Avast me hearties!!!

Haul yer anchors you scurvy sea-dogs, we sail with the tide!!

Starting the morning with a pirate run is better than a poke in eye with a rusty dagger arrrr!

The dog lasted from the parked car to about the start line... about a block :p

Success!!! Now where be the nearest place we can get some grub?!? Mah belly is gonna eat me!!!

--

The story of my life http://scubajunk.blogspot.com

Samantha Vincent about.me/samantha.vincent

"Quit while you're ahead" they say...

There are expressions that are as much a part of the language as the words it is made of, and yet we do not appreciate them for the wisdom they contain until we fully understand them... at which point it's too late.

I had an incredibly productive weekend, I got a veritable $#!-tonne of stuff done upstairs but the feeling of accomplishment was negated in the space between thoughts. That moment when you get the sinking feeling that something is most likely about to go horribly wrong, when I dropped... *inhale*... and exploded *sigh* one of those stupid twisty cfl lightbulbs at the very top of the stairs *rolls eyes* of course it was at the top of the stairs.

Theeennnn I dropped the LED light bulb I was replacing it with... and killed that one as well (it didn't break... it just doesn't work now! - go figure)

So the price for trying to do *justonemorething* before bed was at least a half an hour of clean up, and a dark tarnish on the previously glowing golden accomplishment of having replaced the bathroom light fixture, moved the bathroom light fixture into the walk in closet, finishing painting the walk in closet, removing all carpet from said walk in closet AND the final remaining piece from my sports closet which was no small task as both closets had to be completely emptied first... and then I put everything back before anyone got home!

*sigh*

Butterfly babies!

So we're trying our hand at raising Monarch butterflies, it's been a long arc to get here bits and pieces slowly falling into place.  The winding trail you painstakingly discover while picking your way up the mountain that looks perfectly obvious when you look back.

A number of years ago we saw an incredible Monarch migration film in the IMAX in the Royal Victoria museum called "Flight of the Butterflies", the footage is incredible!

Then we ended up accidentally raising Giant Swallowtails when they chose our tiny Calamansi bush as a host and likely would have decimated it had we not rescued it (and them) lol.

Then we started kicking around the idea of having a butterfly garden which finally became a reality when we got around to planting the front planter box, and decided to help boost the monarch population.

It's been super cool don't get me wrong - but these guys are hard! They're idiots, they wander all over the place,  get stuck, and they're way harder to keep track of despite being fricken yellow! They fall off of leaves... one batch of them got sick from one of the new plants and oozed and died, and apparently there's a parasite you have to watch out for :(  The giant swallowtails were sooooo much easier and more efficient, they basically stake out a leaf, start at the tip of it and work their way back until they're done.  These guys nibble here and there, sometimes chewing on the stem of the leaf before they venture out and eat half of it, and then the leaf falls off because they sabotaged themselves. Idiots...

We we starting to think they were pretty boring until we discovered that they don't like the sound of my voice... and that their angry caterpillar face looked like this! As you can see we have angry teenage caterpillars lol

Really?!

Since when is raw flour dangerous to consume?!

May the fourth be with you!

A quiet night out

A case of vertigo, a case of laryngitis, and a case of congested hearing make for quiet dinner companions... especially if you're the one with the congested hearing.
 

Before and after

We've been looking for shelves for the bathroom, and finally found some that were *almost* perfect... so we fixed them :p

Check out the before and afters!

Duuuude! Life stories of a shopping cart

Carter: You guys are never going to believe what happened to me!!!

I'm originally from Pico, I used to work at the Harbour Freight there, but I wanted to see more of the world so one night I left with this guy. He seemed nice enough, but then he just wandered off and left me in a back alley! I was so scared, I didn't know what to do, so I tried to hide... I'm not even sure how many days I hid for.

Then the next thing I know, I'm being cartnapped! This guy was so strong, he just picked me up and put me in the back of his truck, it all happened so quickly! Well it turned out his girlfriend had spotted me and he was *rescuing* me, he took me home with him, and gave me my own space in the driveway.

It was wonderful there, he had lots of cats and stopped to say "Hi" and check how I was doing every day. They even invited me to celebrate Christmas with their friends! His girlfriend was amazing and helped me get all decked out and they even let me help deliver their presents! The look on their friends' faces when they opened the door was priceless *grins*

That whole evening was so much fun!

The next morning I woke up in the middle of the living room wondering what else I had done, but it turned out nothing embarrassing, I was so relieved. They let me stay with them for awhile, their back yard was beautiful and they had all sorts of plants and flowers and humming birds but truth be told I was kind of at loose ends. I missed helping people look for everything they needed and carrying it out to their cars for them.

I think they were a little sad to see me go, but one night they discreetly loaded me up and brought me to this new location... their car wasn't as comfortable, and I had to lie down so I'm not really sure where we went but I know it wasn't far. They promised to come visit one in awhile.

I'll never forget my new best friends, their hospitality, the car rides, and the wonderful adventures I shared with them... but I think I'm ready to settle down here, at least for a bit ;)

Thank you!

Ball!

This makes me wish it were ball season... ok that isn't entirely accurate, it is *always* ball season in California, our team just missed the registration deadline :p

But this makes me wanna go play!

Enough to do!

Clearly we didn't already have enough to do before my roommate's family descends in two weeks... because the handle on the toilet broke in such a way that it can't be fixed with duct tape and zip ties (we tried)

We were however able to fix it with one of those "most commonly broken party of the toilet" kits today - thanks Home Depot! AND the toilet handle matches the rest of the hardware now *grins*

While it really wasn't broken for very long, it's incredibly satisfying to be able to flush again with a handle we fixed ourselves.

Sometimes it gets cold in California...

See!

Well, I've definitely acclimated, there's a light layer of frost and I had to put on a toque and my down vest this morning :p

Sure was pretty on my walk home when it was all melting though :)

No, bigger!

I did something kind of incredible yesterday's yesterday now.

It may not sound like much, but I mounted a projector screen *through* a drop ceiling all. by. myself.

*beaming*

I'm still a little gobsmacked at how incredibly lucky I got on more than one occasion.

Seriously. Gobsmacked.

I didn't break either of the ceiling tiles, the reinforcement piece I put above the ceiling tile miraculously fit (which was amazing because I totally "ished" it and I couldn't figure out another way to do it if it didn't work)

Then holding the rolled up screen aloft in both hands I was able to climb the ladder... as it dawned on me... now what?

How the hell am I going to get the loops over the hooks before my arms and my legs poop out?!?

It was one of those shrug you've made it this far you might as well just try it moments. I started with the left side, raised it up to the hook, used the hook to flip the loop up -was mildly surprised when it stayed- then held my breath while the stars aligned, and in one fluid motion put the loop over the hook like I'd done it a million times.

Holy crap that actually worked?!?!

Boohyah!

After that the other was so easy it isn't even worth talking about. I'm tired and sore, I've used muscles I forgot I had but it was totally worth it :)

Now to move the projector back to fit the bigger screen...

Fish!

So you're probably going to laugh, but I have a deep seated childhood fear of fish. I'm always afraid that it's going to taste awful, the way it did when my Mom made me sit at the table staring at the same one for three nights in a row until Dad finally took pity on me and composted it.

I had been hesitant to try it because it smelled like fish, and my few years of experience said it would probably taste the way it smelled. So Mom had told me to put lemon juice on it because that would make it taste better... so I doused it liberally.

Needless to say now that I'm wiser, I'm pretty sure that  the reason it tasted awful was because the lemon juice had gone bad...

Anyways, despite knowing that fish is actually really good when it's done right leftover fish still makes me squirm... The thing is, my best friend's Mom just moved in with us, and she's Filipino, and she cooks fish.

Happy Valentine's

Thanks Pinterest, totally nailed it!

Paraphrased from the internets

"Not all heros wear capes, although some wear them backwards and call it an apron"

Maintenance gas check... Check!

Sure fire way to get the gas inspection lady to show up - make a dribbly pulled pork sandwich, take a couple bites and get drippings all over your hands... Presto! She'll show up, the dogs will bark, there will be chaos.

Watched her check the vent operation with the smoke from a match, I know it's probably *the* single best way to do it, but it's only slightly concerning lighting matches around gas lines that you're checking... I guess that's why she's a trained professional ;)

Turns out that based on the connector used on the hot water tank it's probably as old as the house (early 50's!) and being a two piece brass connector is no longer deemed "safe" so it needs to be swapped out for a new shiny-er stainless steel model. 

I must admit though I'm a little confused as to why this passed the "health and safety inspection" we had to get before we bought the place?

Next I hear beeping upstairs and figure it's one of her measurement devices, then it cuts to "Fire! Fire! Fire!" and I realize it's our smoke alarm, followed shortly by her hollering down "Don't worry, that's normal" *chuckles* turns out it doesn't bother her any as it's all in a day's work even though the sound of it drives me crazy she assured me it was fine and to just open some windows... I did, and retreated downstairs.

Official voice: *self important throat clearing* Thank you, thank you, thank you... this concludes our test. I would like to express my appreciation to the responsiveness of our neighbours for checking that we were home and knew our smoke detectors were going off. I sincerely appreciate your concern and the haste with which you checked to make sure everything was okay.

More dog chaos.

Should I be concerned that her sniffer sounds like she's flying a model airplane?  Yep, I'm pretty sure that means something is leaking... good thing I shut that one off after we moved in!

Of course she's in a different truck and doesn't have all her parts, so she had to get the connector delivered. Naturally my department meeting started 10 mins ago, and he showed up immediately *after* I was asked to speak *rolls eyes*

I had to go on mute so I could yell at the dogs to stop barking - seems pretty hypocritical of me, yelling at them, for barking... but still.

Oh, right and to top it all off? *while* I was on my conference call, the street sweeper came by. I had a minor heart attack because there's a $50 ticket you if you're parked on the street, and I had completely forgotten to mention it. I watched in horror as the street sweeper went around both trucks, and the enforcement car slowed down in front of the second truck... still on the phone knowing that there wasn't enough time to run and get them to move their vehicles...  I dashed back to my computer and discovered that thankfully they don't ticket professionals like the phone or gas company unless it becomes a habit in front of your house. *sigh of relief*

Nonetheless adventures aside, I can finally check this off the list! Everything has been electronically sniffed, tightened, fixed and cleared for use save the heater downstairs in the living where we might actually use it... (figures) That one needs to be professionally cleaned. Other than that she showed me how to light the pilot lights on our super old gas heaters, and the gas fireplace and I now have some level of confidence that in doing so I'm not going to blow the house up.

You have no idea how stoked I am to finally be able to have a fire in the livingroom while it's still winter here!

It’s a little damp out this morning

Took this when I realized that even my eyebrows were misty!

Eeeeep!

This is what happens when you take a waffle recipe, turn it into a family favorite pancake recipe, then attempt to use it experimentally in a new waffle maker, after having helped make pancakes for so many years!

Rewards

Yesterday morning I was rewarded for hauling myself out of bed early with a beautiful sunrise, birdsong, and this... I've always had a thing for dandelion fluff :)

If websites were burgers

Fantastic explanation of net neutrality brought to you by the letters B and K, the colours red, yellow and blue and why you should care.

Pay particular attention to the part about corporate thinking they can sell more chicken, it's subtle but it's one of the concepts at the heart of why repealing net neutrality isn't in the best interests of the consumer.