Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess!!!

For a while I wasn't posting because our euphoria over ducklings had turned to sadness when they turned up missing a few days after my last post. But we now have word that our neighbors watched the whole family trundling down the sidewalk to the creek at Goar Park a block away. Nothing much is going on here. Matt moved into his apartment on the 7th, and that's been super fun. We had the wedding shower on the 14th, and goodness, we had a great time and got some wonderful gifts. Every day I check the mail for reply cards to the wedding, which is fun too. But the most exciting thing going on right now is E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)! They are revealing all the next-gen consoles and games and I just watched the new Zelda trailer and it was amazing! And I want a Xbox 360, PS3, and Nintendo Revolution - they look great (although Nintendo has me worried that theirs won't be competitive). That's all for now.

Make Way for Ducklings

Yesterday Mom and Dad got back from the ranch. When Dad when back to their bedroom and looked in our pool, he was surprised with the sight of a mama duck and eleven ducklings swimming around! We knew that a pair of ducks had been frequenting our pool in the last six weeks, but we didn't know Mama had build a nest back in the corner under a bush. Sadly, after watching them for a while, we realized the babies couldn't get out of the pool. We made them their own stairway on top of the highest step out of bricks, but they wouldn't go to it. So...Mom chased them around the pool with the skimmer while I herded with a broom. When she got one in the skimmer, Mom would fling them into the bushes as quickly as possible (otherwise they tended to fall either back into the water or on something hard). I had to pick up several by hand to transport them (they aren't nearly as quick on land). They are about hand-sized too. So cute!

Well, Mama Duck moved them down into another part of the back yard that got them stuck, so Mom and I found two pieces of wood shelving. One became a buoyant ramp out of the pool and the other a ramp from a low part of the yard back into the planter that contained their nest. They got the hang of that pretty quickly. So far this morning, they've spent their time sunning on the concrete, swimming in the pool, and nesting in the greenery.

The UP Animal Control officer that convinced us to let them stay (in a real pond they'd be turtle food at this age) said that Mama will come back to us next year to lay her eggs again. She called our backyard a duck heaven. Oh, and I'd love to post pictures, but I'm not yet prepared to do so on this computer. But when I can, I will.

Hokay, so...

Yes, it's been a while. I was waiting to let more people comment on the awesomeness of the apartment, but I was disappointed. Bad readers!

The major events in the last couple weeks have been work-related. I got a call from my boss a couple days before my last post asking if I could start working the Sunday overnight shift (6pm-8am) that Sunday (the 24th). I suspected I knew the reason why he'd ask with relatively little lead time, and turns out I was right (someone was fired and the peasants rejoiced). So I said yes. If nothing else, I was pumped about not having to get to work until 6:00 rather than 4:00. So that Sunday, which happened to be Matt's birthday, I worked my first official overnight shift. The only major event took place before the overnight, when Raye-Jean, Pablo, and I were trying to take an x-ray of a 95 pound, seven-month-old greater Swiss mountain dog. She exploded with urine and managed to get all of us. Luckily I was wearing my lead apron which took the majority of it, but I also got it on my arms and (ick) face. Everyone else had a good chuckle. Except Raye-Jean - she had to go wash her pants in the bathroom sink and try to dry them with a hair dryer so her leg would stop burning, all the while grumbling about stupid owners who don't train their big dogs. At midnight, everyone but four of us techs (Raye-Jean, Malaika, Stephanie, and me) and two vets (Drs. Jackson and Ferguson) went home. The overnight wasn't too bad, but we were kept busy. After all the animals were gone in the morning, I went and had breakfast with Malaika and Stephanie at The Original Pancake House and then we went to David's Bridal, where Stephanie had picked out her wedding dress (she's getting married next year). We got to see her model it, and then she got to take it home! Then I went home and crashed.

On Tuesday night, Piper had a play-date with Malaika's two kittens, known as "The Boys" (Shango and Ishu), two of Jennifer's cat's 9 kittens. Piper went over there and was quite the unsocialized torti, hissing and snorting the entire time. To their credit, the boys were very polite hosts. I also spent some time with Carmen last week. We had a late lunch on Thursday at Amore, came back to the house so she could say hi to Piper and meet Mom, Dad, and Murphy, and then walked around Snider Plaza a while.

On Saturday, Matt, Susie, and I had a wedding invitation stuffing and stamping party. In a couple hours, we had them all bundled up and ready to go. Mom and Dad mailed them yesterday (they were Mom's babies; she looked back over her shoulder when she had to leave them at the post office). Last Sunday brought my second official overnight experience. I was more used to it, meaning I was able to see midnight as halftime rather than game over. I had four patients, one of whom was a 150 pound mastiff mix named Baby! He was a good boy, though, recovering from surgery that afternoon. No breakfast or excitement for me after work this time, though - I came home and crashed for a few hours instead. I'll get my sleep schedule sorted out eventually.

This Saturday Matt will move into the apartment! We're very excited. :) This is his one time to live by himself!