Rat thoughts

Assorted pics I either forgot to upload or uploaded to Twitpic but not here.



The antenna I put up for my SO.  I wish I'd done more research; while this antenna works well, it's really overkill.  Separate VHF and UHF antennas would have worked better.



Saw this car with a tiger tail at the Omaha Costco.


   
Taking the Plattsmouth Bridge across the Missouri River.  These photos were taken back in October when I drove to Iowa to inquire about a marriage license.


      
After visiting the Mills County Courthouse, I stopped at the nearby Mile Hill Lake at the foot of the Loess Hills.  I walked around the lake, across the dam and up into the hills.  I used to go on these kinds of hikes all the time, but it's been a while and I'm a bit out of shape.



Christmas 2009, I bought stockings for my SO and my roommate.  Not just any kind, but stockings that were appropriate to their "furry preferences".  But I had a very hard time finding anything appropriate for me.  I finally found this stocking with rabbits that was perfect.



Birds are made from bird seed!



Have you given your dog a wet nose today?



Engrish is my favorite language.



One of my relatives!  It's a cute little kids book about packrats.



A Folkmanis Pack Rat puppet.


 
I've not had much luck getting pictures of the birds.  Every time I try to step outside to get a shot, the more colorful birds fly away.

Tired dog is tired.

My roommate's Dane, snoozing on his bed.  She's been under the covers like that for at least an hour.



Last summer I bought this hose-guard to prevent the hose from rubbing against the concrete steps (there's a wheel underneath the squirrel).  It's only recently been uncovered by the melting snow.

As I was sitting on the porch, breaking up alfalfa, I noticed a squirrel sitting in the tree outside watching me. I managed to grab my camera and snap a single picture. I guess he's too shy and doesn't like having his picture taken, because he took off.




(This isn't the same squirrel as the one who posed for the camera previously)

While cleaning out the garage several months ago, I found a rabbit skull. I guess it had gotten into the garage and died there long ago. There wasn't much left of it; I almost didn't recognize it at first.


While doing some repair work on the house, my roommate found what he thought was some kind of plant growing inside the light switch. I examined it more closely and realized it was a mouse skeleton! The poor thing somehow got in between the switches and was probably electrocuted. We're lucky the house didn't burn down. The skeleton is almost perfectly preserved; you can even see the individual phalanges.

We went out for Chinese food today.  (No, we're not Jewish, and it's not Christmas Day yet!)  After the meal, the waitress brought me a wall calendar.  I knew next year would be the Year of the Rat, so I was quite eager.

Here's the calendar they gave me:



Whoa!  Major cameltoe on that rat!



When I went to the front to pay the bill, I noticed they had several other Rat calendars, though none of them really caught my fancy, save one.  I asked if I could have one of those, and the guy gave me one:




I received the first of my Amazon.com shipments today.  I got Meet the Feebles and The White Seal on DVD (alas, they haven't sent Rikki-Tikki-Tavi or Mowgli's Brothers, even though they were in stock), a CD of Dr. Demento music, Hits from Outer Space, and a box set of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials in hardcover.

While shopping at Sam's Club, I discovered they had the boxed set of Harry Potter novels in hardcover, for a mere $104!  The set normally lists for $195, though Amazon has it for $117.  The box looks like a chest complete with lock, handles and a sheet of old-fashioned suitcase labels.
 

I desperately need a new pair of boots.  These would be fine except the soles have worn almost completely flat.  They are becoming quite treacherous when walking on ice.  I tried going to the mall today to search for boots, but the place was insanely crowded, much worse than Black Friday.  It took quite a bit of driving around to find a place in the back of the lot.  I finally managed to get inside, but couldn't find a store that sold the kind of boots I'm looking for (steel toed with ESD protection).  Getting out of the maul was even worse.  It seemed like everyone picked that moment to leave, as there were now plenty of open spaces and the line of cars going out was now beginning to stretch from one exit to the next.

I tried to use Goog-411 to find a store that sold boots, but apparently their voice recognition software can't understand the difference between "boot" and "boat".  So I'm stuck with these old things for the time being.

I stopped by the Disney Store to see if they had any of the giant Ratatouille plushies I'd heard about.  They only had the brown rat, not the grey one that's the star of the movie, so I passed.

I did pick up a Ratatouille recipe box, an apron and oven mitt and a set of coasters.  I was tempted to buy a rat cookie jar as well, but $40 for something that didn't look like it would keep cookies very fresh was just a bit too much.

But that wasn't why I was bad today.  I was bad today because I bought a watch.  A Citizen Eco-Drive Blue Angels Skyhawk. (No, I didn't pay anywhere near MSRP for it.)  I've been wanting one for years.  I'm not sure why I finally got around to buying it today.  My old watch, a Casio Waveceptor e-Databank, is still in good working order, even if the casing is a bit worn.  I felt a bit self-conscious about it at my last job interview; I was wearing a nice suit, tie, shiny dress shoes, carrying a fancy leather portfolio and fancy looking pen, and then I'm wearing a watch with a scratched crystal and worn-off chrome.

This watch is solar-powered so it never needs batteries, it has its own UTC dial and it's got an E6-B flight computer.  All useful stuff for me.   And it's shiny.  Rats like shiny.

The only things it lacks are a backlight (though it does have glowy hands) and an atomic clock time signal, which was the only reason I bought my old Casio.

This is only the second piece of (non-cheap) jewelry I've ever bought for myself (the other was a sapphire ring I bought about 6 or 7 years back).

I tolerate your presence here. My motto is "A daimen icker in a thrave 's a sma' request; I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, an' never miss't!" (Robert Burns).

But dammit, stay out of my Cadbury Mini Eggs!!! Why don't you make yourselves useful and eat the damn spiders? Nice, tasty, crunchy spiders!

Yesterday I bought Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend. I was a bit disappointed. One of the things I loved about the original Postal 2 was the ability to go pretty much anywhere in the city, even if it had nothing to do with your current tasks. AW doesn't have the option, everything is linear, you can only travel forward from one map to the next, you can't wander around the city wreaking havoc. (However, it does have the Greatest Weapon in FPS History, the boomerang machete!)

I also picked up a couple MST3K movies, Manos, the Hands of Fate and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Manos was actually a bit disappointing. While the movie was indeed dreadful, the MSTing wasn't that funny. Santa on the other hand was absolutely hilarious.

Found a dead mouse in the middle of the living room this morning. I know there are mice in the house, and I don't begrudge them being there (A daimen icker in a thrave 's a sma' request; I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, an' never miss't! --Robert Burns), I just wish they wouldn't die inside the house. It's especially disappointing since I just saved a field mouse the other day.

Officer No-Turn-On-Red was out again today, and he had no shortage of victims. I wonder how long it will take before people get the idea that a sign reading "No Turn On Red" means No Turn On Red

The receptionist had cornered a little field mouse that had somehow gotten into the building and got stuck in the glass window fronts. She didn't know what to do, and was kind of freaking out, so I picked up the rubber door stop that was lying nearby, scooped him up with it, and kinda tossed him out the front door into the bushes.

Chubby little thing. :)