Kittehs!

They say if you start feeding an outside animal it's yours, so for your viewing pleasure, my outdoor cats, also known as strays that I feed cuz they are cute. I originally saw Mama Cat probably a month and a half or so ago, eating Taco Dorito crumbs that I had left out for the birds, and it made me hurt in that place where my heart should be, so I started leaving cat food out for her. And then one day, she had a kitten with her, and the next day, another. And then the neighbor said she was pretty sure there were four kittens altogether. I think one was on the runty side and didn't make it though. :( But she was keeping that third one up her sleeve (or the cat equivalent) for a good long while, so who knows?

Mama Cat with George and George. We didn't know there were two little pinto, or piebald, or whatever the hell you call that coloring until a couple days ago. I thought she was down to two kittens from an original total of four. The name George is from that old cartoon with the Abominable Snowman, "I will hug him and squeeze him..." because that's what I want to do with that little kitty. Lookit the little black tail!!!

The whole family, yeah, not the most flattering pic of Mama Cat (we call her Jasmine) but I wanted to get poor Billie in there, he/she's the one on the tree. We were trying to go with non gender specific names for the kittens since there's no way they are gonna let us catch them and check. Yeah, yeah, I know George, but hey, it worked for George Foreman.

Hops Harvest

Terry decided that part of the hops were ready for the harvesting today. He managed not to fall off the ladder or anything. He did drop his harvesting bag once though, and we all collectively went AUGGHHH! I'm sure the neighbors think we're nuts. Well, they probably do already, but now they have more reason.

MMMmmmm, Hops

The yield from one vine so far---6.5 ounces. They are currently drying on a screen in the garage. Now we just need to formulate a recipe to use them in, probably some type of ale. Annie is taking some hops to school tomorrow for show and tell.

I wuz robbed of a blog post by 15 measly minutes

See that boring pic of a Stop sign there? Somebody spray painted "Hammer Time" on it over the weekend, which I know is an old joke but I still found it mildly amusing. Not so amusing is that I suspect the new neighbors? squatters? I still haven't figured out what's going on over at that house--it clearly has a for sale sign up, yet there is a neverending changing cast of shady looking people who all have different cars and different squalling kids and the yard hasn't been mown in about two weeks and I think they may have lost one of those said squalling kids in the jungle in the back. Anyway, I suspect their kith or kin of the mildly amusing vandalism, but that's neither here nor there. I was finally going to take a pic of the sign when I got back from picking up Annie at school, as I noticed it for the forty leventh time as I was driving past. When I got back I sent my roving photographer Al out to get a pic, and above, the evidence of denial. Yeah, it's been kind of a slow week around here. I guess I'll have to wait and see what they have cooked up for the weekend. Just keep it out of my yard, folks, I am old and crotchedy and will call the police on your asses.

Titanic Soccer

Back at the beginning of the summer, our ice maker broke. After buying countless bags of ice, we came to the novel conclusion that perhaps we should invest in some ice trays and make "homemade" ice (Annie's words, not mine). We didn't need the ice holder thingy because we already had a big one in our freezer, and Al was all huh, it would be cool to fill that up and make a big block of ice. So we did, and it sat there alllll summer long, taking up room in my freezer and generally pissing me off. So on this, the last official day of summer vacation, we finally got out that perennial favorite toy, the big ice block. We spare no expense around here to please our children. Now they actually want to make the big Labor Day iceblock a tradition. I just think maybe it doesn't need allll summer long to freeze.


My daughter does have two legs, that's just a weird angle. I tried to do that and almost froze my foot off, that thing was cooooold. I know, who would have thought, ice being cold.

And then the theme from Titanic was hummed, and they played a little ice soccer. The block actually took quite awhile to melt. I eventually tossed it off the deck to watch it shatter on the patio, whereupon a piece broke loose and slid right at Terry's ankles, which were placed just so that the ice chunk went in between and thumped them both. I tried not to laugh, really I did.

Ghost has an unexplainable love for Al's stinky old Converse. He has been napping on them all week long. He will have a sad tomorrow when they are walking around at her school!!! I however, will not. This summer vacation has been hella long and I'm ready to get back to my regularly scheduled drudgery.

Geeky Fun

The crossword in my Friday paper got printed backwards, and I enjoyed doing it more than usual. I wish it would happen again, I need some brain exercise. The puzzle is pretty easy anyway, I'm not one of those New York Post in ink kinda people. I have a low threshold of frustration and don't want to feel like a stoopid head. Anything over a three star Sudoku puzzle leaves me crying in the corner too. And hi, Miss T, my only commenter (okay, lately) besides a bot!! I hope you had a good weekend.

A Twofer

Oh my heck, my fat friends, stay the hell away from this new confectionary. I think there are actually two more flavors besides these, chocolate mint and um, something else I'm too lazy to look up. They are gooooood. Like, evil good.

Poor random neighborhood cat that I have not seen before tonight. We were all Yipe! A white cat! We have a white cat! But that cat is too big! And then we looked closer and saw that this one isn't all white, it has a yellowish tail and ears, and well, it ain't quite right. That cocked head with the quizzical look? Is permanent. Seemed friendly enough, but didn't want any food, we just collectively meowed at each other for a bit and then it stumbled off into the night.

Weekend Project

Or rather, many many weekends. I didn't do too much, just a little of the edging on the helmet. It's for the MSU Spartans, Terry's alma mater. We used to have a big "S" logo on there, but we're mixing it up this year, we're crazay that way. Also, point of interest, Terry drew it on there with a Sharpie, yet managed to resist writing on himself.