As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, my wife and I love fostering animals for the Maryland SPCA here in Baltimore. The drag of it is, there are so many foster “parents” on the books with the MDSPCA that you only get a call about once every 4-6 months asking if you’re available. And just as our luck would have it, the last call we got was just days before we left for our tortuous fight with the Icelandic ash cloud back in May, which made it impossible to devote the two weeks the kittens needed before they were ready for adoption. I was pretty bummed, because, y’know, I love kittens, and it was very likely I wouldn’t get another call until this Fall.
Thankfully, I got another one on Wednesday, and promptly prepared our master bathroom for our fuzzy visitors. Five kittens, four boys, one girl, all named after Trueblood characters. Let the cuteness commence!
Would you consume something that came from animal dung? Supposedly the world’s best coffee beans can only be found in the excrement of the civet, a Southeast Asian wild cat. Um, yuck!
According to this NY Times Article ,”Costing hundreds of dollars a pound, these beans are found in the droppings of the civet, a nocturnal, furry, long-tailed catlike animal that prowls Southeast Asia’s coffee-growing lands for the tastiest, ripest coffee cherries. The civet eventually excretes the hard, indigestible innards of the fruit — essentially, incipient coffee beans — though only after they have been fermented in the animal’s stomach acids and enzymes to produce a brew described as smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste.”
Sure it sounds good, but it came out of a kitty’s butt, so I’m still going to go with “ew”. (Though I wish my cats’ waste was worth that kind of money, I’d be set for life.)
The less funny and more depressing part of this article is that enterprising slimy entrepreneurs are now farming the wild cats, and keeping them in cages so that they can produce these prized beans. Poor wild cats
My bathroom is now full of kittens. There are 5 of them: Bill, Sookie, Sam, Lafayette and Eric. I’m fostering them for the MD SPCA. I’ll take more/better pictures later and share them on Friday but in the meantime, here’s a preview of the cute:
Our Marines, not only brave and selfless, but also kitten-rescuing. Awww! We just love this story of the three US Marines stationed in Afghanistan who rescued a group of kittens.
“I found Keykey tangled up in c-wire one day in the beginning of the deployment, I took him in and fixed his wounds. He was also extremely malnourished so I constantly kept an eye on him and fed him until he got back to good health and he has been by my side ever since,” said LCpl. Chris Berry.
I apologize for the crappy quality of this pic (and post; I’m severely hung over). What you see before you is supreme dedication.
While I was out with my wife and friends last night, a guy came over to our table and literally asked for the shirt off my back. Apparently his lady-friend (pictured above) loves penguins, and liked my Penguins In Love design so much that she had him ask me for it. Typically I wouldn’t have taken off my shirt in a bar, but they actually had a free crappy over-sized Bud Light tee of some kind to give me in exchange, so I wouldn’t be left shirtless. Since I’m all about going the extra mile for you guys, I gave this girl the shirt off my back. And since I rarely go out without one of my own tees on my body, you guys also stand a very good chance of coming away with a very sweaty cool free t-shirt of your own if you happen upon me. (Chances are especially good if I’ve been drinking.) Just keep an eye out for me; I’ll be the guy in the Ex-Boyfriend shirt complaining about the state of the Baltimore Orioles baseball club.
P.S. I’m too hungover today to talk about booze with any enthusiasm, so instead I’ll just point you to Fork Party’s list of 11 Terrible Hangover Cures. Here’s hoping your Thirsty Thursday is less headachey than mine.
Have you heard about Fiverr yet? It’s an interesting concept. People post random things they are willing to do for $5.00 and you can hire them to carry out these tasks. It’s hard to say whether the economy is encouraging people to do bizarre stuff for a a mere $5.00 or if these people would be shilling their unusual services at bargain prices no matter what. Here are a few gems:
aioazech will “Photoshop an image of you to look like a Na’vi” (those creatures from Avatar). Blue skin and pointy ears? Hells yeah! Now I can finally make that match.com profile that will reel in the ladies.
If passive-aggressive fun is your thing, kayy is your girl. For a mere $5.00 she will make a 4 minute video yelling at someone you don’t like and post it to their Facebook or Twitter. Finally, someone to tell your ex-girlfriends all the things you were too much of a wuss to say yourself.
Other passive-aggressive relationship fun includes scarlettfleming‘s offer to post flirty/sexy messages on your Facebook so you can make other ladies jealous. Yep, that ought to get your ex-girlfriend running back into your arms.
For the self-esteem impaired/attention-seeking types who feel hotornot simply can’t be trusted, you can rely on donniedarko. For $5.00 he’ll honestly tell you whether you are good looking on a scale of 1-10. How, uh, helpful?
Finally, for the most bizarre fetishists, Cady will give her boyfriend a zrbt (raspberry) and send you a video of it. Is this a thing people are looking for? I’ve heard of furries and feederism but this one’s new. WTF?!
Trip over potholes and small children no more! This droid ap uses your phone’s camera to show you the street ahead while you’re text messaging. Now you can finally walk and text with ease.
Would you use this? Fess up — do you text and walk or text and drive?
Aww, check out this dancing turtle. He’s been making the rounds online this week with his cute little dance.
P.S. I am giving away a $35.00 gift card through Raffle Dog. Please be sure to enter by Saturday if you want to win some free Ex-Boyfriend goodness. Entering to win is totally FREE and only takes a few seconds.
It’s been so… damn… hot!!! Over 100 degrees. Too hot to cook. So last night we made Gazpacho, with booze of course. Our gazpacho got its kick with a hefty doze of Absolut Peppar. Yum!
What’s in the soup:
6 whole cloves garlic
3 large heirloom tomatoes, chopped
1 large cucumber, diced
3 medium celery stalks, diced finely
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbs parsley, chopped
2 Tbs basil, chopped
1/4 cup chives, minced finely
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3 oz Absolut Peppar (or more if you like, I used 3 oz)
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
1 avocado, sliced (garnish, optional)
Typically this is a raw soup, but I like my garlic roasted, so I take the 6 cloves, put them in a small ramekin with enough olive oil to cover them and roast them at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Then I set them aside to cool. Once cooled, I chop them up and throw them in a pot with all the other ingredients. I use my stick blender to turn everything into a nicely pureed soup.
You’re supposed to put your gazpacho in the fridge to chill for a few hours, but if you’re impatient like me, nothing awful will happen if you skip this step.
I like to serve my gazpacho topped with a couple of avocado slices, but it’s not necessary if you don’t care for avocado, or garnishes. (Although if it’s the latter, WTF?! Who doesn’t like garnishes?)
P.S. I am giving away a $35.00 gift card through Raffle Dog. Please be sure to enter by Saturday if you want to win some free Ex-Boyfriend goodness.
Yesterday, as I was leaving the grocery store, I saw a tiny dog locked in a hot car. The car was sitting in full sun and it was 97 degrees outside. The internal temperature of that car was probably over 115 degrees. The dog was clearly in distress, barking and whining. I called the police and they told me it could take an hour to show up! I called again 10 minutes later remind them that the situation was critical and this dog would not survive for an hour. I spent 20 minutes trying desperately to think of what to do to rescue this animal and not get myself arrested for breaking into the car.
The police never arrived and the car owner finally returned with her friend. They had ice cream for themselves, nothing for the dog, not even water. They drove off like everything was fine. One of two things was going on here:
1. These people are evil and want to cook their dog alive.
2. These people are idiots and don’t realize you cannot leave a dog in a car in 97 degree heat, even if windows are cracked.
I was mad that the police didn’t respond right away. I was mad that I was the only person who bothered to call the police. I don’t know if people are that uncaring or if they’re that clueless about what a clear case of animal abuse this was.
In case you don’t know, a dog’s body temperature is 101-102.5 degrees. They can withstand a body temperature of 107 to 108 degrees for only a short time before they experience brain and nerve damage, heart problems – and even death. This is why you cannot leave a dog in a parked car in the summer, even for a minute. Here’s a study on how hot parked cars get, even with windows cracked.
Please tell everyone you know that leaving a dog in a hot car for even a few minutes is cruel, deadly and illegal. If a pet owner is caught doing this, many states WILL arrest them, as they should. Tell your friends, even if they don’t have pets, to call 911 right away if they see a dog locked in a hot car. Dogs suffer this slow awful death every year, so it’s very important that everyone be aware of this issue at this time of year, and be willing to take a stand against this kind of animal cruelty.
P.S. I shouldn’t even have to say that this same thing goes for small children, but disgustingly enough, kids sometimes die this way too. If you see a child locked in a hot car, obviously, call the police. Ugh!
our customers
