How to Walk a Cat

I must apologize, I don't have pictures or a video as I was laughing too hard and didn't think to grab the camera.

Back to Saturday.  Remember the straightened out wire hanger?  Well, as I was straightening it, the cat became fixated and of course wanted to do her part to "help" and was trying to grab the end of it.  When I finally got it straight and got a little hook made at the end of it, I got up and headed for the bathroom to unclog the drain.  Half way there, I realized the cat was walking ahead of me in a very focused manor.  I had the wire held out ahead of me and I realized she was still fixated on the end of the wire!

I stopped.  She stopped.  I moved. She moved.  Now, I have no idea how old she is, and she's a little over weight and a lot lazy and she usually loses interest in playing pretty quickly.  I decided to test how fixated she was.

It was like I had a remote control cat!  It was hilarious.  Round and round we went thru the kitchen and living room.  Up and down the hall.  Up and down and all around the furniture.  Anywhere the tip of that wire went, she had to go!  I had to stop before she did.  I've never seen her so focused before.  Andy, Tony and I were all cracking up.

I threw the wire away but I'll have to make another one and try to get video next time.

One of those "Doh" Moments

Our poor tub has a tendency to clog quite easily.  It's very annoying.  I loose a lot of hair while showering for whatever reason and this usually is the culprit, but this tub seems to clog easier than any other we've had.  Anyway, its been slow again and I have been putting off trying to fix it, so when it stopped completely on Saturday, neither of us were too surprised by it.

The problem is, we have a house guest, I took the dog for a really long, sweaty walk, and Andy and I did a lot of cleaning on Saturday.  Three of us were in bad need of showers and we were having a party that night.  I dumped a bunch of baking soda down the drain (thank goodness that stuff sinks) and then poured the last of our vinegar down it and threw a wet towel on top hoping it would be enough to force the suds down to the clog.  No dice.  I decided to straighten out a wire hanger and leave a hook on the end to shove down the drain and try and pull the clog loose.  It stopped about six inches in, like solidly stopped.  Wtf?  I figured the pipe must take a turn right there that the wire just wasn't flexible enough.  So, we went to the store and bought a bottle of gel Drain-o with a zipper thing to shove down the drain and help pull the clog out.  Same problem.  What kind of pipe set up do we have?  Why does the pipe turn six inches after the drain?  No wonder it clogs so easily!  Well, I poured the Drain-o in and walked away.  

I went back in 15 or 20 minutes like the instructions said and turned on the hot water to flush it, and I succeeded in just filling up the tub more.  I walked away again out of frustration.  I went back again in a bit and noticed the water was down a bit.  Okay, so it's draining a tiny bit.  I got the brilliant idea of using the plunger!  That should work right?  Wrong.  We are all getting frustrated at this point and Andy is threatening to just go out and buy a drain auger or call a plumber and it's getting closer and closer to when everyone is to show up.

I sent a text my sister and asked if they had a drain auger.  They do but they aren't home.  Damn.  Hmm okay.  Plumber is too expensive.  I don't want to buy our own auger.  And we now only have a half hour.  Guess it's a good thing everyone coming to the party are close friends.

As we were going to bed, Andy decided to brave it, and take a shower anyway.  He comes to bed, wakes me up, and says, "Hun, guess what?  The valve was closed."  OMG! Duh!

I had cleaned the tub earlier in the day and must have bumped the knob!  It wasn't fully closed which is why it was draining, just over several hours.  At least the Drain-o still did it's job, once he opened the valve it all drained right away!  And no wonder the wire and zipper only went in six inches!

GAH!  lol

Fishies

Frenchie has vanished.  The gourami have been hanging out at the top more and more and being a lot less shy.  I'm pretty sure one of them got him.  I'll be setting up my ten gallon this weekend and so the next time I see a survivor I can just plop them in there till they're bigger.  That is, until I get a betta in there. 

I added Co2 to my tank recently.  The algae break out is driving me nuts, I realized I really do have more light on the tank than I thought, and I'm just not seeing the growth on the plants that I was hoping for.  So I took out the air stone and put in Co2.  I need to add another jar to the setup, but the little bit the one jar has added has definitely helped.  The hair algae is starting to turn white and will hopefully continue on to pink and then DIE.  I have also seen a lot more growth int he plants and have seen a couple oxygen bubbles from the plants as well.  Once I add a second bottle, things should only get better.  Yay!

I love that the gourami aren't being as shy.  When I fed them this morning the female stayed right by my fingers!  Her name is Clover and the male is Tupelo, both are types of honey.  We felt they were fitting names for honey gourami.  :)

The bristlenose pleco has been named squeegee, since he cleans the glass, and the ottos are his boyz.  The verdict is still out on what to name the painted swordtails.  One danio has a name, but only because she's very tiny.  Her name is Pipsqueek.  She's hardly grown since we've had her and all the others have about doubled in size.  They are also now fully showing their spots and red stripes and are beautiful.

Baggs spends most of her time in front of the tank watching.  She has taken to jumping up and slapping the tank if a fish is near the front however.  I need to try and get her to not do that.  I can dream right?

Fun and Games

Random conversations from Monday night's game. (You might have had to be there, but I'm posting it anyway for those of us that were)

We were in need of a few more mini figs for an encounter:
Dan: Could you bring me my long brown one?
Brent: Um, that just sounds wrong.  Those should be left in the bathroom.
Dan: My case, it's a case.  A long brown case.
The rest of us: Dying laughing

Andy: Do you have any arrows? Do you have enough?
Me: I have a shit ton of arrows.  Dan bought me 100.
Andy: Damn, that's a lot of arrows.
Brent: Is that an ass load?
Andy: An ass load makes a shit ton.
Me? I snorted water up my sinuses and into my lungs. (Don't take a drink during funny conversations)
Everyone just cracked up laughing!
Brent: An ass load, a shit ton, and a long brown one.

Random, makes-no-sense comment from Dan later in the evening: That's better than an I told you so and a box of chocolates!

We end up in some of the weirdest conversations when we get together with good friends, and it doesn't matter what group of friends!  (Monkeys in barrels come to mind from another game night with other friends, but that's another story) We always have a good time and always end up with great fodder for teasing and blackmail later.  Mwahahaha

Survival of the Fittest

Look closely

Do you see it?

Look again

Here he is again

 Here's a better view

We have three swordtails in our tank, and this little one is most assuredly a sword baby.  Swordtails are livebearers, which means they give birth to live young and don't lay eggs.  They are also notorious for eating their own young unless steps are taken by the owner.  We also have many other fish in the tank that would welcome a small snack.  I decided I would just let nature take it's course in this tank.  I found this little guy hanging out in the water lettuce and frogbit at the top of the tank the other day.  One little survivor has beaten the odds and came out smart enough to outsmart the adults.  I've been watching him for a couple days now and he is very watchful and careful about his movements around the tank.  Hope he keeps it up.  For now, his name is Frenchy.  Baby fish are called fry - get it?  French fry?  (I know, I know, lame joke lol)

A Weekend with Becca

We had our niece over for the whole weekend, last weekend, and we all had fun.  I don't like the reason that we got to have her for the whole weekend tho.  I'll let you read the details here.  We tried to stay positive and keep Becca occupied and distracted however.

They don't eat out much for budget and dietary reasons, and so we decided to spoil the kiddo and take her to get a kids meal and play.  We went to Arctic Circle and she got a soft purple bunny with her meal, but she didn't want to go play, surprisingly.  One of the workers was very attentive, which I thought was funny for a fast food place, but didn't mind.  When we were done with our meal she brought us all courtesy cones and took our tray away.  She was super nice and loved Becca.  We got home and watched a little tv, then we all got in our jammies and settled down.  We called Stacie and Kenton so Becca could talk to them and tell them goodnight and then we put her to bed.  We sang some songs (and realized we don't know many children's songs) and then Andy told her a story about hobbits and where they live.  She loved it.  I cuddled up with her and stayed with her after the story until she started rubbing her eyes.  She went right to sleep after I left.  She's such a good girl.  I was expecting some tears.

In the morning we tried watching some cartoons, she loved the leapfrog learning one we found but wasn't too interested in any others.  She asked to do my hair a little later in the morning, so I got my hair done up.  She's going to be a hairdresser I just know it!

Later we made noodle necklaces together.

She then decided Lily needed to wear them.

She's such a cute and silly girl, love her!

She really liked our fish tank and had fun watching the fishies and asking all about them, I failed to get pictures of that tho.

We took her to Carl's Jr for lunch and she had a blast on their playground with a bunch of other kids.  This girl hates shoes and socks, like takes them off the minute she gets anywhere, hates them, but I asked nicely and she actually came back off the play set with socks still on her feet!

Later, her and I took a trip down to grandma and grandpa's for a bit.  We had a really good visit and had dinner with them.  Normally, Becca doesn't want to leave grandma's, but this time, after we had been there a while and while I was still talking to my mom (Hi mom!), I saw her go and put her socks on.  Then she put her shoes on.  Remember how I said she doesn't like them?  Then she put her coat on.  Then she casually came and sat by me and said, "Can we go now?"  I laughed.  She wanted to go back to our place!

That night, after a phone call to mom and dad for a goodnight, Andy told her about Bilbo Baggins and the trolls, which she loved, and she went right to sleep again.

We watched some more cartoons in the morning and she brushed my hair for a while and then Stacie came to get her.  I'm not sure who was more excited to see the other.  

It was nice to have the rest of the day to ourselves.  :)

Magic String

Sometimes, the most random things happen at our house.  I was in an ornery mood and was doing laundry and not happy about it and I had just brought up the last basket.  I set it on a stool in the bedroom and then went out of the room.  When I came back, I found this.  How can you not laugh at stuff like this?

I hope the video works this time, if it does, please excuse how much of a dork I am :)

(Static(k)ed?  Ya, I make up my own words)

Better Late, Than Never I Suppose

No snow in December.  No snow in January.  Nope, Winter decided it would fart around for awhile, have a cup of coffee, have a chat with some friends, then maybe, possibly get to the party.  Remember last week?  Today, he decided to come back, blowing and howling, for some more fun.  Spring is in two weeks and my tulips are popping up and my crocuses have bloomed for crying out loud!

I have never seen build up on the windows like this at our house

I really need to fix that fence

The build up on the sliding door stayed put when I opened it

Poor Lily had to be convinced going out was in her own best interest.
(Look at that cold butt tuck)

This is the threshold of the front door

I love this one

Watcha doin' sittin' on the floor with the door open mom?
Those two crack me up.

I wish I had had better light
(and photoshop)

The Many Faces of Lillers

Having a dog that needs grooming means she can look strikingly different, at different times of the year.  She also has a name to go with each face.

Fuzzbucket extreem or Mutt (not her most flattering)

Fuzzyness

Skinnybutt (we shave her clean before winter

The Fuzz

Dork (Tried a new cut)  
Mom, I don't even look like a schnauzer anymore!

Miss Fuzzington

 This time round I think we hit the groomer on the perfect day, they did her up just right and she is adorable and she knows it.  She is now The Cuteness

Romancing the Home Brew (part 2)

Once Andy had determined the brew was ready to be bottled, he started work cleaning bottles.  We had saved several and he had gotten several boxes of used ones from his brother as well.  We did buy one box of new bottles cause they have fancy tops that we both really like.  He had to soak all the used bottles and peel all the labels off. Then they had to soak in a sanitizer solution and be set up to dry a bit.  Everything the beer mix touched, buckets, tubes, connectors, siphons, had to be sanitized and be untouched by us or any surface not covered in sanitizer solution.  This was a bit of a frustration on Andy's part, but he was militant about it.  He wanted his brew to turn out perfect, even tho he still worried about it being contaminated and getting infected.  Who knew beer could get an infection?  Basically it means that the beer got bacteria in it and makes it rotten, hence the need to sanitize everything.

Soaking bottles in sanitizer

The dishwasher came in very handy as a drying rack

Bottling bucket is ready to go, just needs a hose on it

Once the beer had been poured into the bottling bucket, a sample was removed to be tested for taste and alcohol content.  This is where we would find out for sure if it had gotten an infection.

Color looks good!

We both tentatively took a sip.  I have to say, at room temperature and non carbonated, it actually tasted pretty damn good.  Can't wait to taste it ice cold and carbonated.  Andy kept a big grin on his face for quite a while and he tested the alcohol at about 5%.  Not too shabby for a first shot at brewing!  He mixed a sugar solution into the bucket that will force the beer to carbonate in the bottle and we got to work bottling it.

This thing is cool, the end has a shut off.  You put it in the
bottle, but it doesn't start filling til you press it on the
bottom, then it stops when you pull it up!

These are the fancy bottles we bought new.  Love the tops!

This is the fancy capper tool I used for the rest of the
bottles.  It was pretty fun and easy to use.

39 bottles total - 6 22oz, 15 16oz, and 18 12oz bottles

I decided to get fancy and finally put our label maker to use.  I ran out of tape so couldn't label them all, but I did get all the fancy bottles labeled.  The rest I just wrote the date on the cap with a sharpie.

Now we get to stare at 39 bottles back at the end of the hall and wait for them to carbonate.  I covered them with old sheets as a precaution, however.  Andy told me that sometimes bottles have been known to explode during the carbonation process from too much pressure build up.  I figure the sheets will at least keep it somewhat contained if one happened to get mad and blow it's top.