Kiss My Knits!

I mentioned back in aught-five that I like Kage Baker. It’s hit or miss finding her on the library and bookstore shelves, though. For this reason, I put her stuff on my wishlist and grab it when I get the chance. I’ve had Kage Baker’s Rude Mechanicals on my Wish List for nearly a year. Somehow I just haven’t gotten around to buying it or adding it to an order to push it over the limit for free shipping. I don’t know why I haven’t splurged. I guess I’m trying to be a bit more frugal with the online purchases.

When I spotted Rude Mechnicals on my “you might like” suggestion list, I kept looking at the cover curiously. The guy in the illustration looked familiar, but I knew I hadn’t seen him in anything in the mass media. I’ve got a good eye for “hey, it’s that guy” actors. I just filed it away as him having one of those faces.

Yesterday a voice from the past friended me on Facebook. Looking through his photos, it turns out he’s the guy on the cover. It’s the first guy I dated in high school. Now that I know that, I can see it very clearly. Obviously, it’s him. He looks exactly the same.

The internet is amazing – it’s just kept me from having that niggling feeling of can’t-quite-place-it recognition in the back of my mind for the next 20 years. Whew.

Probably I shouldn’t refer to him just as “that guy.” He’s got some irons in the fire online, including some bits which might interest the horror/fantasy types among you. C’mon, the guy dated me, you knew he’d have to be off-kilter somehow.

Back in 2006 our beloved persimmon tree was cut down. I was quite torn up about it. Well for a while now, as pictured at right, there’s been bushy growth around the rotting stump. We let it grow, because I was curious. Could it be that the persimmon tree was rising from the ashes?


A couple of weeks ago I caught a flash of something orange out of the corner of my eye as I pulled into the driveway. I went out to inspect it and saw fruit. Yes! Three years after Duke Energy mowed it down, the persimmon tree is back, baby!

After taking some pictures, I set aside my camera and pulled off the honeysuckle vines that were wrapped around the boughs. It was a spur of the moment action, so I didn’t put on any gloves. I worked for about five minutes and felt a prick on my hand. I figured I’d hit a thorn on another vine, so although it really stung, I didn’t think much more of it. A minute later in a different part of the tree, I felt another sting. This one hurt more, and it got stronger. Turns out it wasn’t a thorn, it was a saddleback caterpillar hiding under a leaf. Please note: if you see one of these, don’t touch it. Trust me on this one. I went inside and iced my hand, and eventually the sting faded.

It wasn’t great getting stung, but I’ll take it as a good omen that the tree is already sheltering new life. I look forward to seeing more wildlife, hopefully of the non-attacking-me variety, soon.

I keep trying to find time for a nice long post, but other things get in the way. I’m about to go running, which I think is probably more important than posting, but here are a few little timewasters to tide you over.

ThereIFixedIt.com contains inventive and often dangerous homemade fixes.

Regretsy.com lists some of the worst stuff on etsy. Contains lots of profanity. (Thanks, !)

Cardtoss.com is pretty self explanatory.

And one for Halloween.

I’ve been needing a new legion of minions to do my bidding. This looks like just the ticket.

The ad’s from 1944 – I wonder if it’s still valid…

GM Vaschon: Ok! Last we left our intrepid adventurers, I believe everyone leveled to 4, beat the rap from the magistrate, restocked items and were ready for action.

There are three days until the slavers are coming back, so we decide to go back to the mine for a while and clean out illusion-filled level four. You may remember that this is the level where we first encountered the term “fleshy statue.”
It's not a trick. It's an illuuuuusion!

I was going to post today – I have several posts in the pipeline – but somehow, between the new insect attack and the cupcakes, I ran out of time. Maybe tomorrow!

Our cat Nerys has a vet appointment this morning, and she’s not allowed to eat anything beforehand.

The way Nerys lets us know she’s hungry is ingenious, but annoying and destructive. She finds paper and rips shreds off of it, as if to say, “See? I’m eating this… then looking at you… then eating this… therefore you should give me food? Get it? No? I’ll eat some more and see if you get it.”

Because she’s a cat and therefore illiterate, she doesn’t know what she’s eating. Corners of books, receipts, it really doesn’t matter. If there’s nothing on the floor, she’ll grab something off of a table, pull it to the floor, and then eat it.

Today’s feast: Emily’s first quarter progress report, which we need to sign and get back to school on Monday. The Spanish side is up, the English side with her good report on it is down.

I guess we’ll see if “the cat ate my homework” is a valid excuse for school.