Scribblings

Book Meme

2009-03-10T12:28:54Z

Just found this in Daniel's LiveJournal:

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Instructions:
1) Bold those you have read.
2) *Star the ones you loved.
3) Italicise those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman *
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott *
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (required reading--yawn)
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell *
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (again, required reading--yawn again)
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (saw the movie; does that count?)
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (required reading, but enjoyed)
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett *
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White *
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare (Er...isn't Hamlet part of the complete works of Shakespeare?)
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Looks like 26...again, counting seven Harry Potter novels as a singleton and the three Pullman books as one as well. And where is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which usually turns up on these lists? One of my favorites of all time.

Today in History

2009-01-27T19:55:35Z

January 27, 1967
Astronauts die in launch pad fire

A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, kills astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee. An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire. The astronauts, the first Americans to die in a spacecraft, had been participating in a simulation of the Apollo 1 launch scheduled for the next month.

The Apollo program was initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) following President John F. Kennedy's 1961 declaration of the goal of landing men on the moon and bringing them safely back to Earth by the end of the decade. The so-called "moon shot" was the largest scientific and technological undertaking in history. In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to travel to the moon, and on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. walked on the lunar surface. In all, there were 17 Apollo missions and six lunar landings.

Writer's Block: What Kind of Wonderful?

2008-12-24T22:40:37Z

A lot of people love the film It's a Wonderful Life. Some people find it to be not so wonderful. Do you have a favorite holiday-themed movie? And if so, what is it?

View other answers

The Homecoming
The House Without a Christmas Tree
The Gathering
The Bishop's Wife
A Christmas Story

Fun with Words

2008-10-08T21:00:24Z

My sister-in-law sent this awhile back as a video, but it's good in just plain form:

What nine-letter word in the English language continues to remain a word when each of the nine letters is removed one by one?

The word is

STARTLING
STARTLING = STARTING
STARTING = STARING
STARING = STRING
STRING = STING
STING = SING
SING = SIN
SIN = IN
IN = I

Getting to Know You Meme

2008-08-06T01:39:48Z

From Vampry's LiveJournal:

1. What is your occupation right now? Purchasing agent at CDC.

2. What color are your socks right now? White.

3. What are you listening to right now? What's My Line rerun from GSN.

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Chicken thigh with onion gravy and plain white rice, with a pumpkin muffin for dessert.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? I'd say no. I HAVE driven one, and shifted directly from second to fifth!

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My team leader.

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes.

8. How old are you today? 52.

9. What is your favorite sport to watch? Dog agility or horse jumping.

10. What is your favorite drink? Milk. Especially milk with coffee syrup in it.

11. Have you ever dyed your hair? No, but I've always wanted to be a redhead.

12. Favorite food? Chicken soup with rice.

13. What is the last movie you watched? In the Shadow of the Moon.

14. Favorite day of the year? Christmas, of course!

15. How do you vent anger? Walk around talking to myself a lot (or yelling at the computer, since half the time that's what I'm angry at).

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? My stuffed grey poodle, Fifi.

17. What is your favorite season? Autumn.

18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries, cherries, cherries!!!!

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Sure.

20. Who is the most likely to respond? Emma.

21. Who is least likely to respond? Mike or Rodney. (Or Jen, 'cause she's in China.)

22. Living arrangements? House, with husband, one terrier and one budgie.

23. When was the last time you cried? Can't remember.

24. What is on the floor of your closet? Shoes, plastic containers, a set of shelves, some storage bags.

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Don't know.

26. What did you do last night? Watched Mythbusters.

27. What inspires you? Nature's beauty.

28. What are you most afraid of? You want a list? Fire. Enclosed places. Dying. Drowning. Snakes. Worms.

29. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Plain.

30. Favorite dog/cat breed? Collie / Maine coon.

31. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.

32. How many states have you lived in? Two.

Library Lovers Month Meme

2008-02-08T20:41:40Z

From Dani Torres' blog, reference the Library Lovers site.

How do you plan on celebrating Library Lovers month? Well, if my interlibrary loans come in, by going to the library! I have requested three books plus withdrew one today before making out all the paperwork.

How often do you accidentally spell library as 'libary' when you're in a hurry? Occasionally when I type too fast.

What is the most amount of books you've ever had checked out at one time? Regularly? I think only six. I started using the library at the time when there were limits of two and three books and the number has gotten ingrained in my head. The junior high school I went to used to allow students to take out up to ten books for the summer (yes, the entire summer!). The ten would always include my favorites: The Family Nobody Wanted by Helen Doss, What Katy Did/What Katy Did at School by Susan Coolidge, Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Robert Heinlein, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Morning of Mankind (an anthropology book), Especially Dogs by Gladys Taber, The Story of Walt Disney by Diane Disney Miller (the only bio of Disney back then), and The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy. (I own all of them now, BTW.)

What is the longest you've ever gone without visiting the library? Four years. I never went to the library in Warner Robins.

What is the biggest fine you've ever had? A couple of dollars. I've always managed to get out of the fine because there shouldn't have been one. I had a running problem with the Cobb County library--every time I returned books by putting them into the book drop I would get a call from the library saying my books were late. Once they told me I had a library book that was three weeks (!!!) late when I returned it at the same time as another book (which they did have on record that I returned). Now I always take them inside and hand them to the librarian.

When you go to the library, do you plan ahead and make a list? Or do you browse? Both. Today I went looking for something specific and brought just that home, since I have so much to read here already and had bought the Dresden novel and the mystery book that was on the remainder counter (and Master of Sunnybank enroute). Usually I go to return books and have to make an effort not to take out more books.

Have you ever been shushed by a librarian? No.

What is the worst (against-the-rules) thing you've ever done in the library? Nothing.

What's the worst thing you've ever done to a library book? I had just finished reading about three distressingly depressing required-reading books for college which I had withdrawn from the library rather than purchasing and in the middle of the fourth--Joyce Carol Oates' Wonderland--I snapped when I found out the main character was cheating on his wife and threw it against my bedroom wall. It was soundly bound and didn't hurt the book but I was morose for days after. (I still remember all these books vividly and did not realize why I found them so incomprehensible until over 20 years later; every single one of them was about a middle-aged man going through a mid-life crisis.)

Have you ever had a "favorite" librarian? I don't remember much about any of them. The ones at the junior high library were nice. I didn't go much to the public library as a kid because the closest libraries were both over a mile away and it was a long boring walk by myself (we only had one car and Dad took that to work). When I finally started taking the bus downtown on my own I got a card to the Providence Public Library since they had a better selection of books.

If you could change one thing about your library it would be... More books! What I want to read is usually only available through interlibrary loan.

TV Meme

2008-01-18T00:26:57Z

Bold those you've seen at least three times.

24
30 Rock
7th Heaven
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc.
America’s Next Top Model/Germany’s Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bionic Woman (old)
Bionic Woman (new)
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Common
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle’s Show
Charles in Charge
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Chicago Hope
Cold Case
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Criminal Minds
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci’s Inquest
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new)
Dragnet
Due South
Early Edition (series)
Earth 2
Ed
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Even Stevens
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly
Frasier
Friday Night Lights
Friends
Futurama
Get Smart
Ghost Hunters
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Wing
Grey’s Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Heroes
Hogan’s Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Invader Zim
Invasion
Hell’s Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Jericho
Joan of Arcadia
Joey
John Doe
LA Law
Las Vegas
Laverne and Shirley
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Life on Mars
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle
Married With Children
Martial Law
Melrose Place
Miami Vice(I'm assuming they mean the original and not the 80s remake)
Monk
Moonlight
Moonlighting
Mork & Mindy
Murphy Brown
My Life as a Dog
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Reno 911!
Rescue Me
Road Rules
Rome
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Superman (I'm assuming this refers to The Adventures of Superman in the 1950s)
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Colbert Report
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Mythbusters
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Tudors
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
Third Watch
Three’s Company
Torchwood
Top Gear
Tru Calling
Twin Peaks
Twitch City
Ugly Betty
Veronica Mars
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls
Xena: Warrior Princess

Happy Birthday to Vampry!

2007-12-15T05:59:44Z

A bit late in the day, sorry. Was a bit under the weather with arthritis today.

TV Meme

2007-11-29T18:20:25Z

Tip o' the hat to Vampry, who got it from Kradical.

01. Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice:
Lassie, Get Smart, Remember WENN, Babylon 5, Star Trek (should I go on?)

02. Name a show you can't miss:
House, Torchwood, Dr. Who, Monk, Jeopardy, This Old House

03. Name an actor who would make you more inclined to watch a show:
Sam Neill (like he's gonna do regular TV!), Hugh Laurie, any of the Remember WENN cast, especially Kevin O'Rourke and John Bedford Lloyd

04. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show:
Johnny Depp, Leonardo DeCaprio, Julia Roberts, and even a cameo by Gilbert Gottfried!

05. Name a show you can and do quote from:
Star Trek, Babylon 5, Lassie, Get Smart, Remember WENN (gee, this list looks familiar)

06. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys:
Um...don't know.

07. Name a TV show which you've been known to sing the theme song:
My Mother the Car! (Yes, I still remember the words. I was nine when it came on; gimme a break)...

08. Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch:
House.

09. Name a TV series you own:
Oh, dear God...Babylon 5, Get Smart, UFO, Thunderbirds, first two seasons of House, first three seasons of All Creatures Great and Small, Kimba the White Lion, The Good Life (Good Neighbors), Doctor in the House, Alistair Cooke's America, Voyagers, what's released of McHale's Navy, first two seasons of Monk, Futurama, Jonny Quest, Flambards, M*A*S*H, black and white Superman episodes, all of Hogan's Heroes but sixth season, From the Earth to the Moon, Kolchak, Lone Gunmen, first and first half of third season of Lost in Space, second and third seasons of Quantum Leap, season five of The Waltons...I better quit...

10. Name an actor who launched his/her entertainment career in another medium but who has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television:
I know there's someone, but I can't think of them.

11. What is your favorite episode of your favorite series?
"Lassie's Odyssey," Lassie
"Island of the Darned" and "99 Loses CONTROL," Get Smart
"Radio Silence" and "Close Quarters," Remember WENN
"Merry Gentlemen," All Creatures Great and Small
"The Trouble With Tribbles," Star Trek
"The Trial of Phineas Bogg" (and "Merry Christmas, Bogg"). Voyagers
"Three Stories," House
"Silly But It's Fun," Good Life (Good Neighbors)
"Settling In," Doctor in the House

12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch but you just haven’t gotten around to yet:
None.

13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad?
Providence.

14. Name a show that's made you cry multiple times:
Hands down: "Lassie's Odyssey."

15. What do you eat when you watch TV?
Dinner, since James gets home at seven...we watch Jeopardy, of course.

16. How often do you watch TV?
The TV is always on unless I'm playing music, to keep Schuyler company. Sometimes it's on and no one's watching because we're on the computer or reading.

17. What's the last TV show you watched?
Shrek the Halls.

18. What's your favorite/preferred genre of TV?
Drama, which can be SF drama.

19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with?
Get Smart.

20. What TV show do you wish you never watched?
Providence. These weren't Rhode Islanders; they were Yuppies from California pretending to be Rhode Islanders. I only watched it for the on-location filming anyway.

21. What is the weirdest show you enjoyed?
Ask the Manager. :-) Best local show ever.

22. What TV show scared you the most?
As a whole, I don't know, since I don't watch scary things. Episode wise: "Countrycide" on Torchwood. Of all time: "It's a Good Life" on The Twilight Zone.

23. What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched?
Ask the Manager. :-)

I Know, I Know, I'm Never Here

2007-08-20T17:17:47Z

Mostly posting things in my blogs...I have five now.

There is not much spare time. It's end of fiscal year at work and we are just drowning in orders. One woman had to be pulled back from her detail because I could not handle all the purchase orders we are getting. Even the contract specialists are doing purchase orders. Most of them are sole source which take time because the end users must write justifications. My cubicle is on the top floor and ovr 80 degrees every day. Thank God I am teleworking three days a week! It's lots cooler at home and I only have to wear a float.

What spare time I have I spend reading. I am reading the Maisie Dobbs novels at the moment. I will be so sorry once I finish #4. I think I will be getting the next one the moment it comes out, even if it is in hardback. They remind me vaguely of Dorothy Sayers, although without the true 1930s flavor that Sayers gave them since she actually wrote them during that era. Jacqueline Winspear tries hard to capture that flavor.

I also have a very busy Yahoo group that I read, "Christmas to the Max," and have a couple of other groups like "Get Smart" and "Christmas Movies and Music" that I drop in on occasionally.

Plus I spend a little time each day taking care of my Webkinz. I am totally addicted, with a dozen of them online now and three in the wings, plus--of course!!!!--I have the upcoming collie on order!

They Did It Again!

2007-01-24T15:55:33Z

I am working at home two to three days a week. Last week I had a highlighter on the roller desk I bought at Ikea specifically for working at home. I didn't touch the highlighter since last Friday and the desk hasn't moved since then, either. So where *is* the frapping thing? It's not in the bedroom where the desk is stored and not on the floor between bedroom and work area.

It's those damn little Blue Guys again.

(Anyone remember that Twilight Zone episode about the couple that wake up one morning out of synch with their usual time and discover that their future is being built over and over, second by second, by these blue guys? It's why sometimes you can't find your keys or "that thing you put down." It's just the damn Blue Guys again.)

I have spent some time designing a few more icons for Live Journal (including a new one of me with Bandit on my head!), so I guess I should write here more. I already have four blogs, though...LOL.

So how come every time I try to post to Live Journal from the Post link on my Live Journal that it locks up Firefox and I have to do it in !@#$!@#$@! IE?

Happy Birthday...

2006-12-15T23:47:49Z

...to Vampry!

Puntasmic

2006-10-12T18:20:28Z

Barry at work sent these to me. He apologized in advance. :-)

1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4. A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home." "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" Well, "It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

10. DejaMoo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

12. A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!" The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms!"

13. I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

14. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

15. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"

Letter From the Dog

2006-04-06T14:12:15Z

I found this post in rec.pets.birds and wanted to share:

To: Master of the house
From: Dog
Subject: That Parrot

Master,
That Parrot is despicable. She doesn't do any tricks and never comes when you call. And I've been there - I know she can hear you. We need to face facts: It's time to get rid of that Parrot!

Before the Parrot's arrival, meals were very festive times. I would sit and stare attentively at your lips, trembling slightly and drooling. You would play the game of pretending to be cross and demand that I leave the area; but, whenever you cooked dinner, your children would slip me food under the table.

Now, though, the Parrot is allowed to jump on the table - actually physically walk on the table AND eat from your plate! You don't yell at the Parrot, you just pick her up and put her back on the cage. Or worse yet, you giggle and give her more! And I know you don't see it, but she always gives me a haughty look as she walks past me. When your are not in the room, she blows raspberries at me and laughs!

And speaking of meals, I have always been satisfied to eat the gritty pellets of meat byproducts you bring home in the giant bags, right? Have I ever once, ever, failed to finish a meal? But now I find out that the Parrot is being served fresh veggies and fruit - and she never consumes all of it! In fact, she throws over half of it on the floor! This means there are always little bits of delectable snacks lying all around. How can I be blamed for making sure they get eaten? Why do you get so mad? As long as the pet food is going to the pets, isn't that what's important?

Then there's play time. I think we can clearly see that I am a big dog, descended from a noble line of hunters accustomed to chasing prey and attacking it. Haven't I nearly managed to take down a few cars as they've driven past the house? The Parrot is about the size of a squirrel and in my view should behave like one. But when I walk near, instead, she opens that big beak and nips at me! You'd have a fit if I tried that.

Do you realize that the Parrot goes to the bathroom in the house? She poops anywhere she pleases! Not in the drinking basins like you do - nothing is off limits when she's out or her cage! This can't be sanitary. I'm very concerned about the potential for damage to the furniture and carpeting. What are we going to say if visitors come over and want to sit on the couch and the Parrot has been using it as a toilet?

I'm not the only one who believes the Parrot is an evil person. Here's a note from the hamster:

To: Master of the house
From: Hamster
Subject: Parrot

Please tell Parrot to stop staring at me while I work.

Signed: Hamster, Department of Rodent Wheels

I also tried to get a note from the fish, but apparently they believe that everything happening outside their tank is some kind of reality-TV show. They feel all smug since they have a fitted sun roof over their heads.

I don't understand why the Parrot is allowed up on your shoulder and I'm not even allowed on your lap. I am far more cuddly than any stupid Parrot. I think her noises are unhealthy and may be a sign of Tourette's syndrome. And why does she get so many baths? She never does anything that remotely raises a sweat or gets her dirty or smelly. Yet you take her in the shower with you all the time and even sing to her! All I ever get is a cold hosing out in the yard - in front of the neighbors even!

And speaking of sleeping, sometimes I'll be taking a nap and she'll land beside me and start screeching like a fire alarm. Usually I'm too tired to do anything about it, but then later, the other dogs smell her on me or spot a feather on my back and crack a lot of jokes at my expense. It's just not fair.

So you see, dear master, I am not exaggerating. The Parrot has brought the family to complete ruin. I'm sorry I have to be the one to bring it to your attention, but now that I have, I think we can all agree that we should go back to the way it was, when I was the No. 1 pet in this house.

Yours truly,
The dog

The Big Update

2006-02-20T02:55:30Z

Been away for a while, getting ready to move. We are now officially moved into our new house, and just have to finish cleaning out the old one. We are soooooo tired.

We had a quiet fall and did not celebrate Christmas much last year. I didn't feel much like celebrating after my mom's death. We had some decorations but no tree, and had Christmas dinner with friends. Because of packing we didn't have our annual Twelfth Night party.

Mostly what we've been doing is packing; nothing very exciting.

How Many Dogs...

2005-10-28T18:52:21Z

I've read this before, but it's cute:

How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?

1. Golden Retriever: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned out bulb?

2. Border Collie: Just one. And then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.

3. Dachshund: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!

4. Rottweiler: Make me.

5. Boxer: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark.

6. Lab: Oh, me, me!!!!! Pleeeeeeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeze, please, please, please!

7. German Shepherd: I'll change it as soon as I've led these people from the dark, check to make sure I haven't missed any, and make just one more perimeter patrol to see that no one has tried to take advantage of the situation.

8. Jack Russell Terrier: I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture.

9. Old English Sheep Dog: Light bulb? I'm sorry, but I don't see a light bulb!

10. Cocker Spaniel: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.

11. Chihuahua: "Yo quiero Taco Bulb." Or "We don't need no stinking light bulb."

12. Greyhound: It isn't moving. Who cares?

13. Australian Shepherd: First, I'll put all the light bulbs in a little circle...

14. Poodle: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

and my own

15. Willow: I can't change a light bulb; I don't have 'posable thumbs. But while you're up doing that, can I have some food????

A Word About...Slash

2005-09-01T13:17:24Z

Those who don't read fanfic and those who go "ew, gross" can depart now.

I don't really understand slash all that much; I don't usually get the concept of taking what is portrayed as a strictly heterosexual character and changing his or her proclivities. I've read stories that were very well written, but I just couldn't accept the concept with the characters. It doesn't upset me or shock me...I just don't get it because I don't see it.

I'm sure slash fans would say that's my loss. Oh, well.

I made a flip quip in my blog several months ago that I knew House had arrived in fandom because I had discovered House/Wilson slash. It was a big of an eyebrow-raiser then, but after seeing "Love Hurts" again and watching Wilson fuss over House's dinner engagement with Cameron...you know, I can almost see this one?

Where Was I?

2005-08-26T13:38:46Z

Oh...yeah...sigh. Just haven't had time to update here. The day after Mom passed away we piled in the car--yes, the four of us, Willow and Pidge included--and did the two-day drive up to Rhode Island. We took last November's route, up I-81 in Virginia and stayed in Harrisonburg again. It was a good way to chill out.

When we got up to Mom's house we spent three and a half weeks cleaning it out. Mom was particularly clean, but she saved everything. We found a whole drawerful of margarine bowls, bottle caps with no bottles, old glass bottles, etc. We eventually had about 60 33-gallon garbage bags for the trash not to mention filling up the recycling bins with glass, paper, and plastic. I wanted my old bedroom furniture, but Mom's set was too fussy for me. It was solid mahogany from the 1950s, so we sold it to an antiques dealer. It was a good thing, too, because we used the money we got from that and some money we found in the house to live on. Neither of us got paid while we were away; I haven't been paid in over a month and my savings account has gone from comfortable to skinny in two months. (We didn't have anywhere safe to put so much cash, so we hid the envelope under the dog's crate. We would refer to it as "making a withdrawal from the First National Bank of Willow.")

Of course there was a reunion with all the relatives. We used to lamely joke at weddings that the only time we saw each other was weddings and funerals (and occasionally on Christmas), and it was very true. We had some meals at my cousin Anna's house and also a great dinner at my cousin Donna's house.

The big problem was the heat. It was all sun and no rain. On August 13th they set a record of 100 degrees. It would have been "okay" if we had air conditioning, but the house had none. Plus after my dad died, my mom replaced the water heater with a water tank that was heated by the furnace. So the furnace has to stay on all year if you want hot water. This made the basement as hot as--or sometimes hotter than--the attic and we couldn't even run down there for relief. In fact it made the house warmer because the heat would radiate through the floor.

We have had to rent a storage room for the things we brought home. I didn't want to do this; not just the extra expense, but James had stuff in a storage room for 3 1/2 years and when we went to "decant" it, some of the books were ruined. I only brought back stuff I really loved, especially media memories (mostly newspapers) and I don't want those messed up.

We haven't decided really yet, but if Mom's house brings a good price--property values are through the roof there and we've been told we might get quite a good price for it, despite how little it is--we might go shopping around for a new house. We are bursting at the seams here (mostly with books!) and the neighborhood is starting to get a bit scruffy. Don't know. Do know all the stuff we brought home will not fit here, even if we tossed out other things to make room for it. I don't want to give up the tier table or my drafting table or the big steamer trunk with all the linens and Mom's wedding dress in it.

One of the things we had been waiting for while cleaning were the death certificates. We wanted to at least cancel Mom's car insurance and cell phone and sell the car. But they didn't come until the day we left. How aggravating! Well, our lawyer will have to sort out the mess now.

We decided to take three days to come home and the traffic was so bad it was still exhausting. This was not a pleasure trip, but I swear to God if we don't have to that we are never going anywhere in the summer again. The first day was absolutely horrible driving-wise. Luckily we had two nice breaks: lunch with Rupert Holmes and supper with Rodney Walker. On the second day it got cloudy and cool (at least for summer--in the low 70s), so we stopped at the Waltons Mountain Museum in Schuyler, Virginia. When Earl Hamner said he grew up in a little town in the backwoods, he meant it! It was very pretty there, though. On the last day we were doing fine--especially after stopping at a Drury Inn the night before--and then I got sick in the afternoon and it took us nearly forever to get home because I had to keep stopping for the bathroom. Urgh.

Farewell

2005-07-24T03:38:59Z

Mom passed away yesterday morning sometime between six and seven a.m. I'm glad she's in peace. These last few weeks have been terrible.

Some Words on HP#6 -- SPOILERS AHOY

2005-07-19T18:47:05Z

I really enjoyed this, although my reading advice is to have Clearasil available as you do; there are so many teenage hormones running loose you may break out in pimples. (But this is just me being flip.)

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E

Half-Blood Prince is a lot like The Empire Strikes Back in that it's setting up the conclusion of the septology. So many threads are now dangling: Who's R.A.B.? (I agree with the theories online that it was Regulus Black.) Where are the other Horcruxes? (Well, we gotta wait.) Has Snape really gone over to Rowling's version of "the Dark Side"? (How can I say that! He killed Dumbledore! Blink. Did he? I for one wonder why the books keep mentioning Dumbledore's brother, who has nothing to do with the story. Is it a McGuffin or something else?)

Folks are surprised and shocked that Dumbledore was killed. I wasn't. The moment Rowling said another major character died in Half-Blood Prince, I knew it had to be Dumbledore. Rowling is still writing what is the classic "young man on a quest" story, and that's what happens in these tales: the hero's mentor/father figure dies (or at least leaves in some way) before he can fulfill his destiny (think back to...yes, again...Star Wars et. al., which contains every legendary archetype there is. Qui-Gon? Obi-Wan?). For the hero to take on his adult responsibilities, he must have his support underpinnings kicked away. He must make his own security and find his own way.

Luckily he is usually left some helpers. Harry has been left with Ron and Hermoine, his staunchest friends. They will certainly help Harry accomplish his goal, but it's Harry who's going to have to finish the journey himself.

And the Days Go On

2005-07-11T19:09:48Z

I'm still here...still caring for my mom. She was up for a few hours this morning, then said she was tired and went back to sleep. I am spending the time keeping the house clean, reading library books (I finished Sue Henry's The Serpent's Tooth, which I didn't like as much as the Jessie Arnold books, and am in the middle of an Abigail Adams biography, Dearest Friend and a book called Pretty Bubbles in the Air, about America after World War I), and dubbing off more videotapes to DVD. Gotten various things done, including some Disney documentaries, the PBS series Television and The Story of English, a bunch of blooper specials, and am now doing The Day The Universe Changed (any other James Burke fans here? here's a fan companion for him).

Update

2005-06-28T02:56:14Z

Sorry I haven't updated; it's all in my Blogger account. I ended up taking my mom home with me. She's sleeping a lot now, and the hospice nurse says not to bother her. I feel like I should be doing more.

Better Today

2005-06-11T02:47:16Z

Mom was tired and shaky but cognizant and cooperative. She spoke with Wendy, who is the social worker representative from Hospice, and it seemed to ease her mind about the painkillers. I think the bigger dose pain patch may be helping, too. So I am still worried and will be, but am less stressed today. I even got out for a little while when my godmother was here: I went to Brooks Drugs to get some ointment for her eye, did some grocery shopping—geez, Shaw's didn't have a lot of what I wanted—and even stopped at Borders to get the new paperback release of Victoria Thompson's Gaslight mysteries. I even made dinner (chicken legs and a salad). Watched JAG, which I usually don't watch, but glad I did because Dean Stockwell was on. Law & Order: Trial by Jury was one of the few eps that Jerry Orbach managed to do. Poor fellow was so waxy and thin.

Not Good

2005-06-10T03:28:20Z

My Mom's pain is getting quite bad but she doesn't want to take her pain medication. The hospice nurse said not to force her. But it's so hard to watch.

It's hot here and I feel like I'm slow-roasting on a spit. I hate summer. I loathe summer with the hatred I reserve for child molesters. I wish I had enough moolah to have a second home in New Zealand. The moment it got warm I'd head there and never, ever, ever have to live through summer again.

I'm Glad I'm With My Mom...

2005-06-04T04:55:30Z

...but I miss James.