it is what it is

Grandpa Was a Rock Hound!

2009-06-11T09:31:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa Merle was a rock hound. He owned his own rock cutter and polisher. I remember the rock polisher and thinking it was some kind of washing machine because it was huge! We're talking the 1960s here. I have no idea what rock polishers look like these days, other than the small one Ian has that holds just a few rocks at a time. My Grandma Myrtle had half-gallon milk cartons full of his polished rocks. Here is a sampling of some:

This summer we are taking the kids on a mini vacation to the Oregon Coast and Northern California. I'm hoping we will be able to do some agate hunting when we are at the coast.

And they're off!

2009-02-07T17:14:00.000-08:00

It's the annual Daddy-Daughter Dance tonight, something Kaitlin and Bill look forward to each year.

Purina Busy Bones

2009-02-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

The reason they call them BUSY Bones is becuase you will be BUSY cleaning up your dog and your carpet when they get done with them.

Once the Busy Bone gets wet and crumbly it turns to the texture of lumpy paste. Mabel and Connor had paste from their nose and whiskers to their toes. It took some serious scrubbing with a wet rag to get them presentable.

I did try to keep the dogs on an old blanket while they were eating them, but apparently I was not Alpha enough because they did what they wanted (Yes, I DO watch the Dog Whisperer, what's your point?!?). Needless to say, when they finished, I was shampooing the carpet.

Quote of the Day

2009-02-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

"You are never going to achieve anything unless you get started."

- John Mellencamp

Max is Dead, Max is Alive

2008-07-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

It was a sad day yesterday. Kaitlin came into my room and said, "I think Max is dead, he's not moving and he looks really pale". Max is the hermit crab that she has had for almost a year now and, may I say, has done an outstanding job taking care of him - feeding, watering, and cleaning his crabitat.

I am sure Max is not dead. After all, we have had scares with him before, like, "Mom! Max is missing!" and after trying to figure out how he could have Houdinied himself out of his crabitat, sure enough we had found him under his water dish where he had burrowed into the sand.

So, I followed teary-eyed Kaitlin to her room to see this "dead" crab for myself. Sure enough, I pick him up and he does look pale and he's not moving. So we called out to Bill (he IS the MAN of the house so he's in charge of the dead-pet department). Bill picked the little hermit crab up and when one of Max's little crab legs fell off, all hope was lost. Being the Chief Coroner in charge of the Dead-Pet department, Bill made the official announcement:

"He's Dead"

Kaitlin started sobbing. I started sobbing. We were sad.

It was decided that Max would need a memorial service with a proper burial, so we found an old watch tin to use. Kaitlin wanted him to have a blanket so we went through some fabric and sewed a small blanket together for him. Kaitlin attached a red heart button with her new-found button-sewing skills. The tin was filled with sand from his crabitat, topped by his blanket, and finally, the remains of Max. Not to be buried alone, Kaitlin wrote him a note, added a picture of herself, a flower petal, a small penguin from dad, a note from mom, a shiny rock from brother, and a bit of food in case he got hungry on his trip, and finally, we set up the viewing:

After the viewing and Kaitlin and Bill had scouted out the proper burial spot in the flower bed, Kaitlin decided she needed a few pictures. So we arranged everything around Max's tin, and we started taking pictures.

We were so sad.

Then, Kaitlin says to me, "MOM! HE'S MOVING".

"Um, no honey, he's dead" (didn't I mention that We were sad???)

"MOM! I SAW HIS LEGS MOVE"

Poor Kaitlin, she must be in denial. I must have bumped into his tin and moved him.

However, on closer inspection, he WAS moving.

There were small bright orange legs coming out of Max's shell and the nasty, pale, cold, dead legs were falling out of the shell. Being the brilliant marine biologist that I am, I put 2 and 2 together and sure enough, Max was MOLTING!

The sadness left our little household and the crabitat was prepared for Max's joyous return.

Who could have known we would have a dead Max but then he would be alive again?

Today's suggested reading

2008-05-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite books growing up was a Weekly Reader book called "Andrew Henry's Meadow" written and illustrated by Doris Burns. It's about a kid who loves to "invent" things but his inventions make his family crazy, so one day he runs away and finds a meadow where he builds himself a house (fort) and where he can work on his inventions. He is soon joined by other children whose families also do not understand their hobbies and Andrew welcomes them to his meadow and helps build each of them their own house where they can enjoy their hobbies. And, yes, there is a happy ending to the story!

This makes a great gift for young readers. All kids go through the "not fitting in" stage and will relate to Andrew Henry. Amazon had this for awhile when the 40th anniversary edition was released. You can also purchase directly from the publisher: San Juan Publishing.

My Niece! My Grand-Niece! ? My ?

2008-04-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is my niece's daughter. What does that make me? What does that make her? Am I a grand aunt or????

No matter the logistics, she is boootiful!

February 2008 Daddy Daughter Dance

2008-02-08T18:37:00.001-08:00

Finally! A couple of shots I'm happy with. Now, if I could only get Ian to let me photograph him. Anyone know how to get a teenager to cooperate with pictures???

Canine Character

2008-01-31T08:32:00.001-08:00

She looks a little scary - she did a lobotomy on her hedgehog afterall - but Mabel is really just a character, not unlike every other greyhound out there!

Foster Failure: Meet Our Latest Greyhound - Connor!

2008-01-02T19:46:00.001-08:00

Figs Cansano Racing Data What a HANDSOME guy!

Dogs, chocolate, and vomiting

2008-01-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

I walked into my office this afternoon and found Mabel and Connor, two very innocent looking greyhounds, with an empty bag of Hershey Kisses on the floor.

I grabbed a turkey baster and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and called for Mabel and Connor to go outside. Bill held Mabel while I administered the hydrogen peroxide...she was the one who looked the most guilty and I was sure she was acting lethargic. Then Connor stepped right up for his turn (!). I was feeling guilty for leaving the chocolate where they could get it and for shoving hydrogen peroxide down their throats. Never had to do this before...when do they start vomiting? Why are they looking so miserable with their heads hanging low? Soon enough we've got greyhounds upchucking all over the yard, so I asked Bill to look and see which dog ate the Hershey's Kisses. Sure enough, it was Connor, our 3-year-old red fawn pup that we adopted a few weeks ago. He's a naughty boy and always getting into things.

However, it was soon clear that it wouldn't be just Mabel and Connor tossing their cookies. I turn around to find Bill bent over, right in there with the pups giving the ol' heave ho. Where is my camera when I need it? :)

Greyhound Acrobatics

2007-11-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

Natalie is our 3-year-old foster greyhound that we have had since September. She is a NUT and is going to be a Greyt dog for someone! Here you see her doing one of her favorite tricks, head on the floor, butt up in the air, scooting her back feet ever so closer to her front feet until she does a somersault. Nutty Natalie! You can see her racing statistics here.
If you would like more information on adopting Natalie, please visit the Royal Hounds web site.

Nutty Natalie in action!

It's Fall!

2007-10-23T12:13:00.001-07:00

My Sir Ralph's Stay Will be Short

2007-09-04T01:32:00.000-07:00

We picked up My Sir Ralph on Saturday, August 25th to foster until he found his forever home. We got the call yesterday that a woman in Canada is adopting him. She just lost her 5-1/2-year-old "Blue" to osteosarcoma and Ralph will be her healer. Anyone who has had to have a pet euthanized knows what I'm talking about. Some people may think you are callous to get another pet so soon; that you are trying to replace her, but it was the best thing I ever did when I had my BEST cat EVER put to sleep a couple of years ago. I had a new kitten in a week and it worked wonders.

My Canadian friend has been a grey mom for many years and already has a female to keep Ralph (soon to be known as Fangio, or Gio for short) company. She will make a great mom to Ralph.

Oh, and check out his racing statistics. He is hilarious!

Me Ra Koh

2007-08-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

Saw a writeup in the News Tribune (business section) on August 3, 2007 about a local photographer. She has an inspiring story and I thought I'd share it.

Me Ra Koh Photography

Makes me think I need to start saving money now to have my kids' senior pictures done!

Bald and Beautiful

2007-07-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day, sunny, warm, windows open, you get the picture. Then we heard something we don't often hear. Bill thought Mabel was whining for him and I told him it wasn't Mabel as she was sound asleep. We went outside to discover two Eagles flying overhead. We've seen eagles a couple of times here, but they mostly hang out at Day Island and other places closer to the Sound.

1901 Census, England

2007-05-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

I was perusing Ancestry.com and came across a page from the 1901 census done in England. I got the best laugh out of the heading for column 17...check it out and have a chuckle.

A few pictures of the last pedicure social

2007-05-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here they come!

There they go!

Fast Dogs

2007-05-07T03:07:00.001-07:00

Greyhounds are the BEST dogs in the world. Did you know they are couch potatoes? Seriously!

We lost our lab mix, Max, at the end of February. He was 10 and suffered from vomiting, lethargy and bloody diarrhea. It was horrible. His food hasn't been on the recall list, but I'm still watching that.

I've always wanted a greyhound, but for whatever reason, we never got one. Until Max passed. Then I e-mailed Royal Hounds. It was just a whim. Just to ask a few questions. The next thing I know one of the volunteers, Sue, called me and we spent an hour on the phone talking about greyhounds. A new batch of greyhounds were coming out from Colorado the upcoming weekend and if we wanted to get one we would have to be approved and let them know in the next couple of days. A few hours later, another volunteer, Kathy, called me and arranged a home visit. She and another Volunteer, Vicki, came out the following afternoon with two greyhounds, Autumn and Gracie. Bill immediately fell in love and the dogs loved him. They were so happy they chattered their teeth to show him how much they enjoyed his attention.

We gave Kathy our deposit and started waiting impatiently for Saturday to get here and the hounds to arrive. We received a phone call from Sue asking if we would be interested in Mabel, a tripod. I had mentioned in our first phone conversation seeing Mabel on Almost Home for Hounds, a grehyound rescue in Colorado. That comment stuck with Sue and I told her Bill and I would talk it over. Our biggest concern was how the kids would feel about having a 3-legged dog and if they would get upset if other kids made fun of her. Ian and Kaitlin proved us completely wrong. They said they didn't care if she had three legs, she still deserved a good home and they wanted to offer that to her. So we called Sue back and said, yes, we would take Mabel.

Saturday arrived and we were notified that the hounds were late. Heather Weir, the veterinarian from Almost Home for Hounds in Colorado drives the dogs out ALL BY HERSELF. I think she had 30-some dogs, stopping in Utah and California to drop some dogs off. Can you even IMAGINE taking 30 dogs out to relieve themselves??? ALL BY YOURSELF? Not to mention that there were some troubles with the "bus" that had to be fixed along the way.

Saturday afternoon we spent at Kathy's house in our 2-hour greyhound adoption class, meeting other adopters and volunteers. We got our welcome kits and then were sent home to do some more WAITING as the dogs were to arrive Sunday morning.

Sunday morning we headed on back to Kathy's where we met Heather and Mabel. I think it was love at first sight.