Cabinet of Curiosities

Doing my part to stimulate the economy

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:43:11 GMT

Posting this from my new iPhone.

Yes, a matter of fact, it is all that and a bag of chips.

There are a few things it can't do, though. Cook pancakes, for example. Or walk my dog. I'm sure they're working on an app for those.

Happy Halloween!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:02:16 GMT

Seasonal Festivities

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:28:18 GMT

Whoo! Zombieland and a haunted corn maze, all in one night! Whoo hoo-coughcoughcough

OK, so maybe standing outside in the cold for 3 hours wasn't the best idea when you're getting over a cold. But it was worth the extra-sore throat me and Tom both have this morning. Who could miss the chance to see a 10-foot-tall evil clown?

Highlight of the maze: man in a pig mask jumps out and scares people, and then pretends to sneeze on them.

Also. Zombieland was awesome.

That is all.

Sick today

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:40:22 GMT

And when Suzanne is home from work with a fever, she does silly things. Like spend the afternoon vintage-izing digital photographs:

How proud is Zelda...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:14:26 GMT

... of getting a 6th place ribbon at her first agility trial?

This proud:

Speaking of...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:30:39 GMT

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:04:02 GMT

Tom had D&D tonight, so I had to make myself dinner. I had pasta with homemade pesto and tomatoes from the garden with garlic cheese bread, and homemade apple blackberry pie for dessert.

It's not so much that I can't cook, as I'm just rarely inclined. Don't tell my husband.

Staff meeting doodle

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:01:56 GMT

Note the claws. I was going to make it some kind of mutant monster elephant, but then the stipple took over.

Mom is awesome

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:41:52 GMT

She made me a quilt!

(I even got to pick out the fabric)

My favorite part

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:47:46 GMT

... of this is:

"Although the First Amendment may allow Plaintiff's counsel to make these wild allegations on her blog or in her press conferences, the federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes and not as a platform for political rhetoric that is disconnected from any legitimate legal cause of action."

At least once a month at work I have to wade through a court document to see if it should be added to the library. They are normally dry as toast in the Sahara. Gems like this are extra special.

Behold the carnage

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:48:47 GMT

Labor Day evening we had a little adventure. I'm only sharing about it now because our house is finally returning to normal. I've successfully made it to the "and now we can laugh about it" stage of this little journey.

Here's a tip, kids: don't try to multi-task while a quart of vegetable shortening is boiling on the stove. Fun fact: an electric stove does in fact put out enough heat to cause Crisco to spontaneously combust.

Another fun fact: when you use a dry chemical fire extinguisher in a room, it will get on EVERYTHING in that room. Including things inside cupboards and refrigerators.

ranty ranty

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:48:33 GMT

Excuse me whilst I swear.

Stupid fucking animal dumpers dropped off two kittens on our street. They appeared three days ago. Very friendly, very hungry, very covered in fleas.

You know, I can forgive a lot of ignorant bad pet owner shit. OK, so your cat that you didn't bother to spay had an "oops" litter. Fine. Take them to the fucking shelter. It's FREE and in this area, they have a good chance of finding a home (and are guaranteed to get speutered and vaccinated). Don't dump them in a neighborhood so that, at best, someone else will clean up your mess for you and, at worst, they die of FLeV, get hit by a car, or starve. Fuck.

I took them in for the night and then took them to the shelter this afternoon. Wasn't that hard.

slightly TMI

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:44:57 GMT

Sir, I applaud your honesty, but this is yet another reason why I will never have a male gynecologist (and am boggled that a generation ago that's all that was available).

I don't want a doctor that thinks of parts of my body as "magical and mysterious". I want one who is going to get down to business and get it over with efficiency and with real sympathy to what the procedure feels like on the patient end.

Guess where I went camping this weekend

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:05:29 GMT

Hint: somewhere in Oregon (and the photo is misleading).

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:40:10 GMT

Gah, for one glorious day I thought my computer was fixed. Then it wasn't. I have some rather excellent photos that I took at the Inavale Horse Trials that are stuck on my backup harddrive because I insist on shooting in RAW format which can only be viewed/edited in photoshop which was only on my computer... blah blah blah.

In other news, I have a request for everyone who utilizes the English language. Please no longer refer to anything you have to say as "not PC". This is simply code for "something I'm about to say is completely douche-baggish" OR "Somebody, somewhere might possibly have a different opinion than I do, and I guess disagreeing with someone isn't, um, nice or something? And someone might be mad at me if I disagree with them?"

I have yet to see the term used correctly. Ever. No really, I mean EVAR. I mean, really, prefacing something totally jerkwad with "tee hee, this is totally not PC, but..."
does not get you off the hook. Also, politically correct has nothing to do with having a different opinion than someone else.

So please, no more using this term. No one seems to know what it means anymore, anyway.

Thank you for your attention.

Fri, 29 May 2009 17:38:26 GMT

As I was lying in bed last night, unable to sleep because it was so hot, I counted the days and realized that only eight days ago was the last frost. Dear Oregon weather: please take your lithium. Thank you.

thoughts on Open Paw

Mon, 18 May 2009 21:55:53 GMT

This is Sissy. This picture was taken in February while I was volunteering at Heartland Humane Society. She's rambunctious, loves people, and likes to play fetch. Since this picture was taken, she was adopted, then sold on Craigslist*, then, about a week ago, brought back to the shelter a bit of a nervous wreck. She was one of the demo dogs we used this weekend to practice Open Paw training, and hopefully it will help her stop being a ping-pong dog.

Open Paw is a non-profit founded and run by dog trainers. The co-founder and president Kelly Gorman Dunbar flew here for the weekend to kick start the program at Heartland and lead the training exercises for volunteers and staff. (The local paper ran a story on it today).

Essentially it's about integrating basic obedience training to a shelter's every day operations to help improve the animals chances of being adopted and STAYING adopted. Once fully implemented the staff, volunteers, and even the visiting public take part in providing (relatively) consistent basic training for the animals.

My favorite part is the feeding program. It's so simple and intuitive, why didn't anyone think of this before? Instead of being fed two meals a day in their kennels, the dogs' bowls are hung on the outside of their doors and throughout the day, visitors, staff and volunteers hand feed. It means a constant positive association with people, and can be used as reward training for, say, not barking, or not jumping up.

This has already made a difference for two chronic barkers. By the end of the weekend they would stay quiet and wait when they heard people enter the kennel area instead of immediately barking. And they would continue to stay quiet as long as someone stood there and fed him. Not perfect, of course, and as soon as you left the barking could start again, but, after weeks of no change (and maybe even deterioration), it only took two days of this new program for there to be noticeable progress.

Another nice thing: the mental stimulation of even short, simple training sessions tired out the dogs more than hours of walking would have. A good thing to keep in mind since, with this new system, volunteers can't take the dogs out for a walk until they've been trained and tested for that.

It's a bit counter-intuitive. Right now the mentality is that the dogs are cooped up and need exercise, so the goal becomes to get them out on a walk at all costs. Which usually means, of course, letting them jump all over you and pull on the leash and generally cementing negative habits that won't endear them to a potential adopter.

The biggest obstacle will be making sure everyone stays on the same page and doesn't 'revert' back to the old policies.

It might be less satisfying to spend an hour practicing entering and exiting kennels than taking the dogs to the park, but in the long run I really think this will help them find and keep a home.

*I have no idea if her original adopters are jerks or just ignorant.

Dog park characters

Sat, 16 May 2009 02:12:44 GMT

Watch out for the double merle.

The large, goofy black dog club.

I DRINKS WIFF MY FEETS!!!

Assume the Pre-BOING position

Your mixed breed dog for the day

Mon, 04 May 2009 18:35:17 GMT

Maddy is chow/corgi with a dash of dachshund.

I'm thinking a good name for this new and innovative designer breed is "chorgihund".

Yes.

It was very windy yesterday

Mon, 04 May 2009 05:34:57 GMT

Sat, 02 May 2009 17:34:28 GMT

Is it just me, or is reptile breeding sort of a pyramid scheme?

I was going through some photos of an exotic pet expo I went to a couple years ago.

Are people really paying $1300 for a pet when they could get the same animal with wild-type/normal coloration (which is quite exotic-looking in the first place) for half to a third of that price? I don't think so, not unless they want it for breeding. Most of the time I think you have breeders breeding exotic morphs for other breeders. What makes a rare color morph more expensive, anyway? It's worth more for breeding purposes!

Fri, 01 May 2009 21:52:51 GMT

This morning I got up early and went for a run. I came back, showered, fed the dog some elk for breakfast, and made myself scrambled eggs from local, free-range chicken eggs and fresh parsley from my garden. The house was sparkling clean from yesterday pre-guest cleaning, and I actually sat at the kitchen table to eat.

It felt so... civilized...

it never fails

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:49:10 GMT

I know how to call the rain.

It's simple: I leave the house with neither hat nor coat nor umbrella, and plans to have a long walk outside from bus stop to bus stop.

Drought-ridden lands, fear no more. I will come visit you sans practical water-resistant accoutrements, and all shall be well once more.

How to turn a $700 Filing Cabinet into a $70 pet rat cage

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:17:07 GMT

Step one: receive as a gift a broken 4 drawer "oak" filing cabinet from a relative who had paid way too much money for it a few years earlier. (Oak is in quotes because I discovered that,
except for the drawer fronts, and the bracing, it's all oak veneer over particle board. Do your homework before dropping gobs of money on furniture, people.)

Step two: try to use this filing cabinet for it's intended use for about a year, get really frustrated that the drawers don't roll on their tracks anymore, take it mostly apart and discover it's beyond repair.

Step three: Take it apart the rest of the way. Remove all hardware, kick out the back (essentially veneered cardboard. TIP: wear shoes for this). Turn it upside down. Peel off the plastic things they stick on the bottom to keep from scuffing the floor. Remove the drawers to the garage where they will eventually be taken apart for scrap wood.

It was cheaply made, but amazingly still fairly sturdy. I put in a few extra nails here and there, but otherwise left it.

Step four: Obtain materials. I had quite a few useful things lying around in the garage, but I admit, I went straight to Home Depot for everything else. Did not pass go, did not bargain shop at all. In fact, I splurged on a few things like coated wire, pretty brass hinges, and decorative molding. This could have been a cheaper project had I not been lazy.

8 Corner braces: $11.16
4 hinges + screws: $5.88
4 wheels: $13.92
3 rolls of coated hardware cloth: $29.94
15' of molding: $13.50
24"x24" piece of plywood: $5.47

Building the doors took the most time. I built a frame from pieces of plywood ("built" = putting a few staples on each corner) and then stapled wire to it and glued the decorative molding on top. I then put in a few finishing nails on the front and corner brackets on the back.

Screwed in some chunks of wood to the cabinet body to act as shelf brackets. I decided to have three shelves that matched up to the already existing dividers where the drawers used to be. It worked out perfectly. (Funny story: these were scraps of some kind of hardwood came from inside a couch I took apart last year - yet another over-priced piece of furniture that was cheaply made.)

Stapled more wire on the entire backside and top. (I staple guns, btw). This lets in more light and air and provides a way to hang hammocks and toys.

Attached the doors and then the latches (two for each door for added security). And put the wheels on the bottom (I am so glad I added these wheels. being able to easily move this thing around has already been wonderful - I move it into the office so I can decorate it or make hammocks and toys while me and Tom watch movies and I have a feeling in the summer I'll be wheeling it in and out of the bedroom a lot so they can have AC during the hot months).

Then it was just a matter of cutting the shelves and customizing them. I had a bunch of laminated particle board from an old desk and it wasn't too much of a mess to cut it with the saw. I sealed the rough edges with duct tape. I love that the shelves are infinitely customizable. For now, I just cut them a little short so the rats can use the back of the cage as a ladder to travel between levels and drilled a few holes to hang hammocks from, but in the future I can foresee more elaborate ladders and holes and tubs and I envision incorporating tree branches to use as ladders... all kinds of fun.

Ta dah!

With the wheels it's almost 5 feet high with with 11.5 square feet of room inside for the ratties to run around. The internet tells me a comparably-sized new cage would be well over $100, so I feel that I still came out on top, even with my lame non-bargain shopping. I also
feel it's reasonably attractive for a cage (and much more attractive than my last home-made cage). I'm quite happy with it.

impudent kitty is impudent

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:56:14 GMT

Kaida loves napping on the snake's aquarium lid. I guess because it's warm and springy like a firm mattress. She knows it's not allowed - I have emptied many a squirt bottle for this behavior. She's already broken one lid. I thought the problem was solved by placing the aquarium high up on a shelf with little room for cats to crawl on top. I was wrong. She will always find a way.