The Day of the Deer

Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm. ~Ambrose Bierce

I won't be online much today. I'll be on my feet, packing and vacuum sealing deer meat. I finally pulled out my new vacuum sealer I got last year. It's pretty nifty with one exception: You're supposed to "slip" the open bag end into a slot where it will vacuum and seal automatically. Sadly the bags tend to gape in the middle, so you CAN'T slip them in (they get caught up). Last night, whilst creating bags from rolls, we had to open up the sealer EVERY time to get them to seal. Plus there is a ton of waste -- they seal about 1 1/2" up on the bag. My last sealer, you just popped the end onto the seal and voila! Done.

Sometimes I think they try to get too fancy for their own good. Plus, I have to wonder if they ever even tested the thing because it's clear it doesn't work. I'm looking into getting containers to use instead. But, they're expensive, so I'll have to wait for an amazing sale.

In any case, for me it's out the door at seven a.m. to get a couple things at the store, run to the P.O. to mail some books, off to the dog park for an hour so the pup will sleep while we're working and then on my feet all day -- here's hoping the knee holds up!

I did manage to get to a few blogs yesterday. I got to see pictures of Brandy's adorable new kitten, Christmas photos of New York from Dru, hear the woes of farm life from Maria Zannini who lost a chicken to a coyote and whose husband had his first scorpion sting, see sexy pictures of Daniel Craig at Joanna's blog and more! Hopefully this evening, I'll be able to catch up just a little bit more.

Have a great day!

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You Are an Online Deal Seeker

You are technologically savvy and extremely comfortable with online shopping. When it comes to Black Friday, there's no other choice but to shop online. How else can you be at multiple stores at once? Besides, you don't even have to leave your warm home to shop. You may have to get up early to get the best deals, but at least you can do it in your pj's. You don't need the stress of crazy crowds and long lines. The sales are just as good online!

What's Your Black Friday Shopping Style?

That's exactly right!

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Saying Thanks!

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~ G.B. Stern



Diane Craver gave me this lovely blog award. Thanks, Diane!

Here are the rules:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to other blogs.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Although I don't always comment, I usually make it by several blogs nearly every day (or at least when the update):

Tori
Brandy
Melissa McClone
Allie Boniface
Dru Ann
Jen
Ceri Hebert
Sarita Leon
Keri Mikulski
Maria Zannini
Jennifer Shirk
Wendi Zwaduk
Charity Tahmaseb

And ... gah... so many more I'm probably forgetting some (I feel a little like I won an Academy Award, lol). But, hey -- I love you guys!!

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As you probably know from the posts below, yesterday was busy in Pillar Place: Swallowtail. Sadly, we may have also had a casualty, though we won't know for a week or so.

Carole, the pillar who made her pupa on the netting, had an accident. When we release the butterflies, we carry the entire box outside with us (the last thing we need is for the butterfly to be lose in the house). Yesterday, when we released Able and had set down the box, the wind blew it over. It gave ALL the remaining pupae a good jolt, but Carole had one set of her anchors break, and literally dangled by a thread. They can't hatch like this, not safely, so I made an executive decision.

Handling the pupae is never a good idea, but I had little choice. And, I remembered reading that super glue was originally developed for closing wounds, so I hoped it wouldn't injure the butterfly.

Yep. I used superglue gel (I figured the gel would be less likely to soak through the outside casing) and glued Carole back into place. I had to hold her for several minutes, though, and just manipulating her into place required a large amount of handling. The last time we had any of our pupae fall, the butterfly emerged only partly formed.

It's been a rough season for Pillar Place. Because of the incessant rain, the butterflies haven't been able to eat or breed efficiently. Last year, we raised nearly 30 swallowtails and we left several butterbabies outside (on DD's carrots) to raise themselves. This year, we've been unable to find ANY pillars except the nine we found originally, and this includes looking on my SILs dill plants (where we hit the motherload last year). So, I'm worried, and I deeply value each of our butterflies. They may be nine of only a few hundred that survive this season.

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You Are a Monroe Piercing

You are glamourous, sophisticated, and very classy. You're the type to think carefully before getting any sort piercing or tattoo. You are naturally charming. People find you to be very alluring. Your manners are impeccable, and you always have something witty to say. While you look like you're high maintenance, you have simple tastes. You're a homebody who often rather curl up with a book than go out.

What Piercing Are You?

Yep, that's me: glamorous, sophisticaed and very classy! LOL... seriously though, they have most of it pretty close. And since my only piercings are in my ears and I have NO tats I'd say I'm pretty careful about them.

You?

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A Small Congrats Gift...

... to my friends, Charity Tahmaseb and Darcy Vance whose book, "The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading" releases on TUESDAY!!!!!! WOOT!!



Love you guys :-)

Monday Morning Meme and more

A hearty laugh gives one a dry cleaning, while a good cry is a wet wash. ~Puzant Kevork Thomajan



1. What book is on your nightstand right now? What was the last book you read? How many books do you think you read in 2008?

Um... "Seduction in Death" is what I'm reading that is fiction, and "Total Money Makeover" is my non-fiction (I usually have at least one of each going). The last book I read was "Betrayal in Death" and I probably read somewhere between 50-100 books last year -- I don't keep track. I mean to. I even set up an excel spreadsheet for it... I have about three books in there. *sigh*

2. Name three blogfriends that have inspired you. Now please tell us how these blogfriends have inspired you.

Dru, for her upbeat attitude, her pictures, her quilts (!) and so much more.

Groovy, for her ability to put a humorous spin on even the most un-funny things.

Suzanne McMinn for her photo-stories, recipes and tips on country living. I seldom comment, but I read her blog every day!

3. How far do you live from the place where you grew up as a kid? Tell us about the place you grew up - would you choose to go back there and raise your own family (if you have one)? Why or why not?

According to MapQuest.com I live 3054.48 miles from where I lived when I was in high school. Where I "grew up" is tough because we moved so much (though, all in the same 60-90 mile radius).

I went to school in Rancho Cordova, CA and no, I wouldn't go back and raise my kids there. When the air force bases there and near there were closed in the 90s, it really destroyed the town. It's a little "ghetto-y" and run down, but also tremendously populated and overcrowded. I miss California something fierce, but it's been a while since I've been there, so really I'm missing the California of my childhood, not how it is now. Whenever I go back to visit, I'm reminded why I left.

Still, I WOULD and HOPE to move back out west, somewhere a little more rural (Wenatchee, WA for example) but still close enough to my family and friends to visit more easily (a 15 hour drive as opposed to a 50 hour one).

4. Finish this line: Absence makes the heart……
(please do not say “grow fonder”.) How long do you think is ‘too long’ to be away from your loved ones?

Depends on who you're talking about! LOL... Absence, IMHO, makes the heart grow distant. My DH and I both lived through that -- being engaged (not to each other) and being separated from our respective intendeds for long periods of time. By the time we were in the same time zone again, his fiancee was married and mine was living with someone.

And any time away from loved ones that has a day and a night is too long (**MOM**)... just saying.

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I had a nice birthday, yesterday. DD got me two dark chocolate Dove candy bars (can I just say "YUM") and gave me a coupon that said the following:

This is for you. You may use it as often as you like. When it expires you can get another one. I don't think it will expire soon. I hope you like it and use it wisely and also when you're sad.

COUPON: Free hugs for the next 500,000,000,000,000,000 years.

And then, after I opened and read it, she said, "You could use it right now."

I'm not sure if that coupon was really for me or for her...

I also got a couple Amazon.com gift certificates! WOOT! I am so using part to preorder "A Geek Girls Guide to Cheerleading".

We had lunch at Shorty's -- a Mexican food place. DD had a taco and shared my portabella mushroom fajitas with me. DH had Polla con Espinaca -- and, oh MAN did it look good. It may just have been the spinach and cheese sauce over the top but I was drooling.

And, we were all so stuffed from lunch that no dinner was necessary!

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I really hate Google reader. Really. It locks up my computer every-freaking-time. I'm trying to move everyone into bookmarks, but since it locks up every time I try to retrieve your URLs it's time-consuming, and time is one thing I am extremely short on. I don't know WHY it does this. No on else seems to be having trouble. But, I am.

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I'm not terrifically enthused with either of my stories for JaNoWriMo. Wait, that's not entirely true. I LOVE the idea of them, and the fantasy especially excites me. But... writing them isn't exciting me right now and I don't know why. I'm desperate to write, but I can't seem to find the words.

I may try to do another short for Woman's World (as an aside, I had a dream the other night that they sent me a check for $885 to publish my story -- it's supposed to be $1000, but they took out taxes, lol) or another short for somewhere else. Maybe that will get me excited? I don't know. Color me frustrated.

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You Are a Hooded Sweater

You are active, casual, and laid-back. There's not a pretentious bone in your body. You are very humble. You have a very giving spirit. Whether you're dealing with friends or strangers, you tend to ask very little of people. You are honest and open. You believe that if you are truthful with people, they will be straight with you.

What Kind of Sweater Are You?

Um... some is right, some isn't. I'll let you guess which is which! LOL...

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