Back Post: 9-1-09

I had returned home on the late evening of August 31st and upon entering my kitchen and turning on the light, I hear through the window leading into the back yard, my name being called. It was my duplex-neighbor asking if I "knew who these kittens belonged to?". "Kittens?!?" I peered out the window and saw that he (and his pre-teen daughter & daughters friend) had a couple of kittens in their presence. A sucker for all animals, but especially kittens, I dropped everything to go outside and see these mysterious furblobs.

There were two, and neither were very young. The older looking of the two is an orange (ginger kid!) male who appeared to be 16 weeks old. The much smaller and younger kitten, a mottled gray colored girl, appeared to be 10-12 weeks old.

We sat around the fire pit and talked about who the kittens might belong to. The kitties just came up to them and were screaming for attention, food and water (and were easily obliged). The two kittens even tried desperately to get into the house. All evening the kittens didn't leave their sides, and even once I arrived, the kittens continued to hang out. As it was nearing 11pm, we decided to come up with a game plan:

--The kittens would not be left outside at night.
--He loves animals, I love animals, between the two (well, four) of us, we'd get the kittens set up for the night with everything they need. Litter, food, water, toys, comfy sleeping spots.
--We'll keep the kittens in the basement. (We share a staircase to the basement, but have totally separate doors that splits into our sides of the basement. We'd open our doors and let the kittens have the run of the basement).
--The girls would knock on neighborhood doors in the morning to see who they might belong to.
-- If one or both are homeless, my neighbor knew he'd be screwed- as the kittens are so damn sweet and cute he'd have to/want to keep them.

Forward to pictures of the kittens settled in for the night. I gave the girls some art material to create signs and have fun making the kittens comfortable.


Sat around the fire for awhile before and after..







What we saw when we came in. The signs were too cute not to take pictures of. The girls (temporarily) named the kittens, Owen and Lily.

seen at the base of the stairs before doors leading to our basement sides:
















"Owen's Bed Suite"- (on my neighbors side of basement)




"Lily's Bed Suite" (on my side of basement)



"Lily" loved sleeping in her "suite" ...

and did "Owen"!!





so that night they, and everyone else, piled up on the bed in my basement to shower the kitties with affection. Stray kittens never had it so good!

The next morning, the girls had not only made signs for the basement, but also fliers to place in nearby mailboxes. Ends up that the orange kitten belongs to a neighbor two doors down, but they don't know who the gray younger kitten belongs to. It had just started hanging around the orange one. Search attempts continue with no luck. In the mean time, "Lily" continues to have a nice stay in our basement. I come down and play with her a few times a day:








I love how they come equipped with weapons.



She has a thing for stalking my eyelashes and batting at my nose piercing. Here she goes after the camera string.






We've bonded a little at this point. I brought her upstairs into my house for a minute to look out the door. She wasn't allowed to interact or get near my cats. Anyway, I snapped this and think it is cute:




"Owen" who is actually, "Leo", is returned to his rightful owner, but he comes back to visit every day. Here he is sniffing out mice, bugs and other cool cat stuff off my porch. He is too consumed in this to ever look up.




Almost three weeks have gone by since she first appeared at our building. "Lily" is now, (I think) "Miley" and seems happy living with her new "dad" and is getting used to her big dog "brother". Naturally, I'll be able to see her as time and opportunity allows.

and Owen/Leo still visits as well.

It's all good!


Certainly one of the cuter-furry things in my basement, right? :)

Back Post: 8-5-09

One night I walking around Wegmans and stumbled upon the produce (and pastel paper) in question contained in (e:paul,49397)

The funky looking produce is Oca (or Oka)


(WIKIPEDIA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oca)

"The stem tubers of oca form in the ground in the autumn. These are commonly boiled before eating although they may also be eaten raw. The leaves and young shoots can be eaten as a green vegetable......The flavour is slightly tangy, and texture ranges from crunchy (like a carrot) when undercooked, to starchy or mealy when fully cooked. Though the original Andean varieties are widely variable in colour from purple to yellow, the usual New Zealand variety is a fleshy pink."

The "pastel paper" is a roll of paper. I don't know what role it plays in produce. Any thoughts?

Ok, here is the deal. I've been slacking on updating this journal for quite some time. I have partially- to fully written journal entries saved for eventual publishing, but they were just in need organized thought and/or of my getting photos off the camera, resizing them and then putting it all together here. The way my mind works is that too much time went by, so I didn't bother- figured it was too late-- and some entries just couldn't be posted without other ones in place, so I just kept putting it off.

A years worth.

Oh damn.

So now it is bugging me that I don't have anything organized, published for reference or amusement. Therefor for the sake of prosperity and the need to have a 'home base' for everything to be in one spot, I am going to work on completing and publishing those entries.

Even besides that, I need to do a photo dump in general, so between the two needs, there will be (hopefully the procrastination is over) several posts on the way as I do not want to stuff them all in one entry.

I haven't decided how I want to organize them, but alas, they are coming. If only for my benefit to look back at in years to come. I hate not having those various things documented here (or anywhere).

I think I will start current and work my way back.

To start the "back posting" off:

1. (9-13-09) Spider web sans spider:
View out the window next to my home desk. Appears to be a bee (yellow jacket?) wrapped and entangled in a spider web, like a burrito.

Missing Image ;(

Missing Image ;(

2. (8-28-09) Mouse in the house:
My cat Joey, who is strictly an indoor cat, is let out into the attached garage to play. He seems to have a lot of fun out there exploring and finding new 'toys' to play with. Sometimes he brings these toys into the apartment- a piece of string, a milk ring from the recycle bin, or a mouse who unwittingly wandered into the garage. This is where I have to step in and save or throw away a mouse.

This one was completely uninjured and rather cute. I scooped him up into a cup* and snapped a few pics before releasing him into the woods, away from the apartment.

• see also, mass consumerism.

3. (5-20-09)Just Joe
Vegging out after a long day hunting prey in the tropics of youngstown (garage)






4. (8-31-09) (since I can't leave out his sister) Just Kayla:

Trying to get some work done:





and by work, I mean reading (e:strip):
((e:tinypliny) in this picture!)


5. 8-31-09 (ok, and Emmy) watching me write an email.



5. (9-6-09) Snowing on Labor Day weekend:
Waiting at a light in Niagara Falls,I caught a glimpse inside the Snow Park, Labor Day weekend.






I had wanted to wander around the Falls, but the park was so packed, even the parking lots were filled to capacity. I decided to leave as my heart was set on walking around somewhere yet not necessarily the falls. Instead, I back tracked to Lewiston and headed into Art Park on my own. Just a few pics were taken.



7. (9-6-09) Art Park
looking out over Art park facility and Niagara River





I can't remember the name of this statue on Canadian side as seen from Lewiston.

edit: (e:vincent) commented that, "The monument is named after General Sir Issac Brock a hero in the War of 1812. He is pointing across the river to the U.S. in essence saying "Stay on your side of the river."" Thanks, Mike! awesome!

ah, see.. that statue in the back ground. that's the one I can't remember the name of. at all.



Niagara River, zooming in to activity on Canadian side






simply liked the texture of the grate and grass



rear of house on hill over looking the Niagara River. I would very much like to see what they see at night out their back windows. At the very least they would have a spectacular view of Lewiston, Youngstown, Niagara Falls Ontario, Niagara River, Lake Ontario and Toronto.If this is your house, please invite me over with my camera. Thank you :)



green swampy pond- visually interesting except for the beer can.









I don't know... pointing to my car, maybe?






took a short rest on some fun colorful picnic tables before leaving



on a trail








and that's it for now. All in the past week or so..
and I want to work my way back to last September? oy!

I also aim to break the entries down into 25 pictures or less even if related to the same story.

oh, you know the story..
(e:theecarey,45899)
(e:theecarey,35925)

and now for the exciting season premier of

Itsy Bitsy Monster part 3!!

That's right folks, we have another monster sighting.

Laundry. I actually like doing laundry. I have a laundry shoot in my bathroom which leads to my finished basement that is rather cozy. It could only get better if I had a dumb waiter to hoist the clean laundry back up the stairs!

So why do my most traumatic scream inducing moments have to revolve around doing laundry? This also reinforces that basements of any kind (even clean ones with humidifiers) are scary. I hate dishes. So it would be much more appropriate to have traumatizing events paired to a sink full of dirty dishes.

And so, the story of last nights episode begins with my running down stairs at 11pm to throw in a load of whites. I usually do my laundry at night, which does not help the creepiness factor at all.

I was picking stuff up off the floor and cramming it in the washer while it is filling with water. As I proceed to stuff the last item in, I notice movement.

ugh.

I do a double take and immediately realize what it is.

It is the star of the show!

(scream #1)

"It" is trying to get away from the water! I quickly turn the water off and watch it attempt to climb the washer basin. It is grabbing onto the little holes in the washer to pull itself up. I think I saw it pull out some rope and carabiner all the while swearing at itself as it slide back down to the dampened laundry.

I was frozen in my moment of being grossed out and freaked out, but then I thought of (e:tinypliny) and her concern over not having any real updates on the monster in quite some time (almost a year!). So I ran back up the stairs and grabbed my camera.

and a dried up mop that hangs in my stair case.

(I need protection)

How would I get it out? I did not want to try to wash it to his death. As:
1. That thing is so huge, I do not want soggy spider bits strewn throughout my laundry.
2. I would actually feel bad. No, I really would.
3. We all know it wouldn't die. It would enjoy the water ride and then get fluffed and de-static in the drier. Maybe a mani-pedi afterwards?

So how to proceed?

If my neighbor (who I share the building with) was home, I'd have called him to help me. Seriously. He is a Sheriff/Seargent and *should* have something in his arsenal to take down a mutant spider, right?! It was too late to lure anyone over to help me. Alas, I was alone.

(well, not really...)

Not sure how to get "him" out, I thought I would "encourage" him to come out on his own. We seemed to have one thing in agreement: he didn't want to be in there and I didn't want him in there.

I made a towel bridge. Took a towel and dangled it down into the washer and offered him a ramp to climb up and out of the washer (no, I had not thought yet about what to do once he got to the top). He seemed receptive to this.

Once he got partway up the towel, he maneuvered along the back of it so I couldn't see where he was going. Silly me poked my head in for a closer look.

These bastards JUMP.

and so do I.
(scream #2)

(Next time I wanted to see where he went, I used my camera to take shots into the washer to see if I can find him without having to shove my face in for a closer look. This worked! I shall write a hand book.)

Although he got the idea of the ramp, he didn't follow through to getting himself out, so I knew at this point I needed to lend a helping hand (separated by the distance of a mop, that is).

The handle of the mop has a hole for use in hanging the mop on a hook. This hole (as with most everything else in existence) is smaller than the spider. If I could get him to sit his fat ass down on the handle, then I could swoop him up and out of the washer.

Now some people would have just squished the hairy freak with the handle, but (OMG) I didn't want to be sprayed with spider guts.I had prodded him a bit, and it felt like I was pressing into an animal. This thing has substance. I'd need a bow and arrow rather than a mop handle to do any real damage.

So I proceed with this rescue lift attempt.

Again, he seems receptive to this.


A few attempts and some 40 minutes later, we've got it. I scoop him out of the washer and before I can think of what to do next, he hops off the broom and gallops across the basement into the darkest corner under the staircase.

Turned the washer back on, added some bleach and got out of the basement.

My throat hurt from screaming (I'm not much of a screamer) and my heart felt like it was in my throat for awhile.

He is still down there.. somewhere.. eating children and puppies.

Until next time, friend*..


I actually thought to take a video sometime during that whole episode (I'll work on uploading it).


The star:

• Ok, at this point, He/She needs a name. Go for it!

The Towel Ramp





Dirty socks


The underside of the towel ramp

eh, I haven't fully looked at what is going on yet, but the current(?) Artvoice caught my attention. So I am just taking a look now (online- as I left my paper copy on friends coffee table) to see what events I'd like to check out. I am sure there is something!

Anyone have plans to go to/have gone to any of the many many many Infringement activities?

as part of a date, we will be hitting up some Asian markets and finding ingredients to experiment with for dinner. I'm not sure what he may have in mind, but I would like to go with a few ideas in my head as well. My mind is seriously drawing a blank.
Any meal/recipe suggestions- that aren't insanely complicated or time exhaustive? We both have an open-minded palette, if that helps.

and yeh, we'll have delivery menus on hand just in case.. haha

I was at the Italian fest for a little while yesterday with great company, a friend from I haven't seen since highschool/early college- it was entertaining to catch up with him. Good stuff! We enjoyed a giant slice of pizza and a cup of lemonade while playing a few games.

I was given the fish won (from tossing ping pong balls successfully into little glass bowls).

Meet: "Fluffysimo" (originally "fluffy" for all of two seconds then I was interrupted with, "Fluffy?!?! we're at the Italian fest, Carey- they need names in honor of the festival" so I proceeded with naming them, Fluffysimo) and "Cannoli".

I don't imagine they will live long, I have yet to see one stick around for more than a couple of days.




Please live little gold feeder fish. Please kitties don't eat them. That is not a bowl of fish soup.

As well as having the honor in selecting a large stuffed animal after getting the dart into the approved section of the board. I didn't even try the game, as my dart skills are more likely to injure someone than actually win anything. Alas, the giant, flat, pillow-like (and super soft) stuffed pug brought me quite a bit of humor (it is by far bigger than any real pug could ever hope to be).





But even more so, the real reason behind this post, was the humor in what I spotted among all the stuffed animals and other trinkets I saw spread out for prizes....

This is a sweet picture. The man behind the counter, collecting money, a partial display of stuffed animals.. and one more thing..

take a look--(edit)back row counter, which item does not belong?



is that one of the prize options? ;)


that was one huge bottle of pills- just out in the open.. crazy!

So I imagine tonight will be insane at TATS...

Seems more people I know are going, than not.

curious.. are you going?

I haven't hit up a TATS concerts yet, so if I am going to go, this is thee one!

There are only two more after this one, too. So many changes..

For those into HP, the new movie comes out tomorrow! finally!

Well, I am going to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince tonight at 11:59pm at the Regal theater on Niagara Falls Blvd (right off the 190, Home Depot lot). In case anyone is itching to go and does not have to be up super early, please join! (e:pyrcedgrrl) and I will be there with our wands and long trailing Hogwarts scarves.

"Not!"

(I'm a fan, but not that much a fan!)

I would normally see it at the IMAX, but I believe it isn't going to be there for a couple of more weeks? yes, I know, what is waiting a little while longer after waiting TWO years to see this FINALLY come to the theater? Nothing..

but I want to see it NOW! and I rarely get to the theater..

so, tonight 11:59 :)

hehe

I read the books, and as the characters and story becomes more mature and involved, I am glad to see the movies going along with it. From the few trailers I have seen, this movie should not disappoint. Looks creepy :)

The Body Worlds exhibit will be hosted at the Buffalo Museum of Science. It begins July 9th. The exhibit will be available for 13 weeks- through September, early October

Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Pky
Buffalo, New York 14211
Monday - Saturday     9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday     11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

I believe it is $22.00, however, there are $3.00 coupons available at Wilson Farms (just ask cashier) and in Artvoice, both online and in the paper.

There are deep discounts for Students (with ID) and Seniors 62+
Also, children rates.

Anyone planning on going? You should, it looks amazing!

It is 'Body Worlds 3 and The Story of the Heart'


for an idea of what it is about..




Real bodies!
Preserved with "plastination"

Plastination is a technique used in anatomy to preserve bodies or body parts. The water and fat are replaced by certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay, and even retain most properties of the original sample

Pics snagged from Google images:




For anyone thinking about going, there is a discount for groups of 15 or more.
following text boxes contain information taken from the Buffalo Museum of Science website:
[box]
Groups of 15 or more are welcome to purchase tickets to BODY WORLDS at the group rate if purchased in advance. BODY WORLDS & The Story of the Heart are "timed tickets," valid only for a specified admission date and time.It takes an average of 1-2 hours to go through the exhibit; therefore the last ticket will be sold an hour and a half before the exhibit closes. Visitors are encouraged to arrive 15 - 30 minutes prior to the time printed on their ticket, particularly on weekends.Minimum group size of 15 is required to be eligible for group rates.
Adult (Ages 19+)     $17.50
BODY WORLDS HOURS BEGINNING JULY 9
Monday - Saturday     9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday     11 a.m. - 7 p.m.

PLEASE NOTE: The last BODY WORLDS ticket is sold from the BMS Box Office an hour and a half before the exhibit closes for the day. Due to anticipated crowds, we highly recommend that tickets are purchased online in advance. Visitors are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes prior to the time printed on their ticket.[/box]

About Dr. Gunther von Hagens- inventor of Plastination and creator of Body Worlds:
[box]
Gunther von Hagens' life reads like an archetypal scientist's resume-distinguished by early precocity, scholarship, discovery, experimentation, and invention. It is also the profile of a man shaped by extraordinary events, and marked by defiance and daring.

Von Hagens' two year imprisonment by East German authorities for political reasons, his release after a $20,000 payment by the West German government, his pioneering invention that halts decomposition of the body after death and preserves it for didactic eternity, his collaboration with donors including his best friend, who willed and entrusted their bodies to him for dissection and public display, and his role as a teacher carrying on the tradition of Renaissance anatomists, make his a remarkable life in science.

Anatomist, inventor of Plastination, and creator of BODY WORLDS-The Original Exhibitions of Real Human Bodies-von Hagens (christened Gunther Gerhard Liebchen) was born in 1945, in Alt-Skalden, Posen, Poland-then part of Germany. To escape the imminent and eventual Russian occupation of their homeland, his parents placed the five-day-old infant in a laundry basket and began a six-month trek west by horse wagon. The family lived briefly in Berlin and its vicinity, before finally settling in Greiz, a small town where von Hagens remained until the age of 19.

As a child, he was diagnosed with a rare bleeding disorder that restricted his activities and required long bouts of hospitalization that he says, fostered in him a sense of alienation and nonconformity. At age 6, von Hagens nearly died and was in intensive care for many months. His daily encounters there with doctors and nurses left an indelible impression on him, and ignited in him a desire to become a physician. He also showed an interest in science from an early age, reportedly "freaking out" at the age of twelve during the Russian launch of Sputnik into space. "I was the school authority and archivist on Sputnik," he said.

In 1965, von Hagens entered medical school at the University of Jena, south of Leipzig, and the birthplace of writers Schiller and Goethe. His unorthodox methods and flamboyant personality were remarkable enough to be noted on academic reports from the university. "Gunther Liebchen is a personality who does not approach tasks systematically. This characteristic and his imaginativeness, that sometimes let him forget about reality, occasionally led to the development of very willful and unusual ways of working-but never in a manner that would have harmed the collective of his seminary group. On the contrary, his ways often encouraged his fellow students to critically review their own work."

While at the university, von Hagens began to question Communism and Socialism, and widened his knowledge of politics by gathering information from Western news sources. He later participated in student protests against the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. In January, 1969, in the guise of a vacationing student, von Hagens made his way across Bulgaria and Hungary, and on January 7th, attempted to cross the Czechoslovakian border into Austria and freedom. He failed, but made a second attempt the very next day, at another location along the border. This time the authorities detained him. "While I was in detention, a sympathetic guard left a window open for me so that I could escape. I hesitated and couldn't make up my mind, and that decision cost me a great deal," he says. Gunther von Hagens was arrested, extradited to East Germany, and imprisoned for two years. Only 23 years old at the time, the iconoclastic von Hagens was viewed as a threat to the socialist way of life, and therefore in need of rehabilitation and citizenship education. According to the prison records for Gunther Liebchen, "The prisoner is to be trained to develop an appropriate class consciousness so that in his future life, he will follow the standards and regulations of our society. The prisoner is to be made aware of the dangerousness of his way of behaving, and in doing so, the prisoner's conclusions of his future behavior as a citizen of the social state need to be established."

Thirty-six years after his incarceration, Gunther von Hagens finds meaning and even redemption in his lost years. "The deep friendships I formed there with other prisoners, and the terrible aspects of captivity that I was forced to overcome through my fantasy life, helped shape my sense of solidarity with others, my reliance on my own mind and body when denied freedom, and my capacity for endurance. All that I learned in prison helped me later in my life as a scientist."

In 1970, after West Germany's purchase of his freedom, von Hagens enrolled at the University of Lubeck to complete his medical studies. Upon graduation in 1973, he took up residency at a hospital on Heligoland-a duty free island where the access to cheap liquor resulted in a substantial population of alcoholics. A year later, after obtaining his medical degree, he joined the Department of Anesthesiology and Emergency Medicine at Heidelberg University, where he came to a realization that his pensive mind was unsuitable for the tedious routines demanded of an anesthesiologist. In June 1975, he married Dr. Cornelia von Hagens, a former classmate, and adopted her last name. The couple had three children, Rurik, Bera, and Tona.

In 1975, while serving as a resident and lecturer-the start of an eighteen year career at the university's Institute of Pathology and Anatomy-von Hagens invented Plastination, his groundbreaking technology for preserving anatomical specimens with the use of reactive polymers. "I was looking at a collection of specimens embedded in plastic. It was the most advanced preservation technique then, where the specimens rested deep inside a transparent plastic block. I wondered why the plastic was poured and then cured around the specimens rather than pushed into the cells, which would stabilize the specimens from within and literally allow you to grasp it."

He patented the method and over the next six years, von Hagens spent all his energies refining his invention. In Plastination, the first step is to halt decomposition. "The deceased body is embalmed with a formalin injection to the arteries, while smaller specimens are immersed in formalin. After dissection, all bodily fluids and soluble fat in the specimens are then extracted and replaced through vacuum-forced impregnation with reactive resins and elastomers such as silicon rubber and epoxy," he says. After posing of the specimens for optimal teaching value, they are cured with light, heat, or certain gases. The resulting specimens or plastinates assume rigidity and permanence. "I am still developing my invention further, even today, as it is not yet perfect," he says.

During this time, von Hagens started his own company, BIODUR Products, to distribute the special polymers, equipment, and technology used for Plastination to medical institutions around the globe. Currently, more than 400 institutions in 40 countries worldwide use Gunther von Hagens' invention to preserve anatomical specimens for medical instruction. In 1983, Catholic Church figures asked Dr. von Hagens to plastinate the heel bone of St. Hildegard of Bingen, (1090-1179), a beatified mystic, theologian, and writer revered in Germany. His later offer to perform Plastination on Pope John Paul II foundered before serious discussions.

In 1992, von Hagens married Dr. Angelina Whalley, a physician who serves as his Business Manager as well as the designer of the BODY WORLDS exhibitions. A year later, Dr. von Hagens founded the Heidelberg-based Institute for Plastination, which offers plastinated specimens for educational use and for BODY WORLDS, which premiered in Japan in 1995. To date, the exhibitions have been viewed by more than 27 million people, in cities countries across Europe, Asia, and North America. His continued efforts to present the exhibitions, even in the face of opposition and often blistering attacks are, he says, the burden he must bear as a public anatomist and teacher. "The anatomist alone is assigned a specific role-he is forced in his daily work to reject the taboos and convictions that people have about death and the dead. I myself am not controversial, but my exhibitions are, because I am asking viewers to transcend their fundamental beliefs and convictions about our joint and inescapable fate." Apparently determined to exhaust the limits of living in freedom, Dr. von Hagens has made a concerted effort to travel and propagate his interests around the globe. He accepted a visiting professorship at Dalian Medical University in China in 1996, and became director of the Plastination research center at the State Medical Academy in Bishkek/Kyrgyzstan. In 2001, he founded a private company, the Von Hagens Dalian Plastination Ltd., in Dalian, China, which currently employs a staff of 250. In 2004, Dr. von Hagens began a visiting professorship at the New York University College of Dentistry. He is currently in the process of designing the first anatomy curriculum in the United States that will use plastinated specimens in lieu of dissection.

Gunther von Hagens' BODY WORLDS exhibitions are currently showing in North America. "The human body is the last remaining nature in a man made environment," he says. "I hope for the exhibitions to be places of enlightenment and contemplation, even of philosophical and religious self recognition, and open to interpretation regardless of the background and philosophy of life of the viewer." [/box]

I've been intrigued for some time, and it is exciting that Body Worlds is here. Some people find it controversial and disturbing. I'm simply curious..

you?