I'm *squeeeeeeee!*ing

My fishing buddy bought me this 7' rod&reel combo. Called Femme Fatale by Okuma, it's super-cute and pink in all the right places.

I squee'd my pants. I'm going to look very cute catching or not catching fish. Full fishing report to follow.

True Story...

A woman I know called me up recently laughing her head off. She'd seen a commercial on television where a guy mistakenly brushes his teeth one morning with buttpaste instead of the tooth variety. Her young daughter asked what the paste was, and she explained. Then the daughter said "Oh, that's what daddy had me buy that time." She asked for an explanation, and learned that several years ago when she had sent her husband to the drug store for some Preparation H, he'd been too embarrassed to buy it, so he sent their daughter into the store to buy the stuff.

I know a woman whose ex-husband made great sport of occasions when she'd drop *ahem* ladytime products in the shopping cart. He'd take it like a football and run down the aisle, throwing the box back at her while yelling "go long!"

Silly rabbits.

**************

Went fishing Sunday night, and the sky was overcast and things cooled off nicely. The lake was windy and I fished with a crappie pole from the shore. I used some stinky discoball bait blobs with red glitter, but the fish stayed away in droves. My hook was robbed aplenty, but no fish would I catch, alas. I think the sparkles would have worked better if the sun had been brighter, but I was happy with cooler dimness and no fish than I would have been to catch a passel in direct sun and brutal heat.

To my dismay, I was informed that I don't get a refund on my fishing license if I never catch any fish. *harumph*

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: Praline can...

...take this pool from zero to filthy in 20 minutes or less.

The pups got a kiddie pool this week, and Miss Praline made short work of filling it with muck and oomska. In fact, shortly after she began playing in it, she looked like a mudball her ownself. Chuy was more take-it-or-leave-it with the pool. Praline's a water baby, though...

Since we are mid-lurch into flea&tick season, I need to pass along a word of caution from my sister. She sent an email with the following:

so now, since I'm obvs cheap, I got Sentry Pro XFC for de pups. Big mistake. I will be up all night. I think they will live, but they are VERY sick. Thank God for the Childrens Benedryl in that package of pet meds u gave me. I will NEVER use an otc pet med again. Researching this product online now that i'm watching the freak show(twitching, pacing, whimpering, swollen puffy ears? wtf, etc) is horrifying. Why is this product still available? I wish I had gone to law school. Never let anyone you know use this crap!!

So now I've passed it along. The funny thing about me giving her the Benadryl was that right after Valentine died in July, I found homes for all of her things, including leftover heartworm pills, etc, and in that bag was the Benadryl I kept on hand in case she ever had an allergic reaction. I didn't think I'd be getting another dog so soon (shows what I know). Anyway, the important thing is that if you must try an OTC med on your pet, just be sure to monitor them closely and to keep some benadryl and a good, mild doggie shampoo on hand, too. I'm glad this experience didn't end in disaster. I would be crushed to lose any of my dogs, and I would spare her or you that experience.

Enjoy your Sunday, and be sure to romp with your dogs. I intend to. :)

Gladiatrix Space-Hooker?

I report.

You decide.

Well, actually, I like them whether you do or not. Also, I'm enjoying my orange-lacquered toenails. They look so much nicer these days since I stopped chewing them...

More stuff from someone else who hits it out of the park:

Go over here at Snarkybytes to read how the healthcare Obama is shoving down our throats is not actually good enough for his kith and kin. Think about it. This is a monumental power-grab, long and short of it. Obama relies on the fact that he and his will never have to be subject to the plebian level of healthcare rationing that you or I would be subject to if his proposals are taken seriously and enacted, heaven forbid.

Then go to this post at Snarkybytes to read about the biggest tax hike in history, and one which will have the net effect of doubling the price mere mortals like us pay for energy costs. This is truly chilling. We can't afford to be inattentive for even a moment here. Daily our Senate and Congress are working to make these things happen. Let us not be apathetic about these very real threats whilst being spoon-fed the latest celebrity poop.

About that Twilight thingie...

When I went to this new job, the supervisor in charge of the group introduced herself to us the first day. D's a gregarious, engaging person and probably never met a stranger. D is our kind of girl. Love her. She told us a lot about her life and how great the company was to work for. She also said we might as well get used to the fact that she is obsessed with Edward from Twilight and wishes her husband were more like him. Apparently, her husband is aware of this benign obsession and indulges her.

Since I'm still in training (only 4 or 5 months of training to go-- yays!), I've been cloistered with the other n00bs in a training room, not yet having been unleashed into the general worker bee population where I'll no doubt one day fondly embrace my new role in life as cublicle whore. Still, we walk through the main workroom and there are quite a few Twilight posters dotted about, but D's cubicle is liberally festooned with Twilightery.

Stopping by a book/record store recently, I saw a raft of Twilight-themed products, including candy hearts with Edward on the box and sayings appropriate to the story line: "Bite Me" and, well, you get the picture.

Eureka!
Wouldn't it be lovely if Edward were to requite D's affection in some small way? Well, Edward bought a box of those candies and left them on D's desk last week with a greeting card declaring his utter besottedness with her. This week, Edward left a simple offering of a ripe, perfect plum, more sweet nothings scrawled lasciviously within the accompanying card.

Thursday D was talking to our group and saying what a superlative lot we are (none having been fired this first 8 weeks was in itself exceptional, apparently), and that, by the way, Edward has been leaving her gifties on her desk, and she asked our instructor if she was Edward. She searched our faces for recognition, but I sat, poker-faced, having known it was coming. No one admitted to being Edward, least of all your humble narrator.

One of my inner circle has ventured that I can't ever come clean now if I want to keep my job, but I think I will, one day. I think it's obviously an innocent and good-natured lark-- Edward doesn't exist at all, so it's not like she thinks this is really from him. I'm going to winnow it out a bit, though. It's fun for her and I'm getting a giggle out of it. Next week, Edward will probably leave another goodie on her computer along with a card valanced with unctuous, looping swags of Byron. *shrug* It blows my skirt up, anyhoo.

While I'm about the business...

of tasteless products, can someone 'splain me these shoes?:

Um, ew.

Why?

Why the split-toe action? I can't figure it out. I can't imagine what function would inspire such a form.

Not cute.

Crashing waves of wrongness

Just when you think you can't be shocked...

You see a bag of beef pizzles wot am in the pampered pet aisle at your food emporium. At first I thought they'd just come up with a cluelessly bad name for a new dog treat. Came home and searched zee webs, and whaddaya know if it ain't an aptly named product? Now you can get them in braided pizzle, too. I think I liked it better when I just thought it was a poor choice of catchy words for a dog treat name.

Ew. It's bad enough when your dog eats pig ears or cow hooves - the hooves always give them manure breath. I'm not sure I'm up to finding out what they'd smell like after one of these, but I'm sure they'd love it...

One of these days...

Blowfuzzy von Sassy will crank her own blog to life, and then the intarw3bz will get down to the serious bidness of uglyMean&nasty. In the meantime, she occasionally lobs her observations my way, and I simply must pass them along, such as the observation below. It's sad when a sitting president is likened, say, to Curious George or in some way lampooned as ignernt when the detractors know damned well the opposite is true. We should try to focus on valid arguments germane to the issues at hand, rather than stooping to MAD magazine style japery. Let's try to be kinder than others have been, shall we? Let's not post cruel, petty observations even if they'd give us a sinister giggle. Here's your chance to be a better person than me. Don't post stuff like this:

Be nice.

Feelgood Wednesday.

Because we all need to feel a little better for a change. Yeah, I've posted this before, but it's just that good.

See PJ Harvey.
See Polly Jean kick ass.
Kick ass, Polly Jean, kick ass!

In heels, as well.

Let me apologize in advance...

... if I should start sounding like a one-note symphony, but the entire USA healthcare power-grab thing is just sticking in my craw something fierce. Do mind your step-- the horses have been through here.

From the Congressional Quarterly (I shit you not, this is actually a headline):

White House Suggests Health Care Cost Isn't New Money

I'll let that sink in for a moment.


If it's not newly-printed, hot-off-the-press money, then where, pray tell, will they be stealing it from???

We are told Social Security is near collapse, its coffers having been been given a more thorough seeing-to by our legislators than does a windstorm for a panhandle screen door. One stark-raving asshat had the bloody nerve to suggest our military folk wounded serving our country should pay their own medical bills. If we are not fiscally sound enough to hold steadfastly to footing the bill for men and women who have been injured serving our country, why be so hell-bent to get out and subsidize the healthcare of the folks who lack the initiative to serve themselves, let alone their fellow Americans?

Pah! I'm disgusted.

Yeah: What he said.

There are few words adequate to describe the outrage in my heart for the senseless death of Neda Soltani. As I watched the video, I was stricken by the heartbreak in the voice of her father crying her name as she died in his arms on that Tehrani street on the same day we in the USA celebrated Father's Day. Horrors. The sooner a secular youth culture of Iran ousts the old guard, the better life will be for every Iranian, and the better off the world will be.

Any culture which murders young women on the street for daring to disagree with the upholding of tyrannical rule is not a culture worth preserving.

I could go on, but someone already said it better than I could ever do, so read this.

It's a crazy, mixed-up world.

In the Politico Monday, an article entitled "why we will win back healthcare this time" was published with what may presumably have been a straight face. The article breathlessly touts reform of the American healthcare system to provide affordable healthcare for all Americans. I think their idea of affordable healthcare is that a handful of people will tote the note for everyone else. Who is John Gall?

Golden chestnuts from the article:

Progressive eras also rise from a reaction against the excesses of conservatism, which in this case is the national rejection of the overreaching of the Bush administration.

and:

There is also unity on messaging, starting with reassuring Americans that they can keep the insurance they have if they like it. This is the best response to the opposition’s entire message, which is to scare the public about reform. The other weakness that opponents have in their message about “government-run health care” delays and denial of care is that there’s hardly anyone in America, including people with good insurance, who don’t believe that the private insurance industry is delaying and denying people care every day while driving health care costs through the roof.
[emphasis mine]

There was a time when good health insurance was part of the incentive to strive for a good job. These days, however, many people have the idea that health insurance is an entitlement. Rather than preserving our freedom to achieve (or not) as we each choose, lumping every American together in one nationalized healthcare system will cripple caregivers' ability to deliver service and rather than a rising tide which raises all boats, we will be effectively yoked together in a limiting and tragically rationed system.

I'll be honest - I genuinely liked George W. Bush as a person. I found him sincere. However, if his administration was over-reaching in any way, I think it was far too fiscally liberal. For the entirety of his terms as president, I was baffled by the hue and cry from the left, when it seemed to me GWB let slip the doors to the national coffers in the name of compassionate conservatism. Aspects of government which should have shrunk grew instead.

We really need to get a grip on spending. The healthcare industry is already effectively hobbled by our government. I'd like to box the ears of anyone who thinks healthcare will be better and the public better-served by that industry when it has been manacled by the embuggerances which the federal government so masterfully engineers.

As Ambulance Driver said, when our government takes over the health care industry, it will have the efficiency of FEMA with the compassion of the IRS.

We're so screwed.

What kind of moth is this?

Isn't this moth interesting? I thought it was a dried up leaf or a curled piece of bark, but it was too symmetrical. Do you know what sort it is? I've never seen one like it.

**************

Had a grand time in DFW this weekend visiting my family, but it was good to come home to Elsewhere.

Went for walkies Sunday night and two shirtless little neighborhood urchins were showing off the rattlesnake they'd killed earlier. I said one had bitten my dog and they asked what happened to it. They asked if I'd kept the rattle of the dead snake, I said yes and one said "Lucky!" Apparently he collects rattles. I didn't offer him my trophy.

Oh. and out for a walk near my house in a pasture, I found tracks of a gi-normous wild hog. This is not good. Bibbity-bobbity-bacon. No pig better come near my puppehs. I may not be able to make a silk purse of its ear, but I'll bet you a dollar I could make a coin purse of its cod. Just saying. I understand a 500 lb hog is hard to kill- do I need mount a little cannon on the back of my humble abode?

Sunday, Puppy Love Sunday

Came to Dallas this weekend to visit my folks and to see Papa for Father's Day. Missing my pups Saturday night, I was flipping through the old pics of them on my cell phone. Here they are romping in the back yard just a few weeks after Chuy arrived with us. Praline was always so gentle and deferential to the baby boy. I have some video I'll have to download here, too. Hilarious and heart-meltingly adorable, those two are.

Here's two more puppies mama had to have. These were super-cheap, and really cute. The front part of the upper is low-cut, giving that coveted kitten toe-- toe cleavage. We likeses them, precious.

Arf! Arf!

m-o-o-n: that spells goofy customized vehicles

Here's a nifty car I saw at Panera on Lemmon in Dallas just a couple days before I moved away. I was sorry I hadn't seen it before, but maybe they were just passing through anyway. I especially like the painted barb-wire detail.

I used to know a woman in Dallas who drove a convertible and called herself the "Cow Girl" because she loved cow stuff. She had cow-print everything, and her car was white with cow-spots made of black legos. I think she worked for Yahoo! in the early days. She was a super-nice person. Maybe this is her? I don't know, but I think it's pretty fabulous.

I've always wanted a pair of longhorn ivories on the front of my chariot. I think this car is wonderful.

Good stuff!

Housekeepery

Loose ends, here.

Thursday was SUCH a good day! Started off a bit rocky, but it turned out the power was out in most of my house because one of the 110 lines to the house was out utterly. Fortunately, the line running to my new fridge was just fine. Anyhoo, the electric company got it all squared away and I came home after work to a surprisingly cool abode - a relief in these near 100 degree temperatures.

************************
Still cleaning and working on the house here-- there's a lot to do and I've been so busy. My dad gave me a shop-vac and he told me it would pull the nails out of the floorboards. He was right. Thanks Pop- I think I un-dustbowled this entire county in one swell foop!

************************

Reading stuff for work, I chased a link to wikipedia and followed through more links and terms and saw something which really stuck in my craw: learned helplessness. I find that very pairing of words offensive. This made me think of the woman who said Obama was going to pay her mortgage and car payment. Of course, she had no possibility of resolving the financial crisis she engineered for herself - some uber-mensch needed to come along and fix it.



Good golly - this is anathema to the very spirit of the folks who were daring and bold enough to risk greater odds to come here than any dangers you or I will likely ever face. Many of our ancestors fought and lost loved ones along the way in hopes they'd someday live a life of their own choosing. They didn't sit back and say "this is the way it is, we can't change it, so let's just get along." They also didn't aspire to i-pods or BMWs or running a 3 minute mile. They had a thirst for something much more simple yet more nourishing to the soul. I think we need to not back down just because the odds seem incontrovertible. Just because this or that one is content to sit back passively latched onto the governmental teat doesn't mean a majority of us do.


Sorry for not remembering more clearly, but there was another wiki entry that was Abilene something - not syndrome or effect, but something of that nature, the idea being that a lot of people will go along with something because they perceive-- wrongly-- that everyone else wants that thing they find so repugnant. The example was a Texas family of four on a hot weekend afternoon were sitting around and one suggested everyone might want to drive into Abilene. They made the long, hot, dusty drive to Abilene and found there an even more unpleasant meal in a restaurant. When they returned home, they discussed the discomfiture of the whole outing, only to learn that every person had wished only to stay put and sit around home but thought they'd disappoint the others by saying so.



I know this is a bit of a ramble, but my thought is that we often perceive that everyone else must be blind, but I think it's more a case of people going along to get along.



I'm sick of that crap. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and the fact is if you are in a mess, it's a puzzle and you need to sort it out rather than waiting for a bailout. Likewise, no one deserves to mortgage your or my future for their own avaricious ends. That, and if you sit passively as atrocities are wrought on our very Constitution in the name of helping people but in what is so obviously the most naked power-grab in history, well, you're a fool for keeping your mouth shut.

Exotica Thursday - Whistling, the Moonlight, and Ukes!

I can feel you need a pick-me-up.


Today we have Gus & FinN (gugug) doing their marvelous...

hmm... it was all right here when I composted this post. Hmm. Let's try again, shall we?

Gugug serve up a heaping helping of lounge exotica in ways Dick Dale scarce dreamt. Yum!

Want One.

Droolworthy

h/t to Blowfuzzy von Sassy

stormy wetter...

Texas weather has been pretty wild recently. I caught these strange clouds on my phone camera last weekend. It rather looked like an X-Ray of someone's vitals. oooh, scary!

Fortunately, the pups seem bothered not at all by the violent weather. One day last week, 62 monitors at work were fried by a storm-related power outage, and still they found enough to keep everyone working. No rest for the wicked, I suppose. All these clouds and storms have made for some foggy mornings and spectacular sunsets, though. It's been quite lovely.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Just an aside-- I noticed pictures online of the sprung Gitmo detainees splashing about in the ocean-- not exactly the sort of behaviour I'd expect from folks who'd been tortured-- particularly who'd been waterboarded? Curious.

I'm contrasting how they looked with how the US hostages looked when released from the US Embassy in Tehran in 1980. THOSE people looked haggard, beleaguered and bewildered. Seems a stark contrast to me.

Hmm.

Have I got shoes for you...

Dear Abby,

I'm concerned about a friend of mine. She's obsessed with shoes. In a fit of pique she vowed last September not to buy any shoes until 2009. She stuck with that vow, and even though her first purchase of 2009 was a sensible pair of shoes, I wasn't fooled for a minute. In recent years, she's spent the equivalent of some lesser-developed nations' military budget on play-pretties for her feet. I'm worried her mortal soles are in peril.

She once stuck to finely crafted, well-wrought shoes with very classic lines and impressive pedigrees, but lately her tastes have run to gladiatrix space hooker. *shudder* Recently she actually tried on a pair of orange patent leather platform clodhoppers with lucite heels that would have scandalized RuPaul. Srsly. She cooed and fondled these horrors publicly, and I 'bout dropped my transmission when she put them back on the shelf, dismissing them as "impractical." What is to be done with such a one?

Just yesterday she acquired this obnoxious pair of platform Mary Janes from Dolce Vita. How do I reel her in, Abby? How do I persuade her that her footie thing is a cry for help, that she should eschew the nosebleed platforms, come back to earth and heel herself?

Sincerely,

La Phlegm

Sunday, Puppy Sunday - I'm flying! Look ma-- no paws!

As you know, Miss Mandible is besotted with her orange ball. One property of this hard rubber sphere is that when applied to chain link fence with enough force, it becomes firmly embedded in the square, not quite popping through.

This is a 6' fence, btw, and the ball was over my head. Jumpling McJumperson weighs about 15 pounds and stands about 9" at the shoulder.

Here we see her attempts one and two at hanging from the ball and writhing, with finally the third photo which documents her successful attempt to pull the sword from the ston-- er, I'm getting my stories mixed up. Anyhoo, our little Miss Joan of Bark has finally liberated the ball-ball so now more fetch may ensue.


She's a happy girl. Spastic, but happy. Bless her little pea-picking heart!

That reminds me...

Several years ago, I had a visitor from San Francisco who offered to help me in the kitchen. I put her to work cutting up the veg for the salad. I knew she knew where the garbage pail was, so I was surprised when she asked me where to put the inedible bits from the veg. She was appalled that I would actually throw such things in the trash.

I guess it all makes sense now-- San Francisco is going to fine people for throwing scraps in the garbage, making composting mandatory. I've had a compost heap before, and I like it, and one day when I cook more frequently, I'll do so again. However, I wouldn't dream of living in a place which mandated me not to throw scraps in my own damned trash, a service for which I already pay.

Considering her husband spent about 3 hours a day driving to and from work, the way I see it, her carbon footprint was loads larger than mine. I'm ready to be judged.

blast from the past...

I wrote this post a short while back, mebbe 4 or 5 weeks ago. It's funny to me that Thursday I realized how much less stress I've been under now that I don't work where I used to work. In fact, I realized that most days I don't even think about the nightmarish vista of landmines and pitfalls which used to comprise my work on a daily basis, all courtesy of an arrogant cuss whose very policy seemed to be "if it ain't broke, mess with it until it is." A sage soul once told me that working with that individual was a trial by fire, and that after that, no job I ever had could possibly be so stressful. Perhaps that would have been a good time to become an air traffic controller. Anyhoo, I'm out, and I don't miss it. Even after 6 weeks at the new job (hard to believe!), I'm not halfway through the training process. Still, things seem to be going well and I'm enjoying a greatly reduced stress level, mainly because I never have exchanges like the one detailed below:




Sunday I went to Dallas on a couple errands, and I was dazzled by the rude and heavy traffic in town for a midday Sunday. I fairly howled "I don't miss this!" Anyway, I'm well away from that. A thousand things irritated me, and I felt the stress of it all melt away as I drove beyond the city limits to head for the hacienda. Then I remembered my former job and how trying it was to work in an environment where priorities shifted at the dictate of someone who expected everyone else to be telepathic. I wrote this conversation down the day it happened several months ago:

Him: Are you going to let this plant take over your office?
Me: I think it looks fine but if you want me to trim it, I will. Do you want me to trim it back?
Him: No. I want you to trim it when you want to trim it.
Me: I don't mind. If you want it cut back now, we'll cut it.
Him: No. Just don't let it take over your office.
Me: Just let me know when you want us to cut it.

He didn't want me to do things when I think they need doing- he wanted what I wanted to alter according to what he would do. Add to the frustration of this sort of conversation the fact that such things usually happened when I was busy trying to tend real issues of a pressing nature.

The irony was that in times of crisis or pressing need, it was vital that I be able to think independently and solve problems, but other times we'd have sticky wickets over little inconsequential details like the growth trajectory of a potted palm somehow ekeing out an existence in a sterile, indoor office environment.


I don't miss this, indeed.

I'm tickled as can be to live where I do now. Life is sweet. :)

Exotica Thursday - Yma-way! uh-Yma-way!

I sense you're lagging today, woefully in need of a punch coffee has no hope of ever delivering. I need it too.

We need some Yma Sumac 'round he-ah!

Can any splendor rival that of a vocal tattoo-needle?

I think not. Enjoy.

What's in your backyard?

Oh! Does.

Oh, deer.

Oh, deers.

This seems to be a favorite hangout with the deer set lately. They're usually out near the end of the day. I really need to get a better lens to capture stuff like this. They were mebbe 200 yards from my back door.

I thought there was a baby following one of the does, and sure enough I could clearly see it in a lot of the photos, and much clearer than I could see with no glasses on.

Out for my nightly walk Tuesday, a cottontail rabbit sat looking much too casual and comfortable as I walked to within a few feet of him. There's a rainbow of wildflowers in bloom now, and the thistles are bursting forth like gangbusters. I saw a hummingbird buzz the prickly pear out front a couple weeks ago, too. Rattlers notwithstanding, I'm loving the rugged wilderness so close at hand.

I'm told this area will feel a lot like Dallas this summer, only windier. I suppose that means it'll be like walking around in the blast from a frighteningly large hair dryer. *shrug* In for a penny, in for a pound.

The camel rep called...

They want their toe back.

Heaven knows I love a funky shoe, but I must take exception to the questionable toe action on this boot.

Um, okay.

Called Space Snacks, this little rocket boy boot is super-cute, and I would be seriously tempted if not for the toe thing.

Am I losing my cool, or is this just odd?

Lightning show

Yeah, I know it doesn't look like much, but I was so excited to catch a teeny piece of lightning in a photo this past weekend. The storms out here are fairly spectacular, and this day there were magnificent bursts of lightning branching out and veining the sky. I love it out here. :)

Good thing I like violent weather.

as the scales fall away from their eyes... well, maybe.

TOTWTYTR has a post up about Useful Idiots. I agree wholeheartedly. After all, there is no more bitter, hardened cynic in the world than the person who started out as a dewy-eyed naif, a dyed-in-the-wool believer. (OOPS, meant to put THIS link on this post, but I'll leave the other up, because it's a doozie, too.)

Sunday, puppy Sunday.

Faster than the camera can see!

Praline is utterly besotted with this orange plastic ball. These past 2 months, this ball has been her constant companion and she pines for it if ever they are separated. Her relationship with the ball is, frankly, obsessive. Sometimes she has to have a break from the ball when I'm taking a shower, because she'll keep dropping it over the edge of the tub then jumping in to fetch it. Bee-zarre.


Chuy doesn't care a whit for the ball, but he's cunning enough to know Praline cares. Once we acquired this huge, fabulous yard, Chuy quickly figured out that though he probably wouldn't outpace Miss P on a long haul, he can outrun her in short bursts and can certainly outmaneuver her. An engineering giant in pocket-form, Chuy makes the most of his short wheel-base to turn on a dime while Praline powers past him, full-bore and into the next county by the time she recognizes the quarry has turned. She'll probably figure out his game sooner or later, but for now, it absolutely maddens her, and that makes it all great fun to watch.

• Stupid human throws ball for Praline
• Praline fetches ball
• Praline plays tug-of-war for ball with stupid human
• Stupid human finally gets ball
• Stupid human throws ball again
• Whoopsie! Chuy got the ball first
• Chuy ambles around, making great show of ball in mouth
• zomg! Praline sees ball! Praline wantses ball, precious!
• The chase is on
• Chuy hauls ass, just slowing enough occasionally to keep Praline hopeful
• Chuy sees a toothsome twig in yard
• Chuy forgets ball and flops down for a nice little chew
• Praline and ball are together again
• *bliss*

Bumper Dumper

It's the way to go when you're on the move...

Call me thin-skinned, but this sorta rubbed me the wrong way:

THis story was from a couple months ago, but I was in the throes of a big move and couldn't blog it then.

Hummer owner says he was 'unjustly targeted' by vandal



Yeah, even the quotation marks offended me. The vandal-- a 72-year old envirofascist weenie who serves on one of the Southlake city boards-- is clearly shown on the video camera, and in he article is referred to as an "upstanding Southlake senior citizen" though not in quotation marks in their version.

Their description seems a tacit approval of the act of the vandal, imho.

*harumph*

Yet another reason to be happy to live in Elsewhere and away from the Metroplex.

Larry Correia owes me $49.99, plus shipping and handling ;)

A few months ago, I repaired to the bathtub to enjoy a lovely bubble bar from LUSH and sip a nice Rioja whilst reading Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. [buy this book]

I was sipping from this lovely Rosenthal crystal stem, having carefully perched it at the other end of the tub so I wouldn't knock it over flipping a page or as I dove to get the cell phone. I bought this stemware several years back at a closeout store. They were a bit of a splurge, but I ended up with a couple dozen glasses, all at well under $10 a stem. They were fancy, I knew, but how fancy I had no ideer.

I was there in the tub sunk into great foamy piles of bubbles, reading. It's a rollicking good read. In fact, if a director would stick to the story, it'd make a fabulous movie. Anyhoo, imho, one of the greatest appeals of good writing is that just when you think you've deciphered where an author is going with everything, they hang a left at Albuquerque and haul off and surprise you. Mr. Correia did just that very thing, the end result of which was I laughed so hard that my foot slipped off the end of the tub, flew up and knocked the glass over, spilling its contents and breaking the stem, alas.

I shrugged to myself and thought, well, I'll just spring for a replacement stem. Whaddayaknow if the damned things aren't ghastly expensive, in fact.

Rosenthal Estelle Red Wine

Taken from another point of view, stemware comes and goes. I'm sure I'll break more of these before it's all over. Hmmm... perhaps I should be selling them on ebay about now? I more than got my money's worth with this book, counting the glass. Come to think of it, Larry and me are square.

More about the neighbors...

I'm told this is quite a lot of cash on the hoof. The ponies were out back today and I had time to grab my camera and snap away for a bit. I noticed some funny, clique-style junior high behaviour.

They stood primarily in a couple circles, heads facing in, and butts outward. There was a definite cool-kid group, and the socially awkward, not-quite-so-pretty outsiders standing off to the side, looking balefully at the cool fillies with their cigarettes and tasty malt beverages purloined from their folks' stash. One of the misfits gave the anointed the stink-eye as her wonky-donkey ears twitched her irritation. She knew she was just as good as those other fillies. Unfortunately, she'd never seen her own ears, and didn't know she wasn't actually good breeding material. OTOH, she's not at the glue factory, either: she gets to live next door to me and the pups.

Horsie Junior High.

Hmph. Teenagers.

...wherein your narrator daintily navigates a thorn-strewn path...

[This post originally written some months ago, but lacking a careericidal urge, was postponed until this august hour. ]

Hmmm... how to tell this story?



Due to *ahem* professional obligations and life's circumstances, I am compelled to weekly sit in a meeting which very often involves the stripping of hide from my fair person. Yes, it's a sick, dysfunctional arrangement and I won't always be here, but for now that is the way it is. This must be endured, and for all its tediums and embuggerances, I do enjoy some definite perks... For the moment.



When there is good news regarding my work performance, it is generally preceeded by a sound cutting-off-at-the-knees. This, of course, serves the purpose of letting all concerned know they be but lowly worms and pretty much unworthy of high regard. I have cultivated a bland poker face in which I strive to not react to the sheer assholery being served me. Best not to react at all. There is a method to this madness - I think the person believes they are helping others to improve- that one should never rest on one's laurels, even laurels as fetching and finely-crafted as mine own. *pah!*



Tuesday, however, brought a turning of the worm I could scarce have imagined. Near the end of the meeting, the scornful one took a cell phone call. I heard their voice ratcheting up, stress building. The brow was knitted then promptly dropped a stitch, storm clouds billowing up behind the ears as the rage burst forth great cottony tufts. Someone was being torn a new one. Someone was very unhappy about the harangue they were being served courtesy of the caller.



I had to fight not to giggle, oh my darlings. It was magnificent. Steam! Steam billowing from mouth, ears and snout. I pulled my elbows tight to my sides, willing the giggles not to escape my aching ribs. [think, phlegm: dead puppies! tax audits! unpleasant-smelling things! don't laugh!]Good googly moogly, I was dying to laugh. Would I have to do myself a harm? Dig my nails into my palms? Pluck nosehairs, even? (not, of course, that I have any nosehairs, but...)



I was strong. I did not laugh. I was, however, smugly bemused.

Gone Fishing...

Went to a nearby lake Sunday with friends. No adults caught anything, but the kids were catching the dickens out of some bluegill perch.

The young lady worked on her cast and was doing a fair job of it. The fish photo is the second one she caught.

Here's a photo of the young man hauling one in. The crawfish really surprised me. I didn't expect to see such a large one in a lake of this size, but it looked big enough to eat. Not for me, of course, but someone else could make a good mouthful of that one.

I didn't have my fishing license, so the only thing I caught was the occasional photo of friends having fun.

That day was catch and release only. I'll be getting my license this week and next time I plan to get in on the fishing. Hopefully we'll catch a few bass and have a proper meal of them.

I'm feeling much better. Still have a little bit of a cough, but I took it easy this weekend, and I feel dramatically improved.