Elephant Painting

Snow Dragon

I was sorting through some paperwork while getting our taxes ready and ran across a negative I had saved. It's from a Thanksgiving about ten years ago at my folks place. The nieces and my sister and I got creative and made a snow dragon. Now if that dragon could only breathe some real flames and light a fire under my ass, I might stop finding distractions and get these taxes done! Say hi to the nieces...

Interesting Ice Formations

The hub sent me an email with photos today. The email had claimed these were photos taken of ice heaves in Lake Huron but Snopes proved it wrong. Why do people do that? Snopes corrected this and found the photos were taken at the Antarctic base of Dumont D'Urville by Tony Travoullion in 2002.






Will this winter ever end? How I long for a nice, slow rain with rumbles of thunder here and there. That first long rain that washes away the last bits of dirty snow, weighs down the dead weeds and grass and acts as an alarm clock for the new grass to sprout and give us that bright spring green carpet all around. I'm going to stand outside in that rain and wash away the cooped up wintery blues.

Bath product intervention

Another good one by Natalie Dee...



nataliedee.com

Random thoughts #1

• Next cat we get will be named Whompus. It's full name will be Miss Kitty Whompus.

• How is it some people can talk and talk and say nothing at all? It's really not necessary to fill up every blank spot with words.

• Lesson learned today: don't try to gasp for air AND swallow a jalapeno pepper at the same time.

• It is March and the clothing stores have out only spring and summer clothing. Dammit, I'm not wearing capris pants and a t-shirt in March! I want a sweater, and I want a choice of sweaters. Not one of the 4 sweaters left on the clearance rack that were obvious washing mishaps returned for refund and placed out for sale again.
  

• Trader Joe's is awesome. I want to dress like a hippie when I shop there.
  

• A shedding German Shepherd and a long black wool coat are not a good combo.

• Tonight was the Prairie Home Companion Annual Joke Show on National Public Radio. I wish I could remember all that I heard but here's one that stood out: Here's how you tell who is man's best friend; put your wife and your dog in a small cage, leave the house for several hours and see who's excited to see you when you get home.

The week in a nutshell

Monday: Work, work, work. The big rush was on to get the liquor store sale flyer to the printer on time. I have learned much from doing these flyers over the years. Not everyone can whip out the proper spelling of words such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Viognier or Bordeaux without a slight hesitation. I also come across great descriptions like, "Aromas of sweet blackberry with a hint of sweet tobacco leading to flavors of ripe blackberry and dark cherry. The dusty tannin carry some classic cedar, graphite through the lengthy finish while the fruit lingers." It takes talented taste buds to catch all that in a sniff, a slurp, a swish and a swallow.

Tuesday: Work, work, work. Liquor store sale flyer approved and to the printer. On to the next project, a newsletter on beer. Again, learning new and interesting things such as, "When meeting the Pope it is customary to bring a gift. The Archbishop of York recently showed up with a bottle of Holy Grail Ale from the Black Sheep Brewery." I wonder if the Pope drank Holy Grail Ale from a holy grail?

It's my Mom's birthday. I called her at 8:00 pm with the greeting "Last born, last to call. Happy Birthday!" Fortunately, one of my sisters hadn't called yet so I was still in good graces. Not that I would've been in bad graces. How old is Mom you ask? One of Mom's favorite sayings, "Born in '32, figure it out."

Wednesday: Work, work. Load is lightening up a bit. Beer newsletter to the printer. Next, the flyer on accessories to make your drinking experience more pleasurable such as $60 crystal wine vessels and decanters of elegant design. Decided to change the ad copy "enhance your pleasure" to something else. I get too much spam with those three words as the subject line.

Thursday: Was poked and prodded on my right boob. Sounds funner than it was. Just an ultrasound to check on a suspicious spot found on a mammogram six months ago. The trainee worked on me first, then the seasoned technician checked through her work and kept saying "that confuses me" at several screens so he ended up doing it over again, thanks. Results will be in next week sometime. All will be fine. Universe, are you listening to that? Sigh, it's hard not to worry about such things.

In the evening a couple of friends and I went to an art show opening at a gallery. I am in awe of the talent people have. These shows always inspire me to be more creative.

Friday: Worked in the morning and then took the afternoon off; a self-employment perk. Caught up on some reading and I discovered and added to my links a blog by Mike Fotis of the Brave New Workshop comedy club in Minneapolis. He's just getting started as blogging so thought I'd direct a few hits his way. He was recently on a local radio show talking about blogging. Have a listen. His "minute by minute oscar blog" is a fun read. And hey, you've got to admire a straight guy that openly admits he'd go gay for Clooney. I wish he'd blog somewhere more "grown-up" besides Myspace though. [Oh no, I sounded old right there.] I don't want to sign-up on Myspace to leave a comment. Maybe he'll google himself and find this note, "Hey Mike Fotis! Blog on blogger or wordpress or anything but Myspace! Please. Thanks. Okay. Bye."

Hope you had a great week!

The Onion: War for the White House

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Small Town Folks

Change. I am so ready for a change. As anyone does, I often think about our life; where I've been, where we are and our future. Hubbie and I have talked about moving now and then. We like where we are but I could never envision us riding into the sunset from here.

At one time we were contemplating selling all we owned and just blindly moving to the UK. It was fodder for some adventurous conversations for about three weeks.

Then a few years ago arrived the possibility of a new job for hubbie at a company branch office in northwestern Minnesota. This was appealing to me as it was very close to the area where most of my family lives. He didn't get the position which, in hindsight, is a good thing as it wasn't right for him.

Now a new opportunity is on the horizon. We'll see how this pans out but it feels a lot better than the others. The seeds have been planted, it may happen soon, it may take a few years or it may not happen at all. That hasn't stopped us from making plans in case it does come to fruition. Need to have our dreams, right?

In all of our talks about moving there has always been one constant; we will live in a small town. If this works out, a very small town. Like a population of 400 small town. I'm so ready I've imaginary packed a few times. Yep, ready for a change.

Rico: 1.75 years old

I put some new batteries in the camera today so here's a Rico fix...

It's hard to believe he looked like this not that long ago...

Recognition

Memories of visiting my Aunt Lorraine, Uncle Don and cousins are always filled with laughter, fun and a little bit of salt with the sweetness. My aunt and uncle were an interesting pair. I can remember many times sitting at their table, Aunt Lorraine complaining about Uncle Don and Uncle Don having a comeback then looking at us with that toothy, crooked grin and a wink. Aunt Lorraine would shake her head and roll her eyes, one arm across her stomach and the other resting on it holding a cigarette up in the air between two fingers. Their relationship was a bit passive-aggressive, not the picture book version but it worked for them for over 50 years.

My Mom & Stepfather live in Minnesota but for a few years, wintered in Mesa, Arizona. The siblings and I flew down for Mom's 70th birthday in 2002. One of the last days we were there, we decided to visit the very large and beautiful Phoenix City Park. We took two cars and drove across town, taking a meandering route to avoid the congested freeways. We were waiting for a stoplight and I looked down the street. I spotted this older couple walking away from us on the sidewalk about a half block down. Recognition. Not of faces, their backs were turned to us, but rather of a bantering couples' body language. I asked my sisters in the car with me, "Don't they remind you of Lorraine and Don?" The light turned green, we turned down the street and once we passed and saw their faces, started yelling and waving out the window. They had arrived in Phoenix but hadn't called my Mom yet. We ended up spending a wonderful day together.

Uncle Don has been gone for almost two years now. That smile and wink is what I see when I think of him. I am thankful for the wonderful memories.