Engagement Photos are up!!
wheee!!!





Many thanks to our photographer, samguss!

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Sophia [Here I Am club mix] ~ Crüxshadows

and the Doc-in-the-box is closed...
I really really really hate poison ivy.


That is all.

Current Mood: itchy
Current Music: Re: Your Brains ~ Jonathan Coulton

Obviously I have a mutant pomeranian...
So I was out walking today and got asked if Delta was a Daschund.

Of course I say no, she's a doberman. Daschunds are much smaller...

And the guy doesn't believe me. He doesn't think Dobermans have such long noses. 0_o



Current Mood: amused
Current Music: shakira - whenever, wherever

OMG OMG OMG
Dan proposed! :D

(of course I said Yes)


*squeee!!*

Current Mood: elated

Sunday Games Night at Ferret Rock
dhc10 will be getting in to town Tomorrow! *squee*

Hoping to do Games Night -ok more like Games Afternoon - Sunday at my place starting around 2pm. Probably order some pizza at some point (nom nom).

We have on hand Settlers of Catan (+ expansion to 6players), Munchkin & Munchkin Fu and Ninja Burger, but if there's a game you would rather play feel free to bring it!

See you then!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Moms
I called my Mom last week to see if she wanted to get together for Mother's Day but she already had plans to attend a party Saturday evening and a late-night drum circle...

So while my brother and I were sitting in our respecitve homes playing a little WoW Saturday, and we both went to bed about midnight because we are "getting old," Mom was out drumming and dancing til 4am.


And you thought I was the one with the normal family.



dhc10 and I will be up there later this month, so will probably actualy do belated Mother's Day celebratory stuff then. I did call her Sunday afternoon to wish her a Happy Mother's Day - glad I waited, since she wouldn't have been up had I called much earlier!


P.S. If you happen to read this - HI MOM! : P

Current Mood: Monday
Current Music: Dragonfly - Cruxshadows

Busy Good Friday
Happy Easter and Blessed (belated) Ostara!
And hope everyone at Frolicon has a blast. :D

As, for me:
Off tomorrow, but roughly 4.6million things to get done - as per usual. :P Landscaper had planned to resod tomorrow but that's been delayed until next week due to some of the weather earlier this week. He's only doing the front yard (I didn't feel like paying for sodding the back when Delta will tear it up in a week's time. I swear you'd think I keep a herd of horses back there the way she burns through it when she's running - but I digress.) So I've got to figure out what to do with the back now, which puts me behind season-wise but there's still a fair bit I can do now.

Mom's coming in to town tomorrow night - and we're going to go see Wicked! I'm excited. I've read the book (borrowed from Mom in fact) but neither of us has seen the play yet. Should be good!


Never did update about dhc10's visit weekend before last. It was a blast, though too short as always. :D Thanks to martinhesselius, Duros, heathwitch and samguss for joining us for games night. Longest running game of Munchkin EVAH as we kept foiling successive attempts at winning. :P Next time we should try the Munchkin Fu expansion!

samguss, hearthwitch, martinhesselius and blipangel joined us for a quick gamer's lunch Monday before dhc10 had to split. Finally got to meet blipangel and kelakea's baby boy mini-toaster! :P He was entirely too precious, watching his Daddy's crazy friends with wide eyes. ^_^

rant alert: As the novelty wears off...
The fact that the iPhone *still* does not natively support picture messaging is about one of the most retarded oversights ever. Just FTR.

I also expect a browser to let me dl pictures locally, which it doesn't. So if, say, some cute Army boy sends me a picture, I can painstakingly go see the picture sent by typing in the URL+ID+pwd, but then my only option to save it is to pull it up on a PC and screencap?? *le sigh*

Just got the official word my drive-for-life is canceled.
5/5 failed attempts. I think I'm out.

meh.

Mid-week Weekend Update
Last weekend
was yardwork, yard work and a little more yardwork.

Delta supervised. I wish I'd gotten a picture of her sound asleep on her towel in the sun - looking for all the world like she was sunbathing. Glad my black dog will have a nice tan this summer.... 0_o

Cleaned out a big bunch of leaves from the rainwater drain in the front... it'd been sititng there long enough the underneath was wet and full of the largest earthworms I've ever seen outside a bait shop. I changed my mind about bagging the stuff and put it around the raised bed the crape myrtles are in. :) Also, you know you are getting old when it's 8am on a Saturday and you're excited about earthworms. (And have no convenient 3yo around to blame it on...:P)

Also took Delta to the park - and we ran into another Doberman! An elegantly handsome black&tan boy. I chatted with his owner for a bit while they played. And I couldn't believe it when she told me he was 9 years old! He seemed to be in great shape. Delta, of course, was on cloud 9 the whole time, dancing and play-bowing around him. And with her energy and floppy ears she looks especially goofy next to him. :P What I love best though was watching them run together -there's just something so perfect, so free about dogs or horses running for the sheer joy of it. I hope we run into them again. ^_^


Next Weekend
dhc10's coming to town this weekend!! *happy bounce bounce* I don't know now if we'll do SWYD/ Imagicon Saturday, going to play it by ear. Still, whee! *poing*

edit: Apparently SWYD is on Friday, so may be a bit more difficult for me to attend, conflicts with Fritz's bday bash and I'm tempted to just stay in and try to get some stuff done before dhc10 gets here... hrm hrm hrm. Will see.

Also, attempt #5 on a drive-for-life. So far my record goes: (1)already full, (2)delayed then (3)canceled, and (4)delayed. ( Ambivalence follows )

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: Winterborn [Subway to Sally Mix]

I cemented my nails today
I hear it's the lastest rage.

Ok maybe not.


So the neighbor who lives behind me has been having sewer troubles. If you know anythign about the JeffCO Sewer board you know that, in the local vernacular, they are broker than the 10 commandments. So, while the city SHOULD be fixing it, they're not. My neighbor is therefore footing the bill and having a buddy of his do the work. On the weekends.

The sewer line to his house, as you have probably guessed by now, runs right down the edge of my property all the way to the main line under the street in *front* of my house. (this neighbor lives *behind* me, recall.) The guys have not been back all week to work, leaving giant gaping holes in my yard and driveway, the latter being completely unusable for the time being.


But it gets better! They covered the holes with plywood, and put up cones and caution taping. All good, and my clumsy self appreciates not falling in a hole when I walk out my door. But to hold the plywood down they just threw a bag of quik-crete on it. And when I got back from walking Delta this evening I notice that not only had the bag split and quick-crete spilling down into (whats left of) my yard, but it was starting to rain. >.< So yeah, I shoveled cement mixture into a plastic leaf bag in an attempt to contain the mess before I awoke to a concrete creek in my backyard.


In other news, I finally have a new iPhone. It seems pretty neat, now that I ACTUALLY HAVE A WORKING ONE. I bought one Sunday, but just finally got it replaced today. Monday I toyed with it trying to get it to work, to no avail. I had taken it in Tuesday and they'd reset it and sent me home. No dice. Wednesday I went back to AT&T and they fiddled with it some more before finally agreeing yes, it was broken. But they don't replace the phones, no I'd have to go to the apple store on the other side of town. Oookay. So I plan on doing that today. I get there about 2:45pm only to find out that they don't accept walk-ins and the earliest appointment is 4:30pm. Yeesh, while I understand the practicality of that, I would have expected the AT&T rep to maybe mention that I would need to make an appointment.

In doggy news, Delta and I completed our Basic Obedience course. We still have a long way to go on some things, though. Like recall. Speaking which, did you know she could jump a 4ft fence? Me either. After our lunch walk, I tried to get her to play some fetch but she was too entranced by the squirrels and cat across the street. Ok, no biggie, I let her stare while I go ahead and put the stuff in the car for my errands. Next thing I know there's a grey blur zooming past me and larger black blur right behind it that looks a heck of a lot like my dog... oh drat. I'm still not sure where she jumped from, but she didn't dig out and the gate was still closed and I think I would have heard it if she'd climbed the chain link so I suspect she jumped. On the plus side, I think maybe she'd enjoy agility training...


edit: tldr; here's a pic instead:


Current Music: Delta playing with the buster cube

Momentous Occasion
Today has been a Very Important Day at work. And not because one of my coworkers is out and so I have a lot to do, no, not because the fires to put out this morning were a bit crazier than usual, no...


Today

I finally got called by the printer scam. :O

This has been going around my office as of late, I feel special to finally have been included!

Current Mood: working

Movie Plans Tonight!!
meeting at Red Lobster in Vestavia 7pm for supper

9pm showing of Coraline at the Rave Theatre in Vestavia



Ive been a bit under the weather today but doing better and still planning on going. See you there!

Anyone up for a friday night movie?
Neil Gaiman's Coraline is opening at theatres this weekend! I'd like to get a group together to go see it.

So I'm planning on hitting the 9pm showing Friday at the Rave theatre in Vestavia. ( I didn't see a listing for it at the Hoover one) Will probably eat somewhere in that same area about 7pm.

Come join us! Should be fun. :D

Watch me Watch me, yes I know I'm boring, I'm an engineer, thats what I do- bore people for a living
Well, it worked. And got a chuckle out of the girl next to me.

Obedience class went much better than previous weeks, yay. She is definitely not interested in making it easy on me! She gets bored/distracted easily but it's helping that she now knows a whole slew of commands for me to pick from to keep her interested. Remind me again why I think I want such intelligent pets?? :P

Speaking of which - WE GOT "DOWN" !!! Yes, I know, the non-dog people are going "what?" and the dog people are going "so what?" but for some reason we've had an exceptionally hard time learning down and tonight if finally clicked for her. woot!

We did one "come" exercise where the instructor holds the leash and we walk away then call the dog. I went to the far corner, as far from her as I could get and she ran to me in full gallop. It was beautiful. We still have a long way to go but I was so proud! ^_^


Last weekend we walked the Vulcan Trail a few times. It's a nice walk, though not very long, that was converted from an old railroad track.


A bit of local political graffiti amused the heck out of me. For those of you not from Our Fair City, this is our mayor who got elected despite not even living in the city. He has grandiose plans and ZERO fiscal responsibility. The graffiti shows him with a gold medal with the Olympic rings on it around his neck in reference to his fool-brained idea to host the Olympics in Birmingham, AL. The text beside it reads, "you can sue a Ham Sandwich in Alabama" - a reference, I assume, to Alabama's problem with frivolous lawsuits and a direct Langford quote. How that is supposed to help defend Langford's case against the SEC I'm not sure.
( Few more pics )

Today's Traffic Lesson
Dear fellow commuters,
I realize this is a common misconception, but when an emergency response vehicle uses an emergency lane, it DOES NOT, IN FACT, open said lane up for regular traffic. Just because the vehicle with the flashy lights does it, doesn't mean you can.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Current Mood: silly
Current Music: Delta whining

Puppy Rules of Order
Puppy Rules of Order
1. Order is Bad. Spread chaos wherever you can.
2. When in doubt, shred it
3. Mops, brooms and vaccumn cleaners are instruments of Order and should be barked at and/or attacked should they invade. (note: Attacking mops may have slippery drawbacks!)


Ferrets have a similar set of rules, but have hidden them under the bed such that they cannot be posted... :P

You can tell I mopped again yesterday by how clearly this morning's muddy pawprints show up in contrast to the floor... >.<


My FCDF.org ad still hasn't updated, I sent the webmaster another one and asked him to just not worry about the earlier update. But I think he may have already left for the holidays *sigh* Not getting much response from the ad at work either. I think maybe I should make new flyers for just the two pups and post at the vets office. I'm not posting anymore flyers at the petstore, as I didn't like the few responses I did get from there last time.


Meanwhile, I twisted my left ankle something fierce yesterday evening (my own fault for running in heeled boots. It was cold and I was trying to get to the car quickly.) Walking Delta this morning was an adventure, as was driving into work. Fortunately, the clutch in my car is pretty soft. I'd thought about tightening it - glad I didn't!

As for Delta's walks - she was spayed Friday, so is supposed to be on limited activity and getting most of her exercise from walks - not running around playing in the backyard or jumping. Ha ha. I was already having trouble keeping her from jumping. She just started doing that too - which makes sense, since she was already preggo when I got her she probably just didn't feel like jumping until after she finished nursing. Definitely still a "work in progress."

Current Mood: silly
Current Music: Fox on the Run playing in my head again

Proof that I am an evil, horrible Dog mommy

"Look what she did to me!!"

Went walking this morning, same harness (sans Hat of Extreme Annoyance +2). We were about 1/3 of the way when we came across a crooked fire hydrant. I am guessing a car had hit it. But either it takes less force to knock over a fire hydrant than I realized, or I'd be surprised if it drove away under its own power. Can you *back* into a hydrant hard enough to knock it over?? Of course, the driver was probably drunk, so perhaps I shouldn't discount the "Hold my beer and watch this! Look how fast I can drive in reverse!" mentality. :P I didn't see any debris, but then I wasn't exactly going to wade through the 18th Ave New River to get a closer look either.

As for the harness, I had hoped to train her to not pull on a regular leash, but it was going slowly and with all the pulling she was doing, her collar was wearing a tiny bare spot on her neck. :( So I went to this harness, which has the ring in front so when she pulls it turns her around. It's been okay, though she did try to jump out of it. But this morning she took a spill when she tried to lunge at a squirrel and lost balance when it forced her to turn. Hrmm. :/ She doesn't seem scratched, and didn't flinch when I wiped her off though my hand did come away with more dog hairs on it than normal. But that wasn't what I had in mind when I got the harness. Also, while I was submitting the leak notice to the water board, she managed to chew on the front strap and damage the harness. :/

Also...
it is so hard to be a puppy, you just have no idea. :D

"This is my Secret Lair!"

Current Mood: working

PSA: Chilton Co Humane Society
Forwarded from an email I recieved earlier today (from one of my potential puppy homes):

----- Original Message ----- Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 1:30 PM Subject: Chilton County Humane Society URGENT Chilton County is south of Birmingham, about an hour if I remember correctly. A rural county much like Blount. I spoke with Jason Logan, the assistant director and kennel manager. They are not taking in animals, currently, but are open for adoptions 10-4 weekdays, or whenever someone is there. Desperate needs are: cleaning supplies and groomers. They have food, through Walmart. They are holding 27 animals on a case that is set to go to court Dec. 3. They are holding 66 puppy-mill animals, just seized, court date undetermined and there are problems with the seizure...the animals may have to go back. Donald has been there (S/N Alabama). They cannot euthanize...I took him to mean they don't have the resources. Current numbers: 51 cats (in 2 kennels and 2 colony rooms) 109 adult dogs (in 23 kennels) 38 puppies (in 3 runs and 13 kennels) 198 animals, when they actually have room for 83. The Clanton Advertiser (local paper) is coming today to do a write up. ------------

NBC did an article: http://www.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/chilton_co_animal_shelter_needs_help_with_puppy_mill_dogs/48603

Crossing Paths Animal Rescue may be setting up a trip to go down and help clean, groom the dogs, take pics and get some moved to breed rescues. If I find out more I'll post an update.

I don't think anyone on my flist is in this area but I figured it couldn't hurt to post it. I personally can't commit to going anywhere to help while I still have 2 puppies with somewhat uncertain futures atm.

My Heart Has Joined the Thousand
for my friend, my dearest and eldest ferret. The original Alpha ferret of Ferret Rock,

stopped running today.

Eloise, aka "Wheezie" 2000 ~ 2008

All the fuzzes of the Rainbow Bridge had better watch out, there's a new girl in town and she don't take squat from nobody.

I don't have many recent pictures of her, after she lost most of her coat to adrenal.
http://www.larp.com/leliel/images/wheeziebow.jpg
http://www.larp.com/leliel/images/Buddies1.jpg
http://www.larp.com/leliel/images/wheezieDesk0808b.jpg

She has been my companion for 6 years, through the move to Ferret Rock and the ferrets who have come and gone in the interim. And though I tried not to have favorites, there's no doubt I was always extra-close to Wheezie. In the end, I feel I failed her. She should never have had to die in the cage. I had been planning to take her next week, depending on how she did this week, to have her put down. But I waited too long for my precious girl.

Current Mood: heartbroken

Pupdate
Pups are getting BIG!


Who, Us?


Feeding FRENZY! Nom nom nom!
( More piccies behind the cut )


I also finally got a webpage up for them so I can keep lots of pics together and it gives me somewhere to send potential adopters besides my LJ. FerretRock.com

Apparently in my haste to add pic links and upload I screwed up the font tag for the picture headers. >.< Also, I am reminded that there's a reason people don't write html by hand anymore. It's *functional* but not particularly pretty. Meh. (EDIT: should be fixed now)

I'll swap out their 2.5week old pics/descriptions for newer ones once I finish picking out, scaling and uploading the other 5. (And I think I need to retake Black's, he came out all fuzzy.) ^_^

Weekend was busy busy, and most of all I did was clean and take care of puppies, Delta and the fuzzes. >.< So tired. -_- Many thanks to martinhesselius for helping me wrangle all 8 pups to the vet's on Saturday!

And Belated Happy Birthday to tayrune. I meant to call you Saturday and wish you a happy birthday and utterly failed to. >.<

Current Mood: tired

Quote of the Day
audience member: "Could you explain how the audits are chosen?"
Speaker: "Its random... the software is set to tag every 3rd or 4th person's form, it comes out to about 5% that get audited."

0_o

Fortunately , this is not a Quoth the Engineers entry, because this guy wasn't an engineer. He didn't correct himself, so I don't think he quite realized what he'd said.


Meanwhile today has sucked pretty hard. I am tired but have an overwhelming number of things that need to get done.

Quotes, Links, memes
Quotes, Links, memes.

Everywhere I turn it's all politics all the time these days. Some of it better than others.

xkcd.com does politics... In the "Debbie does Dallas" sense., I would say. Given how xkcd tends to muck up wikipedia... I wonder how many write-in votes Tron Paul will get next Tuesday? :P (Or perhaps Black Hat Man?)


Quoth The Engineers:
via email:
In a clear mandate, Thanksgiving BBQ defeated pizza and turkey 17 to 10 to 4, with 3 delegates abstaining.

Thank you for getting out the vote!
Yes, we are having BBQ on thanksgiving. Gotta love 'bama.


OMG MORE Politics?? MEME MEME MEME!

Tim c. has reposted an excellent speech he wrote regarding gay marriage. Definitely worth the read if you get the chance.

As far as the recent meme goes, raenshadoe pretty much summed up my thoughts on Civil Unions already. And spiritchaser1's slant on the trigger sentence cracked me up. :P

And now, to break up the politicking, here is more puppydom behind the cut: ( Clicky for more cuteness )
Not much to report on the puppy front, really. They are all still growing and playing and eating more and more puppy gruel daily. I had to start using a 3rd bowl because a) they were finishing it all and b) they couldnt all fit around the 2.