Earth at Twilight
Credit: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA
For some reason, I have had Kate Bush on my mind today.
Month: April 2007
Visualizing Icicles
The only thing worse than waiting around all afternoon for repair folks is waiting around all afternoon for repair folks who do not show up. Hrmf! So after yesterday’s no-show, I called again at 8:30 this morning, to see what the hell happened and to leave my work number, so that they can call me when they are ready to come to my apartment. I still haven’t heard from them. I realize they’re probably pretty busy, but they could at least call to tell me they’re busy, and to give me an estimate on what day they might be able to get to me.
Thankfully, it hasn’t gotten ungodly hot yet, but by 5:00 last night it had reached 78F indoors. That’s kind of toasty, even with fans running. A brief shot of cold air would have been nice. I also have an element out on my oven, so I can’t bake anything. Of course, this would mean that I’m craving Shake-n-Bake tofu. (No, really! It’s good!)
(Photo: Ice Storm 19 February 2007)
Prewash Cycle
Harriet gets one last shot at the dishes.
Milton Sighting
Folks, I just saw Milton, getting out of his car. In the light of day. And guess what? He has one of those piercingly loud car alarm arm/disarm thingumies. Shocking, I know, that he’d have a loud, obnoxious car. And he’s arming/disarming it every frigging time he goes to the car for another load of groceries! WTF? When I bring in things from the car, I leave the back door hanging wide open. I can’t imagine that our tiny apartment complex is teeming with thieves, but even if it were, if someone wanted my toilet paper and rice badly enough to steal it, then they probably need it worse than I do, and they’re welcome to it.
Also, I’m 99% positive, based on where that car is usually parked, that it’s the one whose alarm has gone off several nights in a row. Milton must sleep with earplugs, because it took him about half an hour to get his ass outside to turn it off, last time. How anyone withing a mile radius of here escaped without bleeding ears is a mystery.
Something Fishy
I took a semi-break from Netflix, reducing my subscription to unlimited one-at-a-time. That did not mean I didn’t want my DVDs in a timely fashion, however! A full day has been added to both the return and the mail-out times, which could be the fault of the USPS, but somehow I doubt it. Hrmf.
But it gets better. And by better, I mean worse.
Last Friday, I returned to my former uber-lotsa DVDs at once subscription (or, in the local patois, prescription–WTF?!). I checked my queue, just to make sure nothing hinky was going on. It said that my next batch of movies would mail on Friday. Good. That\’s how it ought to work. Only it didn’t. They should have arrived on Saturday, and when they did not, I checked my queue again. Magically, it said that my next batch of movies would be shipping on Monday, not last Friday.
I am not amused.
(Photo: Harriet’s new woobie. Mr. Fishy Fish’s portrait was taken using a Holga SILS 120 filter.)
Cuz-watch 2007
Bad Cuz still has his feet. He’s made of stern stuff, it seems. Harriet has taken to wandering around with him dangling out of the side of her mouth. She also likes to sleep with him, and will occasionally bury him in my bed, under my pillows. Thankfully, he’s a little too big for her to really fit into her mouth, so she can’t squeak him properly. If she could, it would surely make my ears bleed.
Pet Food Part Deux
Just for the record, I ended up going with Evo (turkey and chicken) for Harriet and Felidae Cat and Kitten (chicken and turkey) for Pandora. Evo is kind of wacky, in that it’s meant to mimic a raw diet. It’s super high in protein, but has no grains whatsoever. After I fed Harriet her tea (4-5pm feeding), she sat in front of the cupboard where I store their food, with her ears clamped down tight, and sang to it. She likes it.
Pandora was also happy with the switch. She’s had Felidae before, so I’m sure she’ll do well on it. I opted for the non-senior formula, because I’m not convinced that senior foods are appropriate for cats. At least, most of the senior foods I’ve seen, which have been higher in carbs, and lower in protein and fat. They also tend to be less smelly and palatable. Because cats are super reliant on their sense of smell and taste, and since those senses deteriorate with age, senior cats often turn into finicky eaters. In order to keep them thriving, it’s important to make sure they can smell their food, so that they will eat it.
I also got some good pointers for making homemade food (dog) from one of the dog newsgroup folks. I’ve got some more researching to do, and am going to sign up for a Yahoo group she recommended. I’m seriously considering switching Harriet over to at least a partially homemade diet.
This recall BS scares the crap out of me.
Pet Food
If you own a dog or a cat, you’ve been following the pet food contamination story pretty closely. Rice and corn glutens have now been implicated alongside wheat gluten as being contaminated with melamine. The most logical theory I’ve seen so far is that the melamine was added deliberately, in order to make the gluten appear to have more protein than it really does. Higher protein means more money for the distributor. Melamine is apparently added to ruminant feed, but because of their longer and more complex digestive systems, the practice is (relatively, at least) harmless. Cattle can metabolize the melamine without it harming them.
Anyway, I have to buy both dog and cat food today. Harriet got the end of hers this morning, and Pandora is on her last bowl of food. I’m not looking forward to this. None of the foods I’ve been feeding my animals have any kind of gluten in them, but I’m still leery. There have been so many delays and so much politicking involved in recalls so far that I just don’t trust the government or the pet food industry to get information to us in a timely fashion.
So, what to do, what to do? I think I’m going to go with Canidae and Felidae. I’ve fed both in the past, long-term, and was very happy with the general health of my cats and dogs. Canidae does not use glutens of any kind in their feeds, and they claim that all their ingredients are grown and processed in the US. I have no reason to doubt that they are a trustworthy company, but I can’t help but be concerned.
Also, it’s Little 500 weekend, and I have to work tomorrow. Kill me now!
Solving for X
9 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches
gesso and Caran d’Ache Neocolors II with collage on paper bag
A Page from Esther’s Gradebook
I really need to get back to working on Esther’s letters, if for no other reason than that I haven’t read ahead, and I’m starting to get curious about what happens next. But, for now, here’s a scan from one of her three gradebooks. I do know that she taught high school and middle school for a few years between finishing college and getting married. Somewhere in the boxes of stuff, there are also her teaching certificates (complete with grades on her exams), check stubs and bank statements, and various other official stuff. It’s going to take me years to get through it all.
To give an idea of the quantity of information I need to process, it came in a 20 x 12 x 12 inch crate, and it was packed solid and filled to the top. That’s a whole lotta letters, and I’m maybe 1/3 through them, not including the non-letter ephemera.
red paper boat 