Hard Times

Yep, it's been a little while since we've posted, and not really for good things. Old man Miles has been off his game, and our vet has discovered cancer in his bones. Poor old man. He's on some heavy duty painkillers to keep him comfortable, but there's not much we can do for him.

Our computer also crapped out as well, and I'm officially back at my day job (and Bennett refuses to take a bottle, holding out 6-8 hours until he sees me), so time to post has pretty much been lost, along with the means.

Things are looking a little brighter, though. Bennett has decided that he's just going to skip a bottle all together and go directly for a cup. Much to the relief of all of us!

B also managed to salvage the music etc that was on the old hard drive and built us a new computer. Silver linings...

Oh, and Park+Vine is now carrying my shoes! They have two exclusive patterns you won't see anywhere else! Including an organic bamboo one!

More soon...

After the storm

Little did we know that we'd be struck in Ohio by hurricane Ike Sunday afternoon. We were one of the lucky few that only lost power for a few hours. We still have neighbors who have none! Cable service was just returned yesterday; huzzah for the Internets!!!

Photos of the damage:
We almost lost the Subaru; our neighbor's tree fell, clipping the white garage (not ours) and blocking off the whole alley. It clipped the back bumper and scratched the back fender a bit; nothing substantial.

The winds were strong enough to split our neighbor's tree. They have it held together with straps until the tree crews get a moment to take it down. If it would have fallen it would have taken two sets of power lines with it.
This house just down the road may be condemned. I think they're waiting to see how extensive the damage is once the tree is removed. It crushed most of the roof in the front of the house!

We had winds up to 75 mph. I noticed bricks in one person's yard; I guess they lost their chimney. The local Chinese restaurant needs some re shingling.

All told there are over 600,000 people that lost power on Sunday, not including northern Kentucky or Dayton. They are still estimating around 100,000 people without power tonight. The grocery stores have little, since they lost all their frozen foods, and gas is still a bit of a problem since the pumps don't operate without electricity. Hopefully by the weekend things will be back to normal around here...

Good times

Reading

It's not as cool as his bouncy seat or his hands, but it's still kinda neat...

Now on video

...you get to hear him choke on his spit.




And this is the best take out of five.

New and improved!

Thanks to B and the homemade light tent he built for me, the photos of the items for sale in my Etsy store are looking a lot more "perfessinal."





There's still room for improvement, but at least my stuff looks a lot better than it did!

Now available at Target

Looks like we aren't nuts after all, just trendy. LINK!

Garage

Over Labor Day weekend B and Pop worked more on the garage. They decided there needs to be an overhang in front of the new garage door to keep the weather out and to add to the functionality of the space.

So, Voila! A roof ready to shingle!

Pop also brought down some nice siding to cover the crummy old siding that has been painted over ten thousand times and has holes big enough to see through. Yes, it's dark now, but just you wait until it has a nice coat of yellow paint over all of it.
The side shows the progression. There used to be windows on the alley side that were boarded up long ago for security's sake. The guys pulled off the trim before sheeting it in plywood. The siding comes in sheets that "click" together. All you have to do is stagger the joints a bit to make it watertight. The added layers should help insulate the garage a bit more, too! B's going to have a nice man-cave to retreat to.

This weekend: finish siding... more to come!

Body count

Add a disemboweled rabbit to the kill list. The cat has officially offed:

25 mice
9 birds
1 NASTY RAT
1 bunny

Not bad in 14 weeks. Too bad he's not gone after the moles that are plaguing the backyard.

TOYS!!!

What is this thing they've set me down on? And what are those things up there?

These people are crazy. Yeah, you making the giggity-giggity noise.

Forget those toys hanging above me. I got these magical things called... well, I don't know but they're attached to me.
See? Aren't they the neatest thing you've ever seen?
Okay, enough of you.

Look, Ma! Two hands!

Count 'em--I've got two of these things!

Disgruntled

The cat is an avid hunter and always has been. We've seen him bring everything and anything home. His skill goes way beyond your little bird or mouse, we're talking live snakes, squirrels, and even a bat. The past couple of years he's tamed down a bit. I think last year's count was about five dead, and here we were thinking he was just easing his way into early retirement.

Well, since Bennett's arrival in the house the body count has skyrocketed. We've cleaned up about 25 mice (counting the two flattened ones I just noticed in the driveway a couple weekends ago), 9 birds (the most was 3 in one night), and one NASTY FULL-SIZE BALTIMORE HARBOR RAT.


There is a constant dusting of little feathers all over the back yard.And, since my hands are constantly in the babe's mouth, I've been exempted from our usual cleanup breakdown (he-fur, me-feathers). Except for the NASTY FULL-SIZE BALTIMORE HARBOR RAT. I cleaned that one up. In my opinion it counts for a month's worth of carnage cleanup.

Anyone else deal with a crazy pet reaction to changes in the family unit?

3 months

Dear Bennett,

You are three months old today. Poppy and you are hanging out while I write this, and I guess I should make it quick because it's past your bedtime. You took a couple decent naps today so chances are you'll still be awake for a little while longer. You keep growing by leaps and bounds. I packed up all of your clothes that don't fit any more and pulled out more stuff that should. It's hard to think that you fit into 6 month outfits right now.


You are starting to chew and gnaw on things that come close to your mouth. You especially love chewing on the edge of the moby while you're wrapped up on me. I have a feeling you are starting to teethe.I haven't measured you yet this month, but I'm sure you've grown even more. You are now MUCH bigger than your monkey.
And you smile a lot more now, too!
You have discovered that there is a lot more to the world than just what you see, and you are beginning to fixate and respond to toys.
You like it when toys make jingly rattle sounds. You have also realized that there are two very large dogs and a cat living with us. I'm not sure what you think of them yet, but I'm sure the feeling is mutual. You are also not afraid to tell us what you are thinking. You continue to "g-hoo and g-hee," and are working on "d-haaay" "eeeee-h" "maaa-heee" and other vowel and consonant oddities.
You have just discovered you have hands this past week as well. I see good times in your future as you figure out how those things work. It's going to be interesting when you realize you have two feet as well!

I still look down at you almost daily in awe. I can spend hours watching you. I wonder what you think about the world you live in right now, and how you will grow and learn. I wonder about the person you will become and what traits we see in you now will carry through your whole life (will you always be that serious and observant? Will your eyes stay blue? What color will you like the most... right now it seems to be red.)

We only have a couple more weeks together, then I go back to work and a good chunk of your day will be spent with a sitter. Poppy will also be taking over a lot of your day-to-day needs. You still can't stand pacifiers or bottles, but hopefully you boys will work things out for yourselves. I'm sad to be giving up all that time every day with you, but I'm also thankful that I got to be there for every minute of these first months. Know that I miss you already.

I love you.

Yours,

Mamma