The Silvery-Pink and Orange Lining

"It's 0600... what's the "o" stand for? Oh, my God, it's early!"
        -Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam

You know back in 2007, Congress changed the start and end dates of Daylight Savings Time, to extend the DST period by an extra month each year?  I'm definitely a fan.  I think it's great that the precious daylight hours after work are conserved for a few more weeks.  But in recent days, the start of my morning commute has moved from "Oh, my God, it's early" to "O-dark-thirty."  I literally leave the house at the butt-crack of dawn.

I welcome fall, snuggling in as the heat dissipates and the leaves turn fiery colors.  It's time for nightly cozy fires in the woodstove and looking forward to Christmas - I love Christmas.  But as the days get shorter - darn that rotation of the earth around the sun! - it starts to get a bit depressing to leave for work and get home in the dark.  I used to work in cubeland where I couldn't even see a window... and if I worked through lunch during a busy time, days would go by where I'd barely set eyes on sunlight.  Last winter, at least, I enjoyed my very own office with an exterior window - a luxury indeed.

With the new job last spring, I'm back in cubeland.  But the enlightened designers of our company premises have placed all the execs in offices on the interior of the building, ringing them with low-walled cubes, some of which face right out the windows.  It's only fair that those who make the big bucks cede the windows to us schmucks toiling away in the cubicles.  It makes such a difference to have daylight flooding the workspace, and although I don't like leaving for work in the dark, if I get to enjoy this view as the sun rises over the city when I get there, it's a definite plus to the shorter days.

Update on Miracle the Kitten

A few weeks ago I told you about the kitten we rescued who was dubbed Miracle.  After contacting, Oregon Friends of Shelter Animals, I received this message from the lovely Marilyn who coordinates the cat adoption program:

Miracle did come in this morning and is negative for FIV and Leukemia!  She is being fostered with my current kittens that are her size so she has three buddies, October, Prada and Boston.  She is a little out of sorts as all kittens are at first, a few grrrr's at the others but she will be just fine by this time tomorrow.

I cannot imagine how little and fragile she must have been when "the incident" occurred.  She is about 5-6 weeks old and weighs 1-10oz.   She is not shy or frightened and she is even trying to play in my office with the toys all around the room.  You are welcome to come visit any time. 

Thank you for caring - - I will follow with pictures but she needs a bath first.  Maybe tomorrow.......???

Marilyn

So the kitten is healthy, receiving excellent care, and now has a bunch of little buddies.  I'm so glad because I'm sure she was probably missing her littermates after her terrifying adventure.  The mental picture of this 1 lb handful of fluff growling at her new roomies cracks me up though.

D and I went over one evening to visit the kitten and meet her new crew.  There were eight kittens of various ages being fostered by Marilyn and her husband Steve at the time of our visit.   I'm restricted from taking them all in by my much more sensible husband, but if I was on my own, I could easily become a crazy cat lady. I would love to foster kittens - though Marilyn did admit to a bit of sadness when a cat has stayed with them for a while or required a lot of care and it's time for them to move to a forever home.  I'm so sentimental I would just be setting myself up for heartache.

But you guys, if watching a bunch of sweet little kittens at play doesn't make you grin just a little bit, well then you must be dead inside.  I love how Miracle's got these cute little turned-down walrus whiskers, a leopard spotted tummy and permanent bed-head fur.  Check her out here:



Now I only have to wait for the news that she's been adopted to a forever home.

UPDATE 11/19/2010: I found out from Miracle's foster home that she was adopted this weekend!  She went to a really nice family, a mom with two early-teen boys who have another young playful cat.  This news totally made my day. 

Ronaldo!

In real life, I don't usually yearn for the metro-sexual, professionally manscaped hairless beefcake type.  And footballers aren't my type. But, oh sweet lord, this man is a work of art... brought to you by Armani.

You're welcome.

They called her Miracle

Last Sunday, we were out for a country drive - enjoying one of those golden late summer afternoons.  The white SUV that pulled out in front of us had only just got up to cruising speed on the 55 mph road when a bundle of fur fell out from under the truck and tumbled sickeningly onto the road.  We quickly sussed that it was a kitten that had fallen from the engine block of the moving car.

Without hesitation, D instructed me to turn our car around to see if the little thing was injured.  It was - staggering is the only word for it - off the road as we spotted it again.  It sought the safety of a hedge and we could see it was shaking and bleeding a little from its mouth.

Man, Oihou, Wild

My husband is one of those men that will be handy to have around when TSHTF at TEOTWAWKI (the sh*t hits the fan at the end of the world as we know it, to those on the bushcraft forums).  This is a man who always has several means of lighting a fire on him whenever we venture out of the city.  This is a man who carried me off a Welsh mountain when my sissy arse was in tears from the pain in my decrepit knee.

With memories of the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina renewed from the publicity surrounding the 5 year anniversary this past week, one is reminded just how close we dance to the total breakdown of social order and how quickly daily life could turn into a survival situation.  Even here in the good old U.S. of A.  And if the worst ever happens, I will be in good hands as long as I am with my man.

Sometimes they are actually worth watching (again and again)

I'm a firm convert to watching television via the magic that is the DVR.  It's so nice that I control the TV schedule, rather than it controlling me.  And by I, I mean "he," because I usually happily cede control of the remote to him. Ladies, am I the only one on that - or do the men in your life usually control the remote as well? I don't mind though; navigating the menus and dealing with the quirks of our circa 2006 DVR satellite receiver truly tries the patience.

Another advantage of watching DVR'd TV is that it becomes an interactive thing for he and me.  If it weren't for the pause button, I'd miss out on D's hilarious running commentary on the shows we watch.  Sometimes those pauses become a 20 minute digression, and we get to the end of the conversation and go "how did we get there?"

Anyway, I love that I can blast through the ads and get through an hour's worth of television in 40 minutes.  But every so often, I stumble across an ad that's worth actually watching.  It is a mystery to me how these get discovered, since theoretically we don't watch ads.  But I owe this particular one to D, who specially replayed it for me one evening after I woke from my nightly doze on the sofa. 

I believe this might have been a Superbowl ad, but it's recently gone into heavy rotation again.  We rewind to watch it and I laugh.  Every. Single. Time.





What have you got peeps - any ads that tickle your funny bone?

Confidence (or lack thereof)

On Monday, Nicki posted about getting back on the workout wagon this week.  I really should follow her example.  Last spring, I had undertaken the P90X program and although I frequently cursed Tony Horton during the workouts, I did like the way I felt after they were finished.  But I got bounced off the wagon when I somehow injured my neck, and despite the fact that I'm better now, I'm enjoying being lazy far too much to pick up where I left off.  Maybe when it cools down in the fall.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Nicki mentioned that the motivating factor for her workouts at this point is because she's joining one of her best friends in a few weeks for a family vacation at a cabin (which sounds blissful).  Her best friend is probably going to see her in a swimsuit.  I'm fairly certain that Nicki's friend won't care one bit about how she looks in a swimsuit, but I totally get where Nicki is coming from.