Posted by barb on Jun 29, 2005 in
Cute Pets A word of advice: The next time the vet gives you a prescription for your cat, and the vet’s assistant suggests that a pillgun might help, don’t think to yourself, gee, she’s just a small cat, and we’ve got two adults in the house, how hard could it be? Don’t be an idiot. Just get the pill gun.
Andrew and I have been struggling with Artemis for the past two weeks, giving her two pills in the morning and two in the evening. More than once it has ended in tears. She refuses to swallow, she drools, she holds the pill behind her tongue and spits it out… Frequently the first pill would go better, but not always, and there was always a bit of a struggle.
When we picked up a refill, and saw that the vet had reduced the pills to one pill twice a day, I was tempted not to get the pillgun, but in the end decided to get it anyway. Last night and this morning, we shot the pill in and she swallowed it right away. No tears. No drooling. No hiding the pill behind her tongue.
What f***ing idiots we were…
Tags: pets
Posted by barb on Jun 28, 2005 in
Around DC,
Pictures While Dad was in town, Andrew and I decided to take him to the Frank Lloyd Wright house near DC. Dad has always admired FLW’s designs, but has never seen one of the houses up close. The Pope-Leighey house is one of FLW’s Usonian houses — “modestly scaled”, affordable, and well-designed houses.
It was interesting to go there with Dad, who has been a carpenter his entire life — over 40 years. I’ve heard him lament many times about architects. The problem, it seems, is that while architects may be able to design buildings that look good, they frequently aren’t in touch with the more practical aspects of home building. It seems that FLW wasn’t much different. As we walked around the outside, there were several things that Dad pointed out as being impractical or just not a great idea. For example, the outside walls when down on top of the foundation. While it looked kind of cool, Dad mentioned that this is a good way to get water into the house, unless it’s sealed in some way (i.e. caulking), which had not been done on this house.
But overall, Dad really liked the house — he likes the way the FLW designed houses for their lot, and tried to use whatever was in the lot (like a hill or trees) to compliment his design with help of Eventscape.
Here’s a picture Dad by the side of the house, and one of the window by the children’s room. There weren’t many full-sized windows around, but the small row of windows seen in this picture ringed the entire house. From the outside, I wondered how there could possibly be enough light in the house, and yet this ring of small windows were more than sufficient.
Afterwards touring the Pope-Leighey house, we toured the Woodlawn Plantation. This was a plantation on land that George Washington gave to Martha’s granddaughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Custis Lewis, and her husband Major Lawrence. It was still a nice tour, with a knowledgeable tour guide and period furniture in the house (some of it original). As with the Pope-Leighey house, pictures were not allowed inside, but here are a couple of the house and grounds:
Tags: museums
Posted by barb on Jun 27, 2005 in
Books by Kay Kenyon
Star Road has returned to Earth after a failed attempt to establish a colony elsewhere in the galaxy. They turned back after the young people stopped being able to bear children. They’ve been gone 250 years according to the ships clocks, but 10,000 years have passed on Earth.
When they arrive, they find an Earth covered with “Ice” — a crystalline substance that covers most of the surface. The people of Star road don’t have much time, since Ice is still spreading, and the small tract of land left open will be covered in less than 6 months.
On the surface, the Ice Nuns are the group to negotiate with. They are not catholic, nor God-fearing; however, they keep up the heirarchy of the old Catholic Nuns — along with the discipline and corruption. Their goal is to talk with Ice, and they don’t want to stop its growth.
Zoya tries politics with the Nuns, hooks up with a tracker of Ice Witches, and searches for a nun postulant who could unlock the secret of Ice.
This is the first book of Kenyon’s that I’ve read. Based on the blurb on the back of the book, I wouldn’t have even picked it up, and I would have missed out. The story was strong, the characters compelling, and I look forward to seeing what else Kenyon has written.
Tags: reviews
Posted by barb on Jun 25, 2005 in
Pictures Andrew and I flew Dad in to help us put up some shelves in my office closet and our guest room closet. We have a lot of stuff, and our house doesn’t have much storage (the apartment I lived in before we moved here had two walk-in closets, and I had filled them…the house has no walk-in closets).
It only took a few hours of work, and I now have the Closetmaid system in both closets. In fact, after watching Dad put them up (and constantly bugging him with questions about what he was doing), I think I’d be comfortable putting this system up in our bedroom closets…should we decide that we want something different.
Yay! I have shelves!!!
Here are a couple of pictures:
Tags: family
Posted by barb on Jun 24, 2005 in
Memes, Etc. They Fight Crime!
He’s an ungodly one-eyed master criminal fleeing from a secret government programme. She’s a sharp-shooting cat-loving stripper with a birthmark shaped like Liberty’s torch. They fight crime!
[via Brutal Women]
Posted by barb on Jun 23, 2005 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures 
Tags: pets
Posted by barb on Jun 23, 2005 in
Random Thoughts This is unfortunate:
Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes (Registration required)
The Supreme Court today effectively expanded the right of local governments to seize private property under eminent domain, ruling that people’s homes and businesses — even those not considered blighted — can be taken against their will for private development if the seizure serves a broadly defined “public use.”
A few years ago, Best Buy pressured the city government in Richfield, Minnesota, for land to build a new home office complex. In the process, Richfield condemed numerous houses and business properties, including Wally McCarthy’s Oldsmobile dealer. This dealership had been in that location for as long as I could remember — a real landmark — and was the dealership used for the movie Fargo. Last I heard, Wally McCarthy was still fighting the city to get fair value for the lands and business that he lost.
The dumbest part? While the Best Buy property is in Richfield, most of the businesses that will benefit from the new home office complex are just one block south, across the city limits. Yup. Richfield gave Best Buy free taxes for umpteen years (can’t remember the exact number), and Bloomington businesses are the real beneficiaries. Besides that, the Best Buy complex is among the ugliest developments I’ve seen.
The only good thing that came out of the deal for Richfield was that Best Buy had to help the city re-do the interesections from I-494 onto and off of Penn Avenue, and build a bigger, beefier overpass.
Tags: rant
Posted by barb on Jun 21, 2005 in
Cute Pets 
The news from the vet wasn’t good. The prednisone may have reduced the mass a bit, but not as much as he would have expected. But, it looks like it is cancer. He said that we’re probably talking about months not years.
Today sucks.
Tags: pets, suckitude
Posted by barb on Jun 21, 2005 in
Cute Pets,
Random Thoughts Artemis went to the vet’s office again this morning for her follow-up X-ray. Last week, the vet called me after the X-ray was done and he’d looked at it, even though I had an appointment to pick her up later in the afternoon. Today, I’m expecting him to call again, though he hasn’t yet. The phone rang while I was eating lunch, and the butterflies in my stomach were unbearable, but the call was a wrong number. Needless to say, I’m a bit of a wreck — I’ve been less productive today than on the day before a vacation…
Fingers crossed, and happy, healthy mojo to Artemis!
Tags: pets, suckitude
Posted by barb on Jun 20, 2005 in
Biking,
Pictures Andrew and I managed to get out on the bikes both Saturday and Sunday this weekend. It was a perfect weekend for it, too. Last weekend, when we did the PPTC ride, it was near 90 degrees and HUMID. This weekend, it was in the lower 80s with low humidity. Yay for great biking weather.
On Saturday we took the bikes up to the Vienna Community Center, and hopped on the W & OD trail heading south/east. This brought us to one of our favorite destinations: Hole in the Wall Books in Falls Church.
Total (round-trip) miles: 12.24 miles.
On Sunday we drove up to where the W & OD trail intersects Hunter Mill Road. We took the path north/east this time, and went into Herndon. This is the furthest that either of us has been on the path (except, of course, for our honeymoon, when we started at the other end of the W & OD in Purcellville).
Total miles: 15.58 miles.
Total weekend miles: 27.82 miles. Yay us!!
Tags: bike