A few of my favorite things

I put up the hummingbird feeder on the front porch in October. I took this picture the next day.

The feeder gets a lot of visitors

Alex kneading the blanket

Alex- "I love this blanket almost as much as I love you."

Alex- "Aren't you going to pet me now?"

Ember falling asleep rather awkwardly

It seems like I take nearly the same set of pictures every fall.

But for some reason I never get tired of pointing my camera at leaves.

The red and gold part of fall is so beautiful and so short. I guess that's what makes it special. 

Self Motivation

Things that I need to do to keep the ball rolling (so to speak)
1. Send an additional email to the people at the USGS that I was hoping to intern with
2. Finish the online ethics training for my degree
3. Arrange to do my Masters defense

Stuff that I need to study:
1. GIS
2. Prepare for Masters defense
3. Study for FE exam (should overlap with master defense)
4. Keep working through my differential equations course

The Daily Grind Required For Healthy Existence:
Socialize
Eat
Drink water
Exercise (Pilates would be good.)
Dishes
Laundry
Make The Bed

The Daily Grind for Happy Healthy Pets:
Play time for the ferrets
Litterboxes
Fill food bowls
Fresh water

The Extra Things That Make Life Nicer:
Tea in a fancy tea cup
Playing music
Listening to a book on tape while doing laundry of dishes
Lighting candles
Sitting at the table to eat
Coordinating meals with Andrew

More of The August Family Vacation

Haystack Rock

Micky!

Happy Poodle

I love this hotel room. See me. I'm in the bed. I enjoyed napping in that bed.

Yarn shopping with Auntie

More Mustached Tom Foolery

 More from the family vacation in August...

Look out. She's vicious. She's after me!

Me- Don't make me laugh. You'll make my mustache fall off.
Sarah - Heh heh heh. I punched you in the butt. 

Just let me get my mustache back on.

Daddy-o Daddy-o. Let down your long golden hair.
Dad -I don't know guys I haven't got much of that left. 

Walking the Ferret

Bear enjoying the grass

I have been leash training Bear. He's the best candidate to leash train of our three little weasels for two reasons. 1. his personality is good for it because he really likes being held and he's super adventurous. Very little scares him. 2. He's big enough that he can't slip out of the harness. 

A large portion of our walking time involves Bear riding in my arms, on my shoulder or in my jacket. For this activity, the leash functions like a rock climber's hardness. When Bear clumsily tumbles off my shoulder or out of my arms, he ends up dangling from the leash and swinging like a pendulum instead of hitting the sidewalk. 

The more walks we take the better he is at it. When I'm carrying him he hangs out instead of trying to dig a tunnel through my shirt (which I don't appreciate) and when we're walking, he walks more and more in the direction that I want to walk instead of struggling to go the other way.
Who knew? The best purse dog is a ferret.

So many smells to smell

The trouble with taking a ferret for a walk is that it's really hard to take a picture of him. In the photo. He's digging.

The Results of Andrew's Phone Interview

 At the end of the phone interview yesterday, Andrew emerged from our office/library to find me wrapped up in one of my favorite blankets listening outside the door. So I already knew about half of what was said in the interview. They told Andrew at the end of it that he would hear from them in one to two weeks. They called back today to set up an in person interview for next Monday. So far so good. Good job Andrew.

Sarah in The Ferret Prison

Last month Auntie gave us a present of some money to get something fun with. With the money, we bought a ferret prison.

As you may have noticed only one of the people in this picture is a ferret. Sarah Visiting Prison Warden. Pip prisoner. Alex, is a cat. 

The prisoner is trying to tunnel to freedom by going down the the warden's shirt.

Escape attempt foiled.

If you kiss a ferret, does he turn into a prince?

He may be a prince, but he is also still a ferret

Everyone is cuddling nicely.

Pip is trying to go down Sarah's shirt again. 

I think the warden is hungry

Easy Street Records and Cafe

4559 California Ave SW (between Oregon St & Alaska St) Seattle, WA 98116 

Neighborhood: West Seattle

This is an awesome place for breakfast food. Good food, fun atmosphere, reasonable prices and easy walking distance from my house. What's not to love? Andrew and I went out for breakfast at the place a few weeks ago. 

Andrew- You're taking my picture aren't you? 

Andrew- You are not a very good liar. I know you taking my picture. 

Andrew - Okay that's enough picture taking. 

The food has arrived. What joy!

An Interview For Andrew

Andrew has a phone interview on Monday afternoon. It's a job that sounds perfect. He's studying his ass off on FE exam material to keep from getting either nervous or excited. I am really hoping that he doesn't get this cold that I have. So far so good. In the interest of Andrew's health, I should really turn the lights off so he can sleep. I still feel pretty crappy. Better, but not better enough. Also having less and less patience with feeling sick.

waiting in bed

I'm lying in bed waiting for Andrew to finish sleeping. Ordinarily I would have gotten up hours ago and started doing my morning chores and banging stuff around like I do, but I can sleep during the day. Andrew can't. My ideal sleep schedule involves a four hour nap in the afternoon. Andrew does not nap, so when I stay up till one in the morning and he stays up with me. The result is a sleep deprived Andrew. The Andrew has been sick for several weeks now. He needs rest and my being in bed with him seems to help it happen.
I've been struggling the last several weeks especially. I believe its the result of being sick at least partly, but I've also been unmistakably depressed, dragging myself through like a gloomy rag doll with lump of lead in her soft stuffing belly. This morning though, I have the will to fight it. I can do things. I can smile.
There are things that need doing:
Go for a run
Visit Costco and purchase food
Call the humane society and ask what kind of mite medication to buy for Alex
Send my resume to that hiring agency
Arrange the study material for my final class
Wash my car in the rain
Change my new guitar strings

... wait a second that's not my to-do list that's a country song. I don't even have a guitar. I did have a dream about my violin though. I was trying to play it but it was all out of tune and the horsehair kept falling out of the bow. What else do I need or want to do.

Write in my story. Raven Black and Snow White as I'm calling it is at 50,049 words. I'm aiming to make it about 100,000 (based on an internet search of average novel length) so crossing the halfway mark is exciting to me. I could write in my story in bed, but I am getting very antsy. Andrew has slept at least nine and a half hours... aha! he waketh! Now Jenny will take a shower.

Sister time

Pookie came over and spent the day with me. It was great to have sister time. We started writing a story together. I think it's going to be good. We talking about putting it up on a blog.

Dog and Ferret Explore The Yard

I just made Micky pee herself. 

It's a great talent that I have. I put on a deep voice and say "pee yourself," and she does. Sometimes I don't even have say anything. Last time Andrew came to visit my parents, Micky was so excited to see him that she spun in a circle and peed on his foot. So maybe my talent isn't so very unique.

Now it's time or some neck stratches.

Mom wasn't home, but we managed to get Micky to go out into the backyard with us with the help of her best friend, Bear. If he was out back, she just had to come too.

Bear, "what's this?"

Micky says "Watcha doin'. Come play with me." 

Sunset at Cannon Beach

 

 Sarah and Joe

Mom and Dad

Random Couples watching the sunset. I think the guy and his dog get the prize for cutest couple