How Come?

Two things I am wondering about today.

1. How come I didn't update my blog this week? I meant to at least 3 times! I even had topics!

2. How come my Halloween candy is partially eaten? *looks at Mr Swami, while hiding several of my own wrappers*

Oh. Wait. I know the answer! I got a big box of books from Amazon.com on Monday. *grins* Sometimes I like to munch while I read... What are you readin'?

Gratuitous Halloween image:


This is about the only scanned pic I can find of me in Halloween costume. I am the pirate, my friend Moira is my 'Girl Friday', the scene is my old front yard in Canada.

He Just Knocked On My Door.

The nice young man with a big, fat gun strapped to his hip.

I can see the front door from my home office window so I studied him for a minute after he knocked. He was driving a totally unmarked, older car. He was wearing a brown uniform with little braids & patches & stuff that I did not recognize (and couldn't read the patches from where I spied on him,) and boots. It was not the khaki State Patrol uniform they wear in some nearby areas - it was a much darker brown.

He knocked again so I went and opened the door. Evidently this is what I do when armed young men in strange uniforms knock on my door, I let them in!

Turns out he was from the National Park Service. My house and property are located in a strip of land along the St Croix River that is subject to bunch of rules under the NPS's Wild & Scenic Rivers Act of 1969. He said "good morning," handed me a brochure and then added "I am going to take some pictures of your house and yard. We're the National Park Service and we're allowed to do that." Then he gave me a tight little smile and nod. One of those aggressive I can do whatever I want to you type of smiles.

So I told him "yeah, okay" and he wandered off happily taking pictures.

I have no problem with NPS rangers (which is what I think he was) checking out my land, but jeesh did he have to wear a sidearm when he knocked on my door?

Thursday Updates.

1. Earlier this week I had several lovely email exchanges with a total stranger. Because I didn't check my 'send to' address before I hit send. Do you ever do that? Anyway, I sent this stranger an invitation to meet me in a nearby office, gave some very personal "sharing" type news and invited her to lunch! She emailed back saying "uh... I think you meant to send this to some other person, but thanks for keeping me in the loop." Lol! She might have come too but she had to take her mother to the dentist.

2. Which reminds me - when I worked at the U I once knew a secretary who went out with a wrong number. He called one saturday night, wrong number - but he sounded nice so they chatted and then wound up meeting at a local bar. They went out a few more times too - so I guess sometimes fate just taps you on the shoulder & knocks you on your aras.

3. My new fridge (ordered last week) was finally delivered on Tuesday. I will never take refrigeration for granted again. The french doors are awesome.

4. Restocking a fridge & freezer costs more than your average grocery store run. I spent just over $200 in all.

5. Robocalls. I hate them! TG I have caller ID so I can just let them roll by. No one ever leaves a message. I get 3 - 4 866- robocalls per day.

6. I can no longer listen to the radio in the car because of belligerent political ads. Do these people not read my blog!?! I have freaking voted already!!! Leave me alone!

7. I have carved one pumpkin. It is sort of winking & leering at the same time. Do you carve pumpkins?

8. This year I have decided to light my pumpkins with glow sticks. No more burning my fingers trying to light candles and then have the wind blow them out just as the first trick-or-treater arrives.

9. I saw the strangest Halloween display today on my way to the post office. This house had a ginormous McCain / Palin sign - like 4 ft x 6 ft ginormous. The sign was surrounded by ghosts and goblins, with one life-sized, very freaky & McCainy-looking ghoul leaning right against the side of the sign and leering down at the street. It is my theory that McCain fan spouse #1 put up the political sign over the objections of Obama fan spouse #2, and then told spouse #2 that s/he could decorate for Halloween anyway s/he wanted. Whatever happened - it's freakishly funny!

10. Today is Cleaning Lady Day. I love Cleaning Lady Day!

Well, That's It!

I'm done.
Finished with the whole thing.

*claps hands together in classic "dust off" or "all done" motion*

I just voted for president. You can stop calling me now, Mr. McCain.

I'm Getting A Pony!!!

I have always wanted a pony! Ever since I was a little girl. So Mr Swami and I have decided to pool the dregs of our 401ks and get a pony! I found one on Craigslist really cheap because her owner can no longer afford feed for her.

This is my new pony:


This is her description:
Date: 2008-10-16, 12:49PM CDT
I have had my pony Aries for about 7 years now and she is about 10 years old. Very sweet and lovable pony. I dont have the time to ride her, which I would love for her to be ridden. She is ridable but hasnt been ridden in a long time. I bought her from a childrens safety camp with a baby, but I sold him a while ago. I want her to go to a good home and I know the prices of horses has gone down so much because they cost to much to feed and there isnt really a market out there for them at the moment, So im asking a rehoming fee of $350 or best offer. Money really doesnt matter I just want her to go to a good home. Thanks! Email if you have any other questions!
-Erin

I'm a little leery of the transaction because of Erin's buying & then selling that baby - but sometimes it doesn't pay to ask too many questions on a Craigslist listing.

Now Mr Swami and I can enjoy our retirement years giving eachother pony rides. I can't wait! And if things get really really bad for us financially, I have heard that pony is very tasty. So it's win/win.

How I Spent The Long Weekend

Buying ice.
Cooking meat.

My wonderful Maytag Wide-by-Side refrigerator had a condenser malfunction that was too expensive to be worth repairing. So we had to buy a new fridge. Buying appliances is not something Mr Swami and I do well together. I like to go into stores, look at stuff, kick the tires, then buy something that seems suitable. Mr. Swami researches for hours on the internet, prints off pages and pages of stats and personal testimony, then calls stores and interrogates whichever poor, unsuspecting clerk takes his call. Only then is he willing to actually set foot into a store. So it took us a few days to finally buy a new fridge - which won't be here until next Tuesday. *groans* I hate living out of coolers!

We wanted to stay under $2,000 for our new fridge and we wound up with a Samsung of all things! Two french doors on top and the freezer on the bottom.


We bought it in black, since our other appliances are black and I don't like stainless steel.


I didn't even know Samsung made refrigerators! But I suppose it makes sense that as appliances become more and more about their electronic components that companies with a strong electronic background can add stuff like major appliances to their product line. Anyway - this fridge looks good and the doors, drawers and controls just feel good. I love that you can set an actual, digital temperature for your freezer and fridge - not just that stupid rheostat slide/dial thing. J.D. Powers gave this Samsung fridge the highest rating in consumer satisfaction - so both Mr. Swami and I are happy!

Isn't it purty?

If Mr Swami Ever Retires

If Mr Swami ever retires the first thing I'm going to do is buy myself a nice new state-of-the-art computer amd put it by a favorite window. Sheesh! What a computer hog he is!!! How am I supposed to enjoy my random computer events when he is on the darn thing every waking hour that he is home!!! And how will eBay survive without me?

Okay - he says I can use his laptop, but it belongs to the bank and has a bunch of weird security stuff I don't understand built into it. Besides, I am used to a really nice 24 inch monitor so the little lappy screen seems like slumming. Or I can use our old, old, ultimate emergency back-up computer in the corner. You know, if I want to wait 5 minutes for it to boot up, and then wait another minutes every time I want to change screens. Who has the patience for that?

So he is home one.more.day. I think I can wait that long to make blog rounds.

Wait... I hear him coming down the steps now! I suppose any minute now he will just kick me right off th

A Short List of TV People I Really Really Hate & Wish Would Just Go Away And Never Ever Come Back!

1. Jorja Fox.

Things I Just Ate For Supper

1 smallish yellow onion
1 huge clove of garlic
1 medium carrot
1/4 of a green bell pepper
1/2 of a medium zucchini
1 rib of celery
1/2 cup of shredded deli chicken (original recipe, skin removed)
1 tsp of fresh grated ginger
1 tbs of sesame oil
a little Chinese 5-spice seasoning
a little dash of soy sauce

It was delish :)

Tuesday Randoms

1. The Economic Crisis. Was caused by David Krumholtz, that math geek dude on NUMB3RS who is always solving cases for the FBI through the clever application of obscure math theorems. Turns out, Wall Street Big Bankers hired a bunch of West Coast mathematicians who wrote a bunch of clever algorithms which “disappeared” the debt risk they carried down a theoretical black hole. And even though nobody on Wall Street understood the math, and the whole thing failed the Common Sense Test – they went ahead and disappeared their debt risk so they could lend out even more money that wasn’t really there. So I blame David Krumholtz. The bastard.

2. Pears. Are wonderful this fall! For dessert last night Tom and I each had half a pear and half a banana, both sliced into bite-sized chunks and topped with half a carton (each) of strawberry-mango yogurt. Delicious!

3. Birds. The birds are already rioting at my patio window feeder. Yesterday I had full grown red-headed woodpeckers hanging off the feeder and scaring off (temporarily) the little birds.

4. Razor Scooters. My grandson forgot his here last week. Those things are heavy to mail/ship! Like, more than half the value of the scooter! So I have decided it makes more sense to just buy him a new one from Amazon, who will ship it for free. Poor kid. Forced to get a new scooter.

5. Halloween. Grandson is going as R2D2. My contribution to his costume idea was to use silver dryer vent tubing to cover his lower legs in a robot-like fashion.

6. December Birthday/Christmas. Yesterday I bought my own presents on eBay, thus freeing Tom from the hassle of trying to get me something I like. Aren’t I thoughtful?

7. Rain. It’s raining again. I hate shopping in the rain because it always pours the most when I have to transit from the car into the store or vice versa. I hate that! But Target has a bookcase I want on sale.

8. TV. I still love Rachel Maddow, my liberal lesbian commentator. I read somewhere that she goes unrecognized (mostly) in public by wearing no make-up, glasses instead of contacts, and dressing like Bravie does when Michelle isn’t home.
Reality TV. I laughed so much at the latest self-centered dummy who was evicted from TAR. He said, "well, I didn't win the money but at least I have good parents, and my good looks (pause) and oh yeah my partner what's-her-name over there." Lol!

9. Mr. Swami, who is a banker with a small ‘b’, is going quietly mad.

Nine is the perfect number.

What a Bunch of Talking Heads!

I like to leave CNN or MSNBC on a as a background while I work on my computer, but today I had to shut it off. The parade of pols congratulating themselves on 'saving America in her hour of need' or some nonsense like that! Everyone of them a modern visionary, and none of them responsible in the slightest for this fiasco. I just got so annoyed. Bunch of morons!

The War Between Cats and Dogs

My eldest daughter recently visited again, this time bringing her little Teacup poodle named Simba. Our cats were not amused. Tippy and Simba did not want to be photographed together, even though they got along surprisingly well. Cat is bigger & heavier. Tippy weighs about 12 lbs. Simba is barely 5 lbs - underneath his fluffy hair is the skinny-skinny body of a whippet!

1. Cats do not like dog drool in their water dish.
2. Dogs will eat enough cat food to make them puke every time, if you are so foolish as to leave it down.
3. Cats get annoyed when their food dish is relocated.
4. Cats do not enjoy the canine butt-sniffing fetish.
4. Cats rule!

Some other pics:


Daughter fed us well. She loves to cook, is a very good cook, and makes very healthy stuff every time! Not just sometimes like me, but every single time! This is her tofu pizza. The crust is a whole wheat tortilla. The "cheese" is tofu, garlic and fresh basil whirled in the food processor. The toppings are thin sliced tomatoes (no tomato sauce anywhere), black olives and artichoke hearts. Super yummy!


This is daughter with her little dog. My camera has developed some kind of self-imposed 2-second delay so I have started to just miss every shot! So frustrating. Just one swcond prior to this pic Simba was standing on his hind legs and daughter was looking at the camera.


Here is grandson, fixated on a Gameboy I gave him. I think he is playing Tetris here.


Just for fun - a political sign I spotted in nearby Wisconsin. I particularly like how the highly politically opinionated homeowned place the sign right by a state-placed 'go left' arrow!