Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

More moon photos! I cropped the first one and played a bit with the color for fun. The second is cropped to show off the various other objects visible around the moon during the eclipse. I love how the light changed as the eclipse progressed and regressed. Just amazing really. I’m also still incredibly happy that I was inspired to find my tripod… (I blame Mike.) More cool night photos may happen now.

The green reflection in some of the photos? It was caused by my UV filter. It didn’t occur to me to take it off. Apparently this is a common side-effect of leaving on the UV filter when taking photographs of points of light. The earlier photos didn’t have as intense a light source as the last bunch I took of the moon emerging out of the eclipse. I admit it, I’m lame and use my UV filter primarily as a protective shield for my lens.

Oh, Very Happy Friday to all of you! Buon Weekend! Hurray! I think I may have lost Thursday this week but I’m not sure. Hopefully it won’t reappear in the future to make another week longer… that is unless it picks a week I’m on vacation.

I did survive the week though and for that I thank my lucky stars. And my unlucky ones too because they weren’t too horrible this week. I did make the big french press of coffee this morning instead of the little single-serve press but I think it was a good decision. I *know* that it was good coffee. I felt vaguely on top of things when I shut down the work laptop this evening. Monster Cat was later rather than earlier (in the day that is) most of the week but I have some ideas that I want to play with this weekend so that next week’s Monster Cat episodes are posted first thing in the morning instead of at lunch.

Most importantly, at least to me, is that it snowed today. We got about 2 inches of accumulation then a bunch of misty wet in the afternoon. We might get a little more snow overnight and tomorrow but the radar isn’t promising. Still, it was fun to shovel the walks this afternoon and the world is a better place when it’s covered with snow.

More than anything I want more free time… specifically free time when I’m not already mentally spent and exhausted. Seriously.

lunar eclipse, moon, photographs, photography

There was almost a tragedy in my house this morning. I had barely enough water in the tea kettle to make coffee. As you might have guessed, coffee is Serious Business in my world.

But you see, I couldn’t refill the kettle this morning.

Why? Because there was no water in the tap or the fridge water dispenser.

Annoying, right? Yes. The Fop had to turn off the water to the entire house in the wee, wheeeeeee hours of the morning.

Why? What horribleness could cause this? Oh, because we couldn’t figure out how to cut water to just the hot water heater.

Goodness! Why would we want to do such a thing??? Probably because the hot water heater was spewing water at a quick pace out of itself and onto the floor of the basement. (Thank goodness for sump pumps!)

I can’t wait to find out why the hot water heater decided to explode sometime before 5 a.m. I am quite the zombie today.

But my coffee tastes wonderful this morning.

coffee, hot water heater, house, water

It’s a weekend for holiday cooking which has distracted me from the disgusting weather. The volume of popcorn I made yesterday far surpasses the volume of snow our area has received this year. I made a LOT of caramel corn – 6 batches. I also made cookie dough to bake up today. I’ve got 2 other kinds of cookies on the list to bake too. I’m beginning to think I might be a little insane. Well, I certainly was yesterday as I bopped around my kitchen. I’m a desk-worker though, and as such not accustomed to bopping around my kitchen all day and all night. Last night when I finally stopped and hung out on the couch, my legs, feet and back started to remind me of that. This morning, Advil is my friend. As soon as the coffee kicks in, I’ll be firing up the oven and KitchenAid. … Oh and clean up more of the popcorn bits that are now everywhere in the kitchen and dining room.

Hmm… I think I should just go have more coffee.

weather, cooking, coffee, popcorn

After a week of Starbucks coffee, I love to come home to my own tasty coffee… Freshly ground Armeno beans, french pressed brew, a cup with whole milk instead of my usual low-fat milk because I used up my milk on my cereal. It is bliss. This is not to say that Starbucks coffee sucks… I do enjoy it. But mine is much, much better. And cheaper. And easily acquired without needing to get dressed or leaving the house. Which is good since it has finally turned into a comfortably cool fall out here and running to Starbucks in my pjs would be chilly.

Another bit of Fall for you all… The farm stand Jon took us to had something called The Observatory. It was a raised deck about 15 feet off the ground that you could climb up and take in the scene. It may not sound like much, but it got us off the ground just far enough to take in the full, breath-taking views of the valley and mountains and fall colors. We went up there first, before the sun came out, so the foliage colors are even more intense in the photos. Gray days really are the best for fall colors.

My kitchen is littered with junk food, much of which I hope the Fop will be taking on his road trip to Crown this weekend.

I started writing for Nanowrimo this morning. I broke one of the usual recommendations. Usually it’s recommended that one not build on a previous short story or world because the writer will end up being too careful and too invested in the content to push out the 50,000 words as slap-dash as necessary. I’m hoping to avoid this problem through the sheer desire to get this world built and some actual plot into the world. I started to sketch an outline for some scene progressions yesterday as well as started to evolve the world around the events of the short story. I got down 732 words this morning before work and I have some time planned later today for writing. I can’t count the short story as part of my word count, which is fine, but I’ve incorporated part of what I wanted to add to the end of the short story from last set of editing notes.

Yes, I got up this morning and was awake enough to write. I got productive things done before 9 a.m. I know that this comes as a shock to those of you who have known me for a long time. Hey, I figure if this stupid allergy medicine is going to make me not get enough sleep, I should take advantage of the extra time!

allergies, autumn, coffee, fall, foliage, nanowrimo, new hampshire, sleep, travel, weather

The impending chaos of my day determines which size french press I use for my coffee and whether or not I wait (and putter) in the kitchen for it to brew or if I carry it upstairs to my office. Two mornings in a row I’ve brought it upstairs. This morning I bumped up to the larger french press.

So it’s been a busy week already. I’ve got a fully populated to-do list and a bunch of new projects to support. I’m certainly not bored! (Okay, the meeting I’m in right this moment is kind of dull.)

This photo is from a farm stand in Concord, NH we went to with my brother on Saturday. Apples just taste better from a farm stand… as do pumpkin whoopie pies! The world needs more farm stands!

In other news… Itty Bitty Kitty Committee will consume your soul with cuteness and adorableness. You have been warned.

Stretching in your chair is good for the soul. Making strange noises while stretching in your chair gets you looks from your cat.

autumn, cat links, cats, coffee, fall, farm stand, links, photographs, photography, pumpkins, work

The dogwoods have been blooming a while now. This is from the tree in my backyard. I suspect the snow from the nor’easter damaged most of the blossoms. All the trees seem to have petals tipped with a bit of brown. I love dogwoods – they have such a simple, uncrowded elegance to their blossoms.

Breakfast came late this morning due to the boys. The Fop needed a ride to the train station first thing this morning which meant making sure he got up and out the door with minimal fuss then taking him in to 30th Street Station. I originally intended to get up and have breakfast but opted to try to sleep a little more instead. Why? Because some cat was howling alllll night. As you can tell from his photo, he’s thrilled.

This whole morning would have been easier if Tennyson had let us sleep. He’s not a happy kitty. He had surgery on his foot to remove a toe yesterday. A growth that had been removed in December came back, so removal of the toe was the best option unfortunately. One foot is all bandaged up and he’s wearing an Elizabethan collar around his head. (Poor little conehead!) This makes for one very unhappy cat and he’s certainly not hesitant to let us know that. Overnight I was up at 3:30 and 6:30 to comfort the poor little thing since he was yowling rather loudly. He’s truly pathetic. He quieted down around 7 a.m. I got up at 8 to find him “resting” in the litter box. So sad yet so funny, especially since he’s so big he took up most of the box and had knocked the top lip askew. Apparently propping his head up on the edge was comfy so I made him a better bed out of a box in my office. (He’s currently on the floor outside the box propped up on it… he lounges like nobody’s business!)

From observing him today, I think the collar is the worst part. He’s tentative on his foot, but it doesn’t seem to be causing him too much pain. I got him to eat and drink a bit. He’s not enthusiastic about the stairs so I will probably end up setting up food and water upstairs for the week. We’ve already dumped 2 cups of water on my office rug. Once he’d had a little to drink he perked right up and demanded attention, hopped in and out of my lap and wandered about knocking things off my desk. He’s calmer today than yesterday as well. The vet’s office says he’ll figure out how to eat and drink and get used to the collar. I hope so because I feel so bad for giggling when he misjudges a corner and ends up coming to a sudden full-halt when the collar gets caught on something. I’m also worried that he’s not getting enough water.

Hopefully he’ll let me sleep tonight. I need to sleep off some of the intense guilt I’m feeling for … putting a photo of him in the collar on my blog… among other things.

cat, dogwoods, elizabethan collar, flowers, mornings, silly, spring, surgery, tennyson

The house still smells like curry. Yum. Why does it smell like curry? Because last night I made tasty little turkey mini-burgers (not mini-turkey burgers) with curry, ginger, garlic and cumin happiness. I used slightly sweet Hawaiian rolls instead of dinner rolls since a) I couldn’t for the life of me find pre-baked dinner rolls in the grocery store and b) I thought the sweetness might compliment the curry nicely. I was right about the latter too. I tweaked the recipe (ripped, literally, from Bon Appetit) by cutting it in half and dropping the cilantro. I think I will tweak it further by adding a bit of garlic to the ground meat instead of just to the curry mayo.

Saturday was fun and productive on several levels. I did a large grocery shopping trip. I may shop on Saturday morning more often. The customers are nicer. I chatted over rump roast with a lovely little couple. We were trying to find smaller roasts for our small households. Then another older gentleman asked me about cooking pork chops. This is so much better than the usual grocery store experience I have. No one even tried to walk off with my cart! At the checkout, I was reminded why I prefer to bag my own groceries but even that wasn’t so bad. When I got home, the Fop (who woke up feeling not quite well) was off to an event.

For some reason I decided it was time to clean out, purge and organize the major cupboard of food stuffs in the kitchen. I hauled the step stool up from the basement and dove in. An unknown amount of time later, the cupboard of doom was under control. I have a little pile of old crackers to put out for the birds and squirrels (well, mostly the squirrels).

In the grinder this morning is Kenya AA from Armeno. It came out of my French press this morning positively perfect. Some people have good hair days, I have good coffee days. This morning I am sipping divine coffee: rich enough that I know I’m drinking coffee but gentle enough for a Monday morning. There’s not even a hint of bitterness or acidity. I love my coffee and my French press.

To our left, we have the elusive Giant River Otter. Actually, they’re not elusive at all! They just move too fast for me to catch uber-cute pictures of them. They also do cute little human things with their hands. The zoo announced that they have more Baby Giant River Otters (say that 3 times fast! it’s fun!) this spring so I’ll be going back to try to catch photos of more than just their backs.

In other weekend news, I got a small snow flurry yesterday much to my great glee. It’s going to warm up later this week so some of the snow we have now might melt. Then again, the snow is packed so solid right now that it might as well be ice. I had a great time (really!) Saturday morning when I finally decided to get the snow and ice off my car. It was actually much easier Saturday than it would have been mid-week. The bottom had iced up so that it all came off my car in big chunks. For my next trick I drove out of the driveway I hadn’t bothered to shovel. I was hoping for some dramatic crunchy of crusty snow or something. Nope, the trusty Subaru drove right on top of the 3-4 inches of packed snow and ice. There are barely tire prints. I’m not sure why this inspires such glee.

Alright, now time for another round of random links. From the open tabs section of my bookmarks:

• Snow crystal photo gallery – high-res pictures of actual snowflakes. This photographer’s work was featured on the snowflake postage stamps many of us used over the holidays.
• Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique – (Snagged from Bruni) Science communicators unite! Their merit badges rock. Jon, this one’s for you.
• The Physics of Bras – A fascinating read. “Making a bra is like building a bridge…”
• The Neil Gaiman Magic 8Ball – “Do not get into an argument with the mystical and oracular ball of enlightenment. It will win.”
  

And last week’s best comic award goes to Chickweed Lane:

Scary how apt it is, no?

And now my coffee is gone, many work e-mails written, some status reports reviewed, and other miscellaneous things have been addressed. Oh, and a couple of out of date applications are now updated. Did you know that Fetch (beloved FTP client of Dartmouth alums of a certain era) now has an OSX widget as well as its standard interface? There are lots of other cool features available, but the widget is shaped like a dog bone. Jim Matthews (the mastermind behind the cute little dog) purchased the source code from Dartmouth after being on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and started his own company. How exciting can an FTP client really be? For those of you not yet in the know, Fetch turns your cursor into a running dog while it’s uploading files. Beat that, Unix command-line ftp-ers!

coffee, cooking, fetch, food, ftp, ftp clients, giant river otters, links, philadelphia zoo, political cartoons, random, snow, technology, weather, weekend, widgets, zoo