Hmm.... It's only a month since my last post. That's nothing.

Honestly, I have been really, really lazy these last few weeks, and what free time I've had has mostly been spent on video games and reading. Here is an abbreviated list of what's been going on:

-WalMart is opening a new super-store behind us and it's ruining our parking lot and screwing up our business
-WalMart employees are rude, demanding, ignorant, and tip poorly
-Two new waitresses are eating up hours and not really doing their work well
-Delivery has started and no one was ready for it
-3/4 of our staff has learned to take delivery totally on the fly, most of us still don't get what we're supposed to do and it's been four days
-Knitting is progressing very, very slowly
-This upcoming Wednesday is the first session of my very own D&D campaign
-Andy Serkis is now listed amongst my many heroes
-Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is my current favorite video game (youtube preview link)
-I have frogs now
-Crickets are kinda icky

The work stuff is just... overwhelming and so I will skip out on talking about that and instead move to the stuff that doesn't cause me to go into a Hulk-like rage at the mere thought of it.

Recently, we have had decidedly fall-ish weather, complete with inconsistent temperatures, excessive winds, and freak rain storms. Some of the more recent rains have worn deep ruts into my uncle's driveway, and one of my visits to monitor his offspring led us to talking about the young frogs that had taken to living into the rain-filled, two-and-a-half-feet deep pits in his driveway. I expressed a desire to have a frog again, and he offered to go out and catch some for me.
I was all for that.
So now, on my dresser I have a tank set up with three small frogs. If you know anything about frogs at all, two of them are bullfrogs and one is a carpenter frog. Samson (biggest, bullfrog), Tim (middle-ish, bullfrog), and Hrairoo (aka Fiver, smallest, carpenter). They're all about an inch and a half long, so if you know anything about frogs (especially bullfrogs, those suckers get huge), you'd know they're very young.
I've had them a few days now, but they haven't been eating the synthetic food I've put out, nor have they shown any interest in the bloodworms I supplied them with. So, worrying that they might not ever eat again EVER, I went back to the pet store and after a quick chat with another customer (who also has a much, much larger bullfrog her husband saved from a construction site) and some friendly advice from a worker, picked up a dozen baby crickets.
Me: So, I have these frogs, and they aren't eating.
Dude: It could be because they're wild, and they're a little freaked out about their environment change. Give them a few weeks to get used to things and they may get hungrier.
Me: Is there anything I can try in the mean time?
Dude: Well, they're pretty young so I'd say the little crickets are best. I mean, if they don't work you can try some flightless fruit flies, I don't think I've ever seen anything resist them.
Me: How many should I get, do you think?
Dude: Probably two or three per frog, and since they are still young you'll probably want to feed them once every other day. When they get older and bigger, and you move on to the bigger crickets you'll really only need to feed them maybe twice a week.
Me: Sweet deal, can I have a dozen of those little tiny jumping foodstuffs?
Dude: (laughs)

Patrick and I got home and dumped the little buggers (they really are tiny) in an old beta tank with some rocks and food and set them up next to the frog tank. Patrick caught some for me (I'll use tweezers when he isn't home, I can't stand to touch crickets) and we dropped them into the tank on the high ground, then stood back to watch.
Tim: I'm gonna eatcha.
Cricket: Ohhhhh no. Fuckfuckfuck.
Tim: Seriously, try and run. I'm gonna eat you so fast.
Cricket: I am totally safe on THIS side of the rock! He's on the other s--oh no.
Tim: (wicked fast reflexes and tongue action) You are tasty. Your friends are next.
Hrairoo was hiding under water, so I dropped one on a rock nearby and left him alone, and Samson was doing his thing somewhere I couldn't see him, so I just left a few extras in there for him and left them be.
When I got home last night, sitting on my laptop waiting for me was a copy of How to Train Your Dragon, a movie that I am ridiculously fond of. So tonight, Patrick and I curled up on the couch with our quilt (thanks, Roxie!) and ate dinner while we watched it. Patrick is playing Enslaved now, a game which I picked up recently and only just beat yesterday. He promised not to play it until I had beaten it, because he always finishes my games before I do, and it's depressing.

When I said knitting was going very, very slowly I meant it. I have some Christmas presents otn, and they are the only holiday gifts I think I will be making, though there may perhaps be some scarves in there somewhere or something. You never know.

Well, I'll end the post with some frog and dog pictures, I know how you've all missed them.


Left: Hrairoo. He's smaller than he looks, but likes to float just under the surface in the corner of the tank, all spread out.
Bottom: Tim likes to pose, but Samson is a little coward, you can see his face in the bottom right corner.

















And Kobold has made a throne out of my clean clothing, that jerk.




I'm broke but I'm happy
I'm poor but I'm kind
I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah
I'm high but I'm grounded
I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed
I'm lost but I'm hopeful baby
What it all comes down to
Is that everything's gonna be fine fine fine
'cause I've got one hand in my pocket
And the other one is giving a high five
~Alanis Morissette "Hand in My Pocket"