September 2006 – red paper boat

Milton

September 21, 2006October 26, 2015 Shelly

No, not the blind zealot who wrote Paradise Lost. I’m talking about the guy who had an unhealthy relationship with his red Swingline stapler. Milton is my new upstairs neighbor. He’s also known as Ravin’ Disco Aerobics Man and TeeVee Man. For the first two weeks, I heard him but never saw him. Finally, a couple of nights ago, I ran into him in the entryway to my building. I’m sure Milton is a wonderful person, but I do wish he would throttle down on the ravin’ step aerobics at 3am.

Anyway… I’m not completely moved yet. I had been planning on being out by the first of the month, but I’ve still got a couple of carloads of junk and a whole lotta cleaning to do at the old place. C’est la vie, eh? I also haven’t even begun unpacking. I have boxes and piles and stacks and heaps of crap everywhere, and no place to put any of it, because most of it involves books or other assorted things that go on shelves, and I have not yet solved my shelving dilemma. So the new place looks kinda like the old place, only with more furniture.

Miss Brown is settling in nicely, as is Pandora. There are lots of groundhogs, bunnies, birds, and one damned cheeky chipmunk to watch. The sliding window is large, and provides hours of entertainment for the girls.

The night we moved in, there was a nasty storm that passed through. It was actually quite enjoyable to sit inside the big window and watch the clouds and lightning.

Morning mist rising.

This is the field just off the patio. It’s large and lined with trees on three sides, so while it’s big and open, it’s also sort of secluded. The complex I’m in is also in a good neighborhood for dog walking.

Bunny

Grass Spider

Some of the local “wildlife.” There are bunnies galore, living under the ginormous, sprawling thicket in the back field. There is also a Grass Spider (a variety of funnel weaver) living in my kitchen window. Kitchen windows just wouldn’t be the same without spiders living in them, I guess. He’s kind of big and hairy and juicy, but Grass Spiders are docile and eat bugs, so I’m happy to have him. They’re supposed to be shy, but this guy spends a lot of time out of his hidey hole and doesn’t seem at all bothered when I open the blinds and watch him. It’s kind of like having a pet tarantula in a terrarium.

That’s pretty much it, I think. Hopefully I’ll get the studio unpacked sooner, rather than later, so I can get to work on some actual arting. In the meantime, I finally got the DSL hooked up (praise be!) and the cable has been installed. The cable is probably sucking more of my time than it should, considering that I really ought to be at least pretending to be productive. Those home improvement shows are mesmerizing, though, and with cable, they’re on pretty much round the clock.

Photography

Monday Sunset

September 20, 2006October 26, 2015 Shelly

Monday was pretty grim, with cold rain and drizzle all day long. The clouds started to clear a bit in the evening, but I was so distracted with packing and loading the car that I nearly missed what was going on in the sky. As I took the last load out, I noticed the western horizon had cleared enough that the setting sun was reflecting off the tops of the trees in the east. The rich, warm sunlight on the green leaves, against the still grey eastern sky, was gorgeous. Then, I turned around and saw that the western horizon was luminescent. I didn’t think there’d be much of a sunset, but I stayed outside to see if I could catch some crepuscular rays. There weren’t any, but the sky began to shift toward the gold, then orange, so I thought maybe there would be a pretty sunset after all. While I was waiting for the colors to shift some more, I turned around to check the progress of the sunlight on the eastern trees. Rainbow! I shot photos of it until it faded, then turned around to check on the sunset again. It had shifted to an even brighter gold, then peachy tones started to creep in as the sky above faded to dark blue. The colors shifted so rapidly that you could almost watch them change. The show continued long past the point where I was able to get decent photos. Even when the sky was nearly black, there was a sliver of red above the western horizon.

Oh, and did I mention the chill in the air? I was standing out in the wet grass, barefoot, and was able to see my breath. My feet were like blocks of ice when I finally went back indoors. Fall is here, folks! The trees are beginning to change color, it’s been down in the low 40s at night, and the early morning stars, when the sky isn’t overcast, are brilliant.

Pets, Photography

Harriet Keeps an Eye on Things

September 18, 2006November 15, 2015 Shelly

Harriet has thus far been a good sport about the moving chaos. I’ve done a lot of moving around, and this is old hat for Pandora (Pandora says, “Yay! Boxes and newspaper!”). Harriet has only been through one move with me, though. She’s spent most of her life with me here, so I know she’s got to be a little anxious.

I spent most of yesterday washing loads and loads and loads of laundry. Harriet spent the whole time on the couch, either under or on top of piles of laundry. I think she likes the feel of being surrounded by warm clothes. While I watched The Amazing Race and folded laundry, Harriet crashed out next to me, with her cheek resting on her leg and her lips all smooshed up.

I took a car load of stuff over to the apartment this morning. It was raining, of course. When I got there, there was a gorgeous moth resting on the front door. He was several shades of red and orange and brown, like a perfect fall leaf. I didn’t get a picture, because I didn’t have my camera with me. There is also a huge funnel weaver spider living between the panes of the dining room window. So, there is wildlife there, though it’s of the teeny tiny variety.

I spent some time unpacking the stuff I’d brought over, and looking around, trying to figure out where I was going to put stuff. I don’t know what on earth I’m going to do with books and CDs and DVDs. They’re currently on shelves attached with L brackets. Each bracket requires three screws. At ~30 shelves, that’s way too many screws. I’m thinking that brace and bracket shelves wouldn’t be so bad. They’re not pretty, but the braces are pretty well hidden by the shelf contents. And, they don’t require anywhere near as many screws as L brackets.

I also spent a crazy amount of time on hold, trying to get utilities sorted out. After doing the math, I’ll be able to get cable (plus DVR), DSL, and phone for less than what I’m currently paying for just Netflix and phone.

More Fun with Stats

September 15, 2006January 16, 2016 Shelly

Addendum: Just in case Andy wasn’t asking a smart-assed Zen sort of question, I thought I’d point out that this is a Google Earth map of the most recent visitors to the MotherBlog. StatCounter supplies the little location markers. It’s not absolutely accurate, because it’s based on IP addresses, which do not necessarily show the geographic location of the user. Sometimes, they refer to where the user’s ISP is located. But, anyway, “Hello, out there!”

Fun with Searching

September 15, 2006January 16, 2016 Shelly

I’m endlessly entertained by the things folks search for, and by the searches that bring them here. Sometimes I’m taken by surprise. Who knew so many folks would be Googling up a helping of Cheerios? Or that anyone else has a clue who Jethro Lazenby is? What I find even more amazing is that one of these searches was from someone I went to high school with. She e-mailed me to tell me that she’d been Googling something and found my blog, then realized it was mine. It’s a small, small world sometimes.

(And, yes, I do discuss how to make Shake-n-Bake tofu!)

Uncategorized

It’s Official

September 14, 2006October 26, 2015 Shelly

I looked at the apartment on Tuesday, signed the lease yesterday, and will get possession on Friday. Yay!

It’s two bedroom, with about 90 more square feet than where I am now. The lay-out makes the space more usable than where I am now, too. The bedrooms are big and there are lotsa closets. The appliances (including dish washer!) and carpets are all brand new. There is no washer-dryer hook-up, but there is on-site laundry, which is fine with me. It’s on the ground floor, with a large patio that opens onto a huge, tree-lined field that is perfect for playing with dogs. The sliding glass door will be like big screen television for Miss Brown. She’s a watcher. The neighborhood is quiet and great for dog walking, and it’s close to work, shopping, etc.

In a word: w00t!

Teh Enb.

Crankypantsing

Asshole Driver Two-for-one

September 14, 2006October 26, 2015 Shelly

When I come into town in the mornings, it’s so early that many of the traffic lights are set to flash. On some intersections, it’s four-way red (a four-way stop). On others, it’s flashing red in one direction and yellow in the other. The intersection at Fee & 17th is the latter, so when I cross Fee, I have a yellow flasher (everyone should have a yellow flasher, dontcha think?). I’m always really careful at that intersection, because folks on Fee frequently don’t seem to understand the concept of red flasher=stop.

This morning, I had probably my worst Fee & 17th experience ever. I slowed down a little as I approached the intersection, but then I had to literally stand on the brakes because some fuckwit in a Ford Expedition flew through the red flasher going at least 40mph. The jerk didn’t even slow down, much less stop. So I had to slam on my brakes, hard enough to skid and make my tires squeal. Grrr!

But wait, there’s more! If you order now, we’ll throw in Asshole Number 2 for free! So, I start to enter the intersection, onna counta I have the freaking right of way people, and a second car on Fee, which had actually stopped, started to enter the intersection, too. Just because I had to stop so I didn’t hit Asshole SOB #1 who ran a red light does notnotnot mean that Asshole SOB #2 suddenly has the right of way. I’m pretty sure that is not how it works!

Uncategorized

A doe, a deer, a female deer

September 14, 2006October 26, 2015 Shelly

There have been a few discussions in one of the dog groups I frequent about silly things our dogs have been mistaken for. One of the best stories involved a sighthound that was misidentified as a deer by a clueless stranger. I never could figure out how someone could make that mistake, but now I have a little more sympathy for the clueless stranger.

I took the back road home yesterday. It’s twisty and hilly, and it can be kind of nerve wracking, but the scenery is so lovely that it’s well worth it. While on Hardscrabble Road, near the Quality on Tap water tower (for those playing along at home), I rounded a curve and saw what I assumed was a large dog running down the road toward me. I slowed down, in case it darted into the road. As it got closer, I realized it wasn’t a dog, but a deer. A large fawn, in fact, with only a trace of spotting remaining in its coat. It occurred to me that mamma must be nearby, so I slowed almost to a stop. Sure enough, mamma was on the opposite side of the road from the fawn, and I was stuck in between them. Eeep!

If you’ve never seen a deer in action, their movements are about as predictable as a super ball. When its feet touch the ground, you cannot predict which direction the deer will bounce. Even stopping your car entirely may not save you from having a deer hit you. So I was stuck with having to decide whether to stop and let mamma go around me to get to her baby, or creep along and hope that mamma stayed put until I was well past her. I opted for creeping slowly along, reasoning that stopping altogether wouldn’t necessarily keep my car from being damaged, because there was no telling what mamma would do when she finally moved. If I drove off slowly, there was a good chance I’d be able to get far enough away before she tried to get to her baby. And that’s what happened. As I drove off, I watched mamma in my rear view mirror. She boing-boing-boinged over to her baby as soon as I was out of the way.

Art, Ladybusiness

Dream Anatomy

September 13, 2006December 29, 2015 Shelly

Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams…, Amsterdam, 1690. Copperplate engraving with etching. National Library of Medicine.
Govard Bidloo (1649-1713) [anatomist]
Gérard de Lairesse (1640-1711) [artist]

In a discussion elsewhere, the subject of collecting and drawing bones came up. One person thought it was “really weird” to stop and draw/photograph roadkill, but sometimes that’s the best (or only!) way to get a good look at some animals. This sort of thing is nothing new. Artists and scientists have, for hundreds of years, been observing and rendering the anatomy of humans and animals. As I was Googling for examples, I came across this exquisite on-line exhibition from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health: Dream Anatomy.

The Anatomy of the Human Gravid Uterus, Birmingham, 1774. Copperplate engraving. National Library of Medicine.
William Hunter (1718-1783) [anatomist]
Jan van Riemsdyk (fl. 1750-1788) [artist]

Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Moving Update

September 11, 2006October 26, 2015 Shelly

Johnson Grass and Clouds

Moving Update: I’ve been busy house hunting and sorting and packing and not cleaning. The worst part of moving is the absolute lack of motivation to clean. The past few weeks, I’ve been living with stacks and piles and heaps of junk that I have no interest in picking up. Why clean it when it’s going to go into a box? I did force myself to clean the kitchen and wash dishes this morning, though, and right now I’m taking a break from cleaning out the bathroom cupboards.

The good news is that I think I have found a place. It’s an apartment, not a house, but the price is right and there are no size or breed restrictions for dogs. Huzzah! There’s a hefty pet deposit, but that’s to be expected. Harriet, even when she was suffering from awful separation anxiety, has never been the least bit destructive toward things like carpet, woodwork, and blinds. She is more the “tears up bedding and drags trash through the house” sort of baddog. I once had a dog with separation anxiety who broke windows and tore up doors and blinds, and that was No Fun. Since Harriet is a pretty good dog, I don’t expect that I’ll have any trouble getting my deposit back at the end. The people deposit is only $100, which surprised me, but I called several management companies and that seems to be the norm for apartment complexes around here. Weird! Little do they know, I’m the one they should worry about, not my dog. She isn’t likely to spill paint on the carpet.

I have an appointment to look at the place tomorrow morning, so if the planets are in the proper alignment and everything works out, I’m hoping I can move soon. Like, this weekend or next weekend. I can’t wait! The big question is whether or not it has enough room and that it has the proper configuration for setting up work space.

Now, back to packing and sorting and cleaning!