Baby Elephants

I can't get over how cute our new baby elephant is. Look at him wiggle his little ears and throw that trunk around.


Things are much better since this video was made. Mama & baby are together and all seems well. Yay!

While looking for more pictures of the new baby, I found this file footage from 1962 when Packy, the most famous Oregon Zoo elephant, was born. I thought you'd enjoy a look into the past.

Help Wally Come Home

I know someone famous! This is such an awesome story with a happy ending. Susan, the hero in this story and I work in the same department. She is the nicest person on earth. She was trying to brush the whole thing off as nothing, but as a puppy parent, what she did was amazing. And look at all the things that had to come together to make this work.

Yay Susan! You are a true hero.

New Words

I learned some new words this weeked.

Aug-tober: October-like weather in August.
Our weather has been so much better for the past week or so. It’s been cool and rainy…just the way I like it. The local weather people have been calling it Aug-tober since it seems to be similar to our usual October weather. Since October is my favorite month here in the northwest, that is okay by me! I can't wait for summer to be over. It's pretty much sucked anyway.

Cankles: Legs with no disernable tapering between the calf and the ankle.
Apparently I'm out of the loop on this one. Look, I even found a diagram!

New Baby

Did you see that we have a new baby elephant at the Oregon Zoo? The little guy was born on August 23rd.

He had a rocky start, with his mama kicking him a few times right after he was born. Well, after 22 months of pregnancy and 30 plus hours of labor, and pushing out a 286 pound baby, I’d probably want to kick him, too. The keepers say all is well, but they haven’t put mama and baby back together permanently yet. I guess the little guy has nursed some and she has snuggled him, but the keepers are being very cautious and keeping them separated for the most part. They’ve showed a video clip on the news with the baby bawling for his mama. It’s really heartbreaking…he sounds so sad.

He doesn’t have a name yet. What’s a good name for a baby elephant?

Isn’t he cute? Look at that teeny little trunk.

I Know, Put My Earmuffs on the Cookie

Well, last night was the last musical for the Broadway Rose Theater summer season. Julie & I went to see Night Club Confidential. It was really well done, as always. Not one of my top favorites, but very enjoyable.

It was kind of cool to see a couple of the local actors we've seen in other plays actually in the audience behind us. I have to admit to sqeeeing like a girl (inside of course) when I realized Joe Theissen had just held the door into the building for me. And Julie, the baby-faced actor sitting with him was Bryan Hunt. Ha! I knew it was Bryan! We are such groupies, but from afar. We don't actually talk to them or anything. Gosh no!

I hate it when our theater season comes to an end. Lakewood Theater's season ended in June and we've already seen our first play of the new 08-09 season, Three Musketeers. I had to miss the middle play for Broadway Rose because of my grandma's memorial service, so I feel like it got over really quickly this year.

As those in the know will be able to tell from the title of my post, my favorite musical of the year was Avenue Q. Then The Full Monty. Then Les Miserables.

I just watched the Sweeny Todd movie with Johnny Depp. I thought it was pretty good. It was better than the Phantom of the Opera movie, that's for sure.

I love live theater. Luckily there is always more to look forward to.

Hey, I Got An Idea!

Hey, based on my last post about Wills Carrier, I got an idea.

If someone was really clever, she would get her great friend Pupp to carve a stamp series like Maiden’s Teacher’s series of all the people that have made my life better because of their inventions. We could have

Willis Carrier – AC

Washington Sheffied – toothpaste in a collapsible tube

Tim Berners-Lee – Internet

Dr. John Pemberton – Coca-Cola and thus diet Coke

Ely Whitney – come on, you guys ought to remember this guy!

William Seward Burroughs – Calculator

Alexander Graham Bell – you’d better know this one!

Who else shall we add to our list?

Willis Carrier is My Hero

It's hot. I hate it when it gets this hot. We've had temperatures in the 100s the last two days. I'm a big baby about being hot, which is why I live in an area of the country that is normally cool and rainy. I actually like that.

Yes, I realize that I live, work, and drive in air-conditioned comfort. That doesn’t mean I don’t notice when it is 100 degrees outside when I’m walking the 10 feet from my car to my house. I still get hot then. And all I can see is the dollars flying out of my bank account for the AC.

But who is Willis Carrer, you ask? He is the angel that invented AIR CONDITIONING!

August 2008 Trip to the Beach Part Four: Marm-vana

Continuing on with the story...

After a stop at the grocery store for more food, we drove on to Marm's house. Marm's beach house is totally awesome. I think she said it was built by her husband's parents in the 70s. She goes down there all the time and it's so well set up for a group of people to visit, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and two main living areas, a huge kitchen, two big decks...ahhh. It's Marm-vana (you know, nirvana at Marmalade's house - Marm-vana)! The house is in Pacific City, up on a hill that overlooks the ocean and the..., well, here. Let me just show you.

Here's the house as you drive up the steep curving drive to the house. Right next door (behind me as I took this picture) someone is building a new beach house. Wonder how much that cost 'em?


Here's part of the inside looking towards the kitchen. I only wish my kitchen at home was so big and so well equipped. Man, they have EVERYTHING! Bread maker, crock pot, coffee maker, you name it it was there. Oh, wait. There wasn't a tea kettle. I know what I'm getting her for Christmas now!!

Notice all our crafty stuff on the tables.



This is the main living area. This picture is kinda blurry because I was hurrying. It's full of big squashy chairs and couches with the best blankets I have ever used.


This is the room I shared with Miniles. I slept on the left side. Miniles was the best roomie ever. Everyone said there was a lot of snoring coming from our room, but neither of us heard the other. I think they were making it all up. :-)


Here is what you can see if you look off the deck. Pretty nice, huh? That's Cape Kiawanda there and Haystack Rock or Cape Kiawanda Rock. It's kind of confusing because there is a more famous Haystack Rock up in Cannon Beach.


Peeking through the trees at the ocean.


Kiwanda Rock. Pretty, isn't it?


There is lots of wildlife at Marm-vana. Birds come and visit the feeders all day long. I guess there are a bunch of neighborhood stray cats that think Marm's house is the bees knees, but I only saw a brief visit from one kitty. Marm's a softie, can you tell? Here's a birdie at the feeder.


Along with kitties and birdies, Marm-vana boasts masked midnight visitors. We were treated to a visit from a family of raccoons, mama, papa, and two babies. I have a zillion pictures of them that didn't turn out all that great, but they were so fun to watch. Miniles had brought some peanuts for them and the little critters adored the treat. They would climb up the railing from the lower deck and cautiously peek over. The babies were pretty shy, but mama and papa raccoon would let you toss more nuts to them without running off. We spent a lot of time ooohing and cooing over them.

August 2008 Trip to the Beach Part Three: To Marm's House

I won’t bore with you the details of the rest of the drive down to Marm's beach house (mostly because there weren’t any more great snake stories). In summary I was able to pick up 11 boxes and look for two others before we headed off to Pacific City. Maiden, the big meanie, wouldn’t let me get just that one more box to make a nice round dozen before we got to Marm’s beach house. So I had to go around with an uneven number for a while.

Oh, and we had lunch at Mo's where I got my first look at my dirty butt. It just looked like I pooped my pants, that's all. Luckily, my shirt covered most of it. Yeah, Maiden is my friend.

Here are some pictures of our boxing along the way to the beach house.

This is one of the cannons that Cannon Beach is supposedly named for.


The Ecola sign, which is next to the cannons.


See the crocodile?


Maiden is going to kill me when she sees this picture. Ha ha. That's what you get for telling me you couldn't see the mud on my BUTT! By the way, there isn't mud on her butt. Nice of me to prove it to the entire world wide web, though wasn't it?


Maiden at Mo's where we had lunch. Mmmm, mmmm. Chowder, salad, garlic bread, and diet Coke. A feast for a king. Our waitress was really cool here. We had a clue spread out on the table that looked like a treasure map and she was all curious about it.


My beautiful landscape shot of Haystack Rock.


This must have been a camouflage picture while someone looked for a letterbox. I can't imagine why I took this picture otherwise.


Me climbing more rocks to get another letterbox. By the way, if you ever stop at Oswald West State Park, the waves apparently stop rolling in at 4:30. You would not believe the fancy footwork I had to do to unobtrusively get this stupid box while surfers wandered by in droves headed back to their cars. Hmm, if you look closely I think you might be able to see the mud on my butt.


The boat outside of the Tillamook Cheese Factory where Maiden swore there was a box and had me dig around a scratchy shrub for 10 minutes until she called the planter who told her that it had been pulled ages ago.

August 2008 Trip to the Beach Part Two: The Salt

After the snake incident we got back in the car and headed for Seaside. My butt was a little damp from the mud on the rock, but my good and honest friend Maiden told me no one could see anything. And I believed her.

We stopped at the Klootchy Creek County Park, formerly known as the Largest Sitka Spruce in North America. You might remember that it blew down in a big storm last year. Well, here is what it looks like now.

No, I didn't cut the top off of the picture. The top of the tree is laying on the ground next to it.


The park is full of downed trees and branches. It looks like, well, it looks like a hurricane hit it. Ha ha.








A self portrait


After all the stuff that got destroyed here someone vandalized the sign.


After viewing the park and not finding the box we were looking for (it wasn't our fault though. We only had partial clues and there were big changes in the landscape since the clues were written. We'll try again next time)we headed to Seaside

Maiden & I checked out the box at the Lewis & Clark Salt Works. I had never been here before. It’s kind of weird because it is hidden in this neighborhood and then all of a sudden there is this National Historical Site monument. Kind of like the Alamo being in downtown San Antonio (right next to the Taco Bell, which never fails to crack me up). http://www.lewisandclarktrail.com/section4/orcities/seaside/saltworks/index.htm


Anyway, it’s pretty neat. I guess they do reenactments and stuff here, but there weren’t any going on while we were there. We just got the letterbox and left.







We stopped at a really cool scrapbooking/knitting/needlework shop for a quick look around. I think it was called Creative Beginnings. As we walked in the door there was a black store cat who greeted us. After a quick hello/purr and pet, she asked if she could help us and escorted us to the scrapbooking section. The lady that owns the store came over a bit later and asked the same thing. We told her that the kitty had already taken care of it. I wish I could remember the kitty’s name. It was Divinity or Divinia or something like that.

When I Am Queen of the Universe

When I am Queen of the Universe the following things will be changed…

1. All bathroom stalls will be large enough for a tall and/or Rubenesque woman to walk in and close the door without having to stand on the toilet seat to do so. And they will stay locked once locked, too. None of this sneaky opening while you are in the middle of a pee and have to cut off mid-stream, stand up, shuffle to the door with your pants around your ankles, getting your hems all wet and/or dirty, locking the door, returning to the toilet only to find that your toilet seat cover has sunk and you have to start all over again, and now you’ve wet yourself.

2. All toilet paper dispensers will be required to easily dispense the paper…no stingy dispensing of TP one measly sheet at time. And no shredding allowed. And one-ply TP will be BANNED.

3.There will be a better answer to bras. a) they have a dumb name. b) They never fit right. c) They are expensive and a pain.

4. There will be a better answer to underwear that doesn’t a) ride up, b) roll down, c) tear, and d) in general be a pain in the ass (pun intended).

5. There will be a better answer to panty hose.

6. Men will suffer the pain of child birth right along with the woman. It takes two to make the baby, it should take two to bring it into this world, why should the woman have to bear all the pain alone? Make those men know what real pain feels like. Bet it would cut down on teen pregnancy.

7. Menstruation will be on an individual’s time-table, not Mother Nature’s. It may even be an elective.

8. Fat pounds will be a gift or a curse to be passed out by the Queen’s chosen ones. If you give me good customer service, I may just take away 5 pounds. Tell me my dogs are cute and you get 3 pounds off your total weight (or on if you prefer). Cut me off in traffic…HA! 10 pounds to you, lady!

9. The Queen’s chosen ones get remote controls for life. You can mute the screaming kids, fast forward through boring meetings, rewind to meeting that tall, dark, and handsome man again and again. You can even listen to your life in Spanish if you want!
10. All furniture, appliances, counters, tubs, showers, toilets, sinks, shower curtains, mirrors, and floors shall be dirt/grime/slime/dust-proof. No matter how often you use them, nothing sticks. No scrubbing required. They remain squeaky-clean after each use!

11. Pets will be stain and odor free.

12. All cars will have convenient storage areas for items needed while driving.

13. The Queen of the Universe and her chosen few will have the ability to stop time. This will allow for extra beauty sleep, letterboxing, fun, and relaxation. The ability to stop time is NEVER to be used to catch up on mundane housework or work.

14. Dessert will be better for you than fruits and vegetables.

15. The pants-so-baggy-I-can-see-your-butt-crack look will go away forever. And never return. Never EVER return.

August 2008 Trip to the Beach Part One: The Rock

I had the best weekend last week. I took Thursday and Friday off from work and went down to Pacific City to craft and box with some of my very favorite letterboxing girlfriends in the whole wide world. It was so awesome! I have so many things to tell you about.

I was up bright and early at 5:00 on Thursday morning. I went to the store and got food for the dogs, cooked food for the dogs so Greg wouldn't have to (he'd been having a migraine and felt like crap), packed my stuff, cleaned the kitchen, started the dishwasher, threw in a load of dishes and headed out. Then I stopped at Walmart to get a cheapie cooler and some snacks for the car. You'd be so proud of me. I got only healthy stuff like baby carrots, triscuits, string cheese, and rice cakes. Of course I didn't eat any of it all weekend, but my intentions were good!

Once I got all the crap I needed, I picked Maiden up at Marmalade's house at 10:00. We decided to head out Highway 26 and stop in Seaside and Cannon Beach and pick up boxes as we drove south to Pacific City (which is outside of Tillamook for all you out of town readers. For all you out of state readers, Tillamook is on the Oregon Coast. South of Cannon Beach. And Seaside). We also had to stop on the way at Michael's and get a new log book for Maiden and a Jamba Juice for the road, of course.

The first box we went in search of is in the Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, which is on the way to Seaside. I'd never been here before. There is this winding one-lane road that has lots of dips, potholes, and sheer drop-offs on both sides of the road with no guardrails for seven loooong miles. Uphill. Both ways. Okay, not really, but it felt like it sometimes. So we drove and drove and drove, and finally found the picnic area. Then we went to the rock where the box was hidden. This is my first glimpse of the rock:

Ack! So somehow, and I still haven't figured out how this happened, Maiden gets me to climb up to the top and look for the box while she waited at the bottom and yelled suggestions at me. After much poking around and getting dirt all over me, I finally discovered it hiding under a fern where it should be. Maiden did have to go back to the car to get the clues that she forgot to bring out with us, which gave me time to appreciate the view from the top of this huge rock.

Here's what Maiden was doing while I was poking around for the box.


Once the box was uncovered, I threw my stuff down to her along with the contents of the box and she stamped us in.



After stamping us in, she came and threw the box back up to me. Unfortunately she throws like a girl, so the box ended up in a fern halfway down the rock and right next to THIS:


I swear she did it on purpose because she knows I hate snakes. That damned snake came out of nowhere to block me from getting the baggie to put it back. I only screamed a little when I saw it. And when its tounge flicked out at me. And when Maiden threw a rock at it and it slithered my way. The worst part was that when it finally went away I had to step where it had been to retrieve the bag of box guts and I couldn't see where he went. Eeeeeeewwwwwww. He could have popped back up and wrapped his snakey little body around my ankle. It gives me the willies just thinking about it. I finally retrieved the box stuff, put the box where it belonged and got the hell off that rock.

No more snakes were seen that day...THANK GOD! It does make a good story now, though. And it inspired my new traveller "Snakes on the Trail" which you can only get when you are boxing with me and we come across a snake.

More about the trip later....