The Hamster

Richelle brought home her little hamster today. It was a little traumatic getting it. We went in Saturday to get one only to find that they were sold out. How disheartening! Poor Richelle had to wait until the last errand was run before we went to the pet store to pick one out and, believe me, it was a long wait. We'd left the house at about 11:30am and we didn't get to the pet store until around 5:30pm (since it costs nearly two gallons of gas to get to town and back in the Explorer, I consolidate errands whenever I can). The store was completely sold out. There are two basic kinds of hamsters, normal size and pygmy, and this store also carries long-haired breeds of each but they were out of everything. Not one single hamster. We talked to a sales person who told us she was expecting a fairly large shipment early Monday morning and to come in after school.


Late this morning, Mike had an errand to do in town so we talked him into taking us with him. Richelle was antsy and shot to the back of the store where the small animals are kept (ferrets SMELL!) to be greeted by....................empty cages. Evidently, the shipment wasn't due for a while, maybe a couple of days. Richelle's frustration was evenly divided between the store in general and the sales person from Saturday in particular. They suggested, and we did, leave our name and number with the front desk to call us when they arrived. Mike told Richelle that she looked as if she'd just lost her last friend.

The store called at 2:30pm to tell us the shipment had arrived and the hamsters were ready for sale. There was no question in my mind; this called for a special trip into town. She went, she saw, she's happy. The little rodent's name is Sokki pronounced "Soak-ie". She's had the name for weeks now and is ecstatic to have the animal to go with it.

The first picture is of little Sokki climbing the tube from the living area to the exercise ball. It must have been quite a climb for him because after a couple of runs he fell asleep in the flat part of the tube between bends.

The second picture is of Sokki cleaning himself. Or maybe he's nibbling on something. The blue is the corner of the cage, the clear yellow is the tube leading up to the exercise ball, and the food dish is the green in the right corner. The colorful thing to the left is his little house made from his carry-home box with the flaps cut off and a hole cut for a door. There's a yellow chew-toy inside. She decided that a cardboard box was just fine for his house and she didn't need him to have a fancy-dancy igloo. Besides, that's a $7 savings for her. Good thing, too, if he's going to be sleeping in the tunnel. She's paying for everything at her own insistence and our encouragement. The only thing I bought was a $6 book on the care of hamsters.

Her allowance covers food and bedding but she's wanting to earn extra money to pay for habitat extensions and other fun stuff for little Sokki. So now we have clean windows, my plant leaves are dusted......

First Day of Work

Cameron had his first full day at work at a "real" job. He chose to take the 10 hour day/4 days a week shift. The shift starts at 5am. This means that he needs to plan on getting there by 4:30am because of the length of the commute. It takes 45 minutes to drive there. This morning he needed to be there by 4:30 for last-minute training so he had to leave at 3:30am. GAG! This was hard on me because I was afraid he'd sleep through his alarm. He has a habit of thinking he's awake and he isn't. So I set my alarm for 3am, thinking that if he wasn't up when it went off there's still be time for him to get up and out the door by 3:30. Not to worry. He was up and around by 2:45. I quietly turned off my alarm and when he left, fell back asleep.

It wasn't a very good sleep because I kept waking up with a jolt and had to remember that he'd already left for work in good time. I had programed myself to worry and did a fine job of it all night long. I took a short nap this afternoon and felt guilty because Cameron couldn't.

So you know how your kids come home from some function or overnighter or something and have to share with you every single detail of their time away from you? Cameron didn't even wait to get home. He called on his cell. It was interesting because Mike worked in the green end at the time we were married and for, oh, maybe six years more before he went into management. I was curious about what Cameron would tell me about pulling green chain. One of the first things he complained about was the stench of peeled hemlock. I was transported back in time about twenty years and it was Mike complaining about having to pull hemlock. I guess it's something pretty bad and any slivers you get fester up in a matter of hours.

A quick explanation here for those who aren't familiar with the process of making plywood. The logs are stripped of their bark and sent into a pressurized steam tunnel for an amount of time depending on the type of wood. The purpose of the tunnels is to drive the water into the wood, totally saturating it. The logs then come out of the tunnels and are peeled with a lathe. Just like a wood-shop lathe where the wood spins and you press a knife to it to make the design, the logs spin and are laid against a very long blade (4, 8, or 10 feet long) that has been adjusted for how thick the peel needs to be (measured in millimeters). The log is reduced to a very, very long "ribbon" (called veneer) of very, very thin wood. Here's where the steam is needed. If there isn't much moisture, the wood will break and curl. Soaked with water, it holds together and lays flat. The veneer goes through the clippers and then down a chain where most is removed by machine and some is removed by hand. This is where Cameron is. Yes, it is heavy. In about a week and a half, you'd be silly to challenge him to an arm-wrestling match.

I guess he didn't do too badly and got some encouraging words from his crew. He came home starved and exhausted and ate a large supper, but I couldn't get him to go to bed until about 11:30pm; he was that wound up. He doesn't work until Monday or he'd have gone much earlier. The beauty of working 4/10 is that you get three day weekends.

So endeth his day.

Flowers and baskets

Thought I'd post some pictures of my roses and of the hanging baskets.




This one I picked as a bud and watched it open indoors.



This is the same rose shot with the micro setting. I spritzed it with water and Cameron took the picture.


Cameron took this one too. He went outside in the dark and rain where he used a tripod, the low-light setting, and a mini-mag for lighting. That kid sure has an eye for the artistic. He had a little trouble because of the rain. This is really the only one of about eighteen shots that turned out very well because with the low-light setting, things have to be perfectly still or they'll blur and raindrops hitting a flower cause just enough motion to make things interesting.



And now (drum roll, please) the persecuted hanging baskets.....

Himself wants to yank out the alyssum and put in something that will bush out and droop faster. If I can only keep his impatient fingers away from them another week, he may become grumpily resigned to their rate of growth. I may talk him into inserting flowers into the sides of the basket through the coconut fibers. That'll give him the illusion that the flowers are filling out, anyway.


A picture of our front patio. The full baskets hanging on either side of the windows are my Mom's Day gift from him. THAT is what he wants the new baskets to look like already. Never mind that they were started WEEKS ago!

Sunday

Sunday was a very interesting day. Mike's brother Bob and his wife Jackie just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on the 28th of last month and their daughter put together a small, informal get-together for them. It was to be a surprise, so those that had early service at their churches attended it and came to Bob's house afterwards. Jessica opened the house, decorated, set up the lunch, and everyone gathered in anticipation of Bob and Jackie's arrival from the later service (they almost attended early service causing great anxiety but that's a different story).

We waited and paced........paced and waited........turns out that someone wanted to talk to Bob about the kidney he'd donated in March and then they decided they needed to stop by the store for a few items. As Jessica said, it's hard to call someone and tell them they're holding up the party that they know nothing about!

They finally arrived and were quite surprised. We didn't leap out at them and yell or anything primarily because our cars were parked at the curb. No one wanted to park a block and a half away and walk to the house. So they figured something was up when they saw all our cars and, being the intelligent people they are, figured it was something along the lines of an anniversary party.

Then came the surprise for Mike and I. Everyone else (excluding Bob and Jackie who knew absolutely nothing) knew it was a double celebration in honor of both Bob and Jackie AND of Mike and me! NOW who's surprised?! What a nice bunch of people!

(That's our nephew behind us)

You see, when our anniversary came in November, our kids didn't plan any celebration for us in spite of the pressure applied by Mike's parents. This didn't bother Mike or me at all. I don't know about Mike but if there was some big to-do for us, it would have painfully reminded me of the gap left by the loss of our Melissa. Knowing her love of all things celebratory, she would have had something planned in detail months in advance. So it was a perfect celebration for Mike and I to take a week's quiet, leisurely tour up the Oregon coast. We never thought we'd missed out on anything and the thought never crossed our minds to be envious of Bob and Jackie or to feel sorry for ourselves. What a lovely bunch of people to include us!

(I tried to flip this pic but couldn't figure out how. It was right when I uploaded it.)

I was so oblivious to looks, comments, and whispers that when Lela asked me to help bring in the cake, I trotted along after her. There were two boxes and I STILL didn't pick up on anything. I just thought that they needed two cakes because they were small and there were a couple dozen people. Didn't occur to me that they'd get one bigger cake instead of two smaller ones. I was about to set the box on the counter when I heard Mike behind me say, "Dear, I think we've been Shanghaied." He had to say that a couple times before it sank into my admittedly thick skull just WHY there were two cakes. Some people are so oblivious!

(Richelle showing the aging parents the controls)

Ray and Lela gave each couple a beautiful wood and crystal music box that plays 16 full songs for each of the three settings of "bells", "piano", and "organ" for a total of 48 full songs. We were also given a double picture frame to hold 5x7 "then and now" pictures. And, of course, congratulatory cards. What a sweet bunch of people!


(Is this pretty or what?)

So that was an amazing Sunday afternoon. I left feeling like a queen!

Those flower baskets

I saw Mike walk outdoors this evening with his measuring tape and followed him to see what he was going to build next. Turns out he was measuring the flowers in the baskets. I guess he wanted solid proof to back up his assertions that they are growing.

Cameron keeps walking into one of them....you'd think he'd learn after getting clobbered a few times.

When I get my camera back, I'll post a few pics of them. I'm suppose to get it tomorrow. We'll see if Nick remembers it when he brings back the camping gear he borrowed along with the camera.

Friday

This afternoon, Cameron decided he wanted chicken fried chicken for supper. It's one of his favorite entrees. He rummaged around in the freezer until he found the chicken tenders and thawed them out and Richelle got some potatoes to prepare. I told Cameron to go ahead and trim up the tenders while I peeled the potatoes and he got a rather revolted look on his face. Touch raw chicken?? I pointed out that if he was planning to make this after he moved out, he was going to have to plan on touching raw chicken. He thought really fast and said he'd rather watch me do it this time so he'd know how to do it next time. I told him I knew that was only and excuse but went ahead and it anyway. He watched closely but never asked to try it himself even after watching me do three or four.

I love making this supper because both the kids are in the kitchen with me. Richelle dips the tenders in the milk, dredges them in flour, then drops them in the beaten eggs. Cameron fishes them out, coats them in crushed Ritz crackers or crushed Special K cereal (whichever we have on hand), then takes them to me to fry. I'm standing at the stove monitoring the cooking and the kids are working together at the sink board getting them ready at a pace that isn't too fast or two slow. I mean, the kids are working together! Without a hint of an argument!! Tonight, I told them that even if I went without supper, I'd still consider it a success because of the fun we had preparing it. They agreed. Then asked if I planned to eat supper.

I didn't even think until this moment to get any pictures but it's a moot point. I don't even have my camera. Nick borrowed it last weekend and I haven't gotten it back yet.

Tuesday

The last Tuesday of the month is when our home school group gets together at the bowling alley for a couple of hours. We love the fun and visiting with friends and throwing the balls down the lanes. Well, the kids love all of the above while I concentrate on the visiting-with-friends bit. This is a great group of people and the new bowling alley is so cool with black-lighted lanes, pins, and balls, bumpers that come up automatically as programed into the main computer for those who request them which allows kids to bowl together regardless of expertise, couches as well as tables and chairs, and an extremely well-equipped arcade.

But here is a changing of an age. Cameron wasn't able to bowl this month because of a job interview conflict. Sometimes it's hard to believe he's old enough to be job- and apartment-hunting, budgeting for life on his own and college. Yikes! Seems like it was just a month ago that he crossed over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Anyway, he had the interview with the mill and one home school couple at the bowling alley is so interested in his success that the mom jumped every time my cell rang, hoping it was Cameron telling me the interview was over and he was hired. Eventually that call came through I was able to tell her that although he wasn't hired on the spot, he did have an appointment for a physical and they said they'd call in a few days for an orientation meeting.

After the bowling, I took Richelle to the bank so she could exchange $46 WORTH OF PENNIES! for paper money. Why? She wants a hamster. She's been collecting pennies since her seventh birthday and decided that a hamster is the ideal thing to spend them on. She did ask Mike for permission and he told her it was all right with him as long as she promised to take good care of it and did research to find out how to do that. She did and she did. She's done quite a lot of research actually, and can go on at length about the care, diseases, health, habits, habitats, and the best prices to get food, bedding, treats, etc.

Who rolled the pennies? Richelle and Yours Truly. One would count and the other would roll until Richelle got bored with her job and we'd switch. I ought to have taken a percentage for effort. We did it all at once and then had to go through them Tuesday morning because I realized that there were half a dozen times that I saw an old penny with the heads of wheat on the back and set it aside....then didn't replace it before rolling the stack! Duh.

So we went to PetCo where they had the habitat and a chew toy Richelle wanted and then went to Wal*Mart for the bedding, chew sticks, and food. She didn't get the hamster because she wants to have everything set up for it before-hand. The habitat Richelle got came with a water bottle, food dish, and exercise wheel that doubles as a zip-around ball. When she gets the hamster, she'll get the salt wheel, lava chews, and possibly some treats.

Richelle started complaining that she was hungry when we left the bowling alley around 3pm. As time went on, she increased in frequency and theatrics as only 11-year-old girls can do. Wal*Mart was the last stop and as we crossed the parking lot to the car, she was in fine form, slumped forward, staggering a bit, moaning plaintively, "I am SO hungry!"
"How hungry are you?" I intoned.
"Hungry enough to eat a WHOLE MEAL!" she exclaimed.
The guy walking a little behind us snorted.

The rest of the day was pretty dull. Except for when Mike said that the flowers in the hanging pots were growing. How can he tell? We just transplanted them Saturday! Maybe the times he went out there and yelled at them to grow had an effect?