Less than one hour to go before we head out the door for the train station. Our bags are packed and ready to go. Just finishing up a few last minute house things. Need to spend a few minutes with Princess Josie in there, too. Can't believe our vacation is here already. We'll be back next Sunday in the early afternoon. Not expecting to have internet access anywhere so you'll have to live with a bunch of backdated posts when I get back. Have a good week, fishies!

Glacier National Park, here we come!

We have some news. Are you sitting down? Seriously. Sit down, if you're not already. It's that big.

STUKA LIVES!!! The vet was surprised to find Stuka quite alert and active when we arrived. She thought he was going to be barely moving and at death's door. We decided to do one final fecal swab and the vet said there was nothing wrong with it - no cancer, bleeding, fungus or bacteria. With some more meds, a heat lamp and lots of TLC, she thinks he has a 75-80% of surviving this whole thing if they can get his weight back up. He'll be staying at the clinic while we're gone so they can keep a close eye on him and give him the best treatment. His weight is the biggest concern at this point. He's down to 27g. If he drops below 26g, there will be no saving him and they will euthanize him. We've given them permission to do so. At least he has a chance now though. If anyone can save him, this doctor can. She's amazing.

I can still hardly believe this is happening. I was totally prepared to let him go today. I was all ready for her to come back into the room after checking his poop and say, "Sorry. There is nothing more we can do." Instead, she came back in all smiles and optimism. I'm aware there are no guarantees and we may still lose him, but, for now, I am full of hope and happiness. We got our miracle!

Stuka made it through the night. He's very swollen and doesn't look very good, but he's still climbing all over the cage trying to act like nothing is wrong. This whole process would be so much easier if he would just act sick. When I see him being active, he gives me false hope that he's going to be okay. The clinic opens in about 20 minutes so I will be calling for an appointment soon.

I didn't really want to, but Mr Moo made me go to bed and get some sleep last night. Looking back, I'm glad he did. I managed about five hours, which isn't much, but it's a lot better than nothing. Today is going to be hard enough as it is. I'm glad I'm not going into it totally exhausted.

EDIT: We don't have an actual appointment, but they want us to be there for 10:00, which is when the doctor arrives. They'll work us into the schedule as soon as they can around other scheduled appointments.

Coming up on 0130. Still up. Still packing. Still sad. Every time I think about the fact that this is more than likely Stuka's last night on Earth, I start bawling. I want to go downstairs and sit with him. However, it freaks him out whenever anyone gets close to his cage and he really needs his rest right now. I've checked on him several times by tiptoeing just close enough to see him in his corner without letting him see me. He seems to be doing alright, all things considered.

I'm getting a wicked case of the sleepies. Think I might lie down for a little while as soon as I get the last load of laundry in the dryer.

Stuka Update #746

Finally spoke with the avian vet very late this afternoon. Based on his test results, my description of his behavior and his weight, she is not hopeful at all that Stuka is going to survive this. She wants to do one more fecal swab just to be sure, but it looks like we're going to end up euthanizing him in the morning. That's assuming he even lives through the night. His chest is swollen again. He's all fluffy again. And he's sitting on the bottom of the cage in the corner. All of which are really, really bad signs. There is a microscopic chance that whatever is making him so sick is still a treatable condition. However, because his weight is so low now, she doesn't think he'll be able to respond well or quickly enough to recover. We will call the clinic as soon as they open in the morning. Hopefully, they'll be able to squeeze us in right away since we still have to be on our way to the train station by mid-afternoon. It's going to be a long sucky night.

Child, I need to change the pillowcase on your heating pad so I can start a load of laundry.

Please, wake up from your nap soon.

Are you freakin' kidding me? Now Josie is not feeling well. She's been sneezing like crazy, which usually means she's coming down with a cold, and she just had diarrhea. What the frell is going on in this house?!

Stuka Update #631

Got up disgustingly early this morning to give Stuka his next dose of medicine and was dismayed to find he had vomited a bunch more during the night. He's starting to show signs of growing weak, which is disheartening. Normally, when we reach into the cage to get him out, he goes ballistic, bites like a rabid wolverine and makes us chase him for an age. This morning, he fought for a few seconds then just kind of gave up and let me grab him. He still expressed his displeasure by shrieking so loud they could hear him from space, but it was very obvious he was just too weak to resist anymore than that.

In the past, we've taken the birds to a special avian only vet. Since she was out of town when Stuka first got sick and it was past office hours when things went all pear shaped last night, we've had to take him to an entirely new place and haven't been in to see her since all of this started. I called over there this morning, explained everything that's happened so far and asked for further input. They asked me to have the doctor we saw last night fax over all of Stuka's records so they can take a look at the test results and see if there's anything else we might try. The technician I spoke with was not very hopeful there will be anything else to do besides very expensive/invasive procedures like x-rays or the endoscopy, which we've already decided not to do. He's 7 years old, which is getting up there for a 'keet. We just don't want to put him through all of that only to find out what we're already fairly certain of - there's nothing more to be done. The doctor will be calling this afternoon and we'll make a decision after that.

Stuka Update

After two trips to the vet's tonight, we don't have a whole lot to report. Basically, he's very, very sick and we don't know why. For the first visit, we brought Stuka to be examined. He puked a ton before we left, puked the whole way there and puked in the exam room. It was not pleasant. The doctor didn't feel anything in the crop, but we went ahead and did a flush anyway. She examined what they sucked out. The antibiotics we've been giving him for the past 10 days did their job as there were almost no bacteria at all. There also wasn't any fungus either, which means the anti-fungal medicine would have been worthless. There was a lot of mucus, but no indication of why it was there. The doctor sat with us after the exam and went over a giant list of options, from a $600 endoscopy to a $15 crop motility drug to our choices for euthanasia. She told us to think on it, let her know what we'd like to do and sent us on our way.

After bringing Stuka home and getting him settled back in the big cage (complete with several more vomits), we decided to hope for the the best and prepare for the worst. We're going to give the crop motility drug a try. In order to give it the best shot to work and see some results, we needed to get him started on it immediately so we headed right back out to the clinic for visit #2 to pick it up. There's no guarantee this medicine is going to work at all. In fact, it could make him worse. Since we are going to be gone all of next week, don't want Stuka to suffer needlessly and don't want to put all of this on the pet sitter, we're tentatively planning, short of a miraculous recovery in the next day and a half, to take him in Friday morning to be euthanized. If things continue as they have been, Friday will be day three (possibly four) with no food for him since he throws up everything he eats. We can't, in good conscience, leave on vacation knowing he'll be here slowly starving to death while we're gone. And, if euthanasia is going to be inevitable, I want to be there when it happens.

So, like I said, he's very ill, we don't know why and there isn't a whole lot we can do for him at this point. He's had his first dose of the new medicine. Now we wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Wouldn't you know it. Less than 48 hours before we leave on vacation and Stuka (our parakeet) is getting seriously ill again. He's been doing really well since we unplugged his crop and got him on antibiotics. Today, however, I noticed whole lot of uneaten seed on the bottom of the cage that looked like it's been thrown up. While I was standing there, he threw up a bunch more. There looks to be mucus with it, which means the antibiotics aren't curing what ails him. The vet had mentioned an anti-fungal medicine when we last took him in, which is probably what we need to get. Guess we'll be celebrating our anniversary at the vet's office.

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary.

Mr Moo and I are at a point where we don't need to make a big fuss on the actual day anymore. We love each other every single day of the year and this one is no different. And, given that we're usually getting ready to go on a trip when it rolls around each year, we often don't have the time to make a fuss. Today is no exception. We might go out to dinner, but there will be no flowers, cards or gifts. Our gift to each other will be the views from atop the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park next week. That time together and the memories we'll have are more precious to us than any Hallmark card will ever be.

From our Geocaching outing two weekends ago:



Haven't had time to go again since. We're leaving on our trip to Glacier National Park in two days and have been busy, busy, busy!

Here, kitty kitty!

I spoke with my neighbor this afternoon and he's fairly certain Mr Skunky is living under one the drains for the detention pond behind our houses. There's a very large skunk size hole on one side of the concrete base. He thinks he's seen the skunk go down the hole, but he hasn't been daring enough to actually go over and look into it. Can't say that I blame him.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 173

Click here for the entry form.

FYI - There are several other rounds of the movie contest still open. You can find them on the Name That Movie Contest page of my website under "Open Rounds".

You know what makes yard work fun? Watching all the people who blow through the four-way stop down the street get pulled over in front of my house. Pull a weed. Hear, "License and registration, please." Pull another weed. Awesome.

One week from today, we'll be boarding a train for our trip to Glacier National Park. We'll travel through the night and arrive in Montana on Saturday morning. Since we're within 10 days of the trip, we're starting to see long term forecasts for our first few days in the park.

High of 55F/13C? Eeep! It's going to be cold. Don't let me forget to bring my jacket.

To: Whatever has been nibbling on me all week
From: Moo

Please stop.

Stuka, our parakeet, has been temporarily living here in our office while he recuperates from his infection. Normally, he's downstairs in the kitchen so we don't get to hear much from him. This week, however, we're hearing all sorts of new things. I don't know how or when, but he has learned to perfectly mimic the sound of my mobile phone when the battery is low. He's even mastered the frequency, letting out just a single and occasional "meep!" My phone is always in my purse and nowhere near his cage so it has to be a weird random coincidence that he's making the same noise, but it's still freaking me out. Strange little bird.

Only one more day until Project Runway! Squeee!

Mr Moo and I met with the pet sitter tonight. Actually, we met with the owner of the company as well as the lady who will be doing the pet sitting. Mr Moo was happy with them and I will be calling them in the morning to let them know they're hired. YAY!!! It's so nice to know we'll have the pets and the house looked after while we're gone without having to burden and inconvenience my in-laws. They insist it's no bother, but I always feel guilty about it. Josie came downstairs to meet everybody and, as per usual, won them over with her cuteness and charm. Something tells me she'll be getting a whole lot of treats and goodies before it's all over.

Do you remember the bridesmaid dress I altered a few weeks ago to turn it into a maternity dress? Here is a photo of all of the bridesmaids in that wedding:

I altered the dresses of the two beautiful ladies on the far left. Micah's dress we took in and hemmed. Niki's dress we added fabric to make it a maternity dress.

I think we might have brought some fleas home with us after taking Stuka to see the vet on Sunday. I've got a whole bunch of little red bites all over me and they're itching like crazy. Miss Josie gets doused in Advantage every month (and we didn't find any debris on her) so we're confident they're not coming from her. Maybe I should put some Advantage on myself.

Custom bridal top I finished up last week:

She promised to send me a proper photo from the wedding, which is this coming weekend.

I'd like you to meet Trouble and Trouble Jr.

You can decide who is who.

We're heading into another heat wave here in Portland. Someone went ahead and staked out their spot to wait it out early.

It's good to be prepared.

Stuka is doing much better today. His chest is still very swollen and puffy, but he's no longer fluffed up all over. He's also acting much more like his normal self. He's been grooming a lot, playing with his toys and climbing all over the cage, including the ceiling. All good signs that he's feeling better. When we took him out to give him his medicine, I massaged his crop again and, unlike last night, no mucus came out, which is a very good thing. Let's hope tomorrow brings even more improvements.

We're back from seeing the vet. Looks like Stuka has a serious secondary infection from a plugged crop. When the doctor was examining him, she pressed on his throat/chest area and Stuka threw up all over her. Joy. She said she could feel a large mass of seed and mucus in there, which she flushed out with a syringe-like instrument. While we can't be 100% sure, we're all hopeful this was the main root of his illness and, now that it's resolved, he'll start feeling better soon. Since he had so much bacteria in his poop and crop, she isn't comfortable with just diluting the antibiotics in his water like she'd normally recommend. We have to give him a full strength dose orally via syringe once per day for the next 7-10 days, then call her with status to see if we need to do a second round of meds. While we're not out of the woods yet, it looks like he's going to be okay and live to torment us another day.

Our parakeet, Stuka, is not feeling well. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but he's been fluffy and just "off" for a few days now. I called the avian veterinarian we normally see, but she's out of town until the 24th. I don't want to wait that long so we scheduled an appointment with another vet for this afternoon. I'd prefer seeing the avian vet because all she does is birds, but I'm worried Stuka will be dead before she gets back from vacation. We already had to put Bungee to sleep earlier this year. I really hope we don't end up losing Stuka, too.

It's that time of the year in Oregon. The slugs are getting enormous.

Taken on our hike in Forest Park today.

If anything will ever drive me to start drinking, it will be these things:

Bridal lacing loops. It's not even the cutting, placing and pinning that's bad. It's the making of the microscopic tubes and trying to turn them right side out that's the worst, even with a Fast Turn set. They do look nice in the end though.

Glad I only had to do 26 on this top. Had it been a full gown, there could have been lots more.

Remember the days when we used to have to buy rolls and rolls of film then lug them around with us everywhere?

You know, back when we rode our dinosaurs around to plant the redwood trees.

Squished penny from Crater Lake:

I forgot to look up where the machine, if there even was one, was at before we left. Fortunately, we asked a park employee who knew exactly where it was.

I didn't get my client's top finished last night. I was way more tired than I originally thought. I should easily be able to finish it today though. Once it's completed, I then start on the Beauty and the Beast/Disney themed wedding party.

At 1900, Mr Moo and I will be interviewing a potential pet sitter. I'm tired of imposing on my in-laws every time we take a trip and ready to start paying someone to take care of Miss Josie and the rest of the zoo. Mr Moo, well, not so much. He doesn't like the idea of letting strangers in our house. Once we meet them, however, they're not strangers anymore, right? We'll be meeting the owner of the company as well as the actual sitter who will be coming over. Let's hope they can impress Mr Moo enough that he agrees to hire them. We leave for Glacier National Park in two and a half weeks and need to sort arrangements soon.

EDIT: The pet sitter has had some sort of family emergency so we've rescheduled for next Wednesday.

Just had my bride over for her final fitting. Everything is going very well. Phew! She's tickled with how her top is turning out and said it's exactly what she wanted. All I really have left to do is finish sewing in the lining followed by lots of trimming, clipping and pressing. If I can stay focused, I might even get it done tonight.

This is the pattern I'm using on my current project:

My client (a bride) already owns a white skirt. I'm using this pattern to make her a matching top.

I've been shopping for a new camera since mine went splodey at Crater Lake a few weeks ago. I did a lot of homework and slowly narrowed down the list. When shopping for a new camera, it really helps to make a list of "must have" features, no matter how long or short it may be. What things did you love about your last camera? What things did you hate? For example, one thing I didn't care for with my last camera was its weight. The camera body alone weighed just over a pound (503g to be exact). Add the batteries, memory cards and harness, and it was over 1.5 pounds. For me, that's a lot of extra weight to be carrying around my neck when hiking. First thing on my list was the new camera had to be less than 500g. That alone eliminated a lot of cameras. I continued whittling my choices down using my list until there was pretty much just one left standing - the FujiFilm FinePix s1500.

When we went to the camera shop last weekend, they did not have any in stock. I found several retailers online who had them though, including the online version of the store we visited. I was nervous about buying a camera that I hadn't physically been able to lay my hands on and try. I called the store to ask if we could return the camera there, if we bought it online and decided we didn't like it. He said we couldn't because they were two separate companies. Fair enough. Just for kicks, I asked if they had any in stock. I totally expected him to say "no", but they did! To make an already long story a little less long, we went back to the store and bought one yesterday.

I've played with it a little, but haven't had a chance to really try it out yet. I've been happy with the few results I've generated so far though. There is one "feature" I really don't like though. There is a considerable time lag between the button press and the actual shutter action (it's well under a second, but feels like an age), but, compared to all of the other things I really like about this camera, it's minor and I'll get used to it eventually. Its small size (only 300g instead of 500) and picture quality (yay for more than 3 megapixels!) more than make up for it. We only have a 10 day window for returns so I'll be putting it through its paces soon.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 172

Click here for the entry form.

FYI - There are several other rounds of the movie contest still open. You can find them on the Name That Movie Contest page of my website under "Open Rounds".

On our hike today, we saw some fairly sizable slugs on the trail. If there's anything we do super well in Oregon, it's growing slugs.

We did some hiking (about five miles) and Geocaching in Forest Park this evening.



We found some interesting things including a cache container in the shape of a gargoyle's head and a log with Davy Jones from Pirates on the cover.

Backpack pins I bought on our Crater Lake trip:

They're a little hard to see because shiny pins + scanner = crappy picture. The two on the left are from Crater Lake NP. The one on the right is from Lava Beds National Monument in California.

When you're a kitty and you get to 17 years old, you have earned the right to spend your days doing nothing but this:

We solved a puzzle Geocache a couple weeks ago just before the heat wave hit. Tonight was the first night we had some time to go look for it and didn't feel we were going to die of heat stroke in the process. The tree cover wreaked havoc with the GPSr, which led us in circles for a bit, but we found it in the end.

I just had another client over for a fitting. I'm making her a top to go with a skirt she already owns for her wedding. Even though I told her repeatedly to not lock her knees, she did and came *this* close to passing out. I had to make her sit down, have some water and eat some cookies. I have the distinct feeling she's starving herself for the wedding and her blood sugar levels have gotten way too low. Silly girl.

My pregnant client just picked up and was kind enough to let me take her photo when she tried on her dress.

Isn't she lovely? In the end, I added a little over 16" of fabric to the under layers to accommodate her baby belly. We didn't have any extra chiffon to add to the top layer so there's a little bit of pulling going on there still. She doesn't mind one bit, but it's making me crazy. It's right where her arms rest so, hopefully, no one will notice. I did the alterations for another of the bridesmaids in this same wedding and N was kind enough to pick up both dresses today. Two more dresses out the door. Woot!

My sister has officially become a member of the sewing world. She sewed over her finger with her machine yesterday and had to get a tetanus shot today. ((sniff)) I'm so proud.

Mr Moo is taking me to the camera store to look for a new camera today. I did a little bit of homework last night and narrowed my choices to two million instead of four. Guh! There are too many out there to choose from! I'm worried about buying a camera that looks great in the store and finding out later that it doesn't take good photos or I hate it. We don't have a lot of time to be buying and returning a bunch of cameras. I've been tempted to get on eBay and just replace the ancient monster that I had since I loved it so. The few that are for sale, however, are way overpriced so that's not an option. With our trip to Glacier NP looming in the near future, I'm going to have to buy something new. I have made a short list of "must haves" so, hopefully, we'll be able to narrow it down quickly and easily.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 171

Click here for the entry form.

FYI - There are several other rounds of the movie contest still open. You can find them on the Name That Movie Contest page of my website under "Open Rounds".

As an alternative view to go with my last post, here is a photo looking up at Mount Scott from the very beginning of the trail:

If you look straight up from the two snow fields in the middle of the picture, you can just make out the little black nub that is the fire lookout tower, which was our destination.

EDIT: Here's a topo map of the hike.

Accomplishment is... seeing that tiny speck in the distance, figuring out it's your truck and realizing how far you've just hiked.


Mount Scott hike, Crater Lake NP - July 2009

From this year's Chick-fil-A calendar, The Bovines in Blue:

Hoofer, Texas Wrangler
The Lone Star State has been home to some legendary characters, but none more so than Hoofer, Texas Wrangler. With a black belt in moo-jitsu, Hoofer greets criminals with a swift round-roast kick to the face. But beneath his leathery hide he has a heart of gold, reaching out with open hooves and encouraging misguided children to stay away from beef.