general motors oven

the old oven finally kicked the bucket on christmas eve. we purchased a new one yesterday and this only leads to me wanting to do a complete kitchen remodel. i think we'll have to make do with a thorough cleaning of the old kitchen before the new oven arrives.

x-mas 2008

is officially done and over. to celebrate the close of another christmas, i'm curled up with my furry pillows and blankets with an appletini. it's a nice tini and it's going down quickly. just one problem: i only had enough apple for one. next will be a redbulltini, rusty nail, or a rob roy.

tomorrow: dinner with galt and turnbo, the spirit, and old fashions in the cowboys basement.

holiday eggs

about once a year i make deviled eggs. they're not at all difficult to whip up, i just like them better when someone else makes them.

why do so many people like the little devils so much? they're cold eggs.

appreciation tunnel

yesterday was customer appreciation day at the wounded minnow. we went. we ate. we felt appreciated. as usuals at the minnow, we didn't know many of the people there. i left feeling a little violated and ticked off at the not at all disabled ponytail guy in his escalade who parked on the curb in the one and only handicapped parking spot out front. jerk! he's probably too pretty to even get a damn ticket for it. jerk!

if it snows much more, we will be living in a world of tunnels.

the birds found the filled feeders after just one afternoon.

5:42 am: due to acclimate weather, work is closed for the day.

blizzard

seems fitting to have a blizzard on the first day of winter--the shortest day of the year. we decided to go see the wee one today and didn't think we'd make it there. as we drove, staring into the blinding darkness of snow, i kept saying, this storm should be upgraded to a blizzard. by the time we returned home, it was. all i can say is man, it's cold and blowing out there.

Issued by The National Weather Service
North Webster, IN
3:39 pm EST, Sun., Dec. 21, 2008

Blizzard Warning for Cass County, MI

... BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EST MONDAY... ... WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORTHERN INDIANA HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EST MONDAY. THE WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

A COMBINATION OF STRONG WEST WINDS AND LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL CREATE BLIZZARD CONDITIONS AND WHITEOUT CONDITIONS INTO MONDAY MORNING. VISIBILITIES NEAR ZERO CAN BE EXPECTED. TRAVEL IS BEING DISCOURAGED AND MANY ROADS ARE BEING CLOSED.

STRONG WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO NEAR 50 MPH ALONG THE LAKE SHORE WILL CONTINUE INTO MONDAY MORNING. THIS WILL CREATE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW AND REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO. TRAVEL WILL BE TREACHEROUS AND MANY ROADS WILL BE CLOSED DUE TO ACCIDENTS OR DRIFTING.

LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME MORE ORGANIZED THIS EVENING AND ESPECIALLY OVERNIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED IN BERRIEN... CASS AND ST. JOSEPH COUNTIES IN MICHIGAN. THE LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS FAR NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THESE COUNTIES.

DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED WITH READINGS RANGING FROM 10 BELOW ZERO CLOSER TO THE LAKE TO AS LOW AS 25 BELOW ZERO WELL INLAND. THE COMBINATION OF STRONG WINDS... COLD WIND CHILLS AND SNOW WILL CREATE DANGEROUS CONDITIONS... POTENTIALLY DEADLY FOR ANYONE STRANDED OUTSIDE.

zoe snow angels

zoe nervously pacing, looking for a place to hide from the wind.

zoe, my neurotic border collie, turns into a shivering mess at the slightest breeze and rain sprinkle. when she's out in the rain, she squints as though the rain drops are razor blades and tries to hide from the wind. it's windy a lot of the time--she has very few peaceful days.

she will spontaneously vomit at the sight of a tick or toad. the vet said that the older she gets, until her sight and hearing goes away, the worse she'll get and prescribed valium for her own well being. a half a tablet usually calms her down for a few hours. it's a bit humorous.

the snow, as long as the wind isn't blowing, is a whole different thing. she loves the snow no matter how hard it's coming down. she runs out to the yard, flips on to her back, makes a snow angel, gets up, and pees on it.

let it snow (and snow and snow some more)

every year i wish for an unseasonably warm winter. it looks like i should stop hoping this will happen because the cold and snow seems to start earlier each year.

it's supposed get all the way up to 30 degrees this weekend and we're feeling like a heatwave is arriving.

the weather people on the tv play their psychological games by providing the "highs" for each day but they don't mention the "high" will be at midnight. i'm not awake and running around outside at midnight. tell me what the temperature is going to be during the few hours of daylight we have. jerks. do they do this on purpose for some reason?

i don't feel the global warming. the next ice age may be forming right here in michigan.

harvey wallbanger

ugly scott has been taste-testing cocktails from back-in-the-day, so last night, at an event, armed with a wicked cold, mistakenly doped up on a dose of night-time cold and flu medicine (yes, during the day and an interesting afternoon it was), i tried the harvey wallbanger. the galliano turns an ordinary screwdriver into a tasty drink. i liked it.

we frequent the wounded minnow every wednesday and either friday or saturday--sometimes both spending a considerable amount of time surveying the liquor. other than a yellowbird, i've never know what galliano is used in.

From Wikipedia: The Harvey Wallbanger is an alcoholic beverage or cocktail made with vodka, Galliano, and orange juice. The Harvey Wallbanger was invented in 1952 by three-times world champion mixologist Donato 'Duke' Antone, the brother-in-law of New York state senator Carlo Lanzillotti. The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the American League pennant, were nicknamed "Harvey's Wallbangers," because of the team's nickname and its manager, Harvey Kuenn.


6:14 am: due to acclimate weather: work closed for the day.

RMJ

welcome sweet angel
absolutely perfect
silky dark hair
ten long fingers
ten busy little toes
pretty eyes observing all
12.15.08
9:51 pm
7 lbs & 15 ounces
19 inches

13 weeks and 6 days

jazzy christmas tonight.

we haven't put up any holiday decorations yet.

balls

so scott won't play the lottery on fridays because he doesn't want to wait until monday to drive to lansing to collect his winnings, should he win. funny and a fact i never knew about until a few days ago. how can a person live with another for so long without knowing some of their cute little quirks?

to mark my 44th year on this planet, i've resigned myself to the fact that i can really no longer see like i could just three years ago. this whole vision thing first raised its ugly head when i was eating dinner each night. my food, as it came close to my mouth on the silverware, would become blurry. i had hoped this was due to tiredness or something but no, it got worse. after giving in and going to the eye doctor who told me my eyeballs were old and wearing out-- a normal part of life (bla, bla, bla). i came home with glasses and contacts.

now i have two pairs of glasses, regular contacts and contacts that turn my boring brown eyes to sparkling blue. i figured i may as well have fun with my new-found blindness. the contacts are great but i can't see anything when i wear them to work. so i started wearing the glasses yesterday--all day and evening. for those of you that have worn glasses forever, learning to wear glasses is not easy.

now i can see myself and everyone else. this is scary. and now i know why old people have hair growing out of their noses and ears and such--they just can't see it. so where is this going? no where: just seeing things again and thought you all should be aware of it because i'm really looking at you these days.

imeadaba

girl flew off the road this morning. by the looks of it, she had to have been going pretty fast to blast into the snowy field as far as she got. she may have even ran over the dead raccoon from last week.

sleeping gas, i swear, was be pumped into the room today: very sleepy day. i'm not sure i've ever been so sleepy.

i think we need something warm to look at. it's crazy how we get acclimated to the cold--sunday and monday have felt balmy compared to friday and saturday.

liver & gravy

one of the best things about december 7th is the traditional southern dinner: fried chicken, fried chicken livers, and milk gravy on cheap white bread. if i'm lucky, there are leftovers for me to take home to enjoy the day after which i share with ugly angie. mmm, life is good! thanks mom.

Happy Pearl Harbor Day!

how many

years since the first?

luv ya
baby

today
and
always

so sad

on my way to work a little before 9:00 am yesterday, i saw a raccoon a short distance from the road. this isn't normal as they are seldom seen in broad daylight. i figured it was probably sick and likely near death.

at lunch it was still there, in the same spot, but kind of leaning all the way backwards--like it was doing a backbend but its front paws remained about five or six inches away from the ground. it was an odd position which made me think it was dying a painful death and made me want to cry. on my way back to work it was upright again and had moved to another location about twenty feet away...closer to the road. after work, not able to ignore, i looked to the right, it was still alive, and in the same spot as it was six hours earlier.

day two--today: 9:00 am--still alive and in the same place but leaning to the right with it's front legs stretched out like it was waiting for a hug from a loved one. at this point i'm speculating that is was hit by a car, paralyzed, and i'm wanting someone to end its misery...my misery. at 6:00 pm, through the darkness, it's now under snow.

yes, this two day event bothers me. i wish i could save them. i wish this didn't have to happen in front of me.

106 days

i raked leaves mixed with snow last saturday. of course, since the weather turned to crap so fast, there was no where to put the leaves so i piled them up in the corner of the backyard.

i also removed the leaf catching screens from the ponds and installed the bubbler in one pond. as an experiment, and hopefully without casualties, left filter/fountain going in the deep pond. the fish did follow me around the pond probably hoping for some food. i guess they're not supposed to be fed in the winter--something about too much body fat or something can kill them. i once killed a mouse with kindness by feeding it to death. we'll see.

maybe january through april will be mild.