a99kitten's Musings

My garden was hit with a case of spring this week! Now, I can absolutely take zero credit for any of this. The previous owner planted it all. We were told by our neighbor that the wife’s passion was her garden. They made enough money so she didn’t work and she spent hours every day on her garden.

Light pinks

Here on the coast, you actually to have to know what to plant as the weather is not for the plants needing tons of warm sun. We actually have plenty of sunshine, but also plenty of misty fog too. So she apparently spent a lot of time researching what to plant. And she did a great job.  When we first found the house, the entire side garden was one giant bloom!

Bright pinks

Yellowy-purple things

Yellows

I call this one my Chanel pink :)

I do very well with the fluffy. But my green thumb is limited to hiring a gardener for outside and buying flowers to fill vases indoors. After a couple gardeners, this one seems to be doing an OK job. But I think much more credit goes to the lady who spent so much time researching the right things to plant and planting them with love and care!

Angelus gnome :)

Of course, I do take credit for having the best garden gnome :)

You guys aren’t doing your job in stopping me…

I love the textured look of it. We’ll see how they look/fit in real life on Tuesday :)

Farmers vs. Lions: A Battle to the Death in Kenya:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1989669,00.html

This story is sad. To me, this outlines yet another example that human over-population on this planet will destroy it long before space aliens, asteroids hurtling towards us, bad pop music or even the dreaded global warming.

A country of 40 million, where many are poor and starving, murdering some of the very creatures that make this planet so great is disgusting to me. No – I don’t want to hear what about them? Or they need to farm and eat. Or any other BS crap. Over-population. Period.  Humans are ruining the planet. Not the animals who are just trying to survive. Stop breeding people. Just fracking stop. Frankly, I just don’t care as much about human life since we/they are the ones who create these problems to begin with.  Yes, I know this makes me sound heartless. I’m not. But I think the world needs more lions, tigers and bears and less humans using up all of the planet’s resources.

And this happens in here is the US as well. And here – it’s more of a business situation. Ranchers have long killed wolves, to the point of near extinction, because a cow or a sheep is killed. Perhaps on a rare occasion that rancher’s existence depended on that 1 cow. But not too likely. Which is why Defenders of Wildlife did put in a program where they will compensate a rancher for lost livestock  due to a wolf so that they don’t kill them. By all reports, this program works. Market price for what you lost.

But you still have Idaho and Alaska that re-instituted wolf hunts based on lame-ass reasons. Those 2 states will never get 1 tourist dollar from me while hunting wolves or bears is still allowed. And no – I do not blame Sarah Palin for that. Sorry. That was in place in AK before she was elected AND voted on by the voters of Alaska. She is simply an easy target for the animal welfare groups (who I do generally support but disagree with on these campaigns.) Not to say she doesn’t support the plan as well or that I like her. Just not going to paint her as the first or only villain in this atrocity. That’s just stupid.

The world needs more beauty. Humans can create beauty. But quite a lot of them create nothing but chaos and ugliness.  These lions, and all other living things on this planet, deserve a better keeper of this home than humans can seem to provide…

This was my very first post on this blog a year ago. Only fitting I re-blog it today :)

I saw my favorite movie ever 29 years ago today. I stayed up almost all night watching commercials and tv spots showing clips. I was so excited. I knew “never tell me the odds!” was a favorite quote of mine beginning that night.

I made my Dad promise he would take me and not stay at work late. None of my friends were into Star Wars. Most of my friends were older than me so were starting to think about dating, sneaking into R rated movies, etc. But me…I was definitely making my Dad take me to the afternoon showing and then to Burger King to get the glasses! (I bought 2 of each – 1 to use and 1 to save and still have them!)

We had a great time. My dad wasn’t late, we played Asteroids at the theater while waiting and loved the movie! And even though he hated fast food, my Dad took me to BK afterwards. And I just realized as I typed this that he took me to my first viewing of all 3 of the original trilogy. We didn’t do much out together as a family – he worked a lot – but we did this.

Then I saw it 10 more times in the theater with as many different combo of friends and family/parent’s friends that I could muster. And then countless times on VHS, re-release, DVD, etc. And of course every time I am flipping around TV channels and it’s on (hi, Spike TV) I stop and watch :)

But it all started 29 years ago today with my Dad taking me. :)

(And still my favorite movie poster of all time! Will always have a prominent place in my home!)

Happy Birthday to “The Empire Strikes Back”. :)

…to house my collectibles. I think it’s dumb to have some really cool stuff boxed up in a closets. Not that I want my house to look like the 40-Year Old Virgin’s house. I just need a dedicated collectibles room with proper shelving, wall space and lighting :) My office and home office are no longer cutting it. Need to remove all of the “office” elements to make them work! :)

Just received a pre-order email today from Gentle Giant. This is pretty cool….Tusken Raider on a Bantha. Gentle Giant makes some really fun stuff.

Bantha

I seriously need more room/shelves before I buy anymore collectibles though. Indy and Mola Ram just arrived from Sideshow yesterday and I have NOWHERE to put him.

And I have a couple…few…several?…more items arriving from Gentle Giant and Sideshow as the months go on. Pre-orders get me every time!

There are days that I definitely feel more secure in my dog-mom hat than a little human Mom hat.

Walking the huskies this AM as usual. We’ve been out for 2 hours. We were tired and the huskies wanted to get home. We are about 3 blocks from home. We get stopped by a Mom with a kid saying “can I pet your dogs?????” This happens all the time. Sigh….but I do stop. They are awesome – how can I not share :)

Little girl. 6.8.9? I have no idea. Around that age-ish. I am already discriminating since I prefer little boys. Little girls always seem so whiny or bitchy. She comes running across the street with her Mom following. I stop and let the her near the huskies. Her Mom looks at me “Thank you for stopping” (almost a desperate look in her eyes…maybe just me.)

The Mom lets Angelus sniff her hand. And she pets him. The kid tries. Angelus moves away with no interest. Storm is standing back like “keep me out of this.” The kid keep trying to get Angelus to sniff her hand. Angelus keeps avoiding her. She breaks out into a HIGH-pitched whine/cry “Why won’t he sniff me???” She burrows her head into her Mom crying “why won’t he sniff me?!?!?!?”

See….my head editor kicks in her. Inside I say “because you are whining and annoying.” I say out loud “Well, he is interested in sniffing squirrels and gophers.” She starts whining louder. “I want him to sniff me!!!”

In my head I think you suck – why would he care about you? BUT I have a fairly decent head editor. So I say “well, just try petting him.” I really just want to take the huskies and leave…can you tell? The huskies like those that are part of their pack. Everyone else is extraneous. This is a strong husky trait. It’s also a strong me trait :)

Her LOUD whining and crying make me think – maybe I am just a great dog Mom and would not make a good human mom. Because right now, I just want to to tell you how fn annoying you are. And how my dogs have no interest in being around you because a) you are loud b) you are annoying c) you don’t get everything you want in life by being a fn whiny annoying bitch and most importantly d) you don’t smell like cat or chicken. You are not part of the husky pack and are ridiculously annoying and whiny so why would they sniff you?

Anyway, Angelus stood still for like 10 seconds. She pet him. Smiled, laughed out loud (well really who could not…they are the best!), the Mom was so happy to have a happy kid and I got the hell on my way…

I gave my boys extra treats for not being like that little girl…

This really is a heartbreaking song. Great voice.

And good for her for realizing she is better than that! Begging is for stoopid suckers!

I love the movie Pretty Woman. It’s sweet, romantic, fun, true love wins in the end,etc, etc. Yes, it is also about a “working girl” but we like to gloss over that little part.

But let’s talk about the fun clothes! I got to have a shopping experience similar to that. It really is a rush. My old boss was wealthy. After working for him for a couple years he went through a rough divorce. I handled all of the correspondence between him and his wife, the lawyers, the nannies/kids situations, etc. This was in addition to all actual hedge fun daytime business and job I had. Once it was basically over, he said to me one day BEFORE the market closed (unheard of!) let’s go to the city and I’ll take you shopping. Umm..ok!

He had 2 Ferraris (yes early 90s) and we drove up in the black convertible. I thought by shopping he meant we went to a store, bought me something and leave. We started at Wilkes Bashford. he said pick out whatever I wanted. Anything. The shop girls instantly assumed I was the mistress. Great. But whatever. They were VERY helpful. Moved onto Ralph Lauren, then TSE Cashmere, then Northbeach Leather and then a pair of diamond studs. I saw the AMEX bills come in later. Just south of $50k. In one afternoon. On me! Quite an obscene…and profane amount of money :) I can’t imagine any man will ever spend anywhere near that much on me in my lifetime again. I make my own money so whatever. Not really about the money anyway. But it was fun. Very fun. :)

Word got out at work and one of the analysts who had asked me out previously made a rude comment in a staff meeting. It upset me. I told my boss why I was upset. He (the analyst) was yelled at and almost fired. He (the analyst) assumed the reason I said no to a date was because I was “doing” the boss. No pal – I said no because you were the stereotypical New York Wall Street douchebag and I had less than no interest in you. And I refused to allow it to take away from the fun of the shopping trip!

My husband still says to this day he (my old boss) ruined me for all men forever. That no man could live up to the super nice, rich guy thing my boss showed me existed…even if very rare. The guy who did something very nice for someone to show appreciation and express affinity for their help, loyalty, etc. And it’s not the dollar amount. But more the fact that someone was willing to take me for an entire afternoon, which was completely against character (to leave the office during market hours!) and do something that will make someone smile, laugh and so very crazy and unexpected. That makes them smile. That’s pretty cool. And it’s a shame that my husband is probably right that most people would  not do that, even if they could, without expecting something in return.

I think I still have a pair of cool shoes from Wilkes Bashford, and a couple crocodile belts from Ralph Lauren and a leather trench from North Beach Leather. Plus separately, I bought a brown, polka dot halter dress almost identical to the one she wears at the polo match. I love that dress!

I will always remember that shopping trip as a super fun trip with a super nice guy. Proof that the nice guy DOES exist….or maybe he was the only one..

My dogs are great :) But the 4 people that read this blog already know that :) And while they are the same breed, and even related, they have very different personalities.

Storm is feeling better and better now. He has Cushings and I’ve been trying to get his medication dosage to the right levels for months now. I think we did it. His energy levels are definitely back to normal. Now, this doesn’t mean he won’t be a lazy little fur-sausage when given the chance! He has always been more of a couch potato than his brother.

Yesterday husband took Angelus to Squaw Valley with him so he could get some off-leash snow play up on the mountain and meet some other buds. There was an Earth Day event up there so Angelus got to meet a porcupine! Apparently he was *very* excited and wanted to play with him. I doubt the porcupine felt the same way :) He only takes Angelus because it’s difficult to control both at the same time in such an environment and husband is not up to that. Plus Storm has been fairly unenergetic for the past 9 months or so due to his illness so not up to the task.

But yesterday, I had left for a hike and husband was loading Angelus up and Storm jumped in the truck like “nuh-uh – you are not leaving me!” So he called me and I doubled back a bit to meet him and get Storm. So Storm went on my hike with me. And he was a little trekker. Storm used to be like this all the time on long hikes and I was very happy to see him return to it! Head down so he walks like a wolf and trek, trek, trek, must finish the  mission, must get to where we are going. This is why he would have made a great lead sled dog. Just point him in the direction and he just goes. No stopping.  No dilly-dallying. Unless woodland critters are involved that is ;) But then when he gets home, he is just as happy to rest wherever I am.

On the other hand, Angelus has a more Buellerian outlook on life. Life moves pretty fast and you need to slow down and sniff around or you might miss good stuff :) Angelus just wants to be outside, enjoying himself all the time. Doesn’t have to be crazy running around or climbing mountains goat-style (in fact he says uphills kinda suck), just outside, sniffing, saying hi to other buddies, peeing on trees or just lying on top of a snowhill and looking around.

Funny how they each have different strictly-husky traits. And then each has other traits that are definitely not “husky-like”. If you put them together, they would form a perfect stereotypical husky. But then they wouldn’t be Angelus and Storm.

Love my boys. :)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100424/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_enforcement

I haven’t read too much about this law other than a couple news articles, but this makes me go huh?:

“The legislation, sent to the Republican governor by the GOP-led Legislature, makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally. It also requires local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants; allows lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws; and makes it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.”

So, a bill needed to be enacted that makes it a crime to be in the country illegally. Umm…? Isn’t it already a crime when it’s illegal?

And there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with anything they are trying to do here. In my opinion.

The Federal government has long dragged its heels in doing anything about a real problem that exists. Is this the right answer? I don’t know. I don’t live on the border in Arizona and have it effect my life on a daily basis. But here in California, we do have plenty. And in SoCal it’s a lot bigger problem. And since a majority of the people that do live there (in AZ) and deal with it daily want something done, it’s the State’s right, and responsibility, to do something.

And this:

“It’s going to change our lives,” said Emilio Almodovar, a 13-year-old American citizen from Phoenix. “We can’t walk to school any more. We can’t be in the streets anymore without the pigs thinking we’re illegal immigrants.”

Guess what you little brat? Thinking like that causes huge problems too. I don’t think a majority of the people who complain about immigration complain about the nice, quiet family down the street who just don’t have green cards. They are complaining about thugs, hoodlums, welfare cases, etc.  So calling the police pigs leads me to believe you have done something illegal already – so you should just be sent to boot camp now. 

I have no idea what the intricacies of the law are. I have no idea if this will solve any problems. But something has to be done about the volume of illegal immigration. And it’s very easy to live up North or in the East where you don’t have to deal with this as much and say how it’s unfair, illegal, unconstitutional, hate-mongering, racial profiling, wrong, etc, etc, etc, when YOU don’t have to deal with it in your yard.

I’m very much for making this a priority. Something has to be done to control immigration and legal entry/stays in this country. That shouldn’t be a dirty word or unthinkable.  If you come enter this country illegally, you are committing a crime. That seems very black and white to me. Will it be easy to tackle and fix? I’m sure not by a long shot. And it will not please everyone. But nothing does.  But someone has to start.

Just sayin...