Friday, March 20, 2009

Smiley-faced take-out food bags and The Queen

We had Chinese take-out last night. I had (and still have) one of my killer headaches, so the guys helped out. Pepper always enjoys it when Daddy or Chris 'Cooks'. That means when they get take-out. She waited for them to come home and then bounced to the table for her traditional fortune cookie. Yes, the dog gets the fortune cookies. It's a rare enough event, so I doubt if it's bad for her. We read her the fortune (yes, she listenes) then she gets the treat.

I have no idea why, but the bag was left on the table while we had supper. It was at Chris' place since his order was in the bottom of the bag. When he cleared the table after we ate, the bag still sat there. Pepper saw it and stared at it. She sat staring at the yellow smiley-face. I guess she thought it was telling her that more good things to make her tummy happy were inside. She wouldn't take it from the table but waited for me to do that. When I did put it on the floor for her, she gave it a sniff inside and sashayed back to her couch. Hm. I don't think she'll believe those smile-faces anymore!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

LED lit sheep and Border Collies

This is a wonderful youtube vid for anyone who loves Border Collies or herding.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Springing

The springtime birds have arrived. Robins, House Finches and Red-Winged Blackbirds have come to chase old man winter away. =)

The Robins are the first to arrive here. I usually see them the first week of March. Red-Winged Blackbirds, to me are the true heralds of spring. They arrive a few days before the vernal equinox. This year, they are early. I heard them last Monday. It's always a thrill for me when I hear that familiar "oak-a-lee!" call followed by the burr.

I heard my first House Finch of the year this morning. Maybe winter really is on the run. =)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

I have an old fashioned ear-ache. The kind you get when you are a little kid. Only I'm not a little kid. =P At least now I can pop a couple of Advil instead of having some vile-smelling oil dripped into my ear.

One of our son's friends got an English Bulldog. He named her 'Ducky'. She is white, very sweet and friendly. He had her bathed at Petsmart and they put pink nail polish on her and a pink ribbon! LOL!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Computer issues

This morning, I uploaded lots of updates for my computer. Updates for Vista (yeah, I know. Just the word makes me want to toss my bytes and chips), and an Intel driver. After lunch I installed the entire mess. I hope this fixes the compy. I don't want to have to go thru all the crapola of using the restore disk. *headdesk*

Monday, March 9, 2009

Nodame Cantabile

http://www.onemanga.com/Nodame_Cantabile
If you're a music student, you should read this manga. If you know a music student you should read this manga. It's like being 18 again and at Curtis. Heh, only in Japan. Sort of. But it's funny and very true to a music student's life.
Helped hubby with a harpsichord restringing today and proceeded to slice up my fingers. Typical. Not that I'm doing a lot of typing, but I am knitting, and knitting with sliced fingertips sux.

The harpsichord we are working on is a super little Flemish, not a single crack in the soundboard that I could see. Once we are finished it will have nice big voice and stand up to a choir or instrumental group. It's the same generation as an instrument in our care that has a soundboard with more cracks than a plumber's convention and a lid painting of penguins.

Anyway. This is a small picture of our concert instrument.
harpsichord

Friday, March 6, 2009

Snowdrops!

snowdrops 3

I love snowdrops. When we moved into our house, I planted a few snowdrop bulbs and some crocus bulbs on our front lawn around the magnolia tree. The tree has had a lot of bad luck lately, lots of limbs broken over the past two years because of storms (one storm took out our 40' blue spruce), but the snowdrops have spread like wildfire.
This year there are more than ever.

The snow left by the storm last Sunday night has melted for the most part, and the snowdrops were peaking out. So I took a photo. Good thing too, because today, the snow has melted totally (yay!), so I was able to capture the moment.