Life with Cats

There are certain things you must get used to when living with cats.  Some are annoying others amusing and almost all of them are amusing to others.

• There is no such thing as privacy.  They can and will open doors, crawl under covers and put there face in almost anything you have going on.
• They will sit on anything you are reading and have a knack for finding the one article you are looking at on a huge newspaper. Kindles are not an exception to this rule.
• If you fall asleep you will normally wake up with one or more cats on top of you.
• The warmer it is the more cats you will find on top of you.
• Pet a cat and it will walk away.  If you are putting your socks or shoes on they will want a ton of attention.
• Can openers are also dinner bells.
• Nothing in the entire world can get as comfortable as a cat.

Conversation with Dad

Several years ago my father passed away. The number of years really doesn’t matter. He is still very much alive in my memories.


I wish I could say this was an idea I came up with, but it wasn’t. I was first introduced to this concept when I read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter House Five.

When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in bad condition in that particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is 'So it goes.' (2.7.3)

I had such a difficult time coming to terms with my father’s death that I adopted this mind set. I don’t take it to the extremes that the main character (Billy) does, but I like the idea of having our loved ones with us all of the time.

This particular conversation took place while I was helping Dad rebuild a lawnmower engine. By help I mean he told me what to do and I did it. The subject was a reoccurring theme. He was telling me how stupid he was because he only had a 9th grade education.

After saying this he took the wrench from my hand “No you have to do it like this. See?” I had been fighting with that task for 3 minutes. He finished the task (and made it look easy) in about 10 seconds.

Dad then began telling me how much smarter I was than him. I had a high school diploma and a college degree. I worked on computers (in his mind this made me a lot smarter than him).

Me: “Oh, Jesus Christ Dad. If you are dumb, then you are the smartest dumb person I’ve ever met!”

Dad: “What?”

Me: “Look. I fix computers. You fix small engines (as a hobby). I’m just a different kind of mechanic. Do you want to know what the biggest difference between us is?”

Dad: “No. What?”

Me: “When you fix an engine it usually works better when you are done. When I fix a computer there is a 50/50 chance that I’ll have to scrap the whole damn thing.”

At the time this was the truth. Dad got a good laugh out of that. Since then my fix/trash ratio has improved. He was also pretty good about not calling himself dumb after that.

Spicy Puffed Rice

An Indian friend of ours gave me a sandwich bag full of spicy puffed rice today.  It is very addictive.

Crunchy

Salty

Spicy

All of the things I love in a snack food.

I looked up the recipe online and there were thousands of them.  Most agree upon the puffed rice, chili powder, salt, turmeric and curry leaves.  All of these were in our friend's version.

After a few small handfuls my mouth goes a bit numb from the chilies.  I love that.  The only time it is an issue is after the third or fourth handfuls.  It starts to get a little hot after that.

If you decide to try one of the recipes make small batches.  It is addictive and you will eat it all.

Sometimes a little white lie is ok

Yesterday my son asked if he could go with his girlfriend to help her study.  Deb asked him what subject.

"Anatomy."

Evil look.

Slightly panicked "No really.  We really are studying Anatomy."

This is one of the few times I would encourage a little white lie; Science, English, Geography, The History of Peanut Growing in Georgia.  Any one of these would be a much better answer than Anatomy.

Just saying.

It is finally cooling off in Virginia

I woke up around 4am this morning. I needed to use the bathroom. I also noticed that I was cold. It has cooled off quite a bit and the blankets are actually needed. We still have not turned the heater on. It isn’t that cold yet.


When I returned from the bathroom I discovered why I was cold. Jo was wrapped up in my blanket and left only enough to cover my shoulders. His back was to me, so I put my very cold feet under the blanket and on his back. It was nice and warm. He got up moved to another spot after about 10 seconds. Score one for me.

Two hours later I was on my way to work.  Jo was wrapped back up in my blanket.  Life isn't fair sometimes.

Happy Halloween

I'll be at work, but you all have fun!

Next month is National Blog Posting Month.  I think that I will go for it and see if I can post every day during November.  So watch for the posts.

I'll probably go insane trying this.

Peanut Butter sandwich with fried Marshmallows

Have you ever had a sandwich for dessert? Try this.


Spread your favorite kind of peanut butter on two slices of bread. The thicker you spread the peanut butter the messier the sandwich will be. I put it on fairly thin.

Heat up a skillet and melt enough butter to coat the bottom.

Take four large marshmallows and place them in the pan (flat side down). These will mushroom out and get slightly brown. When this happens you can flip them over to the other flat side. This is the last time you will be able to touch them with your fingers. Once this side mushrooms out knock them to their sides. I like to use two forks for this. Try to brown the marshmallows all the way around. It goes pretty quick once you knock them over.

Once the marshmallows are browned use the two forks to place all four of them on one of the slices of bread. Squish them all together with the other slice and enjoy.

It should be noted that the hot marshmallows have properties similar to napalm and Greek fire. If you touch one it will stick to you. It will burn and it is there to stay. Licking hot marshmallow off of the above mentioned forks or a finger will burn your tongue. There is my “I told you so” message for the day.

Hot marshmallows cool pretty fast once they are smashed in the sandwich. They are only dangerous in and immediately out of the pan.

You may be wondering. How did you come up with this?

I had a craving for a marshmallow fluff and peanut butter sandwich. I don’t know why. We never keep fluff in the house. We just don’t eat it that often. We did have marshmallows though. I got it on the first try. I used too much peanut butter the first time and it dripped all over the plate and made a mess. It is outrageously good though.

If you try this please respond to the post. Tell me what you think.