Videos around the house

So, I finally got an iphone! One of the most exciting things about this new phone is that I can now take videos with sound. I thought I'd share some of the ones I've taken recently.


First, a tour of our backyard garden:

And the first trees we've purchased for the front yard:

We built a floor-to-ceiling scratching post for our cats (mostly Triana) our of carpet scraps:

Cat Fight, Observed

First thing this morning, we heard some cat grumbling coming from outside, and Rupert was on the scene in a heartbeat! Two cats were on the fence behind our apartment, neither one wanting to back down. Rupert watched on with great interest.

I think the cat on the left was one of the kittens that had been living in our yard last summer. She has a collar now, and she looks really healthy, so that's great news! The cat on the right is Topaz, who's the unofficial ruler of our property.

I had to go out back to get my bike shortly after this photo was taken (we were out of coffee!), and the younger cat hopped right down from the fence to rub on my legs. She ran off after I'd pet her for a few moments, but it made my day.

In completely unrelated news, we had a barbeque in the yard a few nights ago with all our apartment neighbors. It was completely spur-of-the-moment, but I just really wanted to meet some of them, and the weather was so nice. A few of us went down to New Seasons (like Whole Foods, only locally run) and picked up some fancy meat skewers, which we cooked on our little grill. They were fantastic! It was so nice to get to know all these folks a little better, and now we're all looking forward to the next barbeque!

Sleep is for pussies

I don't ever make new year's resolutions. Sure, I should eat healthier and exercise more. But "resolving" to do those things never changes the fact that I like fried foods and sitting down. I like healthy food and exercise too (luckily), and I go through periods where I'm completely on top of things.

This year, however, I'd like to try to sleep in less. As a chronic insomniac, I can't say that without some qualifiers. Since I sometimes go for days or weeks without sleeping more than an hour a night, I clearly need to allow for some catch-up time.

This January, I seem to be catching up in advance, for nights that I won't sleep in the future. I decided to start setting an alarm for the morning (set to one of the many obnoxious PDX radio stations with morning DJ's that I want to stab in the eyes with a fork--these guys have a "party bus" that is perpetually taking "winners" to a casino or similarly depressing locale, and the one guy calls all the lady-callers "beautiful" even though he can't see them). This morning was the first day of waking up within 8 hours of going to bed. Rupert couldn't quite handle the early wake-up, so after his (first) breakfast, he went straight back to bed--lion pillow and all. But I'm planning on going out for some exercise!

Ninja Cat Video

OMG. I just watched this video on Laughing Squid and had to share. It is hi-larious. Just can't get enough silly cat stuff.

For something completely different, did you know that on the longest day of the year, the daylight hours are about half an hour longer here in Portland than in Boston? The sun also tends to set half an hour later here (and rises half an hour later) most of the time. This was really noticeable this summer, when the sun just never seemed to go down. We also have a lot of big hills with great views of the distance, so if you're up higher (like we are) then it can still be light out at 10pm. Check it out!

Buffalo Roast

This weekend, Pat (one of Sean's friends from high school in Germany) came to visit! Pat flies planes for the Navy, and he was lucky enough to schedule a day off in Portland between flights.

We took him to the Farmer's Market where we picked up a buffalo roast and some veggies to grill, plus some venison pate and a baguette. Unfortunately, no one told us that a roast shouldn't be cooked on a grill (even though we asked the meat guy what he'd recommend for grilling). We spent the afternoon hanging in the backyard, drinking beer and eating fancy snacks. The buffalo was a bit tough, but tasty overall. The grilled potatoes and zucchini were awesome, and the pate was excellent. I could get used to all this amazing food...

Our yard has a stray cat and her three kittens as frequent visitors, and the smell of our cooking enticed them over. All the cats seem to be very frightened of us, but that didn't keep them from licking our olive oil-covered plate and meaty tongs.
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I got to hear my first Emergency Broadcast Signal today while in the car! There was a severe weather advisory for the county south of us. While it was hot and sticky for me, they were having a dangerous lightning storm with damaging hail and 60 mph winds! The announcement warned that "lightning is still one of the top killers in the U.S." and "if you can hear thunder, then you're close enough to get struck by lightning". Luckily, it seems to be breaking the hot spell we've had, so I might actually be able to cook some dinner indoors tonight!