Oh, go away

 Winter, I mean. I'll freely admit that we had a pretty mild January (for Alberta. For the most part), but now we're under snow warning and the roads will be crap again.

That makes me terribly happy.

Does grumpy make for a  good blather? Probably not, although I really should come up with something for this massively neglected blog.

Oh wait. Maybe I have something, but it'll have to be quick since, you know, work and all.

The something is this: maybe make sure you enjoy these purty pictures of clematis seed heads if you're at all the squeamish type, because next week (or whenever I get them off the camera) there may be something much more unphotogenic. You see, the other day I realised that I hadn't really talked much about all of this medical stuff that's been going on (doing well, by the way) so I decided to take photos of my stoma.

Go on. Google stoma if you need to.

Back now? Ok. I had a ruptured diverticulum, and if that sort of thing is bad enough they detach part of your colon so that the damage can heal. Mine is sigmoid colon, for anyone who needs to google some more. The problem with that is that it leaves you no place to eliminate waste -- except inside your abdomen, I suppose -- so the surgeon needs to create a new exit point.

It's called a stoma. Mine's at about waist level.

That leaves you the problem of where the crap goes, and rather than have it run down your clothing they set you up with a system called an ostomy pouch.

We'll be talking about mine if the pictures turned out.



We might be talking about it anyway, depending.

Me, I've got snow to look not-forward to talking about before then, and probably a weekend where I don't leave my apartment.





Getting a feeling that this is your post for the week.? It may be likely. See you when I see you.

Possibly with medical photos.

You've been properly warned, remember.

Waving...

 Waving because I don't really have much for blather today. Or this week, apparently. So, more pictures.

First one, hoarfrost as seen from my balcony.

Second, same photo assaulted by the photoeditor. Because I liked it better in neon.

Third shot, carnelian. Because carnelian.



That's it for now, folks. If you need more, try this video of a not-at-all guilty dog...

Quick pointless post of the week:

 Yeah, oops. I wasn't intending for this to be post of the week, obviously, and now I have work to do so it'll have to be just photos.

Above, amazonite. Which is just fancy talk for green microcline feldspar, but hey. They're pretty.

Below, the continuation of last weekend's box saga, which would have made much more sense if it had been posted, say, Monday or Tuesday. Label this one as how are you making out with that box, Tom? Just thought I'd check.

Oh, and in other quick news this week's medical stuff went all right, so that should be it now until April. Or until one of my other body parts decides to explode.

I'm hoping that last doesn't actually happen...

Toys

My Dad's computer is convinced that there's something wrong with my Croco (yes, I'm still using a crocodile-shaped flash drive. Interestingly, I didn't pay near the price for it listed in the link), which there isn't. It's so persistent in wanting to scan it, though, that today I let it.

There's nothing wrong with my Croco. Told you so, computer.

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Today's Illustration Friday prompt (don't worry, readers of the other blog. You're not in the wrong place. I just haven't gotten around to doodling yet) is toy. That's a big one, and if you're in a slightly philosophical mood you could even ask what a toy is. Is it a box, as cats and babies through the ages seem to believe? Is it a poodle? Is it a cell phone, considering the way that most people use theirs?

I suppose that a toy is whatever you play with, really. I habitually call my 3DS my toy, I guess because I'm not exactly a gamer and I'm also not exactly the demographic. I don't take it seriously; it's my toy.

Just a pointless squirrel on the balcony

I suppose that my camera counts as a toy as well, although I do take that somewhat more seriously than the 3DS. I'm not a photographer, I'm mostly just fooling around, but I am still looking for good photo opportunities. On the rare occasions when I get a good shot I do save it, although I'd say that 99% of what I take gets posted randomly here and then deleted.

Just as an aside, I got myself into a slight bit of trouble over that attitude once. I had a photo of an unusual ladybird beetle that I blogged. Later on, our preschool teacher brought in the same species, intending to take a picture and send it to someone who was working on a Ladybugs of Alberta book for identification. I suggested that we just send my shot, which I hadn't deleted yet. Turns out that the author really like the photo because the beetle was on an apple and its scientific name had apple in it (in Latin, of course). He asked for the highest res possible of the original image, and I sheepishly had to send him the small, square-cropped only copy that I had saved. Or, more accurately, not deleted yet as I said above. It did make the book, though. You can find it in here, if you're inclined to see my name spelled wrong in the photo credits.

This is sodalite. I'll leave you to look it up for yourselves. 

I do have actual toys, of course. I have a few constructing toys because sometimes that's what I like to do when I'm sitting in front of the television. You'll probably find Kinder Surprise toys around my apartment because every once in a while you've just got to have a Kinder Surprise (unless you're in the US. Sorry about your overprotective government, folks). I have modelling clay because... well, modelling clay.

And that last link brings up the art supplies. While I occasionally do real illustration work for the nature centre, for the most part I'm playing when I'm doodling. It's toys. Even my rocks, to an extent, are toys. I wear them on cords so that I can play with them, if I'm being entirely honest.

Obviously I have no trouble playing, then. What I will have trouble with is deciding on a subject if I ever get around to the IF word of the week. Tonight, maybe.

Until then, don't be ashamed to play with your toys, boys and girls. We all have them, and we all still need to play.





And I personally need to eat lunch now. Catch you in a day or so, depending on how Monday goes.

The world, again

There were two RCMP officers shot in St Albert early this morning. Suspect's still on the loose as I type this.

I hate hearing about man's stupidity to his fellow man yet again, so rather than go on about that I'm just going plain stupid in this blather. Pointless, as it were. Gee, that might be a good name for a blog.

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Let's start by visiting the bad cats, who didn't get up on the counter, knock the laundry basket off, and strew the towels around. At least that's what you'd believe from their body language, right? What, this? We found it this way...

The Turkey Brothers had an adventure this week. It was their first visit to the vet for shots and a physical before the big day when they lose their testicles (that'll be early February, for those counting the hours. And if so, why?). I wasn't there, but Dad says that the vet found them healthy, sweet (in the case of Bob), and sleek (in the case of Tom, who didn't want a thermometer up his backside. Can't say that I blame him, really). And the kicker? THEY BEHAVED. That's right, the little sh turkeys didn't give much of a hint as to what they're really capable of.

It seems that they're good actors as well as being turkeys.

According to the vet, the only sign of kittenhood left in the boys is the fact that Tom still has a couple of baby teeth. I guess that my father has cats now. I shall try to remember to refer to them that way in the future.

When they're back from the next visit.

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I mentioned in passing in an earlier blather (more of a non-blather, actually) that I had medical stuff this week. Nothing invasive; just sitting in a room for a few hours getting educated. It was all right, but with everything that's gone on lately I figured it was time for a treat so on the way home I stopped in at the smaller version of my favourite rock shop.

That's right. More rocks. And you poor people get to see them, of course. And just to make it more fun, the photos were taken on a fabric that will either strobe for you or just make your eyes complain, depending on what you use to view them. Yes, purposely. You're welcome.

What you're looking at today is a piece of Red Jasper, which is apparently heroic, strong, enduring, blah blah blah whatever and something about communication if I remember right. Or not. What it is to me is something red, which I was in the mood for. I'm also a sucker for jaspers of almost any kind. Agates too. I've probably mentioned.

This one's a decent stone, considering what I paid for it, and it feels nice in the hand. Yeah, that's important. My two fans know that I'm a big one for textures in art (one of the reasons why I don't paint much. That, and the fact that I have the painting skills of a five-year-old), and the same thing goes for my rocks. They have to be good to play with, because I do. If I'm not playing with a pendant I'll play with my infamous rolling ring, and if I'm not playing with that I'll likely be playing with a pen or my hair or whatever else is around.

My hands like to be doing something.

Fondling a rock seems like one of the less harmless things that they could be doing, when you think about it.



Going now. Need to finish at least a few of my open browser tabs before lunch. It's my version of the weekend reading list, I suppose.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

Quick completely bad photo from yesterday:

It was a chickadee.

It flew away as I was taking its picture.



Welcome to my world of pointless photography, newbies.







Later, all.

Think I'll go for a walk outside now

Yesterday? Medical stuff. Monday? More medical stuff. Then (fingers crossed) a break and more medical stuff in June.

I'm tired of medical stuff.

Sooo... and since a couple of phone calls pretty much stole my blogging time from my lunch break... I'm taking the camera and heading out on the trails for a bit.

It's a good time to have an I'm getting paid for this? moment, really. Especially since the weather's decent enough that I'm going to have to stop for windshield washer fluid on the way home.




Bye then. Try to find something else to do for a while besides staring at a computer screen. Failing that, at least enjoy the reason for the post title, courtesy of some Seventies Cheese.





Going now. For real.

Heeeyyy blog...

Long time no see and all of that stuff. What can I say? I've been busy.

With work, yes, but not just that. Busy doing things like organising, which really needed to be done. Organising my art stuff, amongst other things.

Yeah, the art stuff. I've mentioned before that I have a one-room apartment, and after so many years there the art stuff was starting to take over a bit from sheer spread. So, back in December I bought one of those cheap plastic drawer things, and I've finally got around to putting the art stuff in there.

It mostly fit, except for the paper which I put in a briefcase instead. Oh, and the few blank canvasses that I have left. And some bristol board that I can't decide what to do with. And a set of Crayola markers that I don't really want to take out of the box. And the...

Um, anyway. Most of the art stuff is now in the plastic drawer thing (technical term), and the good news is that I didn't find any surprises. Yes, I actually knew how much art stuff I had, and yes, I've used it.

Not all of it all at once, of course. That would be the ultimate in mixed media hell.

The devil in me wants to bore the snot out of all of you with an itemised list (it may happen yet -- we'll see if I get bored enough in the next while to get into list mode), but instead I thought I'd introduce you to some of this year's new Christmas art stuff with this bit from one of my sketch books. This was just doodling in front of the television and the proportions are all wrong, but for anyone out there who's unfamiliar with Koh-I-Noor's Tri-Tone pencils I thought I'd show you a bit of what they do. The idea is that the three tones combined in each lead give added richness and depth to sketches.

To be honest, when I opened them I thought that they looked like something that a twelve-year-old girl would decorate a school book with (New Direction in flowered hearts or something...), but as I've tried them out I see what they mean. The ones with three similar colours are extremely subtle, but contrasting ones like the one in the picture really do add something to even a rough sketch.

Cool surprise, that. And yes, my two fans may be figuring out that I'm gearing up my brain to do some doodling for work, so if I didn't think it would jinx things I'd say keep an eye on this space (well, more likely on the other blog) for some actual new artsy stuff.

Or things.

Choose your own non-committed-nif there.



As my two fans may have also predicted, I need to get back to work now. No me here tomorrow for sure, but I'll try for something later in the week.

Try being the operative word.

Quick Hey Blog! of the day. Or week.

Yeah, very belated happy new year and all of that.

Should I already say that I have nothing?



Well, ok, not entirely accurate, but what I do have isn't exactly blog fodder. Health news (mostly good), family news (to be kept to family, as far as I'm concerned), and complaining about the weather (or wether, as I originally typed. Although what castrated sheep and goats have to do with anything I'm not quite sure).

I also seem to have a fair amount of parentheses.

And very few new photos. There are a handful on the camera, but... they're on the camera.

Anyway, there's your little hi, I'm still here post for the evening. I may be here a little more tomorrow, but after tonight's staff meeting I may need another break just to come up with some actual blather. We'll see.



Laaater...





Oh, one thing. Shooting people shouldn't ever be the answer. To anything.  #JeSuisCharlie.