As Seen About Town

There is another car in this area with the license plate Tardis 1, so apparently there are a lot of Doctor Who fans in this area. Also, don't forget the house that had the Tardis land on its front porch.

 

This young lady was standing outside the house of a classmate of the Musician's, late in the afternoon. There are way too many deer in this area, but too many people don't want the deer culled, for various stupid reasons. Some idiots have actually suggested driving slower, so when the cars hit the deer the damage is not as bad. O.o  Deer being hit by autos is not the only problem, however. They are eating too much of the local foliage, and there at least two almost albino bucks wandering around within a few miles of each other, which to me indicates there may be too much inbreeding.

Yes, That's a Cute Dog...

In my continued and determined quest to find us someplace to live, I looked over pictures of a condo which is currently priced too high for us, but I was curious to see what you were getting for the asking price. One of the pictures in the listing is a picture of the owner's dog. It's a cute little dog, to be sure, but unless it comes with the condo, I don't quite see the point. Is this like having fresh-baked cookies on the counter when you tour the house?

Also pictured was one of... the floor. Just the floor. Yes, it's a slate floor. Do we need a picture of it to revel in its wonderfulness? Slate floor is listed in the description. You can marvel at its beauty when you take the house tour.

For that matter, I think with the poor economy, interest in things like slate floors and stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops is going to go way down. We currently have stainless steel appliances; I hate them but they came with the house. They are hard to keep clean. I don't know about slate floors, but granite counter tops are apparently also notoriously hard to keep nice. The place we're currently most interested in has granite counter tops; I'm interested in spite of that. As a matter of fact, there are rust-like stains on the counter top around the sink. So why have all these poncy features that jack up the price of the house but add no true value, and may add more work? When the economy was rocking, maybe, but not now.

This house hunting is frustrating, but I'm certainly getting an education!

Sad Realities

The Dancer has wanted a pet bunny for years. She has absolutely loved bunnies ever since she was a wee little thing. However, now that she is old enough to deal with the work having this pet would entail, she is torn. Having gone through the pain of losing two of our family pet cats and her sister's two hamsters, she is hesitant to get a beloved animal, only to lose it some years down the road. I feel sad that she has gone through the heartache of losing pets, even though it is part of the realities of life. I suppose someone who has never had a pet wouldn't understand, but it truly was hard looking at the lifeless form of a dear pet and realizing our time of companionship together was over. I still hope she makes the decision to bring another pet into her life to love.

Spring Really Is Coming

There are more birds around. They are dropping berry parts on our car and on our driveway.

Bunnies and deer have been around all winter, but we are starting to see them again now, which I presume is due to sunny days and ever so slightly warmer weather.

Daffodils are in the stores, even if they are not blooming outside!

Update: the Canadian geese are back too. And the Indians' first Cactus League game is today!

Good, Bad, Unusual

The good is that the weather was lovely today -- warm, and even with some sun. It was nice to have a break from the cold. And I know I need all the sunshine I can get.

The bad is that I've a little bit of post-holiday blues. At least I think that's what I'm feeling. I'm hoping as we ease back into normal living that I will feel normal too. And we're spending the New Year holidays having Christmas with my in-laws, which will be fun. I do have a lot to look forward to in 2009.

The unusual is that we saw a bald eagle in flight on the way to Great Wolf Lodge. It was an awesome sight, and the first time any of us had seen an eagle in the wild. It's neat to think we have a bald eagle (or eagles) so close to where we live, also.

Sewing with ADD

So, I have at least three sewing projects going right now: capris for me, that I cut out all the pieces and now I actually have to sew them together, doll clothes that I'm designing myself, and a purse that I have some of the pieces cut out for. I'll keep you updated on their progress; it's helping me actually buckle down and I'm hoping to finish all of these!

I was thinking that the title of this post might also be a great title for one of those sewing shows on TV. Could you see it? "Okay, today we're going to learn how to use your rolled hem foot on your machine. Oh, great, I can't find the foot. Where did it go? Oh, look, here's that pair of pants I started last fall and never finished! Well, fall will be here again soon, let's work on those. Just let me find the right color thread..." I imagine it would look something like this old but good YouTube video featuring the ADD shopping network.

Speaking of ADD, did you know I saw a mama doe with twin fawns right across the street from my domicile the other day? :) Here's a pretty good picture of one of the fawns, and you can just make out the other one behind it. I also got a picture of Mama, keeping an eye out for anything dangerous.


The Laughing Frog had a deer sighting recently too.

Ice Cream Weekend

Turns out today was National Ice Cream Day, which was very fitting, considering the kind of weekend we had. Yesterday, my husband took the family to Mitchell's for my birthday. I had the double chocolate chunk ice cream, with really creamy chocolate chunks, in case you're wondering. Later on, Wildchild was playing with a friend and got an invitation to go to Mootown Creamery with a friend, so it was a two-ice-cream-day for her.

Today, Wildchild's friend, the soon-to-be-kindergartener, came over to play, and we had ice cream for dessert after dinner. After Wildchild and I took her friend home, we were going to head over to my friend Presbytera's to drop off some things of hers, and she called and told me they were going out for ice cream and invited us along. How could I say no?? So a big group ended up going out for ice cream. And my husband, not to be left out, took the Scientist to Mootown. Which apparently is like Cold Stone Creamery, only less expensive and bigger servings. Just so you know.

Also cool, Wildchild and I saw two bucks right around the corner from the Presbytera and Chaplain's place on the way home.

Seasonal Fun

I bought a little game on ebay for my youngest daughter, who loves bunnies, and we played it for the first time today. It's made by Playmobil, it came from Germany, and it is all in German, so it was fun and educational at the same time! It's called Wettlauf um die Möhren, or Race to the Carrots. See, the bunnies have escaped their hutch and they're trying to get to the field of carrots. But if you land on a circle with the picture of the farmer, or Bauer, you get stuck with the farmer figure, and you can't get into the carrot patch if you have the farmer figure.

We christened him Jack Bauer. I wonder what he's gonna do with that pitchfork. :)

Then there was a rousing game of bunny Jenga.

Round and Round the Blogosphere

From the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, a case that makes me worry about the fate of Germany. A woman wants a speedy divorce from her husband (both come from Morocco) because her husband has beaten her and threatened to kill her. Guess what religion they are? However, the judge did not see this as a hardship case worthy of overthrowing the normally required one year between separation and divorce. Siting the Koran, the judge basically said, "Hey, men from your cultural background beat their wives all the time. No biggie." Such wonderful support for multi-culturalism and freedom of religion makes me want to barf.

From the The Wide Awake Cafe, another German denizen should be put to death, or so the activists for so-called "animal rights" say. Yes, just because a baby polar bear's mother has abandoned it, Knut, a polar bear cub who lives in the Berlin Zoo, should be killed instead of being hand-raised. Where do they find the loony bins who could advocate for the death of an animal? Well, I suppose if you keep in mind that many of these people call for the death of unborn humans, and that PETA routinely kills shelter animals (see this YouTube video for just some of the information that is out there), I guess it's not really that surprising. Language warning on the video.

Lastly, from JunkYardBlog, an interesting set of ideas on why perhaps we should rethink the decriminalization of marijuana. Now, I agree with Ace of Spades that "the plural of anecdote is not data," but I coulda told you a long time ago that marijuana fries your brain after talking to the sister of a guy who used it. He'd basically wiped his memory, not being able to remember such things as his own high school graduation, or going to visit his sister in the hospital after she gave birth. A former co-worker of my husband's, when he waited tables, went from straight A high school student, to high school dropout, to stripper, to waiting tables after getting pregnant while high (the stretch marks pretty much ended her stripping career). Props to her for having her child, though, and she and her husband (and the father of her baby) did try hard to be good parents. Now of course, libertarians also want to do away with the nanny state, but in the meantime, we might also want to think about the effect of kids throwing away their futures and ending up on the dole because of indulging in a so-called "harmless" drug.

And from yours truly, just because it's fun, some rehearsal footage from Phantom of the Opera on YouTube, with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Very cool, if you love or even like the Phantom musical!

Pet Food Recall

This pet food recall in the U.S, with over 90 brands of cat and dog food listed, concerns me. Thank God, our cats are not affected. It still makes me wonder. Will we be told the source of the contaminated product when all is said and done? Why will the FDA not identify the supplier of the wheat gluten? Is it paranoid to wonder exactly how this contamination occurred? In the meantime, I feel sad for all the people who have lost beloved pets due to this.

Article above via Lucianne.

Truly Meat, Right and Salutary

So, according to the U.N., animals raised for food generate more greenhouse gases than all cars and trucks combined? Well, Glenn Beck is hot on the story, complete with pics of those hypocritical celebrities and politicians who decry global warming and yet see nothing wrong with having a nice beef sammich. I say, if you want to reduce your "meat footprint," dig all that top sirloin, porterhouse, prime rib, and heck, even the ground beef, out of your fridge and give it to me. Pass me that chocolate milk, too.

Of course, if animals are producing so much, um, output, can we blame global warming on all our agrarian ancestors who raised animals for food and clothing, and used animals as beasts of burden and for transportation?
Hey, don't look at me

She's Not the Only One

Right now we're studying Ohio history and facts about Ohio. I told the girls that Ohio has two professional football teams and asked if they could name them. The Scientist piped up brightly with "Ohio State..." And yes, she does know the Browns too. Unfortunately, she chooses to cheer for That Team to the East, along with her father. At least Wildchild roots with me for our poor doomed football team in Cleveland.

In other exciting news, we don't get the wildlife sightings of the Quilter, but we did get to watch a neighborhood cat eat a mouse in our backyard. Yum.