You all know what I'm talking about. Those figurines of angelic children with the large eyes? Yeah, those. But you must be wondering why these precious and momentous little things should creep me out, right? Okay, I'll tell you.
I received this email today from Midge:
Without reading the URL, I just clicked on the link and was greeted with this. "What's so creepy about that??" Right. Just bear with me. So, as you all know, 3-Fish is Midge's and Midge's Sister's mom. She is also MonkeyPig's and my sister. We all love her, but 3-Fish sometimes does things that are, well, to say the least, unexplained. 3-Fish lives in Kansas and there are not any Disneylands or Magic Mountains there. Instead, they have Silver Dollar City and the aforelinked Precious Moments Park.
Now, I have nothing against SDC. I love SDC. I remember eating a very tasty turkey leg at SDC. They also had great rides. But, PMP is another matter entirely. I was never creeped out by Precious Moments until I went to the park one time when MonkeyPig, Jean Cutter, and I were visiting the Fishes in Kansas. We parked, we got out of the car, paid for admission, and was allowed onto the grounds. Now, what do you think is the first thing that greets me? The thing that sets the tone for the entire visit?
A COMPLETELY SILENT, LIFE-SIZED PRECIOUS MOMENT INDIVIDUAL FLOATING TOWARD ME WITH ITS GINORMOUS EYES.
I thought I was having a Donnie Darko moment. If I am not mistaken, I swear I heard a low hum that didn't seem to have a source as the PMI otherwise noiselessly approached. I don't know if it was because the size, dead silence, and hover of that thing was totally unexpected, but that has creeped me out for over a decade. I believe that everyone else on the visit had the same reaction and are probably traumatized by that thing, too. Okay, with the exception of 3-Fish, who just loved the visit. *rolls eyes*
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Precious Moments
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Hair
One of the magazines that we subscribe to is GQ. I know that this is for guys, but I love this magazine. I really like the articles, but I love the "advice" columns and the new gadgets articles. A problem I've always had, though, is with the ads because there are so may fem models in them.
I was trolling the GQ site and saw that Edward Cullen was going to be on the cover of the April issue. (Have you read his wife's autobiography??) Normally, Mr. Nonny Nu reads the issue and then passes it along to me, but this month was different. I called dibs on it at the beginning of March. Since we were moving, I was really antsy that it would be misdirected. Anyhow, it arrived this week without a hiccup.
Now. Take a look at the Burberry ad on the back of the issue:
What is going on with the dude's hair?? I could barely contain my laughter around Zac Ephron's 'do. I mean, can a man get any prettier than that? But, that was until I saw the Burberry ad. That's some hair. Oh, cripes. I was just now trying to imagine what the hair looks like from the back. Yikes. Is there a split down the middle of that guy's head with all the hair brushed forward? I don't get it. I'm just glad Mr. Nonny Nu doesn't have enough hair to do his hair that way. Thank goodness for small favors.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Chuck at Work
Due to several attempts on Chuck's life, we have made the painful decision to let him leave the nest and strike out on his own. When Stubbie passed away, Chuck had expressed interest in a career at Nu Nu & Nu, LLP. Here is his big chance.
The new Nu residence wasn't working out for Chuck. He was initially placed upon the living room's fireplace mantel, which is his usual spot. Unfortunately, Skillet was caught a few times on the mantel cozying up to Chuck, and that made Chuck somewhat uncomfortable. One day, Skillet's intentions became plain when she was caught on the mantel peering into Chuck's room and her right arm was wet. That's when we had to move Chuck. But, the only safe place was a built in bookcase in the corner of the house where there wasn't a lot of light or foot traffic. At that time, Chuck started becoming lonely and depressed. So, Mr. Nonny Nu sent in Chuck's resume and Chuck got the job.
Chuck's first day was mostly orientation, and you could tell that he was sad. In fact, the first words out of Stubbie's Godmother this morning were, "He looks sad." I think he will snap out of it once he gets settled in and makes some new friends. It was a good sign when he ate a late lunch.
Good luck, Chuck!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
So long, Backyard Petting Zoo and Castle...
Well, it's official, the Nus are completely moved out of the castle and into a cottage alongside a meadow. I turn in the keys today to the landlord. It was time to go, but still makes me sad. I won't miss the castle all that much, but I already miss our Backyard Petting Zoo. I don't think I've been sadder to leave a place before. I kept telling myself that it would be fine, but now that the time is really upon me, I am close to tears.
Last week, as we were moving in earnest, Slim came around and demanded to know what was going on. (We had tried to tell him weeks ago, but he never really got the message until things started really disappearing from the rooms.) At the time, I was the only one in the house (here's the last time Slim saw the Nu Kitties), so I let him in and let him wander around (he had done that before back in Sushi's time). I think he got the picture when he saw all the furniture, and the bear and kitties gone. I spent some time with him and petted him. So sad. Skitty was there, too. After all while, they did their usual sunning, but Slim also put on a floor show to commemorate the occasion. It will be really sad to look out the window and not see my Slim boy there.
We will miss you Slim, Skitty, Blind Kitty, Not Blind Kitty, Neighborhood Kitty, Possum Family, Raccoon Family, Skunk, Beamer, Mascii, and all the other kitties who visited sometime. Take care of yourselves, and don't fight. But, Slim is the most special of them all. He was there from the beginning. We will really miss you Slimmy, and we will always remember you like this:
Take care.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Should I be concerned?
Lately, as I was sweeping Stubbie's crypt, I noticed some yellowish/moldy goo peaking out from the soil. This was a month ago. So, I thought I needed to change out the soil, which also meant ditching Stubbie. That I really didn't want to do. When I dug into the soil, I only saw yellow goo on the upper levels, so I thought I could fix the situation by replacing the upper level of the soil without having to remove Stubbie's body. That was two weeks ago.
Well, yesterday, I came into the office and found a bright yellow form emerging from the soil. It looked like a mushroom to me, but I couldn't be sure. So, I consulted Cl. Panic who found the situation interesting. Today, you can definitely tell that it's a shroom.
So, should I be concerned? For those of you who are "familiar with shrooms," is this thing going to start spewing toxic spores? If so, when? Because I want to keep it around for a couple more days just to see what it does.
3/10/2009:
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
My New Favorite Ice Cream Flavor
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Desperately Seeking Nonny
An Open Letter to Nonny Nu; Nu, Nu & Nu, LLP; Family, Friends, Colleagues and Associates of The Nus:
Man from U.N.C.L.E. (that would be me referring to myself in an affected third person) has been checking for updates to TWoNN for over a month and has not observed any changes to the blog since January 19th, and he is beginning to be desparately worried. Since he is not privvy to all the Sillycone Valley happenings (even with his vast links to the underground) at Nu Headquarters, and is often in a remote location doing what he does (and that activity is very murky) some Nu News would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, before silence fell over TWoNN like a drunk to the gutter, there was hasty mention of newly ascribed territories and expansion of the Nu Empire - but no formal announcement, press release or even Sluggy Gossip has been forthcoming. There was also brief discussion of malaise and health, but Man from U.N.C.L.E. would pray to think that silence was related more to the former than the latter. He hopes that All is well with the Nus.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Happy Birthday to MonkeyPig!!
Another year, Piggy, another year. Locations have changed, but you are still up to the same thing:
Go, Cards!!!
OMG! TOUCHDOWN CARDINALS!!
UPDATE:
(artwork by Nonny Nu, copyright 2009)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Most Dangerous Thing About Rabbits...
...is that they like to silflay. Here is an account of what happens when kitties are removed from the environment and rabbits are left to silflay without interruption:
(From Yahoo!)
Removing cats to protect birds backfires on island
BANGKOK, Thailand – It seemed like a good idea at the time: Remove all the feral cats from a famous Australian island to save the native seabirds.
But the decision to eradicate the felines from Macquarie island allowed the rabbit population to explode and, in turn, destroy much of its fragile vegetation that birds depend on for cover, researchers said Tuesday.
Removing the cats from Macquarie "caused environmental devastation" that will cost authorities 24 million Australian dollars ($16.2 million) to remedy, Dana Bergstrom of the Australian Antarctic Division and her colleagues wrote in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology.
"Our study shows that between 2000 and 2007, there has been widespread ecosystem devastation and decades of conservation effort compromised," Bergstrom said in a statement.
The unintended consequences of the cat-removal project show the dangers of meddling with an ecosystem — even with the best of intentions — without thinking long and hard, the study said.
"The lessons for conservation agencies globally is that interventions should be comprehensive, and include risk assessments to explicitly consider and plan for indirect effects, or face substantial subsequent costs," Bergstrom said.
Located about halfway between Australia and the Antarctic continent, Macquarie was designated a World Heritage site in 1997 as the world's only island composed entirely of oceanic crust. It is known for its wind-swept landscape, and about 3.5 million seabirds and 80,000 elephant seals arrive there each year to breed.
The cats, rabbits, rats and mice are all nonnative species to Macquarie, probably introduced in the past 100 years by passing ships. Authorities have struggled for decades to remove them.
The invader predators menaced the native seabirds, some of them threatened species. So in 1995, the Parks and Wildlife Service of Tasmania that manages Macquarie tried to undo the damage by removing most of the cats.
Several conservation groups including the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Birds Australia said the problem was not the original eradication effort itself — but that it didn't go far enough. They said the project should have taken aim at all the invasive mammals on the island at once.
"What was wrong was that the rabbits were not eradicated at the same time as the cats," University of Auckland Prof. Mick Clout, who also is a member of the Union's invasive species specialist group. "It would have been ideal if the cats and rabbits were eradicated at the same time, or the rabbits first and the cats subsequently."
Liz Wren, a spokeswoman for the Parks and Wildlife Service of Tasmania, said authorities were aware from the beginning that removing the feral cats would increase the rabbit population. But at the time, researchers argued it was worth the risk considering the damage the cats were doing to the seabird populations.
"The alternative was to accept the known and extensive impacts of cats and not do anything for fear of other unknown impacts," Wren said. "Since cats were eradicated, the grey petrel successfully bred on the island for the first time in a century and the recovery of Antarctic prions has continued since the eradication of feral cats."
Now, the parks service has a new plan to finish the job, using technology and poisons that weren't available a decade ago.
Wren said plans to eradicate both rabbits as well as rats and mice from the island will begin in 2010. Helicopters using global positioning systems will drop poisonous bait that targets all three pests. Later, teams will shoot, fumigate and trap the remaining rabbits, she said.
Some of the earlier critics are now behind this latest eradication effort, saying it should help the island's ecosystem fully recover because it would remove the last remaining invasive species.
"Without this action, there will be serious long-term consequences for the majestic seabirds which nest on the island including the four threatened albatross species, and for the health of the island ecosystem as a whole," said Dean Ingwersen, Bird Australia's threatened bird network coordinator.
"We believe that the process they are going to follow uses best practice for this type of work," Ingwersen said. "And that all possible ramifications have now been considered."
(emphasis added)
tsk tsk...
Monday, January 12, 2009
What's going to be in Nonny Nu's office?
by Cl. Panic, guest blogger and bearer of gifts
To recognize her achievement, and since she'll be in need of companionship, I intend to present her with this gift on Wednesday at noon (GMT-8).
But since everything on TWoNN requires a twist ... the TWoNN community is eligible to steal the package (white elephant style) by guessing its contents (in the comments) before Wednesday.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Rotten Robbie
Exhibit A
There's a Rotten Robbie on Saratoga that's just down the street from a 76 station and a Chevron station. The 76 and Chevron stations are both in the heart of a busy shopping center, yet Rotten Robbie is selling their gas for 4 cents more per gallon than either the 76 and Chevron stations.
Exhibit B
There's a Rotten Robbie on DeAnza with a Chevron just a block away. Chevron has a carwash where actual people hand wash your car for you. Yet, Rotten Robbie is again selling its gas for 4 cents more per gallon, even though it is farther away from the 85 than the Chevron. Sure, there are the Arco and US Gas stations that are selling the gas for $2.05 (6 cents more per gallon) than Rotten Robbie, but they are right off of the 85.
So, how is Rotten Robbie getting away with this and why would people go there instead of the cheaper Chevron down the road? Do they offer massages while you wait or free tote bags? What gives?
Random Stuff (courtesy of Mr. Nonny Nu)
If you work at Nu Nu & Nu LLP, and if you walk past my door, you will sometimes hear me laugh out loud. The reason is because I receive stuff like the photos below from Mr. Nonny Nu.
OMG, cute sloth!
Secret Project: Girl Name
Okay, I need a girl name. Choose one from below or choose the "other" option and suggest one in a comment. The girl name has to be of a girl that I don't know. The only exception is "Carrie," but I like that one.
Poll closes Jan. 13, 2009 at 12:15 AM (PST).
Monday, January 5, 2009
Calendars
It's time to create the calendars. I need twelve nouns. You can post one noun per comment, limit 2 nouns per person. Go.
since Apr. 2007.
