My Rubber Chicken

I remember when I got her.  It was August 2006 and we were in Memphis, TN.  I purchased her with tickets I won playing skeeball in an arcade.  Just over two inches long from beak to talon, she sat in a special place by my phone where I could pick her up and play with her while talking.  In time her neck broke and hung by a thread.  The final straw was when her "egg" broke.  I had to throw her away.

My younger daughter sent me a text earlier this week while on a day trip with her boyfriend.  She told me she'd gotten me a surprise.  Yesterday she came to visit and brought it with her.  A new chicken!!!  This one is huge in comparison to my original (more than seven inches long), but just as entertaining. 

Here you can see her "egg" peeking out.

You have to be careful not to pop the egg out while squeezing!
See the yolk?

"Ack!  Let go of my neck!"

Chilling in the chair.



There now.  You've either been entertained or grossed out.  At the very least, you're now convinced that I'm a little "touched". 

My cockroach

Sometimes there are things in real life that aren't very cute, but when made "plush" seem entirely different.  A good example of this can be found in a recent post by Cruella.  In the real world, slugs totally gross me out!  However, I thought "Sluggy" was just too cute for words!

Reading about Sluggy got me to thinking about my cockroach.  Many, many years ago my sister gave me a cockroach hand-puppet.  His six legs are designed to accomodate either a right or left hand and his wings are made from leather. 

Isn't he a fine looking fellow?!?

The Sock

On a recent visit with my daughter we had lunch at a great little bistro. Following our meal, we decided to walk to a coffee shop several blocks away. It was on the return walk back to the car that my daughter suddenly said,

"I think that's my sock!"

Confused, I looked around and spotted a single sock lying on the sidewalk several feet ahead of us. I laughed, mentally trying to figure out how her sock could have come off her foot without her knowledge. Then she said,

"Seriously. I think that's my sock. I kept feeling something inside the leg of my jeans while we were eating lunch and I think it was that sock. It must have fallen out when we were walking to the coffee shop."

Not sure what to say at that point I questioned why she didn't pick it up. Her response?

"Well, I'm only 95% sure it's mine!"

Several days later she told me she had since then folded and put away all the laundry she'd done that day..... minus one sock.

Elephant Stew

This recipe appears on the same page of our 1974 church cookbook as the Lazy Girl Stew I shared yesterday.


Elephant Stew

Secure 1 large elephant. Kill, clean, and cut into small cubes. This will take about 2 months. Put in large kettle and simmer over kerosene heat at 465 deg. for 14 weeks. Make gravy to cover. This will feed 3,685 people. If more meat is needed, add 2 rabbits. But use only if necessary, as few people care for hare in their stew!

Reprinted from W.S.C.S. cookbook
Salem Methodist Church
St. Louis, Missouri

Deck the Halls

I couldn't resist sharing this clip I got in an e-mail from my sister-in-law. Enjoy!

Favorite Five - YouTube clips

Our satellite internet connection does not lend itself to watching YouTube clips. While faster than dial-up, it allows a very limited amount of downloading each day before totally slowing our system to a crawl. So....although I haven't spent lots of time at YouTube, I've still managed to find a few short clips that are guaranteed to entertain me.

I'll bet most of you are familiar with at least one of these.

1. Model Falls Twice - I'm a bit klutzy and can always laugh at myself when I trip, but it's really the newscasters' reactions that are funniest here.



2. Lizard Jumps on Newscaster - You'll probably have to watch this one more than once. Keep an eye on the left side of the picture.



3. Sneezing Baby Panda - Short, but hilarious!



4. Spiders on Drugs - My favorite spider is the "caffeine" spider.



5. Evolution of Dance - Lengthier than the others, but worth the time.

Titles Tell a Story

Here's a fun idea I saw over at Pen and Paper. Take ten books from your TBR pile and arrange the titles so they tell a story. Considering I have so many books waiting to be read, there were plenty of titles to choose from. Here's what I came up with.


When the Ground Turns in its Sleep (Sylvia Sellers-Garcia)

[and] The Dead Hour (Denise Mina) [approaches],

The Great Stink (Clare Clark) [caused by]

Holy Fools (Joanne Harris)

In the Company of Others (Jan Karon)

[was] Not Quite What I Was Planning (edited by Smith magazine).

[Despite having] Heart and Soul (Maeve Binchy),

The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein) [is quite difficult].

[After all, we all know] Life is a Three-Ring Circus (Rebecca Kelly)

[and] Being Dead is No Excuse (Gayden Metcalfe & Charlotte Hays) !

The crowd awaits

I got this in an e-mail recently. Fill in the blank with the person of your choice.

With breathless anticipation, the crowd awaits the unveiling of the _____ statue.

Stiff by Mary Roach

Mary Roach use to write a monthly column for Reader's Digest called "My Planet". It was often informative, occasionally irreverent, and always funny. She sometimes contributed to another favorite magazine of mine, Discover, and it was there I saw a review for Stiff. I requested the book for Christmas that year and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since (seven years!!).

While perusing my shelves for books that would fit the RIP V Challenge (click on sidebar image for details), I realized Stiff would be perfect. Consider the full title: Stiff - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. This is not fiction, folks, and not for the squeamish or faint of heart. However, Mary Roach has a knack of being able to tackle a sobering topic like this with enough humor to keep it interesting and not too dry, yet not so much that it becomes flippant or disrespectful. I was entertained, informed, and yes...a bit grossed out in a few places. Actually, it was the parts which described experiments using live dogs that disturbed me the most.

The book is divided into twelve chapters covering a variety of topics. For example, Chapter One deals with using cadaver heads for learning (or brushing up on) surgical procedures, often by plastic surgeons. Chapter Two looks back into the history of human dissection and body snatching. Chapter Three focuses on the science of what happens to the body after death and takes a visit to the "Body Farm" at the University of Tennessee. Other chapters cover things like what can be learned from bodies in plane crashes, their use by the military and auto safety industry, religious experiments and the search for the soul, transplants, cannibalism, and of course... options for what to do with your body after you're through living in it.

With the exception of a few "insecty" things, I'm not a squeamish person and have a fairly strong stomach. I remember being grossly fascinated by my older (by 12 years) brother's textbooks when he was in medical school. (Ironically, he was a pathologist and therefore dealt with more than his share of cadavers) So, I'll admit I thought this was a very interesting book. I learned a lot (maybe more than I really needed to know in some cases) and laughed a lot in the process.

My life (so far) in books this year

Dorte had a fun entry on her blog yesterday and encouraged others to join in so I thought I'd give it a try. She mostly reads crime fiction, but I had to stick with a broader selection. If you decide to play, please come back and leave a link to your post in the comments! Here's what I came up with to answer the questions:



In high school I was: The Girl Who Played With Fire (Stieg Larsson)

People might be surprised I'm: Infected (Scott Sigler)

I will never be: Contagious (Scott Sigler)

My fantasy job is: Queen Victoria Demon Hunter (A.E. Moorat)

At the end of a long day I need: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (Alexander McCall Smith)

I hate it when: Your Heart Belongs To Me (Dean Koontz)

Wish I had: Revelation (C.J. Sansom)

My family reunions are: Relentless (Dean Koontz)

At a party you'd find me with: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Stieg Larsson)

I've never been to: The Road (Cormac McCarthy)

A happy day includes: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Alan Bradley)

Motto I live by: Listen (Rene Gutteridge)

On my bucket list: Beat the Reaper (Josh Bazell)

In my next life, I want to be: Delicious and Suspicious (Riley Adams)*


*I'm still reading this one, but used it anyway.

update: Marion and Pam have left their lists in the comments. Click here to see Tracy's post and here for Cathy's.

Now that's hot!

How stressed are you?

I first saw this several years ago. I received it again in an e-mail today and thought it was worth sharing.

I am not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate.

Read the full description before looking at the picture.

The picture below has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary's Hospital. Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins.

The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing. Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may want to take a vacation...

Guam

I normally stay away from posts having anything to do with politics, but I couldn't resist sharing this YouTube clip. It really struck me as funny, the best part about halfway into the clip.

In brief, it concerns one of our illustrious U.S. Congressmen questioning the head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet about the stationing of 5000 additional U.S. Marines and their families on the Pacific island of Guam. To read the full article, click here.

Bovine Wisdom

Animator vs. Animation

It's been a rough week on a number of levels. It's time for some levity.

Click here.

Monday entertainment

Quid posted an entry the other day filled with Haiku, her “Lightning Series”. She’s an amazing poet and it’s a beautiful example of her work.

Not to detract from her talent, I was reminded of a funny e-mail I received years ago which contained “dog haiku”. Of course that e-mail is long gone, but a quick Google search brought up plenty of samples of what I remembered. Although not all of them are true to form, here are a few for your Monday entertainment.

I love my master;
Thus I perfume myself with
This long-rotten squirrel.

Today I sniffed
Many dog butts - I celebrate
By kissing your face.

I sound the alarm!
Mailman - come to kill us all -
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

How do I love thee?
The ways are numberless as
My hairs on the rug.

I hate my choke chain -
Look, world, they strangle me! Ack
Ack Ack Ack Ack Ack!

You may call them fleas,
But they are far more - I call
Them a vocation.

My human is home!
I am so ecstatic I have
Made a puddle.

Dig under fence - why?
Because it's there. Because it's
There. Because it's there.


Here's a picture of Betty with our granddaughter yesterday.

Prometheus and Bob

Marion has made a couple of entries lately about some of her favorite cartoon characters. I don’t keep up with what my granddaughter watches (other than to know she loves Hannah Montana and High School Musical) so I’m a little out of touch with kid shows these days.

I loved cartoons when I was growing up. Flintstones, Jetsons, Tom & Jerry, Yogi Bear, Bugs Bunny, Popeye, the Roadrunner…. way too many to name them all. I enjoyed lots of the shows and cartoons my children watched, but one I especially liked was Prometheus and Bob. It was a short that occasionally aired on the Nickelodeon show KaBlam. Each segment revolved around Prometheus (a space alien) attempting to teach Bob (a caveman) some simple skill. Things never worked out like Prometheus hoped in part thanks to an obnoxious chimp that appeared in most episodes.

Here’s the best place I’ve found for watching the clips: The Biggest Prometheus and Bob Fansite

Patience & Wisdom

I received this in an e-mail today. It was sent as a joke, but there's a lot of truth in it!

One of the greatest secrets of life is having patience & wisdom...

Should we ban Dihydrogen Monoxide?

A friend sent me an e-mail this week that included the YouTube clip I've featured here. It made me realize just how gullible our society can be! After watching the clip, I decided to type "dihydrogen monoxide" into my Google search and was amused to see what all came up. Snopes and Wikipedia both had articles regarding hoaxes, but one of the more entertaining sites I found was the DHMO homepage.

In this Internet age of ours, it's important that we check out the "facts" we're bombarded with. There are several "myth-buster" sites out there, but my favorite has always been Snopes.

So, please...before you open your mouth (or hit that forward key).... check it out!! It might save you some embarrassment.

Cat found!

I received this in an e-mail and thought it was funny. The caption read: "When city people move to the country". Perhaps it will bring a smile to your face, too.