In order for you to be a card-carrying resident of Cow Cownty, you have to burn things. I
Partly this sprang to mind when a youth behind me at the local WallyWorld asked if he could have a lighter, to, you know, burn stuff.
His parent agreed.
Otherwise, I’ve come to this conclusion based on a few other observations:
The main source of non-religious based entertainment, events or community is at the firehouse.
If we have over 4 bags of garbage, we have to pay more for our trash pick-up. So, of course, it’s cheaper to burn it.
The tree limbs in Cow Cownty like to snap off in a mere breeze, thus littering your yard, your neighbor’s yard and the road with burnable material. All for free!
The check-out line in every store seems to carry every kind of ignition for fire you can imagine.
We all have fairly large tracts of land, enabling us to burn things safely.
A great majority of us heat our homes with a wood-burning device.
Thankfully, I enjoy burning branches in our backyard fire pit, and now have enough branches and dead trees to fuel my evening pyrotechnics for probably the entire Summer and Fall. (even though it’s basically a chore that must be completed to remove the debris from my yard)
I wonder when they send you the official Cow Cownty resident card.
I saw a rare Porsche, with an older blonde lady in the drivers seat. She rolled down her window to talk to the car next to her at the red light. After a few sentences she picked up her tiny dog to show the people in the other car. It had on a pink tu-tu dress.
And a tiny skull mask. No lie… only in my hometown….
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Scout believes that the more crowded my desk is with work, the more he needs to stretch out across it.
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I’m still not sure what this cake is supposed to be. Nor what that green thing represents… ahem…
Although this one I think is from the Groucho Marx cupcake collection. Oh my!
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Every year, just around this time, I want to plant things. Let’s ignore that I don’t really like to get my hands dirty, or that I don’t like dirt under my fingernails, and I don’t want to follow all the steps necessary to have a successful garden. I like to see things blooming and I like growing stuff, but without the work. Basically, I’m lazy and don’t have much time in the Spring.
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The other day I was doing dishes and started thinking about the drive-in and the annual dusk to dawn show they have on Memorial day. My first instinct was to start sending emails to set up times for my buds to go together. Then I remembered that two of them moved. Sigh…I miss you guys.
I decided I’d do some volunteer work in my town, because really, if I had my way, I’d just volunteer all the time. The Cow Cownty Arts center does a fundraiser/show every year called The Peep Show. It’s filled with sculptures, art installations, movies and dioramas made with those marshmallow treats aka Peeps.
I was pretty nervous about this. Usually, I’m in charge of an event, not a worker bee. Not that I mind being a worker bee, it’s just not what my role has been. Having said that, it was good for me to be a worker bee instead of the Queen. It reminded me how volunteers feel when they come to my events and don’t know what needs to be done.
In this instance the “Queen” was quite organized. I arrived on time and she let me know my assignment with a brief explanation of what my role was. I went to my post and there was a clipboard also explaining what my job was.
Try to sell votes! (the fundraiser portion is people buying votes and voting for their favorite piece of Peep art)
Hand out “Guess” forms and limit to one per family. This was for people trying to guess how many Peeps were in a Popcorn machine.
Sell Peep tattoos. (see my photo above) They encouraged me to try a few until I got comfy with the process. I think I did a good job!
That doesn’t seem like too much, but once the doors opened at 10:00 am, I was constantly busy until my shift was over at 1pm. I ended up with far more free guesses in my entry bowl and a pretty fat purse for my tattoos, but I didn’t really do very well with votes. Meh.. I had fun with the little kids, and I ended up putting tattoos on some pretty big kids as well.( You go, Grandma! That yellow Peep chick on your cheek is awesome!) Hands down, the blue bunny was the biggest seller.
Hubby and I volunteered for another shift on Easter Sunday, since there aren’t any kidlets at my house. Then we’ll get something to eat quickly and watch Game of Thrones – because you can’t get any farther away from brightly colored marshmallow cuteness than Game of Thrones!
The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and my husband was donning his black socks and silver high heels.
You read that right. High. Heels.
He and a friend of ours participated in the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event to raise money to help victims of sexual abuse and rape.
About a month ago, we were leaving a restaurant downtown when the flyer advertising this event caught my eye. Immediately, I knew this was something we could do. Now, only to find a pair of heels for him to wear. Size 16 isn’t the easiest shoe to find in a set of heels!
So, I did what most people do when they need a bit of help, and turned to my friends on Facebook for a little bit of shoe shopping networking. BAM! Almost immediately, someone sent me a link to these beauties on Ebay.
We registered him, put up our donation page and started talking to our friends and family about what we were doing and why. During the registration process they ask you to set a goal and just for fun I said we should shoot for the moon and make our goal $1000.00. At first donations just trickled in, with one large donor early on. We were thankful that we’d raised slightly over $100.00.
Then, we set up a jar at Hubby’s work and sent out a few emails and were tickled pink and humbled when the donations started to come in a bit more fluidly.
Saturday morning dawned and when we checked his donation page again, we found that not only had he met his goal, but he was quickly approaching the top fundraiser position. WOW! AMAZING! We drove off to the event and found that if he does get the top donor position, not only will he get a small trophy for his efforts, but he’ll appear on the event webpage and have his picture on the shirt design. How awesome is that? But better than any of that is that the Rape Crisis Intervention Services will benefit and the money raised will go directly to victims of rape and sexual abuse. You can still give until May 2, 2014 by going to:
There were many groups attending and some pretty amazing choices in footwear going on. I made a little video of our day for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
This has been in my drafts for a little over a year. I’m not sure why I just let it sit there, languishing. It’s a great quote and reminds me that things aren’t as “heavy” as I think they are at times.
The earth won’t collapse if I messed up someone’s ticket request by overwriting an xl file with a new file, right? I’m pretty sure I didn’t overwrite something I’d made a note of on an impermanent file… pretty sure…. ARGH!!
No, the earth won’t collapse, but there could be a very angry and upset parent with guests and no seats if I did. I guess this calls for a review of emails about ticketing. Sigh… I’ve just added another hour or two to the Human Tetris process. I guess my inner Loki felt as though I needed some additional challenge this year. Maybe I can find an inner Hulk to smash the hell out of that stupid Loki as well. Do they have guided meditation for those kinds of things?
Let’s see. Have fun. Be crazy. Be weird.
I think I’ve achieved the “Be crazy” with my inner god vs. inner superhero reference.
I think I’ve achieved the “Be weird” as well.
Looks like I need to achieve the “Have fun” portion of this equation.
To that end, I’m going for a walk with some music and my puppy. Screw Human Tetris, Loki and the Hulk.
Last night I awoke to what sounded like fluid dripping on the floor. My first thought was that my bedroom door was closed and one of my cats just couldn’t “hold it” anymore.
I flicked on the light to see Scout, my bat hero, sitting on the floor and Sally stretched out on my bed. Assuming it was Scout who was the culprit, I opened my bedroom door and asked him to leave. He slowly stood up, looked over at the baseboard heater and stalked out.
I closed the door and went over to inspect the floor, which was dry. Hmmm… and then I saw something brownish under the baseboard. Thinking it was probably a leaf that he’d been playing with, I swiped my toe over the brown thing.
Which started to squeak and chatter.
O.M.G. NO!
I raced to get my glasses and a flashlight and sure enough, wedged there under my baseboard heater was another BAT. EEK!
Scout followed me back into my room and looked at me with a smug “Told you so!” look.
Back out to the kitchen, still in a sleepy daze, I started looking around for another container. The coffee can wasn’t available, so I found a bowl. Hey, I was a bit freaked out and not quite awake. And this bat was in my BEDROOM.
I paced back and forth until I couldn’t take it anymore and woke up the Hubby. Bless him, he got a container with a lid and pried my little enemy from where it was stuck under the baseboard heater and removed it from the house. Then went back to bed. I swear, not much flusters that man. (Love you, honey!)
I can’t say I slept much after that. I did some bat research, dozed and woke up a few times after dreaming something was under my covers. The whole time, Scout was right there with me, so I felt a bit better.
1. I went to a dinner where BOTH my sisters and my BROTHER attended. That’s a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in about 8 years.
Everyone was great with one another and we all enjoyed catching up. A little disturbing to find out some of the medical issues they’ve been quiet about and the fact that my brother almost died last spring, but I’m hoping we can repeat that without another 8 years going by.
2. I went to a breakfast at the local fire hall. Now this doesn’t seem like too big of a deal, right? But I think I may have been just as nervous as going to dinner with the family. It should have been an easy thing to do, but I was anxious because it’s something I hadn’t done before and there wasn’t anyone I’d know there beyond Hubby – or so I thought. I know Jenny thinks I’m a social butterfly that adapts perfectly to whatever social scenario I’m in, but that’s not really true.
This was an AUCE buffet deal and I was very appreciative when the woman rushed from the ticket table to the buffet line to remove the onions – just in case! :0) Although, I did point out that I was in a pretty good environment should I happen to get a smidgen of the toxic things, but she still wanted them gone! We got our breakfast choices and headed to a table.
As I was passing the one table between my seat and the buffet, a woman caught my eye and said, “Do you know who we are?” OMG.. panic mode sets in. I look at this woman and haven’t a clue. I scan my memory for work contacts and nuthin’. She gestures to her husband, who looks vaguely familiar.
I’ve met one neighbor one time in the two years I’ve lived here, and he’s a gentleman who has to be in his late 60’s. So, I took a stab at it and said, “Neighbors?” The look of confusion on his face let me know I was wrong. Honestly, my stomach sank. Anxiety ratcheted up and my mouth went dry.
Bless him, he said, “Think meat.”
That’s when recognition hit. I’d purchased some beef from this man about a year ago. I’d been to his farm exactly ONE time and spent maybe an hour deciding what kind of cuts I wanted to buy. How the heck did he remember me? I greeting him by his last name – which he promptly told me not to do – and his wife introduced herself. I felt a bit of relief because I’d never seen her at all, so no wonder I didn’t have a clue when she first spoke up. Pleasantries were exchanged and I sat down and ate my meal with Hubby. Just before they left, they turned and chatted for a minute about how their calving was going along and how the winter had been and let me know that they should have some meat available again soon.
He was a very nice man when I’d met him the first time, and I was glad to see he was doing well, but how the heck did he remember me? Still impresses me.
Hubby got up to get another plate of food and a woman walks over to his side of the table, gestures to his chair and says, “This your husband?”
Uh oh. I don’t know this face either. I told her he was, and she leaned down and picked up the $6.00 he’d dropped on the floor. Then she told me I shouldn’t let him have money if he wasn’t going to be responsible with it. I thanked her, as did Hubby.
It was a simple enough interaction, but it made me feel more welcome in this environment, and I realized that by deciding to come to breakfast, we’d just taken some of our first steps into becoming part of this community and a lifestyle where just about everything happens at the fire house, church, Elks or Lion’s club or something of that sort. It’s a very farm-centered area, although you can see that starting to fray a bit in places, it’s still pretty strong. I picked up some fliers for upcoming events, like Bingo and a shrimp feed, so maybe we’ll come to a few more.
3. Two totally random things: Sammy (my puppy) is addicted to envelope glue. He keeps stealing envelopes whenever he can and he shreds them to get to the gum on the flaps. Weird dog!
The inordinate amount of freakishly tall women I saw yesterday made me wonder what’s in the water up here.
About a year ago, I wrote a blog called Emulsify. In it was a recipe for how to make your own mayo. As good as it was, it wasn’t foolproof and took a few too many steps and too much time. So, this time, I’ve found an even better recipe. It’s simple, easy and has turned out great every time. I’d give credit for where I found this if I could remember, so if you happen to read this and you are the creator, my apologies.
Home Made Mayo
You will need 1 mason jar (I use the big ones) and an immersion blender
Add to the mason jar in this order:
2 eggs – no need for them to be room temp, just dump them in there (you can use just the yolks if you want)
2-4 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tsp vinegar (if you like it a bit tangy)ground mustard, salt, pepper – any spice you might like. I used Old Bay this last time. YUMMY!
2 cups LIGHT olive oil
Put the immersion blender in and start ‘er up. In about 10-15 seconds, you’ll start seeing the mayo form. Slowly raise the immersion blender up from the bottom of the jar, pausing every little bit to allow the mayo to form. Continue raising slowly until you reach the top of your mix and then dip the blender in and move it about some to incorporate the oil. Your mayo should be thick and creamy and complete!
(Must be a cat jumping off the couch, or Hubby getting up and taking the dog out….zzzzzzz)
6:38 a.m. BANG.. dog panting
(wth? Maybe something is wrong..)
I turn on my light and notice there are no cats on my bed. Strange. I creep to the door and peek out into the living room, barely identifying My Hero laying on the couch; until he turns his eerie green gaze my way. “Hello Scout!”
I notice Sally staring intently at the apex of the cathedral ceiling. My office is in the loft behind where she is staring. She is rigid with intent and suddenly hisses loudly.
I take a few steps into the living room and movement catches my eye just as a flying critter circles the ceiling fan and dips down toward my head. The two cats and one dog feel they need to audibly alert me to The Enemy.
I duck and run for Hubby’s door. I open it and awaken him with the words that every husband loves to hear first thing in the morning from his loving wife’s lips. “Get up! There’s a bat in the living room!!”
He replies with a groggy “Huh?” and barely moves. Instantly picturing him sleeping through my attempts at whacking The Enemy with my baseball bat, I urgently repeat my request.
He seems to have no anxiety or sense of concern for time when it comes to capturing The Enemy. He dresses casually and decides the dogs need to go out and watched while they do their morning “thing”, and leaves me to monitor events. The Enemy makes another swooping circle, this time closer to my head, and I dart for the safety of the powder room, because now I have to do my “thing” as well!
Hubby is out with the dogs, I’m hiding in the powder room.
BANG!
I open the door to the sounds of squeaking and the sight of My Hero in the corner with alert ears. By the strident sounds of the distraught Enemy, I know My Hero has somehow managed to either cause injury or to defeat The Enemy. Now my fear is that My Hero will himself become injured. (Silly me, do you see the amount of FUR on My Hero?? It’s like armor!)
I fling the door open to the front porch. Hubby is seated and calmly awaiting for the dogs to return.
“Get in here!! I think Scout has caught it!!” I yell, as I race for the cover of the family room. “There is a coffee can on the counter!”
(Oddly enough, I had emptied that can about a week ago and thinking that surely I’d need an empty coffee can for SOMETHING, I’d kept it around)
Hubby donned some gloves, grabbed said coffee can and returned minutes later. He opened the door to my sanctuary and thrust the can towards me. It was SQUEAKING terribly. I may have freaked out a bit, cowered and hid my head in my hands. Maybe.
“What do you want me to do with it?”, he asked.
Really? I mean, we could save it for a snack or something, right?
“Put it outside, but don’t let it out of the can.”
Now, I’m not trying to punish the small thing that is obviously terrified in that can, but I have to check My Hero first and make sure he’s unhurt. If he’s been injured, I’m going to need The Enemy to be sure it isn’t carrying a disease.
My Hero Scout eventually calmed down from his status of high alert and sat still long enough for me to inspect him. He seems perfectly fine, but I don’t know if he bit The Enemy or not (and I am NOT opening the can), so as much as it disturbs me, I think The Enemy may perish in solitary confinement unless I can find a vet on a Sunday and ask if it can be granted a pardon.
Snippets and Tidbits 