Day: December 18, 2004

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I love these little Christmas tree ornaments

No, I am not blogging in my pajamas.

I don’t wear any.

Strange thing. (Did I already post about this? Well, too bad if I did. I’m too lazy to go and check.) After all these years, I may have finally found the solution to the problem, Christmas Tree+ Cats=Disaster Waiting to Happen.

I found these neat little Christmas tree decorations at Dollar General. Little mechanical thingies that the cats apparently don’t like and, with the addition of a string of habanero peppers, strung like popcorn or cranberries, have served to keep them away from the tree.

Try it. I think you’ll find that these little Christmas tree decorations (for some strange reason they are called “mouse traps”) really are disliked by felines… Some assembly (and disassembly) required. (Just loosen the spring on one side and paint ’em red or green or gold or whatever.)

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Easily Amused

“The Things We Do for Love…”

Ya know me, ya know I’m cheap. Yep. Way beyond frugal. Recent remodeling efforts are a good example: a large—no, LARGE—portion of the materials have come from, well, junk piles, dumpsters, etc. Amazing the amount of very good, high-quality materials people toss out just because something does not work as originally designed. Good parts. Every single one of the computers on our network at home are combinations of bits and pieces of cast-off computers (with the rare highly-discounted part bought on closeout, etc.).

So, it should come as no surprise that yesterday, thinking of animal crackers and almost simultaneously seeing an off-brand bag really cheap I picked up the off-brand bag and brought it home with me (after reluctantly paying for it. It’s not the cost of the product; it’s the sales tax that gripes me. 🙂

Well, in spite of the fact that I have very much liked other offerings from the same off-brand food packager, these turned out to be a little strange.

First, taste. Not bad, just not to my taste for animal crackers. So, I’ll eat ’em anyway. (Dunk ’em in coffee. That’s the trick.)

But the appearance… College son, home for the holidays, holding up an animal cracker:

“Dad, what’s this supposed to be?”

“Son, they’re not animal crackers; they’re animal turd crackers. Just try one.”