Bits and pieces

[tenaya]

Brindle is still on his steroid high and is being very affectionate. Yesterday morning when I came home from work, he was waiting for me with teary eyes and skunk smelling fur. Poor baby! I ran in to prep the deskunking only to find mom had let him in and he'd ran onto my bed. Nooooo! Not the bed! Luckily, the odor didn't transfer, so we were able to bathe him before the odor spread.** Later that day, he had an appt with the vet. She was pleased with his progress. Mom said, she brough Brindle out of his carrier to have his temp taken, which went ok, and he went back in the box. He was brought out again for the exam, then back in the box. The vet forgot to look in his ears and when Mom tried to get him out of the box a third time, he lashed out and bit and scratched her; obviously he'd decided two exams was his limit. So, the vet unscrewed the top of the box and Mom said she'd never seen such a look of comical surprise on Brindle as when the lid came off.

I also was able to get tickets for Roger Waters at the Hollywood Bowl in Oct. We're out on the bench seating, but at least not off to the side again...I hope!

A week ago, I finally booked Mom and I on an Alaskan cruise at the end of August. We're going on the Celebrity ship, Summit, and will go up early to visit a friend who moved up there a few years ago, take the cruise tour through Denali to Fairbanks, then down to Vancouver. It's a tidy chunk of change but it should be fun. And, honestly, I thought we should go sooner than later with respect to how fast things are melting up there.

AND Saturday I spent with some SG friends and watched them make a song vid on their computer. I feel much empowered now and will tackle the learning curve and figure out my own program! Woo whoo! BTW, the vid we made was a very funny Boston Legal one, to be shown at MediaWestCon.

Edit to add: I almost forgot. Garage Guy phoned last night. I haven't heard the recording yet, but she said he called to thank us for helping him out as it helped turn him around, and that he is now living with his aunt. Oooookay. When last we left GG, he was in a $300/mth basement apt and after 3 years, was finally not sponging off friends and relatives. Now he's living with his aunt (who, at that time, was refusing to take his calls)? Still sponging, but at least on speaking terms with his aunt. Nevertheless, I told Mom not to answer the phone as he is probably trying to reestablish contact to restart the sponging. :::sigh:::

** "An easy to remember recipe of one pint of hydrogen peroxide, one small box of baking soda, and a couple of squirts of any dish washing liquid mixed in a gallon of water makes an effective, scientifically based antidote. The recipe must be mixed up and used quickly; it loses its effectiveness within about an hour, and it will explode if it's kept in a covered container. CAUTION: hydrogen peroxide can blind your pet if it gets into their eyes.

All these ingredients are safe to use around pets, animals or humans; the "explosive" effect when the mixed solution is covered comes from a release of oxygen. There is the possibility that it will bleach what it touches through oxidation, so it might turn a black dog brown or grey until the natural color of hair grows back out.

If the skunk's victim is a pet, work the solution into the coat thoroughly, let it sit about five minutes, then rinse it out. The skunk smell will be gone!"
from: http://ksks.essortment.com/skunkodorremed_rwlg.htm

Comments

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

I offer you some rose scented water to sprinkle around your bed, nonetheless. :-)

Be brave, vid. And vidding BL is perfect, I can't believe how much I like that show.

{{{{hugs}}}}

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

Boston Legal is a hoot. There are lots of visuals for Denny, but not so much for Alan as his antics tend to be more procedural. Nevertheless, the vid gave us the giggles. And I shall be brave, now that I have an overview of how things go. Do you vid on computer?

Thanks for the rose scented water. I shall use it to annoint Brindle as he still has a touch of smell near his eye that I was too cautious to scrub out. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. :) He's being very sweet now.

Will you be at the meeting this month? :::she said hopefully:::

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

Hooray for Roger Waters tickets!

I used to live in Alaska. Actually, I lived there twice ('84 - '87 and '98 - '03). Back in the '80s, my mother-in-law and father-in-law did the Alaskan cruise followed by a train ride when they came to visit us. They had a great time on the cruise and the rest of their vacation. I think they enjoyed visiting us, but I don't think they really had a good time. *g* We lived on Kodiak Island and there wasn't much there then. *g* I bet you'll have fun. :-)

[tenaya.livejournal.com]

It should be an interesting concert alright. They have some sort of park & ride thing which I'm thinking of so I don't have to deal with the traffic after being exposed to the clouds of smoke.

I'm one of those people that likes to ride trains, so we're looking forward to the train trip to Fairbanks and the tourist thing from Skagway. And I love nature, wildlife, geology, so the whole thing sounds great to me. I've Tivo set to collect stuff on Alaska and I watched an animal show this morning that took place on Kodiak Island--they were fishing and there were lots of bear about.

Did you enjoy living up there? It sounds great but I'm starry-eyed with the romance of the wide open spaces. *g*

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

The first time we lived up there, it was really difficult. We weren't prepared for it at all. It's a small town on an island and back then, there wasn't much in the town. I was just married and toolman33 was away a lot. My daughter (lyraeinne was born there, and I was very much alone except for my husband. Luckily we were in this together, but I had no family to rely on or ask for help and I think that was hard. It was also very difficult to get things you need. The base Exchange (store) carried stuff like expensive crystal and souvenirs, but little in the way of practical things that ordinary people would need. The Sears Catalog was my friend (no internet back then *g*) and sometimes I wrote to individual companies and asked them if they would sell me stuff directly. Surprisingly, some did.

When we moved back this time, a lot had changed. There was a large grocery (chain) store there. In the second year we were there, they put in a Walmart. (Boy, I detest Walmart here, but up there, it was our lifeline on the island. We could buy underwear and computer paper and other items without having to fly to Anchorage and carry it all home with you in an extra suitcase. When we moved in, we actually bought blinds for our windows in Anchorage and carried them back on the plane. *g* Once we had our own Walmart, we had a place to buy things like that.)

It's really gorgeous there--breathtaking. On Kodiak, it rains a lot. That can be disconcerting to some people--to everyone sometimes. :-) One time it raid for something like 33 days straight. The entire month of June (when weather was supposed to be getting nice) was rain rain rain. Sometimes they would literally close the base except for key personnel--not for bad weather, but for good. *g* They called it "sunshine liberty." *g*

toolman33 satisfied his need for hunting and fishing the first time we were there. This time around we did some hiking and stuff like that, but we made a lot of our own fun, too--and tried to travel somewhere almost every year. That's what most people do--they go to Hawaii or Mexico or someplace once a year, and it really is a good idea. We'd try to get to Anchorage at least twice for a long weekend and then go somewhere else for a week or two. The year we didn't do that was the longest year of our lives. *g*

What I miss most, though, is the slow pace of life--that sense of being removed from the world and being in your safe little cocoon. OTOH, at times it could be difficult, because there aren't always a lot of opportunities. I worried that it would hurt my daughter's chances for getting into a good college because her experiences were so limited, but now I think that the few things she did do actually stood out--especially going on the archaeological digs and working in the archaeology lab at the museum. She wouldn't have been doing that here. :-) Now I wonder if living in such an ordinary place and doing only ordinary things will hurt my son's chances for getting into a good college. *g*

But...I do miss the slow pace of life. After five years there this time, I was really unprepared for living here where there are just so many choices for everything. Up there, we had really two choices: Walmart or Amazon.com for purchases of most things, the commissary or the grocery store downtown for food. That was it. *g*

As far as activities and things there, we went to community theater and even high school plays and even saw the local dance school's production of The Nutcracker, even though our kids weren't in it. *g* Here...it's almost like there's too much and life is so busy anyway, we don't have time to do all those things.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can't wait to see that BL vid! :)

[khek.livejournal.com]

Yikes! on the skunk thing. I'll have to make a copy of that recipe though. I just have three big bottles of a store-bought solution under my kitchen sink. Poor Brindle. The whole experience must have been quite a shock. Think he'll stay away from black and white cousins?

Congrats on the Alaskan cruise! I'm so jealous...I've always wanted to go to Alaska. It should be beautiful in August...and maybe not too many bird-sized mosquitoes? :)

I'll have to watch for the vid at M*W. I can't believe it's May already!