Happy Birthday! - Read a library book
about these famous conservationists.

Jay "Ding" Darling - 21, 1876
Theodore Roosevelt - 27, 1858

Happening this Month in the Natural World

The last litters of rabbits are born.
Hummingbirds and woodcocks migrate south.
Adult woodchucks begin hibernation.
The fall wildfire season begins.

For You to Do this Month in the Natural World

Watch the skies for returning peregrine falcons.
Try to walk in the woods without crunching leaves.
Support wildlife habitat .
Look closely at pine trees

Read a Book on:

fall leaves and color changes
composting
geese
bats

October 24, 2002
10:53 am
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I'm back. I was in San Francisco for one night and it felt as if I was away for a week! I attended a class that was being offered in association with a conference. It was held at the Palace Hotel in the financial District. Very nice!

I leave for San Diego on Sunday for 3 days to attend MISAC. A Computer Geek Conference for City Government. I will take a laptop to that so I can do web stuff and update my blog. The problem with sooo many hotels these days as there is NO high speed access in the rooms, dial up only!

October 19, 2002
11:32
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So it has been a year that I have been blogging.  I find it an accomplishment, even though It may not seem like much to some people. I used to keep a journal, faithfully write almost daily.  This is the best I have have done since college.

So I did not do much with my 2 days off.  I slept alot! It felt very good.  I am even tired now for some reason.  It must be the change in weather

Andy is sick, and came home from work Thursday with a flu.  he is still feeling really lousy, maybe I am fighting off what he has? Hope not, because if I am It will probably hit me the day I go back to work!

 I did the first Rattie photo shoot yesterday.  Do you know how hard it is to make 2 rats sit still in a pumpkin (mini) patch like they are waiting for the Great Pumpkin?  Virtually impossible.  I will be trying again today. Perhaps I will get some better results. I did take a couple of teh cat and plan to take some of the dogs and Pingo.  I will post them next week.
 
October 16, 2002
3:47 pm

SO I slept in until 11:00. I stayed up late watching TV, and it felt good not to drag myself out of bed in the morning. I thought I would try shopping, so I went to Cost Plus looking for Halloween cards. I am in a card exchange with my rat friends, and I try to find some fun stuff. Nothing of significance.  I left because there was soo much Christmas stuff there already it was making me sick.  I don't even want to think of the Holidays YET! 

So I hit Trader Joes and bought some stuff for dinner and got some mini pumpkins and gourds.  I have the digital camera from work, so I thought I would do my own little rattie photo shoot for Halloween and make my own cards! So that is on my to do list for this week. I also need to get a new ink-jet cartridge for the printer and some card stock. Do you want a Halloween card too? If so send me your snail mail! 

I also rented some movies. Insomnia, Shipping news and Dinner with Friends.  The last two are sleepers but have an excellent cast. I will let you know how they were later in the week.

October 15, 2002
4:17 pm

I am taking off of work for the rest of the week!  So what should I do with all this time? Send your suggestions to me here!  I will have 2 days to myself, Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday I have to take Natalie to a variety of Doctors appointments. Then the weekend will be the weekend.  I am going to shop (on-line) of course for a new laptop that The City can buy for me. The one I have now sucks the big one. I cannot even get it to work with an overhead projector.  So when I went out of town to do a presentation I had to borrow one. Embarrassing!

October 14, 2002
10:50 am

Ok, so I have again been neglecting my BLOG.  A quick recap of the last few days.

FRIDAY
On Friday I took the ratties to Natalie's zoology class. The teacher had wanted the girls exposed to a variety of more exotic pets. I quickly offered to bring Jack and DunDun and do a presentation on the history of the domestic rat, why they make good pets and how to care for them, etc. When Natalie lived with us, she really despised the rats, so I was a bit surprised when she completely supported my offer to come to her class.

I arrive on Friday to a class of 12, 16 and 17 year old girls.  Most of them cringe as I walk in the door.  Bad sign I think to myself. I take the boys out of their cage, put their favorite blankie on the desk and let them roam as I begin my presentation. It went "OK".  A few of the girls actually held them and fed them yogurt.  But the funniest thing was when DunDun turned his butt towards some of the girls and stuck it in the air and them promptly pooped! EWWW! they shrieked!  I laughed and explained that he only does that when he feels that he is not welcome. I decided my next audience would be a room full of 10 year old boys.  They would appreciate rats much more than teenage girls.

SATURDAY
Saturday Sari came to dinner and brought her mom who was visiting from New York City. I made stuffed chicken breasts and even lit the candles.  It was fun, she is soo Jewish so my Jewish husband had fun as they exchanged Yiddish words for things that were going on.  She was out to attend a wedding with Sari.

SUNDAY
Sunday Jacob had a soccer game, they played Pasadena and killed them 6 to 1.  It was a good game, but the referees were making bad calls the whole time. They were obviously Pasadena Referees. 

We also watched the Angles win!  I am not a big Angels fan, but I am glad a team that has never had the opportunity to go to the World Series is getting to enjoy the fame. 

MONDAY
Thank You Chis Columbus!  I have today off because of your discovery. Ah the joys of working for government, all holidays, all the time. 

October 10, 2002
12:31

I found this picture of Fez, he was pretty sick when this was taken but one of his favorite places to sleep was in my husbands shirts. 
 Fez was such a a cuddle rat. he liked to lick you and groom you and would sit on your shoulder and push away any other rats that wanted to sit there. A typical spoiled baby in our house. I hate to say this, but he was my favorite.   I love them all, but Fez had a special place in my heart. Maybe because he was my very first rattie friend.

I did a bunch of updates yesterday, including the last Friday five and this or that for 2 weeks.  I was really dropping the blog ball there! I have also increased my font size to 10 and many of my readers are 40 something, like myself.  The larger type seems to be a bit easier on the eyes. So when we all hit 60 I will kick it up to 12 point!

October 9, 2002
12:20 pm
My Friends

On Monday I took Kodiak and Homey to be groomed, my groomer happens to work out of my veterinarians office. When I picked them up some new receptionist brought me 3 little boxes. 

I picked up each box, Fez, Neo and Francis. I had had my 3 friends cremated, and they had been delivered to the vets office.

Last night I opened up each box, inside was a can with a blue paper label.  They were all the same, and almost could have passed for Campbell's soup, or tomato sauce.  It made me sad that they were not in a beautifully carved wooden box, or a lovely porcelain jar.  So I promptly pulled out a handful of markers and uniquely decorated each with bouquets of flowers. In full bloom for Neo and Fez who both lived well passed 2 years, and buds for Francis who was just a year old when she left me. 

 
October 7, 2002
4:28 PM
ACK! I haven't posted for a week. Those few who have been reading my journal (is that you?) probably have given up on me ever posting again. But here I am back. I have been trying to keep up my reads even though I have not kept up my posts. Let me know if you missed me at all.

Last week I spent my days in dumb meetings and never got around to getting anything done. I actually made some friends with prior enemies. I must commend myself for building some burned bridges and getting some acknowledgement for my efforts.