Saturday, April 24, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
An Update, a Mystery, and an Outrage
This weekend we went to Bellingham to surprise my dad for his birthday. He was asleep when we got there--it was closing in on 11:30 pm--but my mom made me wake him up so he would know what I came for. What followed was this conversation:
Mom: Wake up, honey. Someone's here to see you.
Dad: What?
Me: Surprise! Happy birthday!
A minute of chatter including "thank you"s, etc.
Dad: How long have you been planning this?
Me: A few weeks.
Dad (to Mom): Did you know about this?
Mom: Yep. I actually kept a secret!
We mostly ran errands on Saturday, but we did make it to Lynden (a Dutch settled town near Bellingham) in an effort to go mini-golfing. My dad loves mini golfing. Sadly, the mini-golfing place was no longer open. But as a consolation prize, we got to take these:
As for the mystery, this ought to be a shocker. Remember those strange aquatic beasties Jason and I found while hunting for tadpoles? Yeah, they disappeared. Which makes for another batch of aquatic pets we've somehow managed to lose. Here's the evidence:
See? No strange beasties swimming in there! (It is kind of hard to tell because of the swamp murk.) In this case, we suspect that the transfer from swamp to tank shocked them into changing into some kind of flying beast instead of a swimming one. So if you see a strange orange mohawked flying creature, wave goodbye to it for us.
And finally, the outrage. Before I go on, take a moment to look at the date stamp at the top of this post. What does it say? Hmmmm? Oh, yes. March 8th. And I'm writing this from just outside Seattle, where the weather is fairly temperate all year round. Except for on March 8th, 2010, when it randomly snowed.
Mom: Wake up, honey. Someone's here to see you.
Dad: What?
Me: Surprise! Happy birthday!
A minute of chatter including "thank you"s, etc.
Dad: How long have you been planning this?
Me: A few weeks.
Dad (to Mom): Did you know about this?
Mom: Yep. I actually kept a secret!
We mostly ran errands on Saturday, but we did make it to Lynden (a Dutch settled town near Bellingham) in an effort to go mini-golfing. My dad loves mini golfing. Sadly, the mini-golfing place was no longer open. But as a consolation prize, we got to take these:
Last night for Jason's dad's birthday, I made creme brulee. For the first time. I'm always a little worried about my first attempts in cooking; they frequently turn out like this. What I've come to realize, however, is that the only cooking I can manage to truly mess up is simple cooking: cakes from a box, chocolate chip cookies, etc. Which means that for a first effort, my creme brulee turned out quite well. Next time, I would torch it from the start (we tried using he broiler to caramelize the sugar originally), which would keep the creme part from cooking with the brulee part. I didn't get a picture of the finished product to share because I was too busy licking my ramekin clean, and I mean that literally. But if you're curious, the recipe came from Epicurean.com and can be found here.
As for the mystery, this ought to be a shocker. Remember those strange aquatic beasties Jason and I found while hunting for tadpoles? Yeah, they disappeared. Which makes for another batch of aquatic pets we've somehow managed to lose. Here's the evidence:
See? No strange beasties swimming in there! (It is kind of hard to tell because of the swamp murk.) In this case, we suspect that the transfer from swamp to tank shocked them into changing into some kind of flying beast instead of a swimming one. So if you see a strange orange mohawked flying creature, wave goodbye to it for us.
And finally, the outrage. Before I go on, take a moment to look at the date stamp at the top of this post. What does it say? Hmmmm? Oh, yes. March 8th. And I'm writing this from just outside Seattle, where the weather is fairly temperate all year round. Except for on March 8th, 2010, when it randomly snowed.
It didn't stick, but it's the principle that matters! Also, I hate snow, so when I hear of it snowing anywhere, I get angry. That's why I never watch the weather; I just look it up online.
Anyway, now I have to go to work and I'm probably going to be late if I don't let this post get on its way. I have a few projects planned, so we'll see if I can actually blog about real things instead of just making fun of people. Should prove to be an interesting experiment.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Can I see Your ID?
We went tadpole hunting yesterday. I've been wanting to since I told Jason about how my brothers used to go catch tadpoles and snakes in the swamp behind a park near our house. (The swamp was conveniently located behind a fence with "No Trespassing" signs on it.) I think they even took me with them once. So now that we live back in Washington, on a piece of land that comes complete with a swamp minus the "No Trespassing" sign, I've been itching to hunt for baby frogs.
The thing is, the frogs haven't laid their eggs yet. (We did get some frog eggs, though. Don't ask me how; it was sad and gross.) So we ended up catching other crazy pond life. And I do mean cah-razy. One of the weird things we caught is a worm (hopefully not the kind that wiggles its way into your foot and up to your intestine), but we're still unsure what the other strange beastie we caught is. So we've been searching the internet, asking various known pond life pictures, "Are you his mama?" But all has been in vain. So now I ask, can you ID this little lost creature?
It's not the best picture (you can't see it's freaky head, for instance), but it does show some of our little pet's more defining features, like its weird double mohawk fins and the weird butt-stomach sitting on its back. I'll try to get a better picture of the swamp thing. In the meantime, please help us solve the mystery of the SWAMP THING!
Why is it that all our mysteries involve aquatic life?
(For your entertainment: The list of events this blog title reminds me of includes the time last summer when a Costco sample lady asked me if I was old enough to get samples without my parent or guardian.)
The thing is, the frogs haven't laid their eggs yet. (We did get some frog eggs, though. Don't ask me how; it was sad and gross.) So we ended up catching other crazy pond life. And I do mean cah-razy. One of the weird things we caught is a worm (hopefully not the kind that wiggles its way into your foot and up to your intestine), but we're still unsure what the other strange beastie we caught is. So we've been searching the internet, asking various known pond life pictures, "Are you his mama?" But all has been in vain. So now I ask, can you ID this little lost creature?
It's not the best picture (you can't see it's freaky head, for instance), but it does show some of our little pet's more defining features, like its weird double mohawk fins and the weird butt-stomach sitting on its back. I'll try to get a better picture of the swamp thing. In the meantime, please help us solve the mystery of the SWAMP THING!
Why is it that all our mysteries involve aquatic life?
(For your entertainment: The list of events this blog title reminds me of includes the time last summer when a Costco sample lady asked me if I was old enough to get samples without my parent or guardian.)
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