Welcome Home Gomer

Over the past couple of days, Nadine has been working tirelessly in the basement trying to clean out the seemingly endless piles of mouse poop she's found down there. They've gotten into the stuffing in her upholstery projects and she's pretty pissed off. So last night she came up and asked how I felt about getting a mouser to deal with this latest issue. While it's not a serious home security issue, mice or rats in the basement are pretty high up there. She's had cats before and while there have been musings over getting a cat, she seemed pretty serious. So as anyone who knows me, I'm pretty easy going about most things, but I was actually excited about the possibility of getting a real-life kitty cat. So, I told her that I was still okay with getting a cat. I went back to my paperwork and she descended into the basement for another round of vacuuming and checking for nests.

So today I was off and decided that I needed to get another couple of boards for my paintings and knew that SCRAP often had large pieces that I could cut down to meet my needs. Nadine asked to tag along to peruse for fabrics. On the way back, I noticed that she passed our turn on Potrero. When she passed the 22nd street turn, I starting thinking. Of course it didn't take long for me to catch on as we turned down Florida street and pulled into SFSPCA. Unlike the average pound or ASFCA location, this one had gotten a grant a while back from a major corporation and the cats and dogs are in seriously cool digs. Kitty condos and TVs are in most private rooms. You can walk around and read little summaries about the animal and see if they might have the right personality for you. So we cruised around and spotted this cat, Cooper, that caught Nadine's eye. We found a volunteer to introduce us and we spent a few minutes with him. He was a chatty boy and came right over to check us out. First he let Nadine pet him and scratch behind his ears. Next he cam over to me and hopped right into my lap! We didn't want to make a hasty decision, plus Nadine was hoping to get a couple of cats. So we went and looked at the bonded pairs. But Cooper had already stolen Nadine (and my) heart. We left to go and check on a friend at the house and talked about the cats we met. Before you knew it we were back to go pick out a cat. We met with Cooper again and decided that he was our guy. That second cat, well maybe later. Turns out Cooper had some medical issues and that it was decided to let him settle in with us (and us with him). If we still want another cat, we can pick them out later.

So I bet you are wondering what's up with Gomer? Well it turns out that our little kitty friend had been in the adoption center for a while. I week before, they decided to put a little kitty curb appeal to work and changed his name from the more humble Gomer to a sexier, tall-dark-and hansome Cooper. While Cooper is a really cute name, we decided that if he was Gomer for 5 years already we'd call him Gomer too. Welcome Home Gomer Sgro! Isn't he just a cutie?

Manamana

Just a mere 2 minutes and 28 seconds, this video embodies who I am and, more importantly, why I am the way I am. Not only was this a normal part of my childhood, it remains deeply embedded in my brain. Occasionally when I am alone in the car or elevator, this very song will pop into my head. And yes, I will sing both parts.

But for those of you who were wondering if this was a muppet phenomena, the answer is no. The same way that the Barber of Seville was not original done by Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The song was on the pop charts back in 1968-69. And it's original use was as a movie soundtrack, Svezia, inferno e paradiso- those wacky Italians!

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi day! I don't usually remember the special days, but with Pi day, 3.14 and the Ides of March, 3.15 right next to each other this one stuck long enough to come up some celebration ideas. So of course with a day celebrating the area of a circle, it only seems right to eat round pie-like things. So we are making pizza pie for dinner and maybe having a pie or tart for dessert.

To learn more about Pi, you can check out this link for the Exploratorium's Pi day celebration.

http://www.savagechickens.com/blog/2008/03/pi.html

Trying something new

So on a recommendation of a friend, I've been trying out something new. I've been painting with watercolor paints and other mediums that are similar for so long, I wasn't sure if I could change and learn how to use acrylics. I bought some paints and had been dabbling for a bit. Since I hadn't made much progress, I signed up for a workshop. So we've been messing around and now we are working on a painting of our choice. So here's a picture of the underpainting that I am working on.

So this is first part of the painting. On Wednesday we will do a technique called glazing that will put transparent pigment over the grey scale of the undercoating. The color should make it pop. I'm kinda exciting by the black and white part right now. I can't wait to see how it will look after I add the color. I'll post an up-date with the color version later this week.

Twinkie Goodness

A while back, Cathryn and I met up with an old friend of her. They were having some sort of Girl Scout alumni retreat. The focus was on crafts and relaxation and as we approached the dining hall, we could see two women in massage chairs, working hard at the relaxing part. Since it was still early we took a tour around to see what projects people were working on. One particular activity in the corner caught my eye.

It involved twinkies. Specifically, using twinkies as a modeling clay and sculpting with it. I was horrified and fascinated. I took one of the the instruction sheets, because I will do this. I will sculpt something using only twinkies as the "clay".

Here are the instructions. If you were the person who came up with this idea, please contact me so I can give you proper credit for this.

Twinkies Project

Goal: To sculpt "anything" from 4 packages of TWINKIES

Things you'll need
4 packages of Twinkies - that's 8 cakes total
1 knife
plastic or latex gloves


Step 1: Open 4 pkgs of Twinkies.
Step 2: With a knife, slice off and save the base of each Twinkie.
Note the base is a different color and will provide a contrasting color for whatever you choose to sculpt.
Step 3: Mash all the base pieces together with your hands (this is a great time to put on those gloves) and include as much of the white cream filling that may be stuck to the bases. We will be using every part of the twinkie for this project. Continue kneeding until you have achieved a uniform color and consistency. Set aside in a ball. The stickiness will go away eventually and you will have what resembles "play dough".
Step 4: Do the same with the rest of the bars. This may take a while...persevere.
Step 5: Think of something to SCULPT! Sleeping animal...Christmas tree ornament...pretty much whatever!

Once you've finished sculpting, place on a firm surface to dry. Your finished product will harden and keep FOREVER! It will never rot or mold, but it will always have a bit of that "Twinkie" smell.

If you complete this project one rainy day, please send me a picture so I can post it here.

A Cautionary Tale

A week ago, Nadine and I had a scare when two people broke down our front door at about 12:30 am early Sunday morning on Feb 3rd. We were both home when this happened so it was terrifying. To make a long story short (if you want the longer, scarier story email me) we are both okay and actually were able to recover some, not all of the stuff that was stolen.

We've been doing what we can to try to feel safe at home again. I've been doing some reading and home invasions are a different sort of fright you might have if you came home and someone had broken in, took a bunch of stuff and left. The police were great and reassured us that we did everything right. It also seems that this was a random act and not that we were cased and chosen. I realize that when something like this happens it makes other people feel better if perhaps we had set ourselves up to be victimized. Our front door, although fairly solid, looked like an easier target than the others down the street. Once ours is replaced, it will look as tough if not tougher than our neighbors - a solid reinforced steel door with an additional metal security door/gate.

I'm angry that our neighbors didn't do anything. It took them 3 house-shaking tries to break the door. The 2 inch wide solid wood door split in 2 since the deadbolt held tight and the door frame was as solid as the door. The door broke into about 5 pieces as they burst through the entry way demanding money. We decided that we need to know our neighbors better. If something happened tomorrow, I know that I won't worry about meddling or interfering and I will call the police without a second thought.

I also have added a few numbers to my cell phone. Neither of us knew that if you called 911 from your cell phone, that you may end up at the state police and not the local police department. It's just the luck of the cell phone towers and proximity to the highway apparently. Nadine was on hold for over 2 minutes as she hid in the backyard trying to call for help. Luckily I was able to take advantage of the situation and get out. Once I saw them leave in a waiting SUV, I ran back and called from the house landline. I got someone on 911 immediately. You should know this and have a house phone near your bedside. We do now. Call your local police and fire department and ask them for the direct dial numbers and add them to your cell phone. In San Francisco Police emergency dispatch is 415-553-8090. If you want to report non-emergency suspicious activity, call 415-553-0123.

While I don't want to scare you, gentle readers, this is something that does happen. If you want to do what you can to make your home as safe as possible, here are some links to prevent crime from happening in the first place:

Crime Doctor
National Crime Prevention Council
Crime Prevention Tips

Is it Spring yet?

I've been having a hankering for fresh herbs. Every time I pay money for an anemic bundle of wilty herbs at the supermarket I tell myself that I should already have these things in the backyard. What sort of person buys fresh herbs? Well with any luck I won't be one of those people anymore. Around Christmas time I bought a little mini-greenhouse thingie and some seeds. Once i got back from New York, I set up my little house, soaked the cute little peat pellets and sowed my seeds.

I did something similar last year when I had the desire to paint Chinese Lanterns and thought it would be cool to grow my own. That didn't turn out so well, but given my earlier success with tomatoes, I'm willing to try it again. So I've chosen to start with three things, cilantro, parsley and mint. The first two I chose because those are the ones I buy the most by the bunch to cook with and the mint I chose for summertime iced teas and to muddle into yummy mojitos.

The fact that all three are hearty plants and are supposed to grow like weeds once they get going was the clincher for me. The photo is after only two weeks of growth. The tall ones in front are the cilantro and already starting to show a curly leaf on their second set of leaves. In the middle is the mint. They don't look like much now, but I've already told them how happy I am to have them growing for me. In the back is the parsley. Every day I see a new seed sprouting.

I feel like a kid coming into the office to see how they are doing each morning. I have co-workers visit to see how they are doing. Seriously, they walk right over to check them out and then leave without saying anything to me if I'm on the phone or something.

Stop by to see how my garden is growing.