Neighborhood Peacock

Our peacock is still hanging out on our block.  It's been here for about 10 days now.  Our next door neighbors just saw it for the first time.  The neighbor on our right called Animal Control because they were worried about it but were told that they don't come rescue anything that flies.  Not sure how well peacocks fly but I have seen it on top of our neighbor's patio cover.  It was sitting up there imitating a car alarm.  The boys are loving it and want to go outside and follow it around.  As I mentioned before, it's really a female so she's a peahen.  We had a funny "Who's on first?" conversation with our neighbors on the left.  They were outside Sunday morning with their camera trying to get a photo of the peahen and I noticed for the first time that the wife was pregnant.  Then we started talking about peacocks vs. peahens and when Jeff asked her if she knew if it was a boy or a girl (meaning her baby) she said, "I thought you said it was a girl... meaning the peahen.  I googled what peacocks eat and one of the flowers they mentioned was petunias.  She'll probably go after my new petunias in the hanging pot.  They will also eat dog or cat food.  I hope she stays around for a while.  Jeff thinks she's too big for cats to go after.  I hope so!  Here she is again if you missed my earlier photo.

My computer is behaving as far as my crazy scrolling problem but now I can't postdate my blogger entries.  I always postdate for 12:01 AM so it is there for the correct day but when I'm getting up in the morning, it's still saying "scheduled."  So Sunday night, I postdated my Monday entry for 11:59 PM Sunday and it still didn't post so the postdate seems to be broken.  Not a big deal.  I'll just publish before I go to bed or when I get up in the morning.  Update- Annie told me it's a known issue and they're working on a fix so I'm not alone.  She gave me a link to try a workaround which I'll look into today.  Thanks Annie!

Friday Field Trips

Ryan doesn't have school on Fridays so we have both of the boys all day.  It makes for a shorter, happier day if we take them out for a little adventure in the morning.  It also helps tire them out so they take nice, long afternoon naps.  On Friday, we went to the Gardens of the World, a botanical garden in Thousand Oaks.  We thought this would be a good choice since Ryan has been taking such an interest in flowers and gardening.  They also really enjoyed the Japanese Garden and koi pond.

Ryan & Jacob at Gardens of the World

Smelling the Roses

Up an Oak Tree

We had a busy movie weekend.  We saw Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol and War Horse on DVD and a Saturday afternoon matinee of Hunger Games.  All good movies!

Bouncing Back

Jacob has bounced back from his sickness.  Here he is playing with my iPad... a cute little musical game called "Monsters."  He doesn't really get how to play it- you touch the monster that has a spotlight on him and it plays different children's songs- but Ryan is a pro at it.

I'm liking Windows 7 and I was able to get everything working including printers that needed updated drivers, etc...  Unfortunately, I still have my problem with my pages scrolling on their own but not as severe as before.  I've tried to take a movie of it so I can show the geeks but every time I start to record, it stops doing it.  I may just hang in there a little longer until I can get a video of the problem.  We're having rain as I write this entry and all my new flowers are loving it.  I used Super-Bloom on my annuals and rose food on the roses and everything is just exploding with blossoms.  Have a great weekend- we'll be back into the 80's!

Windows 7

My latest attempt to solve my computer issue was upgrading from Vista to Windows 7.  The upgrade took several hours but I didn't miss my internet access too much because I was kept busy tending to a sick little boy.  I could tell Jacob wasn't himself when he didn't eat much of his breakfast and went upstairs and laid down on the bed instead of playing with toys.  He fell asleep at around 10:30 which is very unlike him and I could feel that he had a fever.  Jeff was going to Costco to buy my Windows 7 and he came home with a new Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer.  Such an awesome thermometer!  All you have to do is a slow swipe across their forehead and it instantly gives you a reading.  I wish I had this when my kids were little!  I highly recommend this thermometer if you have little ones!  He had a fever of 100.7 and didn't want lunch so I put on his puppy pj's and put him downstairs in his portacrib where he usually naps.  About an hour later I heard him crying which he never does so I went down and got him and put him back in the bed upstairs.  He was whimpering and I could tell he felt miserable.  I kept going into my computer room to check on my upgrade and I heard him crying really loud and found that he had thrown up.  He didn't really have any food in his stomach so it wasn't a big mess but he was very upset.  Ryan was sick like this on Sunday and pretty much recovered in a day so hopefully Jacob will too.  Here he is feeling crummy in his puppy pj's that he loves.  The photo is the first one I've ever taken with my iPad and it's awful!  I don't know who would carry around a big iPad to use as a camera so I guess it doesn't matter.  I just used it since my computer wasn't available since I was doing the upgrade.

         

In the Eye of the Beholder

In addition to planting my annual flower bed in the front yard, I added a few new patio plants to brighten up the backyard patio for our party.  Ryan was so cute when he went downstairs and saw them.  He said, "Oh Nani, pretty new flowers!" and then he told me about new rose bushes at his house.  I thought it was funny that a little boy would be so excited about flowers.  He does like to help me plant and go after weeds.  The trick is making sure he digs up the weeds instead of the plants.  There must be some quote about weeds vs plants along the same line as "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" because some weeds can be rather pretty.  I had to google that and came up with one anonymous quote:  "But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else.  In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit.  Weeds are people's idea, not nature's."  We were tidying up the garden for the party and came upon this row of weeds.  I was about to start pulling them up when I realized they made a pretty border and would look better than bare earth as we didn't have time to replant.  What do you think?

  

I even think they get tiny blue flowers.  They will go eventually when I find something else to put there.  Here are a few photos of the flowers that Ryan approved of.  The first is a tree rose and I should've taken the photo from the side to show that it's a tree rose but wanted you to see the pretty colors.  It's called Rainbow.  Reminds me of a climbing rose bush I have called "Joseph's Coat."

I also got two huge pots of Impatiens.  They need shade or at the most partial sun so will have to move them under the balcony instead of out on the spa where they are now.

Finally, for some instant color, I got an enormous pot of petunias to put in a hanging planter on our patio.  It's pretty spectacular!

The Big Birthday!

We had a nice turnout for George's (Jeff's dad) 90th birthday on Sunday.  The weather was beautiful and it was great to get so many of the relatives together.  Many hadn't seen each other in years.  I don't have time to write much but will try and catch up later in the week.  I'm still having problems with my computer so may end up taking it into to the geek squad.  Unfortunately the new keyboard and mouse didn't solve my problem.  Someone suggested upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 so may look into that.  It's always something.  I'll leave you with a photo from yesterday.  This is a photo of the three siblings.  George's sister Betsy, brother Mack in the middle and George on the right.  They are each three years apart with Betsy being the youngest and George the oldest.  George doesn't look or act 90!  Good genes!

Intermezzo

Definition of Intermezzo:  a brief entertainment between two acts of a play

Or in music:  a short movement separating the major sections of a lengthy composition or work.

Or in my continuing battle with insomnia:  a new drug!  Intermezzo was just approved this month and is for people who awaken after a few hours of sleep and can't get back to sleep.  I had a particularly bad night on Tuesday.  Went to sleep around 10:30PM and woke up at 1 AM and could not get back to sleep.  I was so irritated because there was no reason for my sleeplessness... not worrying or thinking about anything.  I called my doctor's office in the morning and asked for a Rx for Intermezzo.  It is so new that my doctor hadn't even heard of it. I told his nurse to tell him to google it.  She called back a little later and said they had just called it in to Costco and Costco told them they had just received it that morning for the first time.  So I am on the cutting edge (or I'm a guinea pig) and will let you know how it works out for me.  You are not supposed to take it when you first go to bed.  You are only supposed to take it if you wake up and still have around 4 hours of sleep left ahead of you- hence the intermezzo name.  HERE's the news report where I first heard about it.

The continuing computer problem...  Scanning my computer for spyware didn't help the problem but I did find exact descriptions of my problem when I googled it and one suggestion that seemed to help others was to get a new keyboard and mouse.  I have a wireless keyboard and mouse and I've worn off some of the letters so I figured that was worth a try since I could use a new one anyway so I found a good sale at Office Depot on a MS Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000.  Will let you know if that solves my problem! So far, so good!  Fingers crossed! 

Yet Another Field Trip

Had another field trip to go to yesterday.  Jacob always wants to go along so I take him, too, if he's allowed to go.  This was to a new park where they have a huge playground that is accessible for handicapped children.  It was a gorgeous day- in the 80's.  This field trip was rescheduled from last Tuesday when it was raining so even though it was a little late, there was an Easter egg hunt.  The park has a western theme so I took this photo of Ryan and Jacob in jail.

Taking my computer apart, vacuuming it and checking connections didn't fix the problem so I downloaded Spybot- Search & Destroy and ran that.  When I googled the problem- screen scrolling to the bottom- that was one possible solution to the problem.  The problem with taking it in to a repair shop is that the problem is intermittent.  You know how when your car is making a funny sound and then when you take it in to the shop it doesn't make the sound... that's probably what would happen.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

Just a quick hello.  My computer is acting up.  I think I may have a video card problem.  The screen keeps rolling and scrolling to the bottom of the page like it has a mind of it's own. It almost felt like someone had taken over my computer.  Ran a virus scan and it didn't find anything.  Jeff is going to take it apart, vacuum it and make sure all the connections are tight.  With all we have to do to get ready for the party, it's probably a good time to be computer-free!

Partay!

We've been busy getting ready for a birthday party next Sunday. Jeff's dad, George, is going to be 90 on April 22 so we thought it would be a great idea to have a party.  It will be a Sunday afternoon open-house type of party and it will be a nice chance for some of the relatives and old friends who don't see each other that often to get together.  I also knew that having a party would be a good incentive to get around to some of those projects that have been put off.  One project that Jeff already finished was painting the front door on the inside.  He's currently cleaning the kitchen tile floor grout and resealing it.  I've been working on my front yard annual flower bed.  Last week I pulled up the pansies, weeded and then we put down a weed killer.  We decided against using landscape fabric.  You need to cover it with mulch like wood chips and I don't want to have to do that. It's okay for a permanent planted area but I dig this area up twice a year for spring/summer and then fall/ winter annuals so having chips would make it to difficult for digging... so we'll see if just the weed killer helped. I took a photo but it looks much nicer in person but here it is anyway.  The front row is yellow and orange marigolds and behind that are three different colors of gerbera daisies.

I have a little temporary fence up to keep our neighbor's small dogs from trampling them.  They like to use our yard as their potty.  Not really thrilled with that but they always pick up after them and other than that, they are great neighbors.  After a rainy Friday, we have great weather on the horizon which will be nice for the party.  

Bucket List

In case you missed Tuesday's post I wanted to reinsert Jacob's video here.

Jacob has to do everything by himself... no matter how long it takes!

Do you have a "Bucket List?"  Things you want to do before you "kick the bucket?"  Mine is starting to grow longer and longer.  Now all we need is the freedom to do some of them.  Mine mostly consist of places I want to travel to.  Not on my bucket list are things like bungee jumping or sky diving.  Always near the top of my list is to stay in one of the over-the-water bungalows in Tahiti or Bora Bora.  How fun would that be?  Can you imagine sipping a tropical drink and watching the sunset?  Ahh!

I just downloaded the iPad app 1000 Places to See Before You Die which is based on the book of the same name.  I don't think I'll have time to visit that many places!  Speaking of apps, how about the iphone app Instagram selling for 1 billion dollars to Facebook.  And only 13 employees.  Why didn't we think of that?    

Little Mr. "No I Do It!"

Remember my post from the other day about Jacob having to do everything himself? Here's video proof showing how our day goes.


Jacob has to do everything by himself... no matter how long it takes!

Crash!

Not us... we were just witnesses.  We were leaving the Oaks Mall and waiting at a busy intersection for a green arrow.  The light was red for the traffic going in our direction.  All of a sudden the lady in the lane next to us started pulling out against the red light.  Jeff and I both noticed what she was doing and I said something like, "This is not going to end well."  She made it across two lanes but an SUV was coming in the far right lane and clipped her in her rear bumper.  It sent him sailing across the intersection where he hit the center divider and flipped over.  There were cars everywhere so it was lucky no other cars were hit.  Jeff stopped and I got out and went across the street to where other people had helped the man in the SUV get to safety and a place where he could sit down.  He was bleeding from the head and dirty but otherwise coherent.  I wanted him to know Jeff and I had witnessed the whole thing so I gave him a note with our name and phone number. By then the police were there (everyone including Jeff had called 911) and the policeman asked me for my driver's license and other info so he could take my statement and make a report.  As many cars as were around, only a few had seen the whole accident play out in front of them.  One other man was there and said he saw it the same way I was reporting it.  Scary how quickly those things can happen and we had Jacob in the backseat with us, too.  It was nice to see how the people in our community sprang into action.  You see those reports so often where no one wants to get involved.    

Easter Weekend

We had a nice Easter weekend.  Justin and Sarah arrived on Saturday with Sierra and Buddy so we had a full house again.  Buddy and Sierra settled in quickly this time after their week here last month.  Buddy slept in his crate and didn't bark at all.  Sunday morning we had an Easter breakfast of Belgian waffles and fresh strawberries and Jeff and Justin also had Canadian bacon.  After breakfast, we took all four dogs to the dog park.  Jeff's still getting over his cold so we had a pretty low key weekend.

Saturday was also Pat and Jessica's 5th anniversary!  It doesn't seem that long ago that I was writing about the wedding plans in Lake Tahoe.  Here's a photo from that day.

Pat & Jessica 4-7-2007

Jessica has photos of the boys on Easter and their Easter egg hunt so if she sends some to me, I'll post them tomorrow.

No, I Do It!

This is what I hear all day, "No, I do it!"  I'm sure all mom's or grandmother's of two year olds can relate!  Jacob is in that self-sufficient stage where he wants to do  e v e r y t h i n g  by himself!  It starts first thing in the morning when he arrives and we go into the kitchen to get breakfast.  He has to climb up into his counter stool that has the little baby seat attached, has to latch the seatbelt himself and has to eat with no assist from Nani.  Then we reverse the routine and he has to unlatch the seatbelt, climb down and go upstairs where he has to take a DVD out of the case all by himself!  They are hard to get out and he's actually cracked one before trying to get it out so I usually try and assist as unobtrusively as I can.  I'm not complaining... he's getting to be a big boy now and as often as I hear, "No, I do it," I also hear "Oh yeah!"  Here's a photo of Jacob from our little getaway last week.  He's intrigued by the firepit!

       

Hump Day Happenings

Jeff caught the boys' cold so I've had my hands full taking care of my usual responsibilities plus some of Jeff's so my blog posting might be scarce for a few days.  Yesterday, Ryan helped me dig up our flower bed where I plant annuals.  Instead of Iceland Poppies this year, I had Pansies.  I'm getting the bed ready for spring/summer flowers- usually Zinnias- but I may plant something different this year.  I'm always fighting a lot of weeds and grass in this flower bed so I may add some weed killer and maybe a weed barrier.  HERE's a link on eHow explaining what I have in mind.

Meatless Monday continues.  This past Monday I made spaghetti with meatless ground.  Don't ask me ground what?  All I know is there's no pink slime.  I bought this meatless ground at Costco and we added it to a huge jar of Prego Heart Smart Italian Sauce, also from Costco. We only needed one packet (there are 4) of the meatless ground.  I also added mushrooms.  The sauce with the meatless ground tasted fine!  We couldn't really tell it wasn't ground beef.  The big taste test was between 2 different Barilla pastas.  One was whole grain thin spaghetti and the other was Barilla Plus Angel Hair.  You know what, we liked them both. The first has a little more fiber and the second has a little more protein.  The wheat pastas have come a long way since they first came out.  They used to be really tough and tasteless. That's why I bought the thinner pastas like angel hair but I'm guessing pasta like penne would be fine, too.      

 

It's All Happening at the Zoo

We survived the trip to San Diego Safari Park.  Kat mentioned that she didn't think I liked zoos and I really don't like small zoos where animals are like prisoners in cages.  Those make me sad but places like Safari Park are much different.  They have big open spaces where the animals roam free.  It's actually a pretty sweet life for these animals because they are safe from predators, well-fed, taken care of if they get sick and often have breeding programs where animals are brought back from the brink of extinction.  One of the things we went to see is the Butterfly Jungle which is a special event.  Here's a photo of the boys getting ready to go visit the butterflies.

  

Ryan was a little spooked when they began to land on him so I didn't get many photos but Robin was shooting away with her camera so some of the photos will be hers.  

The boys also really enjoyed the bats but I didn't take any photos of the bats but I did get this one of Jacob.

To show you what I mean by the nice large habitats the animals have, here's a shot of  the elephant's area.

You can pay extra for an up close and personal caravan safari adventure to visit the giraffes and rhinos.

Here are a couple of photos of gorillas Kokomo and baby Monroe.

Everyone loves Meerkats!

And this is what Nani and Bapa like to see at the end of a long couple of days with Ryan and Jacob.

We didn't stay for the Cheetah Run at 5 PM but Robin got a photo for us so we could see what we missed.