Category: Critters

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...And Little E Makes 3 Critters Gadgetology

Media, mutts, mercy!

The living room media PC project continues; installing Nero has solved a lot of problems; stuff that was playing with no audio is now playing with full audio. Yay! There are still some kinks to work out in getting theWindows audio/speaker settings, Nero’s audio output settings, and the living room’s occasionally baffling Dolby Pro Logic receiver to cooperate with each other, but that’s a job best left to the A/V engineer in the family…oh, wait. I guess that’d be me. I did conquer the mystery of why MP3s weren’t streaming from Zen (turns out the m3u playlist files use relative file locators instead of absolute ones – i.e., if the playlist is for an album contained in my “ELO” directory, the playlist entries are actualy “../elo/*.mp3” rather than the full network address leading to the right machine, the right drive, and the right branch of my directory bonsai tree. Obviously that’s not gonna get you jack from another computer – it has to be called up song-by-song. This is just a wee bit of a pain in the butt…but, as usual, I have – as they say – a cunning plan.

In the meantime, while my friends in Oklahoma and Missouri have been digging themselves out of a fresh glacier that’s been dumped on their heads since this time a week ago, we’ve just been getting rained on. A lot. This has resulted in, somewhat predictably, a very soggy dog. I let her in tonight and wrapped a towel around her so she could dry off somewhere other than all over the living room carpet. Lo and behold, she actually kept it on while she ate her specially prepared dinner consisting of dog food and, from last night’s dinner (ours, not hers), green beans and ostrich steak juice. Yum.

Xena chows down

Xena later wolfed down another bonus helping of “human food”, some leftover scrambled eggs. Actually, saying she wolfed it down is underselling it a bit. I thought she was just going to eat the damn plate the way she was going after it. We have a kitty who loves biscuits, a dog who likes eggs, and I think we’d be hard-pressed to find a cat here who doesn’t like a bit of bacon. Smart money says the dog would make quick work of any available sausage too. Breakfast is therefore served here at one’s own risk. (We also have a cat here who likes dog food. I’ll let you guess who.)

And what’s Evan doing during all of his dog-drying and media meddling? He’s workin’ that binky, of course.

Bink bink bink bink bink

Evan has started making this great gurgling/burbling/rolling-R sound (and he’s not even Scottish!). If I can just teach him to say “Mercy!” before doing his rolling-R thing, then look out, Roy Orbison.… Read more

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Critters Funny Stuff

Playing Possum

Evan and the Christmas Tree
Our first real Christmas tree – the first one since we moved into this house, and the first decent-sized one since we got married. My wife stayed up late doing some decorating; the one token ornament I put on there (the Star Trek transporter ornament) mysteriously came down. 😆 As you can see, Evan is bowled over with excitement!

Kitties
But that was nothing compared to the excitement at the back door last night. All the critters were in attendance – Obi, Othello, Olivia, even Claude. But what was so fascinating on the other side of the glass? Look very closely. … Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Critters

Fisher-Price presents: My First Shiner

You can tell Evan’s my kid by the way he fights sleep. That is to say, he isn’t merely resisting the notion of closing his eyes and surrendering consciousness – he’s actively trying to kick sleep’s ass so he can stay awake all hours like Daddy does. This is the cause of some almighty screaming crying fits at night, as well as lots of flailing about. He’s put an inexplicable scratch on the right side of his own nose that I don’t look forward to explaining at his next doctor’s visit. And now my son Sluggo has managed to punch himself just below the right eye and cause a bit of swelling. 😯 … Read more

Categories
Critters Funny Stuff

The amazing true story of the puffball-fetching cat

Olivia and the puffballOur dog doesn’t play fetch like our cat does.

Oh, sure, you can go outside and throw something for Xena to fetch, but more than likely she’ll sit by your side, watch the projectile arc gracefully through the air, and wonder why in the world you threw it way out there. Throw a puffball inside the house, however, and nothing is as certain as the fact that it will return to you in Olivia’s mouth, and she’ll happily drop it by your feet and bat it around a little bit while she waits for you to throw it again. It’s fun!

Olivia also perks up at the mention of the word “puffball.” She can be dozing off, but if you say “puffball,” she looks up in anticipation.

Olivia and the puffball

Actually, Olivia carries a lot of stuff around, dog-like, in her mouth: hair scrunchies, string, cat toys (especially Claude), you name it. We’ve found wayward baby socks around the house in places where we never would have put them. Even better is that she’s teaching Oberon this valuable skill.

Don’t believe me? Click here for the video, taken in the doorway of Evan’s room.… Read more