Wednesday Weirdness

According to my research, the best way to rid my air ducts of a mouse is to tie a string on a mouse trap, lower the traps into the ducts and wait.

I think it'd be more interesting to tie a string around Thor's tail and send him in for the kill.

Or knowing Thor, the making friends with.

Every one's talking, okay, Nice Mike is talking about Google Street View. So I googled up my address. It's a little bit creepy, I want to know who was down here taking pictures of very house in Charleston.

Plus I want to thank them for taking a picture of my house where the palm tree out front is covering up 90% of my starting-to-look-like-a-haunted-house house. If you want to get a gander at the digs, all you're gonna see is the Cruiser (even creepier, I was at home while pictures were being taken), the palm tree, and a wee bit of the corner. Nice view of the neighbor's driveway though.

Yesterday I drove my mother downtown to some lunch thing given by a magazine that she advertises with. And my knee was hurting real bad, so I talked myself out of my daily walk.

Then later that afternoon, I was sitting on the couch, reading and heard a "squeak, squeak" noise (no not from our trapped mouse-from outside). The noise grew louder and louder and finally a little old lady out for her walk came into view. The squeaks were from the wheel on her OXYGEN TANK that she was pulling along behind her.

So, on the lazy bum scale of 1 to 10, I'm about a 25.

The boyz say: Exercise is so overrated. Sleeping in sunbeams, that's where it's at!

Homeowner Headache #277

I think it's a lizard. Or a mouse.

Sigh.

I Think My Holiday Spirit is Dead

I have purchased exactly two Christmas presents. I'm usually almost finished with shopping by the first of December.

I'm all befuddled because I'm going to have at least three Christmases this year. Normal Christmas, Christmas either before or after Jason comes back from out of town, and Christmas on the few days of leave the man-child will have.

I was all happy with no putting up a tree or anything this year, but since the man-child is coming home, up goes the tree. (Even though he went to some girl's house and baked cookies while listening to Christmas music - that was my tradition....sob...sob.

Ah, just kidding, it's nice to see him adapting and carrying on the traditions. Now if they have spaghetti for Christmas Eve dinner while watching Scrooged, I'll really be put out.

I think what I need to do is go to Pet Smart and get some cat costumes and annoy the kittens for a while. That always cheers me up.

Loki sez: Nooooo! Not the reindeer antlers!

Correction

This blog is now nominated for Cat Blog of the Month for January, 2009 as indicated by the new icon thingie.

As before, details on voting will be forthcoming.

And now, just because I really like this picture:

Brotherly love.

Taking Back the "E" Word

I'm tired of "elite" being used as a pejorative. This last election, the Repubs liked to throw it around like monkey feces. Liberal elite. Media elite.

What about the elite fighting forces of the Navy Seals or Army Rangers?

Guess they are bad, thinking they are so much better than the regular troops.

What about the elite athletes of the Olympic games or even just of your favorite football or baseball team?

Guess they aren't worthy of your time or attention because they think they are better at football than you.

No, let's make up your favorite football team with people of the same athletic skills as you.....you know, then that way you can relate to them. You could go toss a football around with them and hang out.

Elite used to mean something to be proud of in America. It meant our best, our brightest, our most capable and we respected them for the sacrifices they made to achieve what ever it was they achieved, whether in the classroom or on the football field or in business.

But like most great American values, we've allowed smear merchants to change it into something filthy and vile.

Being elite is not bad.

Excelling at whatever it is that you do and being, frankly, better at something or smarter than the average person is not bad.

In fact, it is good for this country.

Are we a nation who cheers on those who are excelling or are we a nation who pulls down and ridicules those who will achieve great things for us?

Thor sez: I'm elite because of my extraordinary cuteness!

Loki Sunday

A frequent conversation around here is how poor Loki is sometimes overshadowed by his brother. Thor's personality is so HUGE that we often forget that Loki has just as much personality.

On any level, Loki can hold his own.

Attitude:

Toy frenzy:

Goofiness:

New Favorite Restaurant

Last night, we caught up with my mom and my most favorite Auntie, Auntie D (or Auntie Anon as you may spot her around these parts), I managed a rare sighting of the whirling dervish that is my cousin Fran and then we ambled on down Maybank Hwy to The Mustard Seed.

Yumm-O is all I have to say. Great variety of food - stuff for vegetarians, stuff for us omnivores (hey, this is what I say - my ancestors didn't fight their way to the top of the food chain so I could eat salads the rest of my life), stuff for everyone.

Cool, foggy night outside, good food, good wine, great conversation inside - what more could you ask?

Thor sez: A kitty-bag perhaps?

Thor Might Have Been Low Key

But Loki was all wound up over his new toy.

Loki sez: Sock Mooooooonnnnsttttterrr!!!!!!

Sock monster: simply the best toy ever. Take two old mismatched socks (no they don't have to be mismatched, but you know, the leftover halves of the dryer monster meals), pour catnip into one sock, knot closed, stuff catnip sock into second sock, knot closed.

Toss on floor.

Thor sez: Smells like kitten spirit.

Thor's Day

(Edit: Holy Ambien, Batman! No more blogging while waiting for the Sleep Goddess to descend. I had a vague memory of not being able to type some text as I could not see the letters on the screen, but thought I'd just shut the whole thing down before staggering off to bed. Let's try it again.)

Thor primping for his photoshoot:




Thor sez: I'm ready for my close up now.

Excuse Me, No Family?

Oh, when will they learn? Ed Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania, was caught on an open mike talking about how Janet Napolitano was a good pick to head the Department of Homeland Security because:

"Rendell: Janet's perfect for that job. Because for that job, you have to have no life. Janet has no family. Perfect. She can devote, literally, 19-20 hours a day to it"

Gosh, let's just briefly touch on how I don't recall any of the MEN who were in that position or other positions in that level of government being scrutinized for whether or not they had families.

And let's get on to what completely and totally pisses me off about that statement.

I have been over the past ten years or so, mostly in the last six, subjected to the same prejudice. I should work on more holidays because I "don't have a family". I have been told, in the past, to my face that people who have young children should not have to work on holidays, that the single and childless people should work.

Yes, I do. Just because I do not have a husband or young children does not mean I don't have a family.

I have a significant other (to use a term, since Jason doesn't care for boy-toy). I have a child, grown, but still my child. I have brothers, I have nieces and nephews. I have an aging mother who I would like to spend as much time as possible with.

I have a freaking family.

And I'm sure Ms. Napolitano has a family also.

Ed Rendell is an ass and I hope his family doesn't include young women who he clearly believes should not have a choice to excel in a career and have children.

Loki sez: Don't worry Thor, we're part of the family, no matter what some people say.

Don't Know Much About Astronomy

I do like to tip my face skywards on a clear night and take in the stars. I can find the Big and Little Dippers of course. The North Star, and the planet Venus if it's the right time of the year.

So I was simply charmed and fascinated with the picture that Nice Mike's daughter, Justine, had taken of Venus, Jupiter and our moon making a smiley face over Australia.

I showed it to Jason before he left for work yesterday morning and when he got home just after dark, he said, "Hey go look, we've got a frowny face."

So I went out an amused the neighbors with my delighted reaction. Then I ran inside and emailed Mike to tell him. Jason took his trusty camera and tripod out to take some pictures while I got an email back from Mike saying he'd just finished taking pictures.

Apparently, they both knew that the trio would show up here, even knew it'd be upside down, because if you know something about astronomy, you know this.

Personally, I think it was more fun for me in my ignorance to get to squeal and jump up and down like a prehistoric cave girl just noticing some sort of sign in the skies.

This is my favorite:

But I also like this one with my next door neighbor's house providing an earthly touch, if you will. And the corona around the moon sort of makes it look like the moon is sticking its tongue out at us.

The starz say: Where are the boyz?

Monday Iffiness

If I bought a log cabin in the mountains, would the kittens use the walls as a scratching post?

If every one in the world just stopped being mean, would we solve most of our problems?

If I sort of judge people on whether or not they thought Napoleon Dynamite was funny, is that wrong?

If one comes home and finds a hawk sitting in one's Japanese maple tree and a whole host of freaked out bird feeder denizens hiding in the bushes, should one remove the feeder until the hawk moves on or clean the window so as to get better photographs when the hawk returns?

If a picture paints a thousand words, what the heck is Thor saying?

Loki Sunday

Loki isn't overweight, but at his last check up, my vet cautioned me to not let him gain any more weight.

So we try a variety of ways to keep Loki active.

Yoga:

Aerobics:

Diet:

Loki sez: This diet food tastes like dead mouse butt. Can I have some gravy?

An Even Blacker Friday

I don't do the after Thanksgiving insanity. I was talked into it once many years ago and was disgusted way back then with the greed and meanness I saw displayed in what is supposed to be a season of love and caring.

And it isn't even as if you save much money. It's called bait and switch people. Stores put up a few items at incredible prices, but only a limited number of them because then, once you are there and the item you wanted is sold out, you'll buy something else that isn't such a bargain.

But what happened yesterday in a New York state WalMart is beyond the pale of human avarice and American obsession with material gain.
I can understand the initial incident. I can see the crowd pushing forward from the back as the doors opened and the people in front being knocked into the man, causing him to fall.

What I can't see is why the other employees had to try for "minutes" to fight the crowd to try to reach the man.

What I can't see is how multitudes of people stepped on a human being as they rushed into a store to buy a piece of shit THING for a few bucks off.

Didn't they feel his broken body under their feet? Didn't anyone glance down and see his bloody face?

Did anyone care or did they continue to rush in, afraid they might miss their sale, dismissing him from their mind as unimportant and in the way? Not wanting to help a human being murdered beneath their feet and maybe miss out on getting that perfect present?

What infuriated me was that after the police arrived and were attempting to render first aid, the crowd was rushing over the police, knocking them around while they were trying to help this poor man.

Now he is dead.

For nothing more than greed and a total perversion of what the Christmas season is supposed to be about.

Stores need to stop doing this. The media needs to stop hyping up as free advertising for the stores.

And the American public needs to stop following lemming-like after whatever the media tells us that we "have" to do.

This attitude that allows a human being to be trampled to death in the name of a good deal on a flat screen TV shines a bright light on much of the economic woes of many Americans.

We want it all, we want it now, we'll put it on credit and we don't care how we'll pay for it, but damn it, we DESERVE everything we see on TV. Our children will be DEVASTATED if they don't get that expensive toy/gadget that they want.

Thor sez: And I'm the animal?

Thor's Day!

Yes, I know it is also Thanksgiving Day, but ask Thor which he thinks is more important.

Thor sez: Me.

Thor learned a very important lesson last night: That as a cat, he is in possession of remarkable jumping and leaping skills. In the midst of the moth hunting frenzy that was taking place in the back room, a light bulb went off in his fuzzy head. He didn't have to climb down from one cat tree and climb up the other. He could leap the six feet between them!

Thor sez: Just call me Streaky the SuperCat from now on, please.

Thor sez: Cos I'm bad, oh yeah, I'm super bad.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Not Just Talent - Ginormous Talent!

Last evening, we went downtown to the Gaillard to see a Fusion Show of Fletcher Crossman's art. (While you are scrolling through the gallery at his site, note the size of the paintings.)

They looked astonishing hanging in the upper gallery of the auditorium. I got to meet the artist (because I know people). HaHa. We talked about how to his eye, the paintings looked small in the great open space of the gallery. He is used to seeing them on the walls of his studio where they (sized up to 12 feet tall) take up an entire wall.

But the Fusion program was very interesting. Some of his paintings were displayed at the Academic Magnet High School and the Language Arts students studied them and created a "fused image" of their literary analysis of a painting and a traditional fairy tale. As I've said before, I am an absolute sucker for talent and to see these young people so involved in the arts, both visual and literary, was very exciting.

Loki sez: Some day I'll have an art show. (Dramatic sigh)

Ready, Set, Eww Manual Labor

After attacking the wood around the addition with a screw driver this morning (the better to tell how far the rot goes), I decided it's probably best to replace it all. The rot is so spotty, I think it'd be easier to just rip it all out.

Now, I didn't build the addition so I wasn't quite sure how it was put together. The bottom from the ground to about two feet is brick, then there is some sort of not wood, siding stuff from the brick to the roof. It is along the seam between the brick and the siding that the wood has dry rot.

When I pulled it apart, it looks like a 1x2 wooden board and one of those half round interior base board thingies. Which seemed weird to me, but what do I know about building? Maybe it was for the aesthetics.

I, however, am a less fuss is best kind of gal. I returned to my local Lowe's and bought some 2x2 treated pine boards (hopefully enough, my math skills aren't the best and my measuring tape required addition and then there is the how many 8 foot boards do I need division stuff), some wood glue, some exterior sealer, some primer, some sandpaper, some wood filler, a couple of paint brushes.

I'm all ready to slap the new stuff up there.

Only problem?

I gotta yank all the old stuff off, clean it out, sand down where it needs sanding down.

You know, the not fun stuff.

I like the fun stuff, the building stuff.

I hate prep work.

The boyz say: How exciting. Not! We'll be napping, please don't forget to stop to feed us at the proper intervals.

It's An Honor

Look over there --------->

I've been nominated for Cat Blog of the Month for December.

I'll have more information on how you can go vote for Thor and Loki when the contest is running.

In the meanwhile, if you love kittens, check out the site. Tons of good cat information and other kitty lovers.

The Cat Site.

The boyz say: Ah yes, our plans are coming together! First Charleston, then America. Soon we will dominate the globe with the power of our cuteness!

Attention All You Renters Out There

Go kiss your landlord. Or the property manager.

Why?

This is why.

When the power washers come and ask you if you have seen all the dry rot in the wood along the house addition and you say yes, because you know about the three inches or so in the one board and they say, uh, no, you need to look at this.

And you schlep out there and low and behold, you're going to need to rip out the entire base where the wood attaches to the brick all the way around and up the one corner about a foot.

See, if you are a renter, this is when you call the landlord/property manager and dump the entire problem in their lap and you go back inside to the book you were reading.

You don't spend the whole next morning wandering around Lowe's with a calculator in one hand, enduring the patronizing 'can I help you's' from the employees who just can't for the life of them understand that some little old gray haired lady might actually be able to look at boards and sealants and wood patch kits all by her little self.

Thor sez: I can help! If I can rip open this wooden door, I can rip wood off a wall!

Loki Sunday

Loki was very brave yesterday. He didn't hide under the bed at all while the house was being power washed. He looked a little wide eyed at times, but I told him it was just a funny rain storm. He did, however, freak out and hide when our next door neighbor helped Jason carry in a file cabinet.

Poor Loki. He's just a big fat scaredy cat.



Loki sez: One day it will be the cat murdering monster, then you'll be sorry you didn't believe me!