miscellaneous everything

Saturday, December 11, 2010

december rose

Stanley found this rose today in the garden. It smells lovely. It will last until Slink finds it and shreds it ... but maybe if I put it up on a really high shelf ...

Twitch and the winter rose (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 12/11/10 at 02:04 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Thursday, November 18, 2010

ruby, ruby

Ruby had two operations to keep her knee cap in place. I hope this one does it. She broke the band the surgeon put in to keep her knee cap aligned.

Ruby after the first operation to keep the patella in place. (click to enlarge)

Ruby DOES NOT like her cone! (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 11/18/10 at 01:55 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Saturday, October 02, 2010

riley rose at the cider mill

Grandma Jamie and Mama Kris took Riley to a cider mill a couple of weeks ago. They posted pictures from the trip on Facebook, and I swiped a couple:

What a beautiful butterfly! (click to enlarge)

I love this photo, Riley in her little jean jacket and the pumpkins that she could fit inside (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 10/02/10 at 03:33 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Sunday, September 26, 2010

a long time ago

Somehow Stanley managed to go for years without getting his picture taken, except for this one known exception. This is a photo from Halloween in 1969—he was nearly 19 then. Gwen showed this to me when I finally got to meet her this summer and I begged her for a copy—which she kindly scanned and sent to me!

Halloween 1969 (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 09/26/10 at 03:20 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

setting up a new computer is hell

My laptop, less than three years old, bit the dust. The monitor puked pixels and zapped out. So Stanley hooked another monitor, which worked for a couple days before it, too, crapped out. Or rather, whatever controls the monitor crapped out. Pffffft—gone. The flowchart we found for diagnosing and hopefully fixing Toshiba laptop woes said “Shoot it and put it out of its misery.”

Fortunately, the first day of pixel death I headed to Toshiba to order a new one. Hmm, good deals, should cost me less than a grand these days. Hah. Not if you need it to do anything. Still, it ended up about $300 less than the one I bought less than three years ago, with twice as much hard drive and RAM and speed. And if I ordered via the chatline, I would get it within two or three days (off the shelf is what I ordered). Perfect. Thank goodness. Else I’d still be waiting for it.

I think setting up a new computer is like moving—it’s never gonna be as comfortable as you’ve gotten used to, tweaking stuff over the past less than three years. But I think I’m getting there, save some truly annoying quirks. I managed to find my very old version of WeatherBug, which I love (I hate the newer versions, too much crap and way, way too ugly). I found TClockEx, which makes the date thingie in the lower left corner display what I want it to. After several attempts, I managed to get rid of the godawful cartoon interface bubble bullshit that is the standard stuff for XP and Windows 7. You know, the twee look and feel inflicted upon us initially by Apple.

Most of the programs I need are installed—just a few more to go. I badly need to update Dreamweaver and PhotoShop, but can’t afford to yet. I still can’t get QuickBooks 2010 to send email properly—something about my profile that just isn’t taking in the Windows interface. Frekking annoying. And I think it’s AVG 9 that’s putting stupid green check marks on documents—gotta figure out if I can get rid of that nonsense. And Mozy backup is not working well at all—opened a case with them to figure out what needs tweaking to get it to work properly.

But I’ve got Pandora set up and managed to retrieve all my Firefox settings, apps, and bookmarks, so it’s starting to get more comfortable. I think I’ll be able to get some real work done Tuesday.

A DISCOVERY
Aside from my computer woes, I discovered something wonderful tonight: Blue Moon Pear Ginger Sorbet. Intense pear flavor, a hint of ginger, so good. It cost $5 for a pint—a shocking price, but there are four servings in it ... (she rationalized). Ingredients: pear, water, pure cane sugar, ginger puree, lemon juice. That’s it. One hundred calories per serving (which is half a cup). I’d be hard pressed to choose between the pear ginger sorbet and a Butterfinger Blizzard. Now I want to try the other flavors, like Lemon Zest and Peach Melba.

LESS THAN THREE WEEKS
Until we head to Oscoda. July was godawful, hot enough to kill brain cells, computer broke, lost a contract, got really sick. August is starting out better, weather has improved some, new computer arrived, work is still on the busy side, and I feel better.

But we really, really need a break and we miss Dad and the Michigan division of the family.

Our motel room is already booked for the trip out there, my new suitcase arrived a couple of days ago (I won’t get into why I needed a new one except to mention that cats can be evil creatures), and we ordered an audiobook to listen to on the trip out (Star Island by Carl Hiaasen) We’re ready already.

posted by lee on 08/03/10 at 03:36 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Friday, July 23, 2010

on the river queen

Kristine posted photos on her Facebook page—had to snag some of them because I love them so much. Jamie, Kristine, and Riley were up in Oscoda (where we’ll be, if all goes well, this time next month!) visiting Dad and on July 16, took a trip on the “River Queen,” a paddle-wheel boat on the Au Sable River.

I’m not sure in this case if “River Queen” refers to the boat or to Riley! At any rate, here are some of the photos—I’m not sure who snapped ‘em.

Jamie, Kristine, and Riley, River Queen, July 16, 2010

Papa Jim on the River Queen, July 16, 2010 (click to enlarge)

Papa Jim and Riley tell the boat where to go ... (click to enlarge)

Granny Jamie and Riley (click to enlarge)

Kristine and Riley Downey
Mother and daughter on the River Queen

Papa Jim and Riley (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 07/23/10 at 03:20 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Thursday, July 01, 2010

just ‘cause i love the photo

Riley got her first haircut yesterday, and Kris posted the photos on Facebook. For the Facebook challenged (like PapaJim), I snagged my favorite one to post here:

Riley, here with Grandma Jamie, just got her first haircut. I think they both look pretty darned good! (click to enlarge) photo by Kris Downey

posted by lee on 07/01/10 at 01:46 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Thursday, May 27, 2010

of kittens and hot may nights

Right now it’s 81° at just past 1 a.m. on a May night. May! It was 96° around 6 p.m. today. It normally gets up to 71-75° this time of year. Today it’s only supposed to get up to 79-80°. Strange weather.

We had a bit of excitement on Sunday—our neighbor Reneev and Stanley fished two tiny kittens from behind some shrubs next to Reneev’s garage. We noticed a black cat hanging around for a few weeks, so we figured they were her kittens. Another neighbor said there are four, but Blackie apparently moved a couple of them and two of them ended up in the street—not a good place given the insane and illegal traffic on our street. Don’t know where the other two ended up, but Stanley and I ended up with the two that were rescued. They looked for the other two, but they’re well hidden.

The kitties were about four or five weeks old. There is no way we could keep them—it just wouldn’t be fair to our gang of four, though Bingo was ridiculously in love with one of the kitties and probably would’ve adopted it. Bingo is a cat lover anyway.

We called Save Our Strays on Monday. They don’t save OUR strays—they only rescue animals about to be killed from New York. So they wouldn’t take them. They suggested we call PAWS here in Norwalk. We did, but the cat person wouldn’t be available for at least two days and could we please foster them until the cat person called. Well, no, we couldn’t unless we really had to—we attach way too quickly to the creatures in our life (except mice) and two days may as well have been 10 years ... So we called the Connecticut Humane Society in Westport, who took them and assured us they’d be adopted pretty fast. It cost us $20, which we would’ve donated to whichever rescue group took them anyway, and we gave them a small carrier that we didn’t need anymore (Slink is too big for it and Twitch knows how to open it and escape). We love the Human Society anyway since we got both Twitch and Ginger there.

grey kittie
This little kittie tried to play with Bingo, who was crazy about it.

The girls at the Humane Society named them Ross and Rachel, which cracked me up. We’re paying attention to see if we can find the other kittens—they must be around somewhere since Blackie keeps appearing. I don’t think Mom cat is feral—doesn’t act like a feral cat—but Stanley can’t get close to it. But we sure don’t need three wild cats hanging around so I would love to be able to find the other two and even catch Blackie, though nobody will take her if she really is feral. Too bad there’s nothing we can put out in some cat food to sterilize her so she doesn’t gift the world with more litters.

ASIDE FROM THE KITTENS
The roses climbing over the trellis this summer are so beautiful. The peonies are blooming, too, at least the ones on the sunny end.

With one light setting. (click to enlarge)

No flash on this one. (click to enlarge)

The peonies are more than two weeks early—they usually bloom in June. What’s really weird is none of our irises came up this year—I have no idea why as usually once those are established it’s very difficult to kill them. Maybe rabbits like them?

posted by lee on 05/27/10 at 05:16 AM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Sunday, May 16, 2010

sunday break

We should’ve spent today getting the garden ready for the tomato plants—though last weekend is when we planned to but thank goodness we didn’t. We had a frost last week. Today a project supersedes gardening as we have to pay the mortgage. But we took a break.

Bingo is ready to play ball—always. (click to enlarge)

Ruby, on the other hand, would rather look for things to eat. Like mushrooms. Too bad truffles don’t grow here. (click to enlarge)

Oh please oh please throw it oh please (click to enlarge)

Keeping an eye on Stanley (click to enlarge)

Here is a rare shot of Bingo at rest. (click to enlarge)

Ruby is many times utterly content to just sit and love her world. (click to enlarge)

Roses are blooming—earlier this year than usual by about two weeks. And the false indigo is also early. The roses smell wonderful—there is one on my desk right now and I can enjoy the scent as I write this.

My false indigo is blooming nearly two weeks earlier than it should be. And there are lots of buds on the peonies this year—last year they were disappointing. (click to enlarge)

The climbing roses are loaded with buds already. I love the color—especially in the twilight because they just seems to glow. (click to enlarge)

We planted these trees about five or six years ago and they were, at the time, maybe a foot tall. It seems like they really grew a lot this year. I’m just hoping they don’t get so high they block the sun from the vegetable garden. We’re getting quite a wall of green—cost us more patience than money since we bought them so small. (click to enlarge)

Tonight I’ll watch season finales of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters, alas. But now for 60 Minutes, which is mostly about the BP disaster. At least I don’t think it can make me any angrier than I already am. I don’t think ...

posted by lee on 05/16/10 at 10:31 PM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Friday, May 14, 2010

peaceful evening

Everything is gonna be ok. Really—we weren’t fighting ten minutes ago. We were just playing.

Slink and Twitch snooze while I earn their kitty kibble. (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 05/14/10 at 10:14 PM
miscellaneous everything • (0) comments • permalink

Page 5 of 60 pages « First < 3 4 5 6 7 > Last »

neurotwitch

Other Sites

Said

Search Titles

Good Reads & People

Categories

Monthly Archives

Syndicate