Al-Cat-Traz

Our neighbor/landlord recently got a herd of chickens (yes, I do know it's "flock"... I just prefer herd), and Jamba was quite intrigued....

Then one of the hens started hanging out in the next door carport, in one of the crates, a-cluckin' and a-scratchin' and a-doin' what hens do, namely:

Well, this sent both kittehs into a frenzy... fresh meat that close and yet inaccessible.

Or maybe not.

Jamba, she of the 12.7% EVIL, remembered that climbing the mesh was possible, and might even gain her access to Snack.  And yesterday, up and over The Wire she went.  And ended up into the ceiling crawlspace, which took me, Jen, Julia, a cardboard box, a step ladder and several kitteh treats to get her down.  Sorry, no pictures of that.

And this morning, when Jen was checking to make sure the cats were inside afore starting the car to leave, she discovered Jamba, "strolling around outside the gate, nibbling on grass and completely nonchalant."

Which caused me to Spring Into Action... after morning coffee and InterWebs check and all... to Fix the Problem:

It may not be the prettiest, but it has already proved to be effective.

"Fine.  If you won't let me out, I'll just lay on the log and sun myself."

I'll say this for Jamba... she's pretty smart.  She tried her escape route, was blocked by the angled mesh squares, tried once from another angle, was blocked again, and has since ignored the whole thing.  Now, if Snack gets into the crate again to lay another egg... we'll see.

The Places I've Lived

I'm not sure what set me off on this journey, but I went through Google Earth and found all the places I've lived in my life, except for two.  The first one - we moved when I was barely a year old, and I don't remember it -- and another that was in a trailer park that is no longer there.  So without further ado...

Boonville United Methodist, the parsonage is the lower right structure.  The house to the left of the parsonage was owned by Mrs. Johnson, who would give me sweets and occasionally take me to lunch.

Boonville "Little House", nothing to do with Laura Ingalls, we just called it that because it was wee.  The back "yard" was a concrete slab, and I remember using big chalks to draw lines for streets that I rode on my li'l John Deere (pedal-powered) tractor.  I was five.

Boonville - Fleming Farm The house is the building lower left-ish, the rest are barns and grain silos.  This was where I learned to ride a bike, and I did the driveway loop many, many times.

Laurelledge -  My dad's from Texas, and they name homesteads/farms/ranches there, and he named this one Laurelledge (Mountain Laurels & Rutledge = Laurelledge).  This started life as a "trailer house", but we added onto it several times over the years, until there was very little left of the trailer.

Gold Hall NCSU  (center of pic) - I attended NC State for three semesters, majoring in Dungeons & Dragons... okay, technically I was a computer science major, but in reality... hench the only three semesters

Elkin - Apartment, the complex had a name, but I don't remember it.  I was the very first tenant in my apartment, which was number 80B (BOB)... very apropos

Ferguson - Leesa's place, my first live-in girlfriend, I was here for just over a year.  It was much less blurry in real life.

North Wilkesboro - 6th Street  These apartments also had a name, but I don't remember it.  After I moved out of Leesa's I moved in here.  They were the oldest apartments in town, built sometime around (or just after) WWII.

Valdese - another apartment complex, another non-remembered name.  I lived here while I worked as an assistant manager for Domino's Pizza in Morganton.

N. Wilkesboro - Holly Hills Apartments... I remember this name.  

Here a second time, in a different apartment

Yet another apartment in N. Wilkesboro, don't remember the name, but it was across the street from the Mental Health clinic.

Then I lived here, in a basement apartment...

Then here, in the little building in the middle (it, and the house above-left of it, were built of stone, and looked way cool)

Hmmm... can't really see anything, but that's an a-frame on the Watauga River outside of Boone.  It was nice living there, the deck hung over the river.

Boone is, apparently, a blurry town.  These were round buildings, and my apartment was a semi-circle.

Laurel Branch Road - Vilas.  I lived in this house for three years, on a rent-to-own plan that I couldn't maintain long enough to actually have ownership... but was the closest I got.

More with the blurry... this was a HUGE A-frame house in Powderhorn Mountain.  Very nice house.

Apartment in Boone, 3 months...

Expressions of Asheville (arrow), my head shop... I lived upstairs.  1100 sqft of open space.  I build half walls for privacy around the toilet and shower, but other than that, it was wide open.  Was once a Harley-Davidson shop, and the upstairs was storage... still smelled like oil. :)

The Secret Lair (aka '73 Winnebago)... can just sorta see the roof there in the middle under the trees, with my tarpaulin porch roof at the top.

All the above were in North Carolina... while I was in The Secret Lair I met Jen and moved to...

San Rafael de Heredia, Costa Rica.  Jen and the girls lived in the upstairs apartment, I in the downstairs ( so as not to overwhelm the girls with my presence at first)

San Rafael de Heredia -  And now we live here.

Convoluted Familial Connections

This song came up (in my head, anyway) in a thread over on the Book of Faces, and  in searching for the lyrics for to copy and paste, I found that Jerry Garcia and David Grisman did a version of it.  Couldn't find that one, but here's Dawg (that's Grisman's nickname) doing it:

David Grisman - I'm My Own Grandpa Found at abmp3 search engine

Breadsday

Today I baked stuff.

First, I made two GINORMOUS loaves of whole wheat:

Okay, it's a closeup of reg'lar sized bread.

Then I made some burger buns, for tomorrow to have wrapped around veggie burgers.  Here's what the counter looked like after I kneaded the bun dough (it's in the bowl under the towel):

And here's the outcome of all today's baking:

I've been trying different recipes for buns, and they've all met with the approval of Teh Girls of teh House, but they weren't what I was after.  So today I got a link from he who is known as Brave Sir Robin, over on Teh Book of Faces, which was thus:  LINK  If you go over there, you'll note that they say one can sub some whole wheat for somea the white.  I did.  And I recommend you do, too.

So I tried it, and lo, it were guuuud!

Ladles and Jellyspoons, I believe we have a winner in the bun category.

And now, off to Anno 1701....

Lluvia

It's February here in Costa Rica, just like everywhere else (that follows the Julian Calendar, that is), which means we're smack dab in the middle of the dry season -- normally, from December until late March or early April.

Well, someone forgot to tell the weather gods that yesterday afternoon....

It rained hard for about 15 minutes, then it ended.  A nice break in an otherwise hot day.

Bob el Jardinero

Hey, what're y'all getting ready to do out here?

Well, as you know, the guy who owns the house is building some more here on our l'il cul-de-sac...

...over by the banananana trees,

and we've got this spot that we (okay, Jen did, 'cause I was on my visa run) bricked in for a raised bed last year.

So we're gonna get somea that dirt they've dug up,

put it in a wheelbarrow,

and dump it in the bed...

until it's all nice...

and filled up ready for planting!

You did WHAT??

But... it's all different and stuff.

I'm not sure about this, guys...

seriously, I don't know if I like it.

Hey, what's this???

Wow!! This litter box is HUGE!!!

No, Jamba, we got some plants and veggie seeds to plant in there.

I better inspek it, then, give it the sniff test...

...and see what's under here, and...

...look at it from all angles.

Yeah, I think this spacing is all right, Fuzzy Hooman.

And these will make excellent snacks.

And then they were watered...

and watered some more.

Teh End