Wow

I guess it turns out that I'm a horrible blogger... Oh well. I've probably lost all following...

There may or may not be some more pictures in the photo link.

Things have settled down quite a bit from the big day, but I'm not getting bored. Two weekends ago, there was an impromptu bathroom remodel, and last weekend Ma and Pa came to visit to help finish the remodel and to give the office a facelift. Wahoo!

Spring Time!

I love this time of year! I love watching things start to grow and bloom! I've been examining every plant that was put in the ground last year, and here is the report:

Only 3 of the 4 hydrangias are showing life. I don't think the prettiest one made it, but we'll keep looking for green!

The peonies are all coming up, but I'm still not sure which ones will bloom.

Of the hostas that I split and re-located, I think that only half are going to grow this year, but it may be too early to tell.

All the daylillies look healthy... this may be the year to split up the ones in the back.

It looks like we'll have a full bed of poppies in the back.

Here's what the front is supposed to look like:

Snow Day!

I felt like a wienie this morning because I didn't brave the elements and go into work because there was a foot (yes a whole 12 inches) on our road and in the alley. While slacking at home, Andrew and I went out and took some pictures of the white fluffy stuff. As we were walking down the street, a bunny hops up out of no where and starts hopping and bounding over as much snow as possible. He is coming straight at us and then realizes that he can't continue on his current path without coming dangerously close to humans. I'm sure he thought to himself, "Left turn Clyde!" but fear set in and he dove straight into a snow drift. Andrew and I weren't sure what to do, so we did what we thought was logical and dug the bunny out of the snow drift. I started with his body, and then moved the snow away from his head. Once cleared away, he peeked up, said "Thanks" and hopped off into less deep messiness.

She's got Rolls!

Now, I'm not one to judge when someone is a little pudgy, but we have a kitty on her way to being obese. She's a pretty good size normally, being a tall and long cat, but she has put on a pound or two recently. We didn't really notice it until someone else said something, but now it is pretty obvious. But how do you put a cat on a diet when there are 2 other cats of healthy weights in the house? We've tried to encourage more playtime, but she is uninterested. Maybe she's just putting on some weight for the winter hibernation and will slim down by next spring.

While I was sleeping

While I was taking a nap, Andrew took this picture. Just call me the next cat lady!

Filling the House part deuce!

Some may remember a previous post about me buying a desk at a yard sale last year. I finally finished re-finishing it! :)

Here it is!!!

Rested and ready for trouble!

Andrew and I just spent the past 10 days living the northwest life! After a 3-day stop in Seattle,


we joined the rest of my extended paternal family in Big Sky Country! Good times.


A BIG thank-you goes out to Nick from saving me from being eaten by an angry mama black bear!! We got out to hike a lot, and I even got Andrew on a horse!



I'm so proud! Lots of pictures of wildlife, mountains and family. You can see them in the link to the right titled "Das Fotos"

Backyard Success

Early this spring, we decided that we needed some more grass in the back yard. First I pulled up the big pieces of concrete




Then we purchased the appropriate tools, or at least ones that looked painful






While it's not perfect, it is looking much better!

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

After living in our new house for a little over a year, Andrew and I finally made a commitment. THE IVY HAS TO GO! At the beginning of April, we had a front yard full of English Ivy. It was everywhere!



So after 3 applications of every increasing concentration of Round-Up, the ivy is dead and gone.





More pictures to come once we get grass growing!

Strollin' in the 'Hood

This evening, Andrew and I went out for a run. Ok, a jog... with a lot of walking. When we were running by 19th and Alabama, a large black man hung out of his car to tell me that I had a nice booty after calling me "Lollipop". I will admit that I am a silly white girl, and I have no idea what he meant by "Lollipop", nor do I want to know.

I hate gravity!

Why is it, that even though I feel like I've gotten poison ivy over a sever sunburn over most of my body, that I feel guilty for calling in sick to work? Never mind the fact that I'm still working, and I'm probably getting more done at home than I would in the office. It's a good thing I decided not to try out for the 2008 Olympics... since I'm on 'roids now! Everyone should stay way from fabric softener that only has directions in Spanish.

Damsel in Distress

It was very important to Andrew and I to buy a house with a garage. This means not needing to scrape ice and snow off my car in the mornings. But this does not help when the freezing rain, sleet and snow fly while I'm at work. With the new car, I haven't gotten a scraper. Luckily for me, someone at work lent me one after scraping half of my car with a credit card.

Something to Think About

While driving 38 mph in a 35 mph speed zone on my way home from work late one night, a jay-walking pedestrian yelled at me to slow down. Now, who was more wrong?

Telemarketers

For a couple of months now, I've noticed that I've been missing a call from a California number that I didn't recognized. Like any other number I don't recognize, I would let it go to voice mail, but they never left one. The other night, (during my night time minutes of course!), they called and I answered. It was a telemarketer that was trying to sell me 6 months of "free" magazine, a "free" watch and enter me into a "free" vacation giveaway. I guess I should fill in a little bit. When I answered the phone, what I heard was, "Please hold for the next available operator." from a recording. So I let her go through her spiel, and at the most available moment, I told her that I wasn't interested, and that she was calling my cell phone, and by law, they couldn't call me with an automated calling system. She yelled at me for wasting her time, and that the number is not on the "do not call list". I then told her again that it is a cell phone, so even if I'm not on the list, it's still illegal to use the automated calling system on the number. She starting yelling at me again for wasting her time, but I hung up on her half way through. She did spend about a minute and half on the phone with me, but monopolized the conversation. If she was so concerned about me wasting her time, maybe she should have started the conversation with, "Hi, I'm going to try to con you into magazine that you don't want and a vacation you'll end up paying for. Are you interested?" That would have saved a lot of time.

General Observation

I work at a chemical plant, not a farm, so the hours are set, and not by the sun, but by the clock. I've noticed this week that when I get to work (between 7:45am and 8:00am), there have been significantly more people in the parking lot than there was last week, before we rolled our clocks back. I've also noticed that there are less cars when I leave than there were last week. I guess my plant would never survive in Iceland.

Sore

As some of you out there in the internet world may know, I have been taking horseback riding lessons (again) for about a year. I rode for awhile when I was much younger, and I have now re-discovered it. I recently (at the beginning of the summer) changed barns and love it. In the past, I had only ridden at Hunter/Jumper barns, but this one is an Eventing Barn. Yesterday at my lesson, we did some fun exercises. They included riding doing some jumping while not holding on to the reins. The last exercise was to jump six stadium style jumps that were pretty spread out so that we could do some cantering between the jumps. I was asked to go first, and the first jump was perfect, the horse refused the second jump twice before I got him over it, and on the third jump, he jumped a little too big which resulted in me seating myself on his back before he had landed. That turned into some bucking, and me eventually on the ground. This horse has bucked on me before, us but I had always been able to stay on. This time, I lost my balance, and while I ended up on the ground, I was still standing. Like any good instructor would do, my trainer came over, asked if I was ok, had me get back one, and take the jumps again. The purpose of this is that I don't have time to think about what just happened, and to get me over the jumps before I get scared of them. I now know that when you fall off, it's kinda like a car accident. You feel fine the day it happens, but when you wake up the next day, you are so sore, you can barely move. Surprisingly, I'm looking forward to my lesson next week!

Like I don't know already

I love going to weddings. I love seeing people I haven't seen in a while, watching the ceremony (usually crying), and dancing the night away. One thing I do not like about weddings is that I can't make it through one without at least 3 people commenting that I'm not married or engaged. There are always comments about my left hand being empty. I don't understand the point of these comments. It's not like I don't know. I'm pretty sure that if I got engaged, I would realize it. And if I ever get engaged, I'm positive I'm not going to keep it a secret. Maybe people think that I am keeping it under wraps, I don't know. If you see me around, and I am not wearing a ring, chances are, I'm not engaged. No need to talk about it; it will really ruin it if I do get engaged.

And the story goes on...

The morning after my last post, I woke up to this in the office:




He's just a little guy. I decided to let him sleep in there all day and keep Chica company. When he still wasn't up by 7 pm, my roommate decided to squirt him with water. He didn't move, it just made him wet. So I took care of things.

A bit creepy

Yesterday, my roommate left to go shoot clay thingies and to spend a night out camping and drinking. I spent the day patching cracked plaster and taping of the trim in preparation for painting. When I decided it was time for some sleep, I went into my bedroom, lowered and closed to blinds but when I went to turn off the light, something caught my eye. In the office, Lilly was watching something in the air. At first I thought she was chasing a fly, because she goes crazy when there are flies in the house, but then I saw a shadow of something much larger than a fly. I walk into the room and turn on the light. Flying around in circles was the only mammal with wings. That's right my friends, a bat.

Now the room he was flying around in was the same room that has the door to the attic. I had gone up to the attic much earlier in the day, but I had shut the door behind me on the way up and on my way down. Actually, there are two doors to the attic, and I just closed the bottom one on my way down. At any rate, I don't recall a bat flying out either time.

But now I had three cats watching a bat, all waiting for it to come down low enough for them to take a swipe at it. How do you catch a bat? Thoughts went through my mind of getting a blanket and netting him, but with my ungracefulness, I knew I'd probably break something. So I shooed the cats out of the room, and opened the attic door. If I could just get this little guy to fly into the attic, I'm sure he could figure out how to get out from there. He flew around and around and kept trying to hang on the walls, but would just slide off. I knew he must have been getting pretty tired. Finally, he flew through the open door and I went to go close it up, but then he flew back out and straight at me! I waited a bit longer as he continued to fly around the room in circles. He was starting to make me dizzy. He flew back into the attic and I shut the door.

I have to admit that thought of sleeping with the covers over my head ran through my mind all night, but as far as I know, he never came back. Now, sometime today, I have to go up and close the second door... I hope he's not planning an escape. I think I will name him Jake.

City Wildlife

I know what you are saying... "City Wildlife, you have GOT to be kidding." But no, I'm not. Living "downtown," Andrew and I have enjoyed the company of some of our favorite wildlife. They inclued:
the squirrel couple, Francis and Penelope,
the mourning doves, Edwardo and Phylis,
the sharp-shinned hawk, Chester,
the Siamese alley cat, Sampson (the name on his tag),
the stray dog that used to live under our porch, Shenandoah
and many more that have gone unnamed. We have a cardinal family, a purple finch couple, a flock of wrens, a momma rabbit and her 3 little ones who have recently left the nest. There is one member of the wildlife that we have not seen yet, but we know he exists. He likes to dig through my potted plants, tip over my water-starters, and eat our welcome mat. Andrew said that he would put up a webcam so we could catch him in action. I will keep you posted!