Archive for the From The Girlfriend Category
- A little help from my friends. - November 27th, 2008
- Ultimate act of faith - November 25th, 2008
- Our New Family Member - July 21st, 2008
- More From Montana - April 16th, 2008
- Render unto Caesar… - April 14th, 2008
- Persian! - February 14th, 2008
- tmi - and you’re not getting mine! - February 13th, 2008
- Election Day - February 13th, 2008
- Afternoon at Assateague - January 27th, 2008
- Busy day in the backyard - January 19th, 2008
- Things that make you go hmm… - January 13th, 2008
- This amused me today… - January 7th, 2008
- You want me to take what? - December 3rd, 2007
- RenFest pics - October 1st, 2007
- Choices - September 12th, 2007
- more social commentary - September 12th, 2007
- Why? - September 12th, 2007
- Red-banded Hairstreak - August 6th, 2007
- Yikes! I’ve got fibro-in-my-algia (huh?) - August 1st, 2007
- Kiah’s in charge - July 6th, 2007
- if you weren’t scared enough already… - June 29th, 2007
- Pet peeves. - June 5th, 2007
- Long-lost relative? - April 16th, 2007
- Bird report - April 10th, 2007
- I am… - February 28th, 2007
- not quite what we hoped for - January 1st, 2007
- ironic - October 28th, 2006
- WARM! and a bird update… - October 28th, 2006
- Smokey update - October 16th, 2006
- Smokey update - October 10th, 2006
- Birds - the sequel - October 8th, 2006
- Birds! (part 2) - October 7th, 2006
- Birds! - October 6th, 2006
- Let the fun begin… - September 15th, 2006
- ‘Tis the Season - September 6th, 2006
- when you need it bad… - August 29th, 2006
- Customer (dis)Service - August 28th, 2006
- submissive vs. subordinate - August 27th, 2006
- so why can’t i get going? - August 15th, 2006
- Artscape 2006 - July 24th, 2006
- why can’t we all just get along? - July 20th, 2006
- what’s the date, again? - July 19th, 2006
- Books! - July 11th, 2006
- Sibling Rivalry - July 3rd, 2006
- i just don’t feel like it… - June 12th, 2006
- - June 11th, 2006
- i dunno why - May 24th, 2006
- is the economy that bad??? - May 17th, 2006
- i’m taking it today. - May 17th, 2006
- A Cooking Lesson - March 2nd, 2006
- FINIS! - January 11th, 2006
- Sr. Dorothy - Surprising Justice - January 6th, 2006
- Religion - Part II - October 19th, 2005
- huh?! - August 27th, 2005
- One earth - August 27th, 2005
- How good is the good God? - August 22nd, 2005
- Happy Birthday! - August 16th, 2005
- from Last Days to Great Expectations - August 10th, 2005
- Who said that? - July 6th, 2005
Butterscotch, hard at work helping me write Christmas cards:
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27 November, 2008 @ 22:19 by Donna
27 November, 2008 @ 22:18 by Donna
In the ultimate act of faith (or denial, i haven’t figured out which) I’m wrapping Christmas presents while watching a string of BBC World News stories on the U.S. & world economies. (ah, yes, if only our problems were simply a harmless work of fiction and not one of Aesop’s moralizing fables come to life.)
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Here are two pics of our new little family member, a Senegal Parrot tentatively named Butterscotch. (Hey, at least it’s an improvement over “bird-bird”!)
She REALLY likes carrots! (but wasn’t so excited about the flash…)
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Donna’s uploaded some of her “take” on our trip to Montana. The pictures are in her Flickr stream, and you can view a slide show, too.
It’s always interesting to look at pictures of the same subjects, taken by two people standing side by side. Some are almost exactly the same, and others, vastly different.
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Yes, that’s right, tax returns are now (finally) filed. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.
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When we were in Virginia last Friday, we ended up having dinner at a little Persian restaurant near our hotel. It was a rare treat: I got to order directly from the menu, with no modifications required for my gluten-free diet! COOL!
So, tonight at Borders I picked up a Persian cookbook. A trip to the [...]
got a call this evening from someone identifying themselves as being from a financial services company, and claiming to have business with me, but requested that i verify my identity first by giving my date of birth and one other piece of info (i’ve already forgotten - it may have been address. i’m just not [...]
Today was election day. Here’ s a run-down on the phone calls:
2 days ago: 1 recorded call from the Huckabee campaign
yesterday: 1 live-person call from the Obama campaign
today: 1 live-person call from the Obama campaign, followed by a recorded call from Obama’s wife, followed by yet one more live-person call from an Obama supporter.
So, 5 [...]
Went to Assateague today. Although none of the ponies were on greeting duty today, one was being quite sociable. This one ambled over to our car as soon as we parked in one of the lots, and had to see if there was anything in the car suitable for lunch. No doubt [...]
It was a busy day in the backyard today. We were graced by visits from a Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Doves, Cardinals, Carolina Wren, Blue Jays, Dark-Eyed Junco, House Sparrows (anyone know how to keep them away?), House Finches, Mockingbird, and our Cooper’s Hawk.
The hawk flew in right on top [...]
A development over on the eastern shore has this sign at its entrance:
Adventure Farms
A Planned Community
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This and this amused me today…
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I spoke today with an interviewer at a research lab doing a study of an FDA-approved drug that’s supposedly being prescribed off-label for fibromyalgia. They told me a lot about the study — duration, lab tests/appointments with their doctors, dosing schedule, restrictions, etc., and the name of the drug.
So I came home and duly looked up the [...]
Some of Donna’s RenFest pics are on her flickr stream here
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Got some lab results today. Slightly elevated bad cholesterol, slightly elevated blood pressure, low iron, and instructions from the doctor to go on: 1. A DIET! (who does he think he is, huh??? i’m barely overweight and have lost 7-8lbs in the past six weeks–without even trying, that’s the good part) 2. A LOW-SALT DIET 3. [...]
more social commentary: with 15 quakes & almost 8000 dead in Indonesia over the past not-quite-three years, how is it that Britney’s recent performance rates ANY attention at ALL???
p.s. no, i DIDN’t watch it, but i did watch in disbelief as a local a.m. ’news’caster spent three minutes decrying Spears’ reported lack of enthusiasm — as [...]
I think this guy’s right (at least until the part about the reader caring about celebrities, because I don’t give a rat’s behind about celebs).
Anyway, Read this article, and comment on why you think our media is so messed up, our priorities are wrong, whatever you think is the root of the problem.
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This little friend came to visit the red impatiens on our front step:
I was able to ID him thanks to this fabulous site!
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In case you haven’t yet seen the new commercials from the National Fibromyalgia Association, you can find them here and click on “View the Public Service Announcement” in the lower right-hand corner.
In June, the FDA issued its first approval of a drug to treat the symptoms of this condition. For news on the condition and the [...]
The bird is having another “I’m in charge” day. She won’t eat her veggies, she flies where she chooses (usually a shoulder or the top of her cage). And today she showed one of the cats who’s boss! Darjha wandered into the room while Kiah was out of her cage. We decided to let matters proceed and [...]
check out this story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2007/06/29/news/mtregional/znews08.txt
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Certain things have been catching my attention, and they happen to be things that make me think we’ve gone really wrong as a culture. Here are just two of them:
1. The latest ad campaign at The Mall in Columbia consists of large banners on which are listed the names of three or four stores. Each banner [...]
I think I found a long-lost relative of my mom’s side of the family when we were in Jamestown last week! Click here to see the full post on my Flickr page.
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While in the Jamestowne historic areas, we watched:
two Brown-headed Nuthatches hollowing a new nest out of a dead tree
two Red-headed Woodpeckers, also working on new nests
one adult Double-crested Cormorant chowing on a huge catfish (which it ate from the inside out) and one juvenile (who swallowed his smaller fish whole)
one BANK SWALLOW
Bald Eagle in its [...]
This quiz brought to you via friend Tea (who got it via someone else…)
You are Catherine the Great.
You are very intelligent and a socialist. It is very important to you that all people be treated equally in a society. You are able to fully comprehend social problems and you are outspoken [...]
i cleaned & re-hung the bird feeder yesterday. we had three dark-eyed juncos, a chickadee, and two house wrens visit this morning, but none of them stayed very long. the longest visit was made by a rodent-with-good-PR:
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we’ve been seeing a black cat in our yard lately. pretty little cat. don’t know if it belongs to anyone. but we’re finding cat poop on our deck. so the cat’ll soon belong to the animal shelter. it’s enough to have to clean the litter box after our own three cats, who all came from [...]
WARM!
The new heat pump went in a couple of weeks ago. The new windows were installed yesterday. I am about to do something that I’m not sure I’ve ever done before: turn DOWN the thermostat. It’s too warm in here! YAY! I hope this is a sign of things to [...]
Smokey (you remember, the balding cat?) doesn’t have FIP. That’s the good news. That bad news is we don’t yet know what he does have. The skin biopsies should be back by the end of this week. In the meantime, his personality has returned to very close to normal. I guess the 2x/day dropper of [...]
In case anyone’s been wondering what the current scoop is on the amazing stupendous balding cat:
He went to the vet yesterday for a follow-up and went back in today for skin biopsies. While there, the vet checked the elevated liver enzyme. It’s no longer in the mid-400s but at 260 it’s still twice [...]
more avian activity…these little guys often fight over who gets to be at the feeder at any given time.
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— from donnacnd - (?)
Here’s a sample of the avian activity in our backyard early this afternoon
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We have a bird feeder in our backyard. It was quite a project that Geren had to go through to get the thing hung up where it woudl be both sturdily supported (it holds up to 10lbs of seed) and in our range of sight from the kitchen table.
Three weeks and a fortune in [...]
The new refrigerator is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.
The guy is coming to do the detailed measurements of the windows on Monday.
Also on Monday… we might know what’s wrong with the cat who was taken to the vet today. Our 16lb 3oz big-guy is losing his fur - skin and all. yuk! the condition started [...]
No, not Christmas…
ELECTION.
Today alone, we received FOUR calls from campaign offices.
Two of the callers were recorded messages.
The other two callers actually had a pulse.
Regardless, very annoying!
If we don’t answer the phone when you call, then you might want to just send us an email, as we’re likely to stop answering the phone until after polls [...]
Do you remember the commercials years ago: “When you need it bad, we’ve got it good…Florida!” I have no particular affinity for Florida, but boy do I need a vacation! We’re planning an extended weekend in Maine in October, and it can’t come fast enough for me! But at least we’ve got [...]
What’s up with the current lack of customer service?
We’re having problems with two service providers. One, the new landscaping/gutter-cleaning company, failed to cut the lawn on the first promised date, the second promised date, and finally got out here to cut it 10 days later after Geren had to threaten cancellation of the brand-new [...]
Today was the famous (or infamous?) passage in the church’s cycle of readings: the one about “wives submit to your husbands…” &c., but in this particular translation, subordinate was used in place of submissive. This was disturbing to me because subordinate implies a permanent role that is unequal and beneath, whereas submissive implies equality [...]
another one of those funks again, but this one has lasted for a few weeks now. i have so much to do, but i can’t get going. i know what the answer is: mood follows action (never the other way ’round) but still, i’m frozen by the list. sort of a deer-in-the-headlights look. ugh.
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We went to Artscape 2006 yesterday. It was hot & humid (what else? this is maryland in summer, after all) but we met up with friend Tony — and finally met his wife Dierdre (Hi, you guys!) pics are on Flicker page.
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recent events have me applying much of my mental focus to pondering Maslow’s theory on the heirarchy of needs. I like the (albeit naive) notion that if all of our basic needs were met the world over, maybe — just maybe — we could all get along without trying to kill each other.
So, tell [...]
i’m in one of those places right now where everything’s too much…so much so that i can’t remember the date, and haven’t been able to keep it straight for the past three-four weeks. doing two jobs at work (at every place i’ve worked, i always end up doing two jobs at some point), plus my [...]
These are the books I’m currently in some stage of reading (listed in no particular order):
The Churches the Apostles Left Behind by Raymond E. Brown (this book is both interesting and most assuredly thought-provoking)
The Other Face of Love: Dialogues with the Prison Experience of Albert Speer by Miriam Pollard, O.C.S.O. (given to me by a [...]
i think the title is self-explanatory.
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should have gotten some laundry going and left for the grocery store an hour ago.
but i just don’t feel like it!
rats!
UPDATE: Got the shopping done & got back home around 10. Yay! Now for more laundry…
Hey — Did you know…that the Safeway deli is open until 10pm? We got really tired [...]
Today was “Dog Days” in Ellicott City. There was a parade, there were contests for the pooches and humans — and just generally lots of doggy mayhem! It was a very fun day!
BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO SEE GEREN’S POST & PICTURES!
The bubble guy was doing his thing…this [...]
i dunno why i didn’t do this YEARS ago!
i was running around the office today, getting things done, having a great time, and wondering why in the world i didn’t quit my project management job years ago. doing what i’m good at makes my days more satisfying and, therefore, productive. of course the [...]
is the economy really so bad that the manufacturers are justified in charging the same price for sweaters and blouses as in years past, but only making them with 3/4-length sleeves? can’t they afford that extra few inches of material???
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i am union … therefore i take a break.
I am currently doing two jobs at work (familiar pattern for me, it seems - just too d*&% efficient, apparently) and have been trying to still get things done, which means that , since I answer to three primary bosses now, I am sometimes given a task [...]
A few Saturdays ago, we went to R & T’s to have dinner with them, and — more specifically — for me to get a cooking lesson from Rob. Rob manages to produce the most wonderful 5-course/5-hour meals, that recall a time when people actually sat down to share more than sustenance, instead of [...]
For the first time in probably 10 years, I have actually FINISHED reading a book that I chose based on my own interest, and not because it was required reading for whatever class I was taking at the time. Yay!!!
I read Edmund Morgan’s Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea. (And yes, [...]
http://sndden.org/story1e.html
I didn’t actually expect the murderers to be brought to justice…third-world systems don’t always work.
This woman was indeed amazing, and lost her life because she defended opportunities for the poorest of the poor.
I wonder how long until Sr. changes to St.?
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I checked out the Quiz Galaxy’s “What Religion” quiz today. I tried it at lunchtime, when it told me I am an agnostic (??? anyone who knows me knows better than that…) but couldn’t post it because I’d forgotten my password for the blog. So I came home and did the [...]
do they really package customers? I’M not goin’ in there!
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Don’t just drink responsibly, DISPOSE OF responsibly.
The Patapsco River is neither a trash can nor a recycling bin.
We only get 1 earth, people.
Trash tossed in upstream will eventually make its way into the Chesapeake Bay, which faces enough challenges already.
It’s time to BE RESPONSIBLE.
(and, in case you’re wondering, yes, I am standing [...]
The new job is waycool. I have great folks to work with, great hours, a not unpleasant commute (a little longer but - blvitrnot - not as stressful as the closer ex-job), and good pay/benes(once the benes kick in a few weeks from now)
in the words of the SNDdeN: The good [...]
Today is my brother Greg’s birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRO!
.
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Well, yesterday was my last workday at the now ex-job. My VP took the dept out for lunch; that was nice. But he doesn’t like to be gone long so the minute the fortune cookies were read we high-tailed it out the door and back to the office. All in all, [...]
Twice over the long holiday weekend, I had opportunities to challenge the inappropriate actions of total strangers, and I actually did.
On the 4th, as we were crossing the bridge over the bay between the west OC park-n-ride to the inlet area, a young woman was riding her bike in the walkway. The polite [...]
