Jane a happy birthday!
(Happy birthday, Jane!!!!)
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The kids in this area are going back to school this week and next. After 11 years of living here (exactly 11 on the 13th, actually!), it still blows my mind that school starts so early. In fact, it started around the 20th the first year we lived here, and it’s gotten earlier and earlier every year. Just doesn’t seem right to send the kids back to school in the heat of August so they can swelter on the bus and then freeze in the air-conditioned school.
(Then again, thank god for air conditioning. I can’t imagine how much school would suck if there were no air conditioning!)
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Let the comment-answering begin!
Who/What inspires you?
Oh, man. No offense, but I hate questions like this, because I try and try to come up with something Deep and Meaningful, and end up with a big cartoon question mark over my head. I guess being in Maine inspires me – I always feel most creative when I’m there. A well-turned sentence inspires me, especially if it it’s surrounded by a lot of bland, blah sentences. Sometimes people inspire me, but I don’t know when or who I’ll be inspired by; it seems to be mostly random.
What animal do you think is your spirit guide/totem? Why?
I had to look and see what a spirit guide is, and found this definition:
Nonphysical souls who support our growth, help us complete our life tasks, and in general provide the spiritual assistance we need. Often we are spirit guides to others when we are not incarnate. And of course I want to say that the cat is my spirit guide, but if I have a spirit guide, I sure don’t know about it, so I’m going to have to go with: Fuck if I know.
Also, What is your most FAVORITE recipe in the world?
My favorite recipe to make would probably have to be reservations (har har HAR), because I seriously do not care for cooking at all. My favorite recipe to eat would be… burgers from the grill, with ketchup and a nice crisp slice of onion and tomato, warm from the sun. Not very exciting, huh?
* * *
Is that chicken poop on the front of Fred’s shirt in pics 3 and 4? YUCK!
Nope – it’s paint.
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Holy crap in that third picture it looks like Fred is waiting for the chicken to give him a high-five. THAT needs to be in a banner post haste!
He was actually protecting his eyes, because he was afraid the chicken was going to peck at them and he’s partial to his eyeballs.
* * *
Speaking of The Two Coreys’ reality TV show – have you seen the new “Scott Baio – I’m 45 and Never Been Married Show?” It is a complete train wreck where he hires a life counelor to help him figure out why he messes up every relationship he has ever had. She makes him go back and meet with all these women to ask them what he did wrong. Turns out Joanie really did love Chachie. It’s really horrible but I can’t turn away!
THAT is the show I keep meaning to set up the DVR to tape, and keep forgetting. I’ll have to set up to tape – Keith and the Girl were talking about it last week – and give it a try. I understand Scott Baio’s a bit of a douchebag.
* * *
What size shoe does Fred wear? The pic of him with the chicken on his back his foot looks huge. Just curious.
He wears a size 12. wink-wink-nudge-nudge
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How did you learn to create a web site? Self taught or did you take a class?
I bought a WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) html editor called HoTMetaL Pro, fooled around with that for a while, whined at Fred, demanded that he help me out, and looked at a LOT of source code to see how that whole html thing works. It’s mostly self-taught, but if I ever run up against a roadblock, Fred will eventually help me out if I bitch at him enough. He installed WordPress on my sites, he moved the design up for me – basically anything that requires anything more difficult than FTPing something up, or hitting “publish”, he does for me. I think everyone needs a Fred to help them out (but I’m not offering
my Fred – I keep him busy enough with my shit!).
* * *
We have 3 cats, and 2 dogs and recently moved into a house with hardwood floors throughout. I sweep every day, twice a day, and still there’s balls of fur fluff everywhere. I know my broom isn’t up to the task, but surely there must be the broom of all brooms out there just waiting for me to discover it. What do you use?
I use my Dyson, at least every other day, and sometimes I use the Dyson, then follow that up with a run with the Swiffer Sweeper. It’s not a perfect solution, but it works well enough to keep my head from exploding. I’ve considered buying a Roomba, but I’m still on the fence about that.
* * *
Okay, question: I was wondering how much your cats shed and if you have to brush them constantly? We have only two cats and a very large house, and there’s always cats hair everywhere. I especially notice the white fur from our cat Buddy Squeak (who looks like Spanky’s twin–mostly white with some orange). Do you notice the white fur from Spanky and Spot all over the friggin place, too?
Actually, Spot is our big shedder. Fred could brush him every day (though he really just waits ’til Spot gets all ratty looking, then breaks out the brush) and get a huge handful of hair every time. I have to vacuum the back of the couch (Spot’s favorite place to sleep) every other day, or I just can’t stand to look at it, there’s so much fur on it. Mostly, I vacuum every other day and on the “off” days I turn a blind eye to the cat hair. You’ve gotta, or it’ll drive you NUTS.
* * *
Do any of the other cats freak out when you take one to the vet? I took my younger cat to the vet last week. We were only gone for a half hour, but the older cat then hissed and growled at the younger for *a day and a half*. Not only is it annoying, but the younger one just gets this pitiful look of confusion and dejection, like “Whyfore do you hate me, big sis?”.
Mister Boogers acts like the hugest asshole whenever one of his siblings comes back from the vet. He chases the poor victim around, sniffs wildly at him (or her), and then starts growling and hissing. It usually only lasts a couple of hours, but it’s annoying as hell and I usually have to yell at him to leave Sugarbutt (or whoever) alone. The other cats get interested when someone comes back from the vet, but Mister Boogers is the only one who acts like a jerk. I’m guessing they smell that “doctor’s office” smell on the cat who’s gone to the vet, and the smell doesn’t bring up happy memories for them!
* * *
Just wondering if Jack Frost is still at the shelter?
As of yesterday, he was still at the pet store and hadn’t been adopted.
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Just curious – when you have multiple fosters and not all can go off to be adopted at once, how do you pick who gets to go to the pet store and who stays behind with you?
Usually they do all go together – if one of them stays behind, it’s always for a specific reason. Maryanne’s not going to the pet store with her brothers because I think she’s not ready; we need to give her more one-on-one attention to see if we can stop the hissing and growling, and maybe encourage some friendliness. When we have a mother cat and kittens, the kittens will often go to the pet store before the mother, because kittens get adopted faster, and we like to give the mother cat some down time before she goes off to sit in a cage. The only other time that I can think of that someone stayed behind is when Sugarbutt and his brother (who wasn’t Tommy) and their sister went to the pet store, but Tommy stayed behind because he was limping. (I still suspect that he’s too smart for his own good, and was faking that limp!)
* * *
Fred looks like he’s growing a mustache! Is he?
Though I keep encouraging him to grow a ’70s porn-star mustache, Fred has thus far refused. He just doesn’t shave on the weekends, and his five o’clock shadow was showing in that picture.
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I don’t know if you’ve answered this or not..but are your chickens purely for egg consumption, or will they also be gracing your table? I feel so guilty asking that.
For the time being (assuming the damn things ever start producing eggs), they’ll just be for egg consumption. Eventually they’ll probably be dinner, or so I’m told. (Yesterday afternoon, Fred tried to tell me that he thought he’d have no problem killing a chicken. To which I’m saying: “Sh’yeah RIGHT.” He’s also talking about having a second flock, just for eating. We’ll see about that.)
* * *
Fred looks all hot and sweaty in his chicken pictures. Did he stink, too? Ha ha! I’m sure he “cleans” up well. I guess country living is good for both of you – keeps you so busy with country folk stuff. Just don’t get “too salty” on us.
I do not believe Fred has ever been stinky a single moment in his life. The man is CLEAN – he showers in the morning and again in the evening after he’s been working outside. Sometimes he takes a shower in the middle of the day too cool off and prevent stinkiness. With all the showering, he’s going to get old-man skin, I tell him. But at least it’ll be CLEAN old-man skin!
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OMG!!! We watched Zodiac on Friday night too and I had the EXACT same reaction. Pot bellies? Check. Chloe – what are you here for? Check. Nap-taking on the couch? Check. You missed one though. I could not understand half of the dialog. Did everyone talk in a mushmouth??? The only saving grace for me was that I got to see Dermot for a few glorious moments.
I don’t remember having a problem understanding what people were saying, but then again, I did doze during the movie, so maybe they did and I just snoozed through it!
* * *
No comment about Fred practically picking his nose in the first Chicken Man photo? Come on, how could you waste a perfectly good opportunity to make fun of him?
He was NOT picking his nose. He was. Um. I don’t know what he was doing, but I assure you, he knows better than to pick his nose when I have a camera in my hands!
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By the way, why was he walking around with a chicken on his shoulder?
Because he’s a freak.
* * *
About the
squash casserole:
I have a (probably stupid) question about the squash casserole. When I’m sauteeing summer squash, I leave the skin on, but I’m guessing you cut it off before boiling and mashing it for the casserole?
Nope, I leave the skin on the squash before boiling and mashing it – the skin softens up just fine, and mashes along with the rest of the squash. Rest assured that if the squash had to be peeled first, I’d have never made that recipe in the first place; that’s too much effort.
About that squash casserole — does a regular 9 x 13 inch dish work, or do you need one of those really big ones for that recipe?
I use a 2 1/2-quart Pyrex dish for it, but Janet (hi, Janet!) reports that she uses a 9 x 13 dish, and it works just fine.
* * *
I just searched your site for “flea” and “fleas” and found nada. Lucky you! My boys (meow men) are 11 and 12 and I personally haven’t seen a flea in 19 years. This week I’ve seen… 30 – and hundreds of larvae (yuck). The cats go outside very rarely, like 4 or 5 times a year. I let them out last weekend, but now that I know what this is, I realize the fleas started 3-4 weeks ago. Before then they hadn’t gone out in almost 2 months. So, anyhoo, I tried to de-flea them without killing them (the cats, that is) – so now I still have fleas. Do you have any tips? From fosters, pet store, outside kitties? HELP!
I’ve never had a flea issue – anyone who’s dealt with them, feel free to leave advice in the comments!
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I am looking forward to your virtual house tour for the new house…when are you doing that? (I know it is a lot of work)
Um… one of these days? It’s not that it’s a lot of work, really – probably it would only take a couple of hours – it’s that I have to be in the right mood to get it done. I’ll see if I can’t buckle down and get it slapped together in the next few weeks!
* * *
Have you tried a food mill for your tomatoes? It makes quick work of getting rid of the seeds and purees the chunks.
I actually just received my food mill on Tuesday. I ran my tomato sauce through it, and it worked amazingly well – no seeds in the sauce, and the chunks are gone! I’m making more tomato sauce this weekend, so I’m looking forward to using it again.
* * *
Thanks for the chocolate chip cookie recipe, too! I hope it works well with Splenda. I’ve been substituting it for sugar (brown and white) in baking, and it usually works fine. Does Splenda give you digestive fits? I was wondering if you had any trouble with it after your WLS.
I’ve never made the cookies with Splenda – if anyone does, let me know how it works out! I have no problems with Splenda at all. In fact, as long as I don’t eat too much of it, I’m okay with sugar. Corn syrup, on the other hand, makes me really gassy and sick. Bleh.
* * *
I want to know How do you get such cute pictures of the cats, do you lay hanging down from the picnic table?
The close-up pictures of the cats – especially the outside pictures – I take by bending over, holding out the camera, and snapping the picture. Most of the time I don’t even bother to look at the preview screen on the camera before I snap it, and I’m often surprised by the pictures I get. (And I still delete about three for every one picture I keep, so you can imagine how many crappy ones I get with this super-duper photographic technique!)
* * *
Robyn, I was reading your post on my cell phone this morning (it works pretty well!) and I misread your header about the “Frank and explicit discussion of menstrual cycles…” I thought it was a link to “Fred’s explicit discussion of menstrual cycles.” In fact, I came back to your page tonight so I could click over to read what Fred had to say. Imagine my disappointment when I found out that Fred wrote about something else! (Or embarrassment.) Conclusion, reading your blog posts on my smart phone = cool, but not as accurate. Is Fred going to have an explicit discussion of menstrual cycles?
Not only will Fred not have an explicit discussion of menstrual cycles, he prefers to never think about anything to do with menstruation at all. I can guarantee that he read your question, and his eyes hit the words “menstrual cycle”, and he skipped to the next question. I should totally say something about him in this paragraph, because I know he’ll never read it. Oh, the secrets I could reveal, and he’d never know…
* * *
Ok, I love my diva cup, but there is no way in hell I will wear the pin that comes with it. I mean would you wear an OB pin?? I think not.
I think the diva pin is cute – but yeah, I’m not going to be utilizing it as a fashion accessory. Some one would either think I was calling myself a diva, or they’d ask me about it, and I’d end up standing in the middle of Target trying to explain it to a complete stranger. I prefer discussing my menstrual tools to complete strangers on the internet, not IN PERSON, thank you.
* * *
I’ve been going back and forth with the idea of a Diva Cup for a while, and I just can’t decide. Can it be used overnight? I don’t like to wear pads ever, so that would be very important in my decision making…
It can absolutely be worn overnight – and I share your hatred of pads, so being able to wear the Diva Cup overnight without worrying about leakage is AWESOME.
* * *
Good morning Robyn, have you tried WALKIE-TALKIES? I understand they are great.
Actually, cell phones would work better, but Fred only carries his around with him sporadically when he’s working outside, and I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to tell him something vitally important and called his cell phone, only to hear it ringing from the computer room.
I should take a moment to point out that I’ve lately perfected my “Hey!”, so that I can step out onto the back steps, say “Hey!” with the right volume and pitch, and if he’s anywhere but in the back forty, he’ll hear me and come to find out what I want (I don’t abuse my “Hey!”, though – it’s usually just to tell him that dinner’s ready. I think we need a dinner bell. Would that be goofy?)
* * *
Is it possible you and Fred have hearing loss from noise? Lawnmower, chainsaw, tractor and so on? I can’t recall if you ever mentioned wearing noise reduction type things.
We both use hearing protection when we’re working with the loud stuff. Fred, in fact, has these big dorky (um, SEXY! I mean they’re SEXY, baby!) headphones that he wears when he’s on the tractor or riding lawnmower.
* * *
That last photo of Spanky (awesome!!)-there seems to be an octopus or a hand on the bed slat…what is that???
Your question gave me the creeps, so I had to go back and look. It’s a hair clip! The spud liked to keep hair clips in handy locations for hairclipping emergencies.
* * *
I think you should keep the doll bed for the cats and as a keepsake! Maybe Spud’s daughter can play with it one day!
Oh, I’m definitely keeping the doll bed – my parents made that bed, I’m certainly not going to get rid of it! If the cats continue to use it, I’ll have to make a little bitty quilt to go on it, though – I wouldn’t want the quilt my mother made to get all cat-hairy!
* * *
couldn’t you have sent your laptop back?
Had we realized in time that there was an unfixable issue with the wireless networking stuff, maybe. But we (I) waited so long to start fiddling around with the computer, that we blew through the 30 days we had. At this point, I’m probably going to sell the damn thing on eBay and buy a damn Dell, since so many of you had good things to say about the Dells.
Those of you with Dell laptops – tell me what you have and why you love ’em.
* * *
1. You don’t post entries on the weekend. Do you stay off the computer for the entire weekend? How much time per day would you say you spend on the computer, now that you are busy with Crooked Acres?
No, I don’t remember the last time I stayed off the computer for an entire day (though I often say I’m going to just turn it off for an entire day – it’s such a time suck, I could probably get twice as much done during the day if I wasn’t running to check my email or do some journal-reading). On an average day, depending on what I’ve got going on that day, I spend around two hours, solidly, on the computer in the morning writing my entry for the day, reading email, checking on the journals I read (something I remain woefully behind on), and surfing. Once my entry’s uploaded, I tend to go off and do whatever needs to be done around the house, and come back to the computer occasionally to check email or look something up. That probably adds another hour, total, to my computer time for the day.
2. What do you and Fred weigh now?
I have a weight-loss website where I talk about all that (
OneFatBitchypoo). I don’t know how much Fred weighs, but I’m sure if I said “Tell me how much you weigh. Someone asked!”, he’d indicate his weight with one middle finger. Two, if he was feeling froggy.
3. Have you ever checked out the “lifecams” on justin.tv? and would you ever think of wearing one yourself around Crooked Acres?
I’d never heard of justin.tv, but according to the site,
The live video player streams live content produced from any combination of a camera, computer, and Internet connection. Justin.tv’s technology allows a connection to be established whether Justin is on the go, in a static location, or Lifecasting from a combination of both. Watch the live video player to see Justin’s life broadcasting 24/7. I can’t imagine ever being interested in doing that, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch it – my life’s not that interesting.
4. What veggie will you NOT grow next year that you did this year and why.
Every vegetable we’ve grown, I want to grow again next year. I don’t want to grow quite as MUCH of some stuff (less pattypan squash, for one), but so far I’ve liked everything! Oh no, wait – we did try to grow onions, and they didn’t really work out for us. Like Fred said, there are some things that are just too much work to grow, given the cost of buying them in the store. Onions are a pain to grow (you only get one onion from each plant!), and they’re inexpensive in the store, so I don’t think we’ll be growing any of those.
5. What do you think of Star Jones and all the hoopla about how she lost her weight?
Star Jones annoys me, but I think if she wants to discuss how she lost the weight (has she said? I know a lot of people are insisting it was weight loss surgery), she should. And if she doesn’t, she shouldn’t – but she also shouldn’t be surprised that people want to KNOW and ask her every time she turns around, because she’s a public figure – sort of – and when you lose that much weight, people are going to want to know the secret.
6. You guys do an awful lot, where do you get all your energy???!
Fred likes meth, but I prefer the crack cocaine.
* * *
My sister was COMPLETELY turned off by Saving Grace because she prefers her TV Preaching type shows without the cussing and gettin’ nekkid. Guess she was expecting something more like Touched By An Angel – she ended up with REALLY Touched By An Angel and got all offended. I thought it was -eh- but I might keep with it for awhile.
Somewhere – I don’t remember where – someone referred to Saving Grace (before it aired) as “Touched by a Cranky Angel”, and of COURSE I repeated that to Fred, and now every time he sees a commercial for it, he laughs and says “Touched by a Cranky Angel! Ha!”
* * *
I noticed that in yesterday’s post you mentioned Corey Feldman acts like he has a “HUH-YOOG” stick up his a**… did you pick that up from Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story? Because I’ve been reading it and there’s a lot of “smucking” and “puffickly huh-yoog” scattered all over the book. I don’t know why, but it annoys me. Did you read it? Did you like it? I have Blaze waiting for me, but I’m making myself finish Lisey’s Story before I get to it.
I don’t think I picked that up from Lisey, but yes – I did read it. And yes, the “smucking” and “puffickly huh-yoog” sort of stuff did annoy the everloving shit out of me. I find that sort of thing a little too cutesy and I think it was overused in the book. That said, I did like the book, but I’d have to say I liked Blaze more. A LOT more, now that I think about it.
* * *
Did I miss any of your questions? I got sidetracked when I was cutting and pasting questions, so if I missed any, re-ask them and I’ll get to them next week, promise!
* * *
A luna moth fluttered into the back yard. Fred tried to pick it up and move it out of the reach of the chickens, but it freaked out, and he couldn’t keep hold of it. He finally left it alone, and after a few tentative pecks at it, the chickens left it alone, too.
* * *
(Why, yes. Someone DID figure out that text thing in Paint Shop Pro!)
* * *
Previously
2006: I’m sorry, but my Aunt Fanny am I a size 40C.
2005: I suspect people as beautiful as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have to be a little bit nuts, anyway.
2004: WONDERFUL.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: A Day in the Life of a Bitchypoo.
2000: Maine recap.]]>
