Our Christmas Adventure

A blizzard hit the I-35 corridor just a couple of hours before we were to set out Christmas Eve to head to Norman. We decided to stay the night and set off Christmas Day. We were prepared for the going to be slow, but we didn't quite realize how icy it would be. Things were tense for the first half of the journey. Sam kept telling me to keep reading so that I wouldn't see the road to criticize his driving and fingernail the dashboard any more than was necessary. I did manage to make it through A Christmas Carol eventually. It was a happy distraction.

Keith's car. It thought snowstorms were far behind it when it migrated South from Poughkeepsie. How wrong you were little Honda.

Here is the view of our house on Christmas Eve while it was still snowing. A White Christmas in Texas: poetic.

Oklahoma rest stop just over the Red River. It took us just over 4 hours to make it approximately 80 miles because yes, that is a solid sheet of ice covering the road.

Winter wonderland.

Just one of at least 200 abandoned vehicles we saw in our whole 180 mile trip. The overwhelming majority were SUVs & pickups for obvious reasons.

Stopping at the IHOP in Ardmore for some R&R. Usually we stop here after an hour and a half on the road. At this point we had been driving for 4 and a half hours with all our muscles completely tensed. We parked so far away because the driveway into the IHOP was really icy.

The Daily Ardmorite newsstand was drifted right up.

Nothing says Christmas like an IHOP.

Just a little biscuit & gravy with sausage & hashbrowns pre-Christmas snack.

This was pretty typical of the drive. Mostly ice with the odd tire-mark helping the cars through the ice.

The Cavalry!

See above comment about abandoned SUVs. "I've got an SUV! I can drive over anything!"
Sam: "Just because you can pick up 6 kids from soccer practice at the same time doesn't mean you can drive on ice like its a regular road."


Victory! 8 hours after setting off. Usually takes 2 and 1/2 to 3.

Megan kindly massaged Sam's poor spazzing calf muscle. It was tighter'n a banjo string.

General Laziness

An extremely rare sight for Mercedes to flop all the way over and show her belly, and out in the open on the sofa no less. Only a bunny who is very comfortable and relaxed in her habitat will do this (Count does it all the time, of course). It just shows how much happier she is since we moved. The Count was lickin her head. (Also, you can see in this pic how long her tail is.)
The Count successful in tipping over his food bowl to make it easier to eat whilst in a reclining position. *nom nom*

DIY Safari Trophy (Vegetarian)

Went to the fabric store for some inspiration on filling the large blank space on the floor. I was inspired by the 50% off sign over this baby zebra fabric. Sam agrees that it nails the understated look I was going for.

Naptime x3

General mid-day action.

Smells like Christmas

Our new little place (directly downstairs from our last place, still just North of TCU) is looking a little more merry. Got a nice little 4 foot tree, encrusted it with all the ornaments I bought on sale after Christmas last year, and it's looking good! Here are a few pics of what's going on around our house.

The "theme" of the Christmas tree is loosely birds & bunnies with a 1 horned frog and 1 elephant thrown in for good measure. And some Derby County baubles.

My beloved kokeshi nativity set. I try to keep this out for as long as possible each season. And the mantle in the new place is perfect for it.

This is the bunnies' new favorite place to lounge & cuddle.

Close up of the bunny shelf. Mercedes gives me a wary eye.

Fusion Cuisine at its Best

Tonight's Gnocchi Tikka Masala with California Vegetable Medley & Boca soy crumbles was brought to me & Sam by the "ethnic" aisle of Target (genius putting the Italian stuff right across from the Indian) and the frozen vegetables on $.88 per bag clearance from Albertson's which I took full advantage of a few weeks back. Also had the soy crumbles hanging out in the fridge. Overall a success!

In other news, I nailed Mercedes' injection today, and she was doing binkies in no time! She is feeling much better.

Can't Win em All

Well, after my exciting time at the vet yesterday, I came home from work today all ready for another easy injection of Mercedes' antibiotics. Everything went wrong. I couldn't get a big enough handful of skin, and then she flinched when I pushed the needle in which made me flinch and the needle come out. Then, I got it back in (I thought) but when I depressed it, really I had come out the other side (ew!!) so I wasted about a third of the day's dose into her fur. Then I finally got it in and depressed it and it was over. But it was so traumatic! I was so upset, and then Mercedes hid under the table for a couple hours and wouldn't even take any papaya from me! It was all so sad! Poor Mercedes. She finally forgave me, though, and I spent some time with them on the floor earlier. She explored all around me and then settled in between the Count's ample hindquarters and the all-comforting log. He was preoccupied with the parsley I put out for him after he tried to swipe a low-hanging pheasant off the Christmas tree by its feathery tail. Naughty!

Today I Learned a New Skill

I apologize for not posting in a while. Schoolwork has finally slowed down!

This morning I woke up and went to say hi to the rabbits as usual. I noticed Mercedes' nose was runny and as I got down to her level to pet her, I heard a quiet squeaking noise. I realized quickly that it was her breathing! Pobrasita! A wheezy runny-nosed bunny is never a good thing. I quickly called the Ridglea Animal Hospital, and they fitted Mercedes in for a 3:30 appointment.

She showed her usual sass during her exam, nipping that big Aggie vet twice. Whoops! Got his fingers too close to her choppers in the dental exam. He said that she probably had a little cold and that a round of antibiotics should do the trick. "Nurse, " he said, "fix up some [howevermany] mL needles of Penicillin." Whoa- needles plural? A shot at the office, no prob, but who is going administer the rest of those bad boys, I thought to myself.

"You'll need to give her these once a day," he answered my question. And my eyes widened. He explained the method: pull up the scruff, make a little tent of skin, get the needle close, and just pull the skin right over the needle. Job done. Then the nurse came in with the ten little neat syringes.

"I'd like you to go ahead and do this first one so I can watch," the doc said, of course. Go time! "OK! I can do this," I said aloud trying to pump myself up, trying not to give myself time to think about poking Mercedes with a needle. But, sure enough I just followed his directions and pumped the miracle medicine right under her quite tough scruff skin without even a flinch from the diva. How do you like that?

As soon as we got home she flopped down in front of the Count for grooming. He obliged, cleaning out her ears. What a good friend. Good thing he is so laid back that he doesn't mind a drama queen for a mate.

A trip to Bammy

We took a weekend trip to Alabama recently to visit old Negus family friend, Josh Payne, and to see the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team. It was in Tuscaloosa, Al at a Bama game [coincidentally against Oklahoma] in September 2003, barely six weeks off the boat at Ellis Island, that Sam first fell in love with collegiate game of American football. The annual trip to visit Josh and the Tide in Dixie Land is a highlight of the calender. This year was a raging success. We had fun catching up with our friend, Bama won and are still unbeaten, and pulled pork sandwiches were eaten.

Sam with the statue of Wallace Wade, Bama's second national championship winning coach.

En route we stopped in Monroe, Louisiana for some delicious deep-fried only Cajun 'cuisine'. We do not know what a Pege is, but Ray has one in Monroe and it's a good time. If you go there wearing Bama gear on LSU-Bama weekend, or ever, you will get nasty looks. Your food may or may not be spat in, but you won't be able to taste it, so don't worry.

Laura with mountain of chubby goodness.

Fried shrimp, meet gravy. Yum!

The pejorative ethnic slur with which Louisianans are colloquially labelled in the south is "coonass," implying that they are all poor Cajun backwoodsmen who live off a diet of captured woodland critter. This is not always untrue. Fans of LSU football are also generally slighted for universally smelling of corn dog. This is not true, which is what makes it funny. Several Bama fans set up rope or box-based trap mechanisms baited with corn dog in order to capture unwitting coonasses. This one is actually labelled 'coonass trap' and for good measure has 'LSU' written on the dog in mustard. An unsuspecting LSU fan is about to take the bait... uh oh!

Josh, Laura and a Confederate flag in LSU colors. We also saw a U.S. flag in LSU colors being waved randomly in the middle of the street by a guy smiling at nothing. We made eye contact as we passed and he yelled: "I'm hammered" and nothing else. It was eight minutes past noon. That is basically game day in the South.


The obligatory visit to Gallettes - a shady, unmarked bar/club on the campus' main drag that had recently before our arrival had its floor cleaned by the popular hose method employed by the kinds of establishment at which one can expect to find ones shoes sticking to the floor.



As far as we could ascertain these boys genuinely believed they were Julio Jones and Greg McElroy.


Drown 'em, Tide.


The Million Dollar band 'bone section.


General aspect from the student section.

A man dressed as a Bear wearing hound's tooth pattern shorts hugging a man dressed as an Elephant. If you know about Bama this picture makes sense. If you don't, the explanation won't.

The Day Sam Got the Franchise or Adding A Dash of Lime to the Melting Pot.

Well, after 4 years of paperwork, check writing & waiting (mostly in reverse order of shown), Sam Negus became a citizen of the the good ol' US of A yesterday. It was a morning like any other, except that we woke up really early.

We then motored up the freeway with large quantities of E-quadrant drones to the USCIS office up near the airport. The man on security was exceptionally jovial. We took our seats in the big room, myself on one of the side aisles and Sam among the other 60 or some other multihued candidates in the middle. The ceremony was about 40 minutes, more laid-back than I would have thought, and generally a good time aside from the conspicuous absence of the national anthem and substitution by Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to Be An American” with accompanying video.

Before the ceremony I whispered to Sam, "What would the Queen think?" His reply, "She probably wishes she could leave, too."

Also, our friend's Snapple bottle cap yesterday portentously offered the old advice, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

Below are some snaps of the day:

Some light, pre-ceremony reading. Note boots, classy choice.

Sam has his document inspected to make sure he has neither become a Communist or terrorist nor traveled anywhere shady since his interview.

Sam stands and waves his mini-flag when the UK is called. There were representatives from about 30 or so countries from Vietnam to Cote d'Ivoire to Belarus. Half the room stood up for Mexico.

Sam promising to bear arms for the US, etc.

The President welcomes everyone as citizens, urging them to embrace the civic responsibilities that come therewith. Pretty good speech.

Sam with official certificate of citizenship & official mini-flag with mini-Lady Liberty.

What new citizen would be complete without a t-shirt like this? Took literally less than 60 seconds to find at our local thrift store.

Champagne toast! "My fellow Americans...etc etc."