I don't think I have that, not really. But 'cabin fever', maybe. The manager here refers to people who don't come out of their place very often as 'live-ins' and I'm sure that's where we fall on the yardstick of 'out and about-iveness' lately. I don't know if it's the recycled air or lack of sunlight or continuous exposure to the electromagnetism of the computer and television screens or what, something. But, wow, I never feel like leaving the house. Things gets done, I get the supplies I need, make the requisite trips to the post office, take out the trash, retrieve incoming mail from the mailbox and so on. But that's about it. And the recent pair of snowfalls have only intensified that compulsion. The first white stuff I was able to more or less wait until it blew and drifted away from the car before I had to move just a wee bit of snow. This time though I was forced by the second day after the event to actually shovel a good deal more of the white stuff. 'A good deal' meaning the tiny driveway on one side of the car where it was drifted in and almost certainly the tiny vehicle wouldn't have been able to power out from under without some shoveling. It really wasn't much of a job except for the advanced atrophy evident in all my snow-moving muscles. Yaahhh...
On the plus side I can add 'fried apple fritters' to my stovetop repertoire. Did I mention this already? Last big adventure- actually had to leave the house for it! -was a day trip with my pal, Jimmy, to The Green Dragon, a famers-slash-flea market over Lancaster way. Had a giant soft pretzel- I'm not a big soft pretzel guy but, wow, it was the best pretzel I've ever had, with honey mustard, drool -and an apple fritter. Which inspired me to give that confection a try my own self. Surprisingly super simple to do if you have some apples and 'just add water' pancake mix. That's it, nothing else. Just cut the apples into small chunks, mix into the batter and drop by spoonfuls into hot oil and >zing< you've made apple fritters. Just be forewarned, a little bit goes a loooong way and if you have two or three you'll have had enough apple fritters to last you for a while. So be ready to share if you mix up even a small batch. And they're 1000% better warm, right outta the oil, so it's a good treat for a handful of friends of an evening rather than handing them out the next day or the day after that.
What else is new? Well, my hole punches have disappeared. I'm serious, I need one especially today for a small gunbelt I'm working up for one of my doll men- Yul Brynner as Chris from The Magnificent Seven -and the plastic bin of hole punches- I probably have six or eight at least, different sizes and shapes -is nowhere to be found. I just don't get it. My workspace is a mess, no denying that, and it's hard to find anything, I'm in serious need of a day or two of nothing but organization, sorting and filing like materials and small objects, things in the works, molds, tools, brushes, paints and so on and on... but this is ridiculous. They should be in plain sight or at least found after a perfunctory glance in the usual places, under the stuff that stacks up on top of the printer, the stack of mailing supplies in this corner and/or the stack of miscellaneous containers and cardboard boxes of 'might be used one day' stuff in that corner... But I've been over the river and through the woods, looked in practically every drawer or box or bin and on every surface in the room, all to no avail. The punches, the whole lot of them, simply refuse to be found.
So if they don't turn up before I find something of interest in the Saturday night TV lineup- coupla CSI reruns and then Lost at midnight -and get planted on the couch, I'll just try again tomorrow. Of course, I'm working with the 'gunbelt box' on the couch so Yul Brynner will mock me from the coffee table as long as I'm in that room. They must be here somewhere, after all. Right? There are no such things as gremlins... Right???
Anyway... Here's a new cartoon I'm doing for a business card for some friends. Y'know, caricatures have always been one of my favorite things to draw... Until next time then, abby seein' ya!
