Dumbubba

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Frog

Quick background: the year we had all the snow we fed a female cat because there was a butt-load of snow. She begat Jim. Then she begat Baby (yeah, clever name). Then a few months ago she showed up with 5 kittens. One of them is called Dumbubba. This story explains why the name is not inappropriate.

This is the state I found Dumbubba in this morning. Apologies for the grainy picture. It was just before 6am and I didn’t want to turn on the light and startle Dumbubba.

I marked the trouble spots. The cat had managed to get his back legs wedged into the back of the chair. When I went out to the porch, he struggled because I am only supposed to feed him, but touching him is not allowed.

I attempted to calm him and grab him at the same time. He freaked the hell on out, but his back legs were firmly wedged. I went into the house to get the oven mitts. By this time, the cavalry had arrived in the form of Simon, Dumbubba’s brother (Fuzzy–who will probably get a coveted spot in the house) and Jim. Jim stood around to watch the fun and Fuzzy took the opportunity to go in the house to get the good food out of the bowl in the kitchen.

I firmly grabbed the stuck cat and he bit the oven mitts, hissed, spat and freaked out some more. His legs were really wedged. Simon does not like it when a cat acts the fool, so he climbed into the chair to beat Dumbubba in the face. Because, really, there’s nothing better than being wedged into a chair, being grabbed by a woman you don’t trust and then having a big orange cat beat you in the face. Good times.

Finally, I unstuck Dumbubba and held the squalling, twisting cat in the air for a few seconds. As his back legs popped out of the chair, he threw a mighty fart into the air and then skittered off the porch. He left wet foot prints. I assume that was sweat, but the oven mitts are slated to be washed when I get home.

Posted in Generic Thoughts, Watching | 3 Comments

Been to the Mercantile

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Frog

Pa and I hitched up the mule and went into town a bit ago. We had our annual shopping to do.

I think we done good:

Posted in Watching | 3 Comments

The End is Nigh!

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Frog

I don’t know what I was thinking when I signed up for 3 online courses this summer. My advisor let me in on a trick that seems completely acceptable to everyone which is sign up in the first session for as many classes as you want and then finish them as you get to them throughout the summer. So, basically that means you start them, take an incomplete and then finish them in the last session. Somehow that’s getting more time and spending less money or something. To me that sounded like madness. Spread the work out over the whole summer? No thank you.

I have one more thing to turn in tomorrow and then I’m done. Days before the actual end of the semester and now the rest of my summer will be spent in idleness. Relative idleness.

Today we need to dig up some or all of the garlic and begin the drying process. I also have a feeling we’ll pick a bucket of blackberries. I think the better-half will be pressed into service to make a crumble/roll/cobbler/grunt/what-have-you. And, a nap. I definitely see a nap in my future.

Posted in Eating, Gardening | Comments Off

A Truck Driver

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Frog

Last night was Nut2′s graduation from pre-school. She was dressed in a girly dress with a matching head band. That’s an important detail for what’s to follow.

The pre-school is the same one that Nut1 went to and the graduation ceremony hasn’t changed that much. Some, if not all, of the songs are the same and there was the cuteness factor of the kids. The final part of the ceremony is when the kids get their diplomas and are asked what they want to be when they grow up.

There are lots of firefighters and race car drivers. There was one kid who said he wanted to be a dentist. And, then there was Nut2 looking as girly-girl as I’ve ever seen her. She said she wants to be a truck driver.

You know what happened next, right? My heart grew three sizes.

Posted in Listening | 3 Comments

I Haz Complaints

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Frog

I’m halfway through my summer courses. There’s one course that is specifically designed for people who are K-12 teachers who want to be instructional technologists at their schools. Hooray for them. It’s too bad the assignments don’t take into account the rest of us who are taking the class.

I’m sure the GTA who has to read my assignments (and there are assignments due every other day) is sick of hearing about my non-traditional classroom examples. Whatevs. I’m tired of having to convert everything I read and write into something that meets my needs. At least I’m getting some ideas for new techniques so my interest level is still pretty high.

The other two classes are fascinating. They are about audio and video. I’m a horrible videographer. I just hope my critiques of how bad my videos are wins some points because the movies I’m creating certainly won’t. There are reasons why people pay to go to film school. I suppose I’ll also get some credit for improvement.

In other news, the heat is getting on my nerves. We’re still two weeks away from summer. What happened to the crazy, zany idea of spring?

Posted in General Spleen Venting, Generic Thoughts | Comments Off

Soaking up sun and wine

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Frog

image

We went to a wine festival in the college town today. It was a pretty small event with a half dozen wineries, a few craft vendors, a band and some food. The proceeds from ticket sales go to scholarships for local high school kids.

This was the third year and by accounts today was the nicest weather day yet…sounded like previous years were all about the rain.

We drank some pretty darn good local wine and some forgettable ones too. We ended up buying a couple of blush/rose from a brand new winery. Should be great wine for hanging out this summer.

Forgot to add that we had a crab cake which included corn. Awesome.
crab cakes with corn

Posted in Eating, Generic Thoughts | Comments Off

I’m Working Here

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Frog

I’m supposed to be doing homework (you can just make out the screen behind him).

What would you do with such a sweet face right in front of you?

Yeah, I grabbed the camera and decided it was time to talk to Simon.

Posted in Watching | Comments Off

Totally digging this

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Frog

Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside – I Swear from Matthew Ross on Vimeo.

Posted in Listening | Comments Off

Blowing hard

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Frog

Last night we went out to dinner at a place that has been closed for over a year. It was located in the city and the landlord was a jerk who kicked them out. The landlord has since been convicted of fraud and sentenced to multiple decades in jail, so my using the word jerk really isn’t out of line.

Anyway, the restaurant has reopened in Northside and the food is still delicious. We had been in the space many years ago and I have to say they’ve done nice things with it by keeping the old character but livening things up with a beautiful tiled bar. The chairs are much more comfortable too. Yeah, it’s a weird thing to remember but I like a longish seat on a chair and if I don’t get it I keep that information tucked away forever.

Now, for the real reason for this post. A table of four sat down behind us and it seemed like things were going to be OK because they were interested in the wine offerings (a seriously good wine list) and sharing of appetizers. The group sounded very much like when we go out with our good friends. But, alas, that was not to last.

Because one of the women was a complete blow hard and at one point I really wanted to turn around and tell her to shutthefuckup. Here are some things she said and I suspect you’ll begin to hate her a little too:
I play for the symphony. I’m a principal. (to the waiter)
There was my $3500 saddle not strapped down to the horse. (to her companions)
The ceiling fan had to be hardwired into the house. (isn’t that generally how it works)
We had to work around his schedule but he was really cheap. (on getting an electrician to do some side work so they didn’t have to pay his employer)

Now, I know the electrical work isn’t really punch-in-the-face worthy, but after a good 20 minutes of her prattling on it was time for punching. Her dinner companions were pretty silent the whole time. The crap about being a principal in the symphony had absolutely nothing to do with anything other than showing off to the waiter who could have cared less. And, the $3500 saddle that was in jeopardy was just pretension. It had nothing to do with the entertainment value of the story.

When we got up to leave, her husband had a pained look on his face. I just smiled the smile of pity and kept on walking.

We have someone like that in our family and after awhile you forget that she’s a nice person because the wall of sound coming from her just makes you want to move away from her as quickly as possible.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 1 Comment

Finally.

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Frog

When we lived in our other house we had a laminate counter top straight out of a 70s horror film. It was yellow and had at least one huge crack that ran from edge to wall and then there were the various other scars and general ugliness.

When we moved into the house we live in now, we both liked the kitchen because we could have a table and the pantry is amazing (under a set of stairs). The counter tops were cheap, nasty and rivaled the 70s horror film. The edges were sharp and the color some sort of white. I hated those counter tops.

See:

There was also this problem (hunks of caulk and a stove that didn’t go all the way to the wall):

The hunks of caulk were one thing, but when we dragged the stove out from the wall, I narrowed my eyes a bit. This is a problem we could have fixed 6 years ago. You can bet your sweet ass that it is now fixed–simply by cutting the wall board and stuffing the propane supply line into the wall. Gee, why didn’t I think of that? Wait. I did. Repeatedly. Sorry, better-half, but you know it’s true.

We dismantled the kitchen moving all the appliances out of the way so the counter top people could afix screws, brackets, whatever. We found a fork behind that stove that didn’t meet the wall. The family of dust bunnies now live in the vacuum and it’s too bad we couldn’t salvage the metric ton of cat food from under the refrigerator. Hey, boys, quit flinging the kibble!

Here are the new counter tops. Since the end of the world is coming on the 21st, I think I might just sit, admire and pet this new addition until the rapture or when the earthquakes and floods begin (or whatever doomsday thing is supposed to happen–what do I care, I have new counter tops).

Yes, the plumbing isn’t working yet. The sink had to cure and all plumbing work requires at least two trips to the hardware store–so far the better-half has only made one trip. We’re reusing our faucet from before and the dishwasher will go back into the space as soon as the plumbing is hooked back up.

But, you know what works? The stove. And, look how far back it ended up going once we were able to shove the propane line into the void in the wall (this is as far as the stove will go because of its structure, but I’ll take it):

Posted in House Proud | 1 Comment