatives and attending my high school reunion. I won't tell you how many years, but I did wonder where the heck all those middle-aged goomers came from.

Both directions on this trip were plagued by "weather." I arrived about four hours later than expected because heavy thunderstorms and wind in Detroit kept the plane circling until it had to go to Cleveland to refuel. On the way back, the "weather" was at Continental's Houston hub where my insane travel agent (the Engineer) had scheduled an eight (8!) hour layover for me.

The storm started about an hour into the infernal, eternal layover and boogered up the whole airport. By the time my flight was supposed to be boarding, the storm was over, but a plane going to Ontario was offloading at the gate. My flight was two hours late taking off, which meant the plane would be landing in Salt Lake City around 2:00 a.m. - unless it flapped its wings extra hard.

To add icing to that cupcake, the Engineer, who graduated from the same high school, the same year, so it was his reunion too, had booked himself a direct flight from Detroit to Salt Lake, arriving home at 2:30 p.m. His flight was on time. The candy sprinkles on the icing - I was to take a cab home so my beloved could get his "beauty sleep." (Actually, I didn't have a problem with that, it was practical, but when already annoyed by the way the travel was progressing...)

Now any of you who have been flying with any regularity know that airplane seats have been getting smaller every year. And my butt has been getting bigger. It's a bad combination.

I had booked the exit row aisle seat on the theory (confirmed by the gate agent) that since it's a non-reclining seat it is less desirable and that, therefor, the center seat in that row would be the last to fill. At original takeoff minus seven hours it looked like a pretty safe bet, there were eleven empty seats showing.

Of course, by boarding time, the flight was overbooked.

Don't know what the story was, but a whole herd of Polynesians must have booked at the last minute. It looked like several families with children of assorted ages and about a half dozen single men. The guy who sat next to me was built on a grand scale.

The guy who got the center seat in the row behind me was mammoth; probably about 6'7" and BIG. The two middle-aged business men bracketing him took offense and called in the stewardess.

After a lot of arguing and arm waving and trying to persuade someone, anyone, to exchange seats, it ended badly with the stewardess leading the resigned looking giant off the plane.

The big Tongan sitting next to me and I looked at each other, then sat in our seats very, very quietly until takeoff.

Sparkling Dalila

2010-07-20T12:17:00.004-06:00

Summer fun, by sparkler light.

Okay, to be honest, long exposure with fill flash. Don't mind saying, I was tickled with the result.

A Rose For Ansel

2010-07-15T22:46:00.003-06:00

This is the only photograph I've ever actually developed myself. I took a two session community college course. Then digital came along and I got to play with Photoshop instead of chemicals, which, I'm sure, made the Engineer happy. He always claims my middle name is "Mess," don't yah know.

The inspiration for this image was Ansel Adams' "Rose and Driftwood." The Master's photograph is infinitely superior to mine, of course, but the homage is sincere (if totally backwards.)

Cactus Flowers

2010-07-12T23:00:00.003-06:00

Sometimes it's fun to get artsy-fartsy with the Photoshop filters.

Windows

2010-07-12T00:00:00.001-06:00

Sunflower With Fly

2010-07-10T17:39:00.001-06:00

Rusty

2010-07-09T23:45:00.004-06:00

KC's junior puppy, Rusty, the butt nipper.
And how do I know that, you ask?
Guess...
(Actually Rusty and I are buddies, he just gets a little excited sometimes.)

Bynum General Store

2010-07-09T00:58:00.003-06:00

Sadly the Bynum General Store is no longer in business.

Sometimes it seems as if the world has lost texture and color, too many places in my world are parts of merchandising chains instead of being unique to the place and time. Melancholy can overwhelm me when I see the changes time wreaks.

Tiger Swallowtail

2010-07-08T00:36:00.000-06:00

Rock Climber

2010-07-06T18:09:00.001-06:00

Follow the Mellow Brick Road

2010-07-06T01:22:00.003-06:00

Underfoot in downtown Salt Lake City - I think these are wonderful bricks.

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-04T15:28:00.003-06:00

And to make sure the Engineer was happy, I made him corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast. My first time ever. Used a recipe from Epicurious.com -- one of my favorite web sites.

I wanted to make holes in the hash and cook the eggs right in it like the recipe suggested, but there was too much hash, so each component was in its own pan.

It was my first time eating corned beef hash too, so I can't compare it to other hashes, but I thought it was pretty good.

Old Riga Rooftops

2010-07-04T01:04:00.003-06:00

Seagulls

2010-07-03T00:41:00.002-06:00

The Most Beautiful Girls in the World

2010-07-02T00:45:00.002-06:00

Cat Girls that is.

Kitsu the Savage Jungle Kitteh

Sachi on Cement

P.S. That milkweed post was officially for July 1, this one is officially for July 2. Just so you know I'm trying to be regular about this...

Millkweed

2010-07-02T00:29:00.005-06:00

or - A Reply to Kate's Butterfly Blog Entry

I like monarchs too - and milkweed.

How serendipitous.

Next year I may try to go high class with Asclepias tuberosa, but I gotta admit, I like the natural orange color rather than the fancy, hybridized shades.

Zzzzzzz....

2010-06-30T14:05:00.001-06:00

Hawking Gauntlet

2010-06-30T00:56:00.004-06:00

Terracotta

2010-06-28T23:53:00.001-06:00

Ambivalence

2010-06-27T14:29:00.007-06:00

Today's picture is less than lovely. Yep, it's a dead rat in a jar. Put it there myself after Sachi brought it in last night. Alive, of course. The three of us chased it until it was cornered, then I caught it in a towel. I hate the way they squeal when they're scared. I worry about the cats or myself getting bitten.

I'm really ambivalent about the rat catching. On one hand, I'm glad they're killing any rats that have ventured into the vicinity. On the other, I hate that they bring their prey, still alive and kicking, into the house.

When we first moved into this house, the neighborhood was infested with rats. The second thing my crazy next door neighbor said to me (after asking if we would cut down all the trees in our yard) was that she hated the rats. She saw them scampering across her back yard (an easy thing as the only thing growing there is short-cut grass) and was afraid they'd bite her little boys.

Back then, one of the two cats who owned us was Handsome. He had supported himself before he convinced me that he owned me, so he was a deadly hunter. Fortunately he caught prey regularly enough that he soon understood this basic equation:

bring prey into house = human steals prey

He very quickly stopped bringing his catches in.

For the first summer we lived here, he laid a dead rat or three on the back door step every day. Next summer crazy neighbor lady commented that, gee, she hadn't seen any rats this year. I told her to thank Handsome.

We haven't, or should I say hadn't, had a problem with the vermin since.

A couple of years ago I discovered that a friend a few blocks away had an infestation. I was at her house and asked about the baby gate she had up in her open back door -- she has no baby. She told me it was to let the air in and keep the rats out. I decided it was kinder not to tell her that a baby gate is no barrier to a rat; they can squeeze through an opening the size of a quarter. I figure rats are too smart to come into a room already occupied by a number of humans and a basset hound.

I think the rats have marched up the hill to my neighborhood. I wish Handsome was still around to deal with them. (Heck, I wish he was still around period, he was a fine and excellent Little Dude.) He would leave them on the back porch instead of turning them loose in the basement. But I guess I'm glad the girls are killing them.

Rats!

P.S. Here's a beautiful picture to make up for the ugly one up top:

Handsome Bob StrayCat, Bon Vivant, Tommy About Town (full name and titles)
Wasn't he grand and glorious?

Star Light, Star Bright

2010-06-26T19:56:00.004-06:00

First star I see tonight.

Wish I may, wish I might.
Have this wish I wish tonight.

Poppies and Milkweed

2010-06-24T12:01:00.003-06:00

Since I haven't been very good lately at writing blog posts, I think that I shall try posting a picture a day for a while; see if it can kick-start me.

Flowers For a Friend

2010-06-11T13:45:00.010-06:00

Sometimes the words simply won't come, but there are other ways to speak.

Heal.

Tell Me Again Why I Have Cats

2010-05-26T21:28:00.000-06:00

The girls caught something this evening. What, I don't know, but something, I do know for sure. They brought it into the house and it got away in the basement. It's currently behind the bookshelves.

I don't know that I have the wherewithal to go after it there.

It's five bookcases lined up against one wall. Four of them are glass front antique bookcases stacked two up, the other I made in college out of 1x6's and "Korner Klips".

Sachi, being more energetic and optimistic than I, went excavating in the homemade bookcase and pitched all of the books from the lower shelf onto the floor. Now she and Kitsu are engaged in trying to shove themselves into the crack between the back of the adjacent bookcase and the wall to capture their prey. My view is of scattered books and fluffy butts with tails quivering at the alert.

I am not going to try to get whatever it is out from behind there. The double-stacked bookcases are taller than I am. I would have to remove all of the books, carefully unstack the glass fronted top sections and put them someplace, then move the bottom sections.

And, of course, the minute I got far enough along to move the bottom bookcases, the critter would make a break for it. The cats would be leaping, pouncing and swatting, knocking over lord knows what, and the critter would end up under the sofa bed.

Where none of us can get at it.

My only hope is that it ventures out and one of the girls nails it before the Engineer gets back from his current globe trotting expedition. That way we can keep it confidential. If it dies back there and starts stinking, the three of us are in big trouble.

Sigh.

I love my cats but sometimes...

Who Woulda Thunk This Would Happen on the 24th of May

2010-05-24T17:30:00.001-06:00

Where Have I Been?

2010-05-24T17:08:00.001-06:00

This Bloody, Bloody Foot

2010-02-20T14:15:00.005-07:00

All I can do is look down at the blood welling from multiple holes and ask, "Why do I keep shooting myself in the foot? Am I really going to learn this time?"

This time...

I always partition my hard drive, it not only makes more efficient use of disk space, but it's part of my filing system, so I decided to give myself a generous C:\ partition for my system and associated file; 100 Gig should do. Then D:\Linux, E:\LinuxScratch, F:\Programs, G:\GeekStuff, H:\Temp.

Well, I set up the C:\System partition and as soon as I'd formatted it, Windows started installing itself. But, "I can deal with this, I have Partition Magic," so I let it go ahead with the install.

After installing Windows and the necessary drivers (after finally finding the CD's), I planned to download all the updates for Windows XP. Once that interminable process was over, I'd kill my Internet connection for safety's sake, install my actual programs and, only after all that was complete, install that major pain in the derriere, Norton Antivirus.

I have one of those love/hate relationships with Norton. I imagine most people who use it do. You've really got to protect your computer from the evils lurking on the Web, but, Dang!, performance sure takes a heavy hit when Norton's installed.

Since I'm still don't know why my hard drive crashed, I want to make sure that I have a prophylactic (Norton) on before I slave it to the new drive and go exploring.

Found the necessary drivers -- all neatly together in a CD rack. Nice, finding one meant finding them all. Installed my modem and network card then got on line. Went to Microsoft, started the upgrade downloads only to get the message, "Insufficient Disk Space"!!!

Huh?

Turned out I'd missed my decimal point and formatted 10 Gig instead of 100.

Evil Language!

Of course, you know which disk I can't find now... Partition Magic.

Me and Murphy. Joined at the hip and shooting at my foot.

PC vs Mac

2010-02-18T00:48:00.002-07:00

Okay you Macaphiles (and you know who you are -- hell, you're proud of who you are!) Kick a Nerdette when she's down!

Whap! One to the chin!

Crunch! Was that a rib cracking?

Have I ever denied the superiority of your chosen platform?

Nope.

I ain't dumb. I've worked with both PC and Mac -- and UNIX/LINUX, VAX, Sun, DOS, and even a few mainframes and an early version of CP/M. (Just establishing my nerd credentials here.) I recognise that Macs are more robust and easier to operate; their various generations work better together than PC's. It's also true that they are less prey to viruses and assorted malware, but I suspect a large part of that is because there are fewer of them, thus making them a less tempting target for jackass hackers.

But...

I started out with a PC.

Why?

$$$

Plus, lo those many years ago, there weren 't as many programs available for the Mac. I wanted a machine I could use both for school and business. Macs were the computers of art, not of science or business.

And it's kinda like getting an SLR camera. Once you buy Canon -- and all the kit and lenses -- you have a built in incentive to stay with Canon instead of stepping over to Nikon. You'd have to buy all new kit and lenses for your all new camera. I'd have to get a whole mess of new programs if I bought a Mac.

$$$

That's the bottom line.

(Though if I'm to be totally honest, I have to admit I enjoy tearing the guts out of my machine, the challenge of getting it running again, and the excuse to turn the air blue as I work.)

P.S. Just to add a little icing to the mayhem, my UPS blew up today -- which has nothing to do with Mac vs PC, just to do with my old buddy Murphy. So off to the office supply store I went to fork over another hundred dollars to keep the power flowing. Joy.

Slowly, Baby Step by Baby Step

2010-02-16T20:16:00.004-07:00

The DamnMachine is being resurrected. I put in the new 500 Gig hard drive today and did the initial Windows XP installation. Unfortunately I haven't yet found the CD's with the drivers for my modem and network cards - or any other of my loverly accessories. Which means I can't access the Internet, which means I can't download the missing drivers directly.

True, Baby Dell has rudimentary Internet prowess, but in order to download the drivers on BD, put them on a flash drive and transfer them to the DamnMachine, I would first have to know exactly what devices I have...

If I don't find my CD's pretty soon, I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and call Dell tech support.

And I really don't like talking to that guy with the heavy Indian accent who claims his name is Nathan...

Toasted Hard Drive

2010-02-13T23:32:00.003-07:00

Yep, it looks like the hard drive is toast, so it's going to be a while until I'm back up and running. I'm going to buy a new hard drive, install it, put on the basic software, then slave the old hard drive to it and see if I can pull off any of my data. My address book, eight years of digital photos, my 2/3rds finished Great American Novel, bizillions of e-mails and e-mail addresses.

And let's ask again: Who's really, really learned her lesson about regular back ups?

Sure as hell hope it's me.

A Really Good Excuse This Time

2010-02-10T22:42:00.003-07:00

The desktop Dell has crashed. I'm not sure if it's the hard drive or those 9 updates Microsoft installed last night when I turned the machine off, but this morning it wouldn't speak to me.

Dang!

This blog entry is coming at you from BabyDell; acceptable for e-mail when on the road, but not for real life.

I've tried all the software fixes I can think of so, cross all appendages for me, tomorrow I'm pulling off the cover and going in...

The Most Beautiful Girls in the World

2010-02-04T01:49:00.004-07:00

Not that I'm biased or anything, but who could resist these big blue eyes?

A "Modest Proposal" From State Senator Buttars

2010-02-03T00:13:00.006-07:00

Utah is having budgetary problems, but Utah has the elected officials who can solve the state's money woes; quickly, efficiently but, sadly, not tongue in cheek.

State Senator Chris Buttars has a plan. If Utah simply eliminates the 12th grade, it will fix most of the problems with school funding. Any remaining financial gaps can be snugged up by also slicing the unnecessary eleventh grade and school busses. After all, if kids aren't in school or can't get to school, not only will the state need fewer teachers, but classrooms can be closed and the heat and lights turned off creating further savings.

My thought is that someone turned off the heat and lights in Senator Buttars' head long, long ago.

Or perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps this is Senator Buttars' sly methodology for maintaining his electorate.

But will it work?

If, as he says, the only reason for the 12th grade is for the high school seniors to have a year to party, will they be grateful to him for releasing them from the confines of academia, thus voting for him, or will they resent his curtailing their year-long party and vote for his opponent?

At the very least they will lack the education and sophistication to be embarrassed by the man who represents them.

In the Closet

2010-01-28T22:10:00.005-07:00

Both of my cats have a lust for the linen closet. Mostly, I'm sure, because it's forbidden. Sometimes they sit on the hamper, hopefully waiting for me to lose my mind and open the door. Innocence shines from their furry little faces, but I know better. I know their nefarious plans.

Today I wanted to take out one towel. How long does that take? Five seconds? I thought Kitsu was in the basement. I didn't shut the bathroom door before I opened the linen cupboard.

You'd think after having been owned by cats for the past 30 years that I would know they could teleport...

Kitsu shot by me like orange lightning. Startled the beejeebers out of me. I decided to photo-document her evilness, so I went and got the camera. Sachi was nowhere to be seen, so I opened the cupboard door to snap a shot of the miscreant.

And a taupe bolt of lightning shot past me just as I clicked the shutter.
You'd think I'd have learned by now.

A Very Bad Kitty

2010-01-24T21:27:00.008-07:00

It snowed last night. Big time. At 2:00 a.m. as I was getting ready for bed, I got a wild hair and decided to see if I could get a picture of snowflakes in the dark through the kitchen window.

It didn't work at all, so I cracked the back door.

A furry little streak of lightning shot by me at ankle level.

"Free at last, free at last!" she cried. And she wouldn't come back in.

I asked her politely. I rattled her food dish at her. I begged her. I threatened her.

"Don't you hear those coyotes howling up the hill? Don't you know that you'd just be a tasty little midnight snack to them? They'd chomp your bones and floss their teeth on your fur!"

Nothing worked. She laughed at me from under the picnic table.

I finally wadded out into the snow in my jammies, set the cat door on in-only and went to bed to wait.

It was 3:00 before she finally got cold enough to come in and warm her soggy feet on me.

Remind me again why it is I have cats...

Hope For Haiti

2010-01-24T15:20:00.002-07:00

I wrote a check, but, somehow, it just didn't feel adequate. I wanted to do something. So I took the small opportunity I was given and signed up for a shift on the phones during the local Red Cross "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon.

We didn't take a lot of pledges, the local telethon was in the hours before the big national television event Friday night, but we did have some response. I talked to a sweet lady who told me she was on a fixed income and could only afford to pledge $10. I told her that hers was the best kind of pledge, one from the heart. She replied, "Make it $15."

Another volunteer received a pledge of $1,000. It was our biggest pledge of the night. I wish he could have seen the celebration when it was recorded.

The most touching donation occurred before I arrived, however.

A homeless man came in off the street and emptied every coin from his pockets.

"They need it more than I do."

Maybe there is hope for Haiti and humanity.

Perspective

2009-12-05T00:53:00.002-07:00

Sometimes something happens to "put it all into perspective." Sometimes a person needs a little perspective.

I've been married to the Engineer for more than ten years. He's just a wee bit picky.

For the first few months we were married, he reparked my car every time I drove it. I asked him if there was a problem with the way I was parking it; was it in his way? No, it wasn't in his way, it was just that cars should be backed in and driven out.

I told him that I wasn't a great backer, so that it was better for me to drive into a confined space and back out into an open space.

He continued to repark my car.

I politely requested, multiple times, that he not do so any more.

He reparked my car until I had a major hissy fit and threatened to remove his tonsils via his anus. I must have sounded quite sincere as he hasn't reparked it since.

He still adjusts most everything I touch, though. He will follow me through the house moving anything I've placed by a millimeter or two into the appropriate position. I've yet to shut the draperies properly, nor can I open them to his satisfaction. Don't mention the mini-blinds or I'll start frothing at the mouth. It's to the point that I won't touch them at all because he goes into such contortions correcting the horrible state in which I've left them.

Cooking can be fun too. He likes to follow me around pushing the trash can into my path to make sure I don't make a mess. He turns on lights. I turn them off. He turns them on. He is in charge of "Thermal Transfer" for any meat or casserole in the oven. Baked goods, however, intimidate him and he stays well away from the oven when it's occupied by cake, bread or pie. If I'm making a stir fry, and turn away from the stove, when I turn back he will have arranged the contents of the pan into a neat cone in the middle of the pan.

Sometimes I feel like I can't do anything right.

Perspective:

When we turned on the heat a month or so ago, I told him that the whole house humidifier wasn't working. This is not a hard thing to determine. If it's not working, my nose bleeds during the night. As my Mom would say, "If it was a snake, it would have bitten you."

He didn't think there was a problem, but kept an eye on the humidistats he has scattered about the house to monitor the situation. A few days later he informed me that the humidifier wasn't working (!) and that I should call the furnace company that had installed it.

So I called in the furnace repair guy who came out and confirmed that the humidifier wasn't working. It needed a part, which was under warranty, a couple of adjustments, and it was working fine again. No more nightly nose bleeds.

The next weekend, when he had time, the Engineer went down into the furnace room to inspect the repair.

O!M!G! Never had he seen such terrible workmanship! The supply valve had been set improperly! and this thing! and that thing! and the other thing! The Engineer spent most of a Saturday redoing the job the professional furnace guy had done.

Nobody can do anything properly except him (and the Twin.)

Perspective:

It's not me, it's him.

But it's still annoying as heck.

It's a good thing he's cute.

December 1, Rising From the Dead

2009-12-02T00:13:00.002-07:00

November went by with flying fingers; my fingers flying over the keyboard. Not writing any blog posts, that is patently obvious. I signed up for a little excursion called NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month.

The premise of NaNoWriMo is that any goofus who has the desire should be able to write 50,000 words in a month. Yup, fifty thousand. Supposedly some people actually managed it. The NaNoWriMo web site claims a total of 2,147,483,647 words from all participants.

I did not manage 50,000 words. I made it to 36,378. Most of it dreck.

Ah well, that's a heck of a lot more words than I'd been producing. Now to try to keep on rolling, finish my first draft, then go back and prune the dreck.

And hope I have anything left...

The Great Camera Phone Experiment

2009-10-20T22:24:00.008-06:00

I'm headed off to the wild of North Carolina Thursday morning before the sun rises - the flight leaves at 5:55 a.m. (AAUUGGG!!!) I will be gone for almost two weeks. I don't think I want to carry the big camera with me, so I'm thinking of just using my cell phone instead.

The Engineer seems to be able to get some pretty decent shots with his. And isn't this exactly what I expect him to take a picture of. Looks almost like a professional ad, doesn't it.

So far my phone photos (is there a polite word for suck?) are less than stellar, but, what the heck. The Blair Witch Project has craptacular photography, maybe cell phone photography will make my blog immediate and exciting...
Or not.

Food Pictures I've Taken and Meant to Post

2009-10-19T13:53:00.016-06:00

I've been a bad, lazy blogger, taking pictures and not posting them, so here are a few of the food photos.

A pretty pepper from my garden.

Fresh and healthy rabbit food.

Bitty grapes from the back yard and little plums from the farmers' market.

Jan Noodles -- Yum!

The Squash Sisters.

(You'll hear more about these girls in a few weeks.)

His Mistress

2009-10-19T13:43:00.004-06:00

The Engineer got on the plane with her yesterday and flew off to a foreign land.

Sigh...

Okay, okay, so I'm being overly dramatic; Canada may technically be a foreign land, but it feels more like a sibling. He did fly off with her, though.

It seems like she's with him all the time these days -- ever since he met her really. Where he goes, she goes. He's alert to her every need. He is at her beck and call. He actually listens to her. She's new and shiny and trim. I don't know that there's any way I can compete.

Technology has trumped wife.

Mr. Industrious

2009-10-10T01:22:00.005-06:00

No, it's not the Engineer. It's the squirrel who lives in my back yard. He got his name a couple of years back when he filled every possible nook and cranny, including the lawnmower grass catcher, with pinecones. I made him a nice little storage shed and chummed it with some nuts. He ate the nuts and kept stuffing his pinecones into the grass catcher.
The house was painted over the last week - a good thing since it had been part yellow and part gray since the remodeling. Mr. Industrious, it turned out, did not like the house painter. The entire time the painter was working on the back of the house, Mr. Industrious was cussing, tail lashing and throwing chunks of pine tree at him.

This is not a new behavior on Mr. I's part, he's been throwing things at the cats for some time now. Don't know if he's ever managed to bonk one on the head, but often he'll keep it up until one of the girls runs up the tree after him.

Maybe that explains why he bombed the painter for so long - the painter didn't climb the tree after Mr. I.

This is what the bottom of the swimming pool looks like.I wonder if Mr Industrious realizes that it's his winter chow he's chucking?

Sunset Sachi

2009-10-02T00:26:00.002-06:00

Goodbye

2009-09-29T01:29:00.002-06:00

My Mother-in-law-in-law died Monday morning. She had been in a hospice home for just one week, muzzy on morphine and slowly fading.

She outlived her original three to six month prognosis by a full three months. Most of it she lived well, tiring easily but fully there mentally and pain free. I am sure that her husband, two daughters and four grandchildren are utterly bereft. How could they not be.

Her kindness and goodness shined out of her with a lambent glow. She had a quick wit. She delighted at winning when playing cards and lost gracefully. She understood the concept of "just a game." She had a kind word for everyone.

She was tiny, maybe five feet tall, maybe a hundred pounds - fully clothed and with shoes on. She had an astonishing amount of dark gray wavy hair. When she smiled her nose wrinkled and her eyes twinkled. I never saw her in a bad mood, though she was very human, so I know she must have had them sometimes.

I love her dearly. I will miss her terribly. And I know how very, very lucky I am to have known her. I will treasure that forever.

Goodbye Ember. Thank you. I love you.

TOMATOES!

2009-09-26T14:03:00.002-06:00

Guess what we're having for dinner tonight.

And tomorrow night,

and the next night,

and the next...

Out Of It

2009-09-23T17:33:00.001-06:00

As I read Monday morning's newspaper and scanned the list of the Emmy winners, I realized that I had not seen a single one of the winning shows.

Good Lord! What has being married to the Engineer done to me? I'm totally out of step with popular culture! I'll never be able to win at Jeopardy again!

Just sayin'.

Dahlias!

2009-09-20T17:08:00.010-06:00

The Utah Dahlia Society is having it's first dahlia show next weekend. In their honor, here are a couple of dahlia photos.

If you're in the Salt Lake City area the weekend of September 26 & 27, head on down to the garden center at Sugarhouse Park and ogle some beauties.

Ambystoma tigrinum

2009-09-18T22:03:00.002-06:00

I went out today to empty the pool skimmer and saw a large lizard looking thing in the bottom of the deep end. It didn't look like a proper lizard, though, its corners were too rounded. I thought one of the next door neighborhood kids had thrown a rubber reptile over the fence to try to freak me out. Their mother, after all, had instructed them at an early age not only to throw any pinecones our trees dropped back over the fence, but to aim for the swimming pool. (No joke, I heard her telling them, "Throw it farther so you'll hit the pool.") I got the pool scoop out and swished the thing into the shallow end where I could more easily lift it out.

Immediately upon dumping it on the cement, I knew it was a salamander. A dang big, very dead salamander. How the heck did that thing get into my swimming pool?

A little Internet research told me that it's probably a melanistic tiger salamander -- tiger salamanders being the only species indigenous to Utah, and not uncommon.

Even though both cats thought it was totally gross, its bloated carcass grieved me. I like salamanders. I like the thought of them marching on their splayed out little legs around my yard. If only they'd stay away from the chlorinated swimming pool.

Trying To Get Organized

2009-09-14T02:37:00.006-06:00

As one might guess from my prolific blog posting these last couple of months, I am not the best organizer in the universe. I don't think I ever got an "S" in "Makes good use of time" when I was in grade school. My Mom always told me, "If your head wasn't tacked on, you'd lose it."

Sigh.

I've tried calendars, multiple calendars, computerized daily schedules, punch lists and notes of all types. If the Engineer wants me to do something I tell him, "Write it down - BIG - and put it where I'll see it." Which kinda works until I dump something on top of his note. Or, since it's not tacked on, lose it.

When I was at a bookstore the last week in August, I saw an 18 month organizer on half price sale. The photo art on the cover and inside was less than inspiring, but it had stiff transparent plastic covers front and back and inside a monthly calendar page followed by a page per week subdivided into days.
So one last thrust at this getting organized thing. I am filling out the monthly calendar in advance, then writing a commentary on the week pages at each day's end. I'm writing out my daily ToDo list on little squares of paper and keeping them clipped under the transparent plastic cover. I've written the longer term StuffIGottaGetDone in the back notes section of the organizer.

Will it work?

Probably not, but so far I have been faithful in following the LastGaspSystem since September 1st. That's two whole weeks.

Cross your fingers for me.

This One's For KC

2009-09-08T02:45:00.006-06:00

Had the Initial Intermittent Meeting of the Ladies' Irregular Supper Club at my place last week; Kate, KC and BeadLady were in attendance. I had purchased picked-that-day corn at the local fruit stand as the vegetable and had placed it in my big stock pot on a steamer rack over boiling water.

Now my secret for corn on the cob is, I never salt the water -- I add a little sugar instead, only about half of a teaspoon. This works very well unless one lets the pan boil dry...

Which in the course of running in and out trying to keep an eye on the kabobs on the barbecue and everything else, is what happened. KC was in the kitchen when the pan went red hot, so she felt to blame. What can I say besides, I was the one who turned the burner on high with only a half inch of water in the pot. Mea culpa.

The pan was a mess, the entire bottom and about a half inch up the sides all black and blistered. Smelled lovely too. The corn was salvageable, pretty good in fact, despite a somewhat smoky flavor.

So I soaked the pan and scrubbed the pan, and soaked the pan and scrubbed the pan. Four days later, it looks like this. See, KC, no harm done.

Though I do wonder why whenever I do this that all the black stuff that comes off the pan seems to lodge under my fingernails.

The State of the Garden

2009-08-19T22:33:00.008-06:00

The tomato plants in the raised bed are as high as an elephant's eye.

But all the tomatoes are still green.

The Spicy Globe Basil is ready -- I snipped off all the flowers after I took this picture.

Looks like we will actually be having a grape harvest this year.

Two full size peppers - picked one.

And in the 5 gallon pot, Silvery Fir Leaf Tomato, a determinant, has a couple of ripe fruits. I ate them and they were good.

Home From The Sawtooth Mountains

2009-08-19T13:29:00.009-06:00

Didn't take too many pictures.

The vacation was something of a tangled web. Ain't that life sometimes. But the mountains are always beautiful, no matter how convoluted human relations get.

Off Away Into the Wild High Mountains

2009-08-06T21:42:00.002-06:00

It's time for the annual Idaho trip. The Engineer insists that we leave before daybreak tomorrow morning. E- you again in a week or so.

Today in the Garden

2009-08-05T00:49:00.004-06:00

The milkweed flowers have begun to wither. I'm afraid my timing for the milkweed documentation project is crummy. The Engineer and I are leaving Friday (altogether too early) in the morning for the annual Idaho trip. We will be gone eight days. I guess I'll have to turn my camera to the wilderness for a week and let the milkweed fend for itself.

And the tomatoes too. Hopefully some will start to color up while we're gone.

The Mystery of Milkweed

2009-08-03T00:48:00.005-06:00

I like milkweed. I don't care that it's a weed. I like it. I also like monarch butterflies; that makes it a win-win liking.

Sometimes I need to pay more attention, though. It's embarrassing to realize that I've recognized milkweed, plant, flower and seedpod, since I was a kid, but have never really considered how the umbel of flowers develops into the seedpod.

Guess that's what a camera's for. Documenting the world's interesting things.

Buds two days ago.

An umbel of flowers today.

Blue

2009-07-27T20:47:00.004-06:00

Hey Kate, guess what I have...

A blue rose of sharon.

Figured that the lady of the "too blue garden" would appreciate it.

If You've Got It, Flaunt It!

2009-07-26T17:40:00.003-06:00

Since this is only the second time in my life I can remember this happening, I figured I'd preserve it for posterity.

Cleavage!

It's been unnaturally humid for Utah the last couple of days and my underwear wasn't wanting to cooperate as I donned it after my shower. By the time I got it on and the essentials jammed into place, everything was all humidity glued together in unusual positions. I was so astonished and delighted that I had to grab the camera to document that I do indeed have enough boob to make cleavage.

(Last time was when I was a gypsy for Halloween and stuffed three socks into each cup underneath the organic filling. Not particularly comfortable, but mildly spectacular.)

Returning On a Rant

2009-07-26T00:17:00.012-06:00

Last time I did apheresis, as usual, I went to the snack area after they took the needle out of me.

Sigh, they've changed the kind of snackies they provide, no more Charles Chips cookies. Guess I'll take an Oat & Honey Granola Bar. Probably better for me. And no more bottled water in the refrigerator, nor any more 12 ounce cans of juice, just the little 5.5 ounce cans. Think I'll try apple juice today.

So I grabbed a granola bar and a can of apple juice and headed for my car.

Now I don't want you to think that the treats are the reason that I bleed in a bag biweekly - it's actually for the comfy chair, movie, and being waited on hand and foot.

I plopped down in the driver's seat and, popping the top on the juice can, took a swig.

Then I looked at it.

Geeze o' pete, how dumb is Welch's? How dumb do they think I am?

Please note the label: "100%
Apple Juice"
and the small print,
"FROM CONCENTRATE
WITH ADDED INGREDIENTS"

If it's got "ADDED INGREDIENTS" it ain't 100% apple juice, now is it?

False advertising really puts my knickers in a twist. Torks me off royally. Why didn't they just leave off the "100%" so the can would be accurately labeled? Don't they know that impressionable school children could read that and have their math messed up forever? Some kid might decide flexible facts are the way to go and end up as a politician!
.
.
.
I think I've been married to an engineer too long.
The anal retentive is rubbing off on me.

The Sun?

2009-07-25T00:35:00.002-06:00

The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow

2009-07-23T23:48:00.003-06:00

Just stickin' my toe in, testing the temperature. It's been a long absence.

Flying On One Wing

2009-06-27T14:13:00.004-06:00

and typing with one hand.

Reinjured an old injury, so my left arm is now in a sling and my brain on a painkiller (yay! horray! codeine!) The cats have appointed themselves my nurses. Unfortunately, cat nursing tends to involve climbing all over the afflicted human, shoving cat head into human face and purring loudly. This makes typing just a wee bit challenging. Won't know how long I'll be bound up until the X-rays come back (Monday?), so I shall bid y'all adieu for now.

Aloha...

My Kingdom For a Pocket

2009-06-20T02:26:00.005-06:00

What's the deal with the folks who design women's clothing? What do they have against pockets? You never see a pair of men's pants that lacks pockets. Even the majority of their shirts have pockets.

I want pockets too.

When you can't have what you want, however, you have to make due with what you do have. I tend to make due with my bra. I kinda realized that when I wanted to go downstairs with an apple last night and my hands were already full. Didn't even think about it; just stuffed it into the left side of my bra. (It's not as if there's a whole lot of competition for the space, I've never been what anyone would call voluptuous.)

Made a heck of a lump. Looked like my left breast was undergoing binary fission. Who says asexual reproduction can't be entertaining?

I carry my cell phone there frequently, tucking it right under where the strap and the cup join. Gives me a cheap thrill when my phone rings because I keep it in buzz mode.

Now that it's summer though, I've got to stop doing it -- when I'm out in public anyway. Under a light weight shirt, it makes a noticeable oblong bump on my chest.

It all started back in college, and I wasn't the one who initiated it...

Matilda was the loveliest pet rat ever. We lived in the dorm and she went every where with me. Her favorite place to ride was in that little gap in the front of the bra between the boobs. Did I ever get some weird looks when someone noticed I had an extra boob. And double takes when that extra boob moved. Sat a couple of guys down on their butts when she stuck her head out to see where we were going.

I miss Matilda; she was a good rat. Even though I wish for pockets, I'd never have made her ride in one. She deserved shotgun.

Kid Humor

2009-06-16T18:44:00.002-06:00

When I was a kid, gross humor was the absolute funniest. It made us feel b-b-b-baaaad to the bone. We were so sly and tricky, never figured the Parents knew we were singing "Tra la la POOP dee ay!" instead of "Tra la la boop dee ay!" We called each other "1-19-19" and cussed with gusto using "H-E-double hockey sticks!" And the mention of Lake Titicaca could make us laugh until we shot milk out of our noses.

We sang too.

Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat,
Percolated birdie feet,
French fried eyeballs swimming in a pool of blood,
And me without my fork.

But I got my spoooon!

Of course we told jokes:

"No matter what I say, you have to say, "Pea Green Soup," okay?
"What did you have for breakfast?"
"Pea Green Soup."
"What did you have for lunch?"
"Pea Green Soup."
"What did you have for dinner?"
"Pea Green Soup."
"What did you do in bed all night?"
"Pea Green Soup."

ROFLMAO!!!

We loved to play the blanket game on innocents. You'd put the kid under a blanket and tell him to "Give me what you need the least." Very few kids figured out that what they needed the least was the darn blanket before we got them pretty close to nekkid. (We were wicked, not evil, we never made anybody get down past their undies.)

When we did it to Nanny, she must have had about a hundred rubber bands in her pocket. Geeze o' pete! The joke was on us that time.

Now I'm officially a growed up (I could show you my driver's licence) and married to the Engineer. He is, to put it kindly, just a wee bit anal about most everything. Sunday, with much fuss and fanfare, he finally took the winter cover off the swimming pool. You must understand that the Engineer's PhD is in Chemical Engineering. Keeping the swimming pool water at absolute perfection is not optional, it's required. The Twin is a Chem E PhD as well. His pool is also always sparkling. They tease their older brother unmercifully because he has to hire a pool service to balance his pool every spring.

This year the Engineer's pool was unveiled very late and, under the cover, the pool water was green.

Opaque green!

If I still drank milk, I would surely shoot it out my nose!

Pea Green Pool!

I called OlderBrother and told him right away.

(Yes, I think my sense of humor is still mired in the second grade.)

Rain, Rain Has Come to Stay

2009-06-10T11:40:00.006-06:00

This is Utah. And it's June. And it's raining. Every day. How bizarre.The cats are disgruntled. Kate at High Altitude Gardening is grooched. Even I, rain lover that I am, am starting to weary of it. But sing out the mantra, sing it loud, sing it joyously:
"It's good for the flowers!"If ever I can find a dry day to get them into the sodden ground...

WithoutDoubt, the Worst Human Ever

2009-06-03T13:27:00.002-06:00

Every once in a while, it does rain in Utah. Three years ago, when we were replacing the roof and all we had up top was studs and plastic, there was a three hour frog strangler. The whole house flooded, the living room ceiling collapsed onto the living room floor. That was one of the biggest "WHA-BOOM!!!" noises I've ever heard in my life. We ended up having to tear out most of the walls and ceilings in the house.

When it started pouring last night as I was out working in the garden, I grabbed up my stuff, tossed it into the shed and shut the shed door on my way into the house. It rained about an inch in half an hour.

This morning I got up and fixed kitty breakfast. No Kitsu. I opened the back door and called. A faint and pitiful meow came to my ears and I realized what I'd done.

Poor cat spent 14 hours locked in the tool shed. She's been Velcro kitty ever since. Velcro kitty with the smell of gasoline from the power tools wafting from her fur.

The Engineer called from London as she snuggled to my breast. She heard his voice on the phone and started telling him all about it, "Meow, wow, yow!" Which I took to mean, "Cruel female humie locked me in the shed! You would never do that."

Sigh.

Let's assuage my guilt with a picture of my yellow rose bush.
Much better.

Pretty Kitties

2009-06-02T15:08:00.008-06:00

Messin' with the Photoshop filters. I think Sachi came out much better than Kitsu. (The blue eyes and silky fur make her shine.)

Good Thing I Like Spiders

2009-06-02T15:08:00.003-06:00

Walked out of my back door Saturday and found a huge hatch of spiders on the wall. Don't know how many hundreds of spiderlings there were, but it was multiple.

No, I did not mash them, I like spiders.

I think they're kinda cute.

Vinca and Bishop's Weed and Milk Weed, Oh My!

2009-05-29T21:51:00.003-06:00

Just a couple of weeks ago it looked like the vinca jungle had been tamed.

Now the truth can be seen. Even some bishop's weed is coming back - I thought the vinca had eaten all of that.

Guess I just have to keep hoeing. I'll hoe around the resurgent dayliles and the milkweed, though, I like them.

Art?!!???

2009-05-29T18:07:00.004-06:00

The showcase for the work of Royal College of Art graduate sculptors will be open to the public from 28 May to 7 June in Battersea, London. Pictured above is Gareth Williams' sculpture "I Say, I Say, I Say", a dog made from chewing gum and the artist's own hair

Looks more like something my cat horked up than art to me.
(I'd use a triple layer of paper towels to pick it up.)

May Meanderings

2009-05-28T12:10:00.004-06:00

The Merry Month of May seems not to be a good one for blogging. Fist off, I have to head to Houston (shudder) for the Engineer's annual conference, then my folks usually come for their annual visit. This is a good thing. Mom spends every possible moment at the LDS Family History Center - she's big into genealogy - and Dad and I hang out. Four years ago, I had to do some important Master Gardener stuff on the Saturday of their visit, so the Engineer and Dad did some in-law bonding of the manly sort. They went to Home Depot, bought lumber and hardware and built a picnic table. Then, of course, a virtuous human would be getting the garden into shape... I finally had the vinca jungle pruned, but the vinca, being vinca, is making a comeback. I really should be out there hoeing, but I'm avoiding right now by writing this blog entry. Also avoiding divvying up the daylilies that were dug up along with the vinca. Must do that today as dinner with Kate & KC is planned for tonight, and they are to be the main recipients of the plants. Plain ol' non-hybridized, takes a hammer to kill 'em, ditch lilies. My favorites. I'm avoiding another plant task as well. Iron Needles sent me some iris last fall and I said I would send her some feverfew in exchange. I potted up some small plants and set them aside for the roots to take hold. They got covered with snow. No biggie, I figured, she couldn't plant them until spring anyway.

Unfortunately, I was too slow this spring. When I went looking for them after the last drifts melted, I couldn't find them.

Huh?

So I asked the Engineer...

He had "cleaned up," all the pots he considered to be junk. Sigh. My own fault for not being quicker. Now I need to pot up some more and let them settle in for shipping to Colorado. First I need to find some more smallish plastic pots to put them in; not an easy task after an Engineer sweep. So, Iron, they are coming, eventually, really, I promise.