Saturday, November 23, 2019

Delivery Style

First photo shows the artistry and dedication of our recent temporary UPS driver, who has now moved on to other routes. Second photo shows the slapdash efforts of the regular driver. And he's left even more disarray at other times. 

I know it's a tough job. But it was a joy to watch someone take pride in it. 





Sent from my iPhone

Monday, November 04, 2019

Ernest

I came across this in a picture book. Doesn't it look like little Ernest? Only his long hair made him happy.



He cut it in high school, though. Now he looks like this.




Rumor has it he might visit at Christmas!

Sunday, November 03, 2019

Partners in crime

The babies are all grown. 



A few minutes later they were all busy in the bathroom. I couldn't get a video started soon enough



but they were moving in unison, heads and ears together, back and forth like a coordinated dance.

Saturday, November 02, 2019

Time to Feed Fifi

I was getting that look.



Which means...


Or else she will turn into Vlad the Cat


But now for something slightly different, Freddy Purrcury!



Friday, November 01, 2019

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

Bee Handling

Actually not bees. I believe we are dealing with yellow jackets, or “predatory social wasps.”

Handy got stung by a hidden nest in our yard during the summer. But I digress.

I wanted to discuss my apparently new position as book store yellow jacket remover.

People freak out. Get rid of the bee!  Um, I don’t think it’s a bee. But I’ll take care of it. So then I deal with it. Yes, there are yellow jackets around the trash right outside the door. Solution: I carefully empty the trash.

Bee (yellow jacket) in the window. But please don’t kill it! Solution: I cover it with a glass, slide some paper between the pane and the glass, carry it out and let it go near the street planter. Also I empty the trash again because that’s where they are congregating.

I thank my years of elementary school playground/lunch duty for the ability to deal with this in a calm manner. Those lunch table yellow jackets loved sandwiches! And the trash. Solution: cover your food. Empty the trash.

I can also deal with spiders, scuttling black bugs (smash ‘em!),  dead or only slightly flapping objects the cats used to drag in, (solution: dustpan) and in a very new twist, bold pigeons walking straight into the store (solution: run them back out the door)! I can’t deal with fully flapping things so if the pigeons take flight inside then we will have a problem.

Co-workers are grateful that I deal with “bees.” I doubt they will deal with the full metal pigeon invasion.

Although work rumors say “solution: falconer!”



Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Monday, August 05, 2019

Even Naughtier

One of the orange boys (I was told it was Leo) broke the screen!

This is why we can't have nice things.

Seriously, the screen door was 51 years old and pretty frail. We had it rescreened and the boys are back at their sitting spot.  Of course at this time it was too hot to have the slider open.

Leo is evidencing some guilt here and is trying to escape from the scene of his crime. He was lounging happily until he saw me attempting to take a picture;

Sunday, August 04, 2019

Basket case

The laundry helper strikes again. Hunter is the most helpful cat.

Saturday, August 03, 2019

The Latest Lunches

Sometimes even cheap tacos are delectable.


The guys had burgers but I thought I'd try a steak salad.


My ramen place's beloved spring pea salad is gone, out of season, but the summer heirloom tomato salad is almost as good.


Italian deli sandwich craving.


Technically this was breakfast. Avocado toast. I was not expecting two pieces!


The latest: a divine Tomato Watermelon Gazpacho



and a BLT salad with sharp cheddar.



Summer tomatoes definitely have been a theme here.

Friday, August 02, 2019

The Woodstock Project

We thought about putting a guitar in our August Woodstock window, and I planned to copy the iconic poster. But then I worried about theft issues with a real guitar. So my new combined goal became a 3-D model of the Woodstock poster.

How to build a tiny guitar? Frank reminded me of the Guitar Hero controllers sitting in a donation box. The Gibson Les Paul seemed the closest choice.

I forgot to take a before picture, but this is what I started with. I covered the lumpy bits with cardboard, to make a smooth surface, a more traditional shape,  and also to make the controller salvageable afterwards.



The wet version:



Now the next dilemma, do I paint it to match the poster or to look like a real guitar.





































I did both.






Here we are.





Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Naughty

While some of my cats have made it their lifetime goal to scratch up the low pile rug living room rug into shag, others have decided the bedroom shag must be stripped down to its woven core.

Someone who has white belly fur has been working hard on this spot.



I put down a mat to protect the hole and capture the fur.

Aha! I sense this is the culprit. He accepted the mat all right. It looks pretty with his fur.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Shortage

Why is this pantry staple so hard to find? The local family-owned store hasn’t had any for weeks. Granted, they are changing ownership and suppliers so I cut them some slack. But the big chain store only had these 2 meager jars. This is one of Handy’s barbecue (grilling) staples.  We’re stocked up for a bit but he just used a bunch on some baked chicken. I worry about the Q-ing future.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Orangies

I love my orange babies. They are so sweet and rumply. They cuddle up with big brother Hunter on the bed (he was there to the right just out of the picture) and I call it Boys Town. If you position yourself just right, you can sometimes pet 3 cats with only 2 hands.







Saturday, July 20, 2019

Glovie Wovies

We are discussing the fall scarecrow for the bookstore window and are planning something pretty amazing.

There was a need for black gloves and at first I thought I didn't have them anymore, but then I thought harder. Self, why would you get rid of elbow length black gloves that never fit you, when you know you would have a use for them some day? Well, I was right. These will be perfect.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Just Call Me Sweeney

Sweeney Todd, that is, as I did a lot of cutting and hacking.


I bought a slab of New York steak on sale for $4.74 a pound. Out came the knives. None of my knives were sharp enough to cut through a tough bit of gristle under the fat, so I wielded some utility shears too.

I love having the vacuum sealer. I sealed up some leftovers too. The freezer is full!


Speaking of butchery....

You can get a better quality of video on some other renditions, but the LuPone/Cerveris revival is my favorite. Long time readers may remember when Patti LuPone flirted with my husband. And I have friends in NOLA who know Michael Cerveris. Enjoy a little priest....

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Robbery Update

The bank robber was caught in Missouri!

Meanwhile in the next small town over, 3 small businesses were robbed.

Frank and I were chatting and I said the only break-in I knew of at the book store was when a deer crashed in a window, roamed the store, and escaped out the back. I only know of this secondhand, but I was working at the school then, and we had a deer roaming the corridor so it was probably the same deer dude.

Frank reminded me that the coffee shop had been robbed once. Back door pried open, and the perp took the whole cash drawer not just the cash. Gosh, I just wasn’t aware of that but I did notice when there were extra security plates attached to a few of the doors.


Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Oh NOES

I'll tell you, I am not thrilled about this.

I've been on 3 juries. That's a lot of civic duty.

With my luck, I'll probably get picked again.



August 5.

Monday, July 15, 2019

Rockin’ and Shockin’

Rocking lobster treats.




And shocking that they are all eating at their designated bowls. Not that it really matters, but Francine is a mite tetchy if her bowl is infringed upon. The boys often rotate. But that one tastes better, Mom!

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Who Moved My Box?

I did NOT leave this in the traffic path myself. 

Harry?


Saturday, July 13, 2019

Weekend Accomplishments

Last weekend was momentous as I got TWO whole tasks accomplished.

1) Trimmed Harry's undercarriage. It took both Jeff and Handy to hold him down. I got most of the mats cut off and I did not have to shear him clean like a sheep. I hope to do another round soon.  All the other cats do a better job of grooming themselves and like to be brushed.

2) Brodarted the remainder of my Happy Hollisters collection.







This weekend, not so much. I have haphazardly cleaned a portion of the bathroom so maybe I will finally finish that. I still have Sunday!

Tuesday, July 09, 2019

Boxing Day

I had intended to use these boxes to store some of Ernest's architectural Lego, as I desperately need another bookshelf. But Harry has other ideas.

Monday, July 08, 2019

The Rocket Project

The July book store window is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I volunteered to make one of my typical grade school projects.

Final materials list: 3 clorox wipes containers, one bag of rice (a weight), 1 paper towel roll, 1 straw, one cereal box, one tissue box, newspaper, flour and water.