Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Furry daze

I have a fur coat that I bought on ebay around 5 years ago. Yes yes I know, furs aren't pc. But this fur originated in the 50s I think, and it is not likely to cause jealousy in a viewer (to own one themselves) since I have only worn it once, to the grocery store and didn't I get some looks. Anyway, here am I with a coat I never wear, so I looked online and found a place that buys old furs. I also found links to sites that will let you transform your fur coat into a teddy bear, or a fur throw, but doing that only changes the place I would have to store it. You know, cats and all. So the sale is the way to go if possible. I needed to send along a photo of the coat, front, back, and under the lining, which I did. Now I wait for a response. If the buying site approves, I'll send the coat off for an actual bid. So, I got the coat out of storage, and oh, I remember why I love furs, it felt so luxurious, and so soft, like a horse"s nose (??). I wanted to wrap it around me and snuggle in front of the fireplace. Wrapping would be my only choice, since it is now too small to wear! Here is a photo of it:




The photo doesn't do it justice.

I'll update the information when I know more.

Meanwhile:
Does anyone know what kind of tropical fish would be good to add to a tank with large gouramis and a huge pleco? All the ones at the shops are so small, in this 35 gallon tank, I'm afraid they will be eaten by th grummys. Here is a photo of two of the fish I have:








Don't they look cute?

Oh, in addition to being fairly large, I'd like it if I don't have to mortgage the house to afford them Has anyone used the online places that ship fish?

It is currently 2 am so I'm off to sleep I hope.









Bumper sticker of the day: "I'll try to be nicer if you'll try to be smarter"

Monday, August 23, 2010

Equal opportunity

I can never think of a good title for the post post, so I'm going with random phrases now. Just so you know.

I recently read a nifty post from Hyperbole and a half in which she talks about how dumb her dog is. She details several exercises to determine how smart your dog is. Or isn't. So I tried them on Raven yesterday, and here are the results:

1.) Wait until your dog is otherwise occupied, and call out random words in the same voice as you call its name. It should ignore you; then you call its actual name, and it should respond. Result: Ignored all words AND name, paid attention only when treat bag is crinkled.

2.) Place blanket over dog and see how long it takes to get out. Result: Began shredding blanket, causing me to remove same. Blanket now smells bad.

3.) While dog watches, place treat under an inverted cup and see if dog can figure out how to get to the treat (i.e., knock cup over). Result: Ignored cup in favor of going directly to treat bag.

Conclusion: The dog is smarter than the guy who invented these tests. And me too.



Bumper sticker of the day: "I like naps"

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Anchors a-weigh

I have joined Weight Watchers as of Friday. I think what I really need is something like wiring my jaws together, but since that isn't an option unless you break a jaw, I'll have to do this the conventional way. I won't bore you with a week-by-recount, but I will probably give myself kudos as time goes on and I actually lose significant weight. I mean, where else will I have an outlet like this??

Today I got a new Kindle from a lady who couldn't use hers for what she wanted, namely Bible study. I had to fiddle with it for a while to figure out how to do a reset, to my Amazon account instead of hers, but once done, I downloaded a book (I have been looking for) tonight in about 2 minutes, so cool. Now when I am bored and can't find anything to read, the sky is the limit, with immediate gratification. AND here is the best part -- NO extra books in the house that have to go in my ABEbooks inventory and all the storage, shipping, etc., that entails. If they had come out with this say, 35 years ago, our house would be half as full as it is now. 4,000 books take us considerable space, especially when you are trying to maintain a workable place where I can find any given book. If I can get the rare and expensive ones sold, I'll donate the rest to the local library, who surely doesn't want them either, but oh well.

We went to the cemetery today and replaced the flowers with some lovely gold mums and yellow gerber daisies. They should stay nice until late fall, when the evergreens go back in. I don't really mind doing this, it's just that 90 minute drive each way that gets me. N was going to go by himself, but I guilted myself into going too, if only to keep him company on the drive. Traffic was bad, and I took Xanax twice to keep from pushing my right foot through the floorboards -- no brake pedal on the right side, don't you know.

I haven't bought/won anything online for quite a while, but just lately I have given myself over to the dark side --- the retail therapy known as ebay, to get a few minor things. Right now I'm waiting on a pair of slippers -- I wear slippers out in next to no time, and while my current pair was new in June, I like to have a replacement pair ready for the day when They become altogether too down-trodden for me. Nothing like squashy new pink slippers on my tired old feet to give me a lift. And a cheap lift, at that.

Right now there are two loud cats crying in their high squeaky voice to let me know they want in the bedroom, but no way -- they play chase-me-chase-you all night long. I'll post their photos below:





Top=BC
Bottom=Dottie

Bumper sticker of the day: "Never test the depth of the water with both feet"

Thursday, August 05, 2010

convex photos

Two weeks ago, we drove to Charlotte NC where there is a lady who can restore a "bubble" portrait. These are photos, mostly taken in the early 1900s, which were then pressed into a convex shape directly against a piece of convex /bubble glass, to give it a 3=D effect, I guess. They are fairly common here in WV, but I don't know how popular they were elsewhere. I do know the lady who is repairing ours said that she gets these photos shipped to her from all around the world, and from the appearance in her shop I'd have to agree. The rare part, she said, is the glass piece; there is only 1 manufacturer of it and if you break one you are in for an expensive and lengthly search for a replacement.

Bumper sticker of the day: "If you knew my family you'd understand"

Monday, August 02, 2010

Horse, of course

I can't recall if I have posted photos of my two horses recently, so I decided to do so here.

This is Willie, a bay gelding, about 19 years old



And this is Maybe, overo Paint mare, about 17 years old



They are brother and sister, but Maybe is WAAY smarter than Willie. This is how I know:



One day the horses were in Field "A", where there is a gate that lets them into "barn" area. But that gate is closed, (and I didn't want to open it because of a problem with the latch), and they are standing there (see the two horses?) in front of it. So in order for them to get to the barn, they needed to go from field A into field B, and then into the barn area through the open gate right next to where they are standing. Maybe figured it out right away -- the intuition that to get where she wanted to go (in the barn) she had to MOVE AWAY and then come back on the other side of the fence. But poor Willie, despite WATCHING Maybe do this, and get into the barn with her grain, he still can't figure it out, and he stands at the closed gate, screaming for Maybe to come back. I finally had to get a rope, go along the fence to the A>>B gate, and lead Willie back to the barn. Sheesh.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today, thanks for reading.

Bumper sticker of the day: "I like my minions spineless"