Bird Nest Exterminator May 14, 2008

Well, a month or so ago a bird thought it would be a nice idea to build a nest in my dryer vent hose because it was nice and warm in there but I said, "No way dude" and cleaned out the vent and then was done with it. And the bird thought about coming back but didn't and I thought I was done with it. But, then a few weeks later Jenny said that she saw a bird flying into another vent and I thought she just meant up in the rafters at the very top of our house. No worries. Well, then one day I hear this bird chirping in my downstairs bathroom. I went in and found that there was a bird directly above the fan. Great. Just one more thing to fix. Plus, my bathroom started smelling very bad. Stinky ol' birds. So, I kept the fan on morning and night so the smell wouldn't come into the house. Then a brilliant idea came to me. I would get the ladder, and a golf club and pull the nest out. Didn't work. So, an even more ingenious idea came to me: get the Shop-Vac. So, I did. Put some goggles on, climbed up the ladder, put the hose in the vent and turned on the vaccuum. That didn't work either. I'm just glad I didn't fall off the ladder. Well, time went on, the baby bird or birds grew and left! And now there is no smell but I know there is an old nest up there somewhere and I'm gonna have to get my vents cleaned one of these days and when Dave gets back he gets to put nice sturdy screens over all the vents!!

Nest Exterminator Lady!
Don't I look intimidating?

Hair Anyone?

Sophie finally did it. She cut her beautiful long, gorgeous hair! And there was no hiding it so I had to go ahead and cut it to her shoulders. So sad. But cool for the summer and really easy to comb through. Here are some pics. It happened May 13th at 10:44 a.m.




And here she is an hour and two minutes later helping me clean up the heap of hair off the floor after I tried to fix it the best I could!

The Great Wolf or Should I say Werewolf?

OK! I have a couple minutes to blog so now I have to finish my Great Wolf Lodge story. You have to understand that I had just finished reading "Eclipse" just before we journeyed down to the great lodge and my thoughts were on poor Jacob Black. Poor kid...what is going to happen to him? He needs a happy ending too. At the end of the book, he is just so heart broken or just broken period. So, when I get to the Lodge there are lots of great wolf pictures that I named, JACOB'S SORROW, THE PACK and HE'S NOT THIS BIG! Oh, and then I took a picture of Emmett's Favorite Dish. So, here are those pics! Also, I have to tell you that while I was waiting in line for The Tornado I started talking to a couple teenagers and I wanted to know if they wanted to ride with Jenny and I because there is room for four on one tube. So, they said OK and I asked where they were from and they said northern Washington on the very top corner. So, I asked them which corner and they said the Northwest corner. So, yes, I had to ask them if they knew where Forks was and they said NO!! Can you believe it? They live in the Northwest corner of Washington and they don't know where Forks is? How can this be? Where is the love? I've decided that they must have meant the Northeast corner becasue I just can't accept that they wouldn't know where Forks is. I saw them in the bathroom later that day and almost said, "Now, let me get this straight, you live up on the Washington coast near Port Angeles but you don't know where Forks is. Is this correct?" I didn't say this to them but wanted to! Hmmm, I guess they just haven't had Washington Geography yet in high school. Or maybe just Twilight freaks like me know where Forks is!! Yes, that is probably the case.

JACOB'S SORROW

THE PACK

HE'S NOT THAT BIG!

EMMETT'S FAVORITE DISH

The Great Wolf Lodge

I think I will be posting like 6 or seven things soon seeing how I haven't done it in awhile. Well, the kids and I went to The Great Wolf Lodge on May 9th! It was so much fun. The kids can't wait to go back with dad. There is lots to do at the The Great Wolf Lodge. The main thing we did was play at the indoor water park. It was of course raining but it felt like the sun should be out. We headed down after school and got there around 4:30 and played at the park that night. Then we went to a little puppet show at 9:00 that they have at the lodge. (Well, I let Brett stay in the room) On the way up to the room we bought some really tasty and expensive treats at a cafe. Then on Saturday, we just spent the whole day there! Lots of fun. A few of my friends were there that so kindly helped watch the little ones while I rode some of the tube rides with the older kids. Luke didn't make the height restrictions which was a bummer because all of his friends did. Poor guy. After that he wanted to eat like crazy so he could grow 2 1/2 inches in one day. Ummmm, he didn't like when I told him that wasn't going to happen.

Update from Iraq

It's been awhile since I've written. Quite a bit has happened but I'm never sure how much to actually post on a blog. In April I went down to Baghdad for 2 1/2 weeks, rotating out with another anesthesiologist who came up here to Mosul. I was significantly busier down there and got to participate in some very interesting (I won't describe them because they'd probably more rightly be categorized as gorey) cases. The hospital is in what's called the Green Zone, or International Zone. The area is fairly large and also houses the US Embassy. I again got to ride in a C-130 from Mosul to the Baghdad airport and then flew by helicopter over to a landing zone near the hospital. I'll get some pictures of the view from the helicopter for later posting. Near the end of my stay I took a tour of the Green Zone with a couple of the surgeons. I don't think that the driver (a vascular surgeon) knew exactly where he was going because we saw signs that read "Load Weapons, Entering Red Zone" a couple times and made quick U-turns. While I was there I got to know another anesthesiologist who may have convinced me to move to Colorado Springs and work with him when my commitment is up. Definitely something to think about. Here are a couple of pictures and there will be more to follow. On top is a picture of the remains of the Ba'ath party house located in the Green Zone. The bottom picture is me in front of the crossed sabres.

Trampoline Fun

Here is a video of Jenny and Luke. I'm testing the video on my camera to see if I can get it to work. I wonder how long it takes to upload a video!

Bye-bye new Camera

Well, I had to say goodbye to a new camera because the old one was found! It was found in the nick of time because I was starting to look at a few that I really like! And guess who found it? Sophie! And where? In her room under some stuffed animals that are on some shelves/bookcase. Thanks Sophie! Now I will have to start hiding the camera from her! Here are a few of the pictures that were on it after we found it!

Official Twilight Picture

Hello! OK! Just had to share the first official picture of Twilight! Alice looks so good as does Edward. They all look like Perfect vampires! And I must say Bella looks really good too!Oh yeah, it is quite lovely! Check it out at: http://www.cinematical.com/media/2008/05/twilight_group_shot-larger.jpg