Category Archives: Blab

someone naked?

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I’m working on the day 4 photos and movies and eating generic lucky charms. I also have two dogs right next to me on the sofa wrestling for my love.
okay, fuck it, I filled Chester’s canine genius with dog food and generic lucky charms(mostly dog food but planting the idea that there might be MORE lucky charms inside if he just keeps working on it makes for quiet time). Maddie needed a break. Ever since we got back from the BWCA Chester has decided that the only thing I am allowed to love is him. He’s the only one I can snuggle with or talk to or give belly rubs to. David is starting to miss his belly rubs.
This is a new one on me. I’ve never really seen this behavior in a dog. It’s like jealousy but dogs don’t really have jealousy as such. Mostly I don’t involve myself in the dog politics, I expect them to work things out their own way. Lately I have had to get involved because he’ll pester Maddie to the edge of madness if she spends too much time with me. A couple minutes in the dominance roll calms him down for a bit.
***
David was doing laundry and found one of Anna’s shirts that she must have left here while housesitting. I found another. Today at lunch I gave Anna her shirts but she only claimed the nerdy Lord of the Rings shirt, not the other one. The three of us debated whose shirt it might be, but we all had to conclude that we each knew our own clothes and we would know if that was ours.
So, if anyone is missing a Gap 100% cotton button down shirt, size medium, medium blue with slender white and grey stripes, I have it. You can have it back if you can explain how it got in my laundry room.
***
David was at the grocery store looking at the pistachios when a guy came up, grabbed a handful and walked away. Later, David found a pile of pistachio shells by the water jug filler.
Now, I’m no fuddy-duddy, but damn. DAMN. You want to try a grape and make sure they’re sweet, okay that’s fine. Maybe you’re not sure if you like the chocolate covered wienerpops in the bulk bin….pushing it, but try one. Only one!
The large barrels of peanuts and pistachios are for sale, not for snack. They are not put out as a public service to quell the hunger of stupid shoppers. They are put out so that customers may pick the amount they want and purchase (PURCHASE) that amount.
And I don’t want to hear the argument “well, the grocery store is screwing us! this is my way of getting even!” You’re not getting even, you’re eating pistachios that you didn’t pay for. If you want to ‘get even’ then go to another grocery store. The nice thing about this free-marketesque economy is that if you can patronize any business you want. You show support or anger with your wallet, not with pistachios.
Also, throw your shells away you shit! Do you think they just disappear into thin air once you put them down and walk away? They don’t other customers have to see them and buy the products near them. Somebody also has to pick them up and throw them away for you. Are you so out of touch that you think “hey! pistachios! i love pistachios, I should eat some” and then “my hand is full of empty pistachio shells…don’t need those!”?
Our every action, large and small, cuts a path in this world. Our every action is a stone dropped in a pond, the ripple moves outward affecting a larger and larger area. Your choice is to make sure that the paths you cut in this world are clean and productive, not destructive. Your goal should be to keep the ripples to a minimum.
I guess shit like this (and graffiti tagging and petty theft and whatnot) is that it shows such a lack of perspective on the part of the person doing it. They think only of themselves, their adoration of pistachios, their need to mark their territory with a paint can, the love of a good stop sign. I don’t expect people to live as ascetics eating rocks and quietly mumbling apologies to the world, just have some perspective. Think about something other than your wants, consider that other people don’t want to pick up your pistachio shells!

manfunk

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Tomorrow we leave for the BWCA. David spent the evening prepping and packing and getting ready.
I spent the evening standing over boiling pots and stirring and burning myself (note to self: jam is mostly sugar, it’s way way hotter than water). I finished the Def Strawberry Jam, it worked out beautifully. I am so pleased with it. I worked out my salsa verde recipe and processed it. It is truly a thing of beauty. I may have to call and switch from ‘mild’ to ‘hot’ salsa. It’s hotter than expected.
anyway, I’m exhausted, I’ve not slept well since Thursday night.
I leave you with the above photo of Maddie and Chester waiting in the window. This is what I see every time I come home whether I’m gone for an hour or an entire day, they stay in the window. Maddie is more vigilant, she stays in the window and moves for nothing, she even sleeps there.
Wish us luck! I’ll come back with photos and movies or cool bear scars!
(also, go see a Fringe show!)

I see the weirdest shit

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Standing in the front yard I hear a crazy buzz. It was kind of like a cicada, but not as happy. I scan the trees and finally find it. A very small sparrow had a very large cicada in her mouth and the cicada was all buzzing “holy shit! this isn’t food or sex! this isn’t what I wanted! What the hell! I want food or sex. WHAT IS THIS?”
Then he twisted and got away. Seconds later I heard him in the back yard doing a regular buzz and then another “HOLY SHIT!!!” buzz.

smash up

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SO much going on and so little time.
David and I had been talking for a while about getting camping but hadn’t really moved on it. Suddenly it’s the end of summer and he is going to have to go back to school and we have the students coming back to MCAD and I won’t be able to take time off at the end of August.
Talked to my boss and decided to go camping this coming Wednesday even though it’s short notice. Since the trip is coming up we have much to do before we go.
The Fringe Festival started this weekend and now we have to cram many shows into a few days. We saw two last night, we will see two tonight and one each on Monday and Tuesday. All this and we still need to get our camping gear and food packed before we leave Wednesday morning. We’re thinking of bringing Chester with us. We’re reasonably sure he’ll have a good time up there and not be a jerk. If we were going to Voyaguers National Park I would say no, bears are much more common there and dogs don’t mix well with bears (they try to protect you from the bear and then when they realize they can’t win they come running back to you for protection with an angry bear at their heels). While it is possible to see a bear in the BWCA, it is far less likely. We saw evidence of bears when we were there, but we never saw them.
We are also thinking of bringing Chester because he’s in the midst of his jackass angsty teen months and I’m not keen to thrust that upon Anna. Ghengis went through the same sort of thing but he was less Jackass and more Whiny Attention Whore. Let’s just hope that Chester doesn’t freak and try to jump out of the canoe and get attacked by beavers.
And I still need to finish up my State Fair entries.
State Fair entries are not going so well. I mentioned earlier that the chutney turned out but I felt it was not great by any means. The first batch of cherry jam failed miserably and while I can salvage it as a pastry filling, I cannot enter it. The second batch of cherry jam seemed to turn out until 24 hours later when I checked it and realized that all of the cherries had separated out of the gel and floated to the top. The gel part became super gelled and the cherries are just loose at the top. Since ‘Distribution of Fruit’ is part of the judging criteria, this will also not be submitted. Let’s hope the Def Strawberry Jam and the Salsa Verde turn out.
What I need to find out is if the problems with the jam are an error on my part or if it has something to do with the pectin, a brand I’ve never used before. I’ll ask around and see.
Also there’s laundry and dishes and vacuuming to be done.
Over and out my peeps.