I uploaded eleven more pages to the composition book journal album.
And, some gratituous cuteness:
Harriet is a heat seeker. She doesn’t like to get cold, so when the AC is cranked up, she likes to be covered up with her binkey while she naps. One of her favorite spots to sleep while I’m working on the computer is underneath my work table.
And the June full moon:
I had an e-mail request for nude celebrity photos, so here’s one of Miss Harriet Brown. She’s not exactly a celebrity, but it’s the best I could do.
She’s a shameless jezebel, isn’t she? (And, yes, that is the ugliest couch in captivity. Thankfully, it was put to sleep a few years ago.)
I have what may prove to be a really boring photo project planned for tomorrow. But! Because of the nature of the project, I should have time to finally (!) work on Letters to Esther. I’ve been neglecting it dreadfully and figured that if I voiced my plans out loud (um, in writing), I wouldn’t be able to back out of them.
In other, tangentially related news, I’m nearly finished with the art website. The package I bought had a ridiculous amount of space (five (5!!!) gigs), so I’ll have more than enough room to host Letters to Esther and its future, related art projects there, too. This has been an interesting project for me. The two halves of my brain just do not play well together, so the constant to-ing and fro-ing has been a challenge–a fun challenge, though.
Hmmm… What else…
from 2000-ish
I think that’s about everything. As you can see, I live a most exciting life!
I got back from the pop machine and found that some very kind soul had left a couple of issues of Real Simple sitting on the magazine table. Real Simple is a good source of gluebook images. The thick clay-coat paper is also great for recycling into handmade art journals.
And, I found out that I’m getting my old desk back tomorrow. I cannot articulate how happy this makes me. The new, supposedly “ergonomic” furniture we were given is pure crap. It’s shoddily made and uncomfortable to use, especially if you’re short, like me. The computer sits in the corner and the keyboard tray is like an a ginormous platter. The sheer hummensity of the tray means that the monitor is at least two arm lengths away, which is not good. The tray also extends out so far that it’s impossible to reach over it to use the desk behind it. That means that I have to do a bizarre hybrid of The Twist and The Cha-Cha in order to get my work done. No, no, no. But, tomorrow, I’ll have my beautiful old desk back. Wheee!
In other news, I was suddenly possessed last night by a lawn mowing demon. It’d been weeks–literally–since I’d cut my grass and it was reaching critical mass (um, length?). There were several sections that I had to cut by raising up the mower and lower it down. My only complaint about this mower is that the grass chute gets clogged too easily. Because of the length and the dampness of the grass, I had to clean out the chute every two steps. It ended up taking me over three hours to do the whole thing, but it’s done, done, done. For now. I’ll have to do it again before the weekend is over. Between the monsoons and fact that I had to cut it on the highest setting, it’ll be due for another cutting in a few days.
Finally, in gratuitous cuteness news, I present Miss Harriet Brown the Amazing Burrito Dog:
Harriet, as you can see, is a Boxer dog. Boxers are dainty (ha!) little things who are sure to perish if they get cold or wet. Physicists take note: I have it on very good authority that it is possible for a dog to melt and freeze at the very same time. Anyway, Miss Brown is fond of her creature comforts, first among which is her binkey. When she’s feeling a wee chill (pretty much anything under 75F), she brings her blanket to me so that I can wrap her up like a burrito. At night, she insists on sleeping under the covers, as far away from The Eeevil Fan as possible. On sunny days, she likes to pass the time on the front deck, baking her little pea brain to a crisp.
Apparently, I’m not finished frothing about the little stuff at the bottom of my Giant Bucket of Craptacular Things
So, last Saturday, as I’m merrily working my way through a waist-high pile of Things To Do, my scanner decided to have a nervous breakdown. It started with a loud grinding noise which became progressively more grindy and more loud. Then, my computer crashed. Guess who did not have “shopping for scanners” on her Things To Do list? Oooh, Teacher, pick me!
So, I got dressed (working in one’s PJs is one thing, but going shopping in them is quite another[1]) and headed out for some hunting and gathering. Not that I held out much hope that I would actually find a scanner in Spencer (pop. 2000). But, you know what? I did. O frabjous day! Of course, it was a scanner-copier-printer-FAX-toaster-microwave-coffee maker-all-in-one thingy, which isn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it scanned, by golly, so I bought it. And a USB 2.0 adapter, because I couldn’t remember if I had one at home. And a nifty crackle paint kit that was on clearance for $2.50. And some Xacto blades. And deodorant (mmm, cucumber and melon). I forgot the flashlight batteries, though.[2]
I went home and installed Mr. Scanner and, for the first time ever I was able to convince Windows to play nicely with the cute little USB device. I went back to work and, though the new scanner has some software issues I don’t like, it seems to work okay. Whew!
Then, on Sunday, we got a sudden storm. One minute the sky was blue with harmless looking, puffy white clouds and the next it was black. That’s the down-side to living in a valley–you can’t see storms coming in until they’re rightontopofyou. I managed to get my computer shut down before the power went off, which was a relief. Sitting through the hail and winds was not such a relief, though. Storms scare the pants off me, so my hands were shaking and I felt like throwing up. Yuck. The storm passed almost as quickly as it came, though, so it didn’t last long.
And, because life isn’t exciting enough, Harriet cornered some sort of wildlife last night. Because it happened in the far corner of the yard, where it’s pitch black, I couldn’t see what it was.[2] From the way it bounced against the fence, it sounded fairly big, though–maybe 20-30 pounds? And it hissed and growled. Maybe it was a raccoon? ‘Possums don’t usually growl, as far as I know. Whatever it was, it beat the hell out of Harriet. She ended up with hamburger face. None of the cuts or bites were deep, though, thankfully. By the time I finally got her away from it (“kill! kill! kill!” she said) and inside, she was completely freaked out and panting so hard I thought she’d swallow her tongue (um, no, not really, but still, she was pretty tweaked). I washed her face with hydrogen peroxide, checked out her mouth, and looked her over really well.[3] Everything seemed okay and she calmed down quickly. She slept on the bed with me and I woke up several times to check on her. She was fine and looked good this morning–no sign of pain and her appetite was normal. When I got up, I took her out on a leash, not knowing whether or not The Thing was still there. We checked out The Scene and there was no sign of It. Hopefully, It will never, ever come back.
Oh, and Elliott, bless his little heart, decided to sit this one out. He hung back and let Harriet do all the work. That’s probably a good thing, because she was suffering demonic possession. If he’d gotten in the middle of the fray, she might’ve eaten his face. Or tried to. Those itty bitty Boxer teefies of hers are comical.
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[1] Unless, of course, you’re one of the high school girls I saw while scanner shopping. They were wearing matching PJ bottoms, matching tank tops, and–I am not making this up–matching hair.
[2] A flashlight would’ve been handy to have during the encounter with The Thing. But did I remember to pick up batteries? Nooooo. Guess who will be stopping to get some tonight?
[3] For such a tweaky girl, she’s a peach about being handled when she’s sick or hurt. Those cuts must’ve stung like hell, but she didn’t flinch when I cleaned them.
Harriet Brown
pencil on paper
I drew this a few months ago and completely forgot about it. It was done on a blank page in an altered book I was working on at the time.
There have been lots of discussions in the dog groups about weird things our dogs will eat. Sunday night, I tried grapefruit. Both dogs said, “More, pleaseandthanks!” While I was at Babbs this morning, I picked up some lemons, with the intention of seeing what they’d make of them. Elliott ate a few pieces, but was less than thrilled (he’ll eat anything I give him). Harriet is a little more picky, but will give most things a try. Surprisingly, she really seems to like lemons. Altogether, she ate about a quarter of a lemon, peel and all.
I slept in this morning and woke up just in time to catch the tails of the sunrise. The sky finally cleared sometime last night and should stay clear until sometime tomorrow. It’s nice to see the sun again.
The tiny pale splotch at the center of the photograph is Harriet.
red paper boat 