Liloia.com

Do you use Twitter?

I signed up for an account on Twitter ages ago, but never setup my account. For some reason in the rush to avoid working this morning, I got it all ready to go and I can now post there.

If you want to follow me, my username is dliloia

Let me know what your username is and I'll follow you too. If I like it enough, I'll add one of their badges to the homepage here.

Later

Alburgh Parade

Trevor was a trapper on the Isle La Motte float in the Alburgh Independence Day Parade. Samuel de Champlain is at his side.

Apathy

This is a quote my buddy Len and I came up with today. Enjoy.

"My apathy runs deep, but I don't know how deep because I am too lazy to measure it."

Frog Slaughter

Oh man. Tonight was tough.

After a solid week of rain, it has finally dried out enough to begin hacking away at the green leafy cellulose growing all over the yard. Tonight I headed out to the front yard to reduce the foot high grass in my drainage ditch so:
1) The water trying to drain out of my yard could actually get out.
B) The neighbors/passers by don't think we are developing a wildlife sanctuary behind all that grass.

There are always tons and tons of frogs, but with the very wet weather we have been having you can hardly walk a foot without the grass parting and green, slimy friends jumping away in all directions.

Also, keep in mind that I LOVE frogs. Like, when I begin to unravel and require heavy sedation and therapy (Tara, this is coming sooner than you think) my power animal will be a frog. That's how much I like them. Like....a lot.

Anyway, back to the problem. There were so many of them (hundreds) all over the grass and in the weeds (ok maybe thousands) that I couldn't help but take down a few with the weedwhacker as I was cutting the grass.

It was horrific. Limping, one-legged frogs everywhere, frog parts flicked on my shoes, it wasn't good. I guess this is just something I have to get used to, but I don't have to like it. :(

Wisdom of the Ages

"Wheresoever a man wishes to place his foot, in that spot shall also be the cat. Dammit."--Ancient Chiese Proverb

Poutine

"Poutine" sounds so much more exotic than "cheese fries with gravy."

Raise Your Hand

Raise your hand if you're a Very Bad Kitty who likes to bite toes and climb up calves with the claws on your monstrously large paws.

Photo by Paul & Melissa

Cat Tree

I'm not sure why a basic wood-and-carpet cat tree costs over $200 at the store. We bought the wood for less than $50 and used the leftover carpet that the installers left to start our own cat heaven.

So far, only the lowest level is done, but there are four more coming. Two of the legs are wrapped in carpet and two in sisal rope. And... it coordinates with our house since it's our carpet.

Photo from Paul & Melissa

Tangential Conversations

This week, I have rediscovered something that was always a fun activity for me. During a few points in my life, I have found myself significantlty underemployed with lots of time on my hands. During those times, one of my favorite things to do was to spend as much time as possible in the mall, not because I wanted to shop but because I wanted to listen.

Spending time around other people, whether we get to interact with them directly or just observe from afar is a greatly therapeutic experience. All to often we get wrapped up in a bubble of our own worlds and forget that most other people are just as strange, sad, frustrated, funny, and interesting as we think of ourselves.

Additionally, paying attention to the people around you lends itself to great bursts of imaginative enjoyment as we suppose what the endings are to the stories that pop up in our path throughout the day. I like nothing more than to hear 1/2 of a sentence or a conversation and then be left to think about what comes next, what they were thinking and what motivated that person to act the way they did.

This week has been particularly inspiring, and I am hoping to write some short (very short) stories based on the snippets I have picked up this week. Here are a few of the quips, or scenarios I ran into while in Norht Carolina:

- An older gentleman (75?) in a black suit walked out of the hotel, went to his car and leisurely grabbed a pair of handcuffs (real ones). As he walked back to his car, he dangled them from one hand.

- Passing two college age girls in a crosswalk yesterday, one turned to the other and said "...and then he said the T-word!"

- During dinner last night, two young men (20's) who were nicely dressed (ties) walked past us on the sidewalk while they guided a young lady in a party dress who was wearing a fancy looking blindfold.

- A businessman at breakfast finished his conversation about million dollar deals with a new employee and switched to a story about his son who while living alone in NYC, passed out and cracked his head open due to losing consciousness from malnourishment.

- A woman and daughter in town to register for classes next semester talked about how here boss renewed her nursing contract at half pay, which is going to force her to take double shifts to make up the difference. She ordered a poached egg, lightly toasted english muffin and an expresso while her daughter went off to pull the BMW around to the front drive so they could go the .7 miles to the registration office.

Hopefully, this isn't the last I see these ideas, but even if I do they are fun.