Soap in my eyes?

With Halloween just around the corner, I've been feeling relatively immune to random body parts on display. So it really was not a surprise to find a bag full of eyes at the bottom of my laundry basket today.

Googly eyes, to be exact.

Trouble is, I have no idea where they came from or how they got to my laundry basket. Did they spontaneously appear there? Did they migrate? Have they been breeding? Did they start as Mr. and Mrs. Googly and then decide they had room to expand their family?

I'm still trying to figure it out. And they're still at the bottom of my laundry basket, winking at me every time I dig to the bottom. I'm leaving them there just in case whoever left them comes looking for them.

To my "homies"

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Photo courtesy of www.danbrady.co.uk
thru www.sxu.hu

Tehnology in the blender

So, I've already made the startling announcement that I'm a nerd. (Take a moment to breathe - the shock will pass.) But there's still enough geek in me that things geeky can be incredibly funny. I'm just not geeky enough to understand all the jokes. It's kind of like reading Dorothy Sayers.

One of my favorite e-stores is ThinkGeek. They have some of the best copywriters I've ever seen. (Their Bounty Program for design ideas is one of the worst I've seen though. But that's geeks for you. No balance.)

So when SG sent me this link, I did a fair amount of giggling again. Especially watching an iPhone go through the blender. Maybe that's the nerd part of me though ...

Veggie musings

They're predicting frost in our area soon which means that the garden is beginning to wind down. It wasn't really a raging success this year but we still grew more tomatoes than we need. Even the apple trees didn't produce very well this year. But here's some random veggie thoughts in closing:

Eggplants look more beautiful than they taste. A lot more beautiful than they taste.

Radishes - please! This is the only one that was edible.

My garden-grown peppers were pretty sad this year. Even with the extra TLC, I'd have to have a half acre plot of pepper plants to produce enough of them. In four months, we had enough peppers for ONE meal. (Two if you count Italian grilled veggies.)

Green beans are good fresh - very fresh. And we had more than we'd planned this year because apparently the yellow bean package also had green beans in it.

The type of pea we planted this year had beautiful flowers. Mediocre peas though.

Cucumbers don't like hanging out in the same garden as the tomatoes.

The tomatoes are garden bullies. Shoving other plants around, hogging the water - that sort of thing. But the little orange ones are totally worth it.

Carrots are still in the ground. Only about 6 grew so I hope they turn out better than last year.

They say there are "winter" vegetables here but quite frankly, I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Especially for cabbage.

If I could get parsnips to grow though - now that might tempt me ...

The new gym

SG and I recently joined a gym with the intent of getting healthier. Not just any gym, mind you. We don't just want to look buff ('cause, really, who'd be able to stand us then?) This one is geared to the health and wellness of adults who want to take charge of their futures through exercise.

Yep - it's a senior's gym.

I must confess, I wasn't terribly certain how comfortable I would be there. I sat in on a flexibility class at this facility a couple years ago as part of an article I wrote, and let me tell you, those old ladies were dancing circles around me. But we've also hit the age and stage where this is important. And they have a pool.

I was perhaps a little smug about being among the youngest members there. (40 is the lower age limit for the club.) There was a list of things that might reflect poorly on my character if I admitted that I thought I had more of, less of or some of that most of the members there wouldn't. But let me tell you, I learned today that there's one area I'm not lacking enough for this group.

Modesty.

Now, I'm a grown woman. I lived in a college dorm. I've shared rooms with strangers at conventions. I've been through OB exams, prenatal exams and ER-"yes-it's-paper-but-we-call-it-a-robe" exams. And particularly after having given birth (including at a "teaching" hospital), I figured I'd lost a good portion of the modesty a woman is generally endowed with after being raised in a Christian home.

Apparently there's a lot more to lose.

After our orientation in the pool (which is a great place to exercise, btw), I went to get changed. On stepping into the womens' locker room, I ran into more skin hung out to dry than I've ever seen in one place. Even in an art magazine. Or National Geographic. Now that I think of it, the scene was rather Rembrandt in nature. Or maybe Reuben. Regardless, there I was, the bashful little 40-year-old, trying to non-nonchalantly make small talk with naked strangers. Senior naked strangers. And I left with the uncomfortable feeling that they were handling it much better than I was.


It seems I'll have to get used to a few things in order to hang out with this group. Maybe by the time I'm their age, I'll be enjoying the fact that I'm freaking out the little 40-year-old's too.

Nerd, geek or dork?

SG (Super Geek) pointed me to this diagram that very colorfully spells out the difference between nerds, geeks and dorks. (And if you know what a Venn diagram is, chances are REALLY good that you belong in one of these categories.)

Not sure what you are? Take the test at The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test. (But beware: it's a dating sight so don't inadvertently sign yourself up at the end!)

You probably already know this but I'm a nerd. Married to a geek. And raising little nerds and geeks. (No dorks though. Unless you are eavesdropping on our supper times. We try to reserve our dork moments for the privacy of our home.)

According to the test above I'm actually a PURE NERD. (70% nerd, 48% geek, 35% dork, to be exact.) Truth be told, I was over the 'average' line in all three categories. Surprised?

No - me neither.


P.s. I'm okay with it though. One of the books on my must-read list is Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them. Yeah, that's right - more! Bwa-ha-ha-ha ... oh, sorry. Was that out loud?

Fire update

Well, I said I'd post an update yesterday and didn't because there was nothing to update - except the fact that my DRIP is fixed because SG and his mighty helper installed a new faucet in the kitchen. (HA! Take that Mr. I'll-fix-it-in-15-minutes-for-$150!)

But here's what they know:

The fire is now being referred to as the South County Complex because there was also a fire in the town down the road that burned another 90 acres (although that one threatened more homes). It started just before the Deer Ridge Fire and turned out to be a blessing in disguise because the fact that it was a 4-alarm fire meant all the resources were already in motion when the Deer Ridge Fire started.

Both fires were started by humans (there's rumors of kids goofing off in one situation).

The cost of containing both fires SO FAR is over $850,000. One fire is 85% contained, the other is 45% contained. (I'm not sure how they measure this but it's like wind chill in Canada - you always hear the number.)

My church, which had been evacuated for 3 hours, was safe and in fact became a spot for fire crews to come get a drink or use a restroom or whatever (as it should). Apparently a lot of the various crews came through.

Smoke still lingers (I kept thinking of campfire toast and s'mores yesterday morning) but is clearing.

It sounds like less of a war zone with only occasional spotter planes and helicopters flying overhead.

Roads are open again to our end of town and a lot of us have updated the list of things we'll need to grab if it ever happens again.

A HUGE THANKS to the very dedicated men and women that came from all over the state to help protect our community!