7 Quick Takes Friday

Now that I am back to blogging--at least a little bit--I am joining again with Jennifer Fulwiler's 7 Quick Takes Friday. Click here to see her quick takes and those of many other bloggers.

Read on below for seven outtakes from real life -- that of yours truly -- in recent days:

1. One of those incomprehensible things...everyone in my family seems to be taking the "which Star Trek character are you" quiz. My sibs and daughter are getting very nice matches: Deanna Troi, Jean Luc Picard. So, would someone explain to me why I came out Worf??!! Moreover, would someone explain to me why my husband also came out Worf??!! (And people think we should be incompatible because we are so "different" from each other! Huh! We are not different from each other. After all, we both are Klingons -- and, ironically, the Klingon language was based on the Mutun Indian language, spoken here in San Ignatio years ago. Coincidence?) Lizzie says that she now has a good excuse for anything weird that she does from now on because, after all, she was raised by Klingons.

Try it: http://www.seabreezecomputers.com/startrek/index.html
 
2.  We spent some time in Yuba City this past week, staying at a small hotel. As I was coming up the stairs to the second floor, where our room was, I noticed some rather strange planning for landscaping. Although all the trees around the hotel were healthy (the picture does not show that because the tree was caught in a shadow, but, really, it was greenO. A poor tree, apparently quick to grow and full of energy, was trapped. "Help," it seemed to say. "I have no where to go. Who put this carport here??!"
 

3. We have ladder day every once in a while. What is ladder day? Chores that require the use of a ladder. Donnie cannot get up and down any ladder well because of his bad knees, so he waits until I have a day off from work, and we run around the house, doing all the chores that have been put off because they are "high up." One of those "high up" chores was replacing some light bulbs. For that, we got some help from one of our cats, Intrepid, who loves ladder day. 

4. Speaking of cats, we were outwitted by one this week. We are cat sitting Noelle's very smart cat, Tiger. Tiger was getting into scraps with our other four cats -- part of the getting acquainted process, but at night, cat scraps keep one awake. So, I put the four cats in the cat room and Tiger in our bedroom. As we were falling asleep, we heard "click!" Tiger had opened the bedroom door. I dragged him back into the bedroom, closed the door, laid down, and then "click!" again. So, I brought him back in, closed the door, and put the cat carrier (medium-size dog carrier because Murjan, our dog cat, is big); that should have taken care of that. Tiger got onto the top of the carrier, and "click" -- the door opened a crack but the carrier prevented the opening enough to get out. Then we heard click, click, click. The crack got a little larger, but not enough to get out. Tiger jumped onto the floor, and the next thing we hear is drag, drag, drag -- the cat was smart enough and strong enough to drag the carrier away from the door. Then, click, and out he pranced into the hall and straight across to the cat room. He reached up to the door handle. Click! He let out the other four cats! Outwitted! And sleepless in San Ignatio.

(note:  drawing by http://xcourtkneex.deviantart.com/art/Orange-Tabby-Love-39587527)

5.  Lizzie shared a post she found about 25 signs that you are a military brat. Yes, her mother did wear combat boots. Check it out here; it is pretty good. One example of a sign of being a military brat is listed as "
“The first song other than the National Anthem you learned all the words to was an inappropriate and pretty hilarious cadence call: Your ma! Your pa! Your mean-ole-granny-got-a-hole-in-her-panty, got-a-big-behind-like-Frankenstein, now sound off! One, two! Sound off! Three, four!”

6. I am still working on my next book, Raising God's Rainbow Makers, for MSI Press. Progress has been slow -- too many other things have been going on. In the interim, MSI Press has started a blog (not much action yet, but hopefully it will take off) and has been posting information about its various publications (which I have linked to 100th Lamb over the past ten days or so). I am waiting for my Blest Atheist and Believer in Waiting to pop up. In the interim, if you have time, pop on over, read excerpts from the books, and leave a comment if you want. Click here for the link.

7. The most important (or at least, surprising) thing that happened this past week was our accidental purchase of a new car. We went into the Toyota dealer to ask about a card we got in the mail. We left the dealer with a Prius C. I have driven it to work all week. What a dream! The best part is that I have not yet used up a full tank of gas--and I live nearly 40 miles (one direction) from my office. Truly cool to see the number 52 mpg (even one time it was 60 mpg.)

Have a great weekend, whatever speed you go!