popplers

Today's accomplishments

Vacation Day: Agenda

• Sleep in.
• Read newspaper.
• Drink iced latte.
• Eat waffles.
• Clean up the kitchen.
• Do laundry.
• Watch Jekyll and Burn Notice.
• Play Guitar Hero II for at least 3 hours, or until I finally get 5 stars on Institutionalized, thereby unlocking The Viking.
• Check e-mail.
• Order take-out because I don't feel like cooking.
• Switch to playing Guitar Hero: encore because I can't do any more songs on "Hard" without getting booed off the stage.
• Sleep.
  Posted by rv at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)

Bats in her… umbrella?!

I stopped off at a farm stand and bought some fresh sweet corn. We were going to a BBQ/ potluck, and I wanted to try out a new recipe for Elotes (Mexican Corn Salad). I went out on the patio to shuck the corn, opened the patio umbrella, and was startled by a really big bug. Or a bird. Oh my, it's a bat!

It was sunny and humid, and he(?) must have been roosting in the folds of the cloth. When I opened the umbrella, he unceremoniously tumbled out, coming to a rest under a chair; he lay there, stunned and confused, on the hot brickwork. Meanwhile, Chris and I retreated into the kitchen to figure out what the hell we should do. Should we move him? Does he have rabies?* Can he fly away? Is this normal? Should we go look up "bats" on teh intarweb? After about a minute of frenzied consultation, the bat looked around, figured the coast was clear, and started flying in circles around the now-open patio umbrella. It was almost like he was trying to figure out what had happened to his roost. After several times round and round and round, he gave up and flapped away.

*Thanks to the fine folks at Bat Conservation International (batcon.org), we now know that very few bats have rabies: "Bat rabies accounts for approximately one human death per year in the United States." We suspect that our visitor was a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). As a result of our encounter, we've decided to Adopt a Bat and put up a bat house. (If you have a particular bat house to recommend, or any bat success stories, please leave a comment. Thanks!)

Makin' mud pies

Inspired by Poz and Deb, I went to Applefield Farm and bought flowers and herbs and vegetables. They did not have any Felicia Daisy Blues (I asked), or I would have bought them too. We got some nifty new annuals for the two concrete planters out front, and I planted them in the rain.

We also picked up lots of herbs (parsley, rosemary, basil) and two different kinds of tomatoes. And I got a free composter (yay, Craigslist!). Planted everything except for the tomatoes, and then went inside because it was really starting to pour. And it was time for dinner, but that's another post.

Worst. Vacation. Ever.

We're back from Florida, but still deep in the throes of Martian death flu. Survived the trip home thanks to an assortment of over-the-counter decongestants, antihistamines, cough suppressants, and painkillers. My brain hurts.

Ahh, spring.

For the past few days, it has been lovely and warm. Almost warm enough to open the windows, but not quite. Warm enough to not wear a coat and hat, and to defiantly wear a short-sleeved shirt, just so you can insist, No, I'm not cold. The crocuses are starting to emerge (but not bloom). Yesterday, our backyard was bird central: titmice, chickadees, nuthatch, cardinal, junco. And so, popplers brings you poetry, surprisingly not written by Ogden Nash. The official title is "Spring in the Bronx".

Spring is sprung,
Duh grass is riz
I wonder where dem boidies is.

Duh little boids is on duh wing--
But dat's absoid:
Duh little wing is on duh boid.

I'm tired of being sick

I finally made it to the store. Bought DayQuil, NyQuil, Sudafed, and ingredients for soup. Chris made his variation on Marcella Hazan's pasta e fagioli. Italian soup is good eats.

Vegetarian Wedding Soup
Adapted from Marcella Hazan

Ingredients:

1/2 of a small onion
1/4 cup olive oil (we use extra virgin)
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
2/3 cup Italian tomatoes (preferably chopped, but purée or crushed will do in a pinch)
1 can (19 oz.) cannellini beans (Chris is a Progresso snob)
4 cups (1 package) Trader Joe's Organic Vegetable Broth
1 head of escarole, washed and torn into pieces
Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs (4-6 per person)
8 oz. dry pasta (mini penne or ditalini)
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan or Romano Cheese

1. Sauté onion in olive oil until it is pale gold.
2. Add the carrot and celery and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juice, turn the heat down to medium low, and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Add the beans and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add the vegetable broth and pepper (to taste), then bring to a boil.
6. Add the pasta and cook until very firm/chewy, about 6 minutes (depending on the pasta). Add the meatballs when the pasta is almost done.
7. Turn off the heat and stir in the escarole. Cover pot with lid and let stand for 10 minutes.

Note: if you cook the pasta too much in the second-to-last step, it will be overdone by the time the soup is finished.

Today's sick day is brought to you by the letter N and the number 2

I started feeling the beginnings of this cold on Friday morning, and I've been steadily declining since. One of the only good things about being home sick is getting to watch Bob Ross painting happy little trees this morning.

Unfortunately, I'm going to run out of NyQuil today. This means that I actually have to leave the house at some point. Denis Leary on NyQuil:

[…] I love NyQuil, man. Because NyQuil has never changed, man. It's never changed. All the other medicines are doing that inner-child thing. "we know that there's a small child inside of you, so now we have grape and cherry and orange flavor." Not NyQuil! They still have the original green death fucking flavor! You know why!? Because it doesn't matter what it tastes like! […] We have reached the point where the over the counter drugs are actually stronger than anything you can buy on the street. It says on the back of the NyQuil box, on the back of the box it says, "May cause drowsiness." It should say, "Don't make any fucking plans! Kiss your family and friends goodbye." […]

Posted by rv at 10:50 AM | Comments (2)

What's that all about?

This morning: I dreamt that we were renting a huge, beautiful house for one of our seasonal get-togethers. The house was right on the water, with lots of glass and gorgeous views. With inexplicable dream logic, Neil Gaiman was there too, giving a reading. His back was to the windows, so he didn't see the two huge tornadoes/ waterspouts that were heading toward us. After a moment of stunned silence (and some gawking at the weather phenomena), we all hurried to the basement for safety. I don't know what happened to Neil.

Then I woke up. Chris made waffles, and we watched Underdog. I'm happy to say that the rest of my day made more sense than my dream.

The taming of the shrew

In an effort to keep rodents from chewing on the S2000 while it's in storage, we've deployed a number of countermeasures: moth balls, D-Con mouse poison, an electronic ultrasonic doodad, and the good, old-fashioned snappy trap.

I went out to the garage to check the traps, and was surprised to find two critters that clearly were not field mice/ voles. A bit of Googling convinced me that the little guys were Blarina brevicauda: the short-tailed shrew. Venomous mammals— how cool is that?!

[…] Shrews are without a doubt one of the most ferocious mammalian predators--as one naturalist put it, "the tigers of the small animal world." But thankfully, due to their small size, their prey consists largely of earthworms, snails, slugs, insects, and other invertebrates. Occasionally they will resort to small amounts of plant material, but the real "beasts" are more likely to take on other small rodents, salamanders, and snakes. To further add to their charm, shrews are one of the few venomous mammals in the world. Their saliva contains a powerful toxin that can cause a painful reaction in some humans, but is more useful in immobilizing its prey. The immobilized prey can be cached alive to serve as a larder of food that will remain fresh for several days. […]

Posted by rv at 11:15 PM | Comments (5)

It's still snowing!

I really wish we'd moved the car into the garage last night. It looks very sad.

It's snowing!

First snow. Pix later.

The Swedish are coming! The Swedish are coming!

Boston Globe on the IKEA impact:

No doubt part of the attraction is its exoticism. In a nation of retail uniformity, IKEA, founded in Sweden in 1943, offers shoppers the pretense, at least, of being someplace else, and more interesting. It's not only the Swedish signage, restaurant menu, and the Scandinavian furniture design; but the strikingly un-American egalitarianism in the corporate structure: The curious way employees are referred to as ''co-workers," for example; the way IKEA designers with refreshingly unfamiliar names like Monica Löfven or Carina Bengs get acknowledged in the catalogs; the collegial we're-in-this-together spin to the marketing.

Today's public service announcement

Three things that I hate about Juniper Bank and my TiVo MasterCard:

• Phone tree rigamarole. I realize that this is pretty much par for the course when dealing with a faceless corporation, but why do I have to enter in my personal info, then provide that same info again when I actually talk to a customer rep?

  Side note: Find-A-Human has a great cheat sheet for cutting through the annoying bramble of IVR (interactive voice response) choices for banks, cell phone companies, computer tech support lines, etc. (Alas, no entry for Juniper Bank.)

• I am used to dealing with customer support. There is nothing wrong with calling it that. When I dial a toll-free number and am told to "please hold" because a relationship manager will be right with me, I want to throw up. I want the person to solve my problem, not offer me marital counseling or dating advice.

• Evil and exorbitant $39 late fee: I missed the payment deadline by 90 minutes, but my relationship manager (and her equally helpful supervisor) refused to waive the fee. Apparently Juniper had waived the fee once already (when I missed it by less than a day), so they won't ever do it again. The reps don't have a vested interest in keeping me as a customer, so it's no surprise that I didn't having any luck convincing them to set things right.

In a nutshell: if you're thinking about getting a credit card from Juniper Bank, don't. Go to your local credit union instead; you'll be glad you did.

Birdhouse in your soul

For the second year running, I am happy to report that our birdhouse is occupied by chickadees. Today, I was outside gardening (i.e., pulling up hundreds of maple samaras that have fallen and are now sprouting in the lawn). The weather was gorgeous today, sunny and in the 70s. While I was weeding near the birdhouse, I distinctly heard peeping. No pix from our nest, but these should give you an idea. I particularly like the little punk guy in the last photo.

Snow keeps on coming

Here are some pix of all the snow that we've had recently. On Saturday, it snowed big, wet "heart attack snow". It looked beautiful, but man! was it heavy. Built a snowman because it was such good packing consistency. Shoveled out on Sunday afternoon, which was bright and sunny. Unfortunately for the snowman, the warm and sunny has persisted— I came home from work this evening and he no longer had a face. (Aieee!) The carrot and his eyes were lying on the ground, as if he'd been the victim of some horrible Raiders of the Lost Ark-style special effect. It may be too late to save him, but it's been quite a winter (and there's more on the way)!

Living in Pleasantville

Today we decorated Dave's truck and "marched" in Maynard's Christmas Parade. Got up early (for a weekend) and headed over to Artspace to help The Misfits assemble Acme Theater's parade entry. We had garland, lights, greenery, Christmas music, and a 5' inflatable [strap-on] Mickey. Minnie Mouse and Pluto were there, too.

The truck came out pretty well. We tied a wreath onto the front grille. We put up a cloth banner over the tailgate to advertise the upcoming Concert for the Holidaze. And we went nuts with the garland and greenery and lights. Cold weather (and windy!) but we got it all together.

The Misfits raided the costume closet and we had an interesting mix of characters accompanying our "float": Henry VIII, a sheriff, an elf, Tigger, five members of Dangerous Liaisons, and a silly wizard (think Mickey in The Sorceror's Apprentice, not Gandalf).

Tigger was clearly the most popular with the under-10 set (and not just because she had the box of candy), but the fancy French costumes also got some compliments. [I didn't have my camera with me, but pictures were taken. If I can get copies and scan them in, I will. We may never see Chris in period costume again, but he looked darned good.]

The actual parade was more fun than I would have expected. Santa arrived via helicopter, which was pretty cool. The helicopter buzzed Main Street a few times (with Santa waving to the assembled throngs), then landed in the parking lot of Clock Tower Place. Santa's sleigh was not pulled by eight tiny reindeer— it was on top of a flatbed from Butler Lumber, not far behind the Maynard High School Marching Band. We were in front of the EMTs and the marching band, and behind the Night Before Christmas float.

The parade route looped around the downtown area and back to the Mill (total time: about an hour), and then we all went out the Sit 'n Bull for burgers and beer. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Cold shower

Went up to NH last night to celebrate Sean's birthday in the usual fashion, with food and games and CAKE! The first snowfall of the season made for sloppy travel, but Chris was kind enough to drive up and back. It was still snowing when we arrived home, slid our way into the driveway, and stumbled up to bed. Woke up to a pretty, snow-covered landscape. (Note: the first snowfall of the season is always pretty.) Brewed a pot of coffee and was starting to think about breakfast when Chris commented that the faucet was taking a really long time to run hot.

Went down to the basement and learned that our hot water heater had bought the farm. <sigh> Turned off the water and started draining the water heater, bucket by bucket by bucket. Called a few plumbers, but I wasn't hopeful— trying to find a plumber on a Saturday afternoon? Inconceiveable. Lucky for us, K. called and recommended Roczynski Plumbing and Heating. I called and got their answering service, but they called back quite promptly. 6 hours and $1100 (ow) later, we have a new 50-gallon water heater and hot water! Yay, hot shower!

Reeking havoc

I was outside for most of today, raking leaves. At one point, I heard some yelling from next door. At first, I didn't think much of it, since I often hear yelling from next door. (They have 2 young kids who often play in the yard.) But then I thought I saw a shadow near the garage, so I went to investigate. There were a few of the neighborhood cats running around, and a prominent aroma of skunk. Ohhh-kaay.

Neighbor guy said that there was a skunk running around in his yard, and that it might have gone into our garage. Krep. I took a few steps in and looked around, cautiously banging my rake against the cement floor. Didn't see or hear anything unusual. Everything smelled like skunk, since it had sprayed right next door in the yard. Neighbor guy had already called the animal control officer, so there wasn't much to do. I went back to raking.

Animal Control showed up, and started poking around in the garage. He found the skunk right away, hiding in the back corner behind some lumber. The skunk was not interested in coming out, and was getting more and more irritated at being disturbed. He seemed to be hopping up and down (hopping mad?) and he sprayed inside the garage at least once (maybe more) while Animal Control was trying to coax him out. Stinging.

I moved a lot of stuff out of the garage so that the skunk would have a clear path to leave, then stood back and waited. The Skunk Whisperer kept on rattling things and poking into the corner with a broom. Finally, the skunk bumbled out of the corner and headed out of the garage. Unfortunately, he made a beeline for the neighbor's yard and immediately hid underneath his shed.

I shut the garage door before any other mustelid refugees set up shop. I'd love to say that the skunk trotted off into the sunset to share his odor with the world, but it was not to be. The Animal Control guy came back with a gun, shot the little stinker, and took the carcass away in a plastic bucket (with a lid). I assume that they were worried about rabies, but it was sad to see the little guy meet a premature death. And the garage is still nasty.

Hmm. I wonder if he'd eat the garden gnomes.

Pricy, but you have to admit-- it would make quite a statement.

Admit it. You've always wanted a giant Cthulhu statue. Now you can have it. Nethercraft's interpretation of H.P. Lovecraft's Great Old One is perfect for home or office, and makes a thoughtful gift... just imagine their faces! When placed in the front yard of your home, it also does a great job of deterring door-to-door solicitors, and, well, almost everyone else too.

Ahhh…

My first-ever blog posting from outside!

The 21st century-- no flying cars and jetpacks, but still not bad: I'm working from home, sitting at the patio table. There are birds all around. Sean's wireless card (and the newly-arrived wireless hub) work great. And I have a spiff new optical mouse. There are worse things…

p.s. Did I mention that I was eating a Krispy Kreme doughnut and drinking an iced coffee?

p.p.s. Neener neener.

Ook, ook.

Gung hei fat choi! At long last, the Year of the Monkey has arrived! Didn't do much to celebrate; just spent a quiet day at home. Chris got a haircut and went to the post office to get some of the new Monkey stamps. Had Chinese dessert in honor of the holiday: shared a dan tat, a coconut tart, and a jin dui. Folded about a gazillion origami cranes for our friends (252 down… only 747 to go!)

Life at home

Spent over an hour outside, shoveling and trying to get things clear before everything froze into a skating rink. After we finished, I saw a few juncos hanging around, trying to scrounge something to eat. I opened the door to throw a handful of seed out into the snow (and some corn for the dang tree-rat), and scared them all away. A little later, I looked out the window and noticed that there were 6 or 7 juncos feeding and flying around.

As you can probably tell, it's been a pretty uneventful day. Watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (brilliant!), wrote out some Christmas cards and thank you notes, and uploaded some new photos. The latest: our trip to Florida and a recent family get-together.

Tweet. Tweet.

Finished setting up the Christmas lights this morning, so we won't be trying to string lights during the impending snowstorm(s). It's 20 degrees outside-- brrr. Stocked the bird feeders and the corn gizmo that we've been using in an attempt to appease the squirrels. Today was the first day in recent memory (possibly ever) that we've actually seen a bird using the birdbath! A mockingbird came for a quick drink, then flew off-- I guess that heated birdbaths do bring birds to your yard in winter. Thus far, it seemed like the only use it was getting was squirrel hot tub parties.

It's a blue world, Max.

What I've Been Doing While I'm "Unemployed" (Part 187 of an eleventy-seven part series): home improvement. At long last, the bathroom saga (which started in February 2002, as I recall) has come to a close. Maybe it could be an opera, like The Ring Cycle, only shorter. (Yeah, I can picture that conversation: "Hello, Mr. Glass? I'd like you to write an opera about my bathroom." <CLICK> <dial tone>) But I digress… Today I am happy because my bathroom is blue!