estacey
I noticed a tabby from the neighborhood sitting in my neighbor's yard on Saturday. Look at me, sitting there. Then it went to run away and seemed to be trying to pick something up to take with it. I went over to see what on earth he was trying to prance away with and found.. a snake.
Only Mark told me it wasn't a snake. It's a lizard. A glass lizard. With no legs. Big fat tongue. Very cute. :)
Just bathe your cats.
Despite the $35 Frontline, I keep spotting fleas on my kitties. So before I gave them their next treatment, I decided I'd bathe the kitties and go over them with the flea comb.
Elliot: Was better than expected, even tolerating the post-bath blowdryer, but turned into a big, shivering pile of cat. He laid on his side when I put him there, stayed on his other side when I flipped him, and even seemed to cooperate when I was combing his little legs for fleas. After, I brought him into my bedroom. As I turned to leave the room, I turned around and said, "Hey, Elliot!" as I often do. He jumped off the bed and scooted under it. Hmpf.
Kitten: I was expecting to get some type of permanent scar from bathing Kitten, but she handled it surprisingly well too. She was scared of the water, but dealt with it, and also cooperated with the blow-drying. (Fluffy wanted NOTHING to do with the blowdryer and would have taken off my arm had I not let him go.) After the bath, I stood up with her and held her to my chest as I reached for the towel. She was clinging to me like a scared child would. Ahh, the guilt!
But now they both look beautiful and smell like baby soap and now have at least a few less fleas. Actually, the problem was much better than I had thought it would be; my Thanksgiving kitten was covered in fleas, so combing him down after the bath was pretty gruesome, but I only found a total of four or so fleas on both of my cats.
And both cats were sleeping with me this morning when I woke up, so I guess they don't hold a grudge. :)
a few choice quotes:
"Envision them as secure, individual garages housed in low-rise, high-tech buildings, sort of a Fort Knox for expensive cars."
"One of the most repeated complaints from condo owners on the ocean and Intracoastal is that they don't have enough parking spaces for their extra cars.."
"An extra parking space at Las Olas River House in Fort Lauderdale costs $50,000 A single parking space at the Harbourage Place in Fort Lauderdale recently changed hands for more than $100,000."
"The first car condos are pre-construction priced from $155,000 to the $400,000s."
if you want to read about this ridiculousness, check out: parkplacecarcondo.com (warning: loud flash website) ¶ 12:18 PM 1 comments
her pics are amazingly interesting.. LIVING in ANTARCTICA. you gotta be a masochist for that.. but it results in some awesome & penguin-y pictures!
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they make them handgun-sized!
i figure it will come in handy in traffic and also in situations where i'm really, really mad and feel the need to do something. like when my old neighbors were shooting doves during the hurricane. or last weekend, when some little punks were throwing rocks at the pond coots and ended up hitting one. i had to go confront them and make sure they understood that, at least in one girl's opinion, harming an innocent little bird makes you a really pathetic man. but if i'd have had a bb gun, i could've REALLY proved a point - see how it feels?
so is this crazy talk? :)
hey, this kid could totally be the king of the hill kid if he were just blonde.
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apparently they eat parrotfish in seattle. bad!
sorry i been quiet. these be tryin' times right about now.
How do you tell if meat is fresh? Smell? Colour? Date stamp? You just lost one test- The Food and Drug Admin in the US allows supermarkets to pack red meat in carbon monoxide gas- just as your lips get a lovely shade of red when you leave the car running in the garage, the meat stays red and fresh looking for weeks. (the two pieces shown are both two weeks old, guess which one got the suicide treatment). It is supposed to be safe but the Consumer Federation of America and the advocacy group Safe Tables Our Priority say the bright red colour could mask spoilage and dangerous bacteria in older meat or meat that has not been kept at the proper temperature. Rep John Dingell of Michigan sez: 'It's just common sense that when consumers buy meat, they use color as an important indicator of its freshness...For F.D.A. to rely on a promise of some stamp on the package that says 'use or freeze by' is just naive.' Here is a project for Make- connect tailpipe to refrigerator and have better looking food. ::New York Times ¶ 9:53 AM 2 comments
i listen to diane rehm every now and then.. but, you know, i can't be expected to remember every day at 10 to turn it on. well, it turns out the shows are archived online! yay! now i don't even have to listen to the political crap i don't wanna! faaabulous. the archives go back years, too.. so now i can be really picky. :) ¶ 4:35 PM 0 comments
Yay, I finally got on the water this weekend. It was very chill.. Except when we dropped the can of pringles and a rescue effort was put into place. Then later we saw 3-4 dolphins, which we followed around the bay for a bit. We got very close to them with the boat.. So, so, so cool.
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i got dawny's gift today! yep, my birthday was january 23, but i won't complain, seeing as how i just got what i'm giving alli for christmas (2005) in the mail yesterday. :D
anyway, lookee, an ecosphere! i mentioned it ages ago on the blog.. she took note! i also had it on my google wishlist. i'll have to modify that, because i know y'all are rushin' to it and now you'll be stuck buying me the $500 dive computer. thank you, dawny! it's awesome! i don't even have to lie: i love it! what's really funny is that dawn was saying she thought of something to get me and she hoped i liked it and, if i didn't, i'd better lie. my mind wandered to the ecosphere.. but then when i was at her house, she quickly closed her closet door and said i shouldn't look in there. so i assumed it was in there, whatever it was. wrong!
it's really neat, this little globe. i have four little shrimps, too, but i cannot manage to get a picture of them as they are way too fast and, when i finally succeed at capturing them on, um, card, they're just a blur. so you will just have to trust me on this: i have four shrimp. i offered the naming rights to alli for her work fundraiser, thinking they could hold a raffle, but she passed, so let me know if you can think of anything. one's really big, and that's about the only distinction between any of them. oh, one has a bit of the green algae hanging off him. he can be greeny until it falls off, i suppose.
this weekend, i'm going sailing AND diving for the first time in months. and i actually have monday off, so maybe there'll be more diving then. yay! :)
today was absolutely gorgeous & perfect. let that continue through the fin de semana, please!
every once in a while, i suggest a video. now i suggest beyonce's "check up on it." the song is infectious.. and the video? well, if i were a boy, i would so have a crush on ms knowles. launch.com. go there.
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They're caring for dogs in Peru's Amazon region. I found them on Flickr.. the girl who runs the place has some heartbreaking pics. I gave a little donation, and hope some of the rest of you feel inclined to give a little something. ¶ 1:56 PM 0 comments
This reminds me of the long-legged spider currently living in my bathroom. I don't see him much, but sometimes get to rescue him from the bathtub in a panic after I turn the shower water on.
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This pic was sent to me by Balu, who wanted to assure me that my cats were well occupied while I'm away at work, since I'm often calling them jerks as I'm walking out the door, jealous they get to sleep the day away.
Let's see.. Okay, my trip home:
I was happy to get to spend some one-on-one time with Kyle on Friday. When they're that young, it's hard to feel like you're getting any quality time with them.. they're a tornado of activity. But having to feed and dress and bathe and entertain him all day, that did it. He dragged me down on the bed to nap with him. Snuggled up happily with me. Would threaten to leave the bed every time I had to get up. Cried when I left the room from that point on that day.. :) (Not that I'm happy he cried, but I certainly felt special for a bit!)
That night, Dawny & Shannon & I went to see Vance Gilbert in concert. I luck out with getting to see Vance.. he was in Chicago the same weekend as me just before I moved to Florida, too. Now in La freaking Crosse the weekend I'm home for the baptism? Weirdo. We were a few minutes late getting out of the house (duh) so we had to wait until Vance finished his first song to sneak in. I was wearing my toque. "Nice hat," Vance said as I snuck through. It turns out my second-grade gym teacher was sitting in the front row with a toque 50x as goofy, and he had been picking on her from minute one of the show. Vance was great, and I highly recommend going to see him if he's ever nearby: VanceGilbert.com - go look! Dawny didn't know of him before the show and now she's a convert, as are her mom and baby cousin.
During the break, I heard a voice say my name. It turned out to be Ms. Garland! Yes, newspaper advisor and high school English teacher. It was great to see her again, and such a lucky break. She has my email address now, so maybe I'll get a Ms. Garland email sometime soon. :)
The girls and I went out for a couple of drinks after the concert at the Casino on Friday night, one of the only quiet bars we could find. I have to say, being cold has its good points: "home" (whether it's Kelli's or Kamille's that's temporarily acting mine) seems all the more cozy and going out for a drink takes on another dimension when you're ducking out of the cold to get there. So that was nice.
Now that we're all 28, we didn't last long in the bars.. I was probably the deciding factor there, but I didn't want to be out too late (I gots little ones to enjoy there and don't want to sleep in too much), so we went to Country Kitchen for a late dessert of ridicu-large chocolate cake and two hours of talking. Nice. :) By the way, Shannon, in case you forget again, I'm memorializing it here in the blog for you: Mike! His name was Mike! Oh yeah, La Crosse has a Hooters now. Woo-hoo, I bet my brother-in-law is happy.
Saturday.. mostly a blur.. a big, lazy blur.. It's easy to be lazy when you have a lump of baby that will happily take residence upon your chest and doze the day away. That Macy honestly just cannot get any cuter, with all that bubbling and cooing. Now, the mustard poop I could go without.
Sunday was the baptism. Me, in a church! Weird! I was approving of the service, wherein the pastor encouraged people to improve their lives by letting go of old grudges. I tried to forgive my mom for my various grievances, but was unsuccessful. I love her as she is now, but I can't lament the fact that we're not closer.
We saw eagles on the frozen Mississippi on the way home from church and turned the car around to get a better view. There were four or five and they're HUGE and BEAUTIFUL. And were probably making the flock of ducks swimming around in the freezing-cold water (how?) very nervous.
There was then a big family get-together of eatin' and present-openin'.. then I changed into as many layers of clothes as I could fit on me and spent the rest of the day snuggled up with Macy, Amanda, Kamille, and combinations of the three.
Monday, my last day home! Noteworthy bit is that we all went to Chuck E. Cheese, and Dawn brought her little cousin Madison. Then Dawn & I went to the bookstore and, where else, Wal*Mart. Spent some quality time in the driveway (well, on the street) and got home at 1:30 a.m... then I watched a movie.. asleep at 4, back up at 7.. ugh. Needless to say, when I got home last night at 6 p.m., it was more or less straight to bed.
Amazingly, I had a good time and I could have easily stayed longer. I'm very comfortable & at-home at Kamille's place, understandable since I used to live there. The cold only really got to me a couple of times, and I had a bit of cabin fever by the end, but it was all good. Maybe I can visit again this summer, to try to keep my Aunt-Stacey memories fresh in Kyle's & Macy's heads. Spend some time with my lovely sisters. Ahh, why does my family live so far away?
Mm, okay, I think that covers it.
Actually, it doesn't. I have been having such a bad year with pets.. Both the birds I had left died while I was away. #1 got attacked by a neighbor animal somehow, Balu informed me via voicemail during my trip. They'd been outside for two months with no incident, and then as soon as I leave.. bam! When I got home, I asked which was left. He said neither; the second died yesterday morning. I'm not surprised; they were a couple. That was my big heartache about the first one getting attacked.. I'm not exactly emotionally attached to the parakeets, but I felt horrible that one was living without the love of its life. The second probably died for that very reason. So now I am a birdless woman. What a weird feeling. Webster died of old age earlier this year and I gave Kili to a pet-sitter/vet office worker last week to keep her birds company, since I wouldn't make Kili live alone but I didn't want to take on another 15-year-lifespan noisemaker. So yep, birdless.
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And now Macy is baptized. Hmm, I think that's about it. Also, it's cold here. 12 with the windchill. Twelve freaking degrees. And me in a skirt.
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I found this pic on Kamille's computer. Look how skinny I was!
I've had a few comments since I've been here that I look better now than I did last time I was here (this pic). I do not agree.
a few pics!
i'm actually having a pretty good time. dawny, shannon & i saw vance gilbert last night (www.vancegilbert.com - highly recommended) and went out for a drink & dessert afterwards. oh, we're such old folks.
yesterday i spent the entire day alone with kyle. he likes me!
this house is LOUD, so i can't really write.. wheee...
Awesome. The house projects are surrel, and check out that grey blanket of pollution. Ah, Mexico.
*Courtesy QualityPeoples.com ¶ 6:37 PM 0 comments
Yep, heading home tomorrow. When I checked their weather this morning, it said that the temperature was 30, but it felt like 10 with the wind chill. Uhh. I haven't been in anything less than, say, 45 since.. Thanksgiving 2004. And that's the way I like it. (And mind you, 45 is only in the dead of night here when we're going through cold spells, and you know very well I ain't outside for that.)
They have snow, though. More snow tomorrow. And Friday. And Saturday. I can't remember exactly when I last saw snow, but I think it was probably in 2003.
But anyway, I'll be around.. and posting pictures, I'm sure -- Kamille has DSL. Yay! :)
The cat mama sent me an updated pic of my boys. How cute are they ??? And they look nothing alike! Look how big Thor is! :)
I'm willing to bet Tarzan is his dad..
(Tarzan)
isn't alli a sweetheart, making sure my body parts are all well adorned? :)
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Wow, New York has quaker parakeets too. Weird.
I was just out and about in Hollywood and quaker-watched for a bit. We have lots of quaker parakeets in South Florida, and I'm constantly noticing them, but it's just every once in a while I happen across a place they really seem to be thriving. Today, that was the Target parking lot.
You could hear them everywhere, and see them flying from tree to tree, chattering and gathering sticks and grasses for their nests in the palms, which look just like the picture above. It's very cool to them pop their cute little heads out of their big nests. All this awesome natural behavior, descended from escaped pets.
I snapped a couple of pictures before my camera battery went dead.. this is an all-too-common occurence lately, so I have bought a spare battery which hopefully will arrive before tomorrow. Anyway, I'll upload those later.
Cute little buggers. They seem to be living pretty harmoniously with the starlings; I often saw the starlings hanging around on their trees / by their nests, with no apparent consequence. I guess that's appropriate.. just a couple of ex-pats making friends. :) ¶ 11:48 AM 0 comments
About a wasp. And a cockroach. And a scene from Alien. ¶ 9:59 AM 0 comments
it seems like every time i go to the young circle dunkin donuts (that one you took chris to, bethy!), i always manage to spot a weirdo. a picture-worthy weirdo. today it was a woman that was.. oh, i dunno.. 55 or so? dressed as if she was 16. she had a white gypsy skirt on, with a white hippie top with sequins.. a jean jacket over it.. big hoop earrings.. then purple socks & high-heeled wooden sandals. seriously, the lady thought she was 16. i sat there and said a little prayer that i grow old gracefully, accepting my age along the way.
as i walked out, i realized that i was wearing a nice, black work dress.. and bright blue crocs. (i brought other shoes to work with me but have yet to have a reason to slip off these comfy ones.) i was probably someone else's weirdo sighting for the day! :)
Crocodile commotion A saltwater crocodile suns itself next to a bench behind the Watermark Condominium in Dania Beach on Monday. The animal created quite a commotion and Florida Fish & Wildlife agents and the Broward Sheriff's Office were called into the residential area over a concern the croc was getting too close to an area where people walk. The crocodile eventually went back into the waterway and because it is an endangered animal, it was left alone. Residents say that three crocodiles, one measuring at least 12 feet, have been living in their waterways for years.
Dania! That's closeby! I could see a crocodile!
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Pics are up from Bill & Susan's wedding!
The day was rainy and cold.. considering the day before and the day after were gorgeous, that seems a little unfair. But, in true style, it turned out to be a really nice time. It even cleared up long enough for the newlyweds to get their pictures taken on the beach. :)
Anyway, enjoy the pictures..
I like that these orca whales are coming up with ways to continue to be "predators" despite their captivity.. I gotta think of something that would work like this for Wiley the pacing coyote(?) at Everglades Outpost. ¶ 3:20 PM 0 comments
Zimbabwe trophy fees - Trophy Safaris Africa.
There should be some type of "Content Suitable For Assholes Only" warning on websites like this. Aggh, quote: "Any animal bagged or wounded must be paid for." I just don't get why someone would want to wound something. Why is that fun? Oh, causing suffering - it's a blast! ¶ 1:28 PM 0 comments
This guy is from Detroit. It says in the Salon article that he tries to affect a British demeano(u)r.. From what I see on Flickr, sadly, he does.. badly. ¶ 12:39 PM 0 comments
Back when I found John Frost's pics, I was telling Mark about it.. How this guy has this harem of mannequins and would pose them in party dresses, wedding dresses, businesswear, etc. How he would have them doing yard work, or falling down the stairs.. He then told me about an article he had read in Salon about men and their Real Dolls, and how the picture featured a man and his Real Doll(TM) playing video games together. Today I decided to find here.. so here you go..
Update: after reading it.. you know, I gotta say wow. Interesting article. And after looking at some of the owners' pages, e.g. this one... oh, how sad! ¶ 11:50 AM 1 comments
You know, this type of thing happens so often that I doubt y'all would know why I'd put it up here. But, reading this, it occured to me.. seriously, how can these guys survive? What more could we do to them? If a mama sea turtle returns to her natal beach to find that we haven't covered it in lounge chairs or "renourished" it with sand too dark or too rocky to be a suitable substrate, so she can actually lay her eggs.. then what? Then we steal her eggs. I mean, I understand 40 baht ($1 or so) per egg is a lot to poor Thai folks, but.. you just have to feel for the poor freaking turtles. Even if all goes well with the egg-laying process, only one hatchling per 10,000 makes it to adulthood.. so what happens when we keep interfering with the beginning numbers? And then, when the turtle isn't outsmarted by our ignorant seaside lights, makes it past the predatory birds and crabs, it winds up getting caught in a drift net, or hit by a boat propeller.. just all very sad. it's like we're setting up some too-difficult obstacle course for their survival. and they're just wookie cute little turtles - how can they outsmart us?
anyway, to balance out all this doom and gloom, now i give you.. baby sea turtles!
can you get any cuter?
aww :) look at 'em clamberin' for the moon.
oh, they make me happy :) ¶ 4:22 PM 0 comments
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http://mightygirl.net/2005_10_01_archive.html#112993673572005418 ¶ 11:55 AM 0 comments
