ridin' in your car, you turn on the radio

 I was on a walk with Pooch Penny last evening. Snapped this pic of the sun. We can't usually look directly at the sun here without burning our eyeballs, so I took advantage of the conditions. There's fire in them thar hills.

The latest on the Alexander Mountain Fire has that it's approaching 10,000 acres and has destroyed 24 structures. Another summer in Colorado. This fire is mostly in the boonies, and is typical and "healthy" in a natural sense. Still tragic for people who own property there.

We had a supervisor from a different campus come to learn from us at work on Monday when this fire first broke out. She'd lost her home in the Marshall fire - an  UNnatural, UNhealthy occurrence - the same [fire that destroyed my brother, Hagrid's home]. 

"That smoke plume is giving me some PTSD", she commented, only half jokingly.

In other, totally unrelated news, I bought some drawing pens that I'm chomping to play with. One thing about traditional (as opposed to digital) drawing as a hobby is that it's so darn inexpensive cheap. I saw someone drawing with this pen while I boredly scrolled instagram recently and determined that I "had" to have it.

But truly, the pen is nothing particularly special. It's just nice for drawing. In fact, it is so unspecial, that I couldn't buy just one. I had to buy a 5-pack for a whopping $8. Jeff Bezos had them delivered to my house for free after I bought some other stuff.

So I'll draw something later for playtime. Now, I'll go tutor. Do the left brain thing, the responsible thing, the people-will-pay-money-for thing. 

become young

Another nice week down. This was a nice one because it was relatively uncluttered, and we know I don't like clutter.

• I had the usual shifts at the testing center, but no tutoring as the semester officially ended on Monday. Then Thursday was a short day because we closed early for commencement. No political upheavals to affect the ceremonies. 

The only "unrest" I've been aware of at our campus was when the Student Life department installed menstrual product dispensers in all the bathrooms, including the men's rooms. Apparently some of the fellas either were offended or thought the products were funny, so engaged in some sort of retalitory vandalism. 

• Chaco called us Friday night to have us go out and look for the Northern Lights.  It was cloudy where he was, but we had clear skies. The lights were apparently visible here, but too much light pollution to see anything from our neighborhood. 

Magnum took a photo with his phone, which can apparently see better than we can, and this is the best we got from our neighborhood.

I'll have to take the word of the locals who trekked out to the boonies

• These last few weeks seemed to be cluttered with various appointments - my physical therapy sessions as well as getting all the pets examined and vaccinated. I've managed to wrap all those up for the time being. I also had my annual blood screen this week, and am glad to report that everything came back green for go. 

• I'm glad I did the physical therapy bit. I received good care and information and am running again and doing better. It really is all connected like that song we learned when were were kids... "foot bone's connected to the leg bone, leg bone's connected to the..." Throw in muscles, ligaments, tendons, and it's a busy place!

• On that note, I'm sort of thinking about taking EMT classes at the college. I have no desire to be gainfully employed as an EMT or paramedic, but it seems like it would be good knowledge to have. I know of others who have done so, or who have completed a CNA course to care for a family member.  I'll check for "employee discounts" if any and consider the time commitment.  Now that we're fully staffed again, maybe I can fit the classes in.

I thought I would get in some sketchbook action this week with the extra time available, but that time got filled up with more responsible things. 

"It took my whole life to learn to draw like a child"
                                                    ~ Picasso

I'm working on it, Pablo.

distraction

Since the semester's winding down, I've been able to indulge in more playtime/ escapism/ however to categorize it. When I'm playing with my art toys, I typically stream a movie to keep me entertained. Perhaps, more importantly, it gives me a time limit, so I don't get lost and totally neglect my adult responsibilities.

Recently, I watched the movie [Waiting], which was a silly movie I'd never seen but had heard of. It's about a staff of young restaurant workers, and pretty realistic (been there, done that) Ryan Reynolds comedy. I kept that in mind and had low expectations, so it worked out and I drew some apples.

Magnum and I have been watching the [Shogun] miniseries on Hulu. Or I should say, Magnum's been watching it. I'd taken to doodling while it's on, and I've got big gaps in my following along because it's mostly in Japanese, and I don't speak Japanese. I understand it's quite good. I'll vouch for the cinematography and costuming being well done, and I got a spider kid drawing out of it. 

Yesterday, I streamed [Border], which is Swedish, but I'd seen it before while not distracted, so I was able to follow along even though I don't speak Swedish. 

"Border" is an interesting story for lack of a better word. Have you seen it? It's realistic fantasy? If that's even a thing. It pulled me in, having me wondering where the heck it's going. Then it goes somewhere, and I was all, "What??", and it goes somewhere again to where I was all, "WHAAATT??"  Add a few more "WHAA-HAAAAATT??", and that's the movie Border.

I can't even really explain the plot, and I think it's best to watch it, not knowing a thing. I will say that I did not watch the final one third or so during this second viewing.  The subject matter becomes too disturbing for my taste at that point. I still recommend attentively watching it, though.

Anyway, I got a Bucee Beaver statue out of it.

Bunny, Trixie, Raul, Jerry, Penny

One more week of semester left. Is it obvious I'm counting the days? It's been a good semester, I'm just ready to have a short break from all the meth math. I was talking with one of my fellow tutors, "Bunny", last week. She was speaking of one of her students who is often late or no shows. On that particular day, the student had actually texted Bunny in advance to let her know she was running late.

"Maybe I taught her more than math this semester", Bunny observed. 

I'll remember to do that.

This past week was a good one, feels like it was productive enough

• Magnum and I had some documents we needed to have notarized for our lawyer in Colorado Springs. No, we're not getting a divorce, we have a will and such that we'd recently updated. We went to our credit union to sign the papers with a Notary Public there.

Our wills include a clause, which the lawyer refers somewhat jokingly to as "The Raul and Trixie Clause". It says that, for example, if I keel over and Magnum runs off with a stripper, our kids remain the beneficiaries and the stripper has no claim to anything when Magnum keels over. So "Trixie" refers to the stripper scenario, and "Raul" to some equally distasteful hook up of my own. 

I remember, at the time of the lawyer's explanation, thinking to myself, "hmmm, I know some Raul's who are good guys. Maybe don't call it that", but whatever. So last week as we were tediously signing off on the updates, I noticed that our notary's name was actually Raul - stars aligning for further vindication. And I doubt he would care to run off with a widowed me anyway.

• There's a [cute art supply store] here in town that I'd never been to. I knew if I went in there, I'd buy something I didn't need. Well, yesterday I went in for the first time because I needed a specific sketchbook. Magnum and I were on a coffee walk, and it was right there.
  
  

I broke in the new sketchbook with them apples.

The little store was pretty much as I expected - well stocked with all sorts of toys and with a friendly staff. 

And I only bought the one item I'd gone in there for. 

Yes, I can do this.

And now a Penny update: recall that our dog, Penny, went from being her usual ball of energy to a lethargic old lady dog seemingly overnight. 

Well, she laid around for two days, and on the third day... well... she has risen. 

No clue as to what knocked her on her ass. It's nice to have her back

 

lead a snot into temptation

Did a bit more decluttering this weekend - I swear it never ends. Who knew I was such a packrat?!

This time I went through my art toys a second time and got rid of things I haven't used in *forever*. My art hobby is quite inexpensive. Pencils, pens, sketchbooks, etc. are so darn cheap.  It's easy to bring stuff home and let it sit. I swear they all get together at night and multiply.

Last weekend, Magnum and I were out for a walk and I wanted to walk passed a cute little art supply store I'd heard of but had never been to. So we walked on by and I caught a glimpse. Magnum noted that the store was open, did I want to go in?

NOPE! I'd end up bringing home something I don't need - like going to the animal shelter!

I drew this anime character on Friday during Snowday 2. I've never really drawn anime before, but I'd read that the creator of Dragonball books, show, and whatever else, died last week. 

I don't know the plot or characters of Dragonball, but I've seen them in the periphery - the weird hair, the baggy pants...

Anyways, good snowday fun.

We got a decent amount of heavy, wet snow, but not nearly as much as areas south of us. Ours was just a "normal" spring snow - about 7 inches - while I see friends to the south buried under 2+ feet. No thanks.

That bit of anime fun got me to declutter the stuff packed into my little art supply case after I discovered the cute graphic pencil I used to draw the weird-haired dude.

Now I'm just down to my faves, including the pencil. In celebration, I drew another anime weird-haired character

In the meantime, Magnum completed our 2023 tax return. I swear he has all the fun.

one for the books

Magnum's mom's husband - a.k.a my step-father-in-law - is 90 years old. For the past something years, he's spoken of this book he's been working on. His memoirs?

He'd tell us some tale of his family and/or past adventures, usually ending with, "It's all in my book". We first figured he was journaling and tracing his family tree - a nice little retirement hobby for him. Then he started mentioning publishers and ghost writers, etc. The book was becoming THE BOOK.

Honestly, this made some of us a bit uneasy, because as part of the family tree, all of us were in THE BOOK along with birthdates, birthplaces, extended family? How much information was he sharing?

A few months ago, Magnum's stepsisters sent Magnum copies of the portions of the book that feature us - our kids, and other relevant people. This so Magnum could check the accuracy and request any edits.  We both looked over the pages and found the writing a bit choppy, honestly. Apparently, SFIL just dictated things to a writer who then put it into text. 

I don't know how much he paid to have THE BOOK all put together and printed, but it is done. Magnum arrived home after a work trip to Colorado Springs, where his mom and stepdad live, bestowing a box and saying, "You're the talk of the town," referring to the senior living facility where his mom and stepdad live.

"Wha...?", my response.

He opened the box and revealed 3 paperback copies and one hardcopy of THE BOOK. Hardcopy for us and a paperback for each of our kids.

"Oh...", I recognized the cover. 

Several years ago, Magnum's mom asked if I would draw a pastel portrait of SFIL. 

Yeah, sure. Why not? 

When Magnum opened THE BOOK box, I remembered that, a few months ago, MIL asked if SFIL could use that portrait for THE BOOK cover. 

Yeah, sure. Why not?

And there it was, all 190 pages, hot off the press. We've sort of been treating THE BOOK as "he's having his fun". Seeing it now, all done up, I'm hoping he's happy with it. I was a bit surprised to find the last several pages include original poems.

I skimmed a few pages, mainly looking over the photos, but have yet to sit down to read THE BOOK.  

Judge a book by its cover?

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

5. Book review! (hardly)

do you tell 'em?

Do you speak of it? Disclose? Open that can of worms?

Magnum and I were talking about "icebreaker" situations - like the opening of a workshop or a class - where everyone is prompted to "tell us one/ some of your hobbies".  Or maybe it's just while sitting in the chair at the salon, meeting new coworkers, etc.

I always feel kind of "uh boy" in those situations. Around here, there's a lot of outdoorsy stuff: hiking, skiing, biking, etc. and that's fine, but what about the non-physical-exertion stuff? 

Do you tell people that you have a blog? That you like to blog and read other blogs?

For me, oh heck no.

Thinking of what I've heard from others, aside from the outdoorsy stuff, there's gardening (yes, I know that's typically outdoors), maybe scrapbooking, knitting, reading (vague), gaming (not big with the crowd I'm usually asked to share with, other than maybe Candy Crush, whatever the hell that is...)

I don't recall anyone ever mentioning blogging or even journaling. Yet here we are.

Fact is, I feel kind of strange about mentioning that I have a blog to a real-life person. Maybe it's because I don't want to deal with the potential follow-up questions. Or I just don't want real-life acquaintances coming to visit!

Anyhoo, last week, Linda Sue asked, "From where do you blog?", so here goes.

When we first looked at this house as a potential rental, this room was unfinished - cold, neglected, with a naked cement floor - in the lower corner of the garden-level.  By the time we moved in, the landlords had, most likely, DIYed it into what could be counted as a bedroom. We rented, then eventually ended up buying the house.

The room has a small closet, decent enough carpeting, and an acoustic tile ceiling - minus one light panel that the cat took out, but that's another story.

Not really a she-shed, but most certainly not a man cave. It's more of a "She-Cave". My she-cave.

I hung some shelves, a corkboard, and a whiteboard and moved on in. The drawing table is only there when inktobering or similar, but I include it here for the photo shoot.

The room is rather small, and I'm currently unable to close the closet doors because of the closet's use for meaningful storage, but it's cozy enough and I like having the big window: overcast skies, snow falling.

That's it. My office. My studio. My she cave. 

Don't tell.

that time of year again

28.  Crispy

We are nearly to the end of October already.  I have no candy for trick-or-treaters yet.  Will they be interested in scraps?

Inktober is nearly wrapped up, and I have less to show for it than in years past, but I'm okay with it.  No pressure.  Today's prompt is "Crispy" for my buzzard friend.

I hadn't drawn much more than doodles for the past several weeks whenever I'd pick up my pens.  At first, doodling was a form of meditation for me after Malcolm's sudden and unexpected death.  And I sorta stopped drawing "real" things.

So I'm grateful for Inktober for providing prompts and getting me out of my doodling stupor even though I got behind in the prompts nearly before the thing started this year.  

But it's been a good busy.  My Mother-in-Law was in town last weekend with her husband.  The second recent in-law visit since I have two full sets of them.  yay.  Oh well, it wasn't bad, and it's nice that all our kids are around to visit with them as well.  These in-laws are both in their mid- to late-80s and it's a bit worrisome to think of them driving the interstate, but they got here and back home okay.  

Anyway, here's the rest of what I have for Inktober '21 thus far:

Yup, a whopping seven out of 28 submissions to date.  But better than nuthin'. Twenty-fifth percentile!  Well, it's not a competition... not a competition... not a competition... not a competition...

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:
5. Throwback Thursday. What were you blogging about last year at this time? What has changed?

holiday squishes and kettle burns

Went for my annual mammogram yesterday, nice to have that completed for the year.  I am grateful that these things have historically been only minorly discomforting with no anxiety.   *squish*squish*squish*   "thanks, you can go now" and then get the all-clear a short while later.  No family history, relatively low risk (small asian boobs... ).

So THAT's done for the year.  On  a side  note, the mammogramologist / mammographer / mammotechnician / not sure of her actual title - told me that I have "well developed pectoralis muscles".  HA!  Well, I've been going to the gym more regularly since last spring.  I don't notice much difference from the "before", but I'm sure she's handled a lot more boobs than I have in order to make an informed comparison.  Anyways, it prompted her to make an additional *squish* angle, and then I was done.

I came home and started doing some work after putting the kettle on for tea.  A while later, I emerged from my desk to find the kitchen kind of hazy.  *GASP*- the tea kettle!  I forgot about it, all the water boiled away, and I burned out yet another kettle.  Yes, this has happened before 😒

So, the happy ending is that I now have a shiny new kettle.  My old one was a cheapo from which the cheap spot weld holding the whistle in place failed after about one week of use.  I replaced it with a, hopefully, better stronger whistle.  Because I can be stupid and need these things.

In aquarium news, I've got 6 fish now.  The roots of my bamboo are growing, but I can't tell if the actual stalks are growing.  Oh well, I'll take roots.

In looking at my calendar, I currently don't have any tutees scheduled for the next 6 days - not surprisingly.  I asked Meego if he wants to go with me today to the pet shelter "just to look" at the dogs available for adoption.  

Just gonna look.  

I think.

ringing in the season

We got us one of them Ring®️ doorbells.

Magnum wired it up last weekend, and it seems to be doing its thing.  As far as I know, we've not been victims of porch pirates *knock on wood* *throw salt over the shoulder*, but I know it's becoming a pretty common crime with people increasingly shopping online.

So we'd talked about getting a Ring or some such for a while and finally installed one.  I'm happy to say the feed has been quite boring so far.  It's mostly of my comings and goings along with footage of the neighbor cat looking for Napolion, and one entertaining video of magpies either fighting or engaging in foreplay, not sure which.

I've also learned that amazon has lockers to use for deliveries.  There's a Whole Foods about a mile away from our house, so I'm going to try the locker system next time I order something from Amazon.  Anyone need anything? For my experiment?

Maybe I'll order some fish stuff as my aquarium is starting to take shape.  I added three male guppies, a plecostomus, and a little pagoda lantern thing.

It still seems like there's a lot of empty water space in there, but I'm pretending to believe that the plants are growing and bulbs are sprouting.  

Anyone else have some sort of surveillance system for home or work?  Any stories to share?

give a girl a fish

Yesterday, I was at the university library to meet with a student.  As mentioned, they're in the thick of semester finals, and the library was abuzz with tension.  I don't miss those days, but they were so long ago for me, I hardly remember.  Still, though, if I could remember, I don't think I'd miss them.

I arrived a bit early and was out in one of the common areas while I waited.  There was a girl sitting at a nearby table, talking to herself as she studied, surrounded by papers, books, calculator.  I could tell she was doing math.

"Okay... okay... I know how to do this...", she was saying to herself, or God, or somebody.

For me, I'm sensing an upcoming slow down in business with the winter break coming soon and high school seniors finishing up their college applications.  So I'm thinking up some little projects to fill the free time.

On that note, here's some aquarium progress.

I've got the water properly conditioned, added some gravel and bubblin'.  Yesterday, I planted a few plants along with some bulbs that are "guaranteed to sprout".

Guaranteed?  So... what if they don't sprout?

I've never had a tank this tall before, always had shorter, wider rectangular tanks.  I like the look of this tall hexagonal, but I have to stick my whole arm in up to my armpit to reach the bottom.  There are probably tools for installing plants at the bottom of tall tanks, but I don't feel the need to geek out quite that much yet.

So after putting in what I thought were relatively tall plants, they look so short and tiny.  I need a tall chunk of driftwood or something before I'm ready for actual fish.  Hopefully I won't experience the mass death that happened with the last aquarium.

"Okay... okay... I know how to do this..."

In other updates, we've still got this Bacon Hot Chocolate.  Any takers?


Anyone else have an upcoming break in workaday stuff?  Planning to eat anything weird?

fifty shades of beige more like wheat

Remember several weeks ago I reported that we got some new windows?  And we found them so pretty that we couldn't bring ourselves to rehang our ugly blinds?  So we didn't?

So yeah, we've been pretty much living in a fishbowl ever since.

But, fishbowl no more!  Our new blinds arrived on Friday.  How do they look?

Well, okay, we did have to eventually take them out of the boxes...  But this was my contribution - bringing the boxes into the house.

I went tuting yesterday morning, and when I got back, Magnum had 'em hanging.  So I guess we're more civilized now and no longer oversharing with the neighbors.  

For my next little project, I want to get another aquarium up and running.  When our last evil fish died over the summer, I cleaned that dystopian aquarium out and rid the house of the evil presence.  For those who don't know the saga, here's the Cliff Notes version:

• I had a thriving freshwater community aquarium with lovely plants and happy fish
• I brought home three friendly-looking Buenos Aires Tetras
• Everything died except for those BATs , they lived almost forever

Darn toxic fish:  can't live with them, can't flush them down the toilet with a clear conscience.

Today is a cold snowy day.  Good day to stay in and play aquarist.  Except I have to trudge to and from the store for the aquarium stuff, uphill both ways. 

beyond words

"I want a life where I can grow old with you..."

He wanted to sit close to me at the beach and "watch the waves and the sounds of waters".  Can he see sound?  Oh, never mind.  It was all so romantic, even if biologically improbable.

"I want to be with you when the sun shines till it set..."

My lover and I met as many do.  We were matched together by the powers that be.  It was out of our control, really.

"I want to watch the rainbows with you and count the star with you..."

Hmmm... just count the one star?  Oh well, at least the rainbows are plural. 

"I just wish to have the best of love with you"

Gosh, me too.  Sadly, however, it wasn't meant to be.  Really, it ended almost as it was just starting.  I don't even know what happened.  We'd been getting along so well, we were so right for each other.  He would make a move, then I would respond perfectly, the tension building with neither of us knowing what the next encounter would bring.

Until... until...

Wha...?

Dude!  I'm just here to play Words With Friends.  And I actually prefer to play Words With Friends with strangers because the app does a good job of matching me with similarly skilled opponents.  And when I play with actual friends, I find I don't try as hard unless they're beating the crap out of me, so I'm just here to play Words With Friends with strangers!  I'm not here to grow old or count a star, etc.!

Plus, if you want me to go to the beach with you and watch the sounds of waters, I'd prefer you didn't have a bug-eyed cat as your profile pic... not that I'm that trusting of profile pics in general, but no bug-eyed cats, K?


...He was good at Words With Friends, though.  Damnit.

Good luck to him.

Maybe next time.

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:
1. Write a blog post that ends with the line: maybe next time.

I'll start tomorrow

Okay, I'm gonna do it.  Inktober starts tomorrow.  An ink drawing a day, every day, during the month of October.  To get myself mentally prepared, I visited the Inktober facebook page for inspiration.

I suppose it was inspiring... as well as intimidating.  As another visitor put it:

what about us ordinary folk who create mediocre artwork? Are we still able to participate or will we get publicly humiliated ?!! 

Public humiliation aside, I think it will be a fun challenge to wake up the parts of my brain I haven't used much lately.  I thought I'd get a head start today, and for ink, I'd already decided I want to steer clear of drawing people. And definitely no portraits.

The prompt for tomorrow is "swift", and this is all I came up with.











Okay, so much for planning...

the teletubbies did it

fuckyeahearthships.tumblr.com

I'd build an Earthship.  Just a small one.  Big enough for two people and the occasional guests. It could be a vacation home.  Maybe we'd airbnb it when we weren't there.

[From Wikipedia] An Earthship is a type of passive solar house that is made of both natural and upcycled materials such as earth-packed tires.

An Earthship addresses six principles or human needs:

1. Thermal/solar heating and cooling
2. solar and wind electricity
3. self contained sewage treatment
4. building with natural and recycled materials
5. water harvesting and long term storage
6. some internal food production capability

pinterest.com

Designing our Earthship would be fun.  It would provide a lot of sun in the winter.  We could make use of the natural landscape.

pinterest.com

fuckyeahearthships.tumblr.com

It would be cool in the summer and still provide plenty of natural light.

pinterest.com

fuckyeahearthships.tumblr.com

There are plans available online.  We'd just need to get ourselves a plot of land and get hopping.

pinterest.com

Construction might involve gathering and filling old tires with dirt and pounding them over and over with sledge hammers, and/or collecting a bunch of old bottles and/or cans and tediously joining them with concrete.  

SOURCE

It could take many hours.  But could be a fun hobby, right?

Or... maybe I'd do a webcomic...

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

2. Describe a hobby you would pursue if you had an additional hour to spend each day

she said I was boring, then told me I should stick it where the sun don't shine

I had a "well woman check" yesterday.  It's just another hoop to jump through for Magnum's employer's health incentive program.  We got money for me having a well woman check.

"Well woman" strikes me as an odd term.  Sounds like a character in a Cecil B. Demille movie:

      The well woman was portrayed by Abby Normal
      *publicy photo of me in ragged dress, holding a roped bucket*

My doctor's appointment wasn't nearly as dramatic.  In fact, Dr. told me I was boring.

"I don't see you for two years and you're as boring as the last time!"

I told her I would try to keep it that way.

Anyway, she's quite friendly and laid back.  I think this was only my second appointment with her as she replaced my previous doctor who was also quite friendly and laid back.  So we're going through the various well woman pokes and prods (pick a spot on the ceiling... pick a spot on the ceiling... pick a spot on the...), and she's talking about her daughters and the recent vacation they all took, and next thing I  know, she starts throwing around the dreaded "colonoscopy".

Wait, what?  We were having such a nice visit.
Another perk of turning 50.  Pfffft.

Meanwhile, as I was sitting in the waiting area, I couldn't help but notice the office aquarium.  In addition to other varieties, it is home to three fish that are the same breed as my monsters.  Except the doctor's office fish seem typical as publicized.

"...a South American fish that will make a great addition to any community aquarium..."

HA!  Very funny, not.  Tell that to my large deceased community!

My two monsters continue to thrive in the Tank of Death.  They've even tried to kill the scuba diver/treasure hunter by removing his air hose.  But really, the diver was already suffocated by the copious amounts of algae that have consumed him since the monster fish killed every algae-eating plecostomus I've invited over.

See them here?  Just behind my shoulder?

EVIL!

I continue to care for and feed them as they are totally dependent on me for such maintenance.  But dang, these fish just won't die!  I swear, I think they've lived longer than any fish I've had.

I guess there's something to be said for ruthlessness. If I become ruthless, can I skip the colonoscopy?

.

on a lighter, lower note

Thank you, everyone, for your comforting comments and thoughts regarding Mom.  It's truly a help.  As "they" say, life goes on.  And it's not all ham and jell-o*.

Meego's school is back up and operating, but students don't return until Wednesday, so he's still in lazy mode.  Extracurriculars are back on track, though, and Meego is in the Winter Percussion Ensemble playing bass guitar.  They have practice today.

It's a gloomy, grey day here.  I was sitting here finishing up a draft of Mom's obituary for my dad to look over.  On top of that, Magnum was home from work, still nursing his case of The Crud, slinking around like our own resident Quasimodo.

So when Meego asked if I would take him to the guitar store, I was happy for a change of place.  He had Christmas money burning a hole in his pocket, and he'd been stalking a new bass guitar.  Off we went.

What a nice little change of place it was.  Checking out all the guitars, being with other people plucking and test driving.  I've been there before with him, but I guess I appreciated the diversion more this time.

I even snatched this rare photo of Meego's orthodontiated teeth!  As rare as a Bigfoot sighting!

The outing was an utter success.  Meego got the 5-string bass he wanted, and was able to trade in his 4-string for a nice chunk off the price.  

Me:  Aren't you going to miss... what is your bass's name?

Meego:  No, the new one's much better!

Me:  But still, you've had good times with what's-his-name.

Meego:  {smirk}

Me:  Well, if you'd given him a name, you'd miss him...

...Kids these days.

Anyway.  It was fun.  And I don't know squat about guitars.

The store slogan was on the door when we walked in, and I thought it a bit of an overstatement.








But it actually wasn't all that far off.
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*"ham and jell-o" is a term I think of for somber events that involve food.  A while ago, the husband of one of my P.E.O. sisters died, and she had guests coming in from out of town.  We wanted to help her out, but at first she declined.  One of the others said, "No, you just take it easy.  We're all about ham and jell-o!", and it has since stuck with all of us.

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Silver Liningness Sunday

I rode by a fully populated pumpkin patch this morning - a sure sign of fall.  I was thinking we should go get some pumpkins while the gettin's good, but then that would break my long-standing tradition of scrounging at the last minute.

I've been contemplating my aquarium.  The zombie fish continue to thrive in their dystopian existence.  I've been waiting for them to die... or whatever it is that zombies do when they "pass".  I don't dare introduce any innocent fish since all of the others I tried died shortly after, even when I check the water chemistry and deem it healthy.

There's just something about those two (Buenos Aires Tetra) zombie fish!  The secret lies with Tina, the sole survivor of the apocalypse.  She was one of the lesbian Black Skirt Tetra threesome.  For some reason, she still lives.  So it's just the flourishing zombie fish and Tina.  They even killed the plants.

In the meantime, I continue to properly care and feed for the monsters and Tina, out of obligation.  My luck, they'll live for another twenty years.  But I've got plans to get a nice Cichlid tank going after deciding that a marine reef setup is too expensive right now.  Magnum suggested getting the cichlids and letting them eat the monsters, but my luck, it would kill the new fish.

cichlids.com

Anyway, we went and looked at nice fish and supplies yesterday.  It was really just an excuse to go for a bike ride on a pleasant Saturday, and it worked.  I managed to not let Meego talk me into buying anything - helped by the fact that we couldn't lug much home on bicycles.  But he did get us to Carl's Jr. to eat like we mean it.

In  movie news, we watched Into the White, which we all liked.  It's based on actual WWII events, and nicely done as far as a story of survival can be done nicely.

And speaking of bicycle rides and survival, I got a flat tire this week.  Unlike my last trailside mishap, this wasn't my fault!  In fact, I've given both Alice and Bella such TLC, it's silly.  Alice was literally running like a well-oiled machine when she pulled up lame.

I was only about a mile and-a-half away from home, and although I had all the first-aid supplies to get Alice rolling again, I was thinking I would just walk it home and fix her there.  So I was walking along deciding if I wanted to pull a PDM - public display of maintenance - when this good Samaritan pulled up and offered me a ride.

Yes, he was a total stranger, but I could (pretty much) tell he was a good one.  I'm not sure, but I'd say he's one of our local military people, he just had that air about him.  He claimed to be an avid cyclist who's "been there", plus he had this roomy SUV.  He was in the neighborhood scoping out houses to buy, so I took him up on the ride offer.

His name is Joe, he drives a newish BMW SUV that's only slightly sullied from carrying a wounded bicycle, and has his left arm in a sling from recent shoulder surgery.  If you see him, give him a shout out.



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going hairless

Magnum, Meego, and I took a little day trip today.  Shoved off in the morning and stopped off along to way to load everyone up with a cholesterol-gluten combo platter and a healthy side of caffeine.  Then we were ready for some serious Reptilin'!








Denver ReptiCon weekend!

My goal was to not bring anything home, and I barely met it.  This lovely Sand Boa was giving me serious Take-Me-Home eyes.  It was so friendly, and smooth, and light, and.... NO!

A lot of pretty pythons and cute geckos and other assorted scaly things.  Nice show.

King Reese's "Dad" was there, with another good batch of King Snakes.  We bought Reese from him at the Reptile Expo a year ago in August.  We chatted with him about Reese's habits since he's recently gone into a brunation - a sort of semi-hibernation that reptiles do.  He tells us that means that Reese is a good breeder.  

Maybe we should get him a wife?  

NO!

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feels good!

The sun is out!  Could this be the beginning of the dry out?  Either way, I hung my shoes on the clothesline for some good sun exposure.  Those are my shoes from last Friday's ride to class.  They're still damp!  Camp Dry was no match.

It rained more all weekend and again yesterday, but not as hard.  This morning, I went out for a run and was so pleased to see stars.

As for our mini rainforest, the Fire Belly Toads have been quite busy.  They really do bark.  Sound like dogs.  I still have trouble telling them apart from one viewing to the next, but we know that at least one is male and one is female.  In addition to being Fire Belly Toads, they also seem to be... uhm... Horny Toads.

Meego wants babies, but I don't know where we'd put them.  He says we can put the tadpoles in the fish aquarium, but I know my zombie apocalypse fish would eat them.

So we shot a little video action.  Please note that we didn't intend to shoot a porno!  We actually just wanted to film them barking, but they had other things in mind.  Nature's way and all that.







It seems that everyone in the household is happy it's stopped raining.

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