My backyard wildlife...

We have a family of squirrels in our gutter this year. Maestro spends his entire day watching for them to emerge from their home. I caught the mom bringing this baby out for food. This photo was captured when the kids got too close and the mom took off, leaving the baby. I shot a ton of photos quickly then ordered the kids to scram so the mom could come back and get the little guy/girl. So cute though!

His new look for photos...psycho.

Sky’s bowling league is over for the season. They had their end-of-year party and awards ceremony. Sky’s team came nowhere near 1^st but he got a trophy for 3^rd place boys scratch game with a 173. Nice. Can you believe these kids are bowling that and better? I think the 1^st place was in the 200’s, granted a couple of them are in high school but the majority are 7-12 yrs.

We are trying to secure our bottom place finish in our league by losing 3 points to Keith and Mary Jo this week. We like to bowl against them though because it’s fun and we just joke around the whole time. Next week is position week then we’re done for the season. I think another team dropped out so maybe I will get 1^st place women’s scratch game with my 180 since that girl had it with a 184.

Skylar has 2 photo sessions this coming weekend. He has one with his dance class on Saturday in their costumes for the upcoming end-of-year showcase (by the way, he looks awesome in it!) then he has a Kung Fu seminar with Grandmaster Huang, Chien Liang (his Shi Fu’s Shi Fu from Baltimore) where he will be learning Liu He Quan (Six Harmony Fist Boxing…it’s a form). He has his second photo session on Sunday with the Grandmaster while displaying all his trophies and medals…ugh, that is going to be quite a transport to haul all of those up there and get Sky to do something with his hair, he is quite anti-hair products.

Vicki & Matt were in town this past weekend. We met them and Vicki’s family at the Chinese Factory where Mau works for dinner. We had a great time and it was awesome seeing them again! Vicki is trying to get my hair back in shape from box color so she brought me some really good conditioner. She is a stylist now at a nice salon in Austin. Together with my stylist, Chris, they are working together to get my hair back to normal after I thought it was a good idea to try to save money by doing stuff myself. I will not make that mistake again and yes, I should know better. Actually Vicki’s sister is also a stylist and their mom works for Redken so I really have a good “hair support group”.

It's 11:59pm, do you know where your taxes are?

Mine are in the mail. With one stamp, that's all they get. The drop-off guy last year told me they'd get there with no postage on tax day so why waste numerous stamps? We broke tradition by doing an evening drop instead of the 11^th hour one we usually do. There is no reason to get them in early when you owe. I’d like to keep my money mine as long as possible. I still have not been paid from my job and won’t be until May at the earliest. Nice. Talk about being appreciated at your job…try ignored. I won’t bitch about it because there’s no point. The taxes are paid. Let us all breathe a sigh of relief. If we thought we were broke before, we haven’t seen anything yet. Hopefully I will get paid someday and be able to pay Sky back his allowance I stole.

Thursday I got a call from Mary Jo while we were at Kung Fu class saying our street was blocked off due to an accident. We couldn’t get through so we parked by the tennis courts and walked to the house. The power was out because the car took out a power pole so we couldn’t get in the house…garage door opener is electric and I had the house on lockdown mode from the “daytime burglar” who, thankfully, is on a hiatus (I called it a sabbatical). Ugh. It was cold that day and we were hungry because it was past dinnertime. We finally got inside and were able to cook dinner by candlelight since we have a gas stove. It wasn’t too bad…we got out the camping radio and played board games but I had 3 shows DVRed and of course they didn’t record and the power didn’t come back until after 11pm so I missed them. I’m a bit miffed about missing ER, the others I can do without. I tried to watch it on NBC but they don’t have ER episodes on there, the buttheads. At least the power came back before it got below 60 degrees in the house…gas furnace but electric ignition.

In the world of orthodontics, I am dark blue with full powerchains again. 6 weeks without it on the top along with the rubber band and I had a huge gap up there on the side. The gap has already closed in 24 hours, whew. I took a step down in the bottom wire and got this horrific canine to canine rubber band (the Mountain Gorilla again, ugh it’s small). I had 2 of those toward the start of my treatment and I hated them. I could eat with the other configuration but not this one, I have to take it out or it hurts to chew. I am still ahead of schedule but I don’t know by how much yet. I am in for 10 more months so I am hoping 8 will do the trick *crossing fingers*. It is nice to be able to bite down and have all my molars touch. This is the first time in my life. I still do not chew on the one side, I haven’t for years now and once I got the braces on, it’s always too sore back there with all the moving of molars to get them straight. I was talking to Mau about the “one-sided chewing”, which he also did due to tooth issues, and he said he forgot how to use both sides. It will probably be the same case for me. I think I can now but I just don’t think about even trying since it’s such a habit not to.

"Mmmm, Midnight snack!"

Says Kali. Mau's mom (and other family members) stopped by with her new dog, Beanie. I really thought Kali would want to eat it but she actually played with her and they got along really well. Funnier was watching Beanie try to play with the cats. I don't think they realized it was a dog because there was no hissing or fluffing up of the fur, they'd just bat at her with their eyes all big and black and their lips puffed up. It was cute.

Dogs on the go...

This is Larry, an English Pointer. We did a transport last weekend for Larry and another pointer named Earl coming from Georgia I believe. This one went smoother than the last...no one got bit. These were super sweet dogs and we only had a minor issue when they first got in the car because Larry was dead set on curling up in the spot Earl had chosen so Earl grumbled a little then Larry (who was to be altered at his destination) decided he would try humping Earl in the backseat, I guess thinking that would make Earl move? Earl wasn't having that at all! I intervined and got them calmed down and comfortable then they slept the rest of the way to Dayton where they were turned over to the next person. They made it to Michigan safely and are happily romping with other pointers and one might already have found a forever home. I would have taken Larry in a heartbeat...just look at that face, who could resist?

The new family...

This is Ryan, Sue and baby Ezra. Awww, don't they look cute? Ezra was born in mid January but it was too cold to get any pictures. Luckily I caught them before Ryan was going to work and got this lovely shot.

Spring has sprung...

One of my tulips. I love my camera! I have been able to get out and take a lot of photos due to the wonderful weather. I was getting ready to do some planting but the 80 degree weather is taking a nosedive tomorrow down to the 40s...grumble grumble. We got some decent thunderstorms today but nothing to spend too much time talking about.

I finally went in to see Dr.S. I have not seen him in years but I was getting low on my trusty Valium so it was a must, plus I wanted to get an updated hearing test and ask some questions. Apparently my hearing is pretty decent...maybe I just tune things out when I want to? Dr.S thinks I am in pretty good shape due to the shunt and that it will not progress much more if at all. That is great news. He says I will always feel off-balance, dizzy and have a hard time driving but at least I won't be going deaf or getting worse, that is a relief.

Tuffy's revenge...

We volunterred for a dog rescue transport on Saturday. We were to be meeting the previous driver here then pass the dog off to the next driver up near Columbus. We were very excited to be helping this cute dog get out of a shelter and into a loving foster home. Here is Tuffy...then it went something like this (refer to photo on top). The other driver and I were talking and Mau walked up but did the smart thing, paused to tie his shoe, showing the dog he was calm. Tuffy wasn't having it. He lunged and bit Mau with no warning growl or bark. Unfortunately that was the deal-breaker. The other driver thought it best for her to take our leg of the trip for safety reasons. Mau is not angry, he understands the stress the dog has been under and we think he was protecting the women and was possibly abused by a man. The happy ending is that Tuffy made it to his temporary home safely and is relaxed now. We will try again next time.