Well I feel like a bit of an idiot now. I completely spazzed on the fact that the domain name for my cats’ blog was fixing to expire and didn’t renew it in time. In fact, if Angel hadn’t noticed that there was nothing there I might not have noticed for another day or so. Sad, isn’t it?

In my defense though I am used to renewing domains every couple of years versus every year, which for some odd reason, Namecheap forces me to do for kitty-kitty.net. I have no idea why, but when I purchased it I could only purchase it for a year and when I went to re-purchase/renew it, again, only the one-year option was available. What’s up with that? Here’s hoping we don’t have a repeat next year.

I’m just entirely grateful that no one decided to snap up kitty-kitty.net in the meantime. So now that I’ve got the kinks with the login pages for N-I and K-K fixed and the name servers have propagated the blogging can once again commence.

As you can see I’m up bright and early this morning. Got to get some cleaning done now and then shower and get ready to go. I’m heading out shopping today, specifically looking for plasma tvs too. Not for me though, my neighbor is looking to get one for her son and his wife for Christmas and apparently I would make the perfect one to help her pick one out.

Honestly, what would I know about plasma tvs? I don’t own one, heck, I don’t even watch tv much anymore. I’m seriously not going to be any help at all.

The other day I spotted a bit of an anomaly on one of the truck tires. Specifically I saw a green spot where there should be nothing but black. Upon closed inspection I discovered a large (but cute!) praying mantis curled up and taking a snooze on the tire. Not the safest place for a nap. I proceeded to whip out my camera, which seems to be surgically attached to my hand at times, and proceeded to take a long string of photos. Much like another praying mantis I took pictures of, this one didn’t appreciate being a model for me and woke up soon enough and attempted to put some distance between it and the strange human with the flashy box. It wasn’t very successful.

I’ve picked the best three shots and uploaded them to my DeviantArt account. For full view just click on the images (or the link next to them) and photo’s DeviantArt page will open in a new browser. You don’t need an account to view them.

Camera Info. -
Make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Model: FE210,X775
Shutter Speed: 1/700 second
Aperture: F/3.1
Focal Length: 6 mm
ISO Speed: 64
Details -
File Size: 162 KB
Image Size: 162 KB
Resolution: 640×480
Location: DeviantArt

Camera Info. -
Make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Model: FE210,X775
Shutter Speed: 1/700 second
Aperture: F/4.6
Focal Length: 6 mm
ISO Speed: 64
Details -
File Size: 169 KB
Image Size: 169 KB
Resolution: 640×480
Location: DeviantArt

Camera Info. -
Make: OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.
Model: FE210,X775
Shutter Speed: 1/40 second
Aperture: F/3.9
Focal Length: 9 mm
ISO Speed: 64
Details -
File Size: 163 KB
Image Size: 163 KB
Resolution: 640×480
Location: DeviantArt

I finally have another shutterbugging post and of course it features insects. My apologies for those who get grossed out by insects. Next time I’ll try and pick subjects that are more appealing, like sunsents, or even display objects like glasses of beverages, Avo cigars, rocks, something other than insects.

For the curious, after I was finished taking photos of the praying mantis I picked him/her/it up and moved it out of the way so the praying mantis did not get squished when I left. :heart:

I got back from theater a little while ago. My mother and I went to see Michael Jackson’s This Is It which is a video biography that contains footage of the rehearsals for MJ’s This Is It tour as well as interviews from dancers, producers, and musicians who were involved in its production.

To be honest I didn’t know what to expect from this movie. I had heard that initially they had planned to release this as a straight-to-dvd documentary so I was curious as to how this would play out exactly. I have to say I was very impressed. They did an awesome job of capturing MJ’s onstage energy, showing the rehearsals and mock-ups to give you an idea of how everything would have come together on tour, and they even featured full performances of some of MJ’s more memorable songs as well as the new video footage that would have been displayed during the tour. Frankly I thought it was awesome seeing MJ like this.

I was also impressed with the audience in the theater. No talking during the show, no cellphones blaring, people walking in front or standing up. Everyone was so respectful - I’ve never seen that in a theater before! And when MJ was performing on the screen you could hear others in the audience singing along. Yes, I was singing and crying right along with them.

When “Man in the Mirror” was being performed a good majority of the audience members whipped out cellphones and opened them up to wave them in lieu of lighters. I thought that was one of the most beautiful things I’d even seen. Men and women , ages ranging from ten to sixty, all together in celebrating the life of a wonderful and inspirational man. All Michael Jackson fans need to see this, definitely.

After we left the theater we went to Wal-Mart to get a little shopping done and out of the way while there were no crowds. Somehow even in the middle of the night Wal-Mart remains an exhausting place to be. I want to curl up in bed and go to sleep now but I have to finish cleaning up the kitchen (which I put off) because I won’t have any time to do it tomorrow until late in the day. I need to dig some stuff out of storage and put other things away. I have to borrow a dollie first though (they’re also called industrial hand wheels) to make moving the big plastic storage bins easier. Ah, long day tomorrow.

I’m fixing to head out to the movies in a few minutes. My mother and I are going to go see Michael Jackson’s This Is It up at the Telshor 12. Initially we had planned to see it yesterday evening but our plans got derailed. I am so glad my mom actually wants to see this because I really wanted to as well but no one I know wanted to go with me. Most aren’t that big of fans of MJ and couldn’t see the appeal of watching this movie. Since I hate going to the theater by myself, if it wasn’t for her wanting to accompany me, I probably wouldn’t be going to see this.

I just finished eating a barbecue sandwich so hopefully I’m not hit with the munchies while at the theater and I’m not conned into paying outrageous amounts of money for snacks. Granted I love theater popcorn but shesh, it’s highway robbery.

Dinner was delicious by the way. I saved out some of the pork meat I used for the posole I made earlier and mixed it up with some barbecue sauce, toasted some buns, and then grated some Monterrey Jack cheese with Jalapenos on it and called it done.

Quick and easy and doesn’t make me feel guilty for eating something else when I have plenty of posole in the refrigerator. Hey, I can’t let the pork meat go to waste can I? Not to mention it’s not very greasy either, which really doesn’t matter since it’s winter now and I don’t have to worry about skin care products that have salicylic acid now. No, instead I have to worry about dry skin and keeping lotion handy. *sigh* Gotta love the change in seasons.

Anyway, I gotta get ready to leave now. I’ll be sure to post about the movie when I return!

I guess people just aren’t into celebrating Halloween much anymore. I was participating in a sort of photo-scavenger hunt at Ecstasy MB and I was rather distressed to find out that I had no opportunity for photos at all! The participating members of the boards were broken into two teams and each team had to find a person dressed in costume as:

• Pirate
• Angel
• Zombie
• Politician
• Superhero
• Animal
• Maid
• Rockstar
• Nurse or Doctor
• Convict
• and Vampire

On top of that we also had to find people in costumes that were separate from the aformentioned and represented one of the following words:

• Scary
• Sexy
• Wacky
• Creative
• Cheap
• Hairy
• Humorous
• Whimsical
• Mysterious
• Gothic
• Bizarre

In years past I recall seeing workers at grocery stores and even department stores dressed up and showing their Halloween spirit. I expected that when I went out yesterday to take advantage of an awesome sale on pork roast (I’m making posole) that I would be presented with a few people in costume. I was dead wrong. I thought for sure I’d see a sales worker at Albertson’s dressed as a witch, catgirl, vampire, and maybe somebody would do something like a clown or with a lot of glitter. You know, something that was in the spirit but was clearly made with whatever odds and ends they could find. I thought for sure I’d find at least one on the list. I found not a one. The closest any of the workers got to dressing up was an orange pin on their vests and aprons that read “Happy Halloween from Everyone at Albertson’s” and had a black cat on it.

There was an older woman in front of me in line that must have been wondering the same thing as me because she asked how come no workers were dressed up this year. Apparently the manager forbid it. Well, shit. I ended up taking a slight detour to Wal-Mart after I got out of there because people are always dressed odd there. Right? Actually, the only people I saw dressed up at Wal-Mart were kids and I wasn’t going to take pictures of little kids. I could just envision the lynch mob that would have formed when parents saw me taking pics of their kids. Scary thought that.

So after scouting Wal-Mart out for about half an hour I abandoned my false interest in a jar of eye cream I had picked up at random and left. Yesterday evening I did get some trick-or-treaters and I asked if I could take a picture of the kids because their costumes were so cute. And really, the little girl dressed as a fairy queen was precious and got extra candy, but the Mom with ‘em vetoed that idea and gave me a strange look. I quickly changed the subject and asked about the costume. Was it home made (it was) and how long did it take? Sort of things. Thankfully the woman chalked up my desire for a picture as a shared interest in sewing and crafts.

Hope my team doesn’t lynch me for the no pics thing. I tried, I really did.

I hope everyone else had an awesome Halloween though! Mine was filled with shopping, cooking, candy, trick-or-treaters, and scary movies.

Fall is definitely upon us now. It took ages for the leaves to start changing around here, and even though they have, everything still looks so green and lively. But for the past couple of days it has gotten very cold and today, on top of being cold and cloudy, it’s also windy as hell. I really just want to crawl under the covers and go back to sleep. It was warm while I was in bed. It wasn’t cold until I got up and started moving about.

Alas, I have much to do and it won’t get done unless I get up and about and actually do it. I just wish this house wasn’t so cold. I got out of the shower a few minutes ago and it felt like I was going to freeze to death before I got dressed. I then spent twenty minutes applying as much lotion as possible to my skin because it bore an uncanny resemblance to a reptile’s skin - it was just that dry and flaky. But in all honesty my skin could be a lot a worse. I’d rather have dry skin that takes a little extra lotion than have oily skin that causes humongous breakouts and force me to shell out all kinds of extra money for acne treatments. Must look on the bright side of things!

I’m going just kick back, check some email, drink some nice hot tea for a few more minutes (mainly to give the lotion a chance to set in and do some good) and then I’ve got to get to cleaning. The place is a mess and I sadly let it get this way. The kitchen is the worst, I’ve got Mt. Dishmore in there; the dishes are just stacked on the counter and in need of washing. Bad me, yes I know. Strangely enough the bathroom and living room are the cleanest. Go figure.

We got a rather unexpected thunderstorm yesterday that included lots of wind, rain, and hail. Not to mention it also managed to knock the power out for a couple of hours as well. This morning there was a nice bit of fog rolling about when I went outside. However, the fog that was present this morning was nothing compared to a few days ago. I have pictures of that charming day thankfully.

I had hoped to sit outside and enjoy the weather but pretty much everything was soaked since the storm literally came out of nowhere which resulted in nothing being put up prior to. From the lawn chairs whose patio cushions were drenched to the very lawn which was soggy and sodden.

With the way that Denali acts you would think I starve my kitties. She’s always hungry and anytime she thinks I have food she begs for it. If she finds plastic on the floor she likes to chew on it and look up at me as if to say “see, I’m so hungry I’m chewing on plastic”. In reality she’s a healthy size for her age and eats three meals regularly, not including snacks and whatever she manages to catch while outside. After dinner today she flitted outside and immediately began prowling for food. Since it was still light outisde I let her go outside for bit. Better for her to be outside then underfoot when I’m trying to tidy up the kitchen.

I went outside after about half an hour to bring her in when I realized she had caught something and was now happily munching on it and playing with it. I ran back inside to grab my camera. I took a few shots but I couldn’t really see what she had until she moved back to rub around my legs.

What she had managed to catch turned out to be a gopher. That’s my Denali! Unfortunately after eating the lower half and scooping out his chest cavity Denali decided to play around some more and started tossing him into the air. Guts were flying for a bit before Denali decided she was not only bored but full as well. She then kindly left me to clean up her second dinner. Such a kind kitty.

I’m telling you, cleaning up after Denali’s “leftovers” is the best fat burner around. I’m never very hungry when I have to pick up after her and sometimes I even find myself nauseous.

Years ago some kids took great pleasure in driving around our neighborhood banging up mailboxes. As soon as you replaced your mailbox they returned and smashed it in again. Eventually it was written as a lost cause and a good amount of people switched to P.O. boxes. A couple of years back I purchased a mailbox and installed it. I figured that trouble had passed. I guess I thought wrong.

I went out to check the mailbox today to see if there was any mail since I’m expecting a package and this was the sight that greeted me.

Now, since I’ve been checking the mailbox religiously and keeping an eye out for the mailman when he drives by I can tell you that my mailbox was not like this yesterday. It was perfectly fine and in working order. Last night I heard some sort of commotion but I shrugged it off as one of the dogs causing a ruckus they’re persistent when it comes to chasing squirrels, raccoons, and (sadly enough) skunks so hearing them crash into trashcans is not an uncommon sound. I suppose I should have gone out to check after all.

There is no way to close the box properly, it’ practically falling off its mount as well, so I’ll have to buy a new one more than likely. I’m thinking a much sturdier type this time around. Of course, I suspect I should seriously consider investing in some video surveillance equipment lest the next mailbox suffer the same fate.

I just really can’t see the point of banging up mailboxes. It’s rude and if you’re caught it’s a federal crime to boot. What the hell is the point of this? It’s just another expense I’ve got now, an expense I just really can’t afford at all.

I’ve been spending a lot of time tinkering around in Adobe Photoshop here lately. I created a new layout for The Symposium at long last. Granted it kept the same structure as the old one, but the graphics and color scheme are definitely new. That layout let me experiment with some of the basics of photoshop. Brushes, layers, shadowing, overlays - very, very basics, not that I’m particularly gifted or an expert when it comes to graphics though. I have to say, I like it a whole lot.

Even though I’m using CS4 Extended on my laptop it runs so much smoother than CS3 Lite ever did. There’s no silly freezing, locking up, or slow-motion movements that use to occur fairly regularly if I had more than iTunes and photoshop open at the same time. It was bad enough that some people thought I might need new graphic or video cards installed on the laptop. It got better when the Vista Service Pack was installed but it never really went away. Now, with CS4, the problem is completely gone.

I haven’t done anything really advanced with photoshop, just mostly tinkering with photos for posts, the layout I mentioned, and coloring an image for some Halloween activities at one of the message boards I frequent. After having to use Gimp (because remember, PS was lost when my laptop crashed at one point) and switching back to PS it’s like heaven. I can do so much more now and the image quality is superb.

It rained almost all day long yesterday so the cats spent the day inside. Well, Denali was outside in the rain for a few minutes because she slipped out the door, but for the most part the kitties stayed inside and did not get to go outside at all.

So, since it’s starting to get light outside I put Isis on her leash and took her and Denali outside. Denali ran out and started rolling and jumping in the grass. The poor kitty hates being cooped up. Isis had a completely different reaction:

Was it because the grass was still damp? I don’t think that’s it. There wasn’t that much water on the grass and she had wandered over to the spot Denali had been rolling around on (which means Denali got all wet, surprising since she hates getting wet). Heck, Isis didn’t even track any wet paw prints, water or mud on the kitchen tile when she came in so she couldn’t have been that wet. I kept her on the sidewalk and grass for a reason after all. Was it because she doesn’t like her pink leash? Maybe, then again, she’s never been that pissy about it before. Or was it because it was a tad bit chilly outside? *shrugs* Either way, she’s one pissed off kitty right now.

I’ve been putting in applications all over town this past week hopping for a callback, a nibble, just something. So far nothing to report. I’ve even begun investigating the numerous work at home venues. A few are promising, such as the call center ones, but I need to have a landline and high speed internet available and there’s the kicker. My landline is how I get on the internet so that’s out.

I’m willing to pick up a simple job as a clerk at a department store or a meager secretary too but that avenue seems just as hard. If I hear one more time that I’m “over-qualified” because I have a degree I’m going to scream. So what, hire me anyway! At least you know for damn sure I’m competent. Unlike some lazy gum-smacking bimbos at the customer service counter at Target. Ugh. One of them actually tried to discourage me from working because the POS systems they use are difficult and “annoying”. She went on to elaborate that she never had to work one of these computers before and if she knew that that was what they meant by computer skills she wouldn’t have applied. What, did you think they were hiring you because of your mad Facebook skills?

How come girls who dress tacky, look like their hair would catch on fire if I lit a match near them, who have two-inch long nails, smack their gum in a customer’s face, and jibber-jabber with co-workers get hired but I don’t? What’s up with that?!

Things aren’t exactly looking up right now for my mother. First and foremost her hours have been drastically reduced. By this I mean that the office does not open until 8am and closes at 3pm, assuming she has work to keep her busy. If she’s finished with her clients for the day, which she usually is by noon, then it’s out the door. Because of the economy a lot of her clients, who were small business owners, had to close their doors. Hence her workload was drastically reduced. To survive she began hunting for clients some of which came to accounting office she works for, most though did not like the idea of going to Las Cruces when they are situated elsewhere, thought their fees were atrocious, and various other reasons. These clients she took on the side and handles on her own. This is how she has been able to substantiate her income (by finding work elsewhere) when she’s been sent home early for lack of work (for shame being caught up with all of your client’s books!) and her cut hours.

Even then it’s barely been enough to get buy right now let alone continue her education. Yes, despite her wishes of going back to school to receive a Masters in Accounting and Business and to pick up a Bachelor’s in Computers, she’s had to put it off due to lack of funds. A pity too as she was progressing nicely. Unfortunately her boss found out that she [my mother] has been maintaining her own clients and was quite livid and demanded that she cease and desist. Her boss’ harped on about loyalty to the company and so forth; nevermind the fact that her boss does this as well.

For people like my mother, an Online master degree is the ideal route to go as it will allow her to further her education while at the same time continuing her career. She’s taken numerous online courses before in her college career so pursuing her Masters degree and her Bachelors in Computers shouldn’t be that difficult for her. I’ve been enlisted to assist her in locating a reputable establishment; as there are sadly quite a few papermill scams out there. I’ve found that Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington boasts an online masters degree program. This is wonderful news as not many top ranked schools are offering online programs and Gonzaga University is ranked one of the nation’s best universities by The Princeton Review and Forbes Magazine.

The downside, however, is the fact that they do not offer any of the programs she is interested in further pursuing. I would like to see such an accredited school offer a more thorough selection of programs. After all, Gonzaga University claims that they believe online programs allow experienced professionals the chance to further their educations, something they may not otherwise be able to do due to professional or personal commitments. If the school truly believes this then they need to broaden their offerings.

I was lucky to receive a free package of DenTek Fun Flossers to sample for review, which I was quite happy to do. Now, I must confess, I was initially leery of trying them, mainly because I’ve always found the disposable floss wands to look kind of “funny” and awkward. However, there is no denying that string floss just can’t get it all sometimes. With that in mind I tried to keep an open mind when giving this product a try.

Fun Flossers, as evidenced by the name, is a brand of kids floss that aims to help children develop healthy oral care habits early. Them come in 48-count packages that consist of four fluorescent colors (pink, orange, blue, and green) and the floss has a fluoride coating. In order to reach a decision as to the effectiveness of the floss, I compared it with my usual brand of string floss, which you can see in this video review:

As I said, I really believed that string floss performed better than wands, but I think I may have to rethink my stance on that. Using the Fun Flossers I was able to better reach all of the teeth in my mouth, even those molars in the far back that I can never seem to get to with string floss. No shoving a fist into my mouth just to reach every tooth. Not to mention, I did have to hold a dirty floss string that was coated with the gunk from between my teeth. I might not be kid anymore, but I certainly appreciated the fun colors provided and I sincerely think children will as well.

I would like to mention however that the package clearly says “Wild Fruit” on it up at the top which implies that these floss wands are flavored. I’ve used all of the colors included and I have yet to taste anything on the floss. There isn’t even a fruity smell to hint at these being flavored. If I had purchased these for the flavors I would be disappointed.

We’ve been getting a lot of rain these past few days. Thursday was the worst as we had a near constant downpour all day long. When it wasn’t raining heavily it was sprinkling, and when it wasn’t sprinkling it was drizzling. Friday was nice though. A little rain in the early morning and that was it. Denali was pleased because it was the first time in a couple of days that she got to go outside. I let her out again earlier because it was bright and sunny out.

Of course, since I let her outside it just had to start raining. Denali really hates the rain, mostly because it means she has to stay inside, but also for other reasons. One, she can’t do anything after it rains because everything is wet and she hate getting her paws wet. So when it started raining Denali immediately sought shelter on the hood of truck which happened to be situated under one of the Elm trees.

She was mostly upset over the rain, because it meant she was getting wet, but of course I don’t call her my big scaredy-cat for nothing. Lightening spooks her but nothing terrifies her more than thunder. There was a big crack of rumbling thunder right when I managed to snap this shot:

Poor baby. I shouldn’t laugh, but I find it so hysterical that this big fluffy cat who prides herself on hunting anything that moves is downright terrified of thunder. She hears distant rumbling and she’s on the alert. She hears the deep rolling thunder and she’s bawling and climbing into my lap looking for assurance. Thunderstorms also work as a sort of appetite suppressant with her as well. She just can’t relax so eating is out of the question with the rumbling of thunder in the air. She might nibble if she’s starving, but only if someone is there petting her and reassuring her that there is nothing to be afraid of.

She tried to get down on her own in order to run into the house, but alas, the truck was already surrounded by a big puddle of water. Denali started meowing in distress, due to the water and thunder, so I took pity and carried her in. Even though this meant I had to wade through ankle deep water and mud to do so.

There has been a string of vandalism in the area lately. Mostly these vandals have limited themselves to tagging innocent trees and ditches for their fun but they have been escalating. The other morning they tagged the garage of one of our neighbors. We heard all about it since they did it in the early hours of the morning and our neighbor happens to be an early riser. Even though he lives about a mile away from us we heard his discovery clear as a bell.

Hard to miss a 40-plus year old man screaming “You damn punk kids, I’ll shove those cans so far up your asses you’ll be singing spray paint for weeks!” into the still air at around 5am. And if, by some miracle we didn’t hear him hollering that, then we would have had to be deaf to miss the sounds of dogs howling, kids screaming in terror, and gun blasts.

Apparently he let loose his hunting dogs after the kids and took a few shots at them to give them incentive to run. Why anyone would mess with a guy with a kennel full of big dogs that attack on command and who is trigger happy with a shotgun I have no idea.

Our neighbor wasn’t the only victim of the vandals sadly. My grandfather is now missing some truck accessories off of his old Chevy truck. Missing items circled in red where they used to be:

First we noticed that the hitch on his truck had been swiped, which was sad because he’s had thing truck for decades, it’s a ‘73 Chevrolet, and that hitch has been on there for just as long. Then, about a week later, we noticed that someone had jacked one of the covers on his propane tank on the truck and tried to start carving something onto the top of the tank. It looks kind of like a “3″.

So now everything of value is chained and bolted down. We’ve been especially getting onto mom who used to be very bad about locking her truck.

People suck.

It was lunch time and I was hungry. Whatever shall I eat, I wondered. I opened the refrigerator but was met with an assortment of unappetizing options. Dare I risk one of the mystery dishes that just might have been leftovers once but now look kind of green and may be alive? I decided against that choice. Instant cup ramen? Tempting, but I wanted something more filling. Then I remembered that I had some Schwan’s food in the freezer still.

I had three pasta dishes from Schwan’s in the freezer, and after some careful consideration, I went with Schwan’s Baked Pasta with Spinach and Mushroom (number #479). It was easy to make and comes in it’s own plastic dish. Just pop it in the microwave for 7 minutes, remove film and add Parmesan cheese, then cook it for another 2 to 3 minutes. Easy as can be. And the results?

Oh yeah, believe me I say it tasted even better than it looks. Paired it with a salad and I was good to guy for lunch. It makes three servings so I put the rest away for dinner. Honestly though, I wouldn’t have mind eating the whole thing.

I just realized something; I seem to be posting about food a lot lately. Ah, well, I’m sure ya’all don’t mind though, right? Better to tease you with yummy food!porn shots than boring posts rattling on about the virtues of various companies that offer virtualization services.

Before you go though, you should take a look at my beautiful stamp collection - I’m very proud of it and have even linked it in my sidebar. A message board that I frequent, EcstasyMB, has a fun little activity going on where members can “purchase” stamps with the board’s currency to trade and collect. My collection is growing by leaps and bounds right now. I do need to update it though, there are a few stamps I recently collected that I haven’t added to my page.

I hope everyone [who celebrates it] had a nice Labor Day today! We celebrated it in the typical fashion - with some outdoor grilling. Of course the weather decided to rain on our parade today, quite literally, but it was still enjoyable none the less. On the menu were green chili burgers, hot dogs, toasted corn on the cob, grilled veggies, and all the potato chips you can eat!

The food hit the spot so well I had to go back for another burger and a couple of hot dogs. Good thing I’m not on a diet or taking phenocal because I would have blown it all to hell today! Of course, since it rained we had to move the party inside. Which was probably a good thing because Denali was outside with us and had started freaking out over spotting a Great Blue Heron nearby us. Poor thing was climbing on top of everyone and trying to hide and would occasionally look in the bird’s direction and let out a growl and hiss before ducking again. It was hysterical! Not to mention, it was the only time I saw her ignore the food on plates in favor of hiding. Honestly though, I thought her kitty brain would think of it as big bird = lots of food. Guess not.

I was out late this evening, taking advantage of a few places that are open late and offer free Wi-Fi, and when I came home the house was completely dark. No lights on at all, but honestly, that didn’t bug me in the least. At least it didn’t until things started jumping at me and crashing into my legs! I nearly screamed like a little girl, but I didn’t. I did whimper though before shooting off through the dark and stumbling my way up to the kitchen porch so that I could flick on the light. I didn’t know what to expect, to be honest, but this wasn’t it:

Did I perhaps stumble upon and impromptu game of leap frog? Oh, excuse me, that would be leap toad.

They were cute, although I can’t understand why they kept crashing into me. Wouldn’t once have been enough to warn them? Or were they just being thoughtful and trying to warn me? I dunno, but what I do know is that after I finished taking pictures of the toads I turned around and damn near stepped on a snake. A rattlesnake to be exact. He’d been on the edge of the grass where it gives way to gravel and right in the middle of walkway. Oddly enough I like to cut across the grass instead of following the walkway.

Did I stick around to take pictures of this guy? Since he was hissing and rattling his tail I opted to use my brain for once. Instead I backed up as quick as I dared to, scooped up the toads, and jogged around the house to enter the kitchen door through the backyard.

How I managed to avoid the snake on the way back from the kitchen to investigate what had crashed into I don’t know. I’ll tell you one thing though, who needs diet pills that work to help stave off hunger attacks when you can have the shit scared out of you instead. I lost my appetite for a late night snack pretty fast and opted instead for some Earl Grey to calm my nerves!

My grandfather is planning on visiting my cousin over the upcoming holidays and requested to borrow some luggage. So after digging around in storage I found the old Eagle Creek luggage. They were very, very dirty, since they haven’t been used in, um, years, so I took them outside to clean them off and air them out. That’s where I spied this critter:

The Praying Mantis was just sitting there, not moving a muscle so I happily ran back inside and took some pictures. After I started firing off shots though the mantis decided to start moving around.

I’m guessing the praying mantis didn’t appreciate the flashes going off in its face, or me standing there for so long because it got very, very annoyed with me. How annoyed, you ask? This next shot was taken just before it launched at me:

I tried to take a front shot of the mantis since it turned to face me and managed to get this one shot. The next second I was shrieking like a girl because the mantis had lunged at me and was on my camera, which by the way, was still held up to my face as I had been in the process of taking another picture. I started hopping around trying to get the pissed off praying mantis off of my camera.

Man, you’d have thought I was harassing the bug or something. I was only taking pictures! Shesh!