We interrupt this trip report to bring you a regular journal entry.

[rivka]

Bill (wcg) came over last night with my birthday presents. From Skye, a pair of terrifying battery-powered doohickeys. Picture an erratically-wobbling ball with a sort of fuzzy, eyed, raccoon-striped tube attached. It's supposed to be a squirrel, but rather more resembles a squirrel tail with eyes. When you start the little motor going, the ball wobbles around whipping the squirrelly thing about by the nose.

I don't know why anyone would design, make, or sell this thing. That said, I understand exactly why a person would buy it and give it to innocent bystanders. "There, you experienced it too! I'm not crazy!" It's just like the Willy Wonka Xploder bar all over again.

My other present, from Bill, was a cookie press. I'd mentioned wanting one at some point - my favorite Christmas cookies are made in a press - and Bill tends to remember things like that. This, however, is not the cheap aluminum cookie press of my childhood - it's a by-god engineering marvel. It's got a ratcheting pump that delivers precisely the amount of dough per cookie. It's got an ergonomic handle. It's got a removable dough compartment for easy washing. It all screws together like a telescope, including an extra little piece that goes on the bottom to store the template discs. I'm almost frightened of it. It's wonderful.

I'm making cookies this weekend. And they're going to be the most high-tech cookies you've ever seen.

Comments

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

Put the battery operated squirrel thingy(tm) down in front of any available cat. Step back. Observe the resulting fun. *grin* I love them thingies.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

"Them thingies"? Do you mean to say that you're actually familiar with artificial armless and legless squirrels fastened to plastic balls via the nose? Clearly, the world is a much stranger place than I ever imagined.

Cats, now, that's a problem. I'm allergic, and don't actually like them anyway. I wonder what a schipperke would make of it?

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Dinner, likely. ;P "Those thingies" are not unknown in this part of the world, and are usually called "weasel balls".

Re:

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I'm a much stranger person...er...nevermind. Turn the fiendish thingie(tm) on, then stand back...WAY back! The reaction of animals to such a highly mobile toy is usually amazing. Be careful to rescue the toy from the jaws of...er...whatever, as it seems to cause even placid animals to want to tear it into small pieces and eat it.

Not in the right places...

[(Anonymous)]

I take it you haven't been by a shopping mall toy store at the right time. Most of the ones around here seem to have a vast menagerie of mechanical silliness tethered to the portable signage (whose name I've forgotten...wow. It *has* been a long time since I worked retail!)

I need to find one of those "smashing glass" stress balls (the sort with a shock sensitive 'crashing glass' sound generator buried within a hard plastic foam ball.) -- my cat is very sad that the last one finally died.

--Trinker

Portable signage thingies.

[peaberry.livejournal.com]

ITYM POP displays? *g*

*wave* Hello, drive-by poster.

[rosefox]

I've seen them before. My favorite thing to do with one--and I believe this is the classic "use"--is to put it in a small empty bag of potato chips, with the tail sticking out but the ball hidden in the bag. It looks like a squirrel is fishing for potato chip crumbs so enthusiastically as to be thrashing all over the place.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Squirrel Ball.