Archive for the ‘amazing things’ Category
Never work with animals or kids. Of course, that’s only because he didn’t want to be in the background while the cute kids and animals stole the show. This is the Tiny Tots division at the Red Earth Pow Wow. I don’t know how well the other kids did, but this little tot not only danced but managed to make it through the entire song.
I made a very quick meal tonight that rocked the Casbah. I made shrimp scampi with creamed spinach. I know there are those out there who don’t like sea bugs of any sort, you can substitute your favourite chicken or tofu stir fry recipe. The the creamed spinach was the bomb! And it was so very simple to make. Just coarsely chop an onion, saute it and a nice pile of garlic (I use the pre-chopped stuff in a jar because I can never use enough of the fresh stuff before it all dries up or sprouts), in my case about a tablespoon or so. Oh, I’m ahead of myself…. The recipe says you need 2 pounds of fresh spinach. Boil enough salted water in a large pot to wilt down all the spinach, then drain. Press out as much of the liquid as you can with a wooden spoon and then coarsely chop up the spinach. Then you coarsely chop the onion and saute it in fat (I used butter but you can use any cooking fat) with the garlic. When the onion is becoming translucent add the spinach back into the pot and stir it around to mix everything up nicely. The last part makes the dish. Add 1/2 cup coconut milk (not the beverage, but the stuff you have to shake to get the “cream” all mixed in) and allow it to cook until about 1/2 has evaporated. It’s amazing! I didn’t add seasonings though you can if you like. I told Bran that adding some curry would make the dish more superlative than it already was. He agreed. Between the three of us we ate 2 pounds of spinach. Boy wanted more. There wasn’t any. Heh. Work is stupid busy. I got the case plan mostly done and all I have to do is add some final details on Monday. I’m ever so glad it’s Friday. This has been an incredibly long short week. It felt that way until about 2:30 this afternoon and then it felt like I didn’t have enough time to do anything. Stupid perceptions. I love that my last post got me a link to Wapsi Square books. Blogging is such a rocking thing, I don’t know why I let it slack for so long. I guess I needed a bit of a rest to recoup some energy and enthusiasm.
No, I’m not slaving away. I am, however, working on a new project of photographs. Shrinky got me thinking about my love of place, specifically the place I live. Not the house, the prairies. She spoke of the sea and how it grabbed hear heart when she was young and never let go. Now that she’s an adult she raised her children by the sea so now they have the same devotion to the ocean (I”m a poet!) as she does. I’m going to be taking and compiling the different prairie photographs I’ve got and publishing them in a Flickr album for all to see. There will be panoramas (and the prairies are great at panoramas) and close up shots. The prairies are, as I said to Shrinky, more than the place where you can watch your dog run away for 4 days.
Today is the last day of the May long weekend. For us, it’s Victoria Day. Most people will have planted their gardens this weekend (or perhaps the weekend before this) because the risk of frost is nice and low. Those who don’t have gardens might have gone out of town for the first camp-out of the year, or to the various city, regional, provincial or federal parks for a picnic. Today we went to Beaver Creek Conservation Area to walk around and take photographs. Bran, me and a friend went out this afternoon. She wanted to get out of town and I wanted to take photos. I didn’t particularly want to go out to do so, but it seemed stupid to give up an opportunity like this. It’s cold outside today. If it had been this temperature in late February or early March I would have gloried in the clement weather. Today I just got cold. Despite the Scotch mist, the wind and the cold temperatures it was a pleasant time. There are several trails a person can take. The area is only open from 9-5 on weekdays (the hours on the weekend vary) and we didn’t get there until nearly 3. This meant that we wouldn’t have time to do one of the longer walks. In fact, being open so little time it’s a wonder they have any trails that take much time. We took the yellow trail. I took a fair number of photographs. I wish that I could photograph the smells. I love the smell of a forest (even a bush forest such as this). It was more aromatic thanks to the damp earth. Sometimes it was quite fragrant with the blooming of fruit trees (berry trees) and the heady aroma of sweet grass when we were out of the valley on the flat prairie. Because the day was so overcast the light was, what is called in photography lingo, flat. This means that there is little contrast in dark, light, and varying shades. I’ll be working on editing up some photos that I took to look more vibrant. I used the flash to take some photos of some bracket fungus growing on a fallen tree. I’m curious to know what that’ll look like. We trouped around there for a little over and hour before we all went back to the truck and headed back to town. Beaver Creek is about 10 or 15 minutes south of town, just north of the White Cap Dakota First Nation (where Dakota Dunes Casino is). Then we went for sushi for supper. We were going to go to Szechuan Kitchen, but Bran decided that sushi was ok because he could get sushimi. So that’s what we did. Before we had anything to eat I saw something crawling on his bunnyhug (hoody to anyone who doesn’t live in Saskatchewan). I used my serviette to get it off him and showed it to him. It was as I suspected. He collected a tick. Luckily it wasn’t attached to him. I smooshed it in the napkin and wrung the napkin and thought that was the last of it. Then I decided to peek. It was not only still alive, it was fully intact ready to crawl out of the paper. I smooshed it up again, wrung it again and sent it outside when Bran went to get a hanky out of the truck a bit later on. Then I got all paranoid about whether I’d picked one up. Happily it doesn’t appear that I did. I forgot about tick season. After supper we went to Shoppers on the West side to check out Bran’s point-and-shoot camera battery. It stopped working in the camera so he wanted to see if it was the camera or the battery that died. Yeah, it was the camera. He’s going to hunt up the warranty to see if there’s something he can do to get a replacement or something. I got a new pair of reading glasses. I’m tired of the ones I have being all scratched up and permanently smeared. I can’t figure out why they don’t ever come properly clean. That’s the last time I spend that much on a pair of reading glasses though. The way to go is the cheap way by picking up a pair at the drug store for $35 or so. I also picked a couple of DVDs. Sadly, one of them I already have. I hoped that I would be getting a new Scooby Doo. I wasn’t . I already have the one I bought so back it goes. I did get Groundhog Day. I went shooting last night too. One of the things I captured was the video of the fish in the entry before this one. Fish are so weird. I wish I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow. Except for being sick and in pain for 3.5 of the 5 days I’ve been home it’s been quite relaxing. I slept when I wanted, got up when I needed, got flowers (gonna have to do that more often since they look so darned pretty), and took lots and lots of photographs. I have lots to edit. Check out my photostream at Flickr. I have a thing in the sidebar that’ll take you there.
I got one of those neato keen Luxeed Programmable Colour Keyboards keyboards that light up with coloured LED lights. I can customize the colour of each key to one of 7 colours. There is red, yellow, green cyan, blue, magenta, and white. I can save up to 4 different patterns. The one I’m using right now has no white in it. The only red are the delete and backspace keys. This helps me find them when they’re needed. I can also make it so that the keyboard is plain, but when I hit a key they key will light up. While that’s a novelty, I don’t use that. The action of the keyboard is nice, too. The keyboard comes with a thin silicone (I think it’s silicone) template that you lay over the keyboard and mark up a pattern you want. I’m not marking mine up. I’m leaving it as something that will protect my keyboard from crumbs. It clings nicely to the keyboard. It’s thin enough that I can feel the markers for the home keys and it doesn’t interfere with typing. It also comes with a microfibre cloth. I’ve added a small (10) port USB hub to my list of high tech devices I now own. It’s going to be eventually attached to the back of my computer table. I don’t really need ten ports, but it was inexpensive, had a low profile and would be easily accessible for anything I might need to plug into it. Last weekend I did something I’ve never done before. I took Boy out for supper without Bran. We went to Nagoya Restaurant and had sushi. It was quite nice. Poor Bran wasn’t feeling up to par. I was craving something fierce because of not feeling well for two days prior (I get wicked strong craving when my stomach is upset, go figure). This meant that the first free non-sick day I had to settle the most significant craving…for sushi. This is an all-you-can-eat place. I know that it’s not recommended you eat at such a place but they have a high turnover of product (which increases the chance of it being fresh) and it’s great value for the money. The only bad thing is they don’t use real crab. But that’s minor. We had some great food. They would have gotten more money from me as I was going to order a few maki rolls ala carte, but our server disappeared. Maybe it’s their way of making sure they don’t get eaten out of business. So instead I took Boy to get some ice cream from Dairy Queen and then went and washed the car. We worried Bran because neither of us answered our phones (I didn’t have the bluetooth thing in my ear so I didn’t hear it ring. Boy’s was still on silent from work on Friday. All was happily resolved when we showed up at home. I’m finding I very much enjoy having a car. I like driving and love having my music playing. I wish we lived a bit farther from work so that I’d have more time to listen to it. As it is I sometimes leave a little early so that I can go through the Tim’s drive through for coffee (especially on the day shifts) so I can extend the drive with a bit of legitimacy. I worked yesterday. I know that for my American friends that won’t be much of a thing, but Good Friday is a statutory holiday in Canada so that means I not only get paid for the day, I get paid for working as well. Three cheers for money! Hip! Hip! Ka-ching! Life here is ok. You can tell it’s spring now. The city has swept up the winter’s supply of gravel, sand and dust from many of the major streets so it’s not quite so dusty. That’s a relief to my allergic body. The spring irises and tulips have begun poking themselves up above ground and will soon be blooming. I’m quite looking forward to the first rainfall. We’ve had some rain, but mostly it sprinkled snow. The rain will clean off the lawns and such. Right now, despite the city going around with their cleaners, the city is still a dusty brown. Nothing new on the house hunting front. I’ll let you know when we actually start hunting. For now it’s on hold. I’ve begun some practice beading on some canvas. I had to stop though. I’ll be cutting a new piece of canvas and starting the pattern over again. The one I was using is stretched out. I want to have a technique nailed down before I start working on the deer hide. The last thing I want to do is need to take things apart. I’m also waiting on some beads I ordered on-line. Sixty hanks of beads, each a different colour, are expected at my house sometime in the next few weeks. I can wait though. I have month end reports all this week so I won’t have any work time to play. I went to the dollar store yesterday and got some stuff…hair elastics, because the ones I have are nearly all worn out, some car wipes for both Bran and I, and a few other things. I also got a tool belt and tool holder thing for work. No, I’m not starting manual labour. It’s going to be very handy for carrying around the portable phone and my keys and not have them in my pockets. A long time complaint I’ve had is that when I have the cordless phone in my pocket I can’t bend over and pick anything up. It gets pressed on and buttons get pushed. In the tool belt that doesn’t happen (tested it yesterday at work). I can also put the keys in it. That way I can sit down and not have a wad of keys poking into the tender skin of my groin. We have one already at work but it doesn’t fit me. This one does. I also got a new eye glass container that zips shut. The one I was using came with my bi-focals. The hinge broke ages ago. The new case will keep my glasses safe and will probably hold up better. It’s actually for sunglasses (it’s really domed) but it fits my glasses fine and will protect them until I replace them sometime in the future. I’ve been looking around for containers to put the new beads in. I found something that will work at Dollarama but until I know how much space 4000 size 11/0 beads take I’m not going to buy containers. I suspect they’ll take up the same amount as the 1 lb of size 15/0 beads. If they do I have the perfect containers. They’ll only be $1 each. I found a new hair product I really like. Well, two actually. They’re both made by Marc Anthony in the Strictly Curls line. One is a cream called “Curl Envy” that you put on when your hair is still wet/damp. It makes some nice ringlets for me. Of course, it doesn’t stop the matting at the base of my neck where my shirt meets my hairline, but I don’t think anything short of shaving my hair off would work on that. The other is Oil of Morocco. This stuff you put in your hair at night and/or in the morning. It’s supposed to help repair and strengthen hair. It has a flowery/sweet smell to it. I don’t think it does to my hair what it’s supposed to (at least not what the pictures say will happen) but it does appear to help smooth my hair and make brushing easier. If you have curly hair give them a try. I got mine at Shoppers Drug Mart so I imagine that most other drug store chains would carry it. The containers and labels are sunshine/canary yellow. The reason why today is special isn’t just because of my zoomy new keyboard (though that definitely adds to the specialness). No, today is special because I voted in our federal election at the advance polls. Not only did I vote but so did Bran. And to make the day even more extra special, Boy voted for the very first time! Yes, my son exercised his right of franchise and cast his ballot to the candidate of his choice. I’m so proud. I would’ve take pictures if that was allowed, but it’s not. Well, it’s not permitted past the election pollsters. Another special thing is that I uninstalled Firefox and deleted the profile that it was attached to. I then installed the newest version of Firefox (it looks a whole lot like Chrome). I got the addons that I wanted and needed for security and tried a new theme because Scribblies Brite isn’t yet compatible with this version. I’ve since dumped the new theme and am sticking with the default for now. I don’t know if I told the saga of my problems with Firefox so here it goes. A few weeks ago (I’m not sure how many) I was having some problems with Firefox. It wouldn’t bookmark certain pages and then the bookmarks sidebar was different from the bookmarks (by several months of bookmark changes). I tried downloading my foxmarks but that didn’t change anything. This was particularly frustrating since I tend to use the sidebar for bookmarks a lot. I like having the list continually open, especially when I’m doing something like reading comics or blogs because I have many folders filled with bookmarks that I open into tabs. If Firefox isn’t adding or deleting bookmarks as I need it to then things are troubling. So I reluctantly stopped using Firefox and started using Chrome. I chose Chrome because it was the alternative that sucked the least. The problem with Chrome is that it’s a very basic browser. Some might like that but I prefer a few bells and whistles that Firefox has. For instance, I really like Flashblock. This feature prevents Flash from playing automatically. Flash is a real pain in the ass if it’s for an advertisement. I had to have my system sounds off most of the time to prevent it from bothering Boy and Bran. Another thing was that I really like having the function that opens closed tabs. When I read blogs and comics I open several tabs at once. I also set it so I could close the tab quickly when I finish reading it. If my keyboard closed the tab I couldn’t just press a button to have it reopen the tab. I’d have to go to bookmarks, figure out which of the folders that page was in and then open it in a new tab. That’s only two of the things about Firefox I missed. Today I finally got my spit together and downloaded the most current version of Firefox. Then I deleted the profile and uninstalled the older version of Firefox. Then I installed the new version and went hunting for the addons I wanted. I don’t install a great many, just the ones that increase my security and the functionality of the browser. I’ll keep looking for a theme that I like (until Scribblies Brite is made compatible). Last week I ordered some rockin’ t-shirts: hedgehogs, chinchillin’, irrelephant, outside the box, thesaurus and epic. Two are mine for sure, Boy and Bran will get at least one each and the fifth I haven’t decided on yet. Maybe we’ll make it a family shirt. Maybe we won’t. We’ll see. That’s about it from here.
Guess what’ in mine. Some guy with some major issues:
Then there are the usual “interesting post” and “I’m bookmarking your site” because I have such scintillating words on very important topics. Too bad they all write the same thing regardless of the product/service they want to inflict on the world. The ubiquitous porn offer from “sexyflics.com/blog/horny-black-bitches-and-stallions” telling me I’m a great author. You can’t see it but I’m all a flutter and delicately fanning myself with my hands right now. I’m so flattered. The next one is offering to do the writing for me. I guess they don’t think I’m good enough a writer. Or perhaps they think I’m a big time editor who publishes the works of other people who are great writers. The last one was what created my need to create this great missive: “Get Rid of Sweaty Underarms for Good | Cure Excessive Sweating” Who can resist an opportunity like that? Not me, that’s certain.
This is a video of traffic accidents at least one intersection in China. It’s amazing that those most of the pedestrians and bicyclists managed to get up after the crashes. Now, aren’t you glad we have traffic lights, yield and stop signs?
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