Thought of the Day #232 - Delicates

Why do raspberries $5 for a half pint? They're very, very delicate. I
suspect that the raspberry farmers crush half the crop prior to getting
'em into the plastic cases. The raspberry bushes in our yard are
producing several gallons of berries a week. Picking, washing and moving
the berries around just in my small environment results in many
casualties. Luckily most of the berries I work with are destined for
crushing anyway, but it did bring me to an understanding for the high
priced store raspberries. Severely crushable delicate beasties they are.

Thought of the Day #231 - Flexible Kitten

My step-daughter has a kitten that's about five months old. I've been
playing and torturing it quite a bit this week and I've really enjoyed
his remarkable looseness and flexibility. Imagine the trouble I could
get in if I were that flexible? Can you say rubber-girl/contortionist?
Ah, much fun could be had for everyone.

Thought of the Day #230 - Catching Up

I think I did a grand job of catching up on sleep today - 9+ hours and I
felt good as new. I had a lot of freaky dreams, but can only remember
snippets. One included dinosaurs! Gotta love the epic dream productions
when dinosaurs are rolled onto the dreamscape.

Thought of the Day #229 - Lack of Sleep

Last night I tossed and turned in bed for several hours. Part of the
time, I was planning early day activities and some menus for weekend
activities, but after the planning was over, I literally tossed and
turned. Trying to find a sleepy spot that was comfy enough to put my
brain to sleep. No luck.
About 5am, I finally slept.
Today my brain has just been buzzing with the lack of sleep. Too much to
do, so there was no napping to be had. Just miserable. It's been a long
time since I've had such a bad night, thankfully. It's nice to get that
"kick in the butt" reminder to get plenty of sleep every night...

Thought of the Day #228 - Fat Art

I can't tell you these are 'fat positive' or even remotely positive at all, but I can tell you that I find them thought provoking. I don't know if the artist was trying to reach out from a fat body or if she's reliving her fat days filled with pain? I really don't know. In any event, I find them darkly thought provoking, something which I feel is pretty rare from today's art. Please visit Joanvix's Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7527087 for more. Be sure to check out the sold items, too: http://www.etsy.com/shop_sold.php?user_id=7527087

 

 

Thought of the Day #227 - Too Much Work

All work and no play makes Cat a bad blogger.

Thought of the Day #226 - Monday

Really, is there anything more that I need to say? That pretty much
covers it all.

Thought of the Day #225 - Search Statistics

I was looking through my site's report through Google Analytics and while my site's traffic is WAAAAAY down from what it was several years ago, there's quite a few of you loyal viewers out there. It's good to know that there are a few of you out there!

I thought you might enjoy a little look into how some people happen to find my site through search engines. I bring you the funniest of the search phrases and my official replies for those who probably didn't find the answers they were looking for:

bbw vegas bash will i get laid; No idea, but if you're planning a year in advance, the chances of it happening next year probably isn't that good. Sorry!

fat vikings Not even sure what they were looking for here. Favre isn't fat..and probably most linebackers on the team would be considered 'fat'.

kind of monkeys There are lots of varieties of monkeys. This isn't the right site to find them. Sorry. Try here: http://www.monkeymania.co.uk/

no carbs in bacon Depending upon the type of bacon, I'm sorry to report that there are carbs in some bacon. Brown sugar or maple bacon for instance...plenty of carbs.

nude superpussies You're on the wrong site. No nude superpussies that I'm going to show ya, anyway.

office stationery design showcase Ummm...definitely the wrong site. Try designing your own!: http://www.ehow.com/how_4494377_design-office-stationery.html

piglet flower +tatoo What the hell? Seriously, if you're going to get piglet with a flower tattoo and you don't know *exactly* how you want it to appear already, you proably shouldn't be surfing for it online. Step away from the liquor and pull yourself together before going to the tattoo parlor.

preparation h on cats bum Never had it on my bum...just what are you asking?!

squeeze cheese canada heheheh. Maybe Canadian squeeze cheese is different than the US variety? The best part about Canadian squeeze cheese, is that after consuming mass quantities, you can get free healthcare when the aftereffects aren't what you expect.

what is something fun and easy to give to a cat for fun I'm thinking that Preparation H may be fun for them.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

Thought of the Day #224 - Perms

I'm probably alone in this, but I want perms to come back in style. Not
"granny" tight ball-head perms, but the wash your hair and instantly
have glorious body and subtle curling five minutes out of the
shower...no "product" or anything... Fluff and go!
Eh, by the time they come back in style I'll be forced by my fellow
granny gang members to get the bowling ball cut, dangit.

Thought of the Day #223 - Wide

I'm so excited! I ordered a new ultra wide angle lens for my camera and
it should be arriving tomorrow! It's like Christmas eve and I'm waiting
on Santa!!

Thought of the Day #222 - Open to Interpretation

I believe that everyone offers something beneficial to society.
Significant benefits or miniscule, they all do their part. So, seeing
how everyone has that potential for good, I wonder what causes people to
make poor societal or personal decisions.

It dawned on me that maybe they're seeing things differently than me.
I'm not just saying from a philosphical standpoint, but actually seeing
different colors or shapes...or maybe the sounds they hear are
interpreted by their brains in such a way that the sound of nails on a
chalkboard to them sounds like a quacking duck.

We know how the body's tools are designed, but we have no concrete idea
how our brains *actually* interpret this information. For instance, if
we both had the same set of eyeballs connected to our brains and a crow
flies by. My brain sees a black bird, and when I peek into your brain
you are seeing what I might call a pink elephant. Same input, it's just
that our brains interpret the information from the eye-tools
differently.

So, let's say this is what is happening...and you make a foolish
decision punch your boss. Maybe it's not your fault, but it's that your
brain is completely seeing things differently. Possibly the details that
were interpretted by your brain were somewhat skewed, not by personal
choice or the inability to manage emotions -- it's just the facts
completely skewed. With the information your brain being so diffeent,
your action was correct given the data.

There has to be a reason for ill reasoning and poor decisions, and maybe
this is a potential cause?

Maybe? Maybe I'm just wrong.

Thought of the Day #221 - Bill

Am I the only one hoping that hurricane Bill hit Washington, DC. "I'm
just a bill..on capitol hill" from Schoolhouse Rock will be stuck in my
head for weeks!

Thought of the Day #220 - Money

Suddenly, money is flying fast -- plans of travel, appliance purchases,
new windows, etc. What had become a really sweet pile of saved cash is
quickly becoming a bottomless pit of future spending. Oh, fine, my
government has encouraged me to be this way, so what am I to do?? Not
conform??

Thought of the Day #219 - Death Panels

Supposed "Death Panels" in Obama's plan will decide who will get care
and who won't. Tell me how this is any different than insurance
companies denying care and refusing claims? Same thing, only the latter
is making the decision to limit corporate financial liability for its
shareholders.

Thought of the Day #218 - Which Is Worse?

I can't decide which is worse -- a hairy spider or a shiny one.

Thought of the Day #217 - Rural Trash

Driving on the rural highways (not the main interstates) in Utah, you
see a LOT of trash along the side of the road. You'd think that it's
legal or even encoraged, but it's not. It's sooooo bad in some areas
that you can't see grass. It's just flippin' nutz. If you're drinking a
soda and driving, keep your flippin' can/bottle with you until you get
home or to a service station, numbnutz.

I recently remembered a trash collection idea that was used for
innertubers on the Apple River in Wisconsin. They had random point
graded bullseyes that were 6ft tall. The idea was to encourage the
innertubers to toss their trash as a sport/entertainment diversion. So,
I was thinking that the same idea could be used along rural highways.
Small little turn outs with trash collecting targets that would
encourage the typical trash tosser to toss "responsibly" and have a
little fun, too.
Volunteers could go to the targets on a regular basis to take the trash
to the recyclers in the area.

Thought of the Day #216 - Scratching

Isn't scratching an itch the best? Well, that is until you draw
blood...then all bets are off.

Thought of the Day #215 - Summer Means Fruit

With ice cream, I had fresh raspberries and peaches from our orchard.
Not much screams "summertime" louder than that. Yum.

Thought of the Day #214 - Painter 11

Corel Painter 11 - an amazing digital art program that I used fairly often several years ago, but with which just recently become reacquainted.

While I was putzing around, I came across a tutorial on how to clone-paint photos. While I don't think this is a masterpiece by any stretch, it did turn out pretty good for 15 minutes of work or so:

 

The newest version -- 11, has so many more tricks than the version I used almost a decade ago. Having a couple of gigs of RAM has made it slick, too. No more paint - wait - paint - wait. Strokes are instantaneous unless you're using a large brush.

Sooo, sooo cool and I've only just started to rediscover the program. if you have any interest at all in digital art, I heartily recommend it.

Thought of the Day #213 - Tempo

It's crazy how the difference in tempo or speed can change your
perspective. Go 85 down the highway for an hour, then try to drive down
a road going 20. Seems like you're in molasses, right? Same with playing
musical games on the Wii. Do a fast, fast song then try out a really
slow one...it seems soooo simple. Maybe life is the same way? Live a
fast life in a big city, and rhe pace of the small town seems crazy
slow. Of course the opposite is true, too. Small towners are often
overwhelmed by the pace of the big city. No real deep thought to
this...just an observation for tonight.

Thought of the Day #212 - Twitter Down

The Twitter.com site was down late last week and some phone text
twitters by family members didn't arrive until this morning. Old tweets
are like old coffee -- they're not nearly as savory when they're several
days old.

Thought of the Day #211 - Fall in the Air

You know that day in the late summer when you suddenly say, "Fall is in
the air..." I used to think it was the temperature or humidity. Now I
think it's the subtle scent of dead/dry weeds in the air...combined with
the low humidity/temp. It's just a theory.

Thought of the Day #210 - Corn

Corn cooked fresh from the garden is easily a million times better than
store-bought ears. Easily.

Thought of the Day #209 - Bread

I had a grand epiphany this morning: I don't like plain, white, plastic
wrapped, sliced bread. The thought of it makes me ill. However, I love
said bread as toast.

Thought of the Day #208 - Not Everything In America Needs to Make a Profit

Bill Maher said it so much better than I could ever imagine doing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-not-everything-i_b_244050.html

I've touched on bits of this in my blog, but never put it quite like
Bill. F'n brilliant!

Thought of the Day #207 - Creeping Crud

The virus/infection that wouldn't die! I've had a cough, hoarse voice, and varying degrees of fatigue since being in Vegas mid-July. Enough already! I start feeling pretty good and then...well...then it comes back...like a bad penny! Tonight, my voice is hoarse again and slightly "cottony" just like when the beast first found my body. When will it end? I guess there are three options 1. it will kill me 2. it will die off or 3. I will live with it forever. I'm hoping that it's not the latter.

Thought of the Day #206 - Voices in My Head

When I watch some horror movies, I'm reminded of the snippet of voices that I used to hear in my head as a kid. It was an incoherent grouping of sounds that sounded like voices, but probably talking a foreign language or that the voices were too muddled to be clearly heard. It also sounded like the voices were slightly sped up from a normal talking cadence. So, yeah, I can kind of remember the sound, but it's really fuzzy now. When I heard it somewhat regularly, it was still really random -- not like it was triggered by anything in particular. I don't recall when I last heard it, but I would guess it was around 11 or so.

To make things even more interesting (and spooky), there was a visual that went along with it in my head. I never actually saw it, but in my "minds-eye", the image was kind of a bubbly fleshy mass that mutated into something like rotten dough...stringy and bubbly. Again, the snippet of images would follow along with the snippet of voices.

I remember telling my mom & dad about the voices and they would ask me what they were saying and I always said I couldn't understand them. I'm sure they thought I was nuts. Maybe it was a memory of something that was being replayed? I used to think (and still like to believe) that something or someone was trying to communicate with me. That's ooooh so much better than childhood mental illness, right?

A Little Visitor

What I couldn't capture in this picture taken today? The almost dizzyingly sweet smell of the butterfly bush.