Color Boosted IceStorm Shots

Here are some pictures of IceStorm 2008. Not as major as it could have been which was the golden side of the coin. The power outage was the tarnished side. These are "color boosted", a fancy tool that came with my camera. It takes what color is in the photo and you can dial up the intensity.

I have a few others I'll post later that I altered into black and white. Some I didn't have to tweak at all.

Reflect On The Good Times!

Me having a ball on Christmas! (get your mind out of the gutter, you know who you are!)

This was just a lucky shot, I had no idea I got me in the pic. I turned out to be better then the effect I was trying for. Go figure.

Looks like Santa's runway, no?

Merry Christmouse!

From the Triplicats!

Happy Howldays!

From Rileypants!

Digital TV Anyone?

Is anyone else getting miffed with watching their favorite programs do the pixel dance?

Is anyone else getting tired of digital hiccups that cause scenes of TV programs to skip or get stuck?

Is anyone else getting seriously irritated with watching mouth movements not match up to the voices?

Is it just me feeling digital TV isn't the next best new technomarvelous gadget we gotta have?

I spent my evening watching "Pushing Daisies" where not one actor's/ess' voice matched their mouth thru the entire show and "Private Practice" where a hiccup caused me to admire the inside of Addison's nose for almost 10 seconds. Really. How is that good TV?

Such A Bi-Polar Weekend

And when I say bi-polar, I mean I was in a volcanic emotional state and physically freezing my ass off!

My little neighborhood was the black hole of my town.

The power on our street went off at 5am on Friday and I didn't get it back on until this morning at 7am - just in time for me to wait 30 minutes for the hot water heater to heat me up some water so I could use my own shower before going off to work.

I was laying in bed on Friday waiting for my alarm to go off, snuggling with the kitties, and listening to the furnace run when POW BLAST. Furnace stopped immediately and the kitties went scurrying for cover. I peered myopically outside and saw a large pine tree branch in the street and three little branches dangling from the top wire. The snow plow went by. I got back in bed and snuggled for two more hours and officially woke up at 7am, washed my hair/face/parts in the kitchen sink, got dressed, and checked my driveway. I wasn't going anywhere even tho I pre-prepped for the storm by keeping my garage open. My lilac bushes were bent over and fused to my driveway. I thumbed a ride with my dad and had him drop me off at the library where a co-worker was stationed coz she had no power or heat too. We spent midmorning to late afternoon working and giggling (quietly coz it was a library). Then she dropped me off home and I wacked the lilacs so enough ice came off of them to spring back up a bit. I had a lantern and some pre-cooked food and was all set for the evening. The temp outside was in the teens.

I mistakenly assumed the power would be on at some point Saturday. WRONG! By late Saturday afternoon the house was 42*. SuperDad came over and did some HandyMan Magic and hooked my furnace up to the generator and got my house warmed up to 69* for the night as it was again supposed to be in the teens.

I woke up Sunday thinking I'd have power. WRONG AGAIN! SuperDad came over again with the generator to warm my staying steady at 43* house up again. While he went to drive my mom to her art quilt show, he left the generator at my house running. I was monitoring it and starting everytime it hiccupped even tho Dad said that was normal. I was scooping poop (that happens regardless of ice-storm or no ice-storm) when I heard a loud banging on my door. It was my neighbor who fronts the main street and had power for the entire storm. He offered to let me plug my furnace into his garage and draw on his power. I accepted and he ran a very long cord over to my house and once SuperDad came back, we disconnected the generator and plugged my furnace into the neighbor's power. It was so nice not to have to worry about pipes freezing. And the cats, you'd have thought they were frostbitten by all the posing and posturing and laying and fighting over the hot air vents. I went to bed in a much more positive mood.

The phone rang. I was sleeping, it was dark, and I had no idea of the time. I ran for the phone and it was the power company apologizing for calling so late to check to see if I had power. I said "no" in a just woke and 'you've pissed me off again" tone of voice. She didn't seem to mind and said she'd let the crews know my neighborhood was still without power. I checked my clock when I got into bed and found it was 2am. That explained her apology. But then I was up stewing for 2 hours before I finally dozed off.

I "woke up" Monday thinking I'd have power. WRONG YET AGAIN! I was busy calling the power company yet again, packing my shower bag yet again, calling my other-side neighbor to let her know no power yet again, and feeding the cats when all of a sudden the cats scattered and I looked to see what made them freak out. Outside my window was the power truck. Finally! He got out this pole that magically became taller than a house, jiggled off the three branches, drove back to the beginning of the street, cherry pickered himself up some, removed something from the top of the power pole using the Magic Pole, brought it down to himself, put something back on the Magic Pole, levered it up to wherever he took the doohickey off, shoved and clicked it into place, and POWER. It was that simple. THAT SIMPLE. So simple my entire neighborhood had to suffer 4 mornings and three days of no power.

Living in the middle of town has perks, my ass cheek. Living in a neighborhood of local rich college professors has perks, my other ass cheek.

Golden side of the coin: My parents, their shower, their generator, their putting up with my absolute ever-lovin' crap all weekend, my power-sharing neighbor (who is getting a free meal at a nice restaurant on me), and my friends for letting me vent over and over and over.

Never again will I underestimate the power of a shower. I cannot function at all without one. And me being a just wakened grizzly bear is not my idea (nor my family's) idea of fun.

Worlds in Ice

Finally, some more photo experiments to post...

Da Dawg

Pictures of Riley from this past weekend.

Favorite outdoor toy that makes wonderful noises!

This dog has got some AIR!

Nothing says Christmas like Piney Fresh breath! Xmas tree butt is better than a TicTac.

Posing patiently in Christmas greenery. (Psst: Slambo has my Xmas tree butt in her non-camera hand, that's why she has all of my attention.)

Think you gonna take my ice cake? Think again, buster!

Storm Crazy

We are having an ice storm today into tonight into tomorrow. My car was coated with ice when it came time for me to leave work. My poor new car, tho it was bound to happen sooner or later. I found out that my defrost ROCKS! I had a clear dry windshield in a matter of minutes that was easy to scrape.

I made a mistake and visited the grocery story. Every storm-crazed person was there frantically filling their carts with random items in preparation for the predicted power outages. It was bedlam. And I couldn't understand most of the stuff in people's carts. One lady was hurrying out to her car with a 12-pack of beer and that was all. Another family had their cart full of bags of chips. Other people had a cart full of stuff that needed to be refrigerated. That I couldn't understand. If the power goes out, you aren't supposed to open the fridge. And there were crowds in front of the Red Box for the $1 videos. Again, power outages, people. How do you expect to watch videos when there's no power? A goofy couple was looking dreamily into each other's eyes while they browsed the organic foods. Lots of people were picking up the pre-made hot foods like fried chicken, ribs, sweet-sour breaded chicken.

And why was I there? I had to get spring water for the cats as Moomin can't and won't drink the water from the faucet coz it smells bad to cats. I can smell the chlorine at times in the morning but I have no idea what Moomin is smelling but it must be pretty bad.

I'm leaving my garage door open coz when the power goes out, I can't open it and get to my car. And you need access to your car in an emergency.

Finally, A Mascara That Actually Delivers

on all it's advertised glory...

My lashes are all the above. Taking this stuff off is a dream, just a little warm water on the fingertips, hold for a few seconds to saturate them, and a with a barely-there-pull, off the mascara comes! Do this a couple of times till no more "tubes" are on your fingers and viola, no more raccoon eyes whatsoever!

And tho I'm no supermodel, my lashes are worthy of the name. I can practically cause a breeze with them they are so long and fabulous. Where the hell was this techno break thru in my younger party days. This stuff ROCKS!

My new best beauty product friend.

And although I give it the SLAMBO seal of approval, there is one minor imperfection - the container has brushes and stuff at both ends coz it has 2-step application and the brush wands (not the brushes themselves) are a "wee" bit too short. I'm finding it takes some getting used to working in extreme close-up.

So My Car Spoke To Me Today

Yes, you read that right and no, I'm not ready to be straightjacketed directly to the Loony Bin (do not pass GO).

My car just let me know that my tire pressure was "unacceptably low" and I needed to fix this issue right away.

Good thing I was on my way to my usual gas station where I can freely pull the "helpless girl" card and have someone assist me with air in my tires.

Now, I can do this, but it was F-n' freezing (-4* with the windchill) and I didn't have time to practice my air-in-the-tire skills as I was on my way to an appointment.

I stayed outside with the helpful gas station DooBee, so I did suffer the extreme temps, but they did the work efficiently and effortlessly for me.

And I only had to pay .50 cents for air.

For air.

I'd say spending .50 cents for service with a smile in subzero temps was worth every penny!

Breathless Observations

You ever walk into a space (be it the office, a room, a house, etc) and it just reeks of used breath - a room full of bad breath and no oxygen? Always makes me want to hold my breath.

You ever notice how some people just seem to carry around a "brown breath" cloud that follows them and fills up small cramped ventless places? And you can't ever get away from them coz they're also personal space invaders?

You ever wonder what's actually going into your lungs when you breathe in the results of someone else's visit to the bathroom?

You know that expression, "smells like ass", is self explanatory right? Well, how do you explain the "tastes like ass" expression? Do they mean it tastes like ass smells? I'm assuming "camp butt" here or did someone actually eat some ass?

You ever see that Spongebob episode where he wants to make a sundae but all he has are expired/past due ingredients like onions and a dead peanut plant and he whips up this tasty confection, eats it, and it gives him breath that makes fishever he meets eyes turn into Xs and they float to the surface? Yeah, I gotta see someone that reminds me of this episode. Every. damn. day.

You see people breathing into their cupped hand, does that work? Or do they just smell whatever their hand has been in?

How can people in their right minds kiss each other as soon as they get up? Morning Mouth, people! Gimme toothpaste EVERY time!

You ever wonder what a cat or a dog thinks when you yawn in their face?

Why is it easier to let someone know they have something stuck in their teeth but it's so damn hard to let them know they have a touch of bad breath? I'd want to know so that I could fix the problem. I always carry gum. Could it be that it's just too personal? If that's the case, maybe we need to come up with some sort of subtle secret signal that lets the other person take care of their breath issue discreetly. Holding our noses was not what I was thinking.

Pregnant Roller Skate

That's what I was told my new car looks like last night.

Pregnant roller skate.

Nice.

And here I thought I was being envied my zippy cute red car.

Pregnant. Roller. Skate.

Go figure, considering the Prius is a PWW - Penis With Wheels.

So there, stick that in an interesting anatomical place.

My Grampa

I didn't want to post until I could post this one. Grampa passed away 2 Sundays ago.

We'd visit every summer since I can remember.

Grampa used to smoke a pipe. The smell of pipe smoke brings back those times vividly. Then he stopped smoking the pipe and started chewing tobacco. When he'd take me or me and my brother places in his truck, I used to get embarrassed when he'd open the door at stop lights and spit a wad of tobacco juice out onto the street. He had all sorts of stuff hanging from his rear-view mirror and on his dashboard - little knitted rollerskates, sunglasses, gloves, pouches of tobacco, pens, pencils, tools, tape, and pads of paper.

He'd take me rollerskating in the mornings. He loved showing me off to all his skater friends. He taught me the circle waltz and the flea hop. I can still hear the polka music, see the lights and disco ball, taste the snacks, and feel myself sitting in the booths. I envied those daring senior citizen women in their little flirty skating skirts. Grampa was quite the ladies' man. He had 1 or 2 regular women he'd couple skate with but that didn't stop him from laying on the charm to all the other unattached women skaters.

He'd take me and my brother camping and fishing at his friend Ben's pondish lake. He'd pack his truck to the gills with tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, cooking stuff, portapotty, other camping stuff, and fishing gear. He showed us how to worm a hook (yuck), throw the line out, watch the bobber, jerk the pole, and catch blue gills. I can still remember how it felt holding the blue gills and taking the hooks out of their mouths to throw them gently back. Grampa always tried for one of the bass near the reeds. He was very patient and worked that fly fishing pole like a pro. He'd make a fire each night and my brother and I would wake up to the smell of eggs and bacon and him saying " 'bout time you woke up. The fish are already awake!"

He'd wake me up very early in the morning to go to the flea markets. He was always keeping an eagle eye out for tools or other hardware bargins. I still have the Nancy Drew board game from the '50s that we found. I also still have the army gas mask bag I used for years as a purse.

He made my brother and I scooters with copper plumbing pipe for handles, wood for the foot board, and skateboard wheels. That was one of the best toys ever as we scooted all over their bumpy sidewalked neighborhood. There was always stuff in the attic to explore and play with like old board games and toys, Ouija board, clothes, lots of dressers with full drawers, button tins, pots&pans, and photographs. The basement had even more stuff in it plus the Bumper Pool table. Grampa spent a lot of time trying to teach me how to use angles and the sides of the table to sink the balls in the pockets. I'm afraid I wasn't much of a student.

At night, while he watched Barney Miller, I'd lean up against his chair and he'd brush/stroke my hair for a long time. I always felt loved and comforted, knowing the family was safe and sound, everyone was quiet after a long day of vacationing, and I was Grampa's favorite.

After college ended, I took a hiatus from visiting every summer - you know, busy being young and an irresponsible 20-something year old. I started visiting again in 2002. Things had changed but also stayed the same. He was in a different house but the basement and garage were just as jam-packed as I remembered from my childhood. Gramma had died but the spare room was essentially her bedroom transplanted. He wasn't rollerskating anymore but he was bowling and still loved showing me off and instructing me that the direction that my thumb is pointing is the direction my ball will go. He wasn't visiting flea markets anymore but he was going to Goodwill and Salvation Army regularly.

When I visited, we talked more, grown-up talks. My life and his memories.

We ate out but also made stuff like cookies and ice-cream sundaes.

We watched The Price Is Right.

We napped whenever we felt like it.

We bowled, grocery shopped, Goodwilled, and Armied.

I'd trim his hedges and he'd mow the lawn.

We'd sit in his driveway in metal lawn chairs in the sun for hours, silent or talking, watching the birds.

No schedule, no stress. Just a true visit and vacation.

But each year, Grampa was doing less and less.

One year he wasn't bowling anymore. The next he was using more oxygen. A couple of years later he wasn't mowing as much and there was more napping and sitting in the sun. The year before this last visit, he let me mow his lawn.

The visit this past May was the hardest. I knew in my heart there was a good chance I wasn't going to visit him next May.

I was right.

I got a call Wednesday night telling me he was in the hospital and he had several days or several months left. After some lightening arrangements, my parents and I drove down to Ohio on Friday and we were able to spend all day Saturday with him. He was confused and mostly incoherent, but he recognized me and responded to my voice. I know on some level he knew we were there to say goodbye even though I didn't actually say it. He passed away very early Sunday morning.

I did tell him that Wednesday night (before he stopped talking) on the phone that I loved him. And he said "same here" like he always did when I told him that.

I miss him.

DogSitting My FourFooted Brother

Mom asked me to dogsit Riley this Saturday. I arranged to have one of my co-workers bring their dog, Sophie (the super mellow boxer) over. After some extreme butt-sniffing greeting and some wrestling to determine the alpha dog (who turned out to be Sophie, no surprise there!), the playdate went wonderfully. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is one happy dog! And a kick-ass picture!

The Doors are Finally Finito!

Here are my new fantabulous doors!

The side door with deadbolt and really lock. See how it totally matches my windows.

The new screen door out to my deck. One side is stationary and the other opens all the way (the door will go to the stationary part) with a sliding screen. Awesome and again, matches my windows.

Not to mention, very weather proof and resistant. So going to need for winter!

The Moomer at Play

An afternoon of Mr. Moomiepants playing til dinner.

You better watch out, I'm gonna pounce!

I'm trying my dangdest to choke on this here plastic thing. Either that or bite a chunk off it.

How do you like my dreadlocks?

The mysterious paw beckons, er snatches, the helpless bunnyfur octopus!

Check out his back paw on this one. He's such a gaum.

Some Recent Photo Experiments

I decided to mess around with some puddles in my driveway. I like the effect of reflection-me trying to grab something from this side of the puddle or trying to break thru. It's interesting and I'm gonna play with this idea some more.

I have to say the middle one is my favorite so far. It's rather surreal.

My HomeGrown Crop O' Pumpkins

I managed to grow 8 pumpkins this year. One huge one, 4 medium sized one, 2 little ones, and one itty bitty one. The 4 orange ones and the lopsided greeny-orange one were expected, the others were surprises that I found when I ripped out the dead/dying pumpkin vines. Yeah me, or rather, Yeah my kick-ass compost!

My decorating this season is on the restrained side. This is all I'm doing until I carve my pumpkins.

Hot Time In The Old Town Tonite!

Pictures are tribute to the squirrels who didn't make it through this week!

I off early from work, did some errands, got home, and my mom called me. The power was off on her street and she couldn't get into the house and needed my key.

Hey, totally funny thing just now happened. Doodle the wonder cat just brought me the plastic cat food can cover. Brought it to me and dropped it at my feet and then headbutted my knee to get my attention. She is sooo smart but soooo not so smart as I'm not feeding them furry critters two dinners. Apparently my homecoming, no matter the time or how many times, is a signal for eating. So are my showers no matter what time of day I take them.

I got to mom's and she said she heard that a squirrel played and lost against electricity. Yup. Transformer a la fried squirrel. Poor thing. Same thing happened on my street earlier this week. I came home and couldn't figure out why the garage door wouldn't open.