Snow Play

And so, this happened...

I moved to Idaho this week and am currently enjoying a light snow storm.  Silver thinks this is fantastic.  I think this is fantastic.  I can finally get the house cold enough to be comfortable.  I am however, wishing I'd labeled the moving boxes a leeetttttlllleeee more precisely.  I can't find several highly necessary things.  Sigh.

Also, I'm afraid I won't be able to review any movies for awhile, unless I watch them online.  It was either my cats or my television.  They both wouldn't fit in the car, so the television stayed behind.  Naturally, I want nothing more than to curl up on the couch with Silver and a cup of hot tea and watch one of my trusty movies, but that will just have to wait awhile.

Apricots!

Back in March, I posted a couple pics of my apricot tree in full bloom.  Well, I have a bumper crop this year, and the tree is loaded!  I've eaten a few already, ones that have been ripe enough to fall off.  The rest aren't quite there yet, but they'll be ripening up in the next week or so.  There's nothing like fruit off the tree.

 

And here's a shot of Silver thinking he's a cat and that the back of the couch is made for dogs to perch on as well.  Since he fits and is comfortable... I guess he's right!

April 2017

April is here, and, with all the rain we've finally had, the wildflowers are in full bloom:

 

Writing stories at my house these days usually entails a Silver sleeping under my desk:

He's now 60 lbs of playful energy, but he has the work routine down pat, and usually sleeps and lets me work between 8 and 5 before demanding more attention.

Apricot tree and Silver

 

January 2017

Silver's one year birthday is coming up in just a week.  Wow!  How time flies.  He's doing well, about 55 lbs. now.  He makes me laugh all the time, he's such a big silly dork.  He has started howling occasionally if all the neighborhood dogs are set off by sirens or something and he's outside, except my boy sounds like it's the first time he's ever used his voice or he's got laryngitis!  He has the hoarsest, most unused-sounding voice ever.  It is the funniest thing you've ever heard.  He's starting to blow his coat, so there is white fur going everywhere right now.  Just normal life with a Husky!

November already??

I've been on vacation up in the Eastern Sierra this last week.  Other than the fact that I was beset by a stomach bug, it was a great trip.  I got to take Silver with me this time, and that made it super fun.  There's nothing quite like introducing your dog to some new country that he was born for.   Not to mention, hiking at high altitude helps wear him out. :-D  His favorite parts were the meadow trail at the back end of Convict Lake, any time he could splash in any lake or stream, playing in (and eating) snow, and meeting a couple of horses.  My favorite parts were all the hiking, spending time with my parents and my dog, ignoring the internet.

Silver was extremely well-behaved at my parents' house, so they're fine with me bringing him any time I come up.  That is great news for me as I can now visit them more often.

Only bad part is vacation is now over, and it's back to work tomorrow.  Not to mention, it was in the 80's here yesterday when I got home.  Ugh.  I miss the cold weather.

The Sierra above South Lake.

Silver discovers snow.

Silver waiting for his new buddies.

These horses weren't interested in me at all, they just wanted to say hi to Silver.

October update

In just a few days, Silver will be 9 months old.  Man, where did time go??  He's nearing 50 lbs now and still has some growing to do.  We walk about 4 miles a day, closer to 6 on the weekends when I've got more time, and he still has energy left over.  Of course, that's the nature of owning a Husky.  They are high-energy dogs and if you don't want them wrecking your home out of boredom, you wear them out.  Or wear yourself out, as the case may be.  LOL!

He is really good most of the time.  He's gotten into mischief only a couple times when I've left him alone for more than a few hours.  We'll see how he does this Saturday, as it's time for the Met's HD broadcast of Don Giovanni, with my favorite baritone, Simon Keenlyside.  Not missing that!  Don Giovanni ain't short, particularly with the drive to the theater on either side.  I plan on taking him hiking first thing in the morning, see if he just zonks out peacefully for those hours.

He still wants to be a lapdog if given a chance.

Beautifully fluffy and clean after his first professional grooming.

At our favorite lake where we go on weekends to hike.  He splashes through the water, eats lake weed, and generally has a rip-roaring good time.

The Liebster tag

While I'm catching up on tags this weekend, Eva tagged me for this one. Thanks, Eva!

Rules:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Answer the eleven questions.
3. Tag eleven bloggers, and let them know you’ve done so.
4. Ask your tagged bloggers eleven questions.

Here are my answers to Eva's questions:

1. What was the last book you read and what did you think of it?
Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith.  Quite enjoyed it.

2. Who are five of your favorite literary heroes?
Hm, I honestly have no idea.  I have a ton of book characters I love, a ton I want to be or relate to... but heroes?  That's a different kettle of fish.  I'm not sure I have any heroes in books.  I'll ponder this one some more...

3. What is the most prominent color in your wardrobe?
Hm, doesn't seem to be one.  I suppose black if you consider most of my movie t-shirts are black and I wear t-shirts daily. 

4. Have you ever traveled outside your country of residence?
Yes, I've been to Mexico, Canada, and Australia.

5. Do you write? (As in fiction – short stories, novellas, novels, etc.)
Yes, short stories, novellas, novels, and Combat! fanfiction.  Right now only my short stories have been professionally published.  And unfortunately, my writing website has been inaccessible by me as admin for over a year now, so it's out of date.  I have no idea what to do about that.  I've googled the problem and tried things suggested, and nothing works.  It's very frustrating.  This is what I get for agreeing to move it to Wordpress, which I know little about.  Sigh.

6. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
Tea tea tea tea tea!!  Loose leaf black tea, hot, with sugar.  Usually English Breakfast.  Every day!  I don't touch coffee or hot chocolate, though I will have a mocha from Starbucks every now and then, when I'm feeling expansive.

7. What is your favorite boy’s name?
Fletcher

8. What is your favorite girl’s name?
Suzel

9. Do you/have you ever owned a pet?
Yes, many.  Lots of cats, a few dogs, a horse, goldfish, and koi.  Currently only have two cats (mother/daughter rescues), and one young Siberian Husky named Silver.

10. What’s your favorite movies of ALL TIME?
This list is large, so let's go with three that are always at the top of the list:  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Aliens (1986), and The 13th Warrior (1999).  Can't live without any of those, neither do I have to be in a specific mood to watch them.  I'm always ready for any of those!

11. Have you ever been on a roller-coaster?
Yes, the small ones at Disneyland, and then the bigger ones at a couple different Six Flags parks in California.  And really, I never need to ride a roller coaster with a big drop again. I derive no pleasure from plummeting.  I do like fast twisty roller coasters with no drops, but those are hard to find.  Space Mountain at Disneyland remains my favorite roller coaster.

And I'm going to not tag anyone here either, because this is apparently a tag-free zone!

August update

Is it autumn yet?  I am so done with the misery that is summer, of not being able to sleep at night because it's too hot, of not being able to take my dog for a walk because it's too hot, of watching my yard die because it's too hot and we're in a severe drought and can't water.  Come on, October, get here already.  End of September will do for starters... the nights finally start cooling off then at least.

Silver is doing well.  Here's a couple pictures I snapped last night, of Rosie cuddling up with him. She love him so much, it's hilarious.  He always cleans her ears and head when she gets close to him.

He really is such a good boy that I have to remind myself he's only 6 months old, and that he will be getting even better as he gets older.  He's rambunctious, of course (puppy!), and so very social.  I've never had any dog who loves other dogs and people as much as he does.  I'm sure he'd love nothing more than if I were to get a second dog.  Some days, I even consider it, as the two would keep each other happily occupied and, more importantly, worn out.  But... I had two dogs for many years, and it was a handful and I'm not sure I want to go there again.  Besides, we have a nice predictable routine right now.  Up at 6, breakfast and play in the back yard awhile.  Take a 1-3 mile walk about 6:45.  I start work at 8 am, and he goes to sleep, and he literally stays asleep until somewhere between 3 and 4 pm.  I mean, come on, how perfect is that?  He's a Husky!  And he's okay with sleeping all day!   I usually take him out around 1 pm to go to the bathroom, but he comes back in and goes back to sleep.  It means I can actually do my job without any interruptions.  Then, after 5 pm, we go play some more, and right now I have to wait until abut 7:30 or later, when we can finally go for our evening walk (and sometimes it's still too hot).  Then I go to my sister's for dinner, and he crashes out again until bedtime.

There's only one problem with this. I'm an ISTP and I hate doing the same thing every day.  It's like a soul-eating torture.  So it's like this blissful, easy way to know what Silver is going to do at any point in the day... while I secretly chafe and stress over the fact that it's so easy and I should really appreciate this but I really want to do something else in the middle of that schedule.  Ah well, I knew when I got him that I'd be giving up one kind of freedom, so I my complaints are really just to vent and then feel better.  The dog comes first.

I got back last week from attending the 50th Anniversary Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, with my sister and my best friend, Hamlette, who has very awesomely posted reports on each day of our activities on her blog, complete with lots of pictures and (as always) more details than I can recall!  It was an absolutely, ridiculously fabulous time with my two favorite people in the whole world.  Wouldn't trade those few days for anything.


Here's one picture: me with a gentleman cosplaying my favorite Star Trek series guest character, Captain Merik, from Bread and Circuses, which is my favorite original Star Trek episode.  I had to get a pic with him!  It was my first time cosplaying anywhere, and it was way more fun than I realized it would be.

Almost done with July

Sorry for lack of posts.  Summer just sucks the life out of me.  Counting down the days for autumn or at least late summer, when the days are still hot but the nights start cooling off.  I never can seem to do anything creative during summer.  I hardly can even bring myself to watch anything during summer.  I just want to sleep sleep sleep until it's over.


Silver is 6 months old, over 42 lbs now, and has been neutered, microchipped, and licensed.  Here's a picture from last week, after he got the stitches out and the cone of shame off and was able to play in his pool again.  He wore himself out and came in and crashed.  Hee.  Puppyhood sure doesn't last long at all.

Move along, move along

This blog is currently quiet because nothing is going on here worth sharing.  No writing, no reading, very little movie watching, not even any walking, but that latter's only because Silver has hit six months and went in to get neutered last week, poor baby.  So, I'm not allowed to take him out and about until the stitches come out next week.  Having a young hyper dog is interesting when you can't wear them out with a couple walks a day.  However, we've had a spat of off-leash dogs -- pit bulls no less -- running around the neighborhood, so maybe the break will get those guys off the street so I can take my dog for a peaceful walk without stressing out about what we'll run into.  We've already been attacked once, really don't need that in our lives.

The Cone of Shame (and pink tongue)

A bird in the tree

We have lots of wild green parrots in Southern California.  I've seen big flocks of them flying over in Whittier.  We don't have many out my way, but last year, we had a single green parrot in our neighborhood.  He was beautiful... and he was lonely.  He cried.  Let me tell you, it was heartbreaking.  He would cry and cry and cry, and we felt so badly for him.  (That's an audio cry, not a tears-from-eyes cry. LOL)  He consoled himself by hanging out with a flock of pigeons.  Where they went, he went, but he cried and cried.  And my family made sad faces at each other every time we heard him.  He was very loud, very distinctive, and very forlorn.

Well, earlier this year, he got a girlfriend!  Or just a pal.  I don't know enough about wild green parrots to know male from female yet.  But he stopped crying, and the two are inseparable.  It's still just the two of them, but they can be seen all over our neighborhood.

Including in my apple tree!

Silver and I spooked them the other day when we were coming back from our morning walk.  And this morning, they came after we were back in the house, and I got to watch them.  I took some monumentally lousy pictures with my cell phone through the window, but it was the best I could do without going outside and spooking them.  My sister was leaving for work at the same time, so I quickly called her and she was able to see them from her car, so she took an equally lousy picture from the other direction.  Still, they're way cool.

They perch on their right leg, pick an apple with their left talon, then hold it up so they can eat it.  It explains all the half-eaten apples I have out there!

Click to make the pictures bigger.

My pic from inside the house... let's play can you find the green parrots on the green tree??

This is the pic my sister took, with only one of the parrots in it.

Amazingly enough, the trees are nearly devoid of apples now, though it make look like there's still a lot.  They're at the end of their run.  I'm happy to let the parrots get some fresh fruit.  I know they love fruit.

And an extra Silver pic, just because.

Silver in June

Not a puppy anymore!  (With his three favorite toys: Hedgehog, Blue Rabbit, and Red Dragon)

He still thinks he's a lapdog, though.

And just because Huskies are big dorks sometimes...

Memorial Day weekend

It's nearly June, and Silver continues to grow. He's up to 30 lbs now.  He's had all his vaccinations and we're now out walking the neighborhood daily, sometimes in the evening as well as the morning.  Depends how much energy he has and what the outside temperature is.  It's still nice out right now, but that's going to change as we head into summer.

I received a copy of a newspaper article from Feb 2nd 1945.  It's about my great grandmother receiving the news that two of her sons had died in WWII within 10 days of each other (one in Belgium, one over the Atlantic).  My dad has always told me the story of my great-uncles, but the article had dates and specifics and reactions.  I'm glad this was saved by family to be passed down.

A gentleman in line behind me at Walmart last week had served in the Korean war.  I thanked him for his service and he seemed greatly pleased to be recognized.  He said how cold it had been while he was there. I had to get home to Silver, but I wish I'd been forward enough to ask him if I could take him for coffee and he could tell me any stories he wished to pass on.  I regret not asking him that.

To all our veterans and servicemen and women, past and present, thank you.

Silver in April

Ack, look how fast he's growing.  19 pounds this morning. 19!!!  He almost doesn't look like a puppy anymore, but has graduated to "young dog."

I've been taking him to "puppy play time," which Petco offers free several times a week to let puppies socialize with other puppies in a safe environment, with a trainer to help correct behavior and keep an eye on everything.  He loves it, and it's always interesting how if there's another Husky pup there, the two will gravitate right to each other.  My sister came with me to the last session, and she said Silver was both the handsomest puppy there, and the most regal.  He stands very proudly, in that classic show-dog stance.  I thought those dogs had to be taught that, but maybe some stand that way naturally?

Sprinkler fun

Looks like Silver is far more interested in water than my previous Husky, who really never wanted to see water, ever.  This video was a couple days ago when it soared up over 90 degrees here.  The following day, it dropped to the 60's and was raining.  He was out playing in the rain, running back and forth repeatedly beneath the drips coming off the garage roof.  Think I'll pick him up a little wading pool for summer.

So far, he's been gaining about two pounds a week.  Yikes!  Growing fast.

Silver update

Silver is fascinated by the television.  I watched Randolph Scott Westerns all weekend, and Silver watched them with me. (Extra points for guessing which movie we're watching in this pic!)

My Rosie cat loves Silver and will rub on him and clean his head.  He's slowly learning to be gentle, as who can not be nice to a mama cat giving you love?  He's now licking her back, though he still wants to play, of course.  Puppy.  Also, when I brought him home, he was smaller than the cats.  He's now bigger.

The awkward places puppies choose to sleep...

I thought I'd call him Silver

This is Silver, my new Husky pup.  His fur is dark, but tipped with silver.  He glows in the sunlight, it's so cool.  He's seven weeks old and has already won my heart.  He's quiet, calm, affectionate, playful, and wants to be wherever I am.  Preferably on me, as you can tell from the above picture.  He thinks he's a lap dog.  The cats are like oh, one of these creatures again.  LOL.

So, in addition to movie reviews, there are now liable to be regular puppy reports.  Hope no one minds!