Happy Days!

Happy Birthday Dad!















Happy 5th Birthday, Jaiden!



















Happy 2nd Bunniversary, JoJo!




I love you all!

Poison

Some evil bastard in my neighborhood has put out rat poison.

PAWS called me and I found out about the fate of my squirrel. She was blind and slowly and painfully dying from eating rat poison. Thankfully, PAWS was able to put her out of her misery before dying got a lot worse. Now I'm worried about my Bijou, all the neighborhood wildlife, and people's pets.

Because of this, I did a little research, and it turns out that just weeks ago the EPA laid down the law on distribution of rat poison. Unfortunately, rat poison manufacturers have 3 years to comply.

I'm sad and angry. And now Bijou wants to go out into the sunshine and I can't let her.

When Squirrels Attack

I know I don't blog much these days, but life has been just rollin' along. Today was exciting though! This afternoon I noticed a very tired squirrel in our back yard. He was crouching motionless on the ground with his head down and his cute little nose touching the ground. He looked very healthy with a nice fur coat and bushy tail, but I have never seen a tired squirrel before. I got on a pair of gloves and a pet carrier, and these are the results:









Squirrel: Safe in the carrier.
Julia: Not so safe with the gloves.

I was able to walk right up to Mr. Squirrel and grab him, which proved he really was ill. But then he perked right up. He screamed. He bit me. I screamed. I dropped him. Then I persevered and nabbed him again a little closer to his head and shoved him into the pet carrier. He screamed and growled again, threw his little body against the bars, and then huddled in the back. That pretty much was the end of his efforts, though he growled again at Michael when Michael moved the carrier a bit.

Luckily, squirrels rarely are rabid and especially not in Seattle. Also, I'm up on my tetanus. I took Mr. S to PAWS, and hopefully they will be able to do something for him. The last critter I brought them, a mountain beaver, didn't do so well. The mountain beaver had baylis and was put down.

In other news, Fiddle Tunes is coming up! I'm looking forward to a week of music, partying, dancing, and banjo larnin'. Last year I had a blast. I had a disappointment recently, so as a consolation prize, I bought myself a Tascam digital audio recorder. No more low quality cassette recorder, piles of cassettes, bags of batteries, and endless hours sucking the cassettes into my computer. Yay! I feel so 21st century.

We also got a new dishwasher, but that's not so exciting. Just convenient!

Julie and Moondog

I just finished reading Julie Andrews' memoir Home. I really love Julie Andrews, and the book was a great read. One of the most interesting things I learned was that Julie Andrews' first album was a joint venture with Moondog! What a combo! In 1957 they collaborated on a recording of children's songs called "Tell it again" - Songs of Sense and Nonsense. This album seems to be out of print, but the songs are included on Julie Andrews' album Once Upon a Time. I'm gonna be gettin' me some of that.

New Growth

We had a fabulous weekend of sunshine and highs in the 80s or lower 90s. Or so I hear. I worked all weekend, and when I finally got outside after work, the days were a little overcast or simply getting dark. Today is overcast but still warm, so maybe Seattle has finally warmed up from its cold spring. All of a sudden the clover flowers are blooming, much to JoJo's joy. I brought a handful home for her today on my way back from the gym, and she gobbled them up.

The Wollemi pine I got almost a year ago has burst out with a nice layer of new growth. I like the way the tender little needles are all stuck together at the ends. The little pine is definitely bigger than last year, but it's looking a little scraggly just now. Maybe I'll wait to do a full photo on its adoption day in June.

This morning Michael and I saw our first begging baby bird. We call these "dumb birds" because at first glance they look adult sized, but they're all scruffy, wobbly, and look around with a dazed expression. Here's a short video of a house sparrow getting fed by his dad from the bird feeder:


This year we haven't had as many baby birds around as usual. Unfortunately, no one moved into my Nest Cam nest box. I'm very bummed. Last year some Bewick's wrens moved in, but this year, nada. Also, we used to have several families of sparrows or finches nesting in the eaves of our house. They had pecked through then screening on the vent holes under the eaves and were actually inside the attic, though just inside the eaves. I used to enjoy their loud begging in the morning, though it woke up Michael. This winter a rat moved into our attic, and we had all the holes plugged. No more rats, but no more baby birds. Oh well, it's better for the house this way.

I have today off, but a bazillion things to do. I hope I can enjoy the outdoors a bit!

Antiquities & Modernities

Yesterday was pretty exciting.

Early on in the day Michael and I went to the SAM to catch the Roman Art from the Louvre exhibit before it leaves at the end of the week. It was a wonderful exhibit, filled with sculptures, reliefs, and mosaics which I usually only see in books. I especially liked getting a very close-up view of the intricate mosaics. And of course I always love the jewelry! Even though we got there at 11:30am on a Wednesday, the place was packed. Way to go Seattle!

I haven't been in the SAM since it was renovated, and it was pretty spiffy. It had a much more modern feel than I remember. I really liked the sculpture Mann und Maus; an enormous matte black mouse sits on a sleeping man.

After a thrilling afternoon of coding and composting, Michael and I headed out again to go to Corteo, the latest Cirque du Soleil event to visit Seattle. Sometimes traffic to the East Side and parking at the show can be awful, but we got there with plenty of time to spare -- until I realized I had just left my wallet at the restaurant where we ate dinner. Duh! After rushing back to get it, we made it into the tent with 2 minutes to spare.

As usual, it was an awesome show. This year there were no bizarre costumes or makeup, and the acts revolved around ordinary things such as chandeliers, big bouncy beds, and large silver hoops. I actually was refreshed by the change, but some people probably missed it. The lady in the picture below was a mini-lady, and she was harnessed to a set of enormous helium balloons which made her almost weightless. She crowd surfed the audience as they helped her launch herself around the room with dainty boosts to her feet. I want one of those contraptions!

Happy Birthday, Bijou!

My oldest child Bijou turned 14 on May 5th! Such a big girl! The oldest I've had a cat live to is 14, so I'm crossing my fingers she goes on for many more years. I think she will!











We had a bit of a scare earlier in the week with JoJo. She got very sick and stopped eating and pooping after a round of diarrhea (all over the living room!). After a few days of tempting her with fresh picked clover, she's back to her regular bouncy self. We think she ate some stuffing from the couch and got blocked up. Silly wabbit!

Death Wish and Spring

Apparently, I am either cursed or I have a death wish. Yesterday I:

• Woke up with a knot in my back, a stiff neck, and a headache.
• As I trotted up the stairs, I tripped and sprained my big toe. Owchie.
• As I hobbled up the stairs, I stubbed my sprained toe.
• Sitting safely (I thought) on the couch, I whacked my hand into the coffee table while playing Super Mario Galaxy on my new Wii. Video games *do* cause violence.
• While making dinner, I burned the same whacked hand *twice* with steam.

Now because of my swollen black and blue toe, I can't go to my aerobics class or my bhangra dance class tonight, which is probably just as well, for my own safety.

On a nicer note, after the coldest spring in Seattle since the 50s, Spring has finally arrived! Saturday was about 70 and blazingly sunny. I sat in my new blue Ecuadorean hammock and reveled in the sun and warmth. It was cool again Sunday, but today is clearing off again. I'm really ready for this! I've been checking my NestCam, but so far no activity.

Ecuador Wrap Up

So there you are! All my Ecuador stories are told. I flew home on Easter Sunday. The trip started off with a beautiful view of Quito's Pichincha volcano out the window of my plane. I got to see it for the full three hours I sat in the plane on the runway! Yay! I eventually got home, which was a wonderful place to be.

I only brought home a few souvenirs: An alapca wool sweater, a nice white blouse embroidered with flowers, a blue hammock for the back yard, a small painting, and a little stuffed alpaca toy for Michael.

You can read all of my Ecuador posts on one page here or by clicking on an Ecuador tag at the bottom of a post.

I have finished loading Ecuador photos to my Flickr account, and you can view the full set here.

A few videos are loaded on my YouTube account.

On The Beach

March 19th -- March 22nd, 2008. We spent our final days in Ecuador in a muggy haze at the beach. The Hosteria Mandala was an absolutely lovely place. A multi-storied wooden building with open verandas all around served as the common area and restaurant. The surrounding cabins were all hidden from each other by lush gardens filled with birds. A walk of about 30 seconds from the common building got you to a beautiful sand beach with cabanas.

My Mom and I both had great expectations for ourselves. While in Puerto Lopez, we planned to traipse through Machalilla National Park seeing exotic flora, fauna, and archaeological ruins. We planned to go to Isla de la Plata, the poor man's Galapagos, and see some blue-footed boobies and other wildlife. Maybe we would also go to Los Frailes beach!

But it was really hot. And I was really sick with a bad cold. And the surf was so sooooooothing ... We spent the entire three days swinging in hammocks under our cabana, body surfing with the kids in the excellent waves, playing in the sand, playing games and drinking beer in the common building, and kicking back with three meals a day in the restaurant. It was tough. Really tough. Actually, I was pretty miserably sick and exhausted. My nose dripped constantly yet couldn't be emptied with a good blow. My nose started to peel from the tissues. The only time I really perked up was in the water. The Pacific Ocean was like a giant neti pot, and the crashing waves were exhilarating.


After the first day of total sloth, I did manage to explore a little bit around the beach. I was really excited to see frigatebirds wheeling overhead, as I've often read about them, especially in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. Watching them congregate around the fishing boats, though, I realized they were about as common as seagulls. Oh well -- they were still exotic to me! Vultures were also pretty common, but fun for me to see. Further on down the beach and away from most people, I managed to encounter a pair of Yellow-Crowned Night-Herons. Cool name, huh? Seeing them made me feel right at home, since Michael and I often go to Golden Gardens Park in our neighborhood and see Great Blue Herons on the beach. There were many pelicans, too. They would do this very cool thing of flying very low in a V formation over the breaking waves. I imagine they were scooping up yummy treats.


Ghost crabs scuttled around on the beach, disappearing the minute I tried to get close. I was walking while trying to video these guys. Sorry for the shaking.

Far down the beach were some really nice peaceful views of the surf, the clouds, the birds, and a weird starfish stuffed into a crevice. I actually thought the little guy was an octopus for a minute!

At the end of the days the sun would set in a blaze of glory. One of our hosts, Maja, said she'd seen the elusive green flash before, but we didn't get so lucky.