#281: Crackers

So the other morning I awoke to the sound of tap-tap-tap of a computer keyboard. At first I thought it was Dent. Then I realized it couldn't be, Dent couldn't type all that fast. Besides, Dent was gone for the day, out at work. My curiousity got the better of me, and so I got out of bed to see what was going on. This is what I found.

"Hi!" said the little lobster on my laptop. "My name is Crackers! Mr. Love Lobster said I could type up my resume' this morning. I hope you don't mind. "

How could I say no to something so cute? Even if it WAS a lobster.

Turns out he'd been fired from the Red Lobster the other day, and was looking for a new job.

So, I went back to bed, and listened to the tap-tap-tap go on for a while.  I looked over at Love Lobster, who sits on the wagon-bench next to the bed.

"So where did you find this one?" I asked.

"He's mine, from a previous spawning..... Showed up on my doorstep one morning, have no clue who the mom is...."

So what we're saying here, is that we have a Love Lobster Love Child?

LOL

.............Perhaps I could pay him to do my resume' too?

Aye,
Scratch

#280: Moonshine and Swedish Meatballs

So here I am, eyeballing a shot glass of a suspicious clear liquid.... It came from a friend, whose dad makes moonshine. I was under the impression (correct, as it turns out) that less is more. So here I am, eyeballing the shot glass, rather than a big glass of the stuff. I knock it back.......

.....................only to realize that, perhaps, even the shot glass was a bit much, considering the only serious drinking we do involves wine coolers, and that only once every few months.

There was no taste, only a burn...and fairly soon, upon my attempts to stand, the room said, "What?" Not drunk, really...but certainly bordering the "tipsy" marker.

So I think, next time, it will be a smaller amount, and diluted down quite a bit in something else.

Sunday it was time to check out the Ikea store. I guess if you're following the downsizing of homes trend that seems to be in the news ("Look! My home is only 500 square feet!"), a lot of this stuff is certainly for you--half sized stuff, as well as little odds and ends that do double duty. But then they had full sized stuff, too...we managed to find some salt and pepper grinders (We'll see how long it is before Dent breaks these; he's as hard on grinders as I am with manual can openers) . Strangely enough, they had a cafeteria, which I wouldn't automatically think of when I think "big honking furnishings store".  You can apparently buy a plate of Swedish meatballs...I wasn't that brave, but I did find the chicken and fries tasted a lot like Long John Silver's.... Not bad, really. All an all an interesting trip, although I don't know if I'd care to actually go back, maybe having them ship it to your house would be a better way to go.

Dent got himself a new toy.... a small tablet-thing to replace the old laptop he was using. It's taken him a bit to get used to it, since it has a touch screen... but he's getting there.

A quick image to leave you all with..... Mr. Lobster decided he was a sexy lil crustacean....lol


Aye,
Scratch

279: The Sights of the Season

mmmmm...basil-y!

Ahhh yes. The sights of the season. My basil has sprouted and is on its way to being tasty leaves to cook with.  I also have a couple of the other pots sprouting.  What is amusing is that I haven't been able to grow tomato sprouts from seed very well, but I dug up something that was growing in the compost pile, that has baby tomatoes sprouting in it (I guess from an old rotten one I threw out last year?)

Today I sat on the back steps and watched the carpenter bees buzzing around the yard, apparently defending their territory as they'd attack other bees, butterflies, even wasps, that flew near them.

you don't seeeee meeeee!

The skinks were also out. I found this one camping out on a tarp I was moving.  They do like the sunshine.

Of course, everything outside has an ugly tint of yellow going on as the pine trees lose their pollen.  Hopefully this will end shortly.

My banks rose is about to "pop". There are already a few blooms open, but there are many more waiting to open up (The image up top was taken last year)
Ahhh yes. Spring. Critters are out, stuff is growing.... clovers are mutating.....



OMG WTF AAAHHHH!

No, not four leaves. Or five. Try six. This was growing in between the cracks of the cement patio under the shade house. I haven't picked it yet; kinda scared to, to be honest. I've only seen one other one with six leaves.... I was 15 or 16 at the time, scared the crap out of me then, too...

Ahhhhh yes. Spring.
This weekend we're planning on taking a lil field trip...more on this later :)

Aye,
Scratch

#278: allergy hell

So I am finally on my way to feeling somewhat close to this thing called normal. For the past two weeks, I have been going through the equivalent of what I assume is allergy hell--my head has been poured full of cement and I have been hacking up enough lungs for the entire Walking Dead TV show.  I get something like this every spring: there is the fun fun fun that is Bradford pear (which EVERYONE seems to want to plant around here), the lil annoying red things that show up as flowers at the end of the red maple branches (which MOTHER NATURE seems to want to plant around here), which all add up to something resembling bronchitis (which I ALSO get seemingly every year about this time). A good strong rain and it's all better--for now. The pears are apparently finishing up what I would laughingly call "blooming" (really, "Torture Hostile Fay" is what it really is, it's a conspiracy!!). Now, it's time for everything else--the forsythia, the pine (which doesn't bother me as much except there's just too. much. of. it.), the sweetgum, the tulip trees.... in short, everything else. but at least it FEELS like spring now.
Unfortunately, I am going to have to resprout pretty much everything I tried to plant in the bucketgarden. I put some things out Easter Sunday, and between the cold evenings and the dry days they haven't done real well. Too early and not enough supervision, I guess.
The past couple of days have been unreal. Found out a neighbor was hit and killed while riding his motorcycle Sunday. This puts me in the awkward position of baking goodies for folks I barely know (which I don't mind, but still awkward.). Fortunately, Landmom took me by there to drop off the goodies so I wasn't by myself.  Still. Awkward. I will be avoiding going anywhere tomorrow if at all possible, as our already stressed one lane drive will be crowded with nice folks coming and going from the neighbor's for the funeral.

The shade house is, for all practical purposes, done. I ended up taking the tarp off and turning it sideways, and zip-tying the hell out of it to the frame. Hopefully the wind won't blow it away.


Chillin' with the love lobster. We have lobster fun!

I got to fooling around with the timer on my camera. As you can see, I still like hanging out with the lobster.  I've added a few more of the house plants over the past couple of days, since it has been getting warmer and warmer at night. I hope to have the rest out there soon, maybe, now that I have a semi shaded place that the calla lillies can hang out and not get too much sun.

We now have a flag pole in front of the trailer. Dent got the BRIGHT IDEA™ of stringing the antenna for the wi-fi on top. All we need now is a pirate flag and our "pirate ship" image for the trailer will be complete. Either that, or we can teach the lobster how to pole dance. Yeeha!

Let me preface this next bit by stating, no, I do not watch the new My Little Pony. That said, I might have to start.  For this character, if nothing else.  Because nothing says "Hostile Fay" like this gal. Who is apparently Queen of the Changelings. If anyone wants to dress up like this, let me know.....

Aye,
Scratch

#277: liked it when it was underground

think I have found what my problem is, hobby-wise.
For those of you keeping up, I need a hobby. Oh, sure, I do the plant thing. I collect raccoons. But I'm not really "into" anything, culture-wise. I have friends who do Dr. Who, and ones who do Steampunk, There's the Transformers crowd (Hi, Weezil!)  and there's Star Wars, Star Trek, and so on. Lotta neat stuff out there. And I apparently don't find any of it interesting--or do I?
Because I will apparently hear about the Next Big Thing, think it's sorta interesting, and BAM someone I know will announce that he or she is into it, and has been for some time. And then I find it's not real new at all, but has been out, it was just not well known. Which brings me to the expression "I liked it when it was underground", meaning you liked it when few people knew about it. I tend to shy away from that which is popular (I have yet to see any of the Twilight movies, much less read the books, simply because so many people made such a deal about it)I suppose this falls under the "hipster" category, except I don't even want THAT label, as even THAT is a popular thing now.
I avoid popular culture like the plague, not only because it has never done much for me (I have never fit in; why try to now?), but because I have this unreasoning fear that the folks around me will think I am copying them. Not to mention the purists out there who insist you have to do it *their* way or it isn't right (Think "period police" in the SCA) Apparently folks don't know the joy of doing a hobby just cos it's fun.
There are also the things that I used to like, but due to the increasing popularity, I have this feeling that it's been corrupted somehow, if that is a good word. Anime is a good example of this. Anime to me always has been, and always will be, Japanese. Not Korean. Not Spanish. Or Chinese. Certainly not American. Yet watch most Saturday morning cartoons, they look anime-like. But watch the credits. Where was it produced? Not Japan. You're welcome to disagree with me here, but if it ain't from Japan, it ain't Anime, so quit making it look that way. Dr. Who is another example. Yes, you change doctors. I get it--really. But spending hours on social media sites arguing the relative merits of the 5th Doctor vs. the 11th one (I happen to think Mr. Tennant was cute...but...) kinda kills it for me. For god's sake, just enjoy the show and take it at face value....
My daughter apparently doesn't have this problem, she's decided (thanks to being exposed to all this by pop and stepmom) she likes Dr. Who, and Thor (yes, she's at THAT age), and Transformers (I'm so proud)
I guess the real problem here, is that the unpopular (or "Geeky", as one of my friends calls it) in my younger days is popular now, and I don't know what to make of it.
So what's a girl to do? I could continue with the whole fay/fairy thing (Haven't seen too many of those around here in my area). Or pirates (I liken the Technicolor Trailer to a ship,it has a prow, for god's sake).
Or maybe I can come up with the Next Big Thing, myself.... Stay tuned.

In other news, we decided the landparents needed a love lobster, too. There happened to be one left at the grocery store (it looked at me with those googly eyes, as if to say 'PLEASE take me home!') Here they are, mine is filling in the new guy over lunch.  we went down to their house for dinner Sunday night, and I got Landmom to show me around where she's planting stuff while Dent went to get the lobster. He sat it in her recliner.

Yeah, I know. We're weird like that. But everyone needs a love lobster.

Aye,
Scratch