Slash

It's 1 a.m. and I can't sleep because of my head cold. I'm trying to bore myself to sleep by chasing a dose of NyQuil with some YouTube viewing, and I came across this little gem...



I know, I know, a certain member of Guns n' Roses has spewed some viscous hate speech in the past. But I still like their early music and have always been a big fan of Slash in particular, so I thought this was pretty cool. And with all of the hatefulness that is surfacing after the election, I'm really glad to see people standing up for what they think is right and doing it in a positive way.

My second selection isn't at all related to politics, but I really like this song, it has Slash, and it's happy, so enjoy.

My House Smells Like Peppers

For some reason known only to himself, my dad, who doesn't even like when my mom puts chili powder in chili, felt the urge to plant jalapeno and habanero chilies this summer. As a result, when I visited a couple of weeks ago, I drove back home with a paper grocery bag full of a few tomatoes and a whole lotta peppers; 48 habaneros and 5 jalapenos, to be exact. I've learned that it's not worth the time and effort to figure out my father's motives, so I just took the bag and wondered what I was going to do with the contents. Bare in mind that my husband thinks pepperoni pizza is spicy, so he would be no help.

After a little Internet research, I decided to try to make barbeque sauce and some chili paste. I started out this morning with the sauce, which involved roasting the chilies and then pureeing them in the blender. (Note to other short women who may try this at home: let the mixture breathe a little before sticking your face over the top of the blender, otherwise the proximity of the paste to your face will trigger tears and a sneezing fit.) About half way through roasting, Chris decided to take a road trip. I didn't think it was that bad until I made a trip to the composting bin and came back inside. My eyes stung when I walked back inside. No wonder the dogs were nowhere to be found.

Anyway, long story short, I now have 2 1/2 jars of barbeque sauce and two ice cube trays filled with chili paste (for easy freezing and use later). And the house still smells like the inside of a chili. I wonder how long it will take to dissipate...

Yes, I Am Alive

When I called this blog "My Little Thoughts...", I did not intend for little to mean few. I just don't think about putting my thoughts out here too often.

But some things are worth blogging about. Even if you're not for Obama, this is a hoot.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

The Republican National Convention May Be During the Same Week as My Birthday...

... but I don't have to like it.

Take it away Jon:

Holy Crap, Batgirl!

Think you need to travel to exotic, faraway lands for animal adventures? Think again.

You can have all the fun and excitement of an up-close encounter just minutes from your very own home. Here's how: Just strap on a pair of your favorite running shoes and walk out the back door. Make sure that it's twilight so that both humans and animals have a false sense of security. Start walking. It's preferable to head for a neighborhood with large stands of old trees with low hanging branches to maximize the experience. Finding just the right place will enable nature to come straight to you with no annoying middleman.

Once you've found the perfect spot, keep moving but look up to admire the dozens of bats flying about gobbling up all those pesky insects. Before you know it, you'll have all your very own bat fluttering around against the decal on your tee shirt (and we do suggest a tee shirt rather than workout top -- what with the bat pee and all).

Try to refrain from yelling, "Jesus Christ! That's a bat!" as there are children present. Running three blocks at a flat-out sprint is acceptable.

Later, we've added a special bonus encounter.

If you see a raccoon arching its back at you, make sure to make a motion toward it accompanied by some sort of vocalization. When the raccoon charges you -- and our hand-fed neighborhood raccoons will charge you -- see if you can outrun it.

Bonus points if you don't drop your keys or the pepper spray that you forgot you had with you.

Butterfly Garden Update

My butterfly and bird garden has turned into more of a bee and chipmunk garden. It's all good, though. I'm just hoping the chipmunk doesn't get so used to me that she tries to move into the house with us. It's not exactly airtight, so it wouldn't be too hard. And I know it's a she because she's had lots of babies over the past couple of seasons.

This is great time to shop for plants. Some of the more unusual flora is gone but the remaining stock is half off or more. Gardening is such a crap shoot anyway, so why not try a couple of bargain plants? One of my favorite shrubs from a couple of years ago was reduced to 1/4 of the original price and is covered with butterflies and bees in late summer and early fall. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow. The sun is going down already and my camera battery is dead. The photo I'm using is of one of Mom's peonies.

My latest addition was something my mom insisted on buying me -- Sedum 'Angelina'. It's not something I would normally buy but she was really excited by it and it was only $4. The chipmunk seems to think digging in the middle of it is a grand idea, so we'll have to see if it makes it. The other plants from earlier this spring are doing pretty well. I didn't realize I was buying so many violet blue varieties. Next year I'll concentrate on some other colors like pink or yellow.

More HR Humor

This is a real ad from the local paper that ran sometime this Spring. A couple of us in the HR department dialed the number to try to figure out the company name. The guy answering the phone said it so fast we couldn't understand what he was saying and a reverse number look up only told us it was somewhere downtown. Shows we're not the only ones with hiring problems.