Only bad witches are ugly.

The wurst is the best

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:02:34 GMT

We went to Wurstfest today! In spite of the rain, it was a lot of fun. G and I drove up a little early, figuring we could scope out where to park. We got there a bit before the gates opened and got in with the first crowd while things were still pretty empty. We met up with UnkaStanky and the fabulous Miss M just in time for the bars to start serving beer, which we used to wash down our wurst kabobs...yes, ladies and gentlemen, 5 different types of sausage on a stick! I enjoyed a plate of sauerkraut with mine too. There was also strudel and other pastries aplenty. I enjoyed a slice of "German chocolate pie" just before we headed home.

Tonight I am atoning by eating nothing but veggies...Brussels sprouts and butternut squash for me. I could probably use some time on the Wii Fit too. Not sure I have that much energy.

Itchy

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:46:50 GMT

Ugh, I found out Friday that Ziggy has ringworm on his head, which accounts for the scabby bloody mess he's made of the area in front of his right ear. I took him in to see the vet for an annual check up and a couple of vaccines that he seems to have missed in his bouncing around between foster care and homes that didn't keep him. I had the vet check out the irritated spot on his head. It started off with a rashy pink area that I thought might be flea irritation (he had fleas when we brought him home), and his scanty vet records mention he has a flea allergy). Over the last week or so he's irritated it to the point of bleeding and looking pretty sad. And since his favorite method of cuddling is to bump his head under my chin, I now know why I have an itchy pink spot on my neck. Luckily it's really tiny.

Ziggy is now on Tresaderm and I'm on Tinactin. I don't mind my medicine nearly as much as he does. His has to be stored in the refrigerator and be applied in runny drops. Kitties don't like cold stuff dripped in their ears.

You know you've been in Texas too long when...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:51:15 GMT

...69 degrees in the house when you wake up is so chilly you don't want to get out of bed!

As I approach 10 years living in this state (almost unfathomable really), I realize more and more every year that I've become a wimp! And here I was looking forward to winter. OK, so I still am looking forward to winter. I'll take the rain and cold, as long as I don't have to suffer the heat like we had this summer.

I'm going to school this morning, then running back home to deliver G to a doc appt., then back to the zoo with my freshmen class. Should be a busy day, but hopefully a little fun with the zoo part and all.

Pesto panini

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:29:29 GMT

G and I were shopping at Le Target last week and he wanted to look at sandwich makers. One of his buddies at work has a little sandwich press so we went to check them out. While looking at the one like his colleague has, we spied a slightly larger, very sexy looking panini press (if a sandwich press can be sexy, that is). It was on sale, and looked a bit more versatile than the little bitty one that only does one or two perfectly square sandwiches at a time. We bought the panini maker. He made me a breakfast panini yesterday, complete with salami, tomato and cheese.

Last night kytherean_tx brought over a FULL grocery sack of fresh basil from her yard and some walnuts. I had olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and parmesan, and so we embarked on a pesto-making marathon. THREE batches of pesto from this bag of basil, and that was with pressing the leaves down to pack them as tight as we could get them while measuring. WOW. And it was really tasty pesto. We made a walnut pesto, then a pine-nut pesto, then a mixed batch and had G taste-test them all. Turned out the walnut was #1 in popularity. We ended up blending them all together (they tasted pretty spiff that way) and splitting the giant batch between us. I have enough pesto to last the rest of the year and beyond I think.

I made myself a pesto panini just now, with light mozzarella cheese, a layer of homemade pesto and a few slices of salami. O....M....G!!!!!

I am SO quitting my job and opening a panini hut. With my mad coffee-makin' skills, it could totally work. Paninis and coffee, man.

And beer. Lots of beer.

Wii fun

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:03:01 GMT

I've been jonesin' for some new Wii games lately. I've been pretty bad about playing Wii Fit, as I had done most of the activities, and tended to do the same ones I liked over and over and it got a little dull after a while. Last weekend, bigsarahfan highly recommended the Wii Sports Resort with the new controller addition. G and I had seen it at Best Buy when I had a gift card to use up, but I hadn't heard anything about it at the time, and it seemed so expensive. We went to Target tonight after an honors reception after work where I had a couple of glasses of a lovely cab and was feelin' kinda spendthrify. I went to the Wii aisle while he went to look at the discount XBox games and by the time he came back I had filled my basket with Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Ski (on sale!). It's gonna be a Wii-ful weekend!

Kitty

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:34:12 GMT

Greg had a momentary lapse of reason and/or sanity and let me adopt this kitty Thursday night. He's a two year old "color point" Siamese.

I wanted him when I saw him back in the spring (he was at a PetsMart with a bunch of rescue kitties), but he got adopted out (plus Greg said no at the time). Then he was returned, apparently, because he isn't great with very small kids. We saw him Thursday and this time it just seemed like we were meant to have him. We have a houseful of creatures and objects not good with small kids, so no worries there.

Anyway, we did his paperwork Thursday night, then I went back to pick him up with a friend on Friday morning with the cat carrier. He's possibly the mellowest cat ever. He's HUGE, playful, sweet and very chill. Seems to like everyone, at least a little. Even the dog. The other pets are curious and slightly annoyed, but no one is being terribly ugly. No violence or destruction.

We're trying out the name Ziggy, after a hockey player we like. We tried the name Dylan, but it just didn't stick.

Wine

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:24:31 GMT

I got my wine grapes on Friday! I drove up to Austin to pick them up. Took some pictures while there. I loved the zin crates.

My favorite crates were these cabernet sauvignon boxes.

Because all babies love wine, right?

Brewin' and dumplings

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:57:31 GMT

G and I both brewed today after work. I got home early and put our water kettles on to heat up. He started a batch of cheap date and I started a black ale that's been sitting in the cupboard for quite a while. It was fun brewing in tandem. We hit each part of our recipes at the same time. During the boil we started reading a novel that we've had for several months, and hopefully we'll get to read it on the way to the DFW area this weekend. That's IF I can go...

My grapes are supposed to come in Friday! There's even some extra coming in and I'm hoping to maybe get some of the overflow. They are arriving in Austin sometime during the day, so I will go up and see if I can help out when they get there. I am planning to take my grapes home whole for the most part, and press them back at the house. I want to avoid using sulphur dioxide and see if I can vint Roman style, which probably means boiling at least some of the must if not all. Considering how hard it is to get wine grapes in quantity, I don't want to waste any. I just hope they come in early enough in the day to get home in time to press them, boil some must, and still make it to hockey that night. If I have to press after hockey, I can.

If I get behind schedule, I may need to stay home this weekend to process grapes. But I will try to possess super powers on Friday!

As soon as we were done brewing tonight, I steamed up some potstickers and a batch of baby bok choy. YUM!!!!! Other than a very Winnie the Pooh moment when G and I ate leftover barley malt and honey out of a plastic tub, we hadn't had anything since lunch.

Too lazy to cross post...

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:55:35 GMT

Got back last night from AZ where I attended my brother's wedding. It was fan-f*$&king-tastic!!

I'm including a link here to the post I made on xanga for those of you who want details.

I've got a very full day ahead. Must go pick up dog, then head to work early, as the grant is due today. I'll probably just take the dog to work to save time backtracking. She enjoys the office anyway. The grant writing process was a huge pain in the ass, but I sure hope we get it. If so, I'll have a 5 year project that will consume a lot of my time, but it will be SUCH a good thing for our students.

Writing....and burning

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:13:56 GMT

(x-posted from xanga)

OK, it's official.

I hate writing. And I HATE WRITING GRANT BUDGETS even more. Oh, and I hate hate hate Excel. So there.

I had a day of frustration and confusion with only minor moments of feeling like I got something positive done. I'm exhausted and cranky.

I did, however, manage to cook myself a really nice, healthy dinner when I got home tonight. G's gone off to R-fort for the weekend, so I took the opportunity to do some more experimental cooking. Continuing on my quest to master some Ethiopian recipes, I cooked some scorchin' hot vegetable alicha (basically a cabbage, potato and onion stew) and doro wot (a chicken stew with red pepper sauce made with berbere spice) for dinner tonight, along with a new batch of injera. I've made these dishes before and wanted to try again to see if I could make them better.

The doro wot came out well, possibly better than last time, although I think I used too much wine. Although the alicha isn't usually a spicy dish, I added some mit'mit'a powder, which is a blend of ground serrano peppers, cardamom and clove. Heavy on the serrano. I used this stuff last time I made it, but I think I put more in this time. Wow...I think I saw Jesus. I had to add some plain yogurt on top to cool it down (which was yummy too). It had that "so hot but so yummy I can't stop eating it" quality, so I'll be subjecting myself to leftovers (of which I have plenty) tomorrow with enthusiasm. It definitely cleared out my allergy-ridden sinuses, that's for sure.

Captain Blood is under my fridge

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:56:17 GMT

(X-posted from xanga, for all of you who've abandoned it.)

I hate mice. I truly despise them. Wild mice, that is, not cute little stupid domesticated ones that I feed to my snake at school. They're cute. I dislike the wily, disease carrying, high jumping, poop leaving little bastards.

I got up early this morning (thanks to some jackass decision that we need to have a meeting before school starts) and went into the guest bathroom (G was showering in ours). I noticed a few bits of what resembled mouse poop on the floor by the door. I said aloud "we have a mouse" feeling very observant and Sherlock Holmsey.....before noticing that both cats were gathered around the bathroom door, intently peering upwards. The f*#%er was on top of the door looking all buggy eyed and helpless. The kitties looked expectantly at me then at the mouse and I knew what I had to do...shake the little shit off the door so that the kitties could shred him.

I grabbed the door handle and jerked the door, imagining the mouse would fall helplessly into the dagger-like clutches of the cats. That is not quite what happened. Instead the little shit balanced on the moving door like a tiny Cirque du Soleil performer, then leapt from towel to shower curtain before finally scrambling into the tub. I thought for SURE Mizmar would have him then....how would a mouse get out of a slippery bathtub?

But no...wild mice can jump. Really freakin' high. After just one or two attempts (while dodging Mizmar, who was looking pretty outmatched now), he cleared the rim of the tub, went around the toilet, up the towel rack (pursued by a relentless Mizmar), back down across the bathroom floor and finally jumped to catch the hanging towel and was trying to scramble back up to the top of the door via my many hanging bandanas and scrunchies on the back of the door. HOLY S&IT!!! This mouse is Doug Fairbanks (or Errol Flynn, if we go with the personification in this post's title).

He finally dropped to the floor, paused behind the bathroom door, then made a break for it, kitties in hot pursuit, across the hallway and under the refrigerator.

And there he stays, cats sitting vigil.

I hate mice.

Taking the plunge

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:18:28 GMT

(x-posted from xanga)

So we've finally gone and done it....G and I have ordered ourselves a copy of Rosetta Stone, Spanish levels 1, 2 and 3.

I have a conference in Salamanca, Spain next summer and we really feel like we should get ready for the trip (we plan to tack on a week or so of vacationing). Plus, we live in a city where a fairly large portion of the population speaks Spanish. AND, my brother is getting married at the end of September to a fabulous woman from Spain, and some members of her family speak little or no English. We have a lot of incentive.

Thus, we embark upon a linguistic mission. I took Spanish in junior high and high school (1 year each). I can remember bits here and there, but when I try to think of useful phrases in Spanish, they frequently come out in Russian. Doesn't work so well. Everyone swears up and down that Rosetta Stone kicks some serious butt, so here we go.

Oh, and we got the "Latin America" version since it seemed more useful in the long run.

Some highlights of Spanish I already know:

"Yo sueno Navidad blanca." = "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas."
"Yo necesito urinar." = "I need to urinate." (Very clinical)
"Donde esta la caja? Abra la!" = "Where is the safe? Open it!"
"Una mas cerveza, por favor!" (You all know this one, right?)

The last one is really the most useful.

At least one thing has gone right...

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:55:27 GMT

So I was hoping to make it to Jaegermeister today, however things are going very much counter to my goals.

I woke up feeling like ass, which has been par for the course since returning from the PNW. Allergies are killing me, plus I'm having one hell of an FMS flare this past week. I got up pretty early today (9!!!) after having a decent nights sleep (some allergy drama in the night), and took some meds. I felt like I was coughing up sand, my throat and chest was so scratchy. I was also so stiff and sore, it hurt to walk around the house. Meds are making me feel a bit better now.

I couldn't find my new silk peplos until today, and as far as I could tell, it hadn't been laundered since I wore it last. I put it through the laundry inside a mesh bag to protect it, which worked well except for the extreme wrinkle factor of the dupioni. DUH. And upon removing it from the bag, I managed to rip off some of the beads that weigh down the corners. And then the cats ran off with the beads. I have managed to recover 3 of them. I am still missing at least that many.

Peplos has been rinsed out and rehung (trying to get rid of some of the wrinkles), and I'm looking for the beads.

What went right so far today was my lunch meal. I made a very quick cabbage and potato alicha and another few pieces of injera. The alicha came out really well in spite of almost having burned it. I used a spice powder called "mit'mit'a" which is made from ground serrano peppers, cardamom and cloves. HOLY CRAP, it's freakin' HOT. I only used about a 1/2 tsp. and it felt like my head was engulfed in flames. I thought the doro wat last night was hot with 2 Tbsp. of the berbere powder...that was nothin'. The flavor, in spite of the heat, was lovely. I kept eating in spite of the pain. And now my head is totally clear. Oh yeah. Nothing like a little trigeminal pain response for cleaning out the sinuses.

Not sure I'll make it out to Jaegermeister afterall. There's plenty I need to be doing at home anyway, but I really wanted to catch up with some friends. Also wanted to enter the brew contest, which isn't until 6. Maybe my peplos will be dry in time to drive out there.

Doro wat and the injera experiment, part 2

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:26:47 GMT

So my teff dough has been doing pretty well this week. I've actually been cooking up a piece of injera daily for the past 2 days to test the progress of the dough. After trying it with teff only, I tried adding a little bit of wheat flour to the culture, then I added more teff. I realized after trying the very first piece that I've probably never had injera made with only teff, as the color is very different. It's sort of a milk chocolate color, and it does have a very distinctive flavor. I've heard of injera made with wheat, rice and even barley, so I'm guessing I've had other varieties. The teff, however is really good. Easy to cook - I'm using a cast iron skillet and a little bit of butter, and so far have had absolutely no problems with sticking. The texture seems best with the teff-only. The addition of even a little wheat flour changed the texture to more of a fragile crepe and I wasn't that keen on it. The sour flavor had really developed today and was quite pungent.

I hit the market on the way home today to pick up onions, fresh ginger and dried spices (and a BUNCH of other things, as I'm in a cooking mood lately), and I made doro wat (spicy chicken stew) for dinner tonight. Or rather, I made a dish that could loosely pass for doro wat. All of the spices were there (berbere mix, cardamom, nutmeg and fenugreek), but I didn't bother to do the eggs, and I used boneless skinless chicken breast instead of chicken on the bone. I think I put in too much tomato, but in the end it turned out pretty tasty. I thought it was spicy, Greg didn't think it was that hot. My nose is running from the red pepper, which is something of a relief with the allergy issues I've been having. It was a good kind of heat. I actually spooned a little goat yogurt onto mine to help cool it off a little, which went well with the flavors.

OK, so that's my culinary adventure this week. Next, I have all the ingredients for alicha, an Ethiopian vegetable stew. I haven't decided if I'm going anywhere tomorrow yet. I've felt so sick every day this week when I woke up (from the allergies and recent fibromyalgia flare-up) that I am not sure I want to venture out into the heat tomorrow. If I stay home, I will probably make the veggie stew and cook up a bit more injera to go with it.

On Sunday, I've already decided that I'm making a tuna tartar from a new cookbook I have. I usually make tuna ceviche, so this will be something sort of new but not totally weird. The spices are really different.

Injera experiment

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 04:11:07 GMT

So while in the Seattle area a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of dining at a really yummy African restaurant. We first thought it was Ethiopian or Eritrean, but I noticed they called the spongy bread "canjeero" instead of injera. The platters of amazing food they brought us tasted similar to what I've had before. Upon my return home, I looked up canjeero, I discovered it's the Somali version of injera. So I got to try Somali food, which was absolutely delicious.

It also got me thinking about how much I like injera so tonight I bought some teff flour. I have begun a sour dough teff culture in a tub on the stove. I have read it can take 3 days or more for it to ferment, so I decided to try adding a little bit of a sour dough starter I already have. Just a tiny bit to get the process going. We'll see if it works. I've seen other weird recipes for injera dough, including one with yogurt and baking soda (apparently a shortcut that sounds rather dubious). I'm following what is supposed to be a very basic, authentic all-teff recipe (except for the bit of sourdough starter, which contains wheat flour).

I have some berbere spice powder that I bought at an Ethiopian restaurant in Austin that has it's own tiny market by the register, and I found a recipe for "African chicken in spicy red sauce" that I will try making on Friday, along with my first attempt at cooking injera.

Wish me luck. I hear it's tricky to keep the dough from sticking to the griddle. I'm thinking I'll try my well-seasoned cast iron skillet and see how it goes.

Labor intensive food

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:15:03 GMT

Perhaps it's just joy over being back home with my sweet hubby, but I've been cooking a lot the last couple of days. Yesterday it was homemade enchiladas. I wanted to cut the fat a bit, so I mixed a lot of fat-free cheese with a little leftover aged and very sharp English cheddar (the English cheddar was flavorful enough to make up for the rather insipid fat-free stuff). I put in a little lean ground beef and swiped each tortilla with homemade chile colorado. G isn't big on enchilada pie, so I rolled the enchiladas, which was kind of fun. Finally, I topped it all off with a can of El Pato enchilada sauce, which is pretty tasty stuff. They came out pretty good. I had some leftover today.

This afternoon I was inspired to make meatballs. I've been craving homemade meatballs, but it's one of those undertakings where you want to make enough to store for later so that it's worth all the work. I change the recipe slightly every time, but this time I shredded about a stalk of celery, 1 carrot, 2 stalks of fennel, 1 medium onion, and a bunch of italian parsley. I also made bread crumbs from some leftover ciabatta bread and old bagel chips, then added some oregano and basil from the garden, and 3 large cloves of garlic. Oh, and 2 jumbo eggs. Mixed all of that up with salt and pepper to taste, then added 1 pound of ground turkey (1% fat) and 1.5 lbs. of extra lean ground sirloin (4% fat), and about 6 oz. of aged parmesan cheese. They are now out of the oven, and OMG...they rock. Super tender and full o' tastiness. I have about 5 dozen.

I have some simmering with some marinara on the stove now. Gotta boil the spaghetti.

Return from the partially-but-not-completely frozen north

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:09:03 GMT

(x-posted from xanga with additions!)

Got back late yesterday afternoon from the great trek north. Pets were all happy to see me, the house is clean, and I'm rather exhausted today. Cruise was good in most ways, irritating or disappointing in others (boat had engine problems, so one Alaska port was entirely scratched from the itinerary). Alaska itself far exceeded my expectations of coolness and now I want to go back (probably on something like the marine highway system rather than a cruise, and I want to take G with me to see it). I ate berries in the forest hoping to run into bears, but alas, they remain the final unchecked box on my "must see" Alaska wildlife list. We saw sea otter cuteness, loads of humpback whales, gorkloads of Dall's porpoise, bald eagles, and even finally an orca or two.

I did actually enjoy the cruise experience, in that it was pretty groovy to be "at sea." DAMN, I love the water. I never got sea sick (however, I discovered that flying on a bumpy float plane on a hot, muggy, smoky day can make me incredibly air sick). We had pretty fabulous food most evenings, and truly incredible food one night. I took yoga classes...doing yoga on a moving ship was a truly bizarre thing....talk about a challenge! Simple poses were suddenly the hardest thing I have ever maintained, and I fell out of a few less than gracefully. We heard some of the most wretched "muzak" type schlock from some of the bands on the ship, and then saw the best Beatles cover band possibly in existence.

I also had the best visit to Seattle I've ever had (spread over 2 different weekends). I got to catch up a little with K and J and realized how desperately I miss hanging out with them, so going back up with G for a Seattle trip when we can kick around and I get K hopelessly lost in the suburbs again is an imperative. :-)

I will be posting photos over the next days. There's just far too much right now to do. G gets home today (YAY!!!!!! I miss him sooooooooo much!), and I'm planning some belated birthday surprises for him (so NOBODY TELL HIM!).

Shoppin'

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 21:32:47 GMT

I have been needing to shop for a few items for my cruise and dreading every second of it. I've therefore put it off until this afternoon. I had to run into work today to do some paperwork and also check on my fish, so on the way home I forced myself to make the appropriate turn that would take me to Target.

First on my list were hose and shoes that would be appropriate for a formal dining experience. The cruise we're taking has two formal nights in the dining room, and we thought it might be fun to go to at least one of them. I so rarely dress up that I am quite unequipped for this. I have a rather awful little black polyester crepe cocktail dress that I bought a few years ago at Ross and have only worn once. It's pretty plain, and looks equally frumpy whether I'm 20 lbs. up or down. It does, however, fit pretty comfortably, it was under $15. Oh, and it is hand washable. Score one for me. I managed to find some hose at Target that I think will be OK...I hate the feel of pantyhose so I get the very largest ones they have, hoping I can swim in them. I did not find shoes at Target. In fact I discovered that Target's shoe section may very well be one of the planes of Hell that Dante didn't get to. The Target I frequent is usually pretty well tended and kept nice in spite of people who fling rejected items off into aisles or leave things on the wrong shelves. The shoe section appeared to be a no-man's land, however. Discarded shoes littered the walk ways. Nothing was in order of size or style, nothing was in the correct box or stocked by the right price card, and the styles there were some of the most hideous creations of shoe-making elves I've ever witnessed.

And so I moved on to other areas and picked up sun screen and a very cute little evening clutch (hauling my leather backpack purse to the dining room on formal night seemed gauche). The second item on my shopping list was pants...something comfortable, but appropriate for "business casual" attire, as jeans and shorts are apparently right out for dining rooms on the cruise. I gleefully discovered that Target is again carrying linen pants! I scored two pairs of linen pants, both of which fit loosely and comfortably (I bought a size larger than I usually do, since my ass has been spreading like the floor of the ocean - slowly but surely). I tried on a variety of tops that all plunged well below my bra line (tacky!) while simultaneously making my shoulders look even more like a linebacker's than usual. Nice. Those were returned to the rack.

Accepting my small victory in the pants-finding expedition, I checked out and went next door to Payless shoes. It's been years since I wandered into a Payless, and I wasn't nearly as horrified as I anticipated. I actually found my size, which is pretty rare, especially when it comes to dress shoes or heels. I'm a 9 1/2 wide. I usually just buy men's size 8 in sneakers or hiking boots, but since most stores don't carry heels for drag queens, I am always out of luck on purchasing fancy shoes. I usually have to buy 10, which is often too long, while being too narrow anyway. I managed to find a fairly comfortable pair of heels for $20 in my size, so I'm good to go. Formal dining night, here I come!

Ah, now to actually pack.

Wow!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:41:17 GMT

So...it would appear that my bro is going to be getting married. I'm excited, pleasantly surprised, anxious and extremely happy for him. He's not sure when yet. I've gotten a series of texts from him, all throwing around dates. He isn't sure about anything yet. They are in the beginning "planning stages." I remember what that was like.

I guess I can forgive him a bit of flakiness earlier this month, considering. Heh.

Monday

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:35:57 GMT

SO...it's Monday again.

I'm off to a field trip this morning. Today I'm going to the botanical gardens with my summer class. I'm just gonna cut them loose inside the front door pretty much. I will probably walk them to their starting place and then let them work at their own pace. My class is tiny, and I could take them through the gardens on a forced march, but really, I think they'd enjoy it more to explore on their own. The slackers will continue to slack, and the few that really earnestly want to learn will have no trouble with the lab instructions.

Wednesday and Thursday this week we go to the zoo. Same deal - get in front gate, then release. Free range college students. Tuesday is the only day I need to lecture and all that jazz. Yay! Easy week for me, which is good, because I desperately need to work on my classes for King's College. I've been reading Cato, Columella, Pliny and Varro. I will be taking a couple of volumes with me this morning to read at the garden I think. Those Romans loved their wine. I'm thinking that an interesting summer project might be to try some of their wine recipes, including wines made from other things like dates or figs. I have a bag of frozen figs that I need to do something with.

And did anyone else know that a modius was a Roman unit of measure??? Yup....roughly equal to a peck. For those of you not familiar with pecks, it's a dry measurement equivalent to two gallons. I learn something new every day. I'm off to pour the last acetabulum of coffee for the hubby and get ready for my field trip.

Sun, 17 May 2009 16:17:39 GMT

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

For Kate!

Sat, 09 May 2009 16:35:14 GMT

I swiped this from a friend's xanga. Kate, you have probably seen this, but just in case you haven't....

Gratuitous cuteness

Fri, 08 May 2009 15:55:03 GMT

Here are some pictures of the dumped doggie, who is currently going by "Leo." So far he's turning out to be a model dog. He had a haircut the day before yesterday since he was having some problems with "cling ons" in his long fur, and it had caused a hot spot on his bum. Plus, now he's ready for bikini weather.

Dog rant (well....people rant, really)

Mon, 04 May 2009 23:19:06 GMT

So I just went walking up at a lovely park north of my house. It has winding trails, mostly shaded under tall oak trees, athletic fields and a big dog park. There are deer, birds, lizards, and even armadillos. Today I went with a friend and our two dogs and we walked the trails, wandering about for close to an hour. The weather was warm, but not too hot. Our dogs were thrilled to get out and walk together, and we were happy to chat and laugh and bitch about the occasional work issue.

Then, as we're driving out, we see a few cars stopped just past the dog park, people in the road. There is a small, fluffy white dog trotting down the opposite side of the road, no collar. He looks at each car, confused and nervous and keeps circling around like he can't figure out where he's supposed to go. Figuring he's hopped out of a car, we pull over and get out to help round him up. The folks pulled over ahead of us tell us that they just saw a vehicle ahead of them stop and DUMP HIM OUT, then drive away.

WTF???????

What in the HELL is wrong with people? We think that one of the other drivers that actually saw the dumper called the police and reported the license plate, but my friend decided she wasn't leaving the dog there. He was too skittish to go to anyone else, but she was able to pick him up and carry him back to the car. He was polite and calm and rode in her lap all the way to my house. She's been wanting a second dog to keep her frenetic border collie company. Her dog reached over the seat and kissed his face as soon as she got in the car with him. I think it's providence.

This poor little dog is gorgeous. He looks like a purebred American Eskimo dog, lovely coat (dirty, but thick and healthy), a little thin, and probably no more than 2 years old, if that. I fitted him with a collar and leash that she could take him home with, but he seems unsure what leashes are all about (as if he's never been walked). He was really hungry, and ate two entire scoops of kibble, plus about 4 small biscuits, and kept asking for more. He barked at kitties but didn't try to chase them. He was well mannered with our two dogs, in spite of mine being obnoxious to him.

We're left wondering why on earth someone would dump a young, healthy looking (not to mention expensive looking) dog. My friend will be taking him for a vet appointment, and it may turn out he has something like heartworms that some person didn't want to deal with but I just can't understand why any dog gets dumped and not at least taken to a shelter. We do know why they dumped him in the park, since hundreds of dog lovers drive down that road to and from the dog park on a weekly basis. He probably holds a record for most rapidly rescued dog. But still....

People who dump animals should be rendered into glue.

Neti pot adventures, Day 1

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:09:40 GMT

My allergies have been so bad (really the worst I've ever had I think, which is saying a LOT), that I finally broke down and got a neti pot, which I've always known as a "snot pot." A friend of mine way back in college swore they were great for the sinuses, but I always thought he was just a big ol' hippy weirdo who ate raw garlic sandwiches before lab and said the word "burp" every time he actually burped. His credibility on the topic was suspect. I've noticed over the last few years that neti pots have become ever more popular, even spawning disposable nasal saline washes that are being advertised as though the idea is new. Plus, one of my favorite colleagues (who used to be a nun, incidentally) recently recommended trying a neti pot (and hey, I figure a former nun isn't likely to steer me wrong).

So I got one today. I just tried it. I watched a youtube video demonstration first, which actually used the words "enjoy the pleasant sensation!"

I'm not sure it was what I'd call a pleasant sensation, as I absolutely abhor the feeling of water up my nose, but it didn't suck too much. And my sinuses are indeed clear now. And that annoying itching sensation has somewhat subsided.

However, odd thing, my ear canals now feel weird. WTF? I didn't neti my eustachian tubes after all.