Sunday, March 28, 2010

I Ate A Bug

Yes, I did. I ate a bug. Eww. But, more on that later in this blog!

Saturday, Ron and I had an adventure day. We started our day heading down to Barberton Ohio, Ron's hometown, to meet up with two of my favorite people! Ron's cousin Tom and Tom's wife Margie. I've said it before and I'll say it again - these people are a party looking to happen! We met up at Hopocan Gardens, one of the chicken houses in Barberton. Here is Tom and Ron and then a reluctant Margie! Thanks for finally relenting to the picture!



In case no one knows, Barberton is the fried chicken capital of the world! They make what is known as Barberton Chicken. We met up at Hopocan Gardens to chow down on some chicken. I wish I'd have taken a picture of the food but to be honest, it was wolfed down so fast, I didn't have a chance.

Let me tell you, we all left fat and happy after that meal. For real, if you're ever in or near Barberton, find one of the chicken houses. You won't regret it.

After we had lunch and caught up, Ron and I headed over to another of my favorite places in Barberton, Lake Anna.


This place is just gorgeous. Every time we make it to Barberton, we try to walk around the lake. Here are just a few views of what is at Lake Anna.




I'm not lying, this place is just gorgeous. There are many activities available at the park. People are out walking, fishing, playing. In the summertime, bands play there for free. It's such a asset to this community.




The city also rents swans for the lake. The city brings them to the lake in the spring and takes them back in the fall. They are such beautiful birds, these pictures won't do them justice.




The lake was playing host to so many ducks and Canadian geese, I couldn't count them all. However, I counted five swans, and there was definitely some love in the air between two of them. This swan dance was awesome to see.



Now, here is the bad part. As we were walking around the lake and checking out what there was to see, a bug flew in my mouth and down my throat. At first, you're like "what??" Then as soon as you start thinking about the fact that you just ate a bug, the gag reflex starts! Eww! I'm standing there, in the middle of this beautiful park, hacking away, trying not to throw up my recently eaten Barberton Chicken! Yeah, how's that for a visual! But, it all ended up staying down and I went on with the day like the trooper that I am. Bonus protein!

After the lake we went and saw a few more sights and then ended the day with a trip to my favorite ice cream place, Sweet Henrie's in Norton. Holy crap, their stuff is awesome! I hear they also serve food but all we've ever gotten there is dessert. It's worth the trip, let me tell you. Although, one bad thing did happen while we were here. In the midst of my double scoop of rainbow sherbet it happened. Brain freeze behind my right eye! Dang that hurt! The sherbet was well worth it, but c'mon now. When is the last time you had brain freeze?

We decided to take the scenic route home and man am I glad we did! Memories of Dad just jumped into my head as we passed this farm full of sheep! I asked Ron to pull over and I jumped out and started snapping pictures. I am my father's daughter. Well, if Dad were here, he'd have walked up to the fence and called the sheep over to give them a little scratch behind the ear, but I was happy with a few photos. This made for the perfect ride in the country experience.



Like I said, it was just a great day all around, in spite of eating a bug and getting brain freeze. Another successful Saturday adventure.

And, in the end, a few pictures of us enjoying Lake Anna.


Monday, March 22, 2010

It Looked Like My Garbage

I am anal about so many things.

Friday morning is our garbage pick up day and I do my best to recycle what I can. I buy those big 30 gallon blue bags from Sam's Club and it will take us a couple of weeks to fill them up.

Friday night when the three of us left for dinner, I saw a 30 gallon blue bag on the side of the road a couple of blocks from my house. In this blue bag was a jug of Clorox. I knew I threw out a jug of Clorox this week! Holy crap! Is this my blue bag of garbage??? I couldn't wrap my mind around why MY bag of recycles would be on the tree line a few blocks from my house but doggone it, it sure looked like my garbage.

I'm not afraid of anyone seeing in our recycle bag since it's the normal household recycle items. Soda bottles, maybe a liquor bottle or two, spaghetti sauce jars etc and of course, my Clorox! But this really bothered me that MY bag could be littering up the street. We passed it a couple of times Friday night and it just really bothered me.

I went out Saturday morning and the first place I headed to was that damn garbage bag. I was obsessed with it. I thought I'm going to throw it in my trunk, put it on the side of my house with the rest of the garbage and put it back out next Friday morning. Then perhaps I could quit obsessing about it.

I actually pulled over and looked closer at the bag. Yeah, not my garbage! I saw an egg carton in the blue bag and I know for sure I didn't throw out an egg carton in the last couple of weeks! Plus, there were some juice bottles in there that I know I don't buy! Whew! Mystery solved!

I guess in my small mind, I couldn't imagine that someone else in this neighborhood actually bought 30 gallon blue bags and emptied out a Clorox bottle this week. I know, I need a life.

Where this bag was sitting, there was a bunch of other garbage all around. A regular garbage bag was sitting up the block, there were tons of soda cans and bottles, fast food bags, etc. I do live in a messy neighborhood. While I did leave the recycle bag where it was with all of that other garbage, I couldn't believe what a mess was left in the park.

I gotta give some kudos to the city and I surely don't say THAT often. When I came back eight hours or so later, the park was cleaned up! The garbage bag, the recycle bag and a ton of loose litter had been picked up. Way to go, City Department! Great job!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Not To Worry, It's Just A Small Fire

You ever just have one of those days? One of those days that you wanted to throw your alarm clock across the room. One of those days when you hit every snooze your alarm clock had and still didn't want to get up? I guess I didn't sleep well last night and I just didn't have any oomph today.

But, I was up, washed, dressed and out the door on time. I am at my desk, working away when I decided I wanted breakfast. For real, we have a ton of food in the office! Or, at least I do.

I have an assortment of yogurts in the fridge along with those cups of ruby red grapefruit. I also have some Pop Tarts in my drawer. You have to understand my love affair with Pop Tarts. I think they are the perfect food! My personal favorite is Unfrosted Strawberry Pop Tarts. Trust me, I could live on them! Once in awhile though, I do buy a box of S'mores Pop Tarts. What can a tell you, sometimes a girl just needs chocolate for breakfast.

Ever since I saw that the office had a little toaster oven on top of the microwave, I knew I'd be stocked up on Pop Tarts.

So, this morning I grabbed a couple of S'mores Pop Tarts and threw them in the toaster oven. When I heard the "ding" I knew breakfast was ready. I grabbed a half sheet of paper towel and went to the toaster oven.

Now, here is where you need to be talented. We have no hot pads or anything silly like that. Usually, I take a fingernail and grab a hold of the top of one of the tarts and slide it off of the rack and on to my paper towel. I got up close, reached in and suddenly . . . I saw smoke! I pulled back a little and realized that the paper towel was on FIRE! CRAP!

The door of the toaster oven lays down flat so it's sort of like a little table. I put the paper towel on the open door of the toaster and whacked the crap out of it to put the fire out. Who said all I do is panic! So, the fire is out, the smoke is clearing. I thought I can't hide this one and Mike should have heard/smelled something going on. To allay his fears, I just said out loud "not to worry, it's just a small fire". Poor guy. He really doesn't stand a chance. If his family doesn't drive him over the edge, I just might!

So I took the paper towel with my Pop Tarts and showed him what I did. Of course, I also added "there's a blog in this! I need to take the paper towel home and take pictures!!" Mike beat me to the punch. He took the picture right then and there. He thought we needed the Pop Tarts in the photo!


I know I got lucky this time. So just in case, I have taken note of where the nearest fire extinguisher is to my office. You never know.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Only Five? Where Am I??

This afternoon, Michael was looking through his desk drawer and came across some old family pictures. We took a few moments to take a nice nostalgic trip down memory lane. However, one of the pictures REALLY seems to bother me. This one here. Now, keep in mind . . . I am the youngest of six children. Go ahead. Count the kids in this picture. Go ahead. I'll meet you below the picture.


So? Did you count? Aren't they one short? Where am I??? The infant in Mom's lap is my brother Jim. And, Jim is five years older than I am so I am absolutely no where in the picture, not even an inkling!

I'm not so narcissistic to think that life couldn't have happened without me. I guess what I can't wrap my mind around is that is a picture of a family; a picture of MY family. They were a complete family unit. Without me. I guess I can't explain it, I just can't seem to get my mind around this fact!

In case you haven't had the pleasure to meet all of us, from left to right starting with the bottom row, there is: Michael, Jim, Cathie. Middle row: Dad, Mom. Back row: Philip, Barbara.

Ok, wrap your mind around THIS!! That was Philip way back in about 1958. Here is Philip in about 2008! Nice, huh?


In the same group of pictures was this gem. We are guessing this was Cathie's fourth birthday. In case anyone is trying to place the faces with names in this picture, I'll list everyone in the picture below the picture. Take your time!

Bottom row, left to right, starting with Cathie in the middle: Cathie, Cousin Donny, Cousin Bill. Back row: Cousin Nick (can't you tell from that grin!?! He still has it!!), Cousin Marty, Michael, Barbara, Philip. What a crew, huh? One thing I noticed in these pictures is that my sister Barbara just didn't look happy. What's that about?

And, last but not least, where it all started. Grandma and Grandpa. Unfortunately, Grandpa died before I was born, so I didn't have the honor of meeting him. But Grandma was most definitely near and dear to my heart.

A few Grandma stories. Every year on your birthday, one of my Aunts would make sure Grandma would call us on our birthdays. Grandma spoke with a heavy accent, so she'd sing her happy birthday wishes to us with her accent. The best part was when it got to "happy birthday dear (insert your name), sometimes Grandma would get confused. After all, she had a gazillion grandkids! So, here is how Grandma would sing. You just have to imagine her accent here. "heppy bertday to you, heppy bertday to you, heppy bertday dear, um, which one am I calling? (you'd hear Aunt Aggie say CATHIE or whoever) oh yeah, heppy bertday dear Catherine, heppy bertday to yoooouu!!"

Go Grandma! I do my best Grandma imitation every year for Jim and Cathie for their birthdays.

Grandma making dough. Anyone that knows my grandma is right now picturing my Grandma kneading that dough on the kitchen table. That poor little old lady put her whole self into that kneading process. And, boy was it worth it! When they were making home made noodles, the best part was Grandma cutting off the ends of the dough and slipping them to us for a treat. Raw dough. Mom would argue with Grandma to quit that! I think that was just for our benefit to make this seem like a huge treat for us. Because believe me, this felt like a huge treat! Every time I work with dough now, I snitch a piece of raw dough and remember Grandma sneaking them to us.

I just love looking at old pictures. Today was a nice good day of warm fuzzies. Maybe next time I can find some with ME in them! Bonus!!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Call Jerry Springer. I Think We're Ready

If you know me, you know I come from a weird family. Our family motto is "we put the fun in dysfunctional.

Perhaps you also know I now work for one of my brothers. This is an interesting dynamic, to say the least. It's hard to blog about work when your boss very possibly could read what you write. I really have to edit myself here.

But, I can tell one story. Keep in mind, this is a very small company I work for. That means that everyone wears many hats. In one day, I could do Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and scrub a toilet. They still won't let me near a jitney yet, but I still hold out hope!

My brother, one of the owners, in one day can go from doing his administrative work to loading or unloading a truck, or getting down and dirty and actually working the production floor.

Our normal dress code in the office is very casual. Jeans, sweatshirts, flannel shirts, t-shirts and of course, my safety shoes. I swear I'm gonna blog about them shoes yet! WITH pictures! Y'all gonna love it! Anyway, Mike will come to work in his street clothes and if he needs to work in production, he changes to a work uniform and his steel toed boots.

It is a small office and I am the first woman working there. So, when Mike needs to change clothes, he just does it right in his office. His office is right next to mine and I am in and out of his office all day. I need the big printer in there, or I need his help, or various supplies housed in his office. To make sure I don't walk in on him when I shouldn't, he gives me a warning. I will hear "I'm getting naked" or something to that effect. Anytime you hear a man say those words should be a good thing. Then you remember it's your brother! Yeah, Jerry Springer time! Then, I get the blow by blow "important parts are now covered" or "ok, I'm done now". It's hysterical! But I SO appreciate the warning. There's something I never want to walk in on. As if I didn't need enough therapy!

So, today, Mike is changed into his work clothes and he's out on the shop floor. Unfortunately, I had to go out a bunch of times with questions for him. One time I'm out there, and Mike tells me to reach in his pocket and grab his phone. He just got a text message and his hands are filthy and sticky and icky (that's a technical term!). Um, I don't know if I want to reach into his pants for money, let alone his phone!

Luckily, the phone was in his shirt pocket, but still! Ok, it was a work text but for crying out loud, isn't this a bit over and above the call of duty? I found out it's actually in my job description. It's in that fine print that detailed out my duties and then added "or anything else I need you to do". Damn that fine print!

So, in order to get a couple of questions answered today, I had to take Mike's phone out of his pocket, show him the text message and then text his reply back. You need something done, I'm your girl.

It's not just a job - it's an adventure!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I Want To Challenge Myself. If It's Not Too Hard. Maybe.

As we all know, I have an obsessive/compulsive personality. I don't do anything part way.

When I smoked, I smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. When I eat, I eat. I would be an alcoholic if only drinking alcohol didn't make me throw up. Yeah, not pretty. When I start a new hobby (all about this in a blog soon!) I don't do it half way, I jump in with two feet and go over the top with it. When I watch TV, I watch way too damn much TV.

Of course, my personal favorite is reality TV. Hey, when I'm watching about someone else's misery, I'm forgetting about my own. I admit it, I am a reality TV junkie. There are not enough hours in a day to fill the void in my soul!

Anyway, one of the shows I like to watch is American Idol. Let me just go off on a little tangent here. Four judges? For real? That is just way too much. Who cares what Ellen DeGeneres has to say about this? I have nothing against Ellen, I just don't think she belongs as a judge on American Idol. And Kara? If she calls one more person "honey" I'm gonna spit. And what's up with Simon? Is he on anti-depressants all of a sudden? He's one of the reasons to watch the show! I love an opinionated person. If a singer sucks, they should be told they suck. Period. Hey, my family and friends love me enough to tell me every time I try to sing that I suck at it. Fine, so I don't try out for the show. Too many people obviously don't have the friends and family that care enough about them. So, here's Simon, a bland, washed out version of himself. And, what's with the wink this year? He's winking at freakin' everyone. What's that about? For real, the show has gone down hill so far. But I still can't look away. I do love a good train wreck!

After all that rambling, one of the contestants on this year's American Idol, a young guy named Casey, was interviewed on the show about the fact that previous to being on the show, he's never seen the show American Idol. Hello?? What's that about? Casey explained that when he was seven years old, lightning struck and blew up their television. The family never replaced the TV and as he got older he never felt the need for a TV.

That just spoke to me! I was so in awe of this guy. Not for his singing talent, but because he doesn't even own a TV! I so wanted to be like him! How much could I get accomplished in my life if I quit watching TV!! This was a challenge I wanted to undertake. I thought about it for a few weeks. I wanted to give up TV and start accomplishing things like scrubbing this house like I want to. Maybe I could finish that afghan that I started for Maura and John that was supposed to be their Christmas present in 2009!! Hey, they saw it about half way done and now I only have about 20 rows to do! I can DO it! I just need to buckle down and focus. No more TV!

I told this new idea of mine to Ron. Once he stopped laughing and caught his breath, he suggested maybe I start slow and perhaps just give up TV one night a week. Ok, that made sense. We all need to walk before we run.

I could do Mondays. No, Mondays don't work. There was The Bachelor (I told you I loved train wrecks. This is the MOTHER of train wrecks.) There is Chuck (how could you not love Chuck!) and How I Met Your Mother. Yeah, good thing I have a DVR.

I could do Tuesdays. No, Tuesdays don't work. First there is NCIS (Michael Weatherly. Need I say more?) and of course, American Idol.

Maybe Wednesday? No, Wednesdays have America's Next Top Model (Don't judge me. I told you I have a sickness.) and again, American Idol.

How about Thursday? This is the Superbowl of reality TV. Survivor, American Idol, Kitchen Nightmares, Project Runway, Models of the Runway, The Real Housewives series (Ok, the Real Housewives of the OC sucked. But, New York just started again! Between New York and New Jersey? That is what I call must see TV!), LA Ink. Ahh. Have I mentioned that I actually have two DVRs?? Yes, it's a sickness.

Fridays and Saturdays are for catching up on everything I've taped during the week on my DVRs. And, I haven't even mentioned the daytime television that I have to tape. There is Judge Judy (I LOVE her!), The People's Court, and my new thing, Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. Some weekends, there are just not enough hours in the days.

How about Sunday? No, I can't forget about the Amazing Race! Holy Crap! Thank heavens they changed the time to 8:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm! I need that extra two hours to get my heart beat back to normal after some of the stuff they do!

These are just shows on TV now. Wait! There are so many more that I can't miss! Big Brother, Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Deadliest Catch, After the Catch, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, Saving Grace, Raising the Bar, to name just a few.

On top of all of this, it's almost baseball season again! I haven't seen my beloved Cubs, my boys in blue, since October. As of right now, there are only 25 days, 17 hours and 16 minutes until the Cubs' opening day!!! I'm freakin' counting down to it, I don't think I could actually miss it. I NEED to watch baseball.

Give up TV? I don't think I could do it. Man, I do have a problem. I need to get off the junk: the TV junk. Does anyone know of a 12 step program? Or just how I could get a life?

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Adventure Saturday

Saturday found us out and about for an adventure. The three of us along with our friends, Larry and Linda, were meeting up with Ron's brother Wes and his wife Bev over in Tremont at Sokolowski's University Inn.

We have been hearing about this place for a long time and we finally made it. I don't know if the words that I type can truly justify this place.

First off, there was a line at the door waiting to get in before the place even opened at 4:00 pm. The line never went down. We were probably 100 people back when we got there and there was at least that many people still in line when we left two hours later. Was the food worth it? You betcha!

There was so much memorabilia and just stuff all over the walls that the wait seemed like nothing. There was so much to look at and take it that you almost wanted the line to go slower so you could catch up. Once you finally got to the top of the stairs where the food was, it was almost overwhelming.

This is cafeteria style. So you grab a tray, grab some silverware, and like any great restaurant, you start with dessert! Hey, I appreciate a restaurant that puts their best foot forward from the get go. Who am I to pass up some strawberry cheesecake? Of course I grabbed one. Then on to the real food. At the end of the line were rolls for the taking and they gave you a salad plate to take to the salad bar! C'mon now, if you left this place hungry, it was your own fault.

There was a choice of a handful of daily specials. Good Polish food for sure. Being Slovak, this was right up my alley. Here was my dinner of stuffed cabbage with a side of pierogis and green beans. Please note my strawberry cheesecake at the top left. Holy crap, that was good! Ok, it was ALL good! This wasn't Mom's stuffed cabbage but it was fantastic anyway.



Ron chose a pan seared red snapper with a side of pierogis and green beans. His dessert choice was a key lime cheesecake. The fish was cooked to order so it wasn't sitting on a steam table. Ron thought that it was fabulous!


Phil chose one of his favorite meals, the baked meatloaf. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures fast enough and obviously, Phil loved his dinner! This is what was left of his meatloaf! I think his sides were pierogies (do you see a pattern here?) and sauerkraut.


Like I said, we had a great group of family and friends around the table. For as busy as the restaurant was, there were still empty tables so we didn't feel rushed to get out of there and free up the table. We sat, we talked, we caught up, we goofed around, we just enjoyed the afternoon.

Going around the table, we had Larry in the shadows, me and Ron.


Ron and Phil:


Phil and Wes:


Wes and Bev:


Bev and Linda:


Me, Larry and the Pope!


After dinner, we headed outside for photo opportunities. From where I was standing to take the first photo of this blog, I turned around and this is what I saw - downtown Cleveland over the Inner Belt Bridge.

Keep in mind, the Inner Belt Bridge was inspected after the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis Minnesota collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The Inner Belt Bridge in Cleveland was found to have the exact same defect as the Interstate 35W and is in need of rebuilding. They have detoured truck traffic around the bridge, but I guess those of us in passenger vehicles are expected to take our chances on that bridge until it is torn down and rebuilt. I hate going over that bridge, but I digress.


Another shot of the Inner Belt Bridge. You could see the bumper of a car on the bottom left of this picture. This is also part of the parking area for Sokolowski's.


Looking up the Cuyahoga River and a closer look at the birds on the River. Well, I tried to get a closer look at the birds anyway. Work with me!



When all was said and done, we stood under the sign for a group photo opportunity. Another family was leaving at about the same time and the guy was hysterical! He said he loved photos and he wanted to be in it too! I tried to get his whole family in the picture, but they were too chicken to join in! So, thank you total stranger, for jumping in and being part of our family for a moment! You definitely made our day!!

From left to right, Total Stranger/New Family Member, Wes, Bev, Ron, Phil and me! It was a great Saturday in my world.

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Someone Is Trying To Kill Me!

For real!

I've mentioned at least once, twice, a dozen times, that I hate being out in public any more. I hate driving, being in the car, traveling anywhere.

Today was the perfect example as to why. And, this is just TWO instances during my 25 minute ride home from work!

I even drive the long way to and from work, just to choose a route with less traffic. I figure the fewer people I see, the better off I'm going to be. Tonight, coming home from work, I was stopped at a red light with my left turn signal on. Um, in case anyone wasn't sure, yes, I planned on turning left shortly after my light turns green.

Alas, the light changed green, I inched up a little, still with my left turn signal on, and was waiting for the car coming at me, who was also stopped while waiting for the same red light, to go by so that I could turn behind her. Suddenly, this big ass pick up truck (and yes, it was a Ford!) drives around me, in front of oncoming traffic and just TURNS left! WTF? He almost hit the oncoming car head on, and actually, she swerved close to me to avoid eating his freakin front grill! I mean for real. What purpose could this idiot have to justify what he did? I'm in an intersection for crying out loud, waiting for traffic to clear so that I could turn! I can't tell you the terror I felt in that five seconds of my life.

So, I am trying to calm down for the rest of my ride home. I am now on a rural two lane road. I see a car coming at me. The longer I watch, I realize he's really coming AT me. Something looked funny and it took me a second to realize he was in MY LANE! With deep ditches on both sides of the road, there was no where I could go.

I slammed on my brakes and laid on my horn. This idiot finally looked up and realized he had drifted and he moved into his own damn lane in enough time to give me a few gray hairs but not quite the heart attack I'm waiting for.

C'mon now, these two were within five miles of each other. And that wasn't even the end of my nightmare drive home! The route I take is about 14 miles one way. Numerous people tried to do me serious bodily harm in that 14 miles today. I swear I'm going to die in that car.

By the time I got the car in my garage, I was ready to kneel down and kiss the driveway. I couldn't get into the house fast enough, and was met by Ron who was ready to go out for dinner. Crap. Why couldn't I just crawl into bed, pull the covers up over my head and stay there?

Ugh. I changed out of my work boots (there's a blog right there one of these days!) and put my sneakers on and the three of us headed out the door to dinner. What did Ron find when he opened the door to leave? My keys still in the door! At least I remembered to shut and lock the door from the inside! So what if my keys were in the door for anyone to use to get right in! Major brain burp.

So now I'm home, safe and sound. I'm in my jammies and I'm ready to go to bed. Hopefully I won't fall out of bed and crack my head open! That would just be the end to a perfect day.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Not Exactly How I Planned It

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm not an animal person.

I don't have anything against them per se, as long as they just stay away from me. I'm not one that will kick a dog or set a cat on fire, but I can't imagine having an animal in my house. Ok, other than my fish!

Our weather has been so horrible around here lately that I really have been feeling for our local animals.

I've always had a bird feeder outside which I supplement from time to time with some suet in the winter time. Also, any stale bread will get broken up and thrown to the birds.

We have some feral cats in the neighborhood that I've had a few rows with, but only because they were getting into our garbage cans and carrying bones and whatever over to where the guys park their vans. That's just gross to have to clean that up.

Anyway, I've been seeing little cat prints in the snow on our front porch. I gotta tell you, that got me right here. I may be losing my mind, but I went out and bought some cat food. Granted, it was cheap cat food, but I figured those little beggars can't be choosers!

I grabbed a bowl, put some cat food in it and set it out for my little visitors. I'd leave the bowl out there all day and then take it in at night. After all, I have no intention of feeding any neighborhood rats, skunks, possums, or anything else that's not a cat. This was my cat feeding bowl, don't you know. Birds fed over there, cats fed over here. Anyone can see that, right?

It took a few days but the cats found the cat food bowl. I put the bowl just outside of the front door, to the right. I could look through the window and see the little orange tabby out there enjoying my cheap cat food! I feel like I was doing a good job.

Then, one day last week, I came home and the guys told me that there were a ton of birds on the front porch,enjoying the cat food! There was even like four of five cardinals at a time at the food bowl! While that is cool, that is CAT food! WTF! Bird food is over by the BIRD feeder!

I'm not saying that I thought the guys were lying, but c'mon now, this just didn't sound right. Then Sunday afternoon, I was in the office and I was looking out of the window. Just outside of the window is a maple tree and the tree was FULL of birds. And, you may not believe this, but they were all looking in the window at ME! I almost felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Then it hit me. They were on the look out for the damn birds that were raiding the cat food bowl on the front porch!

I ran downstairs and sure enough, the cat food bowl was empty. To add insult to injury, the front porch is full of bird shit! Now c'mon! I don't mind feeding the birds, but crap in the grass, not on my front porch! Yeah, I kinda have issues when it comes to bird shit on my porch. All I want to do is grab a bucket of soapy water and go out there and scrub it down, snow or no snow!

So, here I am. My heart is in the right place, but my execution sucks. I'm just torn as to what to try next. I guess I'm ok with the birds stealing the cat food. I mean if they beat the cats to the food, all is fair in war and lunch. But I want the shitting on my porch to stop.

I gotta come up with a plan B here. I don't know what that is yet, but I'll figure it out! It's so cold out there, my poor neighborhood cats need some love!