10-1-08

From Mary Ellen (she likes string!): It’s very last-minute, but… my husband Jeff and I are walking in the ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) this coming Saturday. His family has been devastated over the years by the genetic strain of the disease, so we walk every year to try to … Continue reading “10-1-08”

From Mary Ellen (she likes string!):

It’s very last-minute, but… my husband Jeff and I are walking in the
ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease) this
coming Saturday. His family has been devastated over the years by the
genetic strain of the disease, so we walk every year to try to raise
money to find a cure. This year, the walk is even more important,
because his cousin, a lovely, vibrant woman, was recently diagnosed.
We’re trying for at least $1500, and so far, what with money being
tight all over, we’ve barely broken $200.

You can donate to help Mary Ellen and Jeff raise money for this very good cause right here.

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This father was a firefighter who was injured 10 years ago and is now a quadriplegic. He needs a tech makeover, and needs people to vote for him. Go check out his story and consider voting for him, won’t you? It just takes a second!

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Holy crap! How’d it get to be October already?!

New month, new banner (if you don’t see it up top there, you might need to clear your cache)! This one was created by the wonderful Aly who’s done tons and tons of my banners in the past.

Thanks, Aly – you rock!

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So, a while back we got a webcam to point at the guest bedroom bed to see if we could catch whoever was peeing on the guest bed in the act of peeing. And then it was time for the eggs in the incubator to hatch, so Fred used it as a hatchcam for a while, and then we had it out in the garage pointed at the baby chickens for a while.

Then the cat food I leave on the front porch at all times was starting to disappear at a faster rate than usual, so I decided it was time to put the webcam on the front porch and see just what the hell was wandering through there at night.

I honestly expected to see a lot of cats move through, but the only cats who ever showed up were Maxi and Newt. Honestly, I expected more traffic on the front porch than we got, but I suspect that a lot of animals who might ordinarily have shown up and eaten the cat food were scared away by the fact that we were leaving the front porch light on all night long, since the webcam doesn’t have night vision.

In any case, I set the software to record when there was movement, and as a result, I got to make a movie so y’all could see what happens on the front porch.

I plan to put the webcam back out there in the Spring and see if anything else interesting shows up!

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Several weeks ago, during a trip to Sam’s Club, I picked up a 50 pound bag of popcorn kernels. The chickens like popped popcorn, so I figured I could occasionally make a big bowl of popcorn for them.

(Oh, don’t give me that look. Popcorn is a quick and easy snack and IT’S GOOD FOR THEM. Don’t judge me!)

So I left the bag of popcorn in the garage, always intending to bring it inside so I could begin with the popping and feeding, but I put it off and put it off.

Yesterday, Fred said “I accidentally got the bottom of the bag of popcorn wet and put it outside to dry. What do you want me to do with it?”

“Bring it inside,” I said. “I’ll pop some for the chickens, then we can put the rest of the bag of kernels in the hall closet.”

A while later I looked outside to see Fred standing in the driveway. Apparently that bag had gotten wetter than he’d realized.

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It worked out okay, though. We swept up the kernels and put them in empty (clean) litter buckets and brought them inside.

“What are you going to do with all this popcorn?” Fred asked.

“Pop it!”

“All of it?” he said.

“Yeah, why not?”

Why not? How about because it only takes 6 cups of popcorn kernels to pop enough popcorn to fill a large garbage bag and we have fifty POUNDS of popcorn kernels? How about there is NOWHERE to put that much popped popcorn? How about that, genius?

So I popped a garbage bags’ worth of popcorn, put the lid on the litter containers, and stored the rest of the kernels in the hall closet.

By this time next year, the chickens should be thoroughly sick of popcorn.

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We had a visitor kitteh move through the property yesterday. He is such a pretty little cat, but as soon as he catches sight of me, he takes off. I don’t know if he’s feral or if he belongs to someone in the area. I sure would like to pet him.

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I think the hummingbirds have moved on – it’s been three or four days since I’ve seen any. I’ll probably keep the feeders full of clean nectar for a few more weeks, but I seem to recall that the beginning of August through the end of September is prime hummingbird time.

I didn’t get many pictures of them this year, but Fred sat out on the front porch one day last week and got a few good pictures.

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Speaking of birds, this one little bird kept hanging out on the bird feeder. He’d just sit there and look around, and I would think perhaps he’d gotten his foot stuck, so I’d go out onto the side stoop and approach him, and he’d let me get alllllllmost close enough to touch, then fly off to the bushes at the front of the house. A while later, he’d be back. I’m not sure what his issue was, but he stopped doing it.

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Have I mentioned that I love this silkie? She just cracks me UP.

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“Why would I hang out inside where there are soft beds and plenty of food to eat, when I could hang out OUTside where there’s dirt to roll around in and chickens to watch?”

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Previously
2007: Except that seeing me so enraged the praying mantis that it took flight and flew at my head.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
2004: I could have done a faster job with a measuring spoon and my ass.
2003: She was stymied by her big butt, which wouldn’t fit under the shed.
2002: Here’s my question: It’s open 24-hours, so why the FUCKITY FUCK FUCK can’t they stock in the wee hours of the morning when NO ONE IS THERE?
2001: It’s funny how two people can look at the same thing and see it differently, isn’t it?
2000: No entry.