This Month's Obsession

Found onFlickr.

The other night, after crying like a little girl who had lost her cat to a bus on the street, I Tivo'd The Animal Planet's show Meerkat Manor. Clicking on the link above you can meet the entire whisker's clan and learn their story. Man am I hooked. I just watched the last 2 episodes of season 2 tonight and it is gripping. I haven't even been drinking and I want to go buy season 1 from the Discovery Channel.

Perhaps it was the squirrel who gave me a new found love of the rodent, but Meerkats are awesome.

The Brilliant Squirrel Catcher

I had wanted this photo to go with the squirrel posts below. But this image alone is enough to instill giggles in even the most post holiday depressed person.

What was I thinking? Wild Oats bags + wet dog food, stuck precariously on tiny hooks was going to equal a trapped squirrel? Me and my hairbrained ideas. Then DG put about 16oz. of water in the bag to weigh it down and hold it in place. His reasoning was that the squirrel was more thirsty than hungry. Seriously?

I am Sad and Pathetic

I've said it before, I'm not a big cryer. DG sometimes wonders if I have a heart of coal. My last big cry was 9 months ago for the Notebook sobfest.

Then I turned on PBS last night and there was a documentary, narrated by Sigourney Weaver called Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry. I tuned in during the topic "Do Animals Feel Grief?". The first story was of a monkey who carried around her dead baby carcass for weeks, until the park rangers took it away from her to bury it. She then went completely crazy crying, screeching, and running around everywhere searching for her lost dead baby. ::sniff:: Then there was the story of a pack of wolves. One wolf in particular was the omega female, the outcast, the last to eat, the one who constantly took the fall, the scapegoat. A mountain lion took the life of this wolf one day, and the entire pack mourned for over 6 weeks. Whenever they came to the area that she died, they would tuck their tails, lower their ears, and howl. Normally a playful pack, they did not play for over a month. ::wipe tear:: Finally, there was the story of the young brazen Meerkat who got caught in a hole next to a Jackal who just had a litter of pups. There she sat, on guard all day. Cut to the next morning, and quite obviously she had a run in with the jackal during the night. She was bloodied, missing an ear, and limping. Her mother cuddled her, trying to comfort her, but the pack needed to move on to find food and water. She limped slowly behind them, so the pack slowed their progress to wait for her. At last, when she could not go any further, she collapsed into a hole. The entire pack surrounded her, her mother put her head on her, comforting her. When it was time, she hobbled a few feet away and died. The pack did not let her die alone, even though they were in desperate need of food and water for survival. Ok, let the waterworks begin. It's making me upset reliving it.

Through stifled tears, and gulping hiccups, I related the entire episode to DG. Then I went and Tivo'd Meerkat Manor on the Animal Planet.

The Squirrely Finale

We left off in our story with a bag of food hanging under the hole in our ceiling as we headed to bed. The plan, which layed out perfectly in my head, consisted of the squirrel going into the grocery bag for food, DG sneaking up on him, clenching the bag closed with an iron fist and quickly tossing the bag outside. This of course would be followed with brushing of the hands, high fives, and glowing smirks.

This is what really occurred:
11am, yelling in a loud whisper to DG to get out of bed b/c I heard the bag rustling.
11:00-11:15, DG standing in his boxers on a chair, under the hole singing "I'm getting rabies for Christmas"
2:00am: repeat of 11:00am
3:00am: repeat of 2:00am with me knowing that I am the worst wife ever. Psst, get up, I hear the bag rustling. Psssssssssssssssssssst. *kick*

After a restless sleep, we sat down over breakfast in the morning to regroup. I thought the next plan of attack should be for DG to go into the vent with gloves, a 3 ply grocery bag, and just grabbing Mr. S. I believe my exact words were, DG, you just have to Do it, like Nike. You can't be all Namby Pamby about it. No fear.

At this point, we were desperate because we were about to leave for the night and didn't want to come home on Christmas to find our house destroyed by Mr. S. Finally after doing some research on the internet, DG went onto the roof and took the lid off the vent pipe. He lowered a rope tied with knots on it down the pipe. Then, back in the kitchen he tied a piece of cardboard to the end of the rope. Back on the roof, he pulled Mr. S slowly to the light of day. Mr. S was furious with us at first, but then he popped his little head out and ran across the roof to freedom.

Final Round: DG My Hero, CAG the Zero, Squirrel: Home for the Holidays

Merry Christmas and Goodbye Mr. Squirrel

We came up to Lafayette on Christmas Eve to spend the night with DGs sister and family and have had such a great holiday. All I can say is that I must have been such a good girl this year. *wink wink*

I'll give my version of the Squirrel situation later this week. Let's just say that Mr. S made it home for the holidays safely. You can read DGs account here.

Wishing you and your family and joyous and loving holiday!

DG vs. The Squirrel Round II

Saturday morning, after the dogs woke us up at 6am, DG noticed the kitchen floor was wet. With dismay we looked up at the ceiling fan. Though we could not see the vermin, we suspected he was snowed into the damper and could not get out. Later in the morning, DG went back up to investigate. Guess who chewed through the electrical on the ceiling fan? It appeared our new house guest was more clever than we thought. We began to strategize our plan of removing our unwanted friend from the premises. Plan one was to go to the damper on the roof. We decided against this one due to all of the snow. Plan two was going into the crawl space combatting the fields of insulation. We put off our attack until later in the afternoon. When we returned home from our errands, the dogs were frantic and again there were piles of chewed plastic on the floor. Monsieur Squirrel was as well planning his method of escape as he chewed through the vent of the ceiling fan.

DG removed the chewed ceiling fan cover, the chewed fan, and the chewed electric of the fan and there sat Mr. S just out of arms reach. The household then turned into an I Love Lucy episode consisting of 1 squeeling girl, 2 barking dogs, 1 grouchy husband, gloved hands, garbage bags and BBQ tongs as we delicately tried to extract Mr. S from his location.

We gave up after an hour, and as a last resort, we created a trap consisting of a grocery bag with water and dog food hanging over the hole in the ceiling. We suspect some action in the middle of the night.

Round II: The Squirrel

To be continued...

DG vs. The Squirrel Round I

Friday afternoon, Gibson kept going into the kitchen and barking. I heard some rustling, but didn't think anything of it, until after several hours of it, I noticed a bunch of junk on the kitchen floor. I looked up into the ceiling fan and saw a bunch of fur sticking out. It appeared that a squirrel had come through the damper and was taking a nap against the grate. With my husband at work, I did the next best thing and called my dad. 35 years of instinct are hard to break. Dad insisted we needed to take off the cover of the fan and get the squirrel out. Option number 2 was to turn the fan on, which would open the damper and allow the squirrel to get out. I was too afraid that the fan option would produce blood and guts, so I decided this was a man's work. I turned up the music to drown out the rustling squirrel and barking dogs and waited for DG to get home.

Upon arrival home, DG scared the squirrel up beyond the fan, turned the fan on to allow the damper to open and the squirrel disappeared. I proclaimed "my hero" and we left the house to go out to dinner. Round I: DG.

Snowshoeing in the Park

Since I starting working at home, I have not been able to find the time to exercise. I feel like I am turning into a blob. When I was downtown, I went across the street to the gym during lunch to take a class. Leaving the house for 2 hours in the middle of the day is no longer realistic for me, though I still need to find the time to fit in workouts. Finally today, after being cooped up since the blizzard started, I got a brilliant idea. I love snowshoeing and DG has snowshoes in the garage. I dusted them off, put on my ski pants, and headed to the park. My legs were burning after the 3 block walk as I passed abandoned cars that are everywhere sitting in the middle of streets. Finally, I got to the golf course where it was fresh powder, sometimes knee high. The views of downtown were amazing and the workout was fun and exhiliarating. I was wheezing the whole time and I had to stop at least twice to take a breather. It was so much better than being in the mountains.

Dear Santa, if it's not too late, maybe like you could get me some new snowshoes for Christmas, pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?

Now I can go finish up that bag of egg nog cookies!

Bing Crosby vs. Andy Williams

Would the Real Father Christmas please step forward? Since I met DG, the self proclaimed king of Christmas, I have discovered there is a lot more Christmas music out there than my standard favorites. But here is my question for you; when it comes to Christmas music, who is the king? I have always been partial to Bing. There is nothing like the movie White Christmas, or listening to his albums while trimming the tree and sipping egg nog. DG on the other hand gets tight pants whenever he hears the Andy Williams' song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Yes I agree, it is a great song, but overall, who would you choose?

Blizzard 2006

When my man is happy, life is good. And my man is HAPPY because we are in the midst of a blizzard. Rare for us, but fun when it happens. The airport is shut down, and there is NO mail service. What happened to through rain, snow and dead of night? So our xmas cards to you all will be late! Sorry, so sad, but my man is happy! weeeeeeeeeeeee

European Cookiegasm

When David and I were on our cruise, the ship hosted a European pastry bar every afternoon from 3:00-5:00pm. We would go down, drink coffee, play cards, listen to a piano player and eat these amazing cookies. I wouldn't touch any other pastry on the bar except for these small hamburger like cookies that melted in your mouth. Thoughts of these tasty morsels made me get up from my post lunch food coma and drag myself down every afternoon. I would be eating my 5 course meal at night, and only be thinking about how long it would be before I would be eating these cookies again. Alas, the cruise was over, and I never found out what they were called. Until, mais oui, I was staying chez Paris in Las Vegas and the pastry shop in the hotel carried them. How giddy was I? Tres giddy! And as if I wasn't losing enough $$$ at the BJ table, I had to go spend $25 *gulp*, yes, $25 for this box of cookies. I suspect that they cost so much because they came directly from this cafe Lenotre in Paris. The plane ride alone for those sweets was probably $20, not including the peanuts. It was so worth it!

Black Jack, Craps, and Horses Oh Yes!

DG and I just got back from Vegas baby. We stayed at the beautiful and lovely Paris, oui, oui. I learned how to play Craps and it was so much fun. Lost over my limit on day one at the black jack table. I know better than to play first base. It's never good to me. But then I took a break and went to watch horses. My first race, I picked the trifecta box, holy crap! I actually picked the first 3 horses that won. $6 turned into $70. That was exhiliarating. Jinnie got us on the guest list to Tao a hot club in the Venetian. We got to walk in front of the 100's of people in line. At the entrance, there are bath tubs filled with water, rose petals and naked ladies. Our only star siting was Robin Leach, though Jinnie was trying to convince everyone that Joaquin Phoenix was supposed to be there. The next day, I had another star siting at the Forum Shops in Cesar's Palace. This totally hot guy walked by me and I actually did the full open mouth stare, as it was Jeremy Sisto, someone I recognized from "Six Feet Under". Later that night we ate at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. Great food, as you would imagine. I'm going to have to do some research and see if I can find his pumpkin soup recipe. Bowl licking good. Now it's off to cuddle with the babies and maybe take a bath as our house is still 55 degrees and warming slowly.

One Hot Dog

Mr. Gibson is super sexxxy in his new black Coach collar and matching leash. Yes, you read correctly. My dog accessorizes in COACH. I think this could be a new bumper sticker.

I was in Chicago this week for meetings with my new company. I couldn't be more pleased to work with such a great bunch of people. One of the perks was a great company dinner on the 9th floor of the university club. After dinner we were all given some really thoughtful gifts. The owners, knowing how much I love my dogs, got the coach collar for me, in fits of giggles. It really is priceless. It almost makes him look as if he doesn't love to run outside and eat his own poop.

Good Ambiance, Good Food

On the day of our holiday party, DG and I each did what was important to us. I cooked all day and DG hung lights and got the back yard ready. Prior to me, his holiday parties consisted of a bag of chips and some ravioli thrown in a bowl for his guests. Every year, I rib him a bit for his party throwing capabilities. What he is REALLY good at though, is setting the mood. He filled the wheel barrow with snow and put in a case of holiday beer, then he hung lights on the back fence, and he got our heater cranked up to run. I was outside in a sleeveless outfit for 20 minutes under that thing and I was fine, though my forehead was the warmest part of my body.

I made a buffet of snacks including, white bean dip, guacamole, 7 layer dip, a vege tray, Rachel Ray's 5 minute fudge wreath with red and green m and m's on the top and Michelle's holiday red velvet chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate mint frosting. The recipe called for 1 full ounce of red food coloring for the cupcakes, which I excitedly found in my cupboard. As I'm making the cupcakes, I pull the coloring out of the box and in my haste, pour the entire thing in the batter. In horror, I stare down to see my cupcakes are green. The green food coloring was put in the red food coloring box. *rassity frassity IDIOT* were a few of the words that flew out of my mouth. We also put out various shades of red and green jelly beans, red and green m n m's, mixed nuts, a cheese tray with french peppered salami, phyllo dough bites, and vege egg rolls with duck sauce.

We had a great time.

Nuts in a Vice

Nooooooo, DG didn't do anything wrong, but he did do something very right. He got us tickets through work to go see the Nutcracker performed by the Denver Ballet. It was spectacular. I have never gone to see the Nutcracker and the staging was beautiful, the costumes brilliant, and the music goose bumpy. It's one of those pieces where you just know every song. I have too many favorites, but needless to say, snow dances! Could it be more perfect for DG? The dance of the snow. So fun.

Even though it was the night before our party, we went out afterwards to a nearby bar where they were having a food happy hour. The pretzel and deep fried pickle basket went great with the house merlot. I highly recommend it.

Feeling the spirit of the holidays

I love my new fancy header. DG really outdid himself this time. I have to go look at my site like every hour just to see the fun colors. It makes my jingle jangle if you know what I mean. Thanks DG!

My first guest post is up at Restroom Critic. Let me know what you think?

Walking in a Wiener Wonderland

Let's just say that I never thought I would be a dress your dog up kind of girl, but as it turns out I am. I really really am. In fact, I love it. I can't get enough of the wieners dressed up. Yes, those are blinking lights on their collars. Let's just say I went a little crazy in the $2 bins at Target. Well, at least the babies have something to wear to our party.

The "buzz" on decorating

Roxanne of Red Chair Designs came over again this year to help us decorate for our party. We had a bit more to work with because at the end of last season, David purchased all of the leftover decorations from his corner Starbucks. Walking into our house makes you want a tall, extra hot, no whip, non fat, wet cappucino, with an extra shot and a 500 calorie Maple Oat Nut Scone. Seriously.

We love the new red felt shwag with beads and mirrors. In addition to being above the mirror, it is also over all of the windows because it is magnetic and stuck like a charm to the walls! Check out last years mantel here.

Reining in the Tree

Saturday, as DG walked onto the tree lot, he immediately picked out our tree. Within moments it was on the roof of the car as we headed home.

DG always wants more lights that is humanly possible for the tree to hold. He started in a circular pattern around the tree. After 20 minutes of attempting to wrap 15 strands of lights in no particular order, I took a step back and saw, what I can only describe as a bad lighting display. When he headed to the bathroom, I turned up the Christmas music, tip toed to the tree, and regimented unfun Christy unwrapped the entire tree and rewrapped it again. This time, it was done the proper Martha Stewart way, creating the effect of a 3 dimensional tree. It was then that DG took his post behind the camera and took all of the standard pictures of us decorating. You can see all the ghosts of Christmas past on his blog here.

Traditionally, when I was growing up, we only used the large colored bulbs on the tree. My mom would buy the tree, my dad and brother would string the lights, and then my mom and I would decorate the tree, remarking on all of the wonderful ornaments, who made them, and where they came from. Here is last year's Ornament Post detailing their histories.

I have followed suit with my own traditions, though this year DG wanted all white lights on the tree. I can feel my mother cringing from here. It's ok mom, part of marriage is compromise. I'm giving him white lights this year, and only red/white/or silver ornaments, but he has to take out the trash for all of 2007. Oh wait, he already does that. He has to mow the lawn and clean the bathroom for the rest of our lives. Crap, he already does that too. I'm not sure what DG is going to compromise yet, but I'll let you know.

My new view

I have officially moved out of the 22nd floor of my downtown office building. I am more relieved that it is over than sad. Yesterday was my first day at home. Like I suspected it consisted of rolling out of bed, making a cappucino, sitting at the computer, working all day, taking a shower at 5:00 pm and then heading to my class.

Though I no longer have downtown views, I am enjoying my new view. My desk faces a back side window to the house that is never seen. It is on a small strip of lawn between our house and the one next door. In front of the window is a shrub that I have never paid attention to. This shrub, in desperate need of a little trim (Cyn I know you want to come whack it) always has different little birds on it. Cute speckled wrens, finch, and...alright, I'll go get out my birdbook.