Filed under: personal, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: Portland Schmap photo inclusion
One of my pics from this summer’s West Coast vacation was chosen to be part of an online mapping site!
Not my favorite photo from the trip & not a glorious full page spread, but it’s still kinda nifty. Check it out - I’m in the “Washington Park” section at the bottom of the page (it the link doesn’t take you directly to the picture.)
Filed under: animals, food, pets, Uncategorized | Tags: animal vegetable miracle recipe, cooking disasters, kitchen disasters, kitty in a box, pumpkin soup recipe, thanksgiving, thanksgiving cooking
I’ve spent my entire evening cleaning up messes and trying to fix culinary problems that were way beyond my ability.
First mistake: I tried to make pumpkin soup. With a raw pumpkin. IN the pumpkin, no less.
It started innocently, with a freshly cleaned pumpkin:
The recipe came from my “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” book. When the daughter tries to make it in the book, the soup ends in disaster. I’m not sure why I thought that I could master something that a family who cooks all their own meals from scratch could not. The idea is that you bake the soup IN the pumpkin shell, and then you end up with this yummy soup in a neat-o pumpkin shell to impress all your friends and family. Since I have no friends or family coming over tomorrow, I was really just trying it because I was curious. And so I dove in headfirst. And here’s what happened:
If you can’t see it in the photo, trust my eye witness account: there is pumpkin soup EVERYWHERE. To make matters worse, I repeated these steps with the same results 3 times: 1-Put soup in blender. 2-Press button. 3-Watch orange stuff explode all over you, all over your kitchen, all over your floor, and into your kitty’s water bowl. FUN!
Speaking of kitty, while I was in the midst of this pumpkin mess (which was further complicated by a simultaneous chunky mashed potato mess) – kitty decided to climb up onto the dining room table. This is a habit that is STRICTLY forbidden, unless he stays on the corner across from the fridge which he uses as a launch pad to get on top of the refrigerator. Early on I decided that if kitty was going to be on top of ANYthing in the kitchen, it might as well be something that needs an occasional dusting.
Anyway, back to my story.
Milo climbed on the table and promptly knocked the cardboard box for my new roasting pan to the floor. (*yes, I’m going to attempt a turkey tomorrow. With the great success of my pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes, I figure it will be the best turkey ever roasted within Austin city limits). I thought it was an accident, till I rounded the corner and found this:
Oh my. Big kitty in a little box.
As I write now, my kitchen is clean, my potatoes are chunky but definately “mashed”, my pumpkin soup is salty but edible. Not only that, but kitty has escaped his tiny box and is purring away on my lap. I was going to try to get the stuffing started tonight but… I think I’ll leave that disaster for tomorrow.
Filed under: animals, pets, Uncategorized | Tags: cat adoption, cats, first year with pet, milo and otis, town lake animal center, vet visits
Our first Christmas Day, 2007
Tomorrow is the 1-year anniversary of Milo & Mindy togetherness. One year ago tomorrow, it was with much anticipation that I went to Town Lake Animal Center to gather my freshly neutered orange tabby and take him home. One year ago at this time, Milo’s name was still “Monty”.
After I got him home it didn’t take long for me to recognize that this cat was no “Monty”. I started calling him Milo because it seemed fitting: cute, respectable, mature yet playful. At the time I didn’t make the connection (at least not consciously) to the infamous “Milo and Otis“. To be quite honest, I just found out 5 seconds ago on wikipedia that my kitty’s namesake also happens to be a curious orange tabby. And now that it’s had a moment to let that realization soak in, I’d rather not talk about it anymore. For my well-being let’s all just go on pretending that “Milo” was my cute, respectable, mature yet playful name idea, k?
Looking back, it’s been an eventful first year together. Milo has taught me a buttload of lessons. I’ve learned what it takes to get a harness on a kitty, and how once it’s on he’ll refuse to do anything but lay dead in it. I’ve learned that cats are NOT that responsible about their eating habits, and they WILL eat everything you put in front of them if you feed them 24 hours a day. I’ve learned what a hair ball looks like, and I’ve learned how often I need to brush kitty to keep the hairballs at bay. I’ve learned what the high pitched meow means (I’m freaking hungry or I freaking want out of this room!), and I know what the kitty growl means (put me the heck down lady). I’ve learned the favorite toy (white mouse), the favorite food (anything out of a can), the favorite owner/kitty bonding exercise (brushing). I’ve learned that a cat CAN play catch, and chase, and if you speak to him like he understands, he’ll talk back like you’re having a real conversation.
bedtime, makin biscuits on his teddy bear
In the last year Milo and I have established lots of habits together. He never leaves my side – not even if I’m taking a shower (he stands on the sink outside of the shower and tries to peer in. Creepy!) At bedtime he lays on my chest for about 3 minutes, staring right in my face while I pet him and he purrs. Then he moves over to the empty side of the bed, where he “makes biscuits” on his teddy bear for anywhere from 10-20 minutes as he lures himself to sleep, always facing me & keeping his eyes on my every move. In the morning, about twenty minutes before the alarm goes off there’s a light pawing at my pillow. That’s the signal that it’s time for Milo to curl up under the covers before breakfast time and our sleepy bonding time is over.
So yes, it’s been an eventful and incredibly rewarding year with this dog-like cat. And how did we celebrate this momentous occasion? With a trip to the vet, of course! And not only did Milo refuse to get into his carrier, but once I’d shoved him down inside of it he managed to wrestle his way out of it in no more than 10 seconds (followed by 30 seconds of very scary choking sounds). He had done this a few months ago,
tonight on the way home from the vet, checkin out the scenery from the S2000
while in the car (with the top down, talk about exciting), so I sort of expected this to happen. With no other carrier or suitable box, I had the pleasure of driving this kitty 20 minutes across town in a very small, loud, bumpy convertible with leather seats. The Doc used her the needles, stuck a thermometer in the unmentionable place, and did everything she could to this poor kitty – but no number of poking devices to scare Milo enough to get back into that darn carrier, in spite of Mommy’s best efforts to convince him that the carrier was a “safe” place. And so we drove home again, free-range kitty style. Milo split his time between my lap and the console. He never strayed to the passengers seat or the footwell, just leaned against me and gazed out the window like the good kitty/puppy his is, or sat upright on the console looking directly out the windshield.
What a weird, wonderful cat I have. Cheers to Milo, and to here’s to looking forward to another year of hairballs, furballs & biscuit-making!
Filed under: arts, entertainment, movies, music, Uncategorized | Tags: 13th floor elevators, Austin music, documentary, drug culture in music, music, music history, musicians on LSD, roky erickson, you're gonna miss me
magazine cover, from http://www.rokyericson.net
I haven’t written in a bit – it’s been kinda hectic around here. After recovering from my rowdy weekend in Philly, my dad came into town this past weekend. We had a good time. I felt sort of bad because I didn’t have a whole lot lined up for us to do, so we spent a lot of time sitting around & chatting. Even after all that relaxing, I’m still feeling a little blah so last night I went home and did something I don’t usually do: sat on the couch and watched a movie.
Frankly, I didn’t know a lick about Roky Erickson or the 13th Floor Elevators until my couch-sit last night. Now today I feel like maybe I know too much…
This documentary follows Roky from childhood through his musical career with the 13th Floor Elevators. There is a lot to be learned in 94 minutes of film. I picked up a bit of pop music history, saw a little of Austin’s past, and learned a lesson or two on how LSD can completely and permanently rearrange the insides of a human’s brain.
The great thing about this film is that it’s available on Time-Warner cable’s free movies on demand (Channel 1002, offered under Sundance Channel’s listings). So, if you’re in the Austin area and subscribe to Time-Warner, chances are you can go home tonight and watch this film for free. It’s disturbing at times, but incredibly interesting and inspirational (when it isn’t depressing).
