September 2009 ArchiveSeptember 28, 2009
Made
it home from DC safe and sound! Was a great trip too. We didn't get to
see everything we wanted but we probably would need at least 2
weeks there to do THAT. I'm really bummed we didn't get to go to the
National Zoo but on our last day, when we thought we could go, it was
raining in the morning. So no zoo this time. :( I'd like to go back in
the spring maybe and pick up where we left off. We did manage to hit up
4 of the Smithsonian museums and do a tonnnnnnnnn of walking/exploring
around in the short time we had. You know, that's really my kind of
vacation - a WORKING vacation. Sitting on the beach is for the birds.
lol I find that sort of thing soooooooooooooooo boring. (Apologies to
the people who love that sort of thing - it's just not my thing.) I
want to DO STUFF, you know? My idea of hell would be a week-long
cruise. *shiver* And how adorable is Arlington, VA? We stayed there, in
the downtown area, and it was pretty awesome. Loved all the great food
places they had, loved that it was just a short walk to the subway
(which we used the hell out of even though we had our car). It seemed
like a very young, hip crowd. My kind of place - even though I'm not
all that young any more and I'm CERTAINLY not very hip. Hehehe. :)
Didn't take many pictures but I can replace that photo below that I 'stole' from the internets with one of my own. :)
September 21, 2009Hubby has the week off so after tomorrow, we will be located here: Going
to D.C. for a few days to do some site-seeing/museum browsing. I went
there for a week when I was 17 for a HS civics thing but the week was
CRAZY INSANE BUSY and jam-packed with this, that, and the other so I
don't remember much other than 1) getting to sit in on the Oliver North
goings-on at Congress and 2) a (very) quick meeting with President Bush
the first. Oh, and they paired us up with roommates from other states
to encourage 'connections' and I clearly remember my roommate being
naked as a jaybird a goodly amount of time, which was quite shocking as
I don't come from a Naked Family, ya know? So Oliver North, Bush, and
some girl's nipples/pubic hair. (Mind you - she had a very pleasant
personality. And it must have been nice in some ways to be so
self-confident at that age, which was something I definitely didn't
have.) I know there was a lot more to that week but that's what I
mostly remember 20 years later. lolIn the meantime, I will be
caught up with all pending bead orders by tomorrow afternoon - rest
assured I'm not abandoning ye who are waiting for beads. Anyone
who puts in an order after Tuesday, I should be able to get those
mailed out next Monday. No big waits for anything - promise! :)We
picked up the new Dan Brown book last week but haven't had a chance to
start it. I almost wish we had so we could make a point to visit any of
the places in the book if we wanted to while we are in D.C.Maybe I
can read some in the car down there. I'm hit or miss on reading in a
car though - sometimes it makes me ill and sometimes I'm ok. The thing
I do BEST in a car is SLEEP. Hehehe. Once that sun hits me, it's
bedtime for bonzo. (Which is why you won't see *ME* behind the wheel
at any point on this trip if I can help it.) So I'm not counting on
getting any reading in but you never know!
September 15, 2009You know what time it is?Time to harvest the honey!  Not that I had a *thing* to do with 'our' bees and/or any harvesting, mind you. Me no likee the bugs. :)(But
I *do* likee the honey in my tea. Or drizzled over fresh peaches. As a
dunking sauce for fried chicken tenders....I could go on. It's all
Yum!) He got roughly 6 lbs of honey from the one hive (roughly 9
jelly jars worth). Which he was disappointed with, I have to tell you,
and I told him to suck it up because a lot of first years don't get to
harvest ANYTHING. (Hell, the local person he's been talking with lately
wasn't able to harvest any honey for his first TWO years!) High
expectations much? *cough* It's a mystery as to why the color is
such a dark amber/maple syrup color because who knows what the bees
were eating in this area to make it so but the taste is sweet with
very, very little bitterness to it. Very yummy. I like it better than
the super 'cloverly' ones you get a lot of times at the supermarket.
Those can sometimes be a little.....strong for me. Now it's just a
matter of figuring out how much to gift and how much to keep. They are
very preciousssssssss, ya know? :)Now he just has to get the hive
to live through the winter (sometimes iffy in this area of the country)
so they can get a head start in the spring on more honey. A local guy
just harvested FORTY pounds from his established hive. FORTY POUNDS!
That's a lot of honey. If we get that much next year, I'll be sure to
do a giveaway of a bottle or two on the site. :)In other news,
I've got a feisty, bratty, high-strung, fresh feline if you want him.
He's going through his 'Terrible Twos" at the moment and is just *too*
fresh for words. Lil bugger. It's a good things he's cute!! Because I'm
not kidding when I say I'm getting a wee bit exhausted from having him
hanging from my clothing, biting and fighting and generally being a
pain. Oooo, he's trouble! You always forget how much work kittens are.
They have absolutely NO manners. lol Though he's doing pretty good at
learning SOME. He knows what 'No biting!' means - he will stop biting
and lick you to death instead when you say that to him in your 'mean'
voice. He comes when he's called 98% of the time. (Taught that one with
the use of treats.) I've been teaching him to fetch but that one is
pretty sporadic. Some days he's getting it 4-5 times in a row and then
the next day he's not interested.  I
like this picture because you can see that his 'black' spots, except
for his face mask aren't black at all - they are an orange-tinged
brown. (And if you click on the bigger pic you can see his damaged
right eye. So much better than it was! There is a dense cloudy spot off
to one side, not seen here, and a slight haze over most of the rest of
the eye, which I think you can make out. Cosmetically, it makes the eye
look a little 'dull', nothing major. Physically, who knows? I would
think his vision is at least a little fuzzy but it's not like he'll
figure out he's not 'normal'. My deaf cat copes just fine with her
'disability' and this lil guy will do just fine with his too!)
September 11, 2009
Some new beadies are up!! New Halloween fairies and the return of the Lil Monsters.
Is
it tacky to update with new stuff on September 11th? I had a moment
there where I wondered if I should. It still seems like the day should
be a quiet one. It hasn't stopped hanging over us, I think. But life
does go on. And who cares about beads in the grand scheme of things,
eh? Little bits of nothing. Pretty nothings that we must have but they are nothings nonetheless. Enh. Maybe I am too maudlin today. lol
September 9, 2009 Working
on some new stuff though I have to admit it's hard to get away from
doing Halloween stuff. I just love doing those *so* much. :)Will
have them up tomorrow or Friday. (And I plan on offering these little
guys WITHOUT the wings as well, for those that want just a 'trick or
treater'.  I think Winky's name is slowly being changed to Booger. Hehehe. That's what I seem to be calling him all the time. Come 'ere you little booger! Where'd that lil booger go???It
works well with many different applications. Today is the first day
we're trying having him out all the time vs. putting him downstairs in
the bathroom when we can't keep an eye on him. He's been here two weeks
now so 1) his bladder is two weeks older and he doesn't need a litter
box every 20 minutes and 2) his brain is two weeks older and can map
out more than 100 square feet to remember where his litter box
is.........I hope. So far so good. Because I have to say, having him
downstairs is tiring and he cries non stop when I can't 'babysit' him
any more and have to put him back. So he's had a good day terrorizing
the other cats, eating their food, and generally racing around like his
tail is on fire. He finally collapsed a couple hours ago and is now
napping behind a throw pillow on the couch. lolI did take him back
to the vet last week to get a couple more medications for his eye. It's
doing much better but won't ever be 100%. The red spots and swelling
have gone away so he's leaving it open almost all the time. Half of
that eye is still completely clouded over though. *That* probably won't
get much better as it is most likely corneal scarring. But we're still
giving him the meds - the cloudy area might shrink a little. (I feel
his pain, quite literally, because my own cornea issues are still
ongoing. Your eyeballs take a long time to heal. *sigh*) Now if I can
just find somebody to adopt him, all will be right in the world. :) 
September 1, 2009The
little pooper is doing a lot better. It's amazing what just 5 days of
good nutrition and care will do for a little kitty. He's been bathed,
had his nails trimmed, fattened up and even socialized a bit. Still a
little skittish but he's a cuddly love bug. I'm rather surprised at
how nice his temperament is given he's a stray. Though I guess it helps
a lot that he's still a baby and looking to be mothered. It's not ALL
good news though - at this point, I don't think his right eye is going
to heal properly. It was completely crusted over the first couple days
but the medicine has worked as far as that and he keeps it open at
least some of the time now. But the eye that is in there
isn't......very pretty when you get up close to it. I think I might
call the vet tomorrow just to make sure there is nothing else that he
can be given to help it some. Time will tell I guess. There are worse
things than being a half-blind cat but I had hoped it would be doing
better just because it would make it easier to find him a home.
Hopefully his nice coloring and cuddliness will make up for it.  Taking
pictures of him is pretty much impossible because he's a ball of
energy, just running around from toy to toy. He's still confined to my
downstairs bathroom most of the time, though we made a faux screen
'door' so at least he can see/hear what is going on in the house and
the bigger cats have to go by him on the way to their litter boxes.
(They're not very happy with that though, the big babies. lo) A couple
times a day, I let him out to run around downstairs so he can get used
to being around furniture and stuff. So far he's ignored the furniture
and just focused on his toys. lol Thankfully, I have a big stockpile of
them from when all the other cats were kittens. They start out playing
with EVERYTHING you throw at them and then get old and boring and will
only play with those tiny furry mice. lol So I've ended up with a big
pile of toys only kittens will love. It has come in handy. Oh!
And we've spotted his brother/sister a few times now on that same road.
(It's right around the corner from here - my road only has one way
'out' so we have to go on that road, either right or left, to go
anywhere.) He's gray with white paws and looking like he's one meal
away from dying. Poor thing. He's a lot more skittish though, probably
because his eyes aren't crusted over and pretty much useless like it
was with this little guy. I think that's the only reason we caught this
one. So gray kitty is on his/her own. :( Back to Articles |
