Cactus, and a Melancholy Situation

Desert flowers. These had a rather spicy scent to them; the bees seemed to like them a lot. Ralph thought these looked like tiny orchids. They were very small, about the size of his pinky fingernail.
This is the piece of cactus that got stuck in Hali's face, causing a Very Melancholy Situation indeed! Fortunately she is fine now. Although I did find four more spines in Zoe's shoulder last night, yikes!

Cactus flowers.
Different cactus flowers.
Flower buds, same plant as the picture immediately above.
Yet another cactus flower.

Moron at the Watchtower, Grand Canyon

OK, take a good look at the outcropping of dirt. See the dark blue spot? That's a guy who hopped the railing at the observation deck and started running down the spit of land.
Here he's gone to the end of the "path" and has climbed down some rocks. . .
Somehow, he has reached his goal.
All for a chance to take a picture. What a complete jackass!

Around the campsite, Spring Valley Cabin AZ

Ralph, Andrea, Quartz & Wes play "Pirateer." Wes was Victorious!
Ralph chops wood for the fire in preparation for a marshmallow roast.
Me with my mouth full of toasted marshmallow; Wes practically swallows the stick as he pulls the gooey treat off the end; and Quartz waits for his to toast. Could this possibly have been a less flattering shot of me & Wes? At least Quartz looks good :-) Looking up in a grove of aspens. I took this while we were geocaching.
Quartz, nearly-headless Andrea, and Onyx.

At the Deer Park, just east of Williams AZ

Sonic the hedgehog. The woman (duh, we didn't ask her name!) always gives him a couple mealworms as a treat when she takes him from his cage, so that he looks forward to being handled.
Ralph gives Gracie the camel a good scritchle. She was so sweet--call her name and she comes right up to you.
A reindeer, which I learned is the same thing as a caribou. I always thought they were two different creatures. Well, goes to show what I know!
Semi-albino peacock. Really gorgeous!
A wallaby.

More Watchtower photos

Ladder leading to false trap door, first floor of Watchtower.
Andrea looking down from the third floor. Notice the cool fake petroglyphs on the ceiling.

Looking down from the third floor. The chairs are wood with stretched hides for the seats & backs.

Arizona trip photos: at the Watchtower

Looking up at the Watchtower at the Grand Canyon. It's five stories high, the ground floor having pretty much been turned into a gift shop. The other four floors give good views of the Canyon all around.
This reflective piece of glass gives a nice shot of the Canyon; the dark glass causes the colors to be more pronounced than if you just take a picture of the Canyon itself. Can't remember who invented it, but it was an artist who used it when painting pictures of the Canyon.

Some of the artwork inside the Watchtower. Each room (other than the ground floor) has artwork all over the walls & ceiling.

There's no place like home. . .

Back at last from Arizona. We had a good trip for the most part, with only one Melancholy Situation (more on that later). We drove on Sunday until late afternoon, letting the girls out to potty & stretch as necessary, and ended up just outside the Arizona border when we decided to stop. Stayed at a nice campsite for the night, and there was enough daylight left after we arrived to let (or should I say make?) the dogs go for a bit of a swim in the river.

Monday morning back on the road, and arrived at the campsite at about 11:00 (a full three hours before check-in!) We weren't sure we were at the right place, because it turned out not to be an actual campground, but rather a cabin used by the NPS folk which is rented out when they are not using it. Totally sweet--a two-bedroom cabin with full kitchen surrounded by acres of meadow for the dogs to run around. The picture to the left was taken on one of our walks. The little building to the left is where the well was located; the cabin is just right of the picture's center, and our trailer is just to the right of that.

Wes, Andrea & the kids showed up a couple hours later. Ralph & I had driven into Williams to get some groceries and they were there when we returned. Went for a short hike, and afterwards Andrea made a fish dinner. Had a nice evening chatting.

On Tuesday, we went to the Deer Park just outside of Williams. Here's a shot of Quartz feeding the deer. They had lots of other animals too, including miniature donkeys, a camel, some peacocks (including a partial-albino one and a full albino one), a wallaby, llamas, miniature horses, dwarf zebu, reindeer, and a cockatoo. They also had a pet hedgehog named Sonic, who was just darling. We spent about two hours there total.

Yesterday on the way home is when we had our Melancholy Situation. We had stopped by the side of the road to take some pictures of saguaro cacti. Even as we were doing so, I was thinking this probably wasn't the smartest thing for us to do as we were NOT adequately prepared: wearing shorts & sandals instead of long pants and rugged shoes, had the dogs with us, etc. I got a good "bite" from a plant that you couldn't even see the thorns on unless you looked really carefully (see photo, left; the twiggy-branch next to my leg is what got me and yes, that's blood on my knee), and Ralph took a hit just above his right heel. Zoe had two clumps of cacti stuck in her hair and a few spines in her flesh which took a bit of work to get out. But poor Hali had the worst of it--a piece of dried cactus about 2" long got stuck in her face, pinning her ear forward next to her eye. We thought one of the spines had actually gone into her eye, but fortunately it was just pinned by her clenched lids. Despite our efforts to stop her, she managed to paw at it several times & of course got spines in her foot too. It took about 30 minutes with a pair of needlenose pliers to get all the spines out, and she was screaming & crying the whole time. Fortunately she doesn't seem to have any aftereffects--no swelling, no reddening of the eye, no pain as far as we can tell. Ralph took a couple pictures but I'm not going to post them.

Anyway, I'm pretty beat. I'll post more tomorrow.

Typical trip . . .

Hitched up the trailer. Got in the truck. Got out of the truck, back in the house to get the dogs' collars (we took them off last night so the GG's could get baths). Back in the truck. Drove around the block. Got out of the truck, back in the house to print the directions. On our way now!

On the road again . . . or soon anyway

Finishing up the last-minute vacation preparations. Have a few more things to pack up into the trailer, such as my spinning wheel and a knitting project or two. Maybe I'll bring the sock lobster and actually get it completed, or maybe the orangutan. Or both. Yeah, I think I'll bring both. Should be plenty of knitting time, and I really do want to finish those up.

I hand-washed some of my wool socks yesterday; they are on the special rack in the dryer right now. It's going to be highs in the 60s, lows in the 30s-40s, so I will definitely want my nice warm socks. With my luck I'll forget all about them and they'll still be on the rack when we get home. OH! Better find my good hiking shoes, too.

I tried to find a picture with Ralph's brother & his family, but we don't seem to have any. I thought that would be a good one for today since they will be meeting up with us at the Grand Canyon tomorrow. I found a couple of different family members, but nothing really good and nothing with all four of them. We're bringing the camera, so I'll be sure to get a good family shot for when we get back. In the meantime, here is yet another picture of Zoe. This time she is on the cat tower next to the Major Award. She thinks that's a good place for looking out the window, which is what she was doing before I picked up the camera.

Best laid plans. . .

Well, we were *supposed* to be getting ready for our trip today, but it has instead turned into a long relaxed don't-get-anything-done day. Which is NOT a complaint, by the way. We did pick up a bit in the living room, which still needs to be vacuumed; the kitchen, however, remains untouched.

It's been a very pleasant day, though. I had trouble falling asleep last night (more upset than I ought to be over losing that stupid office) so I took a sleeping pill. Slept until 8:00 o'clock, which is about 3 hours longer than usual. Ralph made extra-strong coffee & I brain-sucked for a bit until breakfast time, which consisted of turkey burgers Ralph cooked on the grill--yum! Read for a while, then we drove to the pet shop for some aquarium plants. They had some adorable kittens, including to almost identical grey & white cuties curled up sleeping next to each other. Obviously littermates :-) Then we went to the bookstore (got the rest of the "Shopaholic" series) followed by lunch at Pick-Up Stix. Back home to read in the sunshine & play with the dogs a bit. And now here it is, 4:00 pm, the day frittered away--life is good!

So now Ralph is setting the new plants up in the aquarium. We bought 10 of them; I really think it's going to look good when it's all set up. Ralph picked them all out, and he chose a variety of them: one long & thin, some broad-leafed ones, even a purple one. The fish pretty much have devoured the old plants; it really was time to restock.

And tomorrow our vacation officially starts as we hit the road. Not sure we'll have Internet access along the way, so I can't promise a daily post. Then again, I think Big Sis & I are the only ones who read this blog :-)

Fie and yay!

Well, fie fie fie. I'm not going to get an office at the new place after all, and as if I weren't crowded enough already my new workspace is going to be even smaller than my current one. I can't say I'm surprised--they've apparently underestimated the amount of space they needed to fit everyone in, and I've heard that many people are getting squeezed in--but I must say that I am *very* disappointed. Mr. Boss Man got booted out of his office, too, and he is getting mine instead, which is not only smaller than what he was going to get, but smaller than the office of the other guy working under him! Really dampens some of my enthusiasm for the new place :-(

Yay! I am officially ON VACATION! Tomorrow we'll be getting the trailer packed up, making sure the house is clean (who wants to come home to chores??) and getting everything ready for our trip to the Grand Canyon. We've let Neighbor J know, so he'll be keeping an eye on the house. I am so looking forward to not having to go in to work. In honor of the upcoming trip, today's picture is from our 2005 Hawaii trip. This was taken in the World's Largest Maze, located at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Ralph is pointing at the part of the maze that we were trying to reach.

Not much else to talk about. Went in to work at 6:30 am and didn't get off until a bit after 7:00 pm, so not only is my brain fried, but I really didn't have any free time in which anything interesting could have happened.

Prezzinks!

Well, Ralph didn't remember that yesterday was my birthday. Had to remind him. I do know that he knew it was coming up because on Saturday he asked "Your birthday is Wednesday, right?" I think he just didn't realize that yesterday was Wednesday, because normally he has that day off but this time he had to work. He did give me a wonderful gift of two knitting books, a yarn-cutter, and an audiodisk set of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." So he's almost forgiven, even if this IS the second time he has forgotten my birthday.

And today I had a nice surprise. One of the salespeople out in Aliso sent me a basket of cookies as a belated birthday present! I brought home one gooey-looking brownie for me & one for Ralph, and then let my co-workers have the rest. The basket is very pretty, too--looks sort of like it's made of little bubbles.

Plus, in a way I got flowers for my birthday: the amaryllis next to our pond bloomed yesterday! I noticed it after I posted my blog, when I went out to throw the frisbee for the dogs.

Survivor is on tonight! Hope my person doesn't get voted off. Actually, I should stop posting so we can go eat dinner & get back before the show starts. . .

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my birthday! 44 years old. My. Had lots of birthday wishes at work; got e-mail from Big Sis, Older Older Brother, and Niece CT; the entire Bakersfield group at work called en masse & sang happy birthday; and my coworker DW took me to Souplantation for lunch. Even got a call from my friend Termite on the way home from work. Now let's see if Ralph remembers ;-) The only dark spot is, for the first time in my life, there will be no card from Aunt Lee. Really feels weird to realize I'll never have a card from her again.

Had a funny thing happen at work today. I felt a sneeze coming on, so went to grab a tissue. My work buys cheap tissues, not good Kleenex, so they almost never pop out of the box but rather sit sullenly flat on the bottom, and this box was nearly empty. I really had to dig deep, and of course with the cramped space in the box it's hard to get a grip on the tissues. In desperation I gave a big yank, and as the tissues pulled out the whole box flew up and hit me in the head. Sure wish I'd gotten THAT on tape! I was laughing so hard I could barely get the tissues to my nose.

Had trouble sleeping last night, so lay awake in bed composing haiku. Of course once I did doze off & then woke up again, I couldn't remember them, but I did have two of them come back to me: Insomnia sucks/Lying awake in my bed/I wish I could sleep. And: A is for Apple/Red, yellow, green, crisp and sweet/Bake them into pie. Hey, I never said they were GOOD haiku, and it *was* 2:30 in the morning after all.

Well, going to keep it short tonight. Want to have time to read or knit before going to sleep.

Making progress on the socks

I finally feel as though I'm making decent progress on the brown socks. I have knit to the point of having turned both heels, and then have picked up the stitches & started the gusset on one of them. I decided on a ribbed gusset for a little extra stretch through the ankle. I had in fact done about 2/3 of the gusset when I discovered that somewhere along the line I had messed up, and the number of stitches on one side was different from the number of stitches on the other. Also, I didn't like how the heel was coming out (I was doing an eye of partridge heel, which involves slipping every other stitch on every other row) so I frogged back down to the turn in the heel & started the gusset again.

Started reading a new book today, "Confessions of a Shopaholic." I'm only through two chapters (I spent most of lunch knitting rather than reading), but I think I'm going to like it. I listened to one of the author's other books, "The Undomestic Goddess," and enjoyed it very much. This one seems to be written in the same humorous style.

As those of you who read Big Sis's blog know, my Older Older Brother is a grandfather again! Little Drake Evan was born on April 1. Just over 4 pounds, and a little under a foot & a half long. Mother & baby are doing fine :-)

Last night's dinner was really good. I don't know what the dish she made is called, but it was very tasty: a sort of meatball with onions in it, served in a mushroom/wine gravy. I heated up some canned asparagus to go with it. There was enough for us each to have two big meatballs for dinner and another one apiece for breakfast. I told Ralph to be sure to thank her for me. Now, of course, I have to figure out what to fix tonight :-P

Waiting for dinner

The wife of one of the patients at Ralph's work brought some of her home cooking for Ralph to bring home for our dinner tonight. She is a fabulous cook, and has a couple times before made us some of her fine German recipes. I am quite looking forward to it. Don't know what she fixed, but I am certain it will be delicious.

Only four working days to go, and Mr. Boss Man still hasn't signed my vacation request. Getting a little nervous here. . . on the plus side, they've changed our Move to Ontario date to next month, so I've got more time to get packed for that.

Speaking of vacations, today's shot is of a little anole that we saw at the Dole Pineapple Plantation on Oahu. This is from our trip that we took in 2005. If you ever get a chance to tour the plantation, I highly recommend it. Much more enjoyable than you might think; in fact, we went twice during the 10 days we were on the island. The pineapple so-called "iced cream" is very refreshing on a hot day, and they have a lot of interesting plants. I didn't know there were different types of pineapples, or that the fruit itself gets flowers on it.

Ooops, there's Ralph! Time to eat!

Well, I'm not typing all that again.

Don't ask me how I managed it, but I posted today's entry on my sister's blog, "Knit and Pearl" by mistake. If you really want to read it, go to her blog; the link is over there on the left :-) In "honor" of my blunder, I'm posting an old photo that features her dog, Buster (aka "Bubbers") front and center. We took this when we were "nephoo-sitting" for her. Hali is behind him, and peeking from the back is Gonzo.

Pleasant afternoon, too!

Ralph & his Buddy have made great progress on painting that last wall. They've only got one little section left. I think they will be glad to be finished--it is quite hot out (94 degrees F according to weather.com) and they have been working a long time with only one short break for fast food burgers. And yes, we really our painting our house Home Depot orange. Don't ask.

We also went & signed off on the taxes. We were served by a different woman than the one who did our return, and she noticed a couple deductions we hadn't taken. So, with our "special credit" coming back to us, combined with our Federal refund and our State payment, we should about break even.

Today I got the license renewal notice for Zoe. Hard to believe we've had her almost a year already! Sometimes it seems like we've had her forever, and other times it's like we just got her. She really fits in our family nicely.

I think the lemon bars I made turned out well. I haven't actually eaten one yet; only tasted what was left on the knife when I cut them. I made them specifically for the guys coming over for Ralph's D & D game tomorrow, but I'll have to have at least one of them. Strange--we've lived in this house for almost 7 years now, and the lemon tree in our backyard is covered with fruit year-round, and this is the first time I've ever made lemon bars. (I took this photo today, but the tree looks like this *all the time.* If you ever need lemons, just come on by. . . )

Pleasant morning

It's been a nice morning today. Got up around 6:00 am (that's sleeping in for me, by the way) and did a little knitting. Around 8:30 Ralph & his Buddy from Las Vegas & I went to breakfast, where I had some very tasty chicken florentine crepes. Afterwards the guys went to the hardware store while I tidied the kitchen, then I made a batch of lemon bars. Ralph and his Buddy are painting the back wall of the house (the other three walls have been done for over a month now) and if I'm lucky they'll do the garage, too. Did a little spinning while the lemon bars baked, and it's only half past noon now. Have a whole day ahead of me still.

At some point this weekend we need to sign our tax paperwork. I'll remind Ralph in a bit that we should do that today, and then maybe we can take the dogs to the beach if the guys are done painting.

Black & White

Weird thing today. I was getting ready for work, and I just really wanted to wear the black dress with the white print that Ralph bought me when we went to Oahu. Passed up several other possible outfits digging through the clean laundry for this particular dress. Well, at work today I would say at least half the women were wearing black & white! Guess my subconcious must have gotten the memo :-)

Very long day at work today. I got there around 6:30 am to help set up the breakfast, and didn't leave until 6:00 pm. It feels good to be home. Really feeling tired; got a bit of a headache even. Not too bad, just enough for me to know it's there.

Meant to post a few days back, I've got a "knitting pattern a day" calendar at work. The pattern for April 7 was for a rather cute rabbit (more on that later), and the notation said it was "great for Easter baskets." Well, gosh, if it's great for Easter baskets, wouldn't it have made more sense for the pattern to appear BEFORE Easter?

Anyway, the calendar annoys me. First off, it's not really a "pattern a day," as some of the patterns span over several days, and of course Saturday & Sunday are on one page. Also, the box it came in said "all new" knitting patterns, and I know for a fact that some of them have been around a while, because I have knit them. The rabbit is an example of that; I knit one about oh, must be three years ago now, plus there is a hat that they call "Strong Women Dance." Well, I knit that a few years ago, too, although it was called "Dancing Grannies." Exact same pattern though, and the person who submitted it didn't even credit the original designer.

Boy, this is turning into a really cranky post! Time to focus on more cheerful things. I'm making discernable progress on the socks. I've finished the instep on both, and have done about a dozen rows on the heel flap of one. One way or another I am going to spend some time knitting this weekend. Ralph is having guests over for D & D on Sunday, which will be a good chance to make my escape to somewhere cozy--maybe Portfolio, a local coffee house--curl up in a comfy chair & knit. Or perhaps I'll go to the Pet Expo, and knit between exhibits. Now that sounds like a good plan!

Modem issues

Wasn't able to post yesterday due to modem issues; couldn't get connected to the Internet. Ralph had to restart everything. At least it's working now.

Boxed up a lot of files yesterday for The Big Move. The storage place is supposed to pick them up today, but then we were told that we had missed some deadline for getting them labeled so they weren't going to be picked up. With all the "have it all ready to go by the 11th" messages we got, you think *one* of them might have mentioned the deadline for getting them labeled since obviously this needed to be done before today.

Took some new pictures of the dogs & the pond yesterday. I like how this one of Zoe came out. It's hard to get good shots of her, because she's so nosy she has to get right in your face. As usual, you can see where she's scattered her toys around the living room.

Got a good shot of the "waterfall" in the pond, too. It's really starting to shape up nicely, although the surrounding plants are not quite right yet. Still , it's looking a lot better than it was a few months ago. The front yard is looking better, too, as the plants that don't look so good around the pond are being relegated to the front. We now have a strawberry pot filled with daisies and pansies, an orchid in a wall basket, and a hanging basket of jasmine on the porch & deck area. Oh, and we moved the bat-faced plant onto the deck too. I'll get a shot of that when it's in bloom.

Oh, well, better finish "brainsucking" and then get ready for work. I'll post again tonight.