I've been internet-less for a day and a half!  I'm going to try and catch up with what's been going on, but you guys have been busy!!

Happy 4th of July!

And a belated:

Happy Canada Day!

Hey, I can hear you groaning out there! :-)

From here on out, there are not many people pictures.  The day after the wedding, a Sunday, I drove to my friend's house to spend the rest of my trip there.  She's been my dearest friend for over a decade, and I adore her and her place.  It is, to blatantly steal a term from java_fiend , my Shangri-La.  It was a four hour drive from my brother's house to my friends.  AND if my brain had been working properly, I could have saved myself the trip I took on the first full day, to check my belongings in storage, since I had to drive through that town on my way.  *headdesk*
( To the country... )

These are the words which were chosen by purdypiedad  for the 'words meme.'

Newfies: As is commonly known, we have a Newfie (Newfoundland Dog) as our canine companion. He is our second Newf, and we still miss the late Rochester very much. I grew up with a German Shepard Dog as our family pet, and Mr. Mav didn't have dogs, his family are devout cat people (we do have 4 cats here, by the way). When Mr. Mav and I were first married, I had a Great Dane, but the two of them didn't really bond. After we lost her, it was years before I broached the subject of getting a dog. When we lived in San Diego, we had a small yard on a busy street and didn't feel it was the right place for a dog. When we were preparing for our move up here, and had found our house, and it's three acres, I thought it was time to bring a dog back into our family. Mr. Mav knew I really wanted a big dog, I have nothing against small dogs, I just like big dogs. In order for him to feel part of the process, I asked if there was any breed he was really enthusiastic to have. He didn't have to think long, when he was younger a friend's family had a Newfie and he thought it was a great dog. So, mission accomplished, we were getting a dog, and a big one at that. Yes, our dog is spoiled, he goes to doggy day care, he accompanies us whenever he can. The one thing that always makes the hubs and I smile is that every single time we go anywhere with Fergus in tow, someone will always say, "That's a big dog." Really, we hadn't noticed.

Dance: Like many girls, I took ballet lessons. Unlike most, I continued classes until I was well into high school. I wasn't very good, but I really enjoyed it and it instilled a life long love of dance. I, naturally, prefer ballet, but I have a deep and abiding respect for dance of all types. Being not very good myself, I think, makes me really appreciate someone who is a good dancer. I absolutely love a show called So You Think You Can Dance, it's introduced me to styles of dance I wasn't familiar with before, mainly hip hop and ballroom styles. I love this show, I watch it every week and vote for my favorite dancers. I'm always thrilled when my favorites do well and I am pretty good at picking the best dancers. Each season (so far) my favorites have been on the final show, even though they don't win.

Photography: I have always been fascinated by photography and have always had a camera. I didn't really start taking it seriously until I joined the fabulous 100_snapshots   community. I've often wondered how many of the 'regulars' over there have upgraded their cameras as a result of taking on the challenge. I am always in awe of some of the photos I see there and aspire to eventually be able to take photos as lovely as those I see there.

Star Trek: That's right, I'm a Trekkie. I wirite really bad ST Fan Fiction (which I have neglected horribly lately).  We own DVDs of all the series and movies and watch them almost constantly. We've only ever been to one convention and that's probably all we'll ever attend. It was fun but more than a little overwhelming.

Sonic: What more can I say, I'm addicted. Mainly I go to Sonic drive ins to fill up on lime slushes. I will occasionallyl have a burger, but mostly it's all about the beverages.When we lived in the very small Texas town (before we moved to San Diego) I never really gave Sonic a second thought. However, when something that is a huge part of your normal routine is suddenly just gone, you realize how much it is missed. I am still thrilled that we now have a Sonic in the area.                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                               

I nicked this one fromedith_jones .  As I understand it, I'm to post the photo which is my current desktop and write 5 sentences about it.


1. This is my current desktop photo, I tend to change my desktop fairly frequently.
2. The photo was taken with my 35mm Canon AE-1 Camera with the macro lens.
3.  Taken in my SIL's wonderful back yard, it's sitting on the table.
4.  The rock used to sit on my mother's dressing table, and my SIL once again shows her consideration by having this small reminder of my mom in her yard.
5. I'm the most boring person on the planet, taking a picture of a rock and using it as my desktop

For those of you from the 100 Snapshots community who are curious about the Secret in secret, if you want to see it explained look under the cut.

( Secrety secret )

First things first, we have been in a bit of a panic around here.  Our oldest cat, Jerry the one eyed wonder has recently developed an odd lump in his empty eye socket.  Grossness aside, the hubby and I were very, very worried this would be the time we would have to have him put down.  He's been in ill health most of his life.  Bad ears, bad eye, diabetic, and at the age of 15, this is all starting to tell on the poor fellow.  Anyway, we took him to the vet yesterday, thoroughly convinced he wouldn't be coming home with us.  Needless to say, Mr. Mav and I were very tense.  So, we drop him off and go to complete our errands and the vet will do an exam while we're gone.  Anyhoo, we get back to the vet, it's just an infection, he'll be fine.  So, we take our little kitty home and he is petted within an inch of his life.  He was really loving all the attention he was getting.  Yay!!!!

So, last night my 'super power' was once again activated.  I could not get to sleep last night, I was tired, I'd had a busy (for me) day and there was nothing bothering or worrying me, I'd had a big worry eased at the vet's office.  So, why couldn't I sleep?  This has happened a few times since we moved to the west coast.  On a handful of occasions, I've just not been able to sleep, and there was no obvious cause.  I can usually tell what's keeping me from sleeping.  Well, on each and every of these occasions, the next day I've read in newspapers/online that an earthquake, (always small ones) had occurred within the last 24 hours.  I've never in my life been consciously aware of an earthquake *knocks every bit of wood in the vicinity* and I don't ever want to be.  So, that's my very own 'super power' to be able to sense small earthquakes on a subconscious level.  Geez, I'm boring, aren't I?

This is something I do often and usually with no fanfare.  I just felt like introducing my new default.  It is the incomparable Stevie Ray Vaughan, guitar icon and great Texan.

purdypiedad  assigned me some more icons!!

  ( They're under a cut because I'm posting large sizes... )

1. Reply to this post, and I will pick five of your icons that I want to hear about.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon glee...

trishtrash  picked these five icons for me.



( Behind the icons! )

Here is a link to a post on scene_again  updating Fergus growth, development and shenanigans.

To continue the 'story' of my ventriloquist dummy fears which I wrote about here, I came across something in my recently rediscovered school albums.

( Read more...or not. )
I have caught up with as many comments from the past as I can.  There are still about 75 unanswered ones in my inbox.  I'll go through them and if there is something deeply profound about the subject, I'll reply.  If not, it will just fade away, sorry. 

( Follow the cut for extended blah, blah, blah... )


Most happy update!! I was walking from my den to the kitchen, I saw something shiny on the floor out of the corner of my eye!!! It is my diamond!!!!!  I found it!!!!!!!

So, I've been tagged by the lovely edith_jones  with this answer meme thing.  So, I'm going to do it.  Like cat63 , I'm not going to tag people, but if you want do it, I'd be happy to learn more about you all.

Off topic, I'm leaving on Wednesday for another of those lovely mini holiday/photo safari trips, the hubs has a seminar/conference or something and I'm going to join him there and turn it into a photo safari.  This time we're going to Seattle and, as is my custom, I'll be spending the days taking photos.  In the evenings we'll be visiting his family.  I've already decided to pilfer the father in law's photography stuff, and luckily, he's been putting stuff aside for me!!!!  Look forward to some urban pictures for once.  I'm also planning a trip to a zoo (the same one at which the niece was married last summer) and plan on taking a ton of animal photos there!!!!

( Q&A meme under the cut... )

Stolen from jaelle_n_gilla :USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and paste (into notes) and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. No tagging.

( MeMe )

Happy Birthday to </b></a>llywela13 !!!

Sphygmomanometer, I just love that word!

As most of you know, I've been waiting for months for the Sonic Drive In to open in our area.  Most importantly to get my favorite lime slush.  Well, follow the cut for the tale, pictures included.

( The pursuit of slushiness... )

www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/792119.html



The day has finally come!!!  I'm going to drop Fergus off at doggie daycare (conveniently located close to the Sonic) go IMMEDIATELY to said Sonic and order the largest (Route 44) size lime slush available.  And I may pick up another one on the way home before picking Fergus up from day care!!!!!


Just as a reminder as to why I'm so freakin' happy, here's my original post.