Sarah Vowell is hilarious.

Speaking at a University, Sarah Vowell was asked what she thinks of all the people in the audience who were sending and receiving text messages during her time at the podium. Here is her response:

1.5 years later, still experiencing thermostat rage

I don' t know what happened to distract me (new job? general house renovations, etc?), but in summer of last year I vowed to sashay out to the hardware store for a new thermostat. I have as yet to fulfill that vow, but about 4AM I awakened to a bloody boiling house. In winter, I generally keep the thermostat anywhere between 60 and 65 F. This keeps me comfortable and makes for a good temp for snuggling pups, and keeps me from getting hot if I bustle about the house.

The digital thermostat I have in now keeps re-setting itself to heat the house to 70, which is much too hot for my tastes. I'd already prepared for a cold night by putting on a down comforter and a large heavy blanket, plus installing after-burnered furballs in bed for area heating purposes. Praline sleeps by my feet (toasty!) and Chuy is always against by stomach or my back, so I'm pretty much covered for furry hot-water bottle style heat.

Anyway, I'm going to get the old manual toggle style thermostat, since this one clearly answers to Sauron, and no amount of fiddling on my part will compel it to do my bidding. Piece of crap. Yes. This one's going to be blown to bits on some upcoming range day.

...and speaking of range days... I'll be posting my view soon of a gorgeous holster from Dragon Leatherworks. Watch this space.

First morning with new bedroom curtains

I painted the new wood on 3 of my 14 windows yesterday. Made coverings/curtains for 9 of them, and hung 8 of those. Waking up today, the place has a decidedly more cheerful aspect. Gone are the ghetto sheet/pillowcase curtains. Yay!


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Sunday, Puppy Sunday: pup-sprung.

I bought a new recliner (my first, in truth) about 2 months ago and the pups just LURVE perching on the top of it. Consequently, the top of the recliner has a sort of deflated look. Of course, I don't scold the puppies-- this is their home too-- because they are just wallowing in a bit, and not clawing or chewing and being actively destructive. Lucky for me I'm short enough that I don't really need the top part much, anyhow. :P

Yes, btw, the puppies DO love their sweaters. They seem to have observed that the sweaters have a warm-making effect, and on the cold nights and days, they are happy for the wee extra bit of insulation. :)

Baby, it's cold outside.

Or at least it's getting that way quickly, the mercury having dropped about 15 degrees since I first awakened today. I have today and the next 3 days off, and I'm determined to get a lot done on the house, so I suppose it's just as well that it's stay-at-home weather. Still, I'd love to curl up with a mug of hot tea and the book I'm reading all weekend. One thing that is glorious is how the house is staying warmer with all the new windows. This is a relatively small house and it has a LOT of windows (14, I like a bright home), so those old single-pane aluminum ones seemed to wick cold (or heat, ugh) into the home with remarkable efficiency. This is much better, and they look much prettier. :) I need to do some rudimentary window coverings this weekend so I can take down the sheets, which probably look rather ghetto. :P

I have a pot of beans cooking in the slow cooker with some nice spices and a heaping helping of roasted Hatch chiles. I can hardly wait. There may be cornbread in the offing later on, too. Teh puppehs have their sweaters on, and it's time to roll up the old sleeves.

I have all my crown molding for the house. I need to paint that and to prime and paint the remainder of the corner and divider blocks for that trim. I really want at least one room of crown molding up before I go back to work on Wednesday.

I decided to dispense with mitering the corners by using these corner blocks, and I already have two rooms' worth primed and painted and ready to go up. Several weeks back at Seconds and Surplus in Dallas, I was able to purchase a pre-primed wood crown molding for the entire house for less than $250, including tax. However, due to the limitations of my glorious little chariot, I could only buy the 8' lengths, rather than 16', so nearly every wall in the house would need a mitered join for the molding. I've decided to put a divider block (not the size on ad, btw) on each wall, obviating the need to miter the molding, thus sparing the horse wot am performing the odious task for me. The rooms are not huge, so I hope that breaking of the line of the molding with dividers doesn't make the rooms look even more chopped up and wee. I definitely don't need things to look more small and cluttered than they already are.

Pictures soon to follow. Hope you have a great weekend!

The goats who stared at pumpkins

And ate them.

Took these pictures on Wednesday when it was all sunny and bright. I pass this herd of goats quite frequently and think the kids are so adorable.

mmmm. Cabrito. Yum!

Happy music for a happy Thanksgiving!

Ferrofluid

Have you heard of ferrofluid? Ferrofluids are colloidal liquids made of nanoscale ferromagnetic, or ferrimagnetic, particles suspended in a carrier fluid (usually an organic solvent or water), and they become strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field.

There's loads of videos of these on YouTube, but I like this one in particular. Fascinating stuff.

Where's Chewie? purse Wookie update

Mosey over to Brigid's to see the latest sighting of Chewie the Purse Wookie.

Kitten bowling

That is all.

Just because you CAN laser-etch anything into granite or marble doesn't mean you should.

Shamelessly purloined from-- oh, several places.

I actually hope this is fake.

Sunday, Puppy Sunday: yin/yang pups

Sorry the posting has been sporadic lately, but I've been super-busy, and my iPhone Blogger application has not been cooperating, for the most part, so I haven't even been able to post on the fly, most of the time.

Today's puppy photo is of the pups cuddled on a blanket on the sofa. Sorry for the poor lighting, but hopefully you have an inkling of how sweet the moment was.

:)

Fix-A-Flat Ass

A woman in Florida has been arrested for surgically enhancing the rears of other people by injecting them with a mixture of cement, superglue and Fix-A-Flat.

Um. Wow.

true conversation from my living room 5 minutes ago

LawDog: How many people are in Columbus?

aepilot_jim: It's the capitol of Ohio.

LawDog: So... 5,000 people?

aepilot_jim: Spoken like a true Texan.