Sunday, June 22, 2008

Rest in Peace, George

George Carlin died of heart failure tonight. Revolutionary, artist, comedian, and thinker.





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The world has lost a great man, but his words (more than seven) live on.





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My Big Backyard

Before:
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The fence on the right side of the picture is falling over, there is a wire mesh fence separating everything from the garage on back from the rest of the yard (all unusable), the back gate is completely pathetic and impossible to close, and there is a mostly demolished (and extremely unsafe) shed on the back right. The garage roof also let through regular daylight and puddles.

Not only did the group of Christian youth (and 3 adults) fix our fence and garage roof as discussed, but they also removed several dead bushes and many trees growing too close to the house and power lines, they fixed the swingset so the kids can finally swing again, they weeded the front garden, they emptied the garage of more than half of the junk that has filled it since before I moved in three years ago, the weeded the section of the alley for which I'm responsible, and they salvaged and reused a lot of material in their projects.

After:
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See my pretty stripey fence on the right? And the smoothly operating gate in the back? And the non-existent wire partition so that now we have a big backyard? And Sophie is swinging on the left as well. Before they left, they also folded all the laundry on the line and brought it in. Oh, and get this! They Gus-proofed the yard! Gus hasn't escaped once since they left.

The cleaned out enough of the garage that I was able, for the first time, to get one of the back garage doors open. Our yard feels so spacious (it has increased in size by 1/3 at least), the garage has possibilities and will finally free up space in the 2 little closets in the house, and we are all spending more time outside. Thank you to the workers who provided free labor, and thank you to Mom and Dad for paying for the materials. There is no way this little blog post can convey how huge this is for us. HUGE.

The kids were infatuated with these wonderful people and I took lots of pictures of them together, but I won't post the group shots since I don't know if the others want their faces plastered all over the internet.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Caw.

The Raven







Wild, Solitary, Serious and Intellectual: you are the Raven! Raven is a strong symbol of both creation and destruction. Wisdom through intelligence, observation, and challenge. Raven is strongly tied to the spiritual world, living in a constant state of otherworldly awareness. Raven people tend to be very introspective and savor time spent ‘alone’.





The Animal Archetype Test

Horny

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The Art of Storytelling

My favorite accident reports from Things People Said, as written on insurance claim forms:

"A pedestrian hit me and went under my car."

"Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have."

"The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him."

"I saw the slow-moving, sad-faced old gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car."

"I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."

"I was taking my canary to the hospital. It got loose in the car and flew out the window. The next thing I saw was his rear end, and there was a crash."

"I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows."

"The telephone pole was approaching fast. I was attempting to swerve out of its path when it struck my front end."

"A truck backed though my windshield and into my wife's face."

"I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed over the embankment."

"The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him."

"An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished."

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Miscellaneous Menagerie Musings

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Peek-a-boo. Dozing doggie. This is where he spends most of his time, though more often with his head peeking out the top.

Banjo likes the sling, cheese, and grass. His first bests. He walked a lot (for him) today, but unless I walk backwards in front of him, he goes in circles (around me) or paces anxiously. His legs are getting stronger and he willingly went up 3 porch steps to follow me. I force nothing and all my movements are very, very slow; my pedometer is getting quite annoyed. He continues to get world-blurring shakes around dogs and adult humans (other than me and Frank), but stays calm around my kids and even touched noses with cats with no problem. I see him befriending a cat in the future.



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He are the other dogs, minus Penny, under a living room window. This is where they tend to hang out in the afternoon and evenings and where they sleep at night until they sneak in with me. Gus wears his diaper 100% of the time he's indoors (we're all happier), and Cesar looks demonic in this picture, but generally isn't.


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Cesar's doing doggie yoga, right next to Sophie's yellow yoga mat.



Manny.
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