Category Archives: Daily Babble

Scarred for Life

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Now that I have my wheels back, I get to regale you with tales of driver stupidity! Aren’t you thrilled? I know I am.

I had to run to the drugstore earlier. It’s a short trip through my ‘hood and doesn’t require getting on anything remotely resembling a major road. When school is out for summer, I take the shortest and easiest route, the final leg of which is directly in front of said school. I’d forgotten they are finally in the process of building actual school buildings so the kids don’t have to have classes in trailers anymore, and I got stuck behind a very large, very slow-moving, gravel truck trying to wind its way through the incredibly narrow residential streets.

While I wasn’t annoyed about the slow-moving part, I did wonder why the driver decided to take the course he did, especially since there are No Trucks signs all over our tiny poorly paved streets, but whatever. We turn the corner onto the street in front of the school and the truck pulls over to the curb. Yeah! No more breathing exhaust fumes! Then, without even looking to see if there was anyone driving on the street –three of us total stuck behind him feeling happy to be free at last– he just springs his rig’s door open and pops out. The lady in front of me swerved hard to the left and almost hit a parked car.

The next car zoomed passed both the truck and the swerving car obviously in some kind of hurry to get to the upcoming stop sign. I, at the end of the line (I’d let the other two get in front of me at an intersection, because I’m nice that way), slowed down to make sure the driver wasn’t going to jump into the street in front of me from his half-in-half-out cab position while moving as little as possible away from the open door of his rig. I was going slowly, because I knew he still hadn’t noticed there were any cars anywhere near him, being too busy simultaneously talking on his phone and yelling at another worker.

As I passed directly beside the truck, I finally got a full view of the driver. I’d only seen his head and part of his shoulders before. Well, first off, he had to have weighed about a thousand pounds. I am not kidding. I’m talking about those people you see who can’t get out of bed sized. Just massive. Then I saw the entirety of his butt crack. Nit just a wee bit of butt crack. Not even a poorly dressed plumber amount of butt crack. I mean I saw the ENTIRETY of his butt crack. His thousand pound butt crack and most of both butt cheeks … right out there for all to see.

I almost stopped the truck to take a pic with my phone, because just how often does one have the opportunity to see and share such a sight? But then I realized that I had just been totally traumatized, and why would I want to traumatize anyone else. It is an image I believe is now burned into my retinas and brain cells, and I fear I will carry it to my grave. Seriously … traumatized!

Thankfully the rest of the trip went just fine, and one of my friends was working the cash register at the drugstore, so I got to catch up with her for a little while before heading home by a different route. I did not want to take the chance I might see that sight again or even worse, get a front view! I shudder to think of it.

At least the thuglets in the area with their pants falling off their buttts have the decency to wear boxer shorts to cover their butt cracks. I wish that all construction workers everywhere –of all sizes and shapes– would either buy pants that fit or at least get with the latest urban fashion trend and wear brightly colored boxers that COVER THEIR OBNOXIOUS BUTT CRACKS! Please, I begging.

Rained Out

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The plan for the day was to get up and do my usual morning online goofing off and reading, and then –after rush hour– to go to the grocery store (the nice one) to get tea, coffee beans, ice cream, and have sushi for lunch while surfing the ‘net on the free wifi at the coffee shop. This was to be followed by an afternoon of light housework and some more art making. That was the plan.

Alas, shortly after I heard the weatherman predicting somewhere between 5″ and 9″ of rain between now and Thursday –reason enough to get things done earlier today than planned– he popped up again with the radar image and declared the first storm will be here in about an hour. So much for getting things done early. I’m not fighting morning traffic to get to the store only to have to rush and still likely get caught in a turd-floater (a down-pour for you non-Texan folks) on my way back home. Oh well, best laid plans of mice and men … and starving artists! Guess I better batten down the hatches and prepare for heavy rain and see what’s what once this storm passes. It’s not like I need to go to the grocery store. I just kinda sorta wanted to go, you know, to have some sushi and goof off.

It is darker than usual outside and getting darker by the moment. Heavy rain would be OK, because my garden could use a really deep watering, but I could do without any high wind or hail. They haven’t mentioned whether this storm is going to be that nasty, but it sure looks nasty on the radar image. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that it’s just going to be a lot of water falling from the sky and nothing else.

So now my plan for the day is in the dumpster. Boo! Hiss! Must be time for coffee and that light housework I was going to put off until this afternoon, though if it gets much darker, the temptation to crawl back into bed with the cats and snooze a while may become overwhelming.

And yes, I have wheels again! Wheee! Freedom!

Sounds of Silence

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It’s been a while since I haven’t even sent a Tweet in the course of two whole days, let alone not making a single post to the blog. My only excuse is that it was hot, humid, and lazy weather this weekend, and so I was very, very lazy. Too lazy to even make it to my desk and use my words to say something, though it’s not like I had anything much to say anyway, what with all the lying around being lazy. It’s good to have a quiet and boring weekend every once in a while. Refreshes the mind!

I’m feeling pretty refreshed this morning too. When my alarm went off and I crawled out of bed to make the coffee, I sensed I was likely to want to go back to bed. Couldn’t keep my eyes open and almost fell asleep sitting on the kitchen floor waiting for the coffee to finish. By the time the coffee was done, my computer had booted up, and the cats were fed, I found myself wide awake. That’s a good thing, because I have a deadline of grand proportions coming up, and I need to get to work on creating three to five cohesive, creative, and downright awesome works. I still have over a month to get this done, but time flies. The deadline will be here before I know it.

So the plan for today … and most of this week … is to sequester myself in the kitchen and create, create, create! I’m pretty much on fire about it lately, and last night I dreamt the five cohesive pieces I want to create for this show. I usually don’t remember any artwork or stories I come up with in dreams –no matter how I remind my dream self to please remember them. It’s always just a fuzzy recollection of bits and pieces that never come together to create the whole again. This time, I remember them. All five of them. In glorious detail. I can recreate them.

I also dreamt that I was excitedly telling Lin I’d received a letter telling me all five of my pieces made it into the juried show, and while I don’t put any faith in prophetic dreaming, it is a sign of a good positive mental attitude that my dream self is dreaming about things going well. My deadline stress-related dreams are usually not at all that optimistic. I’m running with these good feelings, and who knows, maybe in a couple of months, I’ll excitedly be telling Lin I got into the show. It could happen! Positive mental attitude ahoy!

Now for more coffee and to get to work making a charcoal finger-printed mess of the kitchen. LOL!

Why, Hello!

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I was so lazy today, I couldn’t even get to my desk. A pile of goo. Not a bone in my body. Ooze lounging on comfy flat surfaces … snoring. In other words, today was a very pleasant day, what I saw of it anyway.

Though we did get cat food, because we HAD to, and I did straighten up the insanity happening on the kitchen table (better known currently as Arts and Crafts Central) and am now preparing to do the dishes. So not a complete waste of a day, right?

Maybe I’ll engage my brain tomorrow and tell you about the grocery store I am in love with and my new kneaded eraser. I know you just can’t wait to hear every little detail. LOL!

Great Day – Tired

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I had a really great day today, with a few rough and crappy patches thrown on at the end. All-in-all though, a really great day.

If you’ve seen all the photos I sent from my phone this afternoon, you may surmise I want to a different grocery store today. Oh say chain, but one in a different neighborhood. I’ll be going there for as long as I live in this house. I am never going back to my old grocery store. Ever.

I’ll tell you all about my very exciting trip to a grocery store sometime tomorrow. It’s late, and I should have been in bed hours ago.

I will tell you this though …

I spent at least 15 minutes deciding which brand, texture, and kind of feta cheese I wanted to buy. The grocery store that gives me a selection of feta that size wins my heart. It beats no feta at all, that’s for certain.

Also, the wine selection is so vast, I am going to a) have to start studying what wines are best for what reasons and b) spend a lot more time in the wine and beer department. Seriously, it’s VAST.

Sushi and sushi quality cuts of fish. Need I say more?

The prices were also not so bad. I think our diet is about to experience another upgrade.

Post Art Night

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I had a good art night last night. Didn’t even stay up all night. Sat on the floor with my large newsprint pad, my box of conte’ crayon bits, and my one surviving charcoal pencil, and I did one very large sketch. So I didn’t get a whole lot done, but I did finally “go back to the beginning” –something I have been trying to do all year– by revisiting a motif from my early works. This has had the effect of setting my muse on fire, and provided Lin gets home at a reasonable hour, I will likely be running to the craft supply store to get a few things, most notably a new sketchpad, drawing pencils, and more charcoal (maybe). Oh, and fixative spray. Maybe even some new canvases. Yes, it looks like I will be spending a chunk of my iPad savings for art supplies.

I wish I enjoyed working in charcoal more than I do. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, because I do (a lot), but it’s the scratching sound it makes on the paper that drives me insane. I just can’t stand that sound! I do like the getting dirty aspect of working with charcoal though. Has anyone noticed I like making a mess while making art? I have. So have the cats and the husband … and my kitchen floor.

Also, I’ve been thinking about the drafting table. It was my dad’s, and I always meant to keep it (and use it) forever, but … I don’t use it. I don’t like using it. I like that it’s my dad’s drafting table, but as everyone may have noticed, I don’t actually make art at a table. I like to be able to moved the piece anyway I like or to crawl around it. I like coming at it from above and flat. In fact, I think trying to use the drafting table has been the very thing holding me back in my artwork. So while I don’t want to get rid of it, because it was my dad’s and holds a lot of meaning to me, it’s huge, and I don’t have a lot of room in my house for huge things without purpose or use.

I won’t just sell it either, because I am incapable of selling things that hold meaning to me to just any old stranger. What I’d like to do is pass it on to some struggling artist or organization or school, where it can really do some good and help someone out. I don’t even know how I’ll go about finding such a person or group, but I guess it’ll come to me when it’s time and I’m ready. As much as I would like it gone, to reclaim space for the way I like to work, I am going to have to work at letting it go. It really does mean a lot to me, and I am afraid I’ll be sad when it’s gone … which is why finding just the right home for it feels so important. I know, it’s crazy. I’m going to play the “she’s an artist (and therefore weird)” card on this one. Who knows, maybe once I can get it out of the kitchen I’ll change my mind and want to keep it.

UPDATE: Drafting table problem solved. That was quick, huh? One young artist in need found, right in the group of people I call family. Now I have until August to disentangle my emotions from the object.

No real plans for the day. Since it looks like it’s going to be hot, humid, and possibly raining –it’s quite dismal and gray at the moment– I imagine I will putter around the house and do a little cleaning, and then I have a couple of logo ideas I am playing with for a couple of friends. Today seems like a good day to do that, since I can’t really work in the garden, and I hate doing housework when it’s so dark and nasty.

But first, breakfast.

And there will undoubtedly be a nap. There’s almost always a nap.

Flying Palmetto Bug Hell

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Just after midnight Monday night, I was peacefully sitting at my desk closing up my browser tabs and preparing to shut down my computer for the night and go to bed. Without warning, the largest palmetto bug I have ever seen flew from somewhere behind me, bounced off the side of my head, ricocheted off my computer monitor, and fell onto my mousepad. I would have screamed and/or jumped back from my desk, but I was, in fact, frozen in horror until the thing ran under the monitor of my old PC. And thus began 24 hours of Flying Palmetto Bug Hell.

Once I’d regained my senses somewhat, I turned on the light in the den, attracted the attention of my bug-hunting cats, and began poking the monster from hell out of it’s hiding place. Much squealing and jumping around occurred (on my part). Eventually, it relented and zoomed out of its desk top hiding place and headed straight for one of the bookshelves. The cats, always interested in fast-moving objects, began their chase.

Alas, the nasty bug didn’t make a sound or come out of hiding again, so the cats lost interest. I’m not even entirely sure they ever actually saw the thing. It was definitely a “bogey fast mover” of the highest order. I believe they were merely reacting to me showing intense interest in that particular bookcase. Surely had they seen it, they would have never calmly gone to bed without digging it out of its hiding place and eating it, right? Anyway, the end result was that I had to go to bed and sleep knowing full well there was an extra occupant that night, and it did not make me happy.

The next morning, as Lin was sitting in the living room watching the morning news and having coffee, there came a scream of horror. I didn’t have to ask what the cause was, I recognized it as the scream of horror any human would have upon seeing such a large and obnoxious cockroach flying around a room. Lin made haste out of the living room with anything he deemed important enough to save from the invasion, and the cats and I moved in to do battle. Well, this thing was quite proficient at flying. In fact, it seemed to prefer flying to walking. Anytime I got within three feet of it, it took off bumbling around the room in mid-air the way these things do. They may fly, but they never fly well. They aren’t terribly aerodynamic. Very erratic flight paths!

After a whole lot of screaming, cursing, broom-waving, and other activity, the vicious bug flew into the kitchen and headed straight for the boxes of craft supplies under my art table. The cats followed close behind and started keeping watch waiting for some sign of where exactly it was. I retired to the bedroom with a book and my phone, because I had about enough of dodging a dive-bombing cockroach from hell for one morning. Unfortunately, the cats gave up shortly thereafter and demanded entrance into the safety of the bedroom. I let them in and then avoided the kitchen as much as possible for the rest of the day. Eeeew. It was still there somewhere!

Last night, shortly after dinner, I heard the cats thumping around in the kitchen. I went to investigate, knowing full well the damn bug had finally come out from under my art table. As I entered the hall to go to the kitchen, I stopped in my tracks when I saw all three cats sitting on the kitchen table staring at a spot over the doorway. They looked at me and meowed. I went around to the other entry to the kitchen … the one that had a light switch by it. Turning on the light, yes there it was just over the door to the hall. EEEK! I grabbed the broom and prepared to do battle and kill the thing.

But no, it did not want to die, and so we went another few rounds of flying around the room trying to smack me in the head again (and me screaming and squealing through the whole thing). The cats did their best to help, but it refused to get anywhere near cat or floor level. Eventually, it ended up in the glassware cabinet. Oh just perfect! I opened the cabinet doors, left the room, and waited. It’d come out again. It had to, right? OMG EEEEW! My glassware!

About an hour later, I heard the cats being active in the kitchen again, so I went to see what the horrible bug was up to now. Apparently, I had done it some damage when going at it with the broom, or maybe it was getting tired and just made a fatal mistake, but it had somehow ended up at floor level hiding behind the fire extinguisher. Ronin and Tora were lying in wait for it to come out. I assisted by making damn sure the nearby cabinet doors were fully closed, and then I moved the extinguisher. It ran right up the cabinet doors and wedged itself into the crevice between the kitchen counter and the lower cabinets. Well, there really wasn’t anywhere for it to go from there.

I tried to get it out with the broom, but it just wedged itself further into the crevice. Since that’s mostly at cat level, and the cats were on the job and ready to get at the thing, I moved their stool over there to give them better access, and went and sat at my desk to keep an eye on the activity. Myu lost interest quickly, but the one leg and one antenna that was visible (and moving) kept Tora and Ronin very interested. Now it probably could have stayed where it was until the cats lost interest, but for some stupid unknown big reason, it left its mostly secure hiding place and ran into the pile of plastic soda bottles for recycling.

Tora and Ronin jumped in bravely, and within short order, I saw the two of them scurry under the table, followed by the usual sounds and activities of cats playing with prey. Fighting over it really, because it would make a tasty cat snack (at least those two seem to think so). A few minutes later, all the cats were lounging in their usual locations, so I figured the ordeal was over, relaxed and went on with my life. I expected to wake up the next morning to find some leftover bug bits somewhere in the house as per the usual cat modus operandi. NOT!

As I headed to the bathroom to wash my face and get ready for bed, I noticed Ronin and Tora at the end of the hall doing something. At first, in the dark, I thought they were just clawing at the bedroom door (which I’d been keeping closed to protect at least one room from Flying Palmetto Bug Hell), but no … when I turned on the bathroom like, Tora’s hunting movements informed me quite clearly that the thing was not in fact dead and eaten. Before I could close the door to the bathroom to cut off it’s only path of escape, it dashed along the wall and slipped into the bathroom, Tora hot on it’s trail.

Unfortunately, the cats have finally been trained (mostly) to leave the bathroom trash can alone, and so once it was behind said trash can, they didn’t want to go after it anymore. That was fine my me, really. I grabbed my broom, carefully moved the trash can, and smashed the thing into the corner as hard as I possibly could. EEEEEEW … BUG GUTS! I wiped up the residue, flushed it down the toilet, and then the cats and I enjoyed a slice of turkey for a job well done. Tora got a point for the initial capture, Ronin got a point for maiming the thing, I got a point for the death blow, and I guess Myu got a point for being calm and collected under pressure … and for being cute.

I’m just glad the horrible thing from hell is dead and gone. Unless you have experienced these flying menaces, you can’t possibly know how awful they are. With our winter and spring being as mild and wet as they were, there is an overabundance of them too. We’re getting one invader a week, and with an old house like this one, there’s really no way to cut off all the possible access points without just rebuilding the whole house. Usually the cats are much more efficient at their bug killing, but I will give them some credit on this one, because it was, in fact, a very formidable opponent. Once it stopped zooming around the house dive-bombing my head, they made short work of it. Good kitties! Let’s hope it’s more than a week before I see another of these things in my house, and let’s also hope the next one isn’t as large and lively. I don’t think my heart can take another 24 hour Flying Palmetto Bug Hell.