June 14, 2002

The Flo Control Project. You’ve gotta check it out – it’s hilarious! So, I have an buttload of pictures to share with y’all, which I’ve been meaning to do and haven’t gotten around to until now, when I can’t think of anything else to write about. Here ya go – and click on the small picture to see the full-sized version, as usual. One morning while my parents were here, before anyone was up, Fred walked past the downstairs hallway and found Fancypants with a baby bird. The bird was unharmed (this was before Fancypants learned to bring them upstairs and kill them at the end of the bed, apparently), so Fred made all the cats come inside, and then he put the baby bird outside under the tree and shut the door so no cats could go out there. Later, he called a vet’s office to be sure that’s what he should have done, and the woman at the vet’s office said to leave the bird alone, and that the mother and father birds would feed and protect it until it learned to fly. I had to go out later that day and run errands, and when I got home, I saw that the bird had wandered across the yard, so naturally I got a picture of the cute little thing. Later, my father decided to create a small nest for the bird and put it back up into the tree, because the one ladder we had fell far short of the nest it had come from. He cut the bottom from a bottle of ginger ale, put some batting and grass in the makeshift nest, tied it to a branch, and placed the baby in the nest. Several times it fell out of the nest, and each time my father put it back in. That evening, we went out to take a look – just before it started pouring rain – and the baby bird had decided it didn’t like the nest, and preferred to stand on the branch, like so: We did let the cats out later while we were sitting out on the patio talking, and Miz Poo thought that perhaps directly under the tree would be the best place to wait and hope for the baby bird to fall out again. The next morning, the baby bird was gone. But five or six days later, I glanced out the front window and saw yet another baby bird (or maybe it was the same one – who knows?). I went out to see if he’d fly away, and he didn’t, although he also didn’t let me get too close. I just stood there for a few minutes talking to him (yes, I’m a freak, I know), and he started scolding me. Well, he’d scold me for a few minutes, and then open his mouth wide as if he hoped I’d feed him. As the day wore on, he moved away from the house and down the street through other yards, and each time I went out I could hear the ever-fainter sound of scoldscoldscoldfeedme!feedme!scoldscoldscold. I hope he learned to fly before one of the neighborhood cats got ahold of him. My mom, the spud, and I went to the mall one day while my parents were here, and I saw this little pig in Dillard’s or Parisian and had to have it. He’s adorable, isn’t he? Miz Poo just loves to lay on the empty shelf on the bookcase and look out the window, and it always cracks me up, I don’t know why. One of our rose bushes bloomed in a big way, so rather than leaving the blooms out for everyone to enjoy, I snipped them and brought them inside so that only we could enjoy them. I don’t think I showed off the smiley-face vase I got from eBay. Very me, no? I actually thought I had more pictures than that, but apparently not. 1. How often do you do laundry? About twice a week – more often if I’m feeling ambitious, but I usually don’t think about the laundry until the laundry basket is full. Actually, I think I only did laundry once this week. I don’t have to do the spud’s laundry – she does her own during the weekend – so it’s just mine and Fred’s I have to worry about. 2. What’s in a typical wash load? Whatever’s dirty – usually pants, shirts, shorts, and underwear. I only have three bras (look, they’re expensive and when I don’t have to leave the house, I don’t wear one, so hush), so I wash them on the gentle cycle whenever I feel they need to be washed. I only wash the towels about once every other week (shut up, no one’s asking YOU to use them, and besides – we’re clean when we get out of the shower or bathtub, so it’s not like the towels get really dirty or anything!), and the sheets about the same. 3. Front or top loader? Powder or liquid detergent? Top loader, liquid Tide. I’ve used other detergents before, but always go back to Tide. 4. Do you use fabric softener in the rinse cycle? Nope – I use fabric softener dryer sheets. 5. Dryer or clothesline? Dryer. I’d like to have a clothesline to at least dry our sheets – I love that outdoors smell – but it’s against the neighborhood rules. One of the downsides of living in a subdivision, don’tchaknow. ]]>