RIP Wilbur

We said good-bye to Wilbur today. We knew with Timmy going that Wilbur probably wouldn't be too far behind. What Timmy had was very contagious (so yeah, Simba has it too...sigh) and Wilbur was already slowing down on his eating and drinking so we knew. Doesn't make it easier... just makes it less surprising.

We tried to make the call at the right time, and I think we did.  We made *the* appointment the day after he stopped eating. I spent his last day force feeding soggy canned cat food down his throat. You know it's bad when you can force feed a cat and not get scratched.

The kids and I said our good-byes and Robert took him in by himself as I had to work.

Wilbur was a little slow and always skitsy.  The first 2 years we barely saw him as he hid in the closet all day and would only come out at night to play chase with Timmy. After a few months he would also borrow deep under the covers - but don't move your feet or he'd get them. Once he got out and it took us three days and a borrowed live animal trap to get him back, and Timmy's supervision of course.

We put a ledge on the window sill for him in our house in Aloha because he kept trying to sit on the sill and would fall off every time he started to doze.

He LOVED that ledge and we finally got to know our cat. He TALKED so much. We would all have conversations with him - meow? meow. ME-OW?! Mow.  And he would chirp to birdies outside.

After we moved out here, he hid under the bed for about a week and then he came out of his shell so to speak. He was often in the living room laying on the back of the couch or curled up in one of the kids beds - which was new. Visitors very rarely saw him as he'd stay hidden when they were around, but he really opened up and became less shy.

He loved fresh water and was really insistent when asking for the faucet in the bathroom to be turned on for him.

His only gross cat thing was he always had hairballs and would find the best place to leave it for you to step on. I think he bathed himself and Timmy and that's why he had so much hairballs. But his purrs were the loudest, his meows sounded like actual conversations, and his sweet slightly cross-eyed face was the best.  He came as a package deal when we adopted Timmy, probably cause they knew shy kitties have a hard time being placed.  I'm so glad he did.

The last of September

271/365
Pouring (really really pouring) rain on the car window. I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for Robert to just run in and grab something - 2 minutes  (translation 20 minutes).

272/365
Canning spaghetti sauce.  I made a double batch of sauce which gave me enough jars that it took three rounds to can them all.  This was two rounds down, third one in the canner, all the dishes that I had washed (for the fifth time that day) and my celebratory glass of wine.



273/365
Yoda and Wilbur cuddling.

Busy Busy Becca

HA! See what I did there with the title.

I amuse myself.

So yeah! I've been busy with kids and school and me and work and Robert and him driving me nuts (someone give that man a job!) and Saturday I photographed a wedding.  I took Carus along as my second shooter/assistant and she did great! It was a long, bright, sunny (translation: bit warm) day. But it was a perfect day for a wedding.  I used to work with the bride before she left us (*sniff*).  It was a gorgeous wedding.  The Love is strong in these two. (Robert said he could see The Love in the pictures.) I'll share more photos when I'm done (and she's seen them, of course).  I'm loving all the images I got so it's been easy to pick the best of the best - I just have to make sure everyone is looking at me and smiling.

250/365 This was their first sneak peak of the images.  I love how content she looks to be in his arms.


 Since I've been working on wedding images I haven't picked up my big camera for 365s and have a bunch of Instagram photos for the rest of this week.

251/365 - Putting braids in Carus's hair so she will have crimpy hair in the morning. (Yes, that's Leia's nose. She's nosy.)


See.  Also: I do love her style.


252/365 - My garden is still growing.  Actually, even though the trees are starting to change colors and drop their leaves and we had some big thunderstorms last week, we've been getting into the 90s this week...so bonus summer?  Late summer?  Either way, it's been good for growing stuff.

One of my volunteer sunflowers (volunteer = a bird or squirrel planted the seed for me)


The tomatoes are FINALLY turning red.  Unfortunately I'm not getting enough at once to can them, which is what I wanted to do.  Meh, there's always next year.


Lady bug hanging out on a sunflower stalk.


253/365 - See the black dot above the toilet?  That's a spider hanging there.  I used the restroom, got in the shower, and when I got out this guy was hanging there.  Where I was moments before (it was a quick shower).  I've since found one sitting on my shoulder as I went to start working, Robert squished one after it interrupted his vid-ya game ('video game' said like Hank from King of the Hill), and then he missed one that was running across the floor towards the bed last night.  It ran under the bed and hasn't been seen since.  I'm choosing to believe he vacated the premises.  Or that the boogeyman got him for me.  From the consensus on Facebook, it looks like all the spiders are coming inside to escape the heat.


I don't have a problem with spiders and actually find them fascinating - when they are outside or behind glass or in pictures and videos.  They may give me the heebie jeebies, but they will get to live.  In fact, there are a few in the garden and I've even brushed by them/touched them and I didn't kill them (I did do some involuntary karate). (Anything I know to be poisonous, however, will be squished. Very squished.)

254/365 - Bitty Kitty Wilbur. Cause he's cute.

I was doing well

I was doing well with keeping up with my blogs and then the weekend happened and I avoided my computer.

Thursday, while working, Robert and the kids called me to rush over really quick - Wilbur was being cute.

He likes my basket as much as Timmy.  (220/365)


Friday we got to see a lovely sunset and a rainbow. (221/365)


Saturday I did a photo shoot. (222/365)

And then I got behind again

(111/365)


(112/365)

I started my seeds, last week.  They are starting to come up now.  These are old egg cartons, they are biodegradable so I can plant them with the seedlings when it's time to put the plants in the garden.  There are cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes.


(113/365)


(114/365)


(115/365)

Carus was having trouble being motivated to work on her homework so I sat down with her to keep her company.  I probably should have worked on updating the blog (sooner than now) but instead I wasted time on Facebook and/or Pinterest...or both.

I'm still not caught up, but this is all I'm posting tonight.

Sunday to Sunday

I'm feeling a bit blah and uninspired about my 365.  Or my photography in general.


(92/365)

And more than a little bit burnt out. On the 365 and the blog.


(93/365 - A girl and her dog)

I feel like I'm boring and have nothing good to say.


(94/365 The elusive Wilbur)

I don't think it is helping that these photos the past week are really not my best work.   I do the 365 to improve as a photographer, which I did not do.  Although the focus in that picture of Yoda above is pretty good as well as in Carus's swinging photo, and the flower below looks pretty (not amazing, just pretty). It's not enough...


(95/365 This ended up being the only photo I got Friday, so hey - self portrait day. Instagram image)

Nothing exciting is going on either. It's all work and school and chores and rain. How much more can I talk about/complain about any of those?

work and school - same ol' same ol'
weather - Oregon spring (rain with sprinkling of sun - but it's warmer).
chores - I need a maid and chef or a clone, but she would want a maid and chef too so back to that option.


(96/365 Swinging. Chasing wind.)

With the weather "improving" there are more trips to the dog park, and things are blooming, but otherwise, nothing is changing.


(97/365 Bleeding hearts)

Another week has come and gone,
and things to share I have none.
The year, it speeds by,
the year, it does fly.

Hello 2013

The first day of 2013 was just as lovely as the last of 2012.  Sunny and blue skies.  Robert went off to hang out with friends and I was going to do some yard work, but the soft, warm bed distracted me.  The clear skies and sun are nice especially when it's been raining a lot, but clear skies in the winter mean there are no clouds to hold the heat in and it gets cold.  I did get back up out of bed, but still didn't go outside to do yard work.  A quick text to Jessica to what she was up to and we were sewing away.  And I finished my mystery quilt top.  Now just to sandwich it, quilt it, and bind it.  Hopefully, doing that won't take me all year.

1:365


The sun was out again today. I opened all the blinds to let the sun in, which of course brings the pets out to sunbathe.

Wilbur was very tired from all that sunbathing he had to do.

2:365


So, I've heard from one person that I should do another 365 this year.

And, thinking about it, I've decided I like the discipline it takes to do this.  I do want to do a few things differently.  For one, I want to really try to take all of the photos with my camera, and I do want to do a theme one day each month or so.  

And on that note - what should January's theme be?

Dogs and cats

318:366

Yoda puggy

319:366

Wilbur kitty

3 days and I'm on vacation for a week.  Even though the beginning of that vacation is filled with cleaning and baking, I.am.so.ready. 

Tomorrow better still be Friday

256:366 -  Came home from a CRAZY day working at the hospital and found Robert had cleaned up the kitchen.  The counters were COVERED with dirty dishes, clean dishes, canned food I hadn't put away yet, and other general clutter.


257:366 - Bedtime snack - Fresh pineapple.


258:366 - Pretty Wilbur kitty.


This week is better than last, but it's still been crazy.

Days 234 and 235

234:366
08/20/2012 - Sweet Wilbur.


Now for the potato tower update.

We opened up the potato tower last night full of anticipation for how many potatoes we would get.

Robert just removed the screws from the wood that was holding the tower closed.


Removing straw and soil searching for potatoes - can you spot the first potato we found?  Just above the straw where Robert is pulling back are some potato vines, and just above/behind/attached to those is the first potato.


About halfway through, and it started getting hard to get the straw, soil, and potatoes out.  This was the last photo I got of the process.  The sun was setting fast and I needed to help more and take pictures less.  We used the tarp to help catch the debris from the tower so we didn't mess up the bark mulch we brought in last month.


Our potato harvest.


We are a little disappointed that we didn't get that much.  But I'm not giving up!  I have ideas forming and will have a new plan for how I'm going to grow potatoes next year, because I will be growing potatoes again.

Some things I learned, or think I learned:
1.  Too much straw lining the sides and not enough soil for the potatoes to grow.
2.  The bottom sprouted before the top, and the larger potatoes were on the bottom.
3.  Maybe covering with soil as they grow isn't a bad idea, and I might try that next year.
4.  I would like to try a smaller tower - about half the size.  The top half of the tower was dry and the bottom half was moist.  Plus - our bottom half was ready now but our top half probably could have gone another 2 weeks at least, maybe more.
5.  Only one kind of potato per tower/hill/what ever I decide.  The red potatoes were on the top and though I think they did well overall, I would have had more if they had more time to grow.  The starts I used from those were also ones I got from the grocery store that were in my cupboard a bit too long; which could be why they took so long to get growing compared to the yellow potato starts I bought that were on the bottom.  (Commercial sold potatoes are sprayed with a chemical that prevents/slows the potato sprouting eyes.)

The good/bad news is I don't have to figure out to store them long term since I only got a few meals worth of potatoes.