Matt's Owwiey and Misc.

This summer Matt hurt his back and needed to ice it. But he wanted to keep working. So we came up with this arrangement....

Yes, that's a pair of my hose holding an ice bag on his back. It worked quite well and you can see from the location of the ice that it was difficult to hold ice there well any other way. I thought it was quite clever of us to come up with this arrangement.

And now for an action shot....

For Christmas, Matt received the ingredients for sushi. Now, I know that some of you (Mom) are probably thinking "Yuck, sushi??!??," but it's really good as long as it's not made with raw fish. We are more California roll people than anything else. So here is a picture of the sushi that Matt made one night for dinner.

Don't worry, it's imitation crab, avocado, and rice wrapped in nori. Yumm!!! It is all gone!!!!!!

We also made peanut curry chicken soup. Yummmmmy

(But I don't think that soup photographs well. It was much yummier than this picture would imply.)

A Bond question

I love James Bond movies. I know that this makes me an odd girl, but let's face it, there is plenty else that makes me an odd girl.

Also, does this make me a Bond girl?? Can I introduce myself as "Lee, Merrilee Lee?" Yeah, that won't add to the confusion!

Anyhow, Matt and I are in the middle of a discussion. If you are familiar with "Goldfinger," at the very end of the movie, the army at Fort Knox is gassed. Well, Matt says that they were gassed with something that made them pass out for a while but I say that they were not really gassed at all, and just fell over and played possum for a while.

Comments?

PS. Scotland forever!

A Day in the Life of Gus

Woke up groggy from a short night, having only slept 15 hours. Proceeded to sit like an old man while trying to have morning bath.

Took brief nap with Mac. Mac got the good spot in the sun. Settled for less comfortable spot on end table.

Took another brief nap with Mac. Now in kitty tube. Appear to be holding paws with Mac. Enjoying faking out human.

Performed important duties such as:

Holding down lotion bottle.

Monitoring movement of TV remote AND pillow AND couch while observing entire living room for any suspicious activities. Very busy.

Supervising baseball cap. Cap has tendency to move around and be found in different areas, almost as if someone else is moving/wearing it. Must watch cap for quick or odd movements. Also is quite comfy to sleep on.

After having performed such important duties all day, humans come home and have the audicity to dress me up and laugh at me. They need a hobby or at least something else to do on a Wednesday night.

Pictures

I've had tons of pictures to post on my blog but since we have dial-up at home, it takes forever! Well, I finally remembered to take the camera to work so that I can use the super-fast Internet at school!!

These are the lovely flowers that Dad gave me for Valentine's Day. He has always sent me a bouquet and has managed to always find a florist where ever I was living. It always makes my V-Day. This year he sent them to Matt's bank. I had been wondering where he would send them and he always surprises me!!!

Remember my longing for an elephant ear? Well at the last fair we went to this summer, this cart greeted us as we walked in. I was so happy, I started jumping up and down. There were about 6 carts with elephant ears at this fair. Of course, I got one and kinda shared it with Matt. I ate it slowly for the next two days, savoring my treat. Now we know which fair to go to next year when I NEED AN ELEPHANT EAR!!!!!

Our volunteer pumpkins, potatoes, and sunflowers (I planted the sunflowers). Towards the end of the summer, they were growing even more into the alley and Matt had to keep taking the feelers and pointing them towards the garage to keep the alley open. We had a lovely crop of pumpkins and a few potatoes.

Morels grow in our area. I had never heard of/eaten/hunted a morel until I moved here. They grow for a very short period of time in very specific areas and are considered a delicacy. These are some that Matt and my mother-in-law found.

They taste ok. I apparently don't have a taste for items considered delicacies. What a surprise!!

This is some of the sauce that we made with our tomatoes. We like trying different varieties but here is a list of our favorites:

Big Boy

Mortgage Lifter

Cherokee Purple (just because you can sing "Cherokee Purple" to the the tune of "Cherokee People" for the entire summer)

Any yellow tomato (just because they're pretty and different)

Mr. Stripey (the name alone makes this my favorite tomato)

Tomatoes to avoid like the plague:

Roman Candle: They have this tough core that you have to cut out and once you do that, most of your tomato is gone.

Zebra: once again, considered a delicacy and I totally dislike them. Even mixed in with other tomatoes, they taste disgusting.

We received our third seed catalog this year. We found Seed Savers, which is located near us in Iowa. They focus on heirloom/non-hybrid seeds with trying to preserve the older varieties. You could make a great argument that most seeds, even the heirlooms are technically hybrids since they were developed from a variety of other types, but this organization doesn't like the genetically modified hybrids, and wants to protect the naturally developed types. So we're going to order our seeds from them. Their prices were manageable and I like the idea of my money going to a not-for-profit dedicated to preserving plants, rather than to a corporation. And Seed Savers has a pancake breakfast in the spring. I'd like to see Walmart or Lowes do that!!!

Ok, I'm ready to garden.

Friday the 13th

Here are some fun facts I learned about Friday the 13th. I hope you enjoy it!!!

1. The British Navy built a ship named Friday the 13th. On its maiden voyage, the vessel left dock on a Friday the 13th, and was never heard from again.

2. The ill-fated Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST on Apr. 11, 1970. The sum of the date's digits (4-11-70) is 13 (as in 4+1+1+7+0 = 13). And the explosion that crippled the spacecraft occurred on April 13 (not a Friday). The crew did make it back to Earth safely, however.

3. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor.

4. Fear of Friday the 13th - one of the most popular myths in science - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.

5. Quarterback Dan Marino wore No. 13 throughout his career with the Miami Dolphins. Despite being a superb quarterback (some call him one of the best ever), he got to the Super Bowl just once, in 1985, and was trounced 38-16 by the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana (who wore No. 16 and won all four Super Bowls he played in).

6. Butch Cassidy, notorious American train and bank robber, was born on Friday, April 13, 1866.
7. Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13, 1926.

8. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.

9. Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.

10. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12."

11. Woodrow Wilson considered 13 his lucky number, though his experience didn't support such faith. He arrived in Normandy, France on Friday, Dec. 13, 1918, for peace talks, only to return with a treaty he couldn't get Congress to sign. (The ship's crew wanted to dock the next day due to superstitions, Fernsler said.) He toured the United States to rally support for the treaty, and while traveling, suffered a near-fatal stroke.

12. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number - 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.

13. The seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle's head, 13 war arrows in the eagle's claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch. So far there's been no evidence tying these long-ago design decisions to the present economic situation.

Daniel Russell...

Is my nephew. Sorry for the confusion. I just was so excited that I forgot to explain the connection!!!

Daniel Russell

A.K.A. The cutest baby ever!!

No offense to those who have babies or nieces/nephews already but in my humble opinion and long-time baby cuteness judge, Daniel wins hands down!

It's tough being a newborn! People expect you to eat, use your diapers, and breathe! All at the same time!!! Gesh, you're not a rocket doctor!!! For heaven's sake, you're only a week old!!

Proud Gramma holding Daniel

See, he's the cutest, isn't he!!!