A Regular Wildlife Refuge

Living next to a "borrow pit" lake does have some advantages. If you're a fan of nature, you get to see a lot of wildlife. On a regular basis we have ducks, geese, rabbits, and birds of all sort hanging around. At night you can hear bullfrogs sing. We've even spotted some type of heron, and a coyote running around. We now have a new addition to the backyard family.

Meet the Eastern Ribbon snake.


This isn't the actual snake, he didn't stay still long enough for us to get a picture. Mike's seen him slithering through the grass when he's been out mowing the lawn, and I finally got to take a look at him yesterday. He's about 18 inches long, which means he's a young adult. Their normal size is anywhere from 18-40 inches. They live near water, and eat toads, frogs, fish, and other water creatures. Unfortunately, no insects, and to Mike's dismay, no rabbits. They can be found on the eastern half of the continent, from Canada down to Florida. There's also a Northern ribbon snake, which lives around Canada and the Great Lakes, and a Western ribbon snake. (You can guess where that one lives.) The ribbon snake is also very similar to the Eastern garter snake, which lives in the same areas and habitats. The difference between the two is that the garter has a stockier body, and the lip markings are different. If I'm close enough to a snake to see the lips, I'm too close. Even if it is harmless to humans.

Anyway, there's your nature lesson for today. I've got to finish getting ready to go on our road trip to IKEA-can't wait!!!!

Comfortably Numb

Up until a couple of weeks ago, it had been a long time since I had been to a dentist. See, the last dentist I saw made a serious mistake. He told me I had excellent teeth. I interpret that as dentist-ese for "you don't need to worry about your teeth unless you have problems". So, I didn't. Plus, with the move to Champaign, we didn't know the local dentists, didn't have dental insurance....yeah, that's it! But now I have dental insurance, and decided it was time to use it. I got a recommendation from a co-worker, and made my appointment. I did it early enough in the morning so I wouldn't be quite awake yet. It wasn't too bad, he was a nice guy and got my teeth shiny and clean. He did find a cavity, which I didn't even know I had, so we scheduled an appointment to get it removed.

Today was the big day, and I'm happy to report everything went fine. Of course, I can't feel half my face, but I'm okay with that. Before he did it, he asked me if I wanted anesthesia. Hmm..let me think about that.....HECK YEAH!

Plus, this appointment got me out of work early on an exceptionally slow day, so no complaints in that department!

Obligatory iPod list

Here's what I listened to today, and the star rating:

Sevendust "Enemy" -2
Disturbed "The Game"-4
Dream Theater "Status Seeker"-2
Rush "A Passage to Bangkok"-4
Ani DiFranco "Wishin' and Hopin'"-3
Air "venus"-2 (with the potential to increase to 3)
Lacuna Coil "Circle"-4
Velvet Revolver "Slither"-5
Lacuna Coil "Humane"-4
Incubus "Talk Shows on Mute"-4
Simon and Garfunkel "The Boxer"-4
Sarah Brightman "The Second Element"-3
Eagles of Death Metal "Chase the Devil"-2
Fates Warning "Crawl"-not yet rated, probably 3
Fates Warning "Face the Fear"-3
Placebo "Every You Every Me"-5
Madonna "Forbidden Love"-2
Foo Fighters "Resolve"-3
Liquid Tension Experiment "Another Dimension"-3

Today's Fortune

You will receive a fortune. (cookie)

The Price of Cute

I bought these really cute wedge shoes about a month ago, and I haven't really worn them yet. Mostly I've worn them around the house here and there, but I haven't done any serious walking in them. I decided to wear them to class tonight, since the heels are so tall they would go well with the longer jeans I was wearing. After all, I'll be sitting on my butt, no big deal, right?

Wrong. They started hurting my feet pretty much as soon as I got to class. The upper part was rubbing against the tops/sides of both feet. They're slip ons, so I kept slipping them off to give my feet a break. Usually on breaks I walk around the building, but not this time. During the second break, I slipped them off and made a comment about my feet were killing me. A couple of my classmates complimented the shoes, but winced when they saw the blisters in progress. As one of them wisely pointed out, that's the price of being cute.

When I left class, I didn't even bother to wear them, just went barefoot through Parkland's halls and parking lot. I also drove home barefoot. I'm sure they'll break in eventually, we just need some time apart right now.

Fish Tales

I tried a new recipe last night, and I thought it was so good I would share it. It's super easy, and only took about 20 minutes from start to finish.

Chili-Spiced Cod

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 (6 ounce) cod fillets
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
lime slices, to garnsih

On waxed paper, combine flour, chili powder, and salt. Coat cod fillets with mixture. In non-stick 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat, in hot oil, cook fillets 10 minutes or until cod flakes easily when tested with a fork, turning fillets once halfway through cooking time. Garnish with lime slices.

I didn't have lime slices, and I used slightly less than a pound of cod, and it still turned out very tasty. I also used Enova oil instead of vegetable oil. Bon appetit!

Time moves on

It's been a while since I blogged, but with Sam's situation and a stressful week at work I haven't felt like it lately. I'm also writing the paper for my Tolkien class. I finally settled on a topic, and I think I'm done-I just need to go back through it and make sure it makes sense. The paper is due on Friday, so I have plenty of time yet. This weekend is my last class-yay!

We've been watching Supergroup on VH1/VH1 Classic. It's like a rock and roll trainwreck-put Ted Nugent with just about anyone and there will be hero worship and/or aggravation. Sebastian Bach is 37 going on 16, and changes his mind every 30 seconds. Evan Seinfeld, Scott Ian, and Jason Bonham make up the rest of the band. There were only about 7 or 8 episodes, so thanks to Tivo it was easy to find them and watch them all. It was really interesting to see not only how they all interacted, but how the creative process evolved. They wrote at least one song together, and it looked like they were working on a ballad. Don't be surprised if you see more of "Damnocracy".

Speaking of VH1/VH1 Classic, who would have ever thought 2o-odd years ago that not only would I watch a VH1 network but actually enjoy it? VH1 is okay, but VH1 Classic is a lot of fun to watch. They play a lot of videos, and a lot of oddball ones as well. They have special theme shows mostly devoted to 80's music, and not just rock and metal. They also play a lot of cool weird alternative videos. Another nice thing is the lack of commercials. They have a few, but it's mostly just promotional stuff for their network. The only downside is if you watch it too much you start to get sick of the "in-between" spots. If I have to hear about pizza night at the dj's house one more time I will throw up.