Ladies and gentlemen! I give to you Oscar, the Eighth Earl of Puppydom!

(except he's five and not a puppy anymore, but don't tell him that)

Mr Moo and I are going to visit the Oregon Humane Society today to, umm, "just look". Since Zoe and Bungee have died, our house has felt a bit empty and we still have a lot of love to give to more furry children. The plan was to wait until after Christmas since we'll be leaving for a couple weeks at that time, but we'll see what happens. If something was meant to be, it will be.

We moved up her appointment. Sleeping Beauty just left. I'm done! I'm done! WOOT!

I can hardly believe it's almost over. The dress I made for Sleeping Beauty is at the cleaners being pressed as I type this. The bride, who will be Belle from Beauty and the Beast, picked up all of the other garments for the wedding a few days ago. I altered her dress along with a dress for her daughter-in-law, who will be attending the party/wedding as Ariel from The Little Mermaid. The rest of the garments were for the groom, who will start the party dressed as Beast then turn into the prince. I made him a coat, vest, ascot and a cape. I pick up SB's dress from the cleaners in about 45 minutes. I started pressing it myself last night. However, since it's made from cheapo polyester satin, every time I worked on pressing one side, the other side was wrinkling all to heck. It was easier to just pay and let the cleaners do it since they have much better equipment and are set up to press things like this. SB is scheduled to pick up right after lunch. Once that's done, I will be done, done, done! Wheee! I haven't taken many photos, but I will post what I have soon. Both the bride and SB are renting crinolines from me. I have been promised more photos within a few weeks when they return those.

From the National Park Service website:

Even when saguaro cacti grow in their normal form, they rarely grow symmetrically. Saguaros sometimes grow in odd or misshapen forms. The growing tip occasionally produces a fan-like form which is referred to as crested or cristate. Though these crested saguaros are somewhat rare, over 25 have been found within the boundaries of the park. Biologists disagree as to why some saguaros grow in this unusual form. Some speculate that it is a genetic mutation. Others say it is the result of a lightning strike or freeze damage. At this point we simply do not know what causes this rare, crested form.

We were fortunate to see a few of these rare cacti during our time in the park. We saw the nicest specimen on our hike down the Garwood Trail on day three.

Did you know saguaros only begin to grow arms at about 65 to 75 years of age?

A mature saguaro is considered to be at least 125 years of age. Average life spans are usually 150 to 175 years of age, but may be longer in some individuals.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 182

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Arizona - October 2009 - Saguaro National Park

After leaving the rest of us, Mr Moo made the summit of Wasson Peak in what seemed like no time.

Turns out he wasn't alone after all. Sharky was with him, as was my sister and BIL's lamb, Pease.

Needless to say, the views from the top were pretty spectacular.



I'm bummed that I missed them. Guess we'll all have to back again when it's not so hot so the rest of us can summit, too.

This is what my spoiled brat furry child gets to eat every week. No matter how much she might complain we don't feed her enough and she's starving to death, pay her no heed. First, Mr Moo cooks up a whole bunch of ground turkey. Yes, we cook for our cat. Sigh. I then take 10.5oz/300g of the turkey and add 4 cans of Chicken Feast flavor Fancy Feast brand cat food.

Mix it up well.

Looks yummy, doesn't it? :-) Finally, dole it out into 2.75oz/78g individual servings.

She gets at least one of these small containers every day (sometimes two, depending on how ravenous she is) with her kidney medicine mixed in. We started her on this high protein diet quite a while ago when her weight dropped to a concerning level due to her kidney issues. Since we made the switch, she has put on nearly two pounds and has her nice round belly back.

Arizona - October 2009 - Saguaro National Park

While the rest of us decided to turn back and return to the car, Mr Moo set off by himself determined to reach the summit of Wasson Peak.

After stopping to have something to eat, I think we all could have pushed on and made the summit, but we decided it just wasn't worth the risk of someone getting really sick from heat stroke. I was very concerned about him going off by himself, but he was determined and assured me he would be fine. The trail was wide and really well maintained. We had excellent mobile service in the area, even on the mountain, so he could call for help if necessary. And, after watching him run up the mountains at Glacier NP, we've recently confirmed he is genetically half mountain goat. We also were able to stay in direct communication with him while he made his way up the rest of the trail using the walkie talkie feature on our GPSr units.

We stayed at our lunch spot for a while to track his progress. Using the 12x zoom on mine and the 12 billion x zoom on my brother-in-law's new camera, we were even able to watch him climb for a good portion of it.

Arizona - October 2009 - Saguaro National Park

On day two of our trip, we headed over to the west unit of the park and attempted to climb Wasson Peak.

Our destination:

Unfortunately, the sun and heat proved to be too much for us and we only made it about half way up. We still got to see some fantastic views though.



So close and yet so far.

Arizona - October 2009 - Saguaro National Park

On our first full day in Tucson, Mr Moo and I made a short visit to the east unit of the park, before my sister and BIL arrived, to get information and maps.

Dear, stomach:

Dairy is not a bad thing. It let's us have yummy things like cereal and ice cream, and gives us the perfect something in which to dunk our cookies. Please, tell me. Why the hate?

My Beauty and the Beast clients stopped by last night. Beauty was picking up a dress I altered for her daughter-in-law, who is attending the party as Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Beast tagged along so we could do one final fitting of all of his stuff. Much to my delight, everything fit perfectly. Phew! All I have left to do is apply the binding to the coat and hem the cape, then his four items are done. Beauty is coming over again tomorrow night for her last fitting and Sleeping Beauty will be here on Thursday. Lots of appointments this week. The neighbors are going to think I'm dealing.

Group photo from our trip to Arizona earlier this month.

There are a few other photos from our trip posted in my Travel Photo Gallery. I still have loads more to sort through and post, but, unfortunately, don't have a lot of time to do so right now.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 181

Click here for the entry form.

Yesterday, I moved Dr Jones out of the hospital tank and back into his regular digs.

Look close. He's there. The change (plus the five days of antibiotics) seems to have done him good. So far, today, he's eaten two pellets and is acting like he might eat some more before it's over. He's also swimming around like a crazy fish and flaring up to challenge his reflection in the glass. All good signs. I guess what they say even applies to fish. It's good to be home.

Not much to report here. I've been busy working on the costumes for my client's Beauty and the Beast/Disney themed wedding. I don't expect to be doing much else besides that for the next couple weeks either. So, if my journal goes quiet, fret not. I'm just busy.

Today is day five of Dr Jones' antibiotic treatment. He's swimming around and acting just fine, but he's still not eating well. Since we started treatment, he's only had two freeze dried blood worms and (I think) one pellet. Considering he used to eat six pellets and a worm every day, this is not a good thing. The frustrating part is he's acting hungry. He gets excited when I get out his pellets and swims right to the surface in anticipation. He even sucks up the food as soon as it hits the water. However, after chewing it for a few seconds, he spits it right back out again. The only thing he keeps down are the blood worms, which are the junk food of the fish world. My concern is he's refusing to eat his pellets in the hopes of getting a worm, but I refuse to spoil him with those just to see him eat. Nutritionally, they're so poor, he's better off not eating at all. I'm just worried he's going to starve to death before realizing he's not getting any more. Eat your pellets, you stubborn fish!

When you have a website and own your own domain name, your web hosting company, if they're worth their weight in salt, will allow you to set up a boundless number of email aliases. This is a very handy tool if you want to track who is sharing/selling your email address to spammers. For example, let's say my main email address is janedoe@mydomainname.com. If I do business with a business, say Acme Thread Company, I can set up acmethread@mydomainname.com to use in my dealings with them. If I start getting tons of spam through that email address, I know exactly where it came from. Then, not only can I call up Acme Thread and ream someone a new one, it's also very easy to stop the flow by disabling just that one alias. It's a great tool and very easy to set up. I have a million of them.

Today, I'm in the process of setting up a business account with a company that sells petticoats and other foundation garments. I don't expect to be ordering a whole lot from them, but it will be a nice service to offer my clients so they don't have to deal with the gestapo at the bridal shops. My Sleeping Beauty client needs a slip and hasn't been able to find anything that fits her properly. Hers will be my first order.

Anyhoo, I set up petticoatcompanyname@mydomainname.com as an email alias and sent off all of my contact information last night. I called as soon as I woke up this morning to check on the status of my account. Even though it's already lunch time on the east coast, no one had even bothered to look at their emails yet today. Sigh. The woman I spoke with, however, was very helpful. She found my email and said she would have my account up and running within 30 minutes. As we were wrapping up our phone call, she finally noticed my email address. Now, I realize not everyone is computer/internet savvy and the whole concept of email aliases is a foreign concept to many. However, I wasn't quite expecting the reaction I got. She was totally amazed that I had their company name in my email address and couldn't stop talking about it. I tried to quickly explain that I own the domain name and can have all the email addresses I want, but she wasn't hearing or understanding me. She just kept right on saying, "Wow! You have our name in your email address!" Considering their email address is @aol.com, her reaction wasn't a total surprise, but I still found it highly amusing. I felt like some sort of sorceress who, instead of turning people into newts, waved her magic wand and made email aliases appear out of thin air.

Wow. That was a short story made long for barely a chuckle. Sorry.

Today, I am dressing Sleeping Beauty.

Well, starting the process anyway. I will be fitting her in muslin and working out some design issues this evening. I couldn't find an actual Sleeping Beauty pattern so I'm starting with a basic dress pattern and modifying it accordingly. Still haven't sorted how I'm going to do the big stand up collar thing, but I'll figure it out.

Stuka and I checking out some parakeets on YouTube.

Have I mentioned lately how much I abhor making buttonholes? I don't get paid enough for this hell.

Can someone please explain to me why it takes two fully grown adult human beings to catch and medicate a parakeet, with clipped wings even, who barely weighs an ounce?

Not off to a great start this morning. Dr Jones won't eat any of his pellets. He used to eat six every morning. Now, it's a struggle to get him to eat one. The guy at the pet store said they only give their bettas 4-5 pellets per week, so I'm not completely panicking just yet. He can go a while without eating. Just wish he hadn't lost his appetite so completely. He needs his strength to beat this infection. Come on, Dr Jones. Eat something!

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 180

Click here for the entry form.

Our betta fish, Dr Jones, isn't feeling very good. Right before we left for Arizona, he started going off his pellet food. He acted hungry, but spat most everything out. I gave him a few bits of a pea in case he was constipated, but that wasn't it. The pet sitter left notes that he ate just fine while we were gone. However, since we've been back, he doesn't seem any better to me. In the past couple days, he's develop a bit of fin rot on his tail and a little cloudiness in one eye. He's obviously got some sort of infection going on. So, tonight, I set up the hospital tank. I got out the Maracyn to dose the water and noticed it expired approximately 8 years ago. Oops. One quick trip to the pet store later and we're back in business. I finally got the water temp high enough and just did the transfer. Dr Jones is swimming around and checking everything out in his new digs now. If he's going to get better, we should see a significant improvement within two days. Cross your fins for him.

"NAME THAT MOVIE" CONTEST - 179

Click here for the entry form.

Oops! Forgot to post this earlier in the week when we got home. It's still open and there will be another new round this weekend, too. There are a few 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".

Beauty, from the Beauty and the Beast wedding I'm working on, was here for a fitting this afternoon. She is wearing a purchased gown, but we need to add a portrait collar around the shoulders and modify the modesty panel in the back a little. The dress is absolutely lovely. I can't wait to see the wedding photos. However, before there can be photos, there has to be clothing. I has gots me a whole lotta work to do in the next few weeks.

I took HRH Josie to the vet today for a follow-up visit. The antibiotics worked and her bladder infection from a few weeks ago is gone. Yay! The bad news is we're still not sure what's causing them. We're going to test her again in one month's time to see if it recurs again. If it does, we'll go ahead at that time and do the ultrasound to make sure there aren't any stones, polyps or tumors. The other bit of not so good news is the sores on her arm are skin cancer lesions and need to be removed. Fortunately, we found them while they're still small and the doctor will be able to burn/freeze/cut/whatever he does to them easily and without having to knock her out. I'll be setting up an appointment for that next week. Before we take her in, the doctor wants to give her a thorough once over and make note of all the sores we find. He will examine her, too, when we drop her off. The idea is that between the lot of us, we'll catch them all. She is going to be one unhappy kitty next week.

My mother-in-law came over while we were away and left a birthday gift for me. I think this may be the greatest birthday card ever.

Inside reads: Birthdays are the buttcrack sand in the swimsuits of our lives. Have a good one.

Well, we're home. And, as you can see, I was not able to keep up with my journal, even though we had internet access the whole time. Our days were just too busy and I was too tired in evenings. I'll try to get at least a summary up in a Trip Diary soon.

We had a very nice time in Arizona. I always enjoy spending time with my sister and BIL. Add in several great hikes in a very cool national park and you have a perfect vacation. Well, perfect if we could have turned the thermostat down a few degrees anyway. We knew it was going to be hot, but the heat was incredibly brutal. There is no escape from it when you're hiking in the desert. I think we all now have a much deeper appreciation for the animals who live there.

As per usual, I will post photos as soon as I have time to get to them.

We've had a busy, but kind of lazy day today. Just like I thought, it took Mr Moo longer to finish up what he was working on than he said it would. However, we did check out of the Best Western with plenty of time to spare and headed down the road to the Residence Inn. We're renting what they call a "penthouse suite" over here. On the bottom level, there's a full kitchen, a living room and a bedroom with a full en suite bathroom. Upstairs, in the loft, there is another bedroom with another full en suite bath. For all intents and purposes, it's a furnished two bedroom apartment. Plenty of room for all four of us.

After leisurely unpacking and a quick lunch, Mr Moo and I headed out for a while. We went to the visitor center at Saguaro National Park to pick up some maps and brochures, and get information about hiking from one of the park rangers. We're hoping to climb Wasson Peak tomorrow. After that, the rest of the weekend is open. Since we had a lot of time to kill this afternoon, we decided to head into the park and drive a tiny bit of the Cactus Forest Drive. In the little while we were there, we saw two roadrunners, a rabbit, a flicker (woodpecker), chipmunks and a whole bunch of quail. Something tells me we aren't going to have to search hard for wildlife on our hikes. The ranger said there have been several mountain lion sightings in part of the park we're hoping to hike. Hopefully, we won't be running into anything quite that big. I'll stick with the quail, thanks.

After our short visit to the park, we headed over to Target then the grocery store to stock up on supplies for the rest of the weekend. No one will be going hungry here! On our way back to the hotel from the store, we were passed by several police vehicles. Every time we started to go, another one appeared. They looked to be blocking off the road up ahead of us, so we made a u-turn and took the back way back to the hotel. Even heading in the other direction we saw several more police cars. It looked like they were setting up a perimeter around the entire block to catch a suspect who had fled down a concrete flood channel. It was like driving by an episode of Cops.

We're back at the hotel now and waiting patiently for my sister and BIL's flight to arrive. Their first flight left over an hour late. I got a txt not too long ago that they had jogged through the airport in Dallas to get to their second flight and were starting to board. However, it's now 2040 and, according to the airline website, they haven't even left the gate yet, If they can get in the air soon, they should be landing in Tucson right around 2300. That will be an hour later than originally planned, but better late than never.

We're hanging out at the Best Western this morning. We have to check out before noon and move over to the Residence Inn today. Because the internet connection here is fairly decent and Mr Moo has some work to finish up, we're staying here for a while longer. He claims we'll be heading out in the next 20 minutes or so, but I'm not holding my breath.

I spoke with my sister this morning. She's at home trying to finish up their packing so they can be on the road by 1500. They're driving up to Charlotte, NC, to catch their flight. If I remember correctly, they'll be landing here in Tucson at about 2130.

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

Chuckie's Heifers
If you're packing heat - the heat that makes burgers - you'd better hope these hot-tempered heifers don't find you. With their alluring beauty, special agents Bearnaise, Hollandaise and Mayonnaise may look like angels, but they hurt like a Charlie horse. There's no tougher meat on the Special Chicken Task Force.