Critters, Food & Minutiae

Yesterday morning, I went to put on snow boots to go out in the yard & feed the birds/squirrels. Tough walking on frozen snow and I have to break up ice in the birdbaths, which is no easy feat in this bitter cold. As I put my foot in boot, something was in it. I put my hand in the toe part, nothing. Put boot on again & something in heel. This time I turned boot upside down, only to find this little ping pong ball inside. Stewart loves to play with stuff in small spaces. Amazing he pushed this down a boot though.

Then there was the squirrel wanting food when I was late feeding one bitter cold day. Excuse the horrible picture that's over exposed but it's the first shot I could get. The one I missed, had his paws on the sliding door. Too cute.

Tonight, I made a pizza with pan grilled red bell peppers, pepperoni, Sargento Mozzarella & Prego. Also I cheated on the crust with Martha White Thin Crust, but made it look & brown fabulously as you can see. There's a trick to the mix. Instead of letting dough sit 5 minutes, let it sit 30 minutes in warm spot, on oven as it pre-heats... It's then stretchy and pliable to fit the 15 inch pizza pan we own. I do not pre bake it either, as the directions say, but put it on a stone halfway though backing....oh, the green specks are fresh parsley I had in the house.


Then, there is the Lady of the house who loves fresh water from the faucet or from this Lord Of the Rings glass. I am not into the movies and can tell you nothing except they're VERY LOUD MOVIES ON THE SURROUND SOUND. Sheesh, back in my room, it sounds like thunder for three hours, but I wildly digress!

Anyway, we have four cats between us, mine are boys, my friend and home owner, one of each. She rules the house & sometimes stalks the other cats wench that she is...She was abandoned outside my old apartment 12 yrs ago or so, and I had my house mate take her, as he was my neighbor. She was about 6 or 7 months old and it was Christmas time. I was crying that I had to put her out of the building. I had a cat door mat so somebody in our hallway saw "sucker" at my door but I already had three cats back then. Anyway, she got a home but is half wild in the sense she will not let you touch her unless she is in the mood...I realize, that is a comment some married men may identify with...But she's sweet other times. Rarely lets me pet her but does sleep on the wing back chair in my bedroom now. She needed to be socialized better when first adopted but my friend didn't know and I didn't get to know him well until many months later.


This Flicker tried to fly in my bedroom window last week and scared the Hello out of my cat Stewart...it hung around outside for a long time, darting about. I finally captured it on the suet feeder outside the kitchen window, mid bite..or swallow as the case may be. It was a very dark day and difficult to capture without a flash but I finally did. Skittish bird.


I've a NikonD40 I've used on auto focus settings for 4 years. I've tried the other modes with on luck since I've low vision issues. Before getting this camera and last two roles of film photos all came out blurry so it was time to go digital with an extra zoom lens.

My eyes have improved so I'm going to try a digital camera class close to my home to see if I can be more creative and learn what I am doing. I read on Ken Rockwell's site all about the "P" mode he uses only to get "P"d off. Everything was blurry I tried in my room except for this light bulb. Flash would never pop up and I was left with photos way out of focus. Can't wait for class to start in a couple weeks.