Saturday, May 31, 2008

goodbye deer head. rest in peace.

oh, i have such mixed feelings about the ARMY boyz leaving. on the one hand, they've all been gone this week and it's been amazingly, wonderfully quiet. and on the other hand, they've been gone this week and it's been lonely, boring, and...quiet. In the past when they've been gone, I always knew they'd be back. but this time, it's forever. ::sniff::

The deer head in his heyday.

yard at 6 weeks

this is after their first haircut. that's right - i waited 6 weeks. i could have cut it at 4 with all the rain we've had but I wanted to get the mower serviced and sharpened first so it wouldn't damage the lawn. i think i'm going to soap and feed the lawn this weekend. i got a book on lawn care and the author recommends showering the lawn with cheap dish soap (mixed with water in the sprayer jar) to break up surface tension which lets your lawn absorb more water and nutrients. with all the pollution we have here, that seems like a good idea to me. my lawn will be not only green, but also clean! oh, he also says you have to stop thinking of the lawn as a big green blob and start thinking of it as a trillion individual plants. that's a lot of hunrgy mouths to feed!

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Friday, May 30, 2008

mower beats spade

in case you've ever wondered. kids, don't try this at home.

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Saturday, May 24, 2008

scene at taste of cinti

a LOT of middle-aged folks rockin out to the Rusty Griswolds. including me.

also, a couple, au naturel, and pressed against the glass of the hotel window, in the throes of passion. it's true. bri and rob can back me up on this. actually, they have to, because i didn't actually get to see for myself. damn B-double-E double-R-U-N.

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Monday, May 19, 2008

2 things. OK, 3.

At least as the boys move out, they are leaving me with a last few funnies.  Not really me, as they are actually funnies for each other. But I get the benefit of laughing at their little jokes for these last times.

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The second thing is that this was in the Monday Quotes and I love it.

There are always moments when one feels empty and estranged. Such moments are most desirable, for it means the soul has cast its moorings and is sailing for distant places. This is detachment--when the old is over and the new has not yet come. If you are afraid the state may be distressing, but there is really nothing to be afraid of. Remember the instruction: What ever you come across--go beyond. --Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

I have blogged before that I do sometimes (often?) feel empty and estranged. I feel like I am not where I need to be or doing what I should be doing. It is good to read that others have felt the same.

Third thing: I had to make a special shout-out to Heidis comment that Jenn also pointed out. I have put eye drops in a horse is awesomely funny and completely on par with my own I hate squirrels and I love donuts as sort-of random final sentences in email messages. Hee!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Life with a floppy-eared dog

I dont know if this happens when you have a pointy-eared dog, but if you have a floppy-eared dog, you may have occasionally had to deal with the problem of ear mites. Now, when you take the dog to the vet, they give you a bottle of stuff. And if you are a good mommy or daddy, you try to put in his ears a couple times a week. The reason I say "try" is partially because I dont always remember, and mostly because it is damn near impossible to actually do all by myself. His response to it is so incredibly disturbing that its hard for me to even try. But this week, he's been scratching furiously at his ear and yelping as he does, which makes me think I should increase the amount of times I do this (the vet told me to do it twice a day when I first got him so I know its OK to increase the dosage). But its hard.

The instructions on the bottle indicate that I should squirt it in his ear, rub his ear at the base, and then let him shake it out. Repeat as necessary, 1-2 times/week. I don't know if the people who write these instructions have ever had a dog or even seen a dog, for that matter.

The whole process starts out with a ridiculous shimmy-dance-herding move I have to do to get him corralled up into a corner so I can squirt him in the first place. No, Im sorry I should say, it starts with me searching all over the house for the bottle because Im so traumatized every time this happens that I never have the presence of mind to leave the bottle in the same place twice. And if youve been to my house in the past 24 months, you know that, if I dont actually have something in a specific spot, there is no way Im just going to be able to find it by scanning the room. Which is another story for another time.

Once I get the poor guy backed into the corner, and he knows exactly whats coming at this point so its already very tense, we begin the full-body embrace. This is where I try to wrap each of my limbs around some part of him, while keeping one hand free to hold the bottle and the other hand free to flip up the ear flop. Ive tried just laying the flap over and using that hand to steady his head, but he is actually quite strong and fidgety and so I have to pin his ear and hold his head all with one hand. Now, picture that theres a lot of flailing, squirming, and flinching (and thats just me hee!) going on as I try to get the bottle lined up just right to squirt it into his actual ear hole, then right as the stuff shoots out of the bottle, he wrenches his head and the stuff splashes all over the side of his face, my face, and anything else that happens to be in that area (the upshot of all of this is that neither I, nor any of my furniture, will ever have to worry about getting ear mites as we are all covered in a layer of ear mite killer juice). So at this point, hes got ear mite killer juice pretty much everywhere except his ears, Im practically marinating in the stuff, and he thrashes himself free of my full-body embrace, shakes his head violently in a way that makes me think hes going to end up with severe frontal lobe damage, and then flops down on the floor, pressing his face along the carpet as he pushes with his back legs in some attempt to get the stuff off. Of course, the entire time this is going on, hes crying and yowling and running around the house like he's on fire. The entire scene must look unbelievable to God and anyone else who might be watching. To add insult to injury, he then spends the next half hour licking the mite killer juice off of any part of his fur that it might have gotten on which I have to think can not be good. I mean, if it kills mites, it doesnt seem like something anyone should be ingesting. Oy. VEY.

 

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Blessings

I've been worrying so much lately that I thought it would be a good time to reflect on some blessings. I decided that, because the house itself is one of my chief sources of worry, I want to sell it and find a smaller house where the critters and I can live a peaceful life. But to do that, I need to finish a LOT of work around the house. And that's where the first blessing comes in: I found an absolutely amazing deal on kitchen cabinets and appliances from craigslist. the people selling them are so kind, and the contractor who is installing their new cabinets took amazing care while removing mine, and now they are all on a truck waitin for the best guys in the world (Bri and Rob) to come help unload them. In the meantime, my dog that I love and I are chillin' on the most beautiful backyard I've ever had, enjoying an afternoon off from the best job I've ever had. So even though I know
I'll still find stuff to worry on, just for a moment I'm simply enjoying life.

...and unexpected surprises

springtime means yard work time, although I think it should be yard "play" because I actually enjoy it (with the painful exception of that crazy sod project that's rapidly fading from memory). anywho, yesterday, while I was pulling weeds from my front flower bed, I found this unexpected treat. I think it's called allium and I've always wanted to have some of them. I have no recollection of planting this so it truly is a surprise

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Look I didn't set out to be this way

but the world is changing around me and I can't cope with it. This photo, for example. Note the comparative size difference of the two cups. They are actually both "small" cups. Now, it hasn't been too long since I was complaining that a Wendy's "medium" drink is about a gallon of pop and decided I would always get a small drink. And I guess it is exactly that kind of thinking that led me to order a small drink at Taco Bell. And this is the ridiculous result of that. I actually thought she was handing me someone else's kiddie cup at first.

I mean, I'm not looking to get a gallon of pop for a buck, but there has GOT to be a happy medium in here somewhere. But it's not Wendy's medium. Because that is a Large.

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Monday, May 5, 2008

you really won't believe it

i've talked about the beers in the cooler at work, right? well, it just got one better. you are looking at bona fide jell-o(r) shots here, people. in the break room, to celebrate somebody's cinco de mayo birthday. sweetie-suh-weet!