we call her "cat"

our cat is fat. not a little chubby but obese. she's been on a diet for the last five years. due to health problems, she's been on prescription diet food since october. the vet said, "if you want the cat to weigh 18 pounds, feed her like she's an eighteen pound cat." we didn't. we fed her half the prescribed amount...2/3 cup a day. no treats. nothing.

we barely let the dog eat because the cat will try to steal her food.

her health problems have slowly returned so i took her to the vet this afternoon. not only did she not loose weight since october, she gained a pound and a half. i know the vet didn't believe me when i said we don't feed her much. and now we are to feed her like she's a seven pound cat.

two tablespoons of dry food twice a day is what he suggests. i suggested a lap-band, gastric bypass surgery, or possibly liposuction. he laughed at my ideas but seriously noted that if she doesn't lose weight, we'd have to consider plastic surgery. hmmm. i wasn't sure if he was joking or serious about it. i'm thinking liposuction over plastic surgery. weird.

another suggestion was that she get some exercise. right. at least the food will last a while at a half a cup a day.

oddly enough, dr. frank told her she was fat and she was not the least bit offended.

$131.70 for x-rays and food: priceless.

john galt

ok jg, change the name of your blog to where is john galt or post something already. the gloves are off... mister!

now i must bounce on my ball for a while.

land of the lost

sleestak's used to scare me and i don't know why. they were slow and couldn't catch anything. the "lost" were never really in any real danger.

really... the creepiest character was chaka. now that thing was ugly. i never did trust it.

clint eastwood vs. kevin james

compared to -19 on friday, 17 feels like a heatwave; however, it's still not warm enough to venture outside.

we did manage to make our way out of the house yesterday. woohoo! went to a movie which, except for the excellent company of dr. ugly, was basically a bust. we went to see mall cop. don't bother to go. wait until it comes out on dvd. almost all the funny scenes have been shown on the previews.

the late matinée was packed with people and their kids. worst of all, as usual, people who don't parent their kids. after spending five minutes feeling like i was on an airplane ride from hell due to a kid consistently kicking the back of my chair. (i can get pretty mean when these types of things happen and have a passive aggressive approach to such situations. i usually turn around and glare for a second or two. if it doesn't stop, i do it again but glare longer. and on the third turn around, i usually scold someone.) the kid stopped after the second turna round.

i'm not even going to start complaining about the jerks that show up late. if only clint eastwood had been there.

we knew mall cop wouldn't live up to our expectations after seeing the best movie ever made last week: gran torino.

i think we are now done with movie theaters until march.

meerkat

the other night, of course, at the minnow, we were engaged in some sort of weird conversation. it was the long row of people at the bar type of communication where the words and stories change by the time it trickles down to the end and back. i was the unfortunate soul at the end.

anyway, i said something (don't remember what) which turned into meerkat. i think we were trying to figure out who looked like what type of animal. i don't really remember. then someone said something about meerkat manor. well, i hadn't heard of it because we don't have cable. and scott claimed he hadn't ever heard of a meerkat--didn't know what it was.so for scott, i ordered up series one of meerkat manor. it promises to be better than the ten hour series about birds.

i want one. a meerkat. a whole family of them.

side note: it's the coldest day in the history of the world.

another day in michigan

6:30 am wake up call to announce no work today; although, i've been working since 8:00. ugly scott was almost ready to walk out the door when i told him he had no where to go.

there is a lot of snow out there but it's not as bad as it was on tuesday. it's always tough to judge days like this based on what it looks like in town.

64 days until the first day of spring

pondering an icicle

ugly scott shovels the driveway and sidewalks. he also cleans off the cars. he does love me.

i shovel the snow away from the bird feeders and put out food for the squirrels and birds. as an extra special treat, i put out a bunch of banana, raisin-nut muffins and bread for them.

we stare at the giant ice mass hanging from the house. it's huge. it's touching the ground. it looks like a frozen waterfall. we decide it'll kill us or squash the air conditioner if we mess with it. we will continue to think about it. scott is thinking chainsaw. i'm thinking dynamite. maybe a circle of candles will melt it away. maybe a bonfire.

18 off

after spending the last 18 glorious vacation/holiday days off without very many "have to do's" and sleeping in until 9:00 am, getting up at o'dark-thirty this morning was just plain rude.

over the course of the years, i've heard that people begin to sleep less and less but this hasn't happened to me yet. i can't imagine it ever will. i will be the one and only elderly on this planet sleeping in until 9:00 or 10:00.

i love to sleep. it feels good and right. i'm blaming it on the bed--it's comfortable and cozy. maybe it's my winter attitude because i don't sleep this much in the summer. maybe i was a cat i my previous life.

if i have to go, i hope it's in my sleep.

coffee cups

being picky about the type of coffee cup one drinks from seems to be more common than i thought. i have two here at home that feel just right--they are exactly the same and ugly as hell.

scott is picky about his coffee cups too. as a matter of fact, he walked into the kitchen this morning and sighed at the cup selection, grabbed one and muttered something about hating the feel of all our cups.

a few hours later i was off shopping with my mom. she said she wanted to buy a new fake christmas tree for next year; however, by the time we got to the mall she had mysteriously changed her mind about the tree and was shopping for new coffee cups. the weirdest thing about this was that we hadn't discussed coffee cups at all. she, too, was looking for the perfect feeling cups. we found none.

birds & squirrels

after spending about ten hours watching The Life of Birds over the course of several days, i've come to the conclusion that some birds are just mean. for example, one pair of duck-type birds evidently get tired of feeding their young and "scold" their fluffy little off-spring. they scold the one that begs for food the most: the scolding, which is really harsh pecking about the head, continues until the chick slumps over dead in the water. the parents do this one-by-one until they are left with just a couple babies. such a strange thing. i have to question why they have so many babies in the first place.

we have a little red squirrel that has taken up residency in our garage this winter. she's quite a destructive little character but i won't let scott chase her off and seal up the gap under the door because, according to the experts, she will not survive the winter without her home...our garage. she will need to be evicted this spring: i don't know how this will work as she will probably have babies in there at some point.

darkness of day

i used to think i could live in complete darkness; however, after spending 72 hours without natural sunlight, i've changed my mind. without sunlight, my internal clock didn't wake me. if scott hadn't been there, i'm not sure i would have woke up.

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