Category: Critters

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Critters

Wait, how will she afford the cat food?

Just how much love is there in our little family of two and four legged folks, you ask? You picked a good night to ask – a windy, icky night which is once again making the wind whistle and howl through the not-quite-airtight windows and doors. And outside, in the doghouse, is a white-and-grey splotchy kitten, smaller than Olivia. I saw this cat the other day in our pasture, but it wouldn’t let me get too close.

Why is this kitty in the doghouse? Because it’s moved in there for shelter…and Xena has adopted her. 😯 … Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Critters Gadgetology Home Base

The Baby Monitor and other tales

After much complaining about our complete and utter lack of one, my wife finally got a baby monitor Sunday, and I immediately set about plugging it in and putting all the pieces in place. This has been incredibly handy to have around because, as I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned a time or two, having the Avid gear up and running is like having an airplane idling right next to you. If Evan’s down for a nap between feedings, and starts getting fidgety, I’m not going to hear it until he’s at a full-bore wail. Which probably means he’s woken his mom and I’m in really deep trouble. So a baby monitor isn’t an “oh, that would be nice” for me; it’s an “I need this.”

Abou the only drawback is that I get to listen to Evan FM all night – the aforementioned mix CD of baby music that I made for him. Good thing I like most of that stuff. But so far, it’s worked great. There’s just one little drawback. 1 night = 1 9-volt battery. Ugh.

Evan in the hood
Fig. 1 – Evan in the hood. … Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Critters

Ain’t it funny how the night (and the kitty) moves

Apparently cats take things in shifts and I didn’t realize it. Evan woke up a little while ago and announced that he required feeding…

Evan

And while I wasn’t at all surprised to find a kitty occupying his crib with him, I had to engage in a bit of a Tennant-ism after rubbing my eyes and turning on the lights:

Evan and Olivia

What? What!?

Evan and Olivia

What??!?? 😯

Oberon was unavailable for comment. Apparently somebody’s realized that Evan’s side of the room is warmer than daddy’s side… 😛 … Read more

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Critters Gadgetology Home Base Should We Talk About The Weather? Television & Movies

Of dogs, storms, and really amateurish artwork

We had a pretty loud storm tonight, but there was more fanfare about it on TV than there was actual storm. (It had raised all kinds of hell in Tulsa, though, so it was worth at least watching the TV coverage to keep an eye on it.) One big clap of thunder woke Evan up. This was also one of the first times in months that Xena came into the house. I’ve gotten to where I let her sit out rainstorms out on the side deck, but when we’re talking hail and worse, yeah, I’m a softie, the dog gets to come in. Naturally, she crashed out, Olivia played with her tail, Obi slept next to her, and she stood guard over Evan. Everybody loves the little guy.

Today was one of those days where I just didn’t have the brainpower to do anything useful, and was leaving the Avid powered down for the whole day (the first tornado watch was popped on us before noon), so I did a little bit of just-for-the-sheer-heck of it design work, and joined the ranks of those who do fan-made Doctor Who DVD covers. Rather than do the 37th cover for some well-known episode that hasn’t even officially been released yet, however, or a “fantasy football” cover for a lost story, I decided to go way off the beaten path: I thought I’d do a DVD cover for a fan film. I altered the basic template a bit and added the now-standard “From the world of BBC-TV’s Doctor Who…” wording that accompanies spinoff productions like Big Finish’s Dalek Empire audios, and came up with this:

Daemos Rising DVD cover

(You can download the full-res printable version here. The nifty 3-D mockup abo0ve was generated by an insanely useful program called Imandix Cover, which you can download free here.) While I’m happy with the intent of the artwork, the actual execution is just a bit crap – since it was all done with screencaps from the DVD itself, the main artwork, when you look at it really close up, is very pixellated. Still, I’d like to think I wasn’t a zillion miles off stylistically; I’ve posted it to the forums at Outpost Gallifrey, where I’m sure that my assessment of “crap” may be confirmed very quickly. 😆 But not to be dissuaded, I’m already working on another cover, this time for a series of irreverent “I Love The ’80s”-style documentary segments that aired in 2003. So if I want to burn these to DVD, I can put a cover on the DVD that’ll look something like:

Who @ 40 Weekend DVD cover

I tried to be a little more…well…artistic with this one. K-9 and the time vortex are screen grabs, while the TARDIS is a 3-D model that I rendered myself. I’d like to tackle Shakedown: Return Of The Sontarans soon, just because…well…it’d be kinda relevant at the moment. 😉 For giggles, I ran my old Countdown To Looking Glass cover through Imandix, which didn’t like the dimensions and chopped some of the artwork off:

Countdown To Looking Glass DVD cover

…oops. Guess I need to take that one back to the drawing board before I go too far into Who territory. Though ironically, I still like the CTLG artwork better than either of the Who pieces.

Also on my to-do list: an official Doctor Who DVD cover for Olivia vs. the Dalek. 😆… Read more

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...And Little E Makes 3 Critters

E.G., a.k.a. C.U.B. (f.y.i.)

I’m Earl Green, and I’m a complete and utter bastard.

I say that because that’s pretty much how I feel on this first-ever night of “let the baby cry it out.” Mom is tired – no, scratch that, she’s exhausted and frustrated – and I’m supposed to be watching the baby. Except that Evan, after some baby formula and a diaper change and a bit of swaddling – decided that he doesn’t like having Mom all the way across the house from him. (Try working a graveyard shift for seven years, kiddo.)

Problem: Mom’s going back to work at the beginning of November. And then it’s gonna be the Evan & Dad show all day. He’s got to get used to me, and he’s got to trust me. I love looking after the little guy, and as much of a drag as it may seem to some folks out there to look after a baby, I have to admit, it’s kinda cool. I guess there hasn’t been enough of a routine set in for me to find it pure drudgery yet.

So tonight he’s got something bothering him, and I cannot figure out what it is. So he gets to cry it out for a bit. I hate that. What’s worse is that we’ve had to close the nursery door while he’s at it. Anytime he gets quiet, you’d think I’d rejoice, but no, I get paranoid and want to go make sure something really bad hasn’t happened (i.e., “Hey little guy, are you still breathing?” “Yeah, here, tell me what you think of my lungs – WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”). And if we leave him screeching for about ten minutes, Oberon will run in there to his rescue. And when I say “run in there”, I mean “run into the nursery and take a beautiful flying leap to land right on the edge railing of the crib and then jump down to see what’s wrong with his little buddy”.

And today had gone so well otherwise. … Read more