Saturday, December 31, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Jesus Squirrel Shirt

Folks, this is not the first time we've seen a rodentia and religion mash-up on this here blog, but it may well be the classiest time.

My friend A sent this to me ages ago and I'm so embarrassed it took me so long to put this on the blog, because damnit, it's so awesome. You can't tell from the photo, but this is actually on a t-shirt and I would totally wear this if I weren't such a slave to fashion.

He he.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Nutkin Sticker Book

Oh Squirrel Nutkin, your strange story of tormenting the angry owl and (spoiler alert!) eventually losing a part of your tail is so very strange. What is the message here for children?

I guess the message here is "Hey, there are stickers in this book and it's only 99 cents!"

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Listen to the Squirrels

I left my office today to get some fresh air during lunch. I went through the nearby park because I like to admire the fat little fuzzy squirrels who inhabit it. As I walked through, I noticed the squirrels were going a little crazy. They were making that disturbing chattering noise that they make when they're upset, and they were all standing totally still.

"What's wrong, little squirrels?" I asked. And that's not a lie. I actually said that to one of the squirrels.

I finally figured out what they were all looking at.

This hawk was just hanging out in the bushes nearby. And this photograph is just barely zoomed in. I was probably three feet away from him. He was very, very intense.

If I hadn't paid attention to the squirrels I would have walked right by him.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Found Squirrels: Starbucks Squirrel

Why didn't anyone tell me that there were squirrels on the Starbucks holiday cups this year?!?

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Found Squirrels: Bergdorf Goodman Window Squirrels

I spotted these creepy little white squirrels while we were admiring the many holiday window displays on Fifth Avenue yesterday.

Definitely creepy. And I love rodents, so I imagine most people are skeezed out by these guys.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Found Squirrels: Memory Squirrels

Oh man, how excited was I to discover this particular set of squirrels? We played Memory: Animal Families during Thanksgiving weekend at our friend E's house. Never mind that the instructions say for children ages 3 to 6 and that every single one of us is more than four times that maximum age.

I was very upset when B ended up matching the squirrel mommy and squirrel baby and adding them to his stack. And in fact I lost miserably at Memory: Animal Families, but ended up rocking it when we played the original Memory later.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Found Squirrels: Decorative Squirrel Figure

Found this little treasure in the same thrift store as the cross-stitch. I suspect that someone with rodent-loving tendencies like me has recently passed away, because this particular establishment seemed to have quite a few squirrel-themed items.

It makes me kind of happy to think that someday all of my squirrel stuff will go to a thrift store somewhere and some young lover of squirrels will freak out with joy when she sees all the awesomeness I've collected over the years. They better price my cool squirrel stuff at higher than $6, though!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Found Squirrels: Squirrel Ornament

Oh Christmas squirrel, oh Christmas squirrel! Your tail is always fuzzy!

Found in a fancy knick knack store in New Jersey. I think my new cellphone with its fancy, fancy camera is really going to revolutionize the way I blog.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Found Squirrels: Cross Stitch Squirrel

Found at a thrift store in New Jersey. Seriously considered bringing it home, but was easily distracted by a Squirrel Nutkin sticker book.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

For the winter.

I am very proud! This is my first project using stranded colorwork and I think it turned out beautifully.

Now I will be warm all winter like the fat and fuzzy little squirrels I'm seeing in the parks these days.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Phew!

I've received several emails from concerned citizens who are worried about the balcony squirrels. Did they make it through the hurricane/tropical storm?

Yes, yes they did. And yes, they are back outside where they belong. No, I won't give you photographic evidence because I am already in my pajamas and I don't feel like dragging my camera out on the balcony where the neighbors can watch me leaning over in weird positions trying to get a good picture of two 6 inch tall metal squirrels.

Instead, I present to you a completely random photo from my folder of 2011 photographs.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Hurricane Preparations

The balcony squirrels had to come inside today where they will wait out the hurricane with B and me this weekend.

They look terrified, don't they? Poor little things just don't have the nerves for this.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Oh Squirrely Night

And they asked me, "Casey, is there any way your desk decorations at work could become even more insane?" And I replied, "Yes, yes there is."

"You have to have faith that your friends will always provide you with new, crazy shit for your desk," I said. Thanks, G.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Weird Shit I Found In My Childhood Room: Blast From The Past Edition

My little sister is just about 18 months younger than me, which means that for most of our childhoods we were close enough in age to have the same interests and desires at any given time. This changed when we became teenagers and her interests leaned more toward Destiny's Child and my interests leaned more toward getting drunk in the orchard.

But as children, at least, we were on the same page. As a result, when any normal child would have x number of a certain toy, we would have at least 2x of that toy.

Who remembers Littlest Pet Shop?

I sure remember them. You know why? Because I have at least 65 Littlest Pet Shop sets in my childhood room at home, that's why. I wish I had gotten a shot of the whole thing, but I wasn't really thinking and just wanted to capture the the general chaos that is the Littlest Pet Shop shelf in my room.

And yes, that's a flutter pony butt on the bottom right of the picture. You may ask me what a flutter pony is, but I will only reply sadly that if you don't know, then you totally missed out on the best movie that 1986 had to offer.

Note that this picture is not from my childhood bedroom. This picture was taken just now on my kitchen floor. Yes, I own this on DVD. Yes, I keep it with me at all times. Yes, I can still sing the "Nothing Can Stop the Smooze" song.

If there was one toy we had too many of as children, it has to have been My Little Ponies. My sister and I loved these things to death, and I would guess that far and away they were the most played with toy in our house from about 1988-1994.

I only took this one picture, but I think it begins to capture the chaos of the My Little Pony shelf (with overflow seating for precious flutter ponies on the Littlest Pet Shop shelf above). There are two rows of ponies here, adults in the back, kids in the front. I am particularly fond of this picture because it showcases the random horse toy thrown in haphazardly with beloved ponies, and also the poor Barbie whose hair we chopped off in the summer of 1995 with Jewel's first album playing in the background.

I wish I had a picture of the whole set up, pets on top, ponies on bottom, but I don't. My task when I was home a few weeks ago was to clean out my room and get rid of a lot of stuff, but I couldn't bring myself to part with these beloved toys. They're all packed up now in a big plastic bin under my bed with only the Polly Pockets and my dollhouse for company.

Damn, I forgot to take a picture of our twenty Polly Pockets!

And Mom, whatever happened to our 25 Quints? (Five times the fun!)

Friday, August 12, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Balcony/Garden Squirrels

I am often asked, "Casey, you have so much squirrel stuff that is meant for display inside a home, but how oh how will you announce to the world at large that your home is a home for rodent lovers when you have no exterior squirrel items?"

Well a house isn't really a home until you acquire garden squirrels, and it appears that our house is finally a home!

My friend E dutifully acquired these for me and I just adore them. We don't have a yard of course, but they sit out on our balcony and keep us company while we drink beer and watch the sun set over Manhattan.

I'm not much for gardening, really. I've killed every plant I've ever owned, including our beloved Bonsai tree, Sputnik, whom I found horrifically shriveled and dry on our window sill one morning back in 2009.

Luckily, now when we do have a garden or a yard some day, I can be assured that at least two little garden inhabitants will remain happy and healthy, particularly since they require neither weeding nor watering.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Weird Shit I Found In My Childhood Room: Jazz Wolf

When I found this item in my childhood room, I collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter.

B immediately pointed out that "you don't even like jazz." I told him that if that was the strangest thing he could see about this CD then I must have married the right man.

I have a very vague recollection of purchasing this through some sort of multi-CD deal, which I believe went something like "Buy Two Whale Songs CDs and an Enya CD and Complete Your Ticket to Lifelong Celibacy by Purchasing Jazz Wolf for only $2!" How in the world could 13-year-old Casey turn that down? This is probably during the same period when I would hole up in my room with the Timothy Zahn Star Wars books and my collage of planets and blast Enya's Watermark via my sweet 3-CD/2-Cassette stereo. (This stereo came in very handy later when I discovered I could record CDs onto cassettes to play in the tape deck of my sweet 1987 Ford Ranger with hidden rifle rack. Sadly, I did not figure this out until after I had purchased Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP on cassette.)

One wonders just how I could be so awesome and so entirely lame at the same time.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Weird Shit I Found In My Childhood Room: Queen Adele of Romania

As I mentioned previously, I spent part of my recent vacation cleaning out my childhood room. Now, most of my actual childhood stuff had been previously packed up and put in a trunk for safekeeping, so for the most part I was sorting through random stuff I acquired between 1996 and 2004.

Apparently there was an ongoing clearance sale during that time at the Store for Weird Shit because I sure found a lot of it.

This is Queen Adele of Romania. Her head is made of a dried apple, her arms are made of baby blue pipe cleaners, and her body is made from an empty Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve bottle. Note also that her castle is made of old clothing and shoe boxes, lovingly painted white and blue, and that the curtains are both red velvet and ill-made.

To be fair, this was a sixth grade project. I'm not really sure what we were supposed to learn from this. Creativity, maybe? It clearly wasn't meant to help us learn history as there was no Queen Adele of Romania (Google it), and I certainly didn't learn how to sew properly. This project made only slightly less sense than the time we were forced to trace a Canadian province (which was clearly an intelligence test that I failed because I picked Northwest Territories while everyone else picked Saskatchewan).

Anyway, I sure was entertained by this discovery, although when I first opened up the shoebox containing Queen Adele I was terrified and thought I had come across the corpse of a rat in a dress (not an unfounded fear in my world).

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Squirrels In the News: Squirrel Flashdance

I just returned from vacation on the West Coast, and actually have things to post about now, but due to the red-eye flight we took last night from Seattle to New York I'm not exactly in fine form for blogging. I've provided you with this comic in the meantime.

You're welcome.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

More embarrassment on the subway...

...because I'm carrying around this ridiculous book cover.

Oh, and for those of you keeping track, it turns out that last book I was reading actually was robot porn, and the robot was indeed wearing cargo pants. Both of these points were covered in later chapters.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

As if I didn't have enough to be embarrassed about...

There was a time in my life when I was too embarrassed to admit that I liked science fiction. I'm not sure of the exact dates of this era, but I'm pretty sure it was during the second half of Star Trek: Voyager and all of Star Trek: Enterprise. And the last two TNG movies, definitely, not that I was missing much.

At some point in college, I heard a friend of mine express her love for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I warily eyed the other friends in the room, wondering how this silly person hadn't gotten the memo that Star Trek was so desperately uncool. I worried that she would be kicked out of college and that I would never see her again. But then a magical thing happened. Another friend spoke up and said that she had a crush on Brent Spiner, and then another jumped in to start a conversation about Ender's Game.

It was magical.

Ever since then, I have embraced my love for science fiction, and have even endeavored to increase my knowledge of the genre. As part of this venture, I'm beginning to acknowledge an aspect of science fiction of which I will always be embarrassed.

The cover art.

I should be proud to get on the subway with my nose buried in something by Asimov, right? People should look at me and think "Wow, look at that intelligent girl on the N train reading one of Asimov's great novels. I am unworthy to stand in the light of her knowledge of The Three Laws of Robotics." But instead I'm pretty sure they're thinking "Wow, that girl on the N train is reading robot porn. And why is the robot wearing cargo pants? This is both disgusting and unclear."

Seriously, somebody should start a blog dedicated to ridiculous cover artwork. I would do it, but I already have big plans to turn this blog into a source of comprehensive reviews of the many tantalizing documentaries that I watch on Netflix Watch Instantly. I've been planning this for months now, but somehow getting a star rank on 150cc Mario Kart Wii has been more of a priority in the past six weeks. Sorry.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Vintage Squirrel

I adore vintage squirrel items, and so was very pleased when this little rodent showed up, care of my mother, from a family friend back home.

He is adorable, and is currently acting as a table centerpiece (he may be small, but he's got the attitude to take up the whole table!) while I contemplate where he belongs amongst my other squirrel items.

I spend a lot of time on the Internet looking at vintage squirrel items. Luckily, I have buckets of self control, and have managed to keep myself from bidding on the sweet taxidermy banjo-playing squirrel I keep coveting. But self control can only last so long. Someday I'll snap and get that job in Antarctica I've been wanting, and I'll have that banjo-playing squirrel shipped to me way down at Amundsen-Scott, where I will be "the weird kitchen worker with the dead squirrel in her room."

Which is not too much worse than my current status as "the weird database manager who wrote that children's book about calling in payroll."

Monday, April 25, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Tiny Office Squirrels

As I alluded to in my previous post post, I do, in fact, have a real job that requires me to wear pants, sit up straight, and not be drunk. I also brush my hair most days.

Normally having to wear real pants would be a big downer for me, but luckily I've got some great coworkers at my job and they work hard to encourage me. ("Wow, pants two days in a row, Casey? You are doing awesome! Keep it up!")

They also tend to buy squirrel stuff for me now, which is really great. In fact just last week my coworker G left these little guys on my desk.

It was funny, though, because she waited for me to leave for a few moments, gleefully placed them on my keyboard, and then waited in her office for my reaction, which I think was pretty perfect.

"GUYS, THERE ARE TINY SQUIRRELS ON MY DESK. Guys! GUYS! Does anyone else see this? Oh no, am I hallucinating again? Seriously, does anyone else see these tiny squirrels?!"

And that's not an exaggeration; I actually said those things.

Anyway, I quickly discovered that the squirrels were more than just tiny desk decorations of love. They could be my little helpers as well!

They help me load paper into the printer when we run out.

They help me with my database updates and gift entry tasks.

They answer the phone when people dial the wrong number and then insist that they dialed the correct number even though I know there is nobody named Candylicious who works here.

And most importantly, they help all of us with the filing.

Most people with regular jobs have to leave their crazy at home, but I'm lucky I get to bring my crazy with me to work. And when my coworkers walk in on me at 8:55 AM taking pictures of a squirrel in the filing cabinet, it doesn't even occur to them to look for psychiatrists in the area who take our insurance. No, they have other more pressing concerns on their minds.

"Wow, it's Friday and you're still wearing pants, Casey! This is a banner week for you!"

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Wait, what kind of royal wedding?

Sometimes I forget that I have a blog. I'll post twice in a week and then completely forget about the poor thing. I won't even check in on Blogger.com because I'm too busy looking at squirrel taxidermy options on eBay and sending ridiculous Easter ecards to my friends around the nation.

It's like I have a regular job or life or something. Probably the first one.

But it's days like this when I gleefully recall that I do have a blog and this blog potentially has readers and those readers want to know about a fantastic half birthday gift that I received the other day. (And yes, for those of you keeping score, it's still a little early for my half birthday, but my friend M is so efficient that he traveled back in time from my half birthday in order to give this to me. Thanks, M!)


Yeah, that's right, bitches, I'm going to knit myself a royal wedding, complete with Camilla, vicar, and a herd of corgis. No, there is nothing weird about this, why do you ask? Which knitter among us isn't knitting a herd of corgis in preparation for this special occasion?

Now if you'll excuse me the Queen's hair is giving me some trouble, and it looks like B is trying to research divorce lawyers again, silly husband. Corgis, attack!!!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Found Squirrels: Squirrel Lamp

I love it when people send me pictures of squirrels and squirrel stuff! No matter how many times they've sent me squirrel things before, my heart always manages to skip a beat when I see a new squirrel item land in my mailbox.

This stunning little albino squirrel lamp was sent to me by, of all people, my new boss at my job! Normally I try to keep my rodent obsession secret, at least for a few months, so that people don't judge me too harshly immediately. My usual slow introduction was thwarted by my coworkers, who informed our new boss about "Casey's squirrel thing" within the first week.

Thanks, guys.

Luckily, she seems to think it's charming (let's hope that continues), and even played along by sending me this squirrel lamp she found in Brooklyn. Awesome!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Den of the Devil

We headed up to Connecticut on Saturday to visit a friend and get some exposure to nature.

I don't know when it happened but I have apparently turned into a city kid. My shoe choice for this excursion was both completely inappropriate and dangerous, the lack of garbage freaked me out, and at one point I thought the sound made by my corduroy jacket was actually the calls of a beaver following me.

It's all very wrong. I used to be so comfortable in wild places. Now I'm confused if I don't have concrete under my feet.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Unisphere Porn

So I know I've blogged previously about going out to Flushing Meadows to see all the old World's Fair structures. We had several friends visiting this weekend so we hopped on the 7 train for a quick visit.

This was the first time I've ever been to the Unisphere and been able to walk through the dry fountain right up to the base of it.

It was kind of scary having this giant steel globe hovering above us, but the cold February sky was really awesome against the metal structure.

I took a lot of pictures. I think they're great.


Sunday, February 6, 2011

Found Squirrels: Toilet Casket Squirrels

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art yesterday. It's a good way to keep myself entertained for a few hours for a very small amount of money. As usual, I managed to find whole sections of the Met I had never seen before. We've lived in New York City four years now (?) and I've been to the Met many times and yet somehow I still turn corners and find new parts of the permanent collection I have never seen.

Finding squirrels at the Met remains a challenge, but yesterday I found this prize.

These squirrels were at an exhibit on boxes, and I'm lucky I looked closely enough to find them. Can you see them? The casket is French, from approximately 1700. It is made of "wood veneered with marquetry of tortoiseshell and brass, rosewood; gilt bronze, and steel."

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Happy Groundhog Day!

Did you know that a groundhog is a ground squirrel?

I love groundhogs. Here in New York City a groundhog named Chuck who lives at the Staten Island Zoo forecasts the weather. And the zoo holds an annual program and breakfast to go along with the prognostication. Every year I get excited and decide that I want to do this and every year on February 1 I go to the Staten Island Zoo website and discover that the program starts at 7 AM. In Staten Island. I don't even know how long it would take me to get to Staten Island from our current address, but I'm pretty sure it would require a 4 AM wake up call.

And so every year I give up on my dream of eating breakfast with a ground squirrel.

Luckily this year I have this little guy to comfort me.

This is from my squirrel calendar. I think I've mentioned the squirrel calendar before. I get one every year, and they really make me crazed with glee. This month's squirrel just may be the cutest one yet (counting all three or four years that I've had a squirrel calendar).

Still, if someone wanted to show up at my door with a chipmunk and some bagels that would be much appreciated.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Squinky

I think I may have mentioned before that B's nieces are very supportive of my love of squirrels. They love squirrels too, I think, but maybe they just act like they do to make me happy.

Over the holidays B and I came down with a really, really terrible stomach flu, which sidelined us both for a couple days. One of the nieces wrote me a sweet little note about how she was sorry I was sick. This cute little squinky squirrel accompanied the note. Apparently squinkies are a thing now with the younger set (I'm really not hip enough to know these things). They come in eggs and they are meant to be pencil toppers but I think most kids just collect them. They're pretty cute, and I've brought my squinky to work, where he sits atop my monitor and praises my work. My coworkers are jealous.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Ridiculous Squirrel Socks

Seems like a good time to blog about these since I just wore them yesterday (although for the record, this picture was taken post-wash and pre-wear so these are some clean neon pink squirrel socks).

DO YOU SEE THE WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?!?! Squirrels. Neon pink. Socks. Everything about these cracks me up, and every time I look at them my curmudgeonly, pessimistic little heart melts just a little bit. These were a Christmas present from my friend G, who obviously knows me very well.

Thanks, G!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Christmas Squirrels

So I think I've mentioned in my blog before that B and I have a couple of nieces on his side. They're very cute, and are now all old enough to talk and chatter and say funny things and just generally be small, entertaining people. They are also enthusiastic supporters of my love for squirrels. When we lived near them back in the summer of 2009 they would frequently spot a squirrel out a car window or off the back deck and scream, "Auntie C! It's a skoo-werl!!! Do you see the skoo-werl!?!?!"

I have suggested to B that he would do well to adopt that level of enthusiasm for rodents, but so far his involvement is just patient support of my weirdness.

But I digress. The point is, often the children will acquire squirrel items for me (because they know I will love them) and happily give them to me.

This was part of our Christmas present this year! They're supposed to be ornaments, but the little threads to hold them to the tree fell off. One was for B (the green one, I think) and one was for me, but B promptly regifted his so I'm now the proud owner of both sparkly, magnificent little squirrels (with hats!). And of course the nieces were SO delighted to give them to me. I'm hoping that this will influence a lifelong love of rodents in all of them.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Squirrel Stuff I Own: Squirrel Cards

Well, this New York City Squirrel is back from her Christmas trip to the Midwest, and has returned with even more squirrel stuff. And yet I'm still struggling to catch up this blog with squirrel stuff acquired in early December!

I received a few squirrel-themed greeting cards, recently, this one is from my friend M, who found it in Iceland.

Cute, right? Here it is from a different angle, so you can see how it's built. I like how this one is a red squirrel, since most of my squirrel stuff is based on the grey squirrel.

And then my friend E picked up this beautiful card for me in South Africa, I believe.

I love it. I feel like it's the type of piece you could put in a frame and then build a decorating scheme around, if one was inclined to decorate around a rodent. And hey, if anyone in the world were to be inclined to decorate like that, wouldn't it be me?