Dino, the One-Night Rabbit

Warning: Post is interspersed with pictures of Dino, a 4-month old Dutch-dwarf mix, who is sickeningly adorable. There's also this dorky-looking human in a couple of them, but she's just there to give scale on just how tiny and cute the rabbit is.


The rabbit rescue (The Rabbit Haven) that I do some occasional volunteer work for has been working overtime to deal with an influx of rabbits due to an inhumane breeding situation for the pet trade that was shut down by animal services. In early November, 114 rabbits were removed from the location and landed in our small local shelters.

After a little more than a month of hard work, The Rabbit Haven has managed to remove all of the rabbits from the shelters. They have been adopted, placed in foster homes or transported to other rescues and shelters. Steve and I assisted in the latter this past weekend.


Harvest Home Sanctuary in Stockton agreed to take a rabbit to help out. Since Steve and I travel right past Stockton on our way to Sacramento each month to see his parents, we volunteered to deliver said rabbit.


On Friday, I picked up Dino from his foster home. He stayed with us for the night, and then he rode with us to Stockton on Saturday morning.


The rescue is located among farmland on a quiet, winding road. We arrived in thick Tule Fog, which made the remote buildings look somewhat creepy and ominous. Once inside the gate, we could see that it was a really nice looking facility. I'm optimistic about Dino's prospects there.

The Tree Debacle

To be perfectly honest, this isn't really a debacle. But I like the word. Moving on...

Steve and I wanted to get a living Christmas tree this year. We figured it'd be a nice little tree that we could keep in the house for a few weeks, and then it could live out its days in the garden.

We wandered around our local nursery and looked at all of the trees. And I mean all of them. I had really taken to a small Black Hills Spruce, so we brought it home with us. After Steve had finished re-potting it, he came inside and showed me a nasty rash forming on his arms. He was allergic to the new tree.

We could probably have put it back in its pot and returned it, but I wasn't sure if that was exactly kosher for the nursery business. And even if it was, I really did like that tree... that's why we bought it after all. So the tree stayed.

But we realized it was probably impractical to have it in the house, since Steve was going to break out in welts if he accidentally brushed against it. So, we found a compromise.



The little tree looks great by our front door, all covered in lights. I'm not sure where it's going to live after the holidays, but we'll figure that out later.

Chard Harvest

I have very little understanding of or affinity for gardening, but Steve does a great job of keeping things going. Our chard is going crazy right now, and has made for some really delicious additions to our dinners lately.


I've been quite impressed with the quantity and quality of the crop this season. We planted chard on the theory that both the human and rabbit residents could eat it, but our rabbits are fairly indifferent to it and seem to prefer their romaine lettuce. Oh, well. More for us.

Thanksgiving Pictures

My sister-in-law Jenny is a prolific blogger and photographer, so I'm going to be lazy and just link to her blog for pictures of our Thanksgiving in Sacramento: http://mydaddytalksfunny.blogspot.com/2011/12/happy-thanksgiving.html

Two of Steve's brothers (Edward and Philip) joined us for Thanksgiving with Steve's parents. Ed has three boys and Philip has two, so there was some measure of chaos. However, I thought they were all very well mannered on the whole and we had a good time.

I absolutely love children's toys. Lincoln logs, toy trains & trucks, dinosaurs... that's all you need for a fabulous afternoon. I built some Lincoln logs and played toy trains with nephews Gavin, Colin and Camdan. I'm sure that says something about my maturity level that I'm so easily entertained, but whatever. I can pretend it was quality time with the nephews... even though their participation wasn't really required.

I also helped nephew Jake with a craft project, which was fun. Reminded me of my Camp Fire days.

There's also a picture of Steve putting up the Christmas tree with Philip in this post: http://mydaddytalksfunny.blogspot.com/2011/12/black-friday.html

I didn't used to feel that Steve and Philip looked that much alike, but the resemblance was pretty apparent on this visit. At least Steve has the beard and moustache, so we know which one is the evil twin.

Trappings of the Season

Even as someone who doesn't subscribe to the belief systems behind the Christmas season celebrations (Christian or Pagan), I find that this time of year is my favorite. First, there's the opportunity to drag out my absurd stuffed penguin collection (which remains tucked away 11 months out of the year).


The penguins in the above picture are probably only 1/4 of my total collection. It's completely ridiculous, but I love them all.

There's also the excess of pretty colored lights (and yet more penguins).


I can't help but smile when I catch a whiff of evergreen every time I pass the wreath on our front door. And I love Christmas songs. Well... not all of them. Some are pretty obnoxious, but you can't go wrong with "White Christmas" or "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (two of my favorites). I have been known to wander about the house in December belting out tunes at the top of my lungs, being careful to do this only when I'm home alone. I was not blessed with a lovely singing voice, or even a halfway decent one. My range is incredibly limited, and even though my cello training gave me some semblance of pitch, it just serves to let me to know just how far off key I am. But that's the great thing about Christmas. Even if someone overheard me, 'tis the season to be kind, so they'd likely keep their opinion to themselves.


Anyway, for someone not celebrating the "true meaning" of Christmas in any fashion, it's hard to say what I like so much about the season. Decorations are fun of course, and the smells of evergreen trees and cookies are pleasing. Living so far away from family and friends, Christmas vacation gives me the chance to visit people I'll only see a few times a year, so there's pleasant associations there. But I think what it really comes down to is that no matter what was happening, I always remember my family being happy at Christmas. All smiles, everybody fully present in the moment. At times of high stress, this was probably a brave front on the part of some, but it always fooled me. Having an obnoxiously serious and anxious temperament that I can't seem to shake, I can only really relax when all is truly calm. I can't handle drama and stress, and although that seems to be the order of the day for many other families at Christmas, it's not for mine.

For me, Christmas is a sweet-smelling, beautifully decorated chance to take a deep calming breath. I remember many years sitting in the front room of my grandparents' house, a gigantic tree soaring toward the ceiling, covered in lights that my dad and brother strung and ornaments my mom and I placed, a fire going in the massive fireplace, traditional Spritz cookies on a plate in front of me, and feeling completely at peace... a rare thing.

I completely understand people that hate Christmas. The traffic, shopping (ick!), squabbling family members, and superficiality of the whole mess. But I never think of those things when I think of Christmas. I think of being warm, comfortable and calm.

Bacon Makes Everything Better

When Steve and I were last in San Diego, we had an amazing appetizer at a local restaurant: bacon-wrapped, blue cheese stuffed dates. They were so good we went there twice in our short visit. This week, we decided to try to make them ourselves.

Steve slices dates and fills with blue cheese:

Wrapping them in bacon:

Ready for the oven:

Finished product:

Our ratio of ingredients wasn't quite right (next time we'll use smaller dates, or just 1/2 for each piece) but they were still fabulous. There are more dates in the fridge, so we'll have to give it another shot. The fatty little treats were rough on my stomach, but some things are just worth it.

Imagine a world without bunnies...

Our friend Jack came to visit us in Santa Cruz last Tuesday. We wanted him to be able to crash on the couch and not be surrounded by rabbits, despite his assurances that he has excellent allergy medication. So, I decided to see if it would be possible to temporarily move the all the rabbits upstairs.

Steve has been really busy with work and had a meeting lasting into the evening, so I decided to see if I could manage the move myself. In the end, I was able to move all five rabbits and their various enclosures up the stairs and into our bedroom. It wasn't the smartest thing I've ever attempted on my own, but there appears to be no lasting damage to myself, the bunnies or the house.

I tried to take a picture of our bunny-less downstairs, but our place is small enough that getting a good angle on the room was difficult. Here's the best result (with our ridiculously dusty banister):


It was nice to have the extra space, and Jack seemed to fare well on the couch. But once Jack left, I found the emptiness a bit disconcerting. Steve helped me move the bunnies back downstairs that evening.

It's definitely something we would do again if visitors are in town. I think it was worth the effort to make things a little less allergenic and it certainly gave the downstairs a less cramped feel.

I'm sure there was something happening today...

An army of tiny skeletons has taken over.


There are ghosts hanging from the ceiling (and a giant spider in the chandelier).


Yet more ghosts and skeletons in the window.


It must be Halloween. Steve and I intend to sit around eating the excess candy I picked up (just in case of trick-or-treaters) while watching Halloween-themed comedies on our DVR. Sounds perfect to me.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Last week, Steve and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We were fortunate to have gone when we did, since they released their great white shark back into the wild this week (presumably to give him a chance to introduce himself to the local surfing population).

There are all kinds of things I could say about this outing, but I think the pictures speak for themselves. The aquarium is an amazing place. If you have even an ounce of childlike wonder (even if it's buried pretty deep), this place will bring it out. It's just... wow.

Me, with Jellies:

Me, with giant fish tank:

Me, with my new friend the sea star:

Me, trying to hug a tuna:

Cool art project of ocean plants cut out of plastic bottles (with our reflections):

Mesmerizing jellyfish:

Cuttlefish:

And debuting today on the blog, video! Please excuse my clumsy zooming... I'll get better with practice.

Mola mola (also known as a sunfish) with a little great white shark in the mix:


Seahorses on the move:

Welcome Home

I got back Sunday afternoon from a lovely three-day weekend in Southern California. I found these on the table waiting for me:


Steve stopped at the UCSC farm stand at the base of campus and picked them up for me. I think they are a fun, unusual mix and I really like them.

Without a car for the weekend, Steve was limited to projects close to home. Like ripping apart the back lawn.

He's in the process of roto-tilling and re-seeding. More on that project to come, as it's back to work on it this weekend.

Lighting Upgrade

I can't really explain why I like black lampshades. They somewhat defeat the purpose of having a lamp. Perhaps that's why I like them... I do seem to be a fan of dim lighting... anyway...

Home Depot has the best lighting clearance prices I've ever seen. I don't know if there's any pattern to when the sales occur, but stumbling upon them is always exciting (which has a decent chance of happening, since Steve and I spend so much time at Home Depot). We recently stumbled upon just such a sale and found this:

I thought it was a really cool chandelier, and was actually in our budget, so we brought it home. Steve spliced in a toggle switch and attached a plug. We hooked it all up, turned it on and... nothing.

I was confident in Steve's electrical skills, but we examined the connections he made anyway, and they looked fine. Through testing various wires, we found that the problem originated in the fixture itself. Luckily, it came apart fairly easily.



Steve found the problem (the bundle of "hot" wires from each branch of the chandelier were not connected cleanly to the wire that ran up and out of the fixture) and repaired it.



I absolutely love it. We moved Steve's beloved indoor porch light to another corner of the room, allowing us to get rid of an ugly floor lamp he had brought home from work. One more ugly free floor lamp to get rid of... hopefully we'll stumble on another lighting sale soon.

Sunday in Sacramento

We headed up to Sacramento last Sunday to visit Steve's parents, for our usual monthly visit. They met us at the wonderful Tower Cafe for brunch. They are known for their French Toast and I also really like their Eggs Benedict (called the "Egg Tower").



After our meal, Steve's mom Carolyn treated Steve and me to an activity perfectly suited to us: a tour of half a dozen remodeled homes in East Sacramento. The tour was run by Friends of East Sacramento and benefited the local parks. We absolutely loved it. We didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a couple highlights.

Fabulous inlaid floor detail in a beautiful craftsman-style bungalow:

Amazing park-like backyard of one of the homes (the pictures don't quite do it justice):



Amusing yard tool storage area:

It certainly did our house envy no favors (especially since a run-down home on the same block as the beautiful Craftsman-style bungalow was only $300k and looked like an ideal project house... sigh...) but it was still a great time. We are hoping to go back for the Christmas decoration home tour in December.

Kiwi Around the House

Kiwi is very similar to a previous rabbit of ours, Kuipo. She loves to climb on me and will sit in my lap to be petted. She'll be two years old in a couple months, so she's still fairly young, and is full of energy.

May I help you?

Lisa the Climbing Gym

Yummy Jeans

Lisa and Kiwi

Relaxing after a Hard Night's Mischief

Annual Coastal Clean-Up Day

Steve and I almost never go to the beach. Sure, a couple times a year we'll go down to the boardwalk to ride the Giant Dipper and get a corndog. I'm really more of an indoor kid, and unapologetically so. But it does seem to be a bit of a waste that we live so close to really lovely coastline and rarely visit. So when I heard about the annual coastal clean-up day sponsored by Save Our Shores, I figured it'd be a good opportunity for Steve and I to visit a new beach.

Slathered with sunscreen and warmly dressed, we headed out yesterday to Four Mile Beach. It is, as you might infer, four miles north of Santa Cruz.

The clean-up started at 9 am. It was a very cold morning (especially for this time of year) with light, chilly winds. We spent about an hour wandering the beach collecting trash. The beach we picked was relatively small and not one of the more popular beaches in the area, and thus not as rubbish-ridden as others. But we did collect about half a bucket full of debris.

Steve among the kelp:

I survey the beach, our tally sheet in hand, with Andy (the high school kid we were grouped with for the clean-up, since his friends had apparently slept in) taking a break in the background:

Despite the less than ideal conditions, Steve and I really enjoyed ourselves. We are thinking at this point of joining more of their monthly clean-ups. It'll be a chance to get to know more of the local beaches... and get me out of the house occasionally.

Garden Update

This past weekend, as per usual, we kept ourselves busy in the garden.

New acquisition, Red Sensation Cordyline:

New acquisition, Dwarf Century Plant:

Happily blooming little plant (it's from the UC Farm plant sale, but I don't remember what it's called):


Side yard:


Back fence:


Giant Mum we transplanted from the side yard, where it had been taking over:

Steve planting onions now that cucumber season is over for us:

Out-of-control tomatoes (which have not been ripening due to our unseasonably cool weather):