3 Three III

degrees

8:15 pm EST

3 degrees WITHOUT the windchill (that is -16 c for 95% of the world's population)

that makes it feel -15 with the wind (-26 c)

In case you are wondering, yes it is painfully cold.

Like lung hurting cold, muscles contracting and not releasing, cold.

So, this weekend was the ONE weekend that the movie Milk was showing at THE art theater. So my friend Mandy invites me to go with her, and her friend Rich, and his partner. The only time the schedules meet up is 5pm on Sunday.

I got home at 8 to find frost on the inside of the living room window and a quick check of the temps shows it to be about 5 on the outside of the glass in the living room. Brrrrrrrr.

The walk from the theater to the car was horrifically cold.

So, it was quite an evening, watching scenes of SF on the movie screen, 20 years of my life roll past my mind with Sean Penn as the backdrop and I fight the tears as my first serious wave of homesick rolls over me. All the years I walked the candlelight vigils in memory of Harvey, the protests in the streets for various causes over the years, the dyke marches, the parades, the wandering around aimlessly enjoying the wonders that always present themselves, the Halloween parties before it became a nightmare, shopping in the long gone neighborhood grocery that was on Castro, hanging with Mayor Angnos at the closing of Ameilia's on Valencia, my friends, the GLBT film festivals...

back at Kia Rio I discuss with Mandy the options for meeting other lesbians around here. Church. Bars. Bowling. Online.

Grand, just grand.

At least I am right on schedule! I have a hypothesis that homesickness usually creeps up for people at about the 6 month mark and I am right there. The movie of course, did not help the issue.

So, there you have it. Freezing freakin cold and the homesick blues.

Good job I have mom to focus on over the next few weeks.

And, I have a personal dealer, university library book dealer that is... so I have a whole stack of new library books to delve into before school starts back on Jan 5. She has 6 more years before retirement, so I should be able to read good books for some time to come!

Alright, enough whining!

Hope you all have nice holidays, however you do or don't celebrate...

Breaking News!!!!!!!!

Ok, the long awaited moment arrived, just moments ago...

drum roll.......

Snuggie groomed little Heljye!

Yup, the bonding is nearly complete.

Snuggie was sleeping on the chaise while I took my online final. After about 30 minutes little Heljye came into the office, all sleepy, looking for mommy's lap, as he is prone to do.

Well, I scooped him up and laid him next to Snuggie to take advantage of Snuggies "lovey" sleepytime nature. Heljye laid his little head on Snugs back leg and they slept like that for a while. I finished the exam and then was on the phone with mom and whala... Snuggie raised his head and bent over and licked little Heljye's neck several times.

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee !

Crisper Crispy

Yup, ok, so it is the next to last day of the term, and I just finished an awful course by submitting a really crappy 10 page paper and my brain is a little fried.

I have to do a final tomorrow and then I am done, except for that incomplete still lingering out there undone...

So, of course I am busy blogging about the crispy crispers in the bottom of the fridge. I am not much for clogging up an appliance with a bunch of bells and whistles, but these 2 individually controlled crisper drawers work really good!

My sister is raving about the green bags for keeping food fresh, but I am wondering if they are redundant with the adjustable drawers that work so well...

ok, gotta run eat some of the crispy veggies!

Tuber 'capades

Yes, it is the 2008 Sweet Potato roll and drag!

Well, young Ollie of olfactory fame, was sniffing like crazy trying to reach my sweet potato on the counter. Little Heljye was not far away, sitting quietly in the middle of the floor.

I brought the freshly washed sp down to Ollie so he could inspect and he immediately wrapped his ever growing paw around it...

well, I rewashed that one and got an older one outta the tater bin - it was starting to shrivel a bit... and laid it on the floor. Ollie messed with it a bit and then walked away.

Heljye picked up "the ball" from there and started rolling it around the floor. I paid no mind, went back to the laptop on the dining room table and the noises stopped.

Well, a few seconds later I get up to check on dinner and notice Heljye standing in the hallway with his potato. It had a hunk pulled up where the little fellow bit into it to carry it. He took it about 20 feet... the potato is about 30% of his body size...

who needs store bought "cat" toys????

Well, the potato is sitting at the bottom of the attic stairs, discarded in favor of playing in the attic aka "tree house"

I love my fellas!

Oh, ANOTHER car crashes into a local business today. This time a hair salon... and we have had 4 bank robberies in less than 2 weeks...

Heat Wave!!!!!!!!!!

53 degrees at 11pm

: )

it is a heat wave...

unfortunately,

it is dropping to 35 by midday tomorrow...

it was good while it lasted, even if it did rain all day long...

Hometown Proud...

Well, here is just a snippet of the news from this region...

Man Accidentally Shoots Wife During Sex - the woman is now in critical condition at the hospital my dad was in... that is good for her, becuz their trauma unit was really great...


Student accused of inducing panic with shooting threats - this one was at my old school - the high school I went to, which is now a middle school - the kid is currently in juvie...

2 banks were robbed yesterday - within 15 minutes of each other, but with different robbers... (one was a trio who are now in jail- the other was a lone man who is still "at large")...

A 51 year old man was accused of breaking into a local preschool and making off with the teachers' frozen lunch entrees.

and there have been about 5 "drive ins" in which people are driving their cars into buildings - the most recent 3 - one this morning was the result of a 2 car accident which sent one car into a cafe, another was a car driving into a preschool, another car crashed into a sit down restaurant...

yup, this is where I be living these days... Dayton is not exactly a big city, yet we have plenty of crap going on for the police blotter!

and to stop on a warmer note - feelings wise because it is 15 F*****ing degress outside... after about 5 days stuck 450 feet down in a drain, Zeke the dog, is rescued. Some guy who owns a sewer business heard about the dog being stuck and took his remote camera and was able to spot the dog - they dug down and broke through the pipe and coaxed Zeke out - he is apparently doing fine now.

Vignettes

I woke up yesterday with a street scene from the Western Addition blazing across my thoughts.

Chalked it up to the remnants of a dream.

until... I was minding my own business at the laptop and whamo, another SF street scene danced across my visual field. In full technicolor.

Then today it happened again, I was on Clayton headed north towards Haight...

they are brief little flashes, with stunning clarity and details.

there is a tidal wave coming my way... good thing the kayak and paddle are in the garage...

Zicam Rapidmelts

totally gross product.

Yucky yucky yuck.

Cold-eese lozenges seem better despite the fact they become a sticky mess in your mouth while melting...

18 freakin degrees at 10 am and wonder boy Snuggie, who SLEPT with me and the wee ones for the first time last night... yea!!! -- is outside in this bitter cold.

Jaz is on the back of the couch sleeping... the smart one.

Wee ones are settling down for a mid morning nap.

I am starting to dig in on homework... oh, yea, I went and got munchies so as not to be tempted by the Temptations... although they are named to identify the fact they are tempting... and that little bag is a bright shiny silver with green...

but I now have potato chips, corn chips, and pretzels...

Later

Yes, Virginia

there is such a thing as...

fleece sheets!

and they are devine!

I have, for some idiotic reason, been sliding into bed each night on cotton sheets. Now, I love cotton sheets, but in the winter it is a bit like going down to the skating rink and laying down on the ice.

Chilly!

Everytime you move, your face gets a fresh slap of ice.

So, I finally got with it and went to get some sheets, was going to get flannel and saw fleece, so I said let's give fleece a whirl.

It was soooooooo nice last night when I crawled into bed that I giggled for 5 minutes outta happiness.

Then, I discovered a desire to stay in bed in the morning, now that the sheets were so toasty... so I let Snuggie out for a few, crawled back into bed, then got the phone and called mom from bed. I did not get out of bed for the day until almost 10.

ooops!

If I am not careful I am going to be one big ball of fleece, fleece shirts, socks, jammies and now sheets...

Do I need therapy???

ok, so I have developed a habit of sorts...

while doing homework, I am popping a DDP and eating some crunchy snack of crackers or chips or something, like Goldfish crackers.

Well I ran out and for the last 2 days have been eating popcorn, which isn't my favorite.

So, today I rummaged through the cabinets and went to the attic pantry (stocked up on some stuff for yucky winter weather...) and found nothing.

Back in the cupboard, I eyed the silver and green foil bag of Temptations cat treats. Now, it was only a momentary thought, but the fact that I even contemplated it makes me a little nervous...

I think Mom wants to go xmas shopping Wednesday, so I may need to make a snack run while we are out.

I am about to get an apple, but boy do I want something crunchy that is not a standard cracker, of which I have many varieties...

OK, gotta get back at it...

Snuggie under house arrest

Well, the other day I called my little Snuggems, and noticed him running in from the front yard - which is where Rt 4 is... that 50 mph road... I was worried.

Yesterday morning, I happened to look out the front window and saw him across the street (in the rain and cold, no less) crawling under my neighbor's fence. Well, I ran out of the house in my house shoes and pj's and across the street to try to get him. Bastard crawled into her bushes and would not come out.

I stood out there calling him. After getting fairly wet and cold, I retreated to the house where I put on proper clothes and rainboots/coat and went out after him again. No luck. He finally came in and my sorry emotional ass started crying. I was really worried he would get hit crossing the street. I cannot take another one. I still miss Tashi so much.

Well, that cat door got closed up in a hurry. I let him out briefly that evening to go potty and then he went out again for a few minutes this morning. I'll let him out for a bit tonight, but the days of come and go as you please are pretty much over.

I have got to get a fence and gate put up. If I can get a 6.5 foot wire fence on the front and side yards (and along the frontage side of the IF - which is not my property...) then it will really really cut down on them being able to cross the street. Won't prevent it, they are cats after all, but it will help probably 85%. So, until then, Snuggie is on serious house arrest.

I am now looking for a job, as all out go and no income is starting to take a toll. The job market here is awful. I have even been keeping an eye on Cincinnati (a yucky commute - not quite bay area, but not that far off expecially with winter driving issues) and have not seen much of note there either!

So, Snuggie is up in the attic sleeping. Heljye is on the desk and Ollie and Jaz are in the living room.

Jaz has been a bit sick - lost his voice for a few days, and is sneezing and coughing but is still eating and drinking and licking the kittens and sometimes playing with them. He could become a house bound cat with very little fuss.

The wee ones are growing like mad.

OK, got school work to tend to before Snuggie comes after me pissed off that he cannot go outside...

Oh, those white puffy frozen things are falling from the sky again. Ground is too warm for them to hang out. Not leaving the house today unless there is an emergency...

It is suppose to get up to 43 on Wednesday... yea!!!! Cannot wait to see my heat bill...