Sunday, October 26, 2003

Pumpkin Thumbs04:08 PM CST (Link)
I have pumpkin thumbs.

Most Halloweens, we carve pumpkins. Although we've skipped the last couple of years for one reason or another, this year we decided to have a pumpkin-carving festival with our two-year-old nephew. The nephew, parents, and grandparents attended.

We bought half a dozen pumpkins at the grocery store and proceeded to carve all but one of them. The problem, for me, is that every time I carve a pumpkin, I jam a piece of pumpkin under my thumbnail or split the cuticle or elsewise hurt my thumb.

Usually, I just hurt the dominant hand's thumb. But this year, I outdid myself and managed to crack the cuticle on my left thumb and shove pumpkin guts up my right thumbnail. Try typing with a Band-Aid on your right thumb. Doesn't happen quickly, does it?

There are all sorts of other things you need opposable thumbs to do. Such as turning doorknobs. It's helpful that all the doorknobs in the house are sticky from the nephew's marshmallow attack. The stickiness keeps my palm stuck to the doorknob long enough for me to turn it and retract the latch. It all works out.

The nephew was delighted with Tiamo's ability to catch minimarshmallows. The nephew was doubly delighted when I threw one his way and he caught it in his own mouth. Of course, the throw was only an inch-and-a-half away from his wide-open lips. We had already lost one marshmallow to a wider distance and Aunt Margaret wanted to make sure he caught at least one this trip.

For convenience, we keep the dog-treat minimarshmallows in a Zip-Loc bag inside a MilkBone tin by the back door. The marshmallows just regular marshmallows you can find in the baking aisle at the grocery store. Dad's eyes bugged out of his head as I reached in to get a couple out for Tiamo and proceeded to pop one in my mouth. He thought I was eating a made-for-doggies dog treat.

Tiamo's had way too many marshmallows this weekend. The nephew kept her well-fed. Plus, she got some extra-sweet burned marshmallow treats when we toasted regular-size marshmallows over the flames in Aunt Mel's fire pit Saturday night.

The nephew and his entourage left a couple of hours ago, heading north toward home. We're all exhausted. Aunt Mel and the cats took naps. I dozed in front of the computer. Good thing we had an extra hour today from the switch back to standard time.

The weather turned cold overnight. We woke up to a gorgeously cool morning and a wonderfully sleepy wet afternoon. Feels like hot cocoa weather. I wonder if we have any marshmallows left?

Friday, October 10, 2003

Random Droppings11:40 PM CST (Link)
It wasn't there at 7:30 a.m. when we came home from the gym. But it was there at 9 a.m. when I left for work. A squirrel lay dead in the middle of our street, a morning's collection of green pecans on the asphalt beside it, run over by someone on their way to the office or school to start their own day of nut-gathering.

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I was inexplicably saddened when I heard Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy was injured by one of his cats and was in critical condition. I've never seen their show and I don't like wild animal acts, so I don't know what prompted my reaction. Maybe it's just that I know how he feels--strapped to a respirator, fighting to live, knowing only that every second that passes means another second closer to recovery.

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I bought a cheapie AM/FM radio at Best Buy last night to listen to the news while I worked out in the mornings. It was $9.99. The girl who rang up my sale very cheerfully offered me a two-year replacement plan for $4.99. I politely declined.

+++

Mel's birthday was Wednesday. I started her out with a present at midnight. She took the day off to celebrate, so I let her sleep late and left another present on the kitchen table for when she got up. A gift certificate from that online bookstore that everyone loves to hate was waiting for her when she checked her email that afternoon. Dinner out and a couple more presents rounded out the day.

Funny thing, though. Nobody called to wish her Happy Birthday. Not her family. Not my family. Not even her own parents. Instead of being hurt or upset, Mel was highly amused because even her own family members all had different ideas about which day was her birthday.

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