Quoth the Raven

R.I.P Zeke 05.24.08

Long weekends are often a cause for celebration, with frivolous activities or even no activity at all, if that is what one so chooses to do, or not do. Well, on Saturday morning, I took Zeke (our ferret) to the vet. I wish I could say this was for a random check-up but it wasn't. Within the last two weeks he had lost all the hair on his stomach and was losing patches on his back. Having owned seven ferrets over the years, it is easy to recognize the signs associated with adrenal gland disease when one has lost three to it in the last 3yrs. Hair loss on the end of the tail is often the first indicator of the early stages of adrenal gland disease, with changes in personality being another often triggered by the growth causing hormone imbalances.

Our wonderful vet, Dr Shini, was disturbed to find the extent of Zeke's hair loss and we both knew this disease had progressed much more quickly than for any of our other ferrets. His skin was red in patches due the the itchiness also associated with the hair loss. Due to the homrone imbalance, Zeke had begun to act aggressively towards our other ferret babies; Zoe, Zahn & Zed.

Dr Shini tried to give me some hope for his future, but I knew it was futile. Our last cancer victim (Ziggy) actually did really well on monthly luprone injections for 3 yrs, but I didn't hold the same hopeful outcome for my Zeka-Bleaker (the nickname I gave him). I did not want to let my little guy go, but I also did not want to let him suffer, so I took the humane way out and said my farewells to my dear little guy. We will miss you Zeke, my little escape artist.

Happy New Year

Here we are.

A new year, another year.

But will it be like the one just passed. Or, will it be like the one never yet experienced. Will this be a year where new hope for the future is rekindled or will it hold the constant yearning for something that always remains just out of my reach. 

I do not know the answers to these questions, and the many more questions that I have yet to speak, but I do know that I crave for a year where dreams are fulfilled. A year full of new adventures, some far from home and many more in my own  backyard. This year I want my life to be one where new friendships are made, and old friendships are rekindled.

I want a life - a year - that is full of passion for life and for love. One that even during the busyness of life, I may still find time for solitude. Where I can see the small beautifies in my life, in my world, that are all too often let unfounded due to the hectic schedule I confess to keeping.

Too often my new year resolutions linger around fitness and health, and that is all well and good, but I want more than those things, much more. I want to strive for greatness in the things in my life that bring me joy; creating new things whether my medium be through the painter's brush, or the potter's wheel. I want to live.

I wish everyone who visits this page a very, very Happy New Year in 2008.

   

Shoes. Glorious Shoes

If you know me at all, then you know that I have a fetish for shoes. I love them! All shades of color, different textures, heels or no heels. It really doesn't matter. Well, actually at only 5'3" I definitely want, and need heels!

So imagine this, it is Tuesday and I am finally thinking about my outfit for the upcoming Google christmas party on Friday. This is easy as I have loads of clothes, but what about the shoes. For all my love of shoes, I must admit that I do not own a decent pair of black evening shoes. Can you believe it? Actually, I am lying as I did buy a cute pair of Ann Klein stilettos  with a sexy 3" inch heel many months ago. They would be perfect, except that they had an unfortunate encounter with my Zoe, while she was still going through the puppy chewing stage. Yes, my bad, but they were horrendously uncomfortable, so much so that a couple of my toes were numb for a whole day after wearing them. In hindsight, Zoe was definitely doing me in devouring them.

After deciding that I really needed to buy a pair of shoes, and admitting to the fact that I have little time to venture out to the shopping malls, I decided to hit the online shops. Now where else could I find an appropriate pair of shoes (for any occasion) but through Zappos.com. Well, it took me all but 5 minutes to find these gorgeous black satin shoes and for a mere $124 with free overnight shipping, I didn't have to break the bank. Of course, my main concern was the 4" heel and whether the shoes themselves would be comfortable enough to endure the festivities associated with a Google party. I decided to be adventurous and just order them, and by noon the following day I had these gems in my sweaty little palms. As I sat at my desk to try on my shoes, I very much felt like a modern day Cinderella who had just found the perfect pair of shoes. So perfect, in fact, that it is almost impossible to detect that I am balancing on a 4" heel, but we'll see how well I manage after a few cosmopolitans?

Mac & Cheese, please...

Better yet, just skip the cheese and give me the Mac, as in IMac. Today I joined the ranks of Mac users around the world and I must admit that after only 5 hours, I am on my way to becoming a Mac junkie!

You know, I am a lover of gadgets as much as the next person, but technology has never been something that I would classify as sexy, but Mac have managed to make a user friendly laptop that not only functions better than any PC I have ever used, but has sex appeal. All those sleek lines, smooth surfaces, and my fingers just glide across the keys...hmmm. I even found myself humming that pop song "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me" and changing the words to "Don't you wish your laptop was hot like Macbook...don't cha, yeh, yeh, don't cha!"

R.I.P Ziggy 10.02.07

Our ferret Ziggy lost his battle with adrenal gland disease last night and as much as I felt I had prepared myself for this event, I now know I could never have been ready for it and that there really is no way to prepare for the death of a loved one - animal or human.

We have owned Ziggy for about 6.5 yrs and I always referred to him as my 'special needs ferret' because he was a little odd. I really thought that some of his neurons weren't properly connecting as he would behave in the most bizarre fashion. One minute he would be standing still and then he would just bounce around as if he was dancing to a different beat, one unheard by our own ears. I also gave him the nickname 'Shark Eyes' because he never really looked like he was looking at you, but was looking through you, just like sharks eyes. But we loved him and he was the sweetest little man.

I am a new dog owner but have learned that different breeds will have different health issues to contend with, and this is the same with ferrets who have cancer as their health issue of choice. Actually, I am sure if they had a say in the matter that would quickly change. In the past 2 yrs we have lost 3 of our babies to various forms of cancer and it is horrible to watch as this disease ravages their bodies, but as a pet owner I also understand that life and death go hand in hand, and you cannot enjoy one without the other. Death is truly inevitable.

So that being said, we have enjoyed 6.5 yrs with our little Ziggy and I know he has had a wonderful life, and last night was our time to say goodbye. As a person who has experienced a great deal of loss it is unsettling to watch as the life disappears from my pet's eyes when they are euthanized, but even more strange is that I saw this loss of life in Ziggy's eyes last night after I arrived home from work and Joel mentioned seeing it the night before. It is almost like a veil covers their little eyes, as if their bodies have already begun to shut down. That is just my theory and I really don't want to go through this again any time soon to test it.

We drove Ziggy to a 24 hr veterinary clinic at 7.30pm and he left us not long after that. My only regret - apart from having to say goodbye - was that we couldn't take him to our own special vet, Dr Shini in Maple Leaf, who has been giving Ziggy his monthly luprone injections and is the most caring and wonderful vet I have ever met. But I guess we cannot always know when the end is going to come.

I wish you farewell my sweet Ziggy. 

RIP 10/02/07

 

Your love element is?

Your Love Element Is Fire

In love, you are a true listener and totally present. For you, love is all about feeling more alive than you've ever felt. You attract others with your joy and passion. Your flirting style is defined by your strong ability to communicate. Fun and play are the cornerstones of your love life. And while your flame may burn too brightly, it's part of your appeal. You connect best with: Wood Avoid: Water You and another Fire element: will likely burn out quickly

What Element Is Your Love?

The Blue Angels struck again...

The Blue Angels.

What a strange name to give these jets.

You know when I think of angels, the main thing that comes to mind is peaceful. Quiet. Maybe even solitude. Maybe I even have thoughts of blue beings with wings that flutter around and around and around.

Well, enough of the dreaming already. The Blue Angels are anything but quiet as they soared from one end of Lake Washington to the other end. Hey, I know I was working on the days there were doing practice flights and it was anything but quiet. Ok, so I admit that I watched them for an hour or so (anthing to get out of work) and I did enjoy seeing some of the wicked manouvers across the sky but the noise is absolutely deafening. I really couldn't help but feel sorry for all the dogs who suffer needlessly from the noise every year during this time, and I won't even think about what it must do to the local wildlife. Add to this the ugly color that the sky turns as they continue to pass back and forth overhead and I have to think that maybe these Blue Angels are a menace to society.

Ok, so call me a killjoy if you will, but I cannot help the fact that I have environmental concerns, not to mention the expense of fuelling these aircrafts. But in the long run if the airforce gets some positive publicity and a means for naive youngens to be mesmerized enough to join the ranks, then it is all worth it right? Right? 

The picture above is a shot I took from our office deck. Yes, you may need to click on the image to enlarge it enough to see the detail, but what can I say other than my camera sucks.

Gothic Gardening

I love gardens, though I can't really say that I was loving mine these past few months. To be perfectly honest, the borders surrounding my lawn were so neglected that I was waiting for the garden police to knock on my door and issue me a fine or two. Ok, I may be exaggerating ever so slightly, but the garden was definitely needing some lovin, and for the past two weeks this is what it has finally been getting. Without the excuse of college hanging over my head there was nothing stopping me from reaching out and taking hold of those weeds that were greatly resembling shrubs, and left another month could be defined as trees, and finally doing something proactive - like pulling them out!

Oh, and another motivator may be the upcoming 'surprise' party I am in the process of planning for Joel. It may not be a surprise since I have spoken of it on this blog, but there is really no way I could hold a surprise party when I know very few of his work colleagues or the gym junkies that he hangs with, so there is really no way for me to find out without asking the man, is there? Yes, it is all so burdensome, but he will be turning 40 this year and I want him to have a blast!

So... back to the garden dilemma. I decided to just get cracking and began weeding somewhat obsessively. Well, nearly as obsessively as those little suckers sprout. When the garden was back to basics, Joel and I took a trip to my favorite nursery, Swansons and after planting $300 worth of plants the garden is finally beginning to take shape. Of course, I have now caught the gardening bug and returned to the nursery a few more times just because I needed one more plant to make my garden complete.

By now you may be wondering why on earth I named this post 'Gothic Gardening?' Well, on my last jaunt to Swansons Nursery, I managed to wander through an enclosure that I have never visited that houses the cafe and meeting room, as well as an assortment of gardening merchandise, only to find out that the upcoming lecture was going to be on Gothic Gardening. Your imagination may be going wild right now thinking of all the dark and gloomy plants/flowers to put in your garden, but has nothing to do with the topic of the lecture, which in fact was all about welcoming bats into your garden, and encouraging them to do so by planting the right plants. Now I don't know about you, but I adore bats and would love to welcome them into my garden, as long as they were safe from our four legged baby who loves to terrorize the squirrels and cats that try to scale our fence. However, she is kept indoors and the bats will be doing all their roaming at night, so I think it should work out just fabulous! 

So there are a number of things a bat loving person can do to encourage these furry little creatures into your home garden. There are a number of plants you can plant that will attract certain bugs to your garden, that will attract bats. You can also place a Bat House for the cute little fellas to reside in. If you happen to be handy with a hammer you can make it yourself and Bats Northwest will even provide you with the correct specifications to do so, or you can just buy a basic box from Bats Northwest, or better yet just order a luxury bat box from the group, Bat Conservation International - you know the Bats deserve the best!   

Beware of the Black Volvo

You may remember that somewhat tacky horror movie, Christine that hit the cinemas quite a few years ago. You know the one, the red car with the serious window tint that stalks, better yet terrorizes, unsuspecting drivers as they cross the highway late at night (or, maybe that was a different evil car from a different cheesy horror movie?) Surprise, surprise, but doesn't everything always happen late at night in these cheesy horror movies. Well, I have to say that Christine - the car - must have believed in reincarnation, because she is back, and back with a vengeance and has taken the form of a black Volvo station wagon.

I know what you are thinking, 'this is my usual pet peeve and I am going to rant about Volvo drivers', and yes, you may be right about the rant and also about the topic being Volvo drivers, but after you read this post you will see that this rant is absolutely warranted.

I woke up at my usual time of 6am just like every other day and followed the usual routine, only this time I left for work earlier than usual and had plenty of time to cruise along merrily. The ride was going along in this manner until I found myself on the University Bridge. There wasn't a lot of traffic on the road so I knew I would get to work extra early, until I looked ahead and was confronted by the eery sight of the Black Volvo in front of me. Yes, alarm bells did go, off followed by a little anxiety, then followed by dread as I knew that this morning drive would be anything but usual. I had to take a minute to compose myself and speak calming words to the effect that 'not all Volvo drivers are bad, and that this one could be the one that makes all the difference to the bias I hold towards them'. Well, I was wrong or was I right? I was wrong in thinking that this Volvo driver was any different than the rest, and I was right in thinking that this Volvo driver was not only like all the others I have encountered - but that this one was by far worse.

I was in no real hurry to get to work (for a change) and I really didn't want to sit to close to the dreaded Volvo driver due to the erratic nature of their driving based on my past experiences, so I was considerate and left 2-3 car spaces between us. I finally told myself I was acting like a post traumatized Vietnam vet after returning from the war, so I told myself I am overreacting and should just chill out. As I was speaking to myself, I noticed that the Volvo driver (let's call her VD so I don't have to keep writing the words Volvo Driver) was acting strangely up ahead. She was waving her hands around and looking in the rear vision mirror, yes, I  thought this was strange behavior, but anything is possible as we ARE referring to a VD. I noticed that there was a yellow lab hanging over the woman and trying to move from the back seat into the drivers seat (really, the dog could have done a better job at driving the car), so I assumed she was trying to get the dog to back off. Well, the dog was eventually sitting down in the back seat, but the stupid woman was still making hand signals!! No way! Then I figured she was probably deaf and using American Sign Language as she was humming a tune from the radio? No, that doesn't make sense and when I noticed her face in the rear vision mirror, again, I realized she was giving ME hand signals. WTF!! Even now I could give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she had just been hired as a traffic cop and was practicing the stop signal, but hey, who is the stupid one here. In the end it must have been me as it appears that she was signaling me to STOP as I was obviously too close with my 2 car space difference between us, for her liking! 2 CAR SPACES - can you believe this? But it doesn't stop there. No, as we were approaching the traffic lights, I noticed that she was still giving me hand signals and NOW she was shaking her head while giving me a frenzied look. You know the one that victims in cheesy horror movies usually imitate just before they are butchered. Well, by this time I just figured I would get past her and I didn't want to antagonize her in any way, as I thought she was a crazy person, and probably capable of pure evil. I decided to indicate and get ready to turn left, but not without VD turning in the same direction, and now I know there is no way in hell that I am getting to work early at this rate. VD finally made the turn, and continued to give me head shakes and hand signals while doing so. I was ready to get out and yell at her by now for being such a freak, instead her own paranoia caused her to pull over and let me and the other six cars pass her so we could all drive to work in peace.

Good riddance VD. For my own sanity and the other normal drivers hitting the highways and byways, I hope I never encounter you on the roads around Seattle again!

* By the way, the picture shown here is not the actual photo of the crazy Volvo that I encountered, but happens to be another freaky Volvo driver who has no idea how to properly park a car AND does not have that prized little blue tag that gives them the right to park in this particular space. Again, surprise, surprise.

It's truly a dog's life...and I wish I had it!

This is our baby Zoe (aka the Zo-sta) and we have now been the proud owners of this 70lb bundle of joy for nearly 2 yrs AND we are absolutely loving it...most of the time.

We have numerous friends back home (the land of Oz) who now share their lives with two legged creatures and I constantly receive emails from them telling me how much their lives have been changed - for the better. Yes, this last tidbit of information surprised me as I am well aware that these little people (let's call them miniatures) will definitely change the lives of the people they reside with, but I wasn't sure that this necessarily meant positive change (just my opinion, of course).

So our baby - the four legged kind - came into our lives on November 11, 2005 and our lives have also significantly changed, both positive and negative. In the beginning, dealing with a 6 month old puppy certainly forced me to encounter more of the negative changes that I really hadn't anticipated; changes such as the constant source of energy in a 45 lb body tearing up the house and wanting to go, go, go, only stopping long enough to chew up a brush, the odd clothes hanger, a pair of sunglasses OR the $100 Ann Klein stiletto's that I must admit to having a love /hate relationship with anyway - mostly hate!  The fact that Zoe chewed up the shoe causing it to appear almost unrecognizable felt almost like a God send, as they may have looked really sexy, but in reality were the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I have ever owned! Truly!

But in spite of those insignificant monetary losses, which I must take some of the blame for as the fact is that puppies will be puppies, and chewing is a major part of being a puppy, life as a dog owner has been an adventure. It also involves a great deal of learning; learning about the stages of animal development, health care, obedience training, and a whole lot of patience. Growing up around numerous animals I really thought I knew it all, but I would quickly learn that all the obedience training I learned as a teenager is now classified as  fear based training, or using methods associated with negative reinforcement. By participating in the positive training methods practiced at Ahimsa Dog Training and reading numerous training books, I have learned that you don't need to use fear or force to train a dog, and that they will more willingly respond to reward based training methods that will enable you to have a well-mannered dog - while creating a harmonious relationship with your dog.