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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Iron chef Madhu

Madhu bought a portable grill this weekend,and yesterday we broke it in.

It had been his fond desire to buy a grill and cook chicken on it. All these days, he was using the oven. Our apartment rules prohibited him from investing in a huge one, so he went in for a portable.

So evening came, Madhu marinated the chicken, and then set about getting the grill fired up. After that, it was a 45 minute process of constant monitoring, and flipping them over and over to prevent burning. Frisky and I kindly consented to give Madhu company in this first venture, so it turned out to be a family affair. :) :)

The result:

All my friends that know Madhu cooks excellent non -veg. The aroma was lovely,and the exulted smile on Madhu's face, as he ate the grilled chicken, was evidence that the chicken was delicious. Frisky's wolfing down his piece of chicken( given by Madhu) was proof enough. !!!!!!

Monday, October 29, 2007

This morning, I took Frisky for a walk on a lane near our apartments...a row of independent homes, with two and three car garages. There was a home, which had Halloween decorations on its lawn. A scarecrow kind of thing, with an ugly face,a couple of skulls under an arm,a pumpkin and a black cat near its feet. The cat was positioned such that it looked ready to pounce.

I was admiring it, when Frisky noticed the cat and thought it to be a real one,and began to growl and bark..He was really upset on seeing the cat, and didn't realise it wasn't moving...But he still continued to bark at it. Just for fun, on our way back home, I took Frisky past the same house . . Again, he saw the cat,and made deep growling sounds, and perked up his ears. It was soooo cute!!!!!


I was a bit upset with Frisky later on , as he had run away to the bushes that are lined in the far end of our compound wall, just as Madhu was leaving for office. He usually stays near the garage to say his good bye,and despite Madhu and I calling out to him many times, he never came. So Madhu left, leaving me to take care of Frisky.

I went and picked up Frisky where he was still nosing around, and gave him a little spank, for not listening to us. On the way back, I was speaking severely to him, and did not allow him to lick me. So we entered our home, and I sat down to have my cup of tea. Frisky went to his bed, picked up one of his favourite toys, and came and dropped it at my feet. Then he went and sat a little distance away,as if it was a "I am sorry" kind of gift for me.

U can guess what happened next. I looked into his sad eyes, and my heart melted!!!!! :) :)

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

WAT- (A)-ER WEDNESDAY!!!!

This morning, I was busy preparing lunch for Madhu, and suddenly i heard Frisky bark. I thought it must be because of the tadka I had just put. I knew he felt frightened when he heard the tadka spluttering, so didn't pay any attention. He continued to bark for about 2 minutes. Then Madhu came to the kitchen, having had his bath,and tells me the following story.

Background note:
Frisky usually follows Madhu around in the mornings, because he knows he is about to leave for work.

Story:
In the same way, when Madhu went in to have his bath, Frisky followed him in. Just seeing the water fill the bathtub apparently scared him. He began to bark...short, angry barks. Thinking that Frisky was remembering his ordeal of Sunday, Madhu lifted him and put him outside and closed the door. At this, he felt angrier, and this led to the incessant barking that I had heard.

Madhu was so amused. First, Frisky gets scared of the running water, and then feels indignant at being unceremoniously picked up and dropped outside the bathroom...and voices his protest by angry barking.

We are thinking...what next??????? :) :)

Monday, October 22, 2007

An addendum

For Saraswati puja, I had made sundal, with garbanzo peas( vella kadalai), that received appreciation, Sugaya( sooyam in Tamil), and bajjis of potato,and plaintain, for the evening.

While cleaning on Friday, I realised that Frisky was terribly scared of the vacuum cleaner. He scampered off the minute I rolled the big drum into the house from our tool room, and rushed from the hall to each room, in order to escape it. !!!!! :)

On Sunday, Vijaya dasami day, Frisky was given his first bath by us. Since we got him, he had cold and cough,and the vet told us to refrain from bathing him till he got better. As he had overcome the ailments, received his second round of vaccinations on Friday, and had begun to stink terribly , we decided to celebrate Vijayadasami by giving him a bath. !!!!

And was he terrified.!!!! Poor puppy, first drenched in warm water, then shampooed vigorously by two crazy humans,holding him down, and prevented from jumping out of the bath tub by them....Aaaaaah...torture!!!!He was trembling, too scared to even voice his protest by whimpering.!!!

It was so funny, the minute we took him out of the tub,and put him on the mat to rub him dry, he put up with us for all of two minutes. The second the door of the bathroom was opened, he shot off. Madhu and I followed, and saw him shake himself dry in the hall. The minute he saw us, he ran off again, this time into the office room,and hid under the table in his favourite spot. It took a lot of coaxing and cajoling from us to get him out from the table, and we towelled him dry.

But a few minutes later, he was playful again. ..his usual cheery spirit back. :) :)

Saraswati puja get together

Navaratri has come and gone. Though I didn't keep kolu, I had a good time. I was invited to my friends homes for taambulam, and I invited them over for the same on Saturday evening. My friends from our previous apartments also came. So in all, it was a big group of 10 adults , excluding Madhu and me, and four kids, who practically pounced on Frisky to pet him. !!!!
Poor thing, he was scared,and just lay down with his tail in b/w his legs.

Some how, it became 9:00 p.m., and we asked them to stay for dinner. Thankfully, I had dosa maavu ready on hand, and we poured one batch of idlis, and the rest dosas. (My friends had already left for garba, so it was 8 adults and two kids now. )

We had a nice time, all talking, laughing, pulling each others legs,with only one small incident, when one kid got her hand in b/w the wall and grill gate, and the other kid closed the door on her hand...ouch!!!!A quick ice pack, and a lot of hugs from her mother made her smile again. By the time everyone left, it was 10:30-11:00 p.m. Then Madhu and I took Frisky out for his nightly walk, and it was 11:30 p.m. when we came back.

In all, it was that evening when it actually felt like Navaratri to me, and I truly appreciated why Madhu had bought so many plates,and cutlery sets. Planning another get together for diwali...this time, pot luck. !!!!!

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Bits and bites

Life is always sweet and sour- a mix of both. Yesterday, having known that one of the clothing outlets here was having its Fall sale, I wanted to go. My friend Srividhya had given me a gift card for the same store for my birthday, that I had been holding on to for 2 months now.

So this seemed to be a very good opportunity. Since Frisky had come I hadn't had a chance to go out anywhere. Madhu obliged me by watching over Frisky, and by dropping me off at the mall. I had a lovely time shopping, and bought a lot of stuff.

So this is the sweet part. The sour part is that, since Madhu had to drop me off, we put Frisky into his doggie crate, which we had bought at Walmart the previous weekend. Once he got back home, Madhu discovered that Frisky had been so anxious to get out of the crate, that he had scratched the sides , and bitten a hole through the nylon-polyester fibre cover of the crate.Frisky had made a hole big enough for his head to go through. When Madhu opened the door and came to look in on Frisky's unusual silence, he found him struggling to put his whole body through the little hole.!!!!!!!!!

This six month old puppy doesn't like to be left in the crate,and this couldn't be prevailed upon us more clearly than this incident. So Madhu called me up, and apprised me of the situation. Thanks to Walmart return policy of 30 days, we were able to get the cloth one exchanged for a powder coated steel cage, with two doors,and plenty of open space to look out from. Hope to get him accustomed to this one soon.

For those of you thinking why leave him alone at all, and not carry him along, there are few places that allow pets here. Supermarkets/grocery stores have rules that forbade them from allowing any animal inside if they stock/display any food items. Even the local video store doesn't allow pets inside. That poses a problem when we have to do our weekly grocery shopping.

But we found an amicable solution too. Madhu goes into Walmart/COSTCO etc,and buys whatever he wants/ pleases him ,without me nagging or questioning. I take Frisky for a walk around the mall in this period. And I am able to do my grocery shopping in peace, without Madhu hurrying me up-while he takes Frisky for another walk. !!!!
Its a win-win situation, and Frisky enjoys it too. :) :)

Saturday, October 13, 2007

more on Frisky

Last Saturday, we had been walking Frisky, when we saw an old lady walking her dog. As usual, Frisky was ready to make friends with the dog, and that dog too, seemed quite friendly. As we talked, we came to know that the old lady had got the dog two days back from her daughter, who lives nearby. The dog had followed the old lady's grand daughter home, from the road, and her daughter didn't have the heart to let it wander on the streets again. Since she was a busy working mother, she had left it with her mother, our neighbour. So we suggested she could contact the Humane Society, and check if the dog was micro chipped , so that he could be returned to his owners.

We felt sorry for the old lady, and Madhu offered to do it for her, and we brought the dog home. the first ten minutes or so, the dog was scared,a dn ran about the whole house, trying to find an escape[e route. Frisky wanted to play,and was excited at seeing another dog at home, so he took a dominant role. The other dog, whom the lady had named Surprise, was much bigger than frisky in size, and he had a voracious appetite. Madhu gave him dog treats which he gobbled up. Seeing that he was eating, Frisky, who had not condescended to eat any of his treats, ate too. Hmm..healthy competition. !!!!

We checked up if the Humane society was open,and we went there. The 20 minutes journey in the car was another drama. Suffice to say that, Frisky subsided, and Surprise was hyper. Frisky actually seemed to think that our affections had shifted to the other dog.

So we finally reached the Humane Society. A scan showed that Surprise was micro-chipped, which means that he could be returned to his owners. So we turned him in, and came back home with Frisky, and played with him for a long time to make sure that he knew we loved him. We went and informed our neighbour, and she gratefully thanked us, saying that she was too old to be able to take care of a dog at home.

We have photos of Surprise and Frisky playing, because we thought, even for the half an hour he is with us, let us capture the moments of their play.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

mis-under-standing

Its amazing how many people can misread a simple job advertisement. I had posted an ad looking for free lance assignments for proof reading, without the words, "I AM". The ad started off with saying, "Looking for part time opportunities in proof reading, admin etc" areas....

By the end of the same day, I had 6 people who sent me their resumes saying they were interested in working in such fields, and asked me how much they were going to be paid. And all of them IT qualified. !!!!!

Its incredible how they completely misread the advt, and don't see that there is no indication of "looking for employees, or qualified personnel" or terminology of that sort in the ad.

I got one this morning too, before i posted this blog entry. I got so tired of replying politely to their mails, that i went and edited my advt...adding the words, I AM..looking for ....

Let's hope I don't get any more resume attached mails.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

my new favourite stand up comedians

Hey people,

I just wanted to let you know. I have been introduced to stand up comedies, consequently, comedians, thanks to Madhu. In India, we have Johnny Lever, and Vivek(in Tamil cinema) who could make me laugh.

Here, we have a number of people who are stand- up comedians, and who do pretty well for themselves in this line. Lewis Black,( a Yale Univ. graduate), Lisa Lampenelli, Robin Williams( yup, the Hollywood actor has done a show on Broadway), and now my two current favourites are, Eddie Izzard,and Jeff Dunham.

Eddie Izzard, is a British comedian, whose show was aired on BBC America, for 6 hours straight,on July 4th 2007. He is a transvestite, and he is hilarious. In all those 6 hours, he never once repeated a joke, but was able to connect his starting joke to his ending one. Both Madhu and I have become such fans, that we bought his whole DVD collection. We quote Eddie Izzard, whenever we see Frisky do something, that he has mentioned in his piece on cats and dogs.

Our new guy on the block, is ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. He is amazing, and unbelievably funny. He has a number of puppets,and I feel each represents a side of us humans. There's Walter, the grumpy old guy, Ahmed, the suicide bomber, Sweet Daddy D, his new manager, Melvin, the super hero, and our favourites, Peanut and Jose Jalapeno ( pronounced Ho-say Halapeno...Spanish).
The latter two are incredible, which is to say, Jeff Dunham's quips and jokes involving these two characters are INCREDIBLE. We were so impressed, we ordered his other show, Burst of Insanity, from the local video store,and watched it twice. !!!! :)

Thanks to You Tube, we came to know that this guy's show, Arguing with Myself, went double platinum.

All those reading this blog entry, please do go onto You Tube,and check out Jeff Dunham's and Eddie Izzard's clips.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Frisky's antics

Madhu and I knew that taking on a pup was a big responsibillity, and this morning was a very good reminder of that.

In the past 4 days, he has been getting accustomed to us, and the house. Yesterday, he whined when we left him, tied to his leash, (near the chair) to bring the things from the car. And this morning, Afetr he came back from his mornig walk, he was very active, jumping here and there, running about. So madhu played with him for some time,as I cooked. And even after all that activity, his energy level was still up.

He came fro the hall to the office room, with one of his toys in his mouth. The next minute when I looked in to see if he was playing with his toy, It turns out he has found my hat, on top of my bag,and is chewing on the brim of the hat. I admonished Frisky, and rescued my hat,and took him to the living room.

Madhu had a hearty laugh...The next time I checked, he was nowhere in the hall. I found him in the bedroom, chewing on the connecting pin of our speakers wire. Madhu rescued the wire from Frisky, before he chewed the whole pin off, and scolded him, and Frisky subsided.This time I laughed.!!!!!
(serves him right to have laughed at Frisky chewing on my hat...Now its his speakers wire in trouble. )

Frisky came away from the bedroom, apparently angry at having the wire taken away from him,and plopped himself down in the office room rug, near my bag, and hat. I thought it was over, and he would be still. But I was proven wrong once again.

The next time I checked in on Frisky, he was busily chewing something near my hat. I wondered what it was he had found now,and went in to see. Lo and behold,this imp had managed to take out my whole pack of Wrigley's chewing gum, from a small pouch in my bag,(regrettably left open by me yesterday), and was chewing on the gum!!!!!!!!!

I mean, what more could he want to chew???!!!!!He accomplished his task...he chewed off the first 10% of three or four sticks of gum in that packet, before I managed to take it away. I had to throw away a couple, and salvaged those in which the wrapper hadn't been torn off by him.

He has taken to nipping Madhu and me now, a graduation from licking us. But he knows us,and doesn't put any pressure on our fingers or toes, just a testing of Bone density in each of our fingers!!!!!!:) :)

Frisky has also taken to chewing anything metallic in the past two days...that's why the wire, and he nibbled on my toe rings ( metti) yesterday, making me squeal, because it was so ticklish!!!!!:) :)

However, these antics make him so adorable, I don't know how I would be able to leave him alone and get back to Red Cross.