Don't try this at home

Crisis du jour:

Another casualty of the tile floor

• Accident: Kicked over the cat's bowl
• Another accident: Slipped in the spilled water
• Mistake: Used a fancy one-handed save maneuver
• Diagnosis: Fracture · 3rd metacarpal
• Result: 4 - 6 week vacation from blogging

Watch this, maggots!

Maggie's low crawl demonstration:

It helps to have an important goal to reach. This exercise is in preparation for learning to sneak up on the elusive Mamou Bayou Frog within the year.

From a different angle:

I can taste those tender frog legs already!

When it's chilly out ...

I'm tolerating the weekend's cold snap by turning to the comforts of wintertime sustenance. After having an afternoon mug of hot cocoa, I used the last of the chili fixin's in the pantry for a stick-to-your-ribs supper.

This dish is slightly more complicated than the other convenience-food meals I've blogged about. I'm particular about enhancing the flavor of everyday ground chuck by adding salt and a little chopped onion while it browns in the pan. After that, most of it's as easy as Mrs. Smith's pie.

• After draining the grease off the cooked meat, add a can of chili beans. Although HOT is pictured here, I prefer MILD. I typically use Bush's, but the brand is unimportant.
• Tabasco Home Style Chili Starter is a bit chunkier than I like, so I throw it in the blender and run it for 20 seconds or so, then combine it with the other ingredients.
• Like Uncle Hugh's Gorilla Beans, I fix this in a cast iron skillet for effect, but any old pot or pan will do.
• Oops, there is one obstacle to this dish that I almost forgot: Tabasco has evidently created the toughest jar seal known to womankind. I always end up getting a man to open the thing for me.

Say wut?

Me:

"So after you and your friend left for her house, I went upstairs to the game room and discovered a plate full of half-eaten hot wings on the floor, along with your empty Mountain D–"

Her (interrupting me):

"But they've only been there since last night!"

She's still my favorite

To those of you who may have wondered if the attention I've given to newborn kittens and others' pets has left my household cat been feeling neglected ...

Have you lost your mind?

Miss continues to lure me into joining her on the floor several times a day to give her the love that she SO deserves. While she was enjoying my undivided attention this morning, here's what came to mind:

You've become my magnificent obsession

So hows about joinin' my LOVIN' SESSION?

Could you guess?

Song lovin session at 1:42 · complete lyrics

Like a well-trained dog

From Is she or isn't she? 2/1/2009

Several neighbor mutts stroll through my back yard each day for table scraps. One even has me trained to respond to his bark by showing up at the door with food.

─ CarlaCarlaCarlaCarla

In response to all those reader requests for video footage of the demanding neighborhood dog at my back door —

His barking is evidently intended only to get my attention. Once he sees-me-see-him, Cowboy waits patiently while I fetch a hot dog or leftover piece of meat.

So there you have it!

Spring song

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.

Lewis Grizzard · 1946-1994
From Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

While taking a few lame landscape photos yesterday afternoon, I was treated to the happy song of a nearby mockingbird. I only wish this 15-second video shared the blooms' sweet aroma.

The hummingbird feeder has already attracted its first visitor of the year (and it's always a yellow jacket). I'm fixinta sit down with my favorite gardening catalog and begin marking all the new toys I want, starting with the perfect gloves for digging around in the dirt.

Bittersweet reminder ... My Palm Pilot beeped to notify me of my grandmother's birthday this morning. She passed away at 93 years old last December.

Born blonde

Q: What goes MEEWWWWW ... mew MEW ... mew MEW ... mew ... MEW MEW ... mew ... mew mew ?

A:

three blondes · one white · one white-with-black

Kitty's really playing to the camera here:

Good mews

Kitty's been especially restless during her mealtime visits for the last several days. What a blessing that Sarah decided to join her on the back porch this evening -- Kitty began laboring before she could even finish her supper.

She's had two kittens since this photo was taken almost an hour ago. Although Kitty's noticeably thinner already, Sarah thinks she feels about four more.

Last month's related post:

Is she or isn't she?

Updates:

8:10p With two kittens

8:50p Two kittens

9:25p Still only two kittens

·

9:30p The new mother with her first two kittens

11:30p Kitty's resting and nursing her five newborns after being moved into a large pet taxi.

---

I'm intrigued by how well things fell into place tonight:

• After a pair of neighborhood dogs had shown up to harass Kitty during her supper, she was so hissing-mad that I suggested Sarah come back indoors. She stayed though, and helped Kitty through several hours of difficult labor.
• Sarah heard and then saw signs of coyotes in the vicinity, possibly attracted to the smell of fresh meat. I suspect the kittens (and perhaps even Kitty) wouldn't have survived the night if she'd chosen to nest in an unsecured spot and have her kittens alone.
• And to top it off, Sarah's on Spring Break, so there's no concerns about getting to bed for an early morning. How great is that?

Bound for the beach

I really had this conversation in Walgreens today Me: "Don't buy Walgreens-brand sunscreen; it won't work." Her: "Good, I don't want it to work."

follow-follow-follow-follow-follow-follow

I've quickly learned to use Blogger's new follow feature, which enables me to see updates to my favorite blogs each time I sign in. Whenever I add another to the list, I'm taken back to that fateful evening in 1975 when my mother introduced my sister and me to live theater at Playhouse on the Square, and this familiar line goes through my head:

♫ follow-follow-follow-follow-follow-follow-follow ♫
followwwww

Hint: The Fantasticks

Give up? follow-follow-follow this link

And as long as we're there ...

can you stand just 30 more Fantastick seconds?

You can get the Rape Emphatic
You can get the Rape Polite
You can get the Rape With Indians
A very calming sight...

This just in!

Among this morning's breaking news headlines Obama overturns Bush policy on stem cells Merck buying Schering-Plough in a $41 billion dollar deal Nation will face higher unemployment Martha Stewart's puppy dies in kennel blast

I wish I were making this up

My mother and I were recently discussing where The Onion's creative writers dream up their bizarre storyline ideas. Shortly after I suggested that its content oftentimes mirrors the nonsense that occurs in real-life, this lovely piece of news popped up on my monitor.

Sixteen arrested in fight at nonviolence concert
Silver Spring, MD

One Million Peace Signs on flickr

Human zoom lens

Ever wonder what the view from a baby swing might look like?

Tailgater

An image similar to the one below stayed in my rearview mirror all the way down Center Hill last night. Although it was a little spooky, it brought this old favorite to mind:

A gleaming alloy air-car
shoots towards me, two lanes wide.

I was kinda glad they wouldn't pass; it would've spoiled the mood.

Check your answer:

Song air-car at 4:05 · complete lyrics

Land of cotton?

March came in like a polar bear ...