Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Smart comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours...

I was working on my pottery "self portrait" for the class that I regretfully had taken for credit rather than audit (not thinking clearly after xmas evidently...) at my kitchen counter on the weekend when I heard a knocking. The knocking wasn't a front door type knocking, it was a cabinet door type knocking. It was a little bizarre, and at first I figured I hadn't heard it correctly.

The knocking continued mysteriously, and I actually felt a nudge on my knee. I stepped backwards, and Kiki strolled casually out of the kitchen cabinet. I was confused, but figured that I must have accidentally closed him in there at some point earlier in the day when he must have snuck inside. It was pretty funny.

The following day I was sitting on the couch marking research papers when I heard a knocking again. The very same kitchen cabinet knocking, so I walked over and sure enough Kiki was caught strolling casually out of the cabinet again. This time I was sure that I had not opened the cabinet at any point in the day, so Kiki must have figured out how to open the cabinet and get inside. For a declawed cat with furry paws and no opposable thumbs, this seemed a bit of a feat, so I needed to catch him in the act to be sure.

I did. Later on that day I saw Kiki batting the door open in a technique that I am certain must also be how he opened the sliding pocket doors at my Aunt's in Van Nuys.

Why should Kiki be so keen to get in the cabinet? Besides going stark raving mad alone in an apartment all day, there must be a reason. Suffice it to say that reason is the same reason that I will have to go and buy a large-size tupperware to put in that cupboard. Ahh yes, Kiki found the stash of kitty kibbles and was helping himself whenever he felt the need for a snack. This also explained the bizarre habit he had gotten into over the weekend of NOT FINISHING his meal! And for those of you who know Kiki, that is bizarre behaviour indeed!

My thoughts currently are two:

1) Buy tupperware, store kibble in it with the lid off, and leave the cat to feed himself by opening the cabinet (this may actually burn more calories than the tricky treat ball did, although in the end he does manage to score more grub)

2) It may be time to attempt toilet training again...

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Egg Decorating!

I took part in my first egg decorating "egg-stravaganza" it was definitely fun and silly!


Here we see E-marathoner and Irish Girl prepping the eggs... Please note the bunny cake in the foreground. Made with genuine bunny!



E-marathoner expertly paints away...

Pi proudly shows off his Pi egg. And his oval formula egg. The Pi egg wins!

Irish Girl displays her significantly more traditionally decorated (at a Walmart production pace!) eggs...


In Hot Hands' left; the prez, in his right; the big dipper.

The Polish Poet shows off "ceci n'est pas un oeuf", she also penned "I'll never be a chick".

Perhaps the least traditional eggs of all, I give you "fractal fern" and "pirate ship" eggs...

...but my favourite of all was definitely my lemon.

Knitting Absurdities



Well, I just couldn't resist an ammonite and a stegosaurus. Could you?

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Another exciting geology adventure: to Parkfield and beyond!



Yestreday I somehow managed to convince Pi to accompany me on another random driving adventure despite near mishaps at Red Rock. This one was very successful, and I was able to fulfill my nerdy geologist dream of going to Parkfield, walking on the San Andreas Fault, and crossing back and forth from the Pacific to the North American Plates. It was super fun, I had SUCH a great day nerding out and enjoying the sunshine, and then we capped it off with lunch at the Jack Ranch Cafe - memorial to James Dean, as his tragic car accident occured only a couple of yards down the road from it.

Best part was probably the James Dean wanna-be older man there with his James Dean hair and his snug jeans and tee with sleeves rolled up ogling (and video taping) the memorial stone. I so desperately wanted to take a photo, but I sure couldn't sneak that in subtly...



By the way, can you see the slight bend in the bridge? It's slowly but surely being bent by the motion of the fault. So cool.

Enjoying my new state of residence




While adventuring around this lovely (but nowhere near long enough) Spring Break, I have been in constant awe of suprising beauty in the countryside, ghastly landfill-esque dumps in the countryside, and the juxtaposition of the world of oil and gas on our poor unsuspecting land.

Parkfield's claim to fame


Parkfield, population 18 (not sure if that counts the yellow lab or the transient USGS population), located on the San Andreas, is just waiting for "the big one" and when it comes, they seem curiously enthusiatic about getting demolished.

NO PIE!




Hopeful as always to catch a little small-town home-made pie, I looked forward to a quick stop-in at the Parkfield Cafe. It's only closed one day a week, so it was pretty impressive that the one day I trekked out there was a Wednesday.

Someone got confused with the horseshoes...


Ahhh, Parkfield... I guess there's no hope when you're living directly on top of the San Andreas Fault, so you might as well let all the luck run out of your horseshoes...

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Randsburg Ghost Town



I'd like to draw your attention to the "ore" house here... Especially the hand written cardboard sign. I imagine that had it been an "ore" house with an "h" that it might not have gone out of business!



Only things still up and running here are the saloons. Which is different from Red Mountain. I guess Red Mountain folk can go drink in Randsburg. And then get DUIs and spend the night in the Randsburg Jail...
Who needs a mini houseboat in the desert anyway?

Red Mountain Ghost Town



Yeah, I just love ghost towns.


Anyone in the market for some real estate?

Red Rock Canyon Adventures






Pi and I headed out for a hiking/ghost town adventure on Saturday to try and find petrified forests. Apparently the forests we were looking for are nothing more than petrified twigs, and so between than information and the 1964 map we were using, we don't feel so bad about not being able to find it. We did find, however, some pretty interesting other things. The coolest of these was an old abandonned mine camp that we walked to (not knowing it was there) after ditching the car with camera inside it at the "road" edge. Alas. In true form, my camera was also apparently not opening it's lens cap all the way for some of the day. GRRRRR!

Big Life - I mean Leaf




The Fig Twig is in full swing. I'm going to eat figs until I barf this summer.
Kiki isn't allowed them (while he eyes the tree hungrily), he needs to learn to ration his catnip better.

Disco Party... Belated Post Due to Computer Malfunctions

Luckily my work computer can work as an equally good blogging device, and I can thus keep you all up to date while I still don't get my home computer fixed...

Here Mummy and Anthro-Girl Pretend their not circling the food table like vultures around a lamb.

Shiney is the main theme here, except maybe Texas-Gal - but Goldilocks and E-marathoner sure stepped up to the plate!

Appropriately named wine



Pi and Irish Girl glammed it up appropriately for the party and then Pi found a wine bottle that gives his true name away... He was pretty excited. This was before the war-whooping came out. Did you know Blockbuster gives Indian cards?

Hot Hands gets a Hot Head



Our best assessment as to what happened here is that it was alcohol related. What you need to notice is that Hot Hands gets a Hot Body when he's dressed in my clothes.

Disco Baby


Had a chance to break out the red sparkly jump suit again - who knew it would get so much wear? Here E-marathoner and I pose while Hot Hands tries to capture the head-to-toe effect.