Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Tuesday Sketch



So the sketch is a little late this week, but here's the conclusion of "A Cautionary Tale..." (presented with the earlier installments as a recap).

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Bonus Sketch


It's a Two for Wednesday-Here's page 3 of "A Cautionary Tale..."

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Christmas mold!

One of my big Christmas presents this year was a box of mold! Although any mold would be interesting (fungi rank a close second behind insects in terms of my scientific fascination), this particular mold went above and beyond because I can eat it! That's right-I got a mushroom growing kit! And in the past week it's finally started to yield!

The pictures below are of the portabellas we had last week, but just last night we had our first round of white button mushrooms. We sauteed both types in garlic and butter and added a dash of white wine to the button mushrooms. They were absolutely delicious! I think the fact that they were eaten minutes from being harvested had a lot to do with their tastiness. If you ever get the opportunity to eat very fresh mushrooms, I highly recommend it.

A pile of perfect portobellos
Mushrooms are delicious...CRAZY delicious!

Sunday Sketch (on Wednesday again)



Once again due to photoshop wrangling and a lack of time, the sketch is on Wednesday. Here's page 2 of "A Cautionary Tale..."

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

NOT moving

I'm a little frustrated by people who put up houses for rent, let you come see them, pressure you to accept quickly so that they don't have to show it anymore, and then give it to someone else.

We just saw this great house in Pine Grove Mills. The woman who showed it to us said that her friend had been interested in taking over their lease, but hadn't been able to get someone to rent her own place, so had given it up, leaving them with only a few weeks to find a new tenant. We agreed to take it that night. The house was perfect for us.

We got in touch with the real estate people who own it, they knew we were taking it, and said we could drop off the security deposit today along with the application. Today, we got a call from the woman currently renting, plus the real estate people, saying that they had changed their mind and were renting it to their friend after all. The friend also dropped off a security deposit yesterday.

I know that legally, verbal agreements don't count as contracts. However, if you don't intend to actually rent your property, don't advertise it. And don't say to prospective tenants that the apartment is theirs and that it won't be shown anymore. I feel as though we were just used as an excuse to pressure her friend to rent the house. I don't think they ever intended to rent it to us. We just provided leverage at the right time.

This happened to us earlier this year, too. We found a house in Lemont that we really liked. We kept in close touch with the owner, who was for some reason slow on committing the property to us. We eventually found out that she was also trying to sell it, and had found a buyer for the property that she was trying to woo. Again, if you don't intend to actually rent the property, don't advertise it. Don't lead on people who are looking for a place to live.

Now, we're still stuck in an apartment that creeps me out when the floor squishes beneath my feet and, much worse, makes Jim sick with all of mold that doesn't exist (according to the landlord). Unfortunately, except for the mold, it's a great place, and really hard to live up to.

I'm sure we'll find a house eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later.


Rant over.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Moving?

We finally found a house! It's a cute little house in Pine Grove Mills, and so far it looks like it'll work out perfectly for us. Anyone know anyone who needs a duplex in State College?

It's even got heat vents. We've got ceiling cable heat at our duplex, and I've found it to be inefficient and ineffective. The Land of Giant Spoons has heat vents, too, and Gemini's turned them into one of her favorite hangouts, along with the cushion by the fireplace and the patches of sunlight shining through the window.

Escapee critters and the Big Tractor!

Busy day today. When we woke up this morning, we realized that the horses had decided that the world outside their paddock was much more interesting, and were grazing in the front yard. We went out to put them back in the barn, and found one of the kittens (Miss Adventure) following us to the barn- a kitten that had most definitely been locked into the woodshop the night before. Apparently last night the critters staged a mass escape. The horses got out because of the high winds we've been experiencing recently- the electric fence was working fine, but had blown down. Not so useful, really. We fixed it, and then took the kitten back to the woodshop, where she was more than happy to be put back inside.

Then we tried to figure out out how she'd gotten out in the first place. It was confusing, because Racu was still inside, but she's definitely the more agile cat. We checked for footprints in the snow, and found some tracks near one of the windows. We looked up, and realized that the gutter's hanging low on that part of the house. It looks as though she jumped from the gutter. We went back inside, and sure enough, there's a gap in the wall that'll let her get between the inside and outside walls. We're still not exactly sure how she managed it, but we think she climbed between the walls and got out that way. It's got to be something somewhat complicated, or she would have been able to get back in, right? Plus, the other kitten didn't (couldn't?) follow her.

In other news...

Today it finally snowed! We got at least 8 inches and more is still falling, although now it's more in the way of freezing rain/sleet. Jim's been hoping that he'd have a chance to use the big tractor to plow the driveway since we got here, and he finally got the chance today. Plus, I got to try driving the bigger tractor! The little tractor's been great to help us clean out the horses' stalls, but the big one was a lot more intimidating.

Here's a short video of me plowing a very short section of the driveway! I didn't really realize how fun tractors can be.




Another pic that shows that I actually did plow...A video of Jim on the tractor. He looks so happy.


Sunday, February 10, 2008

Flying Cats!

Racu and Miss Adventure surprised us both by playing in the snow on Saturday without any hesitation whatsoever. We were especially impressed with their aerial acrobatics in the pursuit of snowballs...

Sunday Sketch



Here's the sketch for today. I've decided to do a mini-comic story that popped into my head during a hike this afternoon. This is just the first page, but stay tuned for the continuation of "A Cautionary Tale..."

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Candy fried eggs!


This is hands down the best novelty candy item I've seen in a long time: gummy fried eggs! They look like eggs but (fortunately) just taste like gummy worms. The prank possibilities are nearly endless.

This was one of several great discoveries made today at a local country store. In addition to an entire aisle of homemade candy items, they had one of the most complete selections of grains/sugar/spices/random baking and canning goods of any place I've ever seen. They had several things I couldn't even figure out what you'd use it for, such as saltpetre! I thought it was just for blackpowder, but it was next to the baking supplies, so I'm hoping it has some culinary uses too (although, maybe if you're doing flambe....hmmmm, more possibilities). The best part was all of the supplies were really affordable! We'll definitely be going back even after our time in the Land of Giant Spoons is done.

After careful thought...

and consideration, we finally have agreed on names for our two secret agents that defend us from those who would impinge on our territory (i.e. mallards and buffleheads). Meet Quack and Jack!


Winter pics

Spring teased us a little a few days ago- a reminder of how nice warm weather is. I think I'd have a hard time living where there aren't any seasons though.... I'd miss scenes like these below. We had an ice storm this week, too, with a solid day and night of freezing rain. The path to the barn was at least an inch thick, and very slippery... a bit scary to walk on. Fortunately it melted quickly!




Sunday, February 3, 2008

(Dis) Harmonia

Another major fixture of the Land of Giant Spoons are the ladybird beetles, which can be found wandering around almost everywhere (but most commonly near the windows). This particular species, Harmonia axyridis, or the multicolored Asian lady beetle is a common pest of houses in the Northeast. It's an invasive species introduced from, appropriately, Asia. They aren't dangerous, but are a textbook definition of "annoyance pest," mostly due to their large numbers (see the picture below). I've been using the old "pantyhose filter over the hose of a vacuum cleaner" to clean them up in the worst spots, which works very well. Here's a link for more information: http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/multc_asian_ladybeetle.htm

Sunday Sketch


Here's the sketch for this week. Just a quick little bit of Racu looking in through a window (not a rare occurrence by any means).