Lost in Idaho

Yes, you used to call me lostinutah, but these days I seem to be lostinidaho. Not in the same sense, but I know I've been remiss in trying to write anything whatsoever or comment on others blogs. Though I see some other people are having the same problem. :)

What has been going on? I don't know that it's anything specific...a tad bit of laziness, no doubt, but also just life being life and me ending up watching David Letterman, seeing the Top 10 list and realizing I'm going to be just as tired in the morning as I was the morning of the current day.

The job has been...the job. I've had a couple of nasty surprises in the last week that don't threaten my employment but do seem to confirm that it will lack the thing I like about my field - creativity. Not that I've been allowed to have much anyway, but what I did have is slowly being eliminated by our Corporate structure. (Not at me, mind you, just generally.) I have applied internally for a job that I think I would love, that is a stretch opportunity but one I had some exposure to in Utah. The person I would work for I think I would truly love to be around - she and I have bonded over our children are both going to that fine institution next year I've mentioned previously. We'll see - the recruiter for the job (same guy that was my recruiter for this job) seems to think I'll get an interview at least but the wheels of justice turn slowly.

Memorial Day weekend was a blur. We went to friend Renee's party (lots of fun) but first...we acquired a new family member.

This is Mario, our new evil pet. (Those of you who parent or grandparent Ninentdo addicts will get the name.) He is a 2 year old Beagle, who was a stray at the shelter and we nabbed him. We were going to wait until we got back from our trip to Washington D.C. to celebrate Big Bit's graduation but Beagles don't come through the shelter very often so we nabbed him. Friend Ra will watch him while we're in Reno and a little bit of the D.C. time when Mom is on a Harley ride to Elko.

We also went (late) to my uncles(s) and aunt(s) anniversary party. A supposedly brief lunch at Flatbread Pizza went sadly awry. In addition, I hate really paper-thin crust pizza. Shan't be back. Sorry to the family for showing up for the last 1/2 hour but I did enjoy seeing everyone. Then, we got to go see the new house my dad is having built. It's small, but cute, and when he retires and can't live in his company-provided housing anymore he will have a nice place to live. Sorry, no pics, but once it's done I'll nail some down.

Now - getting ready for graduation (I AM OLD) and our trip to DC. Big Bit has been another distraction (though always welcome) - he was having extreme bouts of senioritis and resenting authority (granted, the authority he was resenting I couldn't live with, so totally understood). To his credit, he got through it all and is great, but I appreciated the fact he wanted to talk to me about it all. I don't take that for granted by any means. Sometimes you see parents and their children grow apart and you wonder - how does that happen? I'm not sure. I don't want to experience it with my kids, so I plan on working hard at appreciating their worlds, even when I don't agree with them.

Back on a Sunday, Big Bit's college orientation on a Monday and then - off to D.C.! We were fortunate enough to score White House tour tickets through Senator Crapo - now if I just see an Obama I'll have a big grin on my face. I know. As if. And I know he's not perfect, okay? Thank you. Looking forward to seeing all the wonderful, inspiring sights that I've seen briefly on work visits to the D.C. area and much more that I've never been exposed to.

I also hope to meet up with Holly and Kris, a couple of ladies met through the blogosphere - we'll see how things shake out but it might be a lot of fun.

So, while I've been totally offline, I haven't been inactive. Hope all is well with everyone's world as well.

Spring?

They keep saying it's spring. I don't believe it. It snowed here this week. No, it didn't stick BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!

Bogus Basin ski area closes this weekend, and for once, I think the snow is better now than it has been a lot of the season. I guess we'll go skiing - but I really want warmth, sun and to be able to plant my garden.

I have some better pictures of finches that I got today, but for now, this is the extent of my bird photos - every time I've tried to take their pictures, until yesterday, the damn things flew off.

Bucky got his paws on a squirrel Monday, but it put the afterburners on and escaped. Now there's a dead dove by our back door. Okay, cat, you've done enough damage to the animal kingdom this week, you can take a break.

In other news? I am way behind on my homework for my CEBS certification (but I'm catching up), Big Bit still hasn't chosen a school, but will be here next week and hopefully will do so.

We've booked a trip to celebrate Big Bit's graduation - we're going to Washington, D.C. Thankfully we had enough frequent flyer miles from years of travel and a merger between Northwest and Delta to get plane tickets. We are excited, I've been there for work but only got to visit the Mall area briefly, Big Bit went but there was a hurricane that week and he didn't get to do much, and Little Bit and TH have never been. So this should be fun.

The Green Bay Packers were kind enough to announce a pre-season game in Seattle in August. That will be our other extravagance - it's the only chance I have to watch them this year, so we're going.

Now, if it would just get warm enough to move about freely outside. I have cabin fever in the worst way.

A Wonderful Life

I know I've not been a fountain of optimism on this blog lately. Well, you're going to have to put up with one more dose of negativity, and Lord knows I hope it's the last for a while.

TH got up this morning to make lattes, as he always does, and much to our dismay found our beloved dog, Margarita, had died during the night. She was 11, would have been 12 in April, and yes, for a Labrador, that's on the upper end of the scale. She had arthritis in her hips pretty badly, but other than that and a general slowing of her activity level, she was in fairly good health. She'd just come through her last checkup in January with good results beyond her known mostly old-age related issues.

She was the biggest pain in the ass as a puppy you could think of. The first thing she did when my Mom brought her in our house at 2 months was poop and pee on the kitchen floor. I was about 3-4 months pregnant. You can imagine my joy in having to take care of a puppy when I was exhausted. But of course she was so stinking cute and we grew to love her in spite of (sometimes because of) her sometimes Marley-esque activities.

As she matured, she became a sweet and lovely dog. She loved people, her family, especially her boys (Big Bit in particular), she listened, she didn't dig or chew and she was very intelligent. Last summer she actually caught a squirrel (quite by accident I think) and you would have thought she was a pup again, she was so proud of herself. She was loyal, bossy (she would snatch her sister's stuffed animals when she walked in the door).

Her mother, who some friends owned, died at the same age she was now, I think, and had far more health problems for far longer than our pooch. She didn't have a prolonged illness and I hope didn't suffer at all, or if so only very briefly. So I know she was lucky in that respect. But, damn it, we're going to miss her.

And yesterday was National Margarita Day. I kid you not.

Love you, Pookums.

I Found The Camera Cable

Well, TH found it. Or maybe he just knew where it was all along. Whatevs. So, I've got some pictures to share:

This is the view a few hundred yards from our house. I like very much.



The animal conspiracy lives. This guy comes and eyes me while I'm eating lunch.


"Who you looking at, you?"



Actually, he's irritated because I bought a squirrel proof bird feeder for these guys:



Pretty, aren't they?



Big Bit was here this weekend, rocking the Zac Efron look. I guess it looks okay, but he sure is a nice looking kid without having to take the time to straighten his hair. You can see that Little Bit was happy to see him.





Little Bit took his first communion this weekend. It's not a "big deal" like it is in the Catholic church, but he had been thinking about it for quite a while, he has enough questions to stump a theology professor. Which is good, I guess, because it meant he'd put a lot of thought into doing the whole communion thing before he actually did it. I certainly don't claim to have all the answers, I just share what I believe with him and it kind of will go from there where it will go. His dad isn't into organized religion, so he definitely has an example of the fact that you can have a good marriage, be tolerant of each other's beliefs and so on.





Finally (because it's lunchtime and I have to go back to work, here's what goes on most of every afternoon in our yard - Siamese Cat vs. Ninja Squirrel. Who will win?


We'll find out....

Life #2 Down, 7 to go

So the stupid Siamese (see below) had an adventure yesterday. TH let him in from the backyard, where he's had an ongoing battle with the squirrels going since we moved in. He's convinced they are pure evil and are plotting world domination. And, if you listen to the "Animal Conspiracy" by Tim Bedore, you would find there are those that agree with him. (It's on Bob and Tom periodically but I don't have a link).

TH noticed something odd about Bucky when he came in - he had a piece of METAL, somewhat hook shaped, in his EYE. It was, thankfully, between his eyelid and his eyeball, but still, it was in there pretty good. TH took it out (yuck, shudder, I'm glad he was there and not me) and proceeded to call me. Fifteen minutes later he was in the safe (but hated) hands of the vet receiving shots and ointment. We still can't figure out how he picked this thing up other than he was somewhere he shouldn't have been.

He's pretty miserable right now and can't go outside, but suffered no more than a scratched third eyelid. We suffered a $70 vet bill. I guess all things considered it could have been worse. Stupid cat, quit messing with the ninja squirrels. They mean business.

Thanks

Okay, so probably it's a typical blog topic either the day before or day of Thanksgiving, but I have much to be thankful for (thanks to a fellow blogger for reminding me of that) - the week has been super-stressful with trying to close on the house sale, waiting to see if TH gets his job, realizing how much money it cost us to move back (OUCH!!) and so on.

Yet, as I drove to work today I just had to smile. There's so many reasons why:

• I don't live in Utah anymore. Thank you, Dear Jesus (I am not being sarcasting there, please note).
• I live in Boise, with everything to offer only minutes away.
• TH, I and the Bits are healthy. The rest of the family's either healthy or taking steps to be so.
• We have our Margarita back (dog, not drink, though we like both).
• We're going to London in December.
• We get to see a vast majority of our family tomorrow.
• The Jets beat the Titans and lead their division.
• The Packers suck and Ted Thompson will be fired.
• Basketball season is coming and I can open a can of whoop ass on the BSU fans all over town (and in Washington).
• A whole lot of political stuff that just makes people crazy, so 'nuff said.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and please remember what you are thankful for.

BatKid! And More.

BatKid was out in full force this weekend in anticipation of his Boo at the Zoo haul. We didn't get to spend as much time there as we hoped, but we scored a year membership, so we'll be back to see more of the animals.

Many years ago, we began going to Boo at the Zoo, taking Big Bit in his Simba costume (Lion King) etc., and there were people there, but nothing like now. They were limiting tickets to 13,000. I don't think they quite sold out, but it was truly insane. Even worse than the last time we went, which was I think three years ago. At any rate, it was worth it, because BatKid was in his element and we were at a nice zoo, which is adding giraffes and lions! I remember when the most exciting thing there was a porcupine.

BatKid in various poses:


First, battling EvilCat in the privacy of his home (EvilCat as opposed to Catwoman):



Next:

I'm wondering why I can't see my enemy? Where did they go? Oh, my mask is in my eyes:



What else? I took some pictures of the leaves turning from the sixth floor of my employer. Kind of pretty. (Note, I am on the first floor. I am okay with that, I hate heights).

Pretty huh?

Next up - I have a birthday, Big Bit is here for Halloween (he got to go to the Obama rally in Reno Saturday, whether you agree with the man or not, seeing him in person is a historic moment) and then as to the weekend, TH comes home for 10 days Wednesday night and we have a big yummy dinner at Epi's Basque Restaurant in Meridian Saturday night. Celebrating Mom's birthday, mine and just being home.

Miss Cocoa the dog is out of the hospital and doing well so far....Dad has to go to Utah for an appointment Thursday and to see what's next...

Oh, and TH might be working at Bogus Basin ski resort for the winter. He has a 2nd interview Saturday. Getting hired could pay the rent and get him a free ski pass - and then we are all good until April. Fingers crossed, please!

The Most Beautiful Sight I've Ever Seen

Since I'm on my old crappy laptop you'd have to click on the pic to blow it up, but there's the "Welcome to Idaho" sign!

First weeks' observations:

Things are weird in Idaho, too. I always knew that, but it's now reassuringly weird instead of control freakingly weird.

There is a melting pot of election signs in my neighborhood. Obama, Ron Paul and McCain. It feels good to be in a mixture instead of a one party ticket (and I would mean that even if it was my party).

Mom's pooch, Cocoa, is not well still and is headed to a specialist here in Boise tomorrow. Prayers for that neurotic, yet sweet Lab that is our Margarita's sister.

Got to see my Grandma today, yay! She is up at my aunt's and it was good to see her, though just briefly today. (P.S., my aunt is the best ever, she's going to watch Little Bit while TH finishes up his job. I owe her big time).

The trees are turning on the Greenbelt. Going up to the Donnalama's office tomorrow to get some pics - she looks towards Julia Davis Park and the Depot. I can't complain though, I turn around and look at the Foothills. But she's got the better view.

Oh and my DSL is finally working, as is the cable. We might actually live here in a few more days. Yay! Yay!

I know the honeymoon won't last forever and I'll have some 'splainin' to do on some subject but for now all is good!

Pics of Little Bit at Boo at the Zoo coming Sunday. It's fun and we haven't been in eons. Yay again!

A typical Sunday

Here are some pictures from a fairly typical Sunday at Chez lostinutah...

1) Generally speaking, if in town, we go to church. Um, well, I go to church, and Big Bit if he's here and Little Bit goes to Sunday School and The Husband tolerates our aberrant behavior. It's kind of fun going to church in a movie theatre, particularly a church where I can go do fun things outside after lunch on Sunday and not be told I'll burn in hell for not locking myself and my family in the basement. Um, not like that happens here to those of certain other faiths. Heh. (And, if you don't go to church, no skin off my nose, I like you anyway, obviously. Live and let live and all that).

Here's a view from on the way to church. I'm always inspired by the view of these mountains - as stated before, one of the things I like about Utah.



2) Next, after lunch and a few errands, we monkey around doing chores or hanging out in the backyard. The Bits will eventually end up on the trampoline:






Margarita is waiting for someone to pet her, and dreading that someone might bathe her:



Bucky is waiting to be waited on. Spoiled Rotten Siamese.



"Hey Mom, at least I'm keeping the Voles away!"

3) Then it's time for grilling some dinner, having a glass or two of wine and dreading (I mean, getting ready) for the week to come. Oh, must stop one last time to smell the flowers before moving on...




Have a great week, everyone!

Evil in the Family

I say on my profile I have "evil pets", some of you know some or all of these pets, others are not aware, so I thought I'd introduce you to the evil in our home.

First, there is "Casper". So named because when Big Bit brought him home from a friend's house as a kitten he was very friendly and still is. So, "Casper, the Friendly Kitten". He's approaching 13 now and other than arthritis and a heart murmur he's not doing too bad. Here he is with Big Bit, his savior from being drowned or eaten by dogs - his fate if left at our friend's house (well, now ex-friend and this was the least of her sins).

















Next, there is "Margarita", or as she is known at the AKC "Tequila's Margarita". Lest you think we are totally winos, her mother's name is Tequila and Tequila's owners own a liquor store. So, many of her pups names are references to alcohol. We call her "Rita" for short. She just turned 10. I will never have a lab again because the first three years are hell, but the last seven haven't been too bad. Except for she will eat anything.
















I think the young pets are the evil ones, really. Cynthia Rabbit is, I think, coming on 4. Don't let the sweet, fluffy look fool you. This animal is a diva and capable of a) kicking the dog off her bed so she can invade it. b) defending herself against the evil cat yet to be shown. c) Rattling her cage, flinging her bowl and toys around to make quite the racket; and d) Demanding a nose rubbing. We got her because Big Bit HAD to have a rabbit. Guess who cleans her cage....

She rules the roost.

Lastly, there is Bucky Katt, now aged 3, who has been seen before on a post. He shows absolutely no appreciation for the fact we saved his life from the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter. I adored the Siamese I had as a child and had always wanted another one. Boy, did I get one in spades.

He has destroyed one banister to the point we're probably going to have to do serious work on it before we sell the house as he would NOT stop clawing it for quite a while, even under threat of death, and he has a lovely habit of marking his territory, if you know what I mean. He also bosses around Casper and tries to steal his food, as well as Little Bit's water from his nightstand. I think we've finally worked out the destructive parts with lots of discipline and Hart's Pet NO, but the nocturnal wailings and stealth missions for food and water continue.



So, there they are...the evil pets...good thing they're cute.