Happy Valentine’s Day. You are hereby ordered to be my valentine, whether you like it or not.
Comment-answering extravaganza tomorrow! Get ’em in!
Readers, Suzy is dying – DYING! – to shave her head again this year. Who are we to deny her? She’s shaving her head in memory of an 8 year-old named John, who lost his life to leukemia.
Donate and help her meet her goal!
I had nothing pressing to do yesterday aside from getting a couple of Netflix DVDs to the mailbox (god! I’m exhausted!) so after slacking for most of the morning, I finally sucked it up and did what I’d been putting off for months and months – got my freakin’ recipe box organized. I’ve had piles of printed-out recipes sitting in a pile next to my desk waiting to be put on recipe cards (I don’t write them on recipe cards – I use Word and print them out on sheets of post cards) since at least October. I have the bad habit of printing out a recipe, using it, and then the next time I need it, I print it out again since I haven’t got it on a recipe card in the kitchen. I also tend to not bother to look through the recipe box and print the recipe out instead, so those got added to the pile of recipes too, so it actually ended up taking me all freakin’ day to sort through the recipes, type them in Word and print them out.
My recipes are organized, though, so I can rest easy that THAT happy little task is done.
Bad, bad Joe Bob Brown (he’s the baddest cat in the whole darn town!) didn’t get a chance to escape the back yard yesterday. It was cold, never got out of the 20s (yeah, I know your heart is BREAKING for me), so I didn’t let the cats out into the back yard. Maybe later today – it’s supposed to get up into the low 50s, so having the back door open won’t be so painful.
Fred reinforced the two spots we think Joe Bob is getting over, so hopefully that’ll stop the escapes. We shall see.
Planning his escape.
The chickens escaped yesterday, actually. I didn’t latch the gate after I checked for eggs, and round about early afternoon my attention was caught by McLovin getting some Buff Orpington lovin’ (that link leads to a picture of a Buff Orpington, not chicken lovin’. In case you were worried.) and I realized that the chickens were out of their yard and exploring. All I had to do was get a cup of cracked corn, carry it into the chicken yard, and call them. They were so excited that there was food to be had that they flocked around me, so I didn’t have to chase any of them around to get them back in their yard.
I imagine that when we have 40 chickens, it will be a wee bit more difficult to coax them back into their yard after they’ve escaped.
We watched Gone Baby Gone last night. It was an okay movie, but about five minutes in, I paused the movie and turned to Fred and said “Do you understand one fucking word they’ve said so far?”
It’s funny that the Yankee had to ask the Southerner to translate the Boston accent. Though Fred didn’t know it was a Boston accent he was translating, either – he thought it was New Jersey or New York ’til I told him I was pretty sure it was Boston, since I think Dennis Lehane’s novels all take place in Boston.
The funny thing is that this morning I checked my reading list to see which Dennis Lehane book I’d read (I knew I’d read one at some point), and it was… Gone Baby Gone, back in January 2005. The one and only thing I remembered about the book was the name Angie Gennaro, nothing else at all.
Casey Affleck kind of disturbs me. There’s something about him that reminds me of someone I know who’s… uh… what’s the politically correct phrase? Oh, right…. batshit loony, and so it bugs me to watch him. He seems… flat to me. Emotionless. Anyone else?
He don’t need no stinkin’ valentine.
Previously
2007: I should have asked him to be my valentine, no?
2006: “Stop following me,” Sugarbutt said. “Or I shall call the gendarmes and they shall kick your ass all the way back to Paree.”
2005: “I wasn’t worried,” Fred said to me. “Because any party where the invitation suggests bringing Dance Dance Revolution pads is not one that’s going to get out of hand.”
2004: No entry.
2003: No entry.
2002: Be our valentine, bitch!
2001: Could this get any more exciting, talking about the weather?
2000: Is it wrong that hearing about that incident gives me a whole new respect for Maria?
Newt is such a pretty boy!! I needs me an orange kitty!
Newt – Please BE MY VALENTINE. My kitties are so unlovin today. I need a lover!
If you want to see a -good- Casey Affleck movie watch “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” where he plays Robert Ford and does an outstanding job. Brad Pitt is Jesse James 🙂
Casey Affleck: Loonball.
I linked to your recipes page from my recipe site World Famous Nosh, hope you don’t mind. I find that your kind of good eatin’ and my kind of good eatin’ jive very nicely. Also, when the chickens get out, do you do a head count to make sure they’re all there? You’ve posted a couple of photos of a hawk (“I’m a chicken hawk! An’ I eat chickens!”) so I wondered if you were worried about it at all.
I love Newt!
if you’re ever wanting to bore yourself into a stupor, watch a movie called Gerry.
Awww!! He does so need a valentine, because he is so adorable. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
Robyn,I’m a psych nurse and I concur with your term ‘batshit loony’..Casey reminds me of a geeked out tweaker that is at the end of a 5 day bender. Still has the crazy eyes going on but the energy is sucked out of him. He has that ability to sustain a flat-affect expression in the midst of chaos. I “guess” that’s acting.
For the extravaganza: You mentioned in past posts a topical spot treatment for ringworm for the cats. I have purchased Lotrimin for myself (…yes, I caught ringworm from my cats)… and I was curious what you used on the cats. I have dip, and the vet mentioned oral medication, but the oral med is hard on one of the internal organs, so they don’t like to prescribe it.
Robyn – Sorry this is long, but I’d really value your input on this. Who is more wrong in this scenario (and should be the first to apologize)?
The Scene: Family get-together with Dad, Mom (in their sixties), Sister (age 41), Brother (age 42), Brother’s Wife (age 41).
Fun facts: Brother is, and always has been, very tall and thin. Sister is very short and has gained a significant amount of weight in the past ten years.
Daughter to Son: Hey Stickman! When are you gonna put on some weight so you won’t look like a death camp survivor?
Son to Daughter: Hey Lardass! When are you gonna LOSE some weight so you won’t have the insulation of a Polar Bear?
At this point Sister runs out of room in a huff and, many days later, is still pissed.
Parents just want peace and are prodding Brother to apologize first.
Oh yeah, I’m the Brother’s wife. Oh Happy Day.
Are you watching Idol or Big Brother? I know you watch Survivor. What would I do if I actually had some semblance of a social life what with many of my favorite reality shows airing during the same season!
great cat pics today!
Your sister-in-law started the appearance-based banter, so she is in the wrong. If she’s going to dish it out, she should be able to take it. This comes, BTW, from a fellow polar bear in a family of stickpeople.
Sounds like a brother/sister squabble to me, and neither should take offense, because that’s just how it goes sometimes. And I agree with Rose, too, that if you’re gonna dish it out, you should be prepared for some of it to come back. I mean, really. What did she expect?
I have a cat question for you, don’t know if you know the answer but maybe someone else does. I have transitioned my cat from dry food to canned (long story that I won’t write here) but am having a hard time finding one that he likes. Most of them he will slurp up the gravy (if it is the sliced or chunky kind) and then won’t touch it. I think he is still in the mindset of dry food in a way, that he should have food available all day. I don’t think I should be leaving the canned food out for hours and hours but if I don’t I’d be giving him something every 3 or 4 hours instead of twice a day which is what it sounds like most people do with the canned food. Any suggestions or advice would be very much appreciated. Oh yeah he’ll eat some of it eventually or if I give him the pureed kind he’ll eat some of it. Right now I am giving him the small cans of Fancy Feast, if I gave him even half of the tuna sized cans I’d be throwing most of it away. As it is I am still throwing a lot of it out. HELP!
Polar Bear has no right to be offended. She who slings it should be prepared when it sticks, and if you’re going to insult someone on their appearance, baby, you’re fair game yourself.
(scritches Newtles behind the ears even as I lurve me some Joe Bob)
Here is a random question.
I was watching 2 1/2 Men the other night and noticed that Jon Cryer reminds me of Fred. Have you ever got that vibe before? It may just be me. Anyway it is meant as a compliment. I think if Jon has a sick day that Fred could stand in for him at the very least.
The Polar Bear comment reminds me of a situation my brother got into at work. He is only 5’3′ and works out like crazy. A very tall and heavey coworker kept making cracks about his height. After more than a year of this he made a crack back about the guys size and the guy wenr apeshit and had to be restained physically. If you are gonna dish it out you need to be able to take it back.
Re the comment about the Jesse James movie. It was actually filmed here in Alberta when it was just becoming apparant the Brad and wahts her name were a couple. The publicity about all that was crazy. I didn’t go see the movie mainly because of all that foolishness while it was being filmed.But I have read the book. The Ford character was nuts so it was probably good casting to put Affleck in it. I’ll have to rent the DVD now and check him out.
Oh, I swoon for Spanky. *sigh*
But, hmm… Newt sure looks sweet today. 😉
Newt is such a beautiful boy! Give him a kiss for me, will ya?
Newt is just all about The Cute. I would end up squeezing him to death.
Funny, Fred reminds me more of a Spice Girl. Hmm.
Awwww I love me some Spanky and that picture of Newt is just adorable – they are both my Valentine’s!! Oh and you, too, Robyn.
I love me some Spanky, too, but that Newr sure is a cutie pie. He’s my other favorite! And Sugarbutt’s cute, too. Guess I just like me some orange kitties!
Casey Affleck is an ass. He was being interviewed for the SAG awards and must of have about five pieces of gum he was chomping on. And all his answers were flippant like he’s way too good to be interviewed. Did I mention, he’s an ass?
P.S. Happy V-Day! 🙂
Thanks for the link, Robyn.
Now sponsor people, y’all want to see my scary bald again.
Jen — I have a similarly finicky cat about the wet food. To entice her, I sprinkle a few pieces of kibble on the wet food and leave the wet food out until it is empty or until the next day when I wash it out anyways and refill it for the day. The few pieces of kibble usually works. Otherwise, she has to wait til the next day. (But I do leave a bowl full of dry food out for her all day to munch on.) She never eats all the fancy feast in one go – it usually takes her about 8-10 hours to eat the whole thing. But then she’s a bit weird – she dips her paw in the bowl, pulls out a chunk of meat, drops it on the floor, licks her paw clean and then eats the piece off the floor. Rinse, repeat. If anyone has any idea how to cure her from that little trick, I’d love to hear it. That gravy is a pain to clean!
Robyn – I love Elleh Belleh! If I wasn’t so far away, I’d come get her myself. Soooo cute. As for my question: Waffles or pancakes?
Why the wet food over dry, especially if they don’t like it? My vet HATES when people put their cats on wet food, it rots their teeth. Our cat was raised on dry (good stuff) and the vet, when we first took the cat to see him, looked at his teeth and said, “Only dry food, right?” We said yes, and he said that cats are way better off with dry, as long as you give them the better quality dry. He’s about 14 now and he’s healthy, fat and sassy still. If he has trouble with it in the future when he’s old, bad teeth or something, we can wet the dry food for him.
“that link leads to a picture of a Buff Orpington, not chicken lovin’. In case you were worried.”
In the interest of science, I wouldn’t mind seeing a picture of chicken lovin’, if you can swing it. I only realized a couple of years ago I couldn’t comprehend bird sex. Just yesterday I heard that at least some lizards have – and probably dinosaurs had – two penises. Non-mammal sex…what will they think of next?!!?!
Also, I didn’t know cracked corn existed outside the lyric. And I don’t care.
And finally, you may be extremely bored watching Gerry, but you may also find the ending quite satisfying. 🙂