1 to 3 Inches Predicted

But 6 inches arrived.

It pounded down, but the snow part seems to be over.  Next on deck is the 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice that's supposed to follow tonight.  Joy joy.  Need to go fill the tub for flushing water. 

Heard that the grocery store was swamped this morning.  Silly people.  You were supposed to do that yesterday. 

Mmm Mmm Good...

With all due respect to Campbell's...

Much of my emergency stores are canned, of course.  Tuna, soups, vegetables, etc.  But it appears that I'm short on certain, um, unique ... no, no, that's not it ... um, unusual ... that will have to do... canned food stuffs.

I'm not that fond of canned stuff - it just happens to be necessary sometimes.  And given the option of that or nothing, I'll take canned.  But something really would need to be done to make this chicken rather more appealing.  The goop around it reminds me of the goop around cold Vienna sausages.  Or my last head cold.

And then there's things that I never, ever would have even thought of.  Like fish mouths.  Who the heck knew you can eat fish mouths?  Yeah - I think there was a horror movie where those bit back.

Other cultures don't have easy access to meat, so they include insects in their diet.  I'd be willing to try bugs on the condition that someone, maybe Chef Zimmern, told me they were tasty rather than just nutritious..  After all,  battering and frying an oyster goes a long way towards making up for the fact that it looks like a loogie when fresh.   I'm thinking crunchy would be better than squishy for silk worm larvae, though.

And one of these days I'd like to try brains - I understand that they are quite good when prepared properly.  But I'm not at all sure that canned is a good introduction to any organ meat.

For the more tasty treats, and some explanations, click here.

Now, that said, confession time.  I like haggis. Yes, yes I do.  I may just order some this winter.  And I have an absolute addiction to a dim sum dish that I can only find in one restaurant, and that 60 miles away - phoenix talon.  Which would be chicken feet in a black bean sauce.  I'm so addicted to that.

A Conversation With the Vet

So Blu, having been put on blood pressure meds after a seizure last month, went in to have his blood pressure checked today.  They put an itty bitty blood pressure cuff on his tail, which he immediately whipped around himself because ICK SOMEBODY AT THIS PLACE TOUCHED ME!!!!!!  But he didn't try to pull it off - just huddled with his head buried against me and growled.  Which is what he always does at the vet's.

Since several measurements had to be taken, the vet and I chatted.  Turns out she has lost her insurance, courtesy of the ACA.  She has several health problems, including pulmonary ones.  She's been trying to replace her policy, of course.  But the closest she can come boosts her deductible to $6,000.  She'll lose her pulmonary specialist.  The standard meds for her problems don't work - she will see an increase of $200 per month per medication in cost.  She's not dumb enough to fall for the "It's the insurance company's fault" line.

I've been to her house - she's comfortable, but not rich.  She has an office, staff, overhead.  A lot of overhead.  She's just middle class, same as most of us.  And she is getting screwed just because people were too stupid to actually think out, let alone care, what the end result of turning the entire health system into the DMV on a bad day would be.

Oh, Ugh.

The guessing game begins.  At least this site is honest enough to call it "First Guess".  We live right on the line between the 2 to 4 and 4 to 6 inch prediction areas.  Guess this storm bears watching, although Accuhunch isn't as dire right now.

I don't drink cow's milk and I have tp already stocked, so I guess I don't have to do the grocery store fight.  Although this always makes me want to run out and buy junk food.  Chocolate cake in particular.

Dead Mice Raining from the Sky

Complete with parachutes.

The headline I saw didn't mention the dead part and I thought Guam was going down the always-a-bad-idea of introducing one critter to control another.  And it made for all sorts of funny mental visuals.  Turns out the mice are dead, and laced with small amounts of acetaminophen, which just happens to be highly toxic to  the brown tree snake that is eating Guam.   And any other environment it can get to, having proved highly capable of hiding in anything, including plane wheel wells. In the 60 years since its arrival on the island it has, among other things, devastated the native bird population of the island.

So a second round of  2000 liddle poisoned mice with liddle parachutes has been dropped into the tree canopy in the hope that they will become snacks for snakes. 

Considering that the brown tree snake population is estimated to be up to 13,000 per square mile, it's going to take a whole bunch more mice, I'm thinking.

She's A Beauty

And sweet, too.

Murphy's Law hit a home run with this one for sure.  Miss Memphis Belle is a lovely dog- bright, sweet, and affectionate, without shyness or timidity. A bit skinny, but that will improve with time and the curing of the Lyme and heartworm.

She seems to be settling in nicely.  Responds to her name, and obviously has had obedience training.  At some point she had a good life.

I don't think Murphy knows what he's in for yet.  He still thinks he's top dog.

Yeah, well, we'll see.

She does need to learn to eat her food right away, though, or Murph is going to get fat.

It's Over. Drat.

A very pleasant several days over.  Back to the salt mines.  And panic over getting Christmas stuff done and in the mail.  Of course, I volunteered for several Church-related things so that I'd be even busier.  Don't even mention getting a tree up...

But pleasant it was.  The in-laws live in York, PA, or, as my GPS calls it, "Yorkpa".  Just 2 hours away, and that's where I headed Thursday.  Despite Amelia being sick at the end of last week, the kids got out of Detroit before the weather mess came in and the paternal grands got to spoil her for several days.  And she's got some cousins who adore her.  There were some firsts, of course.

A first train garden, which was pretty exciting:

And first Thanksgiving, with so many dishes that many had to go to the sideboard rather than the table:

The kids are doing something called "baby led weaning" - no expensive jars of baby food.  Baby girl eats the same thing as Mom and Dad as long as it's soft and can be cut into small pieces.  She very much approved of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, Italian escarole soup, and green bean casserole.  The first bite of cranberry sauce elicited a scrunched face and a shiver, but then it was happily shoved in with everything else. 

Then, of course, came numb somnolence until time for the Ravens-Steelers game.  No penalty for that helmet to helmet hit on Bells - unbelievable.

Two hours isn't that far from home, but one of the issues I have with narcolepsy is that driving alone late at night when tired is just asking for trouble, so I retired to a very nice room at a nearby Holiday Inn instead, and after a very restful night and a leisurely cup of coffee and book in bed the next morning, there was more visiting.  And leftovers.  Very fine leftovers, yes indeed.

Eventually I wandered back west, leaving early enough to be back on familiar roads before dark, returning to happy kitties who wanted to snuggle for the night and feeling like I had had a very relaxing vacation.

They only got one night before I was off again, though, to night duty at the homeless shelter.  Where I would have welcomed their warmth - the women's section was COLD.  Next time I take the down sleeping bag.  But it was a quiet night (Except the snoring.  Always an amazing level of snoring.), which is the norm. Being on the streets in the cold is exhausting and usually folks are asleep before lights out time.  They are always so grateful - embarrassingly so. 

Minimal sleep meant a Sunday mostly spent stretched out on the sofa with a book and cats draped everywhere they could find a spot.

A very nice several days, indeed.