This is how an engineer makes tater tots

There were 49

Steve and I were trying to take family photos. Molly was trying to take a nap.

Today was good. I had buckwheat pancakes and soy bacon for breakfast and then dragged my bum into the living room for some pilates. Did 1 1/2 hrs of that and then proceeded to drag the weight bench and weights into the living room - much to Steve's dismay. The weights and stuff have been living in the laundry room/mud room. A big enough room to accommodate all my laundering and fitness needs, but certainly not the most comfortable place to be. It's the only room we haven't started renovating yet and it's all dark wood panel and dark rug. Ick. Not inspirational. I then found my favorite work-out cd (can't admit to what it is. Not yet...so shameful...)and blasted it on the stereo. I had to blast it. By that time I was riding the exercise bike and it's one of those air-dyne thingies that blows air all over the place. Noisy thing...Anyways, I'm bopping along and "POP!" I had the stereo on so loudly that I blew a fuse.
So, off to the electronics store to buy a new fuse. Stared longingly at the ipods, asked to touch one...then went next door to the "big store full of cheap junk" store and bought too many impulse items, mostly handmade papers and leather bits to make cards. (Note: I never make cards. I just think of making cards).
And now here I am, waiting for the big Steve to make dinner. But he doens't know that. So I think he's downstairs waiting for me to make dinner. We'll get on the same page soon - we're getting hungry.
...what do you know. He just asked me what I wanted for dinner...tofu dogs, tater tots and peas...gotta pack back on what I just burned off!

I've been cleaning the house since 10 am, I have a splitting headache and 4 people are coming over for dinner in 2 1/2 hrs. I just want to have a long bath and start reading Harry Potter. Waaa.

Apologize for the poor writing in advance, but my goodness this is a long blog entry.

I used to work for a company that did building restoration and renovation. The company is based in an historic and extremely affluent city. We worked mostly on historic homes, some as old as 225 yrs. (That's another exciting blog entry). We also did renovation on newer homes, and sometimes built custom homes, ground up.
One of the company's carpenters, I'll call him X, used to work for a real jerk, I'll call Y. Y promised X's mother to do some much needed work on her house. Y took X's mother's $10,000 (be way of contractors, folks) and took off without doing any work. Rumor has it he drank away the money and now lives with his disgustingly wealthy sister in England (track him down, girls). At any rate, X asked the owner of the company if the company could fix the job on his mother's house.
Owner of company sent two foremen to look at the house. The verdict? House should be condemned. Not safe for humans. X said that his mother would not be able to handle it. Could we just fix it? Mind you, the men hadn't even gone inside yet..
blah blah blah...job gets done. I am one of the 3 first people sent to work on house - 2 carpenters apprentices and one engineer foreman.
The first few days we worked solely outside - siding rotted, big holes. We suspected that animals lived inside the walls. We take away siding, we poke at the walls. Our awls slipped right through the rotting wood. We scratched our heads. What the heck was holding up this house!!?? We saw cracks in foundation wall - house was sliding down the hill. The back deck had fallen completely off the house and was lying on the grass. We walked around the back of house - the back sliding glass doors were shattered, glass was just lying between screen and storm door. Large vines had actually grown from outside, through the cracks around the door, and into the house. We also saw a window with several dead plants in it. I mean, been dead and dried up for years. All that time, big, black trash bags had been appearing in multiples outside of her front door. Each morning, we'd have to haul them down to the end of the driveway so that we could get to where we should have been working. We had been using power tools this whole time and had been using the neighbor's electricity. X's mother kept making excuses as to why we could not go into her house.
Finally, time came when we had to get into her house to replace windows, etc. Foreman talked to X. X admitted that he had not been inside his mother's house for 10 years, nor has anyone else. Foreman says, we must get in.
So...we finally get in. There was a horrific, oppressive smell. Something had literally died in there. Milk jugs with the previous year's date on them were lined up on the floor by the door - with milk still in them. The milk had separated into a cloudy white liquid floating on top of a murky grey liquid. Pizza boxes were piled up 5' high. There were old doughnut boxes, broken dishes, papers, cardboard boxes, videos, photos, books, magazines, you name it, covering every surface. This woman had created a small pathway from the front door to the stairs. part of the ceiling had fallen into the first floor and was resting on top of a book shelf. Vines crawled down the inside of the living room walls. Since there was so much junk everywhere, the outlets were covered up, so she had strewn extension chords all over the place. Upstairs was worse. We tried to open a door and there was so much junk, the door would only open about 6 ". No matter how many details I recount, I will never be able to properly describe the horror that was this house.
One of the carpenters brought onto the job later was standing on the scaffolding outside the 2nd story window. He crawled through the window, put his hand onto the floor/piles of paper and something moved underneath him. He hollered, quickly retracted his hand and refused to go back in again. When I was working outside, I saw a raccoon run from inside the walls of the house up into a tree. We had apparently disturbed his slumber. He very clearly had been living inside this woman's house. Which would account for the horrible dirty animal urine smell.
The most amazing part of this is that this woman drove a shiney new mercedes and every morning left the house looking impeccable. She kept a prestigious job at a well known and well respected private school.
Crazy, I tell ya.

A Three-Rat Vase

hee hee hee

The coils in the kiln that held my rat bowls burned out, so the kiln never reached the temperature needed to properly fire the bowls. No worries - apparently the bowls will be run through another, properly working kiln and all will be well.

And yes, my Univ. is apparently in the top 5 in the nation for graduate fine art programs, and THIS is what I made. ha hah...I had lots o' fun. And really, the pictures just don't do these guys justice.

Will not post pics of my serious work, because well, it's too serious.

This morning I did a quick search on mapquest and took off for the social security administration office - for what I thought would be the long and painful process of changing my last name on my social security card. But it wasn't. Mine was the first number to be called and I was in and out in less than ten minutes. The office even opened up early! What!? The U.S. government operated efficiently and in a timely manner? Well, blow me over.
I've been dragging my feet about changing my last name to Steve's. I felt like doing so would be abandoning my blood family and my true identity. I suppose I feel that way mostly because my family is pretty left and Steve's family swings way to the right. Mmmm...my father is straight from France, complete with heavy and hard to decipher accent and Steve's sister campaigned to boycott France and even called french fries "freedom fries." You can see why I'd be hesitant to bid farewell to my good french name and take on Steve's family's last name. But bid it farewell I did. I suppose I could have hyphenated. Or kept my last name. But I could tell it meant a lot to Steve for me to take his.
Then I made a quick stop at the Univ. library to pick up some Harry Potter books. They only had books 2-4, so I grabbed those up. Oh, excuse me, they had several copies of each book in Chinese, but I can't read in Chinese so it did me no good. Multiple copies in Chinese? We must have a large Chinese community at school, though I haven't noticed. There weren't any copies in any other languages. Oh well.
And then I got lost in the book stacks - literally. I always get lost in that library. It's because it's 4 or 5 floors and I keep losing the stairwell, so I can't find my way out. They keep the stairways behind these little brown doors...little brown doors that look like all the other little brown doors to the restrooms, offices, closets...

I got to the vet's a few minutes early, so I had to wait for a bit in exam room 1. When the vet came in, she greeted me warmly, asked how I was and then said, "Well, we found some answers." Then came the hand on the shoulder. "She has both hip displaysia and arthitis of the spine."
*sigh* We had these ex-rays taken to determine which of these problems Molly had, we never thought she had both. The treatment for arthritis is to get the dog up and moving. For hip displaysia, rest. Poor Molly.
Anyway, she's on two types of meds daily and a return to the vet every 3 months for bloodwork to make sure that the meds aren't affecting her kidney function.
The vet kept saying that she was sorry, that it stinks because we just adopted her...but it could have been so much worse. We are just happy that the vet had options for us and that there are meds to take. Some dogs need surgery for hip displaysia or tons of steroids for arthritis. Hopefully Molly's condition won't deteriorate too quickly. If it does, I'll be on the internet looking up those little wheely things that hold up the dog's back end.
Molly is currently recovering from whatever downer they gave to her. Her 3rd eyelid is still up, so she looks so tired and out of her mind. She did recognize her Mom and Dad at the vet's office, though, and gave us an excited whine and an exuberant bum waggle.
Off to spoil her rotten.

This is outrageous. I just pulled the cage away from the wall and what do I see?? The wall has pale yellow streak marks. There is even, *gulp* a rat "raisin" stuck to the wall. I'm appalled. What are these girls doing? My freshly painted "pink bauble" wall! Yikes!
Oh well. Best find a solution to this dirty little problem.
The funniest part of all this is that the next time I meet a rat-ignorant person, I'll delve into my same old schpiel - "...and rats are so clean. They wash fastidiously. They really are so wonderful..."
(It's been a week since the last cleaning, and I didn't notice any signs of this before...they've been working hard at being filthy)

Just finished the last written exam for the quarter. Still have 2 papers to go and two crits - 1 crit tomorrow and papers and last crit on Fri.
I miss my dog. I dropped her off at the vet's at 9 am. She was so good. Sat still and proper on the scale while the tech weighed her. She made me so proud.
And then the ugly time came, the time when I handed over the least to the techs and watched as they tried to pull Molly into the back room. Molly kept pleading with me not to leave. She strained on the leash toward me, then hunkered down. If she wasn't going back to Mom, she was going nowhere at all! I know it's only a day that she's there, but the poor girl has been pysically abused and dumped at the same animal shelter twice in the past year and a half. God only knows what happened to her before then. I can only imagine that she feels abandoned again and I cannot wait until 5:40 tonight when I can pick her up. We are supposed to be talking to the vet about Molly's ex-rays, too, but good luck, Doc! I'm gonna be making smoochy noises at my dog and giving her pats. To heck with your analysis!
Anyway...I'm going to stare at the rat cage for a while and try to rationalize putting off cleaning it until tomorrow.

I'm exhausted today and barely thinking straight. Had a full 9 hrs of classes and almost fell asleep in each one. But I have recently been reminded of the three little pearls of wisdom that my mother gave to me when I graduated from high school 10 years ago.

1. If he calls past 11 pm, it ain't nothing but a booty call (yes, she said "ain't nothing but a
booty call")

2. Drive a manual shift car. Even if you can only afford an old brown station wagon, if it's manual shift, you'll be able to pretend it's a sports car.

3. Watch out for people. Anyone can be "nice."

Day 1 on Vick's "formula:" House is dusty, but Manda got in a good 2 hrs of pilates. Legs wobbley...bum sore...abs ache. May die before the night is up, but if I do I will die happy.
Almost popped a vein this morning when I went to put in my pilates dvd. Could not get friggin thing to work. Pushed all sorts of buttons, said swears, you know, the usual. Nada. Zip. Had to ask Steve for help and he lovingly obliged. Well, he probably responded more out of fear than love. I probably said words that he thought I'd never heard of. I tried to go for a run, but brrrrr! Too wimpy. It's windy out there! I thought about joining a gym again, but we are trying to be frugal. We hate frugal. Steve has never known frugal before. Frugal is such an ugly word! I could use the gym at school but the thought of working out with a bunch of 18 year old meatheads really puts me off. We had some of those at the gym I belonged to before, but they were a small group and the rest of us there were young professionals going in after work. (Young professionals translates into "guys that make comments about women behind their backs so that they cannot hear, as opposed to the 18 yr olds who are proud to be loudly obnoxious). That and I am sick to death of seeing 18 year old girls bum cracks. Ladies, please, wear some jeans that fit. This look is never attractive. Never. So I'm left to my pilates dvd's and the 20 yr old gold exercise bike. And oh, yes, a dusty old weight bench that's been mended a few too many times with duct tape.
Glazed 2-rat bowl today. Made one a tan rat, one a tan hoodie, like my Roxy and Gloria. Think the glaze on the inside is too thick. May crack. I stink at glazing because I do not take my time. Always in a rush to be somewhere other than where I am.
so...eeek, gotta go!

Confessions...

Hi. My name is Amanda. I am 27 years old. And for the last two weeks I have been a real bitch.
I cannot count the times I have snapped at poor old Steve, nagged him, made faces and blamed him for...oh, anything.
Is it the dark, bleak weather? Is it my old complaint of too much to do, too little time? My vote today is that I'm a little whiney and feel entitled to generous amounts of down-time and relaxation, which I just can't have.
And here is where the resentment begins....Steve gets down time. Relaxation. Whole evenings and weekends worth. He'll sit and read the paper while I'm cleaning...or doing homework... Hey! This misery wants company. Get off yer bum and do some cleaning, Mr!

I did see a movie last night. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was at the $1.00 theater, but the tickets actually cost $1.75. It was the first Harry Potter movie I've seen and now suddenly I'm all impatient to read all of the books and watch the first 3 movies. I'm slow, I know. These books have been around forever. They've been here for me, but I haven't been ready to receive them until now;)

Going to make my amazing nephew (who had a bout of projectile sickness just this a.m.) a ratty bank - just a huge ol' ceramic rat with a slit at the top and a whole at the bottom for collecting coins and bits of paper money. I'm going to try to get permission to use the ceramics room over break. I do plan on taking ceramics again next quarter, but more seriously this time. I hadn't anticipated enjoying it so much. And now that I've seen a couple pieces glazed and done, I wish I had put forth the little extra effort.

Rats are napping soundly, dog just finished chewing a ham bone and is bathing in a sunbeam downstairs with Dad. And I am off to study high renaissance art.

yay! Vivi (Olive) just went for a dip in the ratty pool. First time anyone's been brave enough to try it.
(For those who are wondering, the ratty pool is what Steve formerly called his lasagna pan. Don't worry, folks, he's got another)
heeey.....there go Mary and Brie!
Must go admire rats now.

Ooops, forgot to mention. Bowl below is not fired or glazed. Ah, hell, you know what this means? I now have two bad-art blogs.
Thing #2 - Molly has to go in for x-rays on her hips to determine if she's got back arthritis or hip displaysia. Poor lady. She has to undergo anesthesia and stay at the vet's office all day. She will be so confused.
Not to mention (selfishly) that this does nothing for my argument about why we should have two dogs. Steve's gonna whip out the money issue, and boy is he gonna win. I hate when anybody but me is right;)

This is my two-rat bowl, "lovingly" crafted in less than one hour. I have to admit that I don't take this class very seriously. Just stick a rat on it and it's great. That's my philosophy!

I just saw Ratty's blog all done up in stripes with tunes and a webcam and everything. I'm jealous!
School is beating me up. Finals week is week after next, which means everything is due next week, which means this week sucks! Went to school in the wee hours of the morning this morning to use the ceramics room. I was a tad afraid of being the only sane (ok, that's questionable) person there. After all, it's only the crazies that lurk around when it's still dark out, right? But, I worried for naught! Turns out I was not the only student to wait 'til the last minute to whip out a clay masterpiece.
By the way, Ratty, I've glazed my big ceramic rat and he's marvelously goofy. Did a rat vase, too, that's been a favorite with a few classmates and the instructor.
My brilliant 4 yr old nephew was watching his own pet ratty, Carrot, eat a piece of broccolli the other night. He laughed and pointed and then, when Carrot chewed open-mouthed (never seen that one before, has anyone else?) on a mouthful of yogies, he squealed, "That's so cute! I wish I were a ratty! I wish I were Carrot's brother!" That kid. I love him. I only want a human child of my own if he'll turn out just like the nephew.
Molly is sitting expectantly beside me...oops, no, she just threw herself to the floor with an enormous, pitiful sigh. She's desirous of attention, that one, even though I just gave her a 30 minute cuddle.
Well, off to think about cooking dinner and homework and then to bed early, for early must I rise and...play with clay again.

There is scientific research being done to try and discover how rats think. Here is a link to a short article about rats memory: http://www.physorg.com/news10796.html

This weekend was just about the best I've had since school began. (Try not to feel too sad for me once you read how uneventful it was) Steve cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed upstairs without my asking! Then we went grocery shopping together, instead of me alone. Steve tried to convince me to buy the yogurt on sale, but I insisted that we buy only organic. Then I left him to pick out only the most wholesome of the organic flavors while I stocked up on oreos and doritos.
On Sunday we made omelettes and bagels and potatos...yum! and read the paper for a good long time while the sun streamed in through the dining room window.
And today it's snowing like mad and I'm back to homework.
The end of the quarter is fast approaching and I've decided that along with organizing the pantry and the linen closets during my break, I am going to turn my office, i.e., rat room, into a full-fledged rat playground. Jungle gyms all around, cardboard castles, little bits of this and that for them to discover and stash...I can't wait. This, of course, means that all of my "important papers" will have to be stashed into the closet, out of harm's way. Which means that I will have to clean the closet...
I have also been lurking about on the pets-for-adoption sites. It's an illness. I can't stop. When we adopted Molly, Steve and I told each other that we would eventually have two dogs, but it turns out that his "eventually" and my "eventually" don't mean the same thing.
I PROMISE I'LL STOP LOOKING FOR PETS IF I CAN GET JUST ONE MORE!!!

The babies are crazy. Despite saying the word "gentle" when I reach in for a pat and "treat" when I reach in with food, Mary has nipped a few times. Did not break skin, but I'm afraid of where this may be heading. And Acorn bit Steve and broke skin when Steve stuck his fingers through the cage bars. No one has ever fed them through bars. Naughty girls! We "eep" when they nip/bite...Anybody got any other ideas? We're not sneaking up on them, so startling can't be used as an excuse. Aaah, probably just ratty adolescence and excitement at the mere thought of food. Hope the habit doesn't get worse. I've had two good rat bites in the past and am not interested in experiencing a third. (please, folks, no suggestions to keep our fingers out of the cage bars, we've thought of that one already).
I did go to the extreme materials art show. Amazing stuff, really. There was a newborn boy there made of dirt. His expression was so vivid and needy that I felt compelled to pick him up and comfort him - although I did not. The piece made of duck sauce packets was one of my favorites. The artist -name already forgotten- used a large grid to structure his piece and the play of light and color was amazing. There were pieces made from tiny (found) animal bones, human teeth, fish skins, drug baggies, sand paper, garden hoses and zip ties, human hair...and then there was a beautiful piece that I noticed right away from across the room. It was gold and red swirls and pattern. I stepped up to take a closer look and discovered that the artist had used gold leaf and her own menstrual blood to make this piece. Now, I like to think of myself as a forward thinker, open to new ideas and different kinds of folks, but I was sort of taken aback by this. And I guess that was part of the point. I tried to google image some things to post up here and show you, but had no luck. I admit I didn't try very hard...
Oooh, I just spied Mary head-sleeping...Must...go...pat...her....too sweet...

Printer Jam

These are pictures from an actual printer jam at John Deere Seeding. The little guy was stuck but someone was able to extract him safely. Poor little guy! But check out those lips in the last picture. So cute. (Picture was emailed to me by my sister - not sure of its origins, but was assured mouse is safe and sound)

*sigh* What did I do to deserve such cuteness? (Brie)

I saw The New World. This man, Christian Bale, was in it. If that isn't enough reason to watch the movie, I don't know what is. Seriously, it's a very good movie. Definitely worth a wide-screen watch.

Long day today. Prof was out of it today, distracted. Then he finally admitted that his dog was hit by a car yesterday and it was all he could think about. The dog will be fine - has compressed lungs and has to be watched closely. But I guess he and his wife spent all yesterday at vet's, all last night monitoring dog...He said he found her in a field, blood gushing out of her mouth, standing stock still. Wouldn't move. He got choked up when he talked about her and referred to her not as his dog, but as his best friend. I like that man.

Babies are out and about again. They are still so tentative and nervous. While they are fine with me poking my hands about in the cage and scooping them up and patting them, they scatter and scurry back into the cage if I make the slightest movement while they are outside of the cage - hence the blogging while they're out. They're not comfortable enough to play out here yet.

I love how they're little feet sound on the hardwood floor. CUTE!

Going to try to talk Steve into going to the local pub (not even a mile away) for dinner. Don't feel like cooking. Made salmon, mashed taters and sweet green peas for dinner last night. How do I top that? Can't, so might as well go out.

Going to extreme materials gallery show this week. Tried to go to a gallery opening last weekend - illustrations of the mundane by various artists - but the gallery mispublicized its opening date and a bunch of us ninnies were left out in the cold, all jazzed up and staring dumbly at a locked gallery door and black windows. This new show should be great, though, and I'm not trying to make the opening, so....Anyway, I hear artists have used hair, blood, duck sauce (!?) in their pieces so...should have a full report soon. Either going Thurs or Sat.

And...I hear odd noises, things falling, so...must pay attention to the kids! They've no doubt chewed something precious by now!

"Nobody loves me"

"Hey, is that food?"

"Maybe he dropped something..."


"If you give me some food, I promise to be the best dog ever!"

"Oh, thank you, thank you! You DO love me!"

The babies are free-ranging. Olive and Ace are under my desk wrestling and Brie and Mary are watching from the sidelines, probably making bets. I put down a big pan of water for them to take a swim in, but so far nobody's interested.
Class was cancelled today. WHOOPEE! This means more time with the babies and Molly and more time to cuddle up with a good book.
Spent all morning doing what should have been done this weekend - vacuuming, mopping, thinking about dusting...
Tried to go out for a run today but got as far as the driveway and almost fell on my arse - icey! So, I went back inside, stared at the exercise bike and then sat down with a cup of coffee.
Gotta run, Olive's just found the power strip...

A scarf for those blustery winter days

Fashionable skirt, for those unseasonably warm winter days

And, of course, evening wear.
I just love Japanese fashion, don't you?

Well, today's been heaven - a 2 hr soak in the tub that brought Atwood's Penelopiad to a close. Then a run in the sun, which turned into a run in the driving snow (funny how that happens) and now I'm off to cuddle up with Martha Grime's Winds of Change. I'll be paying for this mostly- lazy weekend tomorrow. As you can tell from the previous post, I got sidetracked during my one attempt at homework.

Whilst doing research for my 3D nesting project, I popped onto the online OED database and looked up "rat."
Here are a couple of the definitions that I found:

g. to get (or have) a rat (or rats): to be eccentric or insane. Austral. and N.Z. slang. [1890 Barrere & Leland Dict. Slang II. (American), 'to have rats', to have wild or eccentric fancies.]

ADDITIONS SERIES 1997
rat, n
e. rat-arsed a. slang, drunk, tipsy

Click on the image and read the text. It's an actual excerpt from Housekeeping Magazine, 1955

The Saturday Afternoon Rodent Report

with Molly

...because this inquiring dog wants to know

Three rats were involved Thursday in a high speed chase. The chase ended when Mary and Brie, the victims turned heroes, cornered their assailant and pinned her between a pvc tunnel and the back of their rat cage. When asked to describe the scene, human Amanda said this: "I was actually proud of Maribo and Brie for standing up for themselves. I'm surprised there wasn't bloodshed when they finally caught her." Human Amanda had little to say about the attacker, Olive: "No matter how hard a mother tries, there is always one child who won't listen." She refused to comment further, stating that it is just too painful to talk about.

This reporter did invite all three rats involved to make a statement. Their publicist and cagemate, Acorn, released this statement. "These girls are just like any other group of sisters. They have their arguments and then make up. They're just like everybody else, but the stress of having their lives publicly displayed on a blog gets to them sometimes."

And as if four rodents weren't enough for this household, it looks like there may yet be another.

Last Saturday, lazy humans Steve and Amanda went to bed without properly cleaning their dinner dishes. Upon entering the kitchen on Sunday morning, they were shocked to find that the contents of the dishes had disappeared and had been replaced by mouse droppings. This reporter asked the humans just what they were planning to do about it. "I sprinkled the kitchen with peppermint and spearmint oils to try to humanely deter him from coming back, but it's not really working. So...Good for him! He's keeping warm and eating like a king," said human Amanda. Human Steve declined comment. Both humans have resolved to fastidiously clean the kitchen each evening in the hopes that this mouse will stay in the basement. When asked what she would do if the mouse reproduced and brought its young upstairs, human Amanda just rolled her eyes.

And that's the ratty news. Stay safe, stay tuned, and this reporting dog will see you next week.

A Stephen's Kangaroo Rat and a Pacific Kangaroo Rat. 1990 photo, AP, California.

Up obnoxiously early this morning. Must have something to do with the amount of Riesling consumed last night.

Brie gave me a fright. I fed the girls their evening crunchies (homemade rat cereal - includes human cereals, fresh blueberries, dried fruit, soy beans, etc) and was still cooing over them when I spotted Brie in the corner. Her head was lurching back in forth in a gagging motion and white foam gathered around her mouth. First reaction: panic. Second Reaction: stay calm, sides still heaving in and out, must be still able to breath...I watched her for what seemed an eternity, and then she sat up, washed her face and ran to retrieve another rat crunchy. Clearly, the incident was more traumatic for me than it was for her.

So I ran to the internet to find out how to help a choking rat - in case it ever happens again. Turns out you do the ratty swing.
And foods with skins - like blueberries - are dangerous to rats. Peel before giving it to them...

Still feeling somewhat guilty about not yet inviting S's friends K and C over to the house for dinner and whatnot. We've been to their home several times since moving here. Reciprocity is necessarry, but evil. I don't know them well. What will I do? What will I say? Had K and A over, but they are so boisterous and laid back, they put anyone at ease. K and C are more reserved. Plus they have kids. Kids who will touch my stuff...
(brilliant nephew not included in general complaint of grabby-hands children)

Off to find a cute ratty pic and then to school to trim my bowls - I threw 5 yesterday. Finally getting ahold of the pottery wheel thing. And then...I must do battle with photoshop...wish me much luck. I will be working in the school's lab and will have to refrain from loud swearing, which is how I usually get the computer to carry out my commands.

In this undated photo released by DOC Image, Razza, a brown Norwegian rat, searches for food on New Zealand's uninhabited and unforested Motuhoropapa Island. The castaway rat was left to fend for himself on a deserted island in an experiment New Zealand scientists say has given them insights into why it is so hard to eradicate vermin that can seriously damage fragile island ecosystems.
(AP photo, DOC Image, HO)

It is the Wisdome of Rats, that will be sure to leave a House, somewhat before it fall

Sir Francis Bacon