Adventures in the North Country, Part 1

As promised, I will write about my weekend at home, as it is so priceless and quintessentially eccentric, it needs to be written about. So, you're gonna read about my first night at home.

So, Friday began with work during the morning shift in the HUB. And I was acting severely ADD. Seriously, I went from the topic of puppies to cats to chickens to current events so fast, my supervisors commented on it. They're usually very accepting, and they found it funny (at least I hope they did), but when they comment on it...you know it's a bad case of ADD.

Literally fifteen minutes after I got out of work, my Mom was at my apartment and ready to pick me up.
(sidenote: I don't have a license, and I don't have a car just yet. The only reason I want one is to get to the friggin supermarket and to be less reliant on people, otherwise I'd just use a bike or something. Now, if I were in a more populated state, there would be mass transit to rely on. This asset to infrastructure is obviously frowned upon in certain states...but this is a topic for another time.)

I won't lie, I was super happy to see my Mom. I hadn't seen her since May, but I really hadn't had much time to spend with her then. So, the ability to spend time with her was something I had looked forward to. After a quick grabbing of clothes and what not, we headed back to bumfuck NH (sorry for the language folks...but it really is in the boonies..).

The girls enjoying the sun...and wondering what the hell I was doing there

Ok, I knew my animals would miss me, but I swear to God, I didn't expect them to respond to me so happily. At least for the most part. Hell, even the chickens seemed to recognize me. Then again, those animals are far more intelligent than people give them credit for. They're not going to take over the world, but they're gonna be the gremlins of whatever new world order established after the Apocalypse. Yet, these little demons were the first animals to greet me when I returned home...since they needed to be fed and Francois had escaped from the pen (sue me, I gave my female chicken a french guy's name). So I got to re-bond with a few of the animals, such as Snuffy, who is the only suriving chicken from our first batch of chicks, to Eduardo, who seems to think her job in life is to be guardian of all eggs laid. This can be entertaining to look at, since she is by far the smallest bird we have.

Eduardo

Washing fresh eggs

 So, after collecting 45 eggs from the afternoon egg collection, my mom and I finally went inside. We were greeted by my two dogs, Buddy and Mischa. They knew someone was outside, but didn't know who. Once they figured it out, all hell on Earth broke loose, but it's that sort of hell on Earth that is acceptable. Like going to an open bar at a wedding and getting drunk.
(Another sidenote: hate to say it, but there are no pictures of the dogs, as of yet. They weren't cooperating with me this trip home)
While the dogs were happy to see me, so were two of my three cats, Pantaloons and Widget. I'm putting this out there right now, I did not name them. Well, I named Widget, but I named her Niobe, not Widget. That cat probably is bipolar from the amount of names that she has, but I digress.

Pantaloons being Pantaloons

Pantaloons, or Panty for short, is probably one of the most relaxed cats around. Unless you piss her off. But most of the time, she's just relaxing around the dogs, enjoying the activity going on around the house. Widget meanwhile, after initially being pissed at me, was quite lovable after she got over her abandonment issues (she's Siamese, she's going to be a bit neurotic).

While this all seems quite normal, I finally greeted Puffy the one-eyed Chicken and Hudson the Angora Rabbit. They live inside my house in the same room, and are actually rather close. Puffy lives inside with us because when she was smaller, she was denied food by the much larger chickens and was picked on viciously. My Mom took pity on her, and we all nursed this chicken into a large, happy and healthy bird. However, due to the fact that she has spent her time around people, she much prefers to spend her time inside, and in fact prefers the company of people to that of other chickens. Hudson the rabbit is kept inside, due to the fact that he is an angora rabbit, since his fur is worth a good amount of money, and keeping him outside compromises the quality of his hair. For those of you who do not know, angora rabbits are sheared like sheep, since they grow very soft and fluffy hair that spinners and other textile artists love. While Hudson is an angora rabbit purchased for a business use, he is still a part of the family, and actually gets along quite well with Puffy.

Hudson

Puffy. She has no eye on the other side of her head, hence why her head's cocked in an odd angle

 Eventually, my mom and I were able to relax and watch some TV, which for us happened to be CNN. While I may be politically active, my Mom is quite opinionated, and is one of those people who yells at politicians on the TV, perhaps hoping that they may hear her. While I know it doesn't help, I know it's one of my Mom's traits, and I love her for it, even when it gets her into hot water.

Mom's upset with Michelle Bachmann

So, after watching the news for a bit and spending time with the family, I was able to get some sleep. Not on my own bed, mind you. I slept with my dogs. I mean, I don't get to cuddle with them often. Besides, Buddy is an extremely comfortable pillow (yeah...I fell asleep on my dog. Go ahead and judge). But definitely, it was a good day, all in all.

So...that's all I got for tonight everyone. Tune in next time, same bat time, same bat channel!

News Flash: I'm going home!

Yeah, the title says it all. And sorry for such a small post, but trust me, it will be worth it.

I finally have a time slot in my life where I can go home and see my family and pets, even if it's just for a day and a half. But I'm mostly excited about the pets.

By the way, I love my mother to death, I need to put that out there. (Imagine if I did not put that little disclaimer there. This would probably be the first blog post she would ever read. Seriously though, I love my mom.)

Even more so, I get to sit back and enjoy the craziness that is my house. I may not be able to blog for a day or two, but here's a preview of what's to come:

A cat who spends time with a chicken and a rabbit;
Two dogs that sleep on the couch with shedding hair that sticks to you like a baby koala;
The two other cats who are just special, including the one and only Widget;
My mom and I bonding over horrible SciFi Channel movies (and no, I'm not calling it SyFy. That name change was just moronic.), as well as CNN;
Bonding with the chickens who will be feeding me by laying eggs;
Getting fresh food from the garden ;
Potentially spending time with my friends from high school, might talk about that;

You get the gist.And God knows what else will happen.

And don't you all worry, there will be pictures. How can I talk about insanity without the proof of its existence? Especially the chicken-cat-rabbit relationship, that's just quality craziness.

And you know what? I'm totally looking forward to it.

Be Prepared, America. Things are about to get hairy. No pun intended.

E-Trade Babies, Duckies, Kitties, Hot Dogs and Power Outages

If the title of this blog post doesn't warn you about the erratic nature of this blog, then you're on your own. This will mostly cover the events of the last 24 hours of my life, and I promise, it will be eventful.

It starts out during my work shift at the Hartman Union Building, or the HUB for short. First off, the HUB is awesome, not just because it's a great work environment with great people, but there are regular visits from cute babies on a normal basis. Yesterday, Linda's son Finn was brought in.

This is where I go on a slight selling of this kid: He has some of the best facial expressions ever, and he is fascinated by computer screens and whatever is on them. I mean, the kid looks like an E-Trade baby..

Hey E-Trade. Make good choices in life. Look at this face, don't you see baby advertising greatness in it? Trust me, you will not be disappointed with him.                         

                                      

Just saying, you'll be missing out on this kid and his wonderful facial expressions...Just saying.

After spending quality time with the little guy, I got out of work and prepared to meet up with Robby, the significant other, who I don't see as much as I would wish. And by getting ready I spent time on Facebook. God that's such a time killer. Which will not be so readily available later on.

Anyhow, he lives a few miles away on a river that feeds into a lake, and while I was happy to be seeing him, I was much more excited about the fact that I was going to see the new baby ducklings that had been hanging around his house. Yes, I have a soft spot for baby animals. Robby knows that when there are baby animals around my priorities shift, and he's completely fine with it. Deal with it. 

So, when we get to his house, all hell on earth breaks loose, weather wise. Robby had to go save his chairs as they were thrown into the river and there was flying debris everywhere. I'll be quite honest, it was quite scary, and reminded me of storms that I had experienced in the Mid-West as a kid. Robby got inside safe and sound, but I then noticed a lone duck sitting out in the open in his yard. I'll be honest, I yelled at the duck to go find shelter. But I shortly thereafter realized why she wasn't moving.

                                            

They were hiding in the hostas nearby, but they all of a sudden came out and were trying to get closer to their  mom. So there I am, freaking out because there are flying branches and sticks coming from every direction, and I'm afraid that the ducklings will get hurt. Eventually their mother herded them over towards a sturdy adirondack chair, but of course I would continue to freak out until the storm had passed. At times I do wonder how the hell Robby can deal with me and my fatal flaws, such as love for baby animals, or when I have bitchy moments.

Eventually, the storm did calm down and pass, and out from under a bed came Carl, Robby's roommate.             

                               

Yes, Carl is a cat. But he's awesome, chunky and adorable. He's also a great cathartic snuggle machine when I get stressed over homework. Even though Carl is not necessarily my cat (and if my cats knew about Carl, they'd kill me), I feel like he's one of my furry friends from back home. However, Carl was not in the mood for much snuggling and petting yesterday. He saw potential dinner options sitting outside the window, so that continued to take his focus for the remainder of the evening.

So, with the ducklings all safe and the cat entertained, Robby and I made dinner, which was originally supposed to be a cookout/picnic, but the weather kind of killed that avenue of cooking. But, it was still quite delicious guilty food.

While it may appear that these are just hot dogs, they're really delicious hot dogs with the chili and  mozzarella cheese nestled underneath the tubers of pork. I mean, while it is simple, it's still delicious, and more so, I was quite content to sit there and enjoy a simple yet good meal with Robby. While watching ducklings through the window.

Eventually I did need to go back to my apartment, and was hoping to blog about this day last night. However, due to the storms that came through earlier in the day, the town had lost power. Which meant no Facebook and no blogging. So, without any internet access and with my computer battery dying, I decided to read by candlelight, with the sideshow of watching my roommate trying to find something entertaining to do, as he will die like a vampire in the sun if he doesn't have internet access. I mean, it was entertaining. It was just a little sad to know that people are that dependent upon electronics, particularly my generation and our dependence on the internet. I know that I am quite dependent, particularly with Facebook and email. However, if someone threw me onto a deserted island for two months with no cell service and internet, I couldn't be happier. People lived without internet and electricity before. Besides, unless there's a war going on or unless you're from California, you know the power's coming back on. Just try to be resourceful and patient, people.

So, yesterday was a day filled with excitement, terror, cuteness, humor and happiness. This almost sounds like a 1960s Disney movie. Or the Land Before Time. Except this is real life, and many times its simple joys are overlooked. Of course, I'm just happy there are no Sharp Tooths floating around. Unless they're babies, then they may be cute. But I digress.

I leave you with one last factoid for the day: What do you do when you have an electronically dependent human being in your life who happens to love Apple products and can't cope with power outages? Make them read a book. They don't like books, you say? Give them something by Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. That will distract them for a while.