Billy

This is Billy the Turtle. I moved him out of an on-ramp in Michigan a few years ago. How neat is he?

Glass Straw

So I've been using the glass straws sold on www.reuseit.com for about 3 months now, and they are AWESOME. You'd think that they'd be weird, but they're not. They have a lifetime guarantee against breaking (will replace). They come with a neat little scrub brush to clean them out so they don't get gunky. I like drinking large glasses of water and warm soup through them. Yes, warm soup. What a nice clean way to eat soup without a spoon. Obviously only blended up soups work.

Thank You Kong

Frozen Kongs = Peace and Quiet

This one had blended up mixed (frozen in a bag) veggies and applesauce, stuffed in and frozen over night, topped with a dab of peanut butter. Peanut butter is awesome. Sonar will do ANYTHING for peanut butter.

I made bread!

Kayak would have LOVED IT.

Hi Bernard!

Tibbs says "Hi Bernard!" How's Rwanda treating you? www.myspangledlife.blogspot.com

Almond Milk

Feel free to flavor it as you please with dates, cocoa powder, carob powder or honey.
Makes about 5 cups
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup raw almonds
4 cups water
1 T. maple syrup
1 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. salt
Preparation:
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Pour mixture into a fine mesh bag or cheesecloth over a container, squeezing all of the liquid into the bag. Serve chilled as is or use in dairy-free recipes.

Tastes Yummy!

Chipatis

So I'm practicing my Chipatis. They're a type of Indian Flatbread. It's just flour and water and then after that it's sort of an art. I didn't add enough water and I didn't knead the dough enough. Kind of tough. They're not Garv quality yet, but I inhaled them, as I usually do with anything made of carbs.

Dog TV

Kong Frisbee!

Xylitol Can Kill

What can a couple sticks of gum do to a 85 lb Shepherd Mix? Bad stuff. Turns out, Xylitol ( a common sweetener in gum, candy, and even toothpaste) is 100x more toxic to dogs than the much-feared chocolate. Sonar and I found this out late on one recent Sunday night. We drove 80mph down I-94 to reach the Emergency Vet (whom we are overly acquainted with by now). They induced vomiting and found at least one stick of gum in Sonar's puke. They began an immediate Dextrose IV and began monitoring blood sugar and liver enzymes. She stayed for about 36 hours. Pretty scary. I'm really glad she's ok. And no, it wasn't cheap. But it was worth it.

Northern Michigan

Beautiful road, wonderful sign, wild turkeys, and a whitetail. The deer was near a road we were driving down. I got the shot from out the truck window. Cool state, cool camera. I don't know if I could shoot that pretty deer.

Wicked!

Crystal Mountain 2009 Trip. From top to bottom: me, the boy, Bro 1, Bro 2. Awesome trip guys. Thanks to the cottage folk!

Happy New Year!

Guacamole for the party down the street we're attending. Pastry cutter rocks as a Guac-Mixer. See card with Africa on it in the background from www.myspangledlife.blogspot.com. Thanks! So cool!

Fond Memories of Summer

Obnoxiously Safe

So because it's a) winter and b) I get bored and c) It's dark out and d) I'm obsessed with this kind of thing.... I made a Super-Reflective cover for my messenger bag to make me obnoxiously visible when riding my bike in the dark. I bought this rad reflective tape off ebay (it's about 2" wide) and I salvaged the blue material from the floor of a beat up tent I bought at a REI garage sale for $10.00 and the strap webbing was mis-appropriated from somewhere along with the plastic clips. It's hard to see in the bottom photo but I also added two spots to hook flashing LED blinkies as well. It turned out pretty darn cool. I originally intended to stitch down all the reflective tape, but it's rather tape-y and doesn't like much to be stitched, so I let it kind of be flowy. And then I was going to stitch what you now see as tails on the bottom, but then thought "hey! flappy reflectives will only add to the visibility!" So I kept them as tails. We'll see if they're annoying or need to be trimmed. Since I am not the least bit OCD there's all kinds of crookedness to this if you see it up close, but, you'd have a hard time convincing me that there's any value in making something like this all neat and tidy. It's supposed to be distracting enough that drivers avoid me. Ergo, the more annoying, the better.

Thanks to the boy for modeling.

Am I a Hunter?

So I've been mulling over the idea of learning to hunt deer.

Pros:

Sustainable Protein Source

Healthy Protein Source: Deer eating natural food is healthier than corn-fed cattle

Happy Protein Source: The life of a free, wild Deer (in a balanced population) avoids the suffering of cattle in feedlots, chicken in cages, and over-fishing of oceans/lakes.

Quick, Sanitary Death: A quick death with a high-powered rifle in the middle of a forest avoids the contamination issues of a slaughterhouse and the human/animal toll of repeated slaughter by a few people.

Transparent Complicity: Through the purchase and eating of meat, I've been complicit in plenty of animal death, but I've never personally had to be the responsible party. Does this take more responsibility? Maybe.

Cons:

I'm a wuss.

Deer are cute, they look like my dog.

They have big ears, and big soft eyes.

I feel incredibly guilty just thinking about killing another deer's mom/brother/sister.

What if my first shot isn't sufficient? What if my lack of skill causes suffering?

What if some other idiot hunter shoots me?

What if I shoot some other hunter?

Neither Pro nor Con:

I will have to learn to "dress" a deer.

I will have to learn to shoot guns (neat!)

Hmmm.