Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday dear Dad!!
Happy Birthday to YOU!!!

:)

Video clip is from the 46664 concert honoring Nelson Mandela at 90. The Edge and Bono sounding fabulous. Woohoo! I hope the new album has this much energy.

I admit it, this entry is only so I have something for today. I'm working crazy hours at the moment. I'm barely functional to write this entry. Let alone copy &paste a previous one. That's way too technical right now.

Shush t.

Even though I did not have internet access, I was still writing blog entries. I just wasn't posting them. I'll post them as the week goes on. The following is from Sunday:

I should be tired. Very tired. Between packing, repacking, swearing at my new bag and repacking yet again, I didn’t get to bed til just after three in the morning. I was up at 5 and out the door by 540. I walked into the terminal at 605 and nearly cried. Massive amounts of people. Everywhere. Little did I know it was a premonition of my upcoming O’Hare experience.

There was a group of 30 students that was slowing the check in process down. Thankfully, due to my diligence at packing, I didn’t have to check any bags. It wouldn’t have mattered as the student group was on my plane. And several babies. I want to take this time to say THANK YOU to Santa (aka my folks) for having the foresight to give me the U2 i-pod a couple years back. It got me through the flight, off the plane, to my gate & then to my next gate beautifully.

O’Hare is one crazy busy airport. I kept looking around thinking I had warped into the holiday season. Maybe flew through a wormhole on my way from Raleigh. It was 830 (central) on a Sunday morning and I was dodging people like there was a 75% off everything sale at the Apple store on a tax free weekend. It made my experience at RDU seem pitiful and small town. I can’t imagine what it’s like to work at O’Hare. So many concourses, jet bridges, planes, and People. I’m pretty sure I’d lose my mind.

I have some spiffy pix taken somewhere over Indiana or Illinois. I didn’t bring my cable to upload them, so yall will simply have to wait to see my creative genius with a digital camera. I think the last time I took pix on an airplane was when I was going overseas – over 10 years ago. Wow. I can’t believe it’s been that long.

Anyway I’m in Milwaukee, WI for the next couple of days. Or, as M puts it, ‘one of those middle America states’.

No, I did not use squirrel in my fruit tarts. They just came out oddly. The cream didn't whip up as directed. It looks like a cross between cottage cheese and tapioca pudding. The glaze makes the fruit look spoiled. Perhaps the combo of apricot marmalade, razzmatazz and blue curacao wasn't the best idea. Tastes pretty darn good though. It just doesn't look pretty. At all.

Between the prepping, mixing, kneading, chilling, rolling, cramming into tart pans, lining with foil, filling with rice, baking, removing (most of) the rice, baking some more (and that's just for the shells) I was making tarts for over three hours. THREE!!!

If only they tasted good enough to warrant that much of my time. If I factor in the shopping for tart pans & ingredients, we're over four(!!) hours now. Oh and the cost? Yeah, the ingredients alone were $40. Pesky fruit and mascarpone cheese.

Ah well. If any of the folks at the pot luck I'm going to (the reason I made the tarts), make comments about them or offer me pointers, I may have to hit them. Repeatedly. I've taken pix. When I find my camera cable, I'll share them with yall. And explain more of the ..alterations and substitutions I had to make.

Happy Solstice Everyone! :)

It's disturbing how much like his dad, JT looks. Matt, well, Matt just looks cross eyed. So he fits right in.

I need help at work. I've had 61 applications to be my minion. It's a bit overwhelming. Actually work itself is overwhelming. So that makes me doubly overwhelmed. Or something.

So many things to do and they just keep growing. I'm pretty sure my to-do list is genetically related to bunnies. How else is it that I get two things crossed off my list only to have four more things added to it?

Or maybe work is haunted by a poltergeist. Hmm. Now I have a vision of a science experiment involving Watership Down, Amityville Horror and The Secret of Nimh. Possessed bunny shaped notepads flying around.

Now there's a thought for a Wednesday morning.

With apologies to Neil Young, here's my rewrite of Southern Man

Mullet man
Better grow your hair
Get Rogaine,
Stay away from Nair
Toupees, wigs:
A thing of the past
Now your follicles
Are growing fast
Mullet man

Front is business
The back not mild
Big loud party
And waving wild
Mullet man
Grown so long
Your new child?
It gets tangled
You’re often combin’
How long? How long?

Mullet man
Better grow your hair
Get Rogaine,
Stay away from Nair
Toupees, wigs:
A thing of the past
Now your follicles
Are growing fast
Mullet man

Pretty Boy,
Chin hair of peachie fuzz
I’ve heard your threat of
Getting’ buzzed
Vow to me
You’ll never cut it off!

Around 25,000 people signed up to run/walk/jog at the NC Triangle's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I know I saw folks with numbers over 25,000. I don't know how many of the folks who signed up, showed up. I do know there were more people than I've ever seen at the race in my previous years of volunteering. More survivors, more memorials, more teams. It's an amazing thing to be a part of.

As the pix below will show you, there were a lot of people. For the third race, it took 45 minutes just for everyone to cross the Start line. The RBC Center parking lot was full. The line for the buses was wrapped around the arena. If we hadn't had the Code Red air quality for the previous two days and a lingering hint of smoke Saturday morning, I wonder how many more folks would have shown up.

The photographer, Margaret Merrill, was near the middle of the crowd. Meaning there were just as many participants behind here as there were ahead.

Another shot of the participants. This time by Kathleen MacGuire.

You see that glowing thing in the picture? That's the sun. The gray stuff? That's smoke. Picture was taken by vicewoman2002 and posted on WRAL's website. They're the local CBS affiliate.

The smoke is from a wildfire that's been burning down east. People in the triangle and points westward got a taste of what everyone down east have been dealing with for weeks now. Smoke. Lots of smoke. Raleigh recorded the highest concentration of particulates in the air yesterday in recorded history. Twenty-nine counties are under a dense smoke advisory.

I can tell you that it's bad. Air tastes awful, people are coughing and wheezing. The visibility ranges from a haze to fog like. I don't know how the folks down east have been dealing with this for so long. The advisory is over for most counties by 11 AM. Although there were still be smoke in the air, likely through Saturday morning.

This is bad news. Saturday morning is the Triangle's 12th Annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. I'm volunteering again. Woo! It's such a heart warming and wrenching experience. I know I'll tear up more than once from seeing everyone. The survivors, the families, the memorials. There's such courage shown by the participants.

Speaking of heart touching, I found out some cool U2 stuff the last couple of weeks. Most recent being an interview on NPR's World Cafe with Steve Lillywhite. Steve produced U2's Boy, October, and War albums. It's a 14 minute audio clip with snippets of some key U2 songs. Then there's the upcoming release of their first three studio albums. All have been remastered and are available in a deluxe set with the second disk having rare & unreleased songs.

Boy Remastered - B Side Tracklisting:
1. I Will Follow (Previously Unreleased Mix) 2. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock 3. Touch 4. Speed Of Life (Previously Unreleased Track) 5. Saturday Night (Previously Unreleased Track) 6. Things To Make And Do 7. Out Of Control 8. Boy-Girl 9. Stories For Boys 10. Another Day 11. Twilight 12. Boy-Girl (Live at The Marquee, London) 13. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock (Live at The Marquee, London - Previously Unreleased Version) 14. Cartoon World (Live at The National Stadium, Dublin - Previously Unreleased Track)

October Remastered - B Side Tracklisting:
1. Gloria (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 2. I Fall Down (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 3. I Threw A Brick Through A Window (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 4. Fire (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 5. October (Live at Hammersmith Palais, London) 6. With A Shout (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 7. Scarlet (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 8. I Threw A Brick Through A Window (Richard Skinner BBC Session) 9. A Celebration 10. J. Swallo 11. Trash, Trampoline And The Party Girl 12. I Will Follow (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 13. The Ocean (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 14. The Cry/Electric Co. (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 15. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (Live at Paradise Theatre, Boston) 16. I Will Follow (Live From Hattem, Netherlands) 17. Tomorrow (Bono & Adam Clayton, Common Ground Remix)

War Remastered - B Side Tracklisting:
1. Endless Deep 2. Angels Too Tied To The Ground (Previously Unreleased Track) 3. New Year’s Day (7” single edit) 4. New Year’s Day (USA Remix) 5. New Year’s Day (Ferry Corsten Extended Vocal Mix) 6. New Year’s Day (Ferry Corsten Vocal Radio Mix) 7. Two Hearts Beat As One (Long Mix) 8. Two Hearts Beat As One (USA Remix) 9. Two Hearts Beat As One (Club Version) 10. Treasure (Whatever Happened to Pete The Chop)

And, last but certainly not least. It's Friday the 13th! Don't walk under any ladders today folks! Stay safe and have fun :)

Her name is Pee Dee, tho we mostly call her Priss or some variation thereof. I usually call her Prissy Pooh, Baby Girl, Fuzzy Butt, Fuzzy Britches, Low Rider, Girly Girl and a host of other names. And she's not even my cat. She's the roommate's.

Anyway a couple weeks ago Priss gave us a scare. She was crying and flinching and in pain. After a call to an after hours Vet, we determined that she was likely constipated. A quick internet search revealed that benefiber would be a good option as it dissolves into water & leaves no taste. Mineral oil on the nose, squishy (ie canned) food and, just in case it was a UTI, some cranberry/blueberry juice.

We sprinkle benefiber on her squishy food and in her water, which we've already added some cranberry/blueberry juice too. Roommate dabs some mineral oil on Priss' nose and then scoops out the litter box. Turns out we should have done the box cleaning first. I guess, in our panic, we had forgotten the Cardinal Rule for cats: If a litter box has just been cleaned it must, at once, be used!

Priss recovered and has been fine. The last day or two she's been showing signs of possible blockage. So I added some benefiber to water, just in case. I've also added a couple of more nicknames: Prissy Not Pooh and Benefiber.

Am I a fabulous Aunt to her or what? ;)

Best thing? Someone I know very well is named Gina. Thanks for sending me the info, T.

For two days in a row I ranked number 6 at Dropsum. Woohooo! Go me! Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. It's just a game. I don't care! I'm an addict. I need my fix. I also need to go back to bed.

U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Elevation tour (2001) - Live from Boston

World Ocean Day is this Sunday, June 8. The Ocean Project has a list of events going on to celebrate. One might even be in your area.

I did notice that there was only one listing for NC. However, by going to the NC Aquariums site, I was able to determine that all three aquariums here are celebrating in some way. So if you don't see something listed for your aquarium, you should check out their website directly. It's possible they just didn't fill out the form to be listed.

Sadly the Penguins did not win the Stanley Cup this year. I would say that Fluery needs to work on keeping his stick on the ice so that pucks don't go between his legs and into the goal, but it seems wrong to poke at someone when they're down. Besides, that third goal, I could've sworn I heard a whistle before the puck slid into the net.

I seriously felt ill listening to osgood speak after the game. That guy is so full of himself it's crazy. Does he not realize that he sounds like a prick? "OH yeah, I'm full of heart. I don't think people realize that." Umm Hello!? Saying you're full of heart negates your being full of heart. Dumbass.

It's really unfortunate that the Pens didn't get the cup this year. It'll be their last opportunity for awhile since the Canes will be winning it for the foreseeable future. And no, that's not me being cocky, that's me being optimistic & having faith. It's also me being late for work.

He was GJ when we found him in January 1998 - Gallagher Junior. He was between two & five years old and terrified of brooms. And feet. He'd hide at the sound of a strong breath. All poofy and timid.



He eventually learned that not everyone would hurt him. In the last few years, he'd sleep on your lap all day if you'd let him. My darling sweet Pierre. Pierresky, Pierreshin, Pierre-erre-e, Snickerdoodle Boy, Little Bit, Sweet Pea, Baby Boy. So many nicknames for such a little guy.



Love you. Miss you.

Holy Crap!!! Did yall watch the hockey game??!!!! Seriously awesome. And not just because the Pens won. This is how a Stanley Cup Finals game should be. Triple overtime. Guys going above and beyond. Playing with unknown injuries, unimaginable pain. Wow. True athletes.

Okay, I need to get to bed. I'll have to see if I can get out in the field tomorrow. Make the day go faster and I won't have to worry about nodding off at my desk.

WOOOHOOOOO HOCKEY!!!!! :)

Music Rising had it's second Icons of Music auction this past Saturday. Julien's Auctions hosted the event.


I very wisely did not go online to watch the auction. I'd have been hard pressed not to bid on the The Edge's guitar or rings or anything else of his.