Salamander
Fire Walking

Yesterday the Socialist rinsed the salt off from underneath my car for me. The road crews have gone absolutely crazy with laying down salt this year. Many of the cars on the road (mine included) look like they've been dipped in powdered sugar from all the road salt adhering to them. I have to say that the Socialist's little innovation of screwing the hose into the upstairs shower head pipe, then running the hose through the upstairs hall, down the stairs, and out the mail slot of the door works nicely, even if it does look a little weird. There was a trickling leak in the bathtub from the hose attachment, and Kitten had a great time playing with the tiny stream of water. At one point she even took a drink from it, like a kid at a water fountain. Pity I didn't have my camera, but I don't tend to leave it laying around in the bathroom.

Speaking of Kitten, following are pictures of her latest escapade. Let's call this one "How to Pack a Kitten."

1. Take one kitten. Prepackaged kittens will do nicely.

2. If Kitten is prepackaged, remove from container. Often, if permitted, Kitten will remove itself from the container.

3. Permit the Kitten to investigate the shipping box. Again, if permitted, Kitten will tend to perform this function on its own, without assistence.

4. Give the Kitten plenty of time to fully explore her future site of incarceration. If given sufficient time, Kitten may begin to prepackage itself.

5. Gently but firmly assist Kitten into lower portion of packing box. Kitten may resist at first, but that's all in the game.

6. Kitten may attempt to escape from box if insufficient attention is given to the procedings. If this happens, grasp gently but firmly, and reinsert into box.

7. Illustrated here is one technique to reinstall Kitten into shipping box. If Kitten starts pathetic mewing, reassure her by telling her she is a good kitten, but do not release grip.

8. Once Kitten is inserted into box, quickly set lid in place. If lid is set too slowly on box, it may be necessary to return to step 5 and start over from there.

9. Keep in mind that, once lid is set in place, contents of box are under pressure. Contents are likely to erupt from box if inadequate sealing materials are used.

10. As can be seen in this final shot, Kittens adore quality time. Game can be continued from step 1 on through to step 9 again and again, until subject Kitten falls asleep from exhaustion.

You recall all my big talk about getting the taxes done? Nope, hasn't happened. Again. I'm a fool, since all I'm doing is delaying my rebate. I can't seem to find a way to work it into the weekends though.

Part of the problem is that I've been sleeping until noon on weekends. That doesn't leave much of the day left, once I get dressed and fed. Part of the problem is that I don't want to spend time away from the Socialist. The weekends are the only solid blocks of time we get together anymore, and it somehow seems that the time would be better spent with him than with Mr. H&R Block.

We did make a run to Trader Joe's on Saturday afternoon. They are way overpriced, but they have a selection of low sodium items that you simply can't find anywhere else. There's a low sodium tofu ravioli that tastes exactly like cheese ravioli. There are Greek flatbread wafers that come in garlic, cheese and cheese and oregeno flavors. There are no salt chips and very low salt salsa. And there's a no sodium pear cider that, when you mix a shotful with a glass of orange juice tastes exactly like a fuzzy navel (yes, I know that's supposed to be peach and not pear, but I can't help what the result tastes like!). Yesterday we discovered some low sodium lentil soups, and I made the Southwestern seasoning lentil soup for dinner last night. It was great!
Don't get me wrong. I still lust for the salt shaker. But at least I'm finding ways to distract myself from actually using it.