you wouldn't believe the size of the spider in my sink...

Yeah, I'm starting to think that Spider's always going to be tiny...

Also, randomly because it's adorable:

Ohio Kat and the Temple of Food

Da, da duh-duh, da duh-duh
Da, da duh-duh, da duh-duh...

*cue our heroine striding bravely across the parking lot landscape and into the store her base of operations, (price) gun hanging from one hip and bullwhip boxcutter hanging from the other*

our heroine: *clocks in*
female sales associate: "Ohio Kat, thank God! Oh, Buckeye, it's terrible..."
Buckeye: *thrives on all that is terrible (or, at least, tends to perform better under pressure)* "Whatever is it, Alice?"
Alice: "Black times are coming, Buckeye. It's--" dun, dun, dun "--Black Friday in a few days."
Buckeye: "This could be serious. I'd better find the Zone Manager for Consumables."
the ZM: *speaks supply and demand fluently but once got lost in her own storeroom* "Buckeye, there you are. Black Friday is approaching and we haven't started setting up yet. The natives are growing nervous. This is a terrible omen."
Buckeye: "Sorry, boss, but ancient supply lines and hokey purchasing formulas don't-- Oh, no, wait. I save the Hana Solo shtick for when I'm rebelling against authority."
ZM: *rolls her eyes* "We have three crates of bananas unaccounted for."
Buckeye: "Crates. Why did it have to be crates..."
ZM: "We're counting on you, Buckeye. You need to travel into the wilderness and recover the crates or terrible hardships will befall the natives."
Buckeye: "I'm on it." *ventures into the wilderness*

 (and this is all just the food)

Buckeye: *never did find those damned crates, but still managed to be quite productive and prevent the famine*
the ZM: "Well done, Ohio Kat. Now beings your real challenge."
Buckeye: "Nazis? Communists? Thuggee cultists?"
the ZM: "Worse. It's time to start setting up for Black Friday."
Buckeye: "Dear God." *gulps* "The holy grail of retail shopping..."
the ZM: "It will take all of our cleverness and resolve to get out of this alive."

to be continued...

Have you hugged a vet today?

Today's Veterans Day in the United States and, whether you agree or disagree with any of the wars currently being fought in the world, let's all take a second to remember all the men and women who have, are, and will put their lives on hold to protect and defend the ideals they and their people hold dear. Freedom isn't free and all that good stuff as any soldier or friend/family member of a soldier will tell you.

So this is me saying a big THANK YOU to all the former soldiers, current soldiers, future soldiers, and family members who have, are, or will support them in their decision to make just about the biggest sacrifice a man or woman can make. Thank you all. You're always in my thoughts and prayers.

Lead us not into temptation

I recently got a job at a major mass-merchandise store which shall remain nameless in case I ever decide to use this space to complain about them (which, in fairness, seems unlike as I've been treated considerably worse by other stores I've worked for in the past; actually being thanked for doing my job and having it acknowledged when I go above and beyond is a new and gratifying experience). To date, my job has consisted almost entirely of freight (which is distinguished from simple stocking by the fact that the boxes are heavier) and my sister has commented that I'm likely to lose weight if I keep this up for much longer. Which sounds good to me. I used to pay a gym good money for less of a workout. However, that fails to take into account the fact that I am routinely asked to work in departments like these:

(candy)

(baked goods)

Losing weight may have to wait awhile...

Does this make me Schroedinger?

Spider: "Im in ur box. Or iz I?" 

foundling kitty

I wanted to put up pictures of Henry (the kitten abandoned on my sister's farm) awhile ago but other things kept coming up. I don't see how anyone could abandon a kitty so cute and sweet, but that's neither here nor there. I love the little guy and am more than happy to keep him here until we find him a nice human or family to live with. He's really brought out Spider's maternal side which is kind of precious to watch (when they aren't both in my lap wrestling because they are strong but small). He's growing so fast, though. He can't be much more than 2 months old since he had his milk teeth when my sister found him. As a frame of reference, Spider who is in some of the pics with him is 8 months.

Okay, on to the adorable pics :) Some are on the blurry side because they were taken with my computer's camera

That would be me in the picture with him. Typing one-handed slows me down some but, like all males, Henry likes laps and chests ;) I have learned to adapt...

This is Henry in my lap with Spider, who no longer lets him sit there alone if she can help it. She has no interest in my lap unless Henry's already there.

Once she's there with him, she spends ages grooming him, which turns him into an even bigger purr-box than usual.

(I did not realize that this blog was going to include photos of my lap. Sorry about that. But, as you can see by the grin, Henry luuuuuuurves being groomed by his surrogate mama.)

And here is a curious young man wondering what that flashing red light on the computer is:

(blurry or not, I love this image)

Spider and Henry spend a LOT of time together. Including full-contact Xtreme Tag at 3 in the morning every morning, lol. But she also teaches him more traditional kitty passtimes like eagerly watching birdies and critters and looking at humans like they're idiots.

Granted, Spider's a pretty small lady, so here's a picture of regular-sized Betty on top of my Mahjong set and one of Henry on it for comparison.

So he's definitely not all growed up yet, but he is definitely a big boy *pets him*

It's the most wonderful time of the year

I know most people prefer the summer, spring, and winter, but I am all about the autumn (or maybe only when it's happening since I'm quite fond of the other seasons as well). But it's like the world is snuggling down into bed for the night (winter) and covering itself with a big honking blanket of leaves. I'm more of a fleece person, but whatever works for Ma Nature.It's funny how you forget between one autumn and the next how gorgeous it really is when the leaves change.

Cuyahoga Valley foliage - how to create a free slideshow

(pictures by me)

It's not just the colors that make me love fall, either. I was taking out the garbage last night before I went to bed around 11pm and I was struck by how different it is at night during the fall. Everything is going dormant and you can sense that in the stillness all around but, at the same time, every breath of air carries a dozen smells and sounds. There's something almost alive about the way the night sounds in the autumn with the leaves slithering over each other and sound carrying for miles and miles. This time of year, you can even hear the trains go through Akron from here. And, since they moved the pound a couple months ago, I can only assume those aren't domestic dogs I'm hearing howling in the PM. Brother-in-law says the coyotes are getting fairly bold this year, getting near their house and everything. Which is a shame since I kind of love moonlit strolls through wild areas but I'm too sensible to do it where there may be potentially dangerous wild animals. Still, I can enjoy the night weather almost as much from my own living room, so won't complain too much :)

"This world is but a canvas for our imaginations." (Thoreau)

How's this for a color-palate?

I love the contrast of those first two. It's been SO dry here lately and this weekend's been the first real rain we've had in ages, so the grass is brown and the sky is threatening but the leaves have finally started to turn. Here are some of the brighter colors that we'd normally be seeing right, left and center by now:

On a related note, I made a wreath to hang on my front door:

I took dozens of pics in the Valley today but those three are all I'm posting for now. More soon, probably. Updates about the kitties soon as well, I should think. Spider has adopted foster brother Henry and is being soooo lovey with him.

Colors of the wind (no, not Disney-related)

A friend sent me this video and I just had to share it.

It's by a gentleman named Simon Christen and it's one of the most lovely things I've seen in a long while.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

The video's wonderful and has me wanting to play with color palates for jewelry. Darn it, muses, fall is underway and we haven't even finished playing with those color combinations yet. Stop being all ADD and finish one project before you demand another!!! Even if some of the colors in the video would be stunning together...

Spider is a monkey (an entry that has nothing to do with spiders or monkeys, just cats)

I recently acquired a new kitten who, thanks to my 6 year old niece, ended up with the moniker Spider-Monkey ToeChomper (for her habits of climbing everything, swinging around and, of course, chewing any exposed toes she can get her little teeth on). I'm sure it helped that she bears a passing resemblance to a spider monkey:

Or perhaps that's just me? We tend to just call her Spider (did you know that, like felines, tarantulas have retractable claws?) and it suits her somehow.

At any rate, my Spider Monkey lives up to her name (as does her big "sister" Betty who we named after a land-mine when we acquired her because of her habit of going off unexpectedly). She has recently discovered her favorite place to be: on top of any door she can get at.

She also likes helping me blog:

and designing jewelry:

Actually, basically any time I'm busy, she wants to be the center of attention:

Betty's much less interested in being the center of attention, so most of my pics of her are either from a distance or while she's giving me the "Why are you pointing that thing at me?" look

Or else the "You just gave me a bath, woman!!!" look

Betty just seemed miffed. Spider looked more like she was contemplating an appropriately painful punishment for me:

When she's not being adorable, she can appear quite evil

Okay. I think that's enough pictures of my lovely ladies for now. I have lots more on my hard drive and in my camera, but this'll take long enough to load as it is. Maybe I'll post more soon. And the girls do temporarily have a foster brother who I haven't posted pics of yet. Hmm, sister of mine was right: it's not hard coming up with stuff to talk about here :)

a few thoughts on the subject of sloths

Anyone who reads this regularly will realize fairly quickly that I am a random person. My family and I used to joke that, if I were a superhero, my Superhero name would be Random Factoid Girl and my superpower would be Information Dump (dazes opponents for several rounds). My blog entries will reflect that facet of my personality. 

Today's random thinky thoughts are brought to you by the letter S for "sloth". Enjoy :)

Sloths are cute. They also have pretty long claws for their size. Seriously, look at those things:

It's a good thing they're so adorable and lazy or else they'd just be scary with the claws. Now imagine one twenty feet tall.

Megatherium, the giant ground sloth, was 20 feet (6 meters) tall and weighed in at about 8 tons. Those would have been some big honking claws. Scary to think about them running around the back yard but they did coexist with humans for a short while. To put it in perspective, some paleontologists think that they used to chase saber toothed tigers away from their kills. The jury's out on this since they were predominantly herbivores and not everyone's convinced they ever scavenged meat -- still, daunting animals. Yummy ones, too, presumably, considering that they flourished in South America for millions of years only to be extinct within a few thousand years of humans making it to this side of the Pond. I think that's probably the downside of being the biggest bad boy on the block. You can't run and hide very well and hungry hunter/gathers look at you and think "all you can eat buffet". I will not be commenting on what this says about human nature since this is a happy place.

Still, fortunately for lovers of cuteness everywhere, their smaller, more adorable cousins continue to flourish.

Sloth, it's not just a deadly sin any more :) 

(Random endnote: according to my sister, the freakiest toes in the animal kingdom undisputedly belong to the chameleon. She swears they're actually the descendents of pets accidentally left on this planet by aliens millions of years ago.)

Dark Side, here I come...

I've finally been convinced to start a blog despite the fact that my life just hasn't been interesting in years.

sister: "You should start a blog."
self: "Uh, okay. Why?"
sister: "You just should. You're creative and things."
self: "M'okay." 
(Easily influenced? Me? Just a tad.)

So I guess this is the part where I say stuff about myself in case anyone I don't already know decides to read this?

I'm between 18 and 80 (unless I'm older, of course), female, live alone with my thoughts and my cats somewhere in the Corn Belt and Bible Belt but, fortunately, not quite in the Snow Belt. Oh, and according to a quick Google search, I also live in the Rust Belt and the Salt Belt. I tend to just think of myself as living five minutes from the gorgeous Cuyahoga Valley National Park (you can put away the atlas; this means I live in Northeast Ohio). Trees, hills, valleys, caves, rivers, marshes and critters galore. What more can a girl ask for?

There's such inspiration in nature. It always reminds me of the first few lines of "Auguries of Innocence" by Blake:

To see a world in a grain of sand
and heaven in a wildflower
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand
and eternity in an hour

The world's macro, so huge it's almost impossible to comprehend, but a creative spirit can turn all that beauty and wonder into something tangible that can be enjoyed even if you don't have a National Park right out your back door. Whether it's a poem or a photo or a piece of jewelry or flower arrangement, I think it's a gift we've been given as humans that we can take nature and use it as an inspiration for something that can be enjoyed by everyone.

So this is basically a place where I can celebrate that (I need to celebrate more in my life).