All in a Garden Green

Day 2 of 'Relax, Dammit' weekend is a go. Sorta. Successful relaxation was had yesterday. The afternoon brought a cuppa tea, Chocolat on DVD, and a purring Galahad in my lap through most of it (after I finished folding laundry). The cold has indeed settled in. More tea today, and zinc, and hot shower to try and minimize the damage. Blugh.

Project for the day - clean up the complete disaster that is my craft room. I know it can be organized, I know it. Also in doing so I will find the boxes for the snowmen and houses that are still out everywhere from Christmas... Time to put them away... Also, vacuuming and possibly taking stock of houseplants. Have gone through a little bit of attrition since last year, I think.

Two years ago this weekend, the house was in much more need of cleaning out, but it was OURS. Happy truck day for the Red Sox (Wednesday), happy two-year signing anniversary for us. Happy cats now in my lap that were still at the shelter two years ago, but we knew they'd be coming to join us soon.

Just enough snow out there (FINALLY) to make the landscape pretty, and to make all the people on the roads forget how to drive.

3 accidents on the way to work this morning, 2 within a half mile of the office. One lady looked like she'd parked her jeep very neatly in a ditch, and there was something big that happened right across the street at the quarry, but the number of vehicles around made it impossible to see what.

Me, no problems driving in, except for having to follow someone going 25 mph in a 50 for about 10 miles... the 6 other people in front of me in that little parade were getting pretty frustrated too, but there was no getting around this terrified person. The roads had been treated, and were nearly clear. Just wet, with a little ridge of slush up the middle where the tires weren't hitting. Sigh.

I expect about an inch, maybe two, by the time I head home. Hopefully it won't freeze into a sheet of ice before then.

In other news, kurlon brought home the most expensive 320x320 digital camera I will ever hold in my hands on Wednesday. Borrowed the IR camera from work, to see where the cold spots are in the house, and see which ones are semi-feasible to fix. We of course had to take some pictures of the cats too.

IR Cats

I love my glowy-eyed fluorescent demon kittes. :)

The cats, apparently, found a frog.

TINIEST CUTEST LITTLE FROGGY EVER!! :D

I heard an odd, inquisitive 'mrow?' from Galahad, followed by kurlon asking what the heck that was that the boys had found, and coming down stairs to find both cats locked on to a brown... fuzzy... thing. That hopped. Looked kinda like a moth, but no... First thought was 'Frog?' but no, that's silly. But. hopping moths? No. Got to be a frog. Covered in loose fur (I guess I should vacuum...).

The tiny little guy had gotten himself quite coated in cat fuzz, and was really not having a good time of being poked and prodded by the original producer of said fuzz, so I scooped him up, cleaned and washed him off the best I could (so much fuzz! He was a live furball!), proceeded to re-catch him several times (those itty bitty legs pack a lot of jumping power!) and keep him from getting lost forever in the gap between the stove and counter (deep dark gap, perfectly tiny-frog sized), and return him to the great wide world (undoubtedly by morning to be eaten by some bird... but I hope not), by way of Sam the Tangerine's pot.

Such a teeny little guy! Only about 1 cm long, not including his little legs. Wicked cute. No idea what species he is... (or, for that matter, if it's even a 'he'.) Little bit of excitement for tonight, at least.

EDIT: Apparently, the little fellow is a Spring Peeper! How on earth can something so TINY make such a RACKET??

I am ignoring the white stuff falling down outside. It will be gone soon.

This is a shameless kitty post.

We had the front door open yesterday, and the cats approved of the perfectly warmed front hallway. Gratuitous floof photos lay beyond here... Don't say I didn't warn you.

So, the snow appears to be done... 8-10" or so out there on the ground. I'm... almost disappointed. But not really. Light, very fine snow is still falling, but it's not going to amount to anything. Time to go clear off the walkway and driveway, I suppose.

Lancelot had taken up his usual spot on the back of the couch, looking out the window, watching the snow for a while, but both boys are currently curled up on the loveseat.

I'm gonna go get a baking pan, fill it with snow, bring it inside, and see what the cats think of it. :D

...is it sad that I'm looking forward to doing this, and finishing up what I can do on our taxes to avoid washing dishes and doing laundry? sigh...

- My cats really are perfect gentlemen... they (usually) wait for permission before jumping into a lap, don't play in the garbage, don't beg at the table, don't eat my plants (though Galahad will go after fallen leaves on occasion...). Now if we can just get him to stop his newest trick (horking on cue in the hallway if he thinks he's not getting enough attention RightThisMinute), everything will be good.

- Miso soup mix is amazing. Little packet of powder, funny little white things, and little specks of green. Add boiling water, and I get delicious broth, with big beany-things, and big pieces of seaweed floating in it! Hooray!

- Disappointed that Tazo Tea no longer appears to make 'Om'. Delicious. Green tea, little bit fruity... 'Zen' just isn't the same... I only have a few teabags left.

- Also, cannot seem to find International Coffees 'Mayan Chocolate' drink mix in the local grocery... will try some other stores this week. May have to order online, thank goodness for Amazon and free shipping.

- Recipe for delicious dinner. Take: 1 crockpot. Add: enough potatoes (cut or whole, depending on size of pot, and number of eaters) to cover the bottom, and 1 duck (stuffed with as many apples and onions as you can cram in). Surround duck with more apples and onions, if there's room, and some garlic. Put lid on, set to 'low'. Cook for at least 8 hours. Come home, roast some asparagus, have some friends over, and eat a delicious meal. Then make soup out of the carcass, save some delicious delicious duck fat for roasting potatoes later, and sigh, contented.

- Slowly but surely, the house is getting Christmassed. Candle lights in the windows, little lights on Sam the tangerine tree (our Christmas tree. It's apparently tradition now. And I'm good with it. No needles to deal with!), the skirt went around the pot this afternoon... ornaments will get put up on Monday. Still need to find an outdoor extension cord and figure out if my other sets of lights are outdoor or not so I can decorate the little trees along the driveway. Holding off (mostly), even though I've got permission this year, till after kurlon's birthday, because I can... I'm strong... the Christmas music has come out, though. I couldn't wait any longer for Mannheim Steamroller or TransSiberian Orchestra (who, I note, is not coming anywhere NEAR Maine this year... Boston's too far for a weeknight, and Rhode Island not so much fun either. BAH.).

- Tonight is both the first and last chance to see the Geminid meteor shower... supposed to be cloudy/rainy/snowy for the next several days, so this evening promises to involve a hot tub and some snacks and delicious beverages.

- Winter is coming too, in fits and starts. No accumulation yet, but we awoke this morning to snow-covered ground. Gone now, since it warmed up to 40 degrees this afternoon, but more is coming...

- And I am upset with this USPS. Specifically, our mail carrier. Who did not even make an attempt to venture past the top of the street this morning to deliver the long-awaited package containing the top to my soon-to-be-created Wardian Case. Simply left a 'attempted to deliver' note in the mailbox, and moved on. This ticks me off. We know for a fact that no attempt was made, thanks to the light coating of snow on the road, beautifully smooth and unmarred by any sort of tire tracks, save for right by the mailbox. I will have words (polite ones, not getting upset and cranky at the poor postal worker behind the counter who had nothing to do with the delivery...) when I go in to get the package. Mail carrier needs to do his/her job, thank you very much. I am far more irritated than I possibly should be by this, but what if the package had contained something *important*?? Now I can't pick it up till Friday, thanks to needing to sign for it... BAH, I say.

Sent this link to our Haushold mailing list, but figured it might be a good thing to get out to you other folks that have kitties.

Right, so... after our kittyboys have finally gotten used to their cat food and stopped doing what cats do all over the carpets (why just the carpets?? we have hardwood! so much easier to clean up!) quite so often, Iams has issues with contamination and production facilities being shut down... I haven't been able to find any of the right kind of food for weeks, and we were running really low this past week. J's mom has always fed Purina brand to their cats, so I grabbed a small bag of that, to mix with what was left of the Iams... the boys don't really like it. I don't really like it (looks and feel, not taste! haven't taste-tested it, thanks...). So in looking for something different, I found this spiffy site:

http://www.petfoodratings.net/cattable.html

All kinds of info... it's amazing and a little scary what we'll feed those little furry beasties... (read with caution... you many not want to know some of this... but there it is.) We're going to try the 'Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul' brand, cheezy name and all, but it's about the same cost as Iams, has a much better ingredient list, and the gal at the pet store was very positive and seemed informed about it. We'll see if Sr. Fluffytoes and Mr. Stripeybutt approve.

Figured I'd pass the link along, in case anybody else is having Iams issues (I can't remember/don't keep track of what y'all feed your cats... :) ).

BOTH kitties came upstairs to the loft area tonight, and decided to "help" with my emails. Lancelot was the more enthusiastic of the two, moving from my lap to the desk and back, but Galahad offered encouragement and advice from the floor, winding his way around the chair and my feet. Galahad jumped up into my lap on his own, which hasn't happened before. Happy Camille. :)

They're such good boys. Snuggly, and getting braver and less skittish every day. There was even the threat of playing tonight, as Galahad decided to see if Lancelot's tail really was attached to his butt...

Weekends were I don't *have* to do anything or keep any sort of time schedule are just simply wonderful. I enjoy events and heading home, but both usually involve a lot of driving, or keeping to at least an arrival time, or both.

Spent lots of time this weekend in the hot tub with Max and anna_mickel, where we solved the world's problems (and possibly caused some more), and tried to soak winter away. Nearly succeeded. Got rid of most of a cold that had threatened to make me miserable on Friday, anyway. Reduced to mere sniffles. HA!

Hoodlum was being wonderfully cooperative yesterday morning, and I shot him. Many times. With my camera. What a beautiful kitteh.

We never made it to Von Huene in Boston yesterday, got a late start. This was kinda OK, though, because I forgot my recorder at home, and most of the group that was musically-oriented was home with the plague (in form of a nasty head cold).

Instead, the doodlebug took us through the winding streets of Boston to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. None of us had been there before, and what a treat. Got there in time for the 'chat with the gardener', and I got to talk to her about all the wonderful, wonderful plants growing inside the huge indoor courtyard. Amazing. I know what I'm looking for in a home, now... :) All the medieval artifacts and paintings and furniture were pretty cool, though the lack of identifying labels on most of it and overly-twitchy museum guards got a bit wearing by the end.

All in all, a wonderful trip. I am still kicking myself for not even *asking* the head gardener if I could sneak a photo of some of the lady slippers they had blooming, but the signs everywhere saying 'NO PHOTOS OF THE ARTIFACTS OR COURTYARD (which has artifacts in it...). WE WILL SHOOT YOU FOR REAL" kinda made me think why bother... gah. They were beautiful. And about to be stuffed back in the greenhouse, where nobody could appreciate them... so why not let me have a photo? (because if they let me, everybody'll want one, bla bla bla...) Oh well.

Headed out shortly to make my yearly appearance at Maine Indoor Karting, for a mini-motard practice. Hopefully kurlon will come home in one piece...