Day10

i was finally able to get close to Mama Duck tonight. the closer the eggs get to hatching, the longer she tends to stay on the nest & is reluctant to leave.  we learned that from the last 2 nests.  the good is, i can walk up to within maybe 5 feet of her & she won't flinch.  the bad is, i don't want any of the neighbor kids knowing.  so i also try to go out when no one is around so i don't draw any attention.  well, without further adieu.....

i realize now of course, my ISO was a little high so it's a bit grainy.  sorry!  and here she is about 2 hours later, going back in for the night.  

like before, i'm taking this photo (1) in the evening & (2) from up on the deck which is 100+ yards away so i don't disturb her.  but i sure wish you could see the dance she does before hopping up into that nest.  lots of tail wagging!  it's so cute!

i also went back to the last 2 duck nests to see how long before hatching & i think it's about 45 days.  since she laid the first 2 eggs July 16th, we have a bit to go.  but since she's staying longer on the nest, my time could be off.  of course that calculation took into account the days we walked the last two clutches out so they definitely hatch 3+ days prior to that.  i'll try to do a better job on the math this time!

let's keep rooting for her though to see this thing through!

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Night Shift

okay, it's a terrible photo because i didn't want to go down to the dock last night & scare her off, but we did finally catch mama returning to the nest last night.  it took her about a half hour of just hanging out on the dock before she jump up into the nest & settled down for the night.

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In the Family Way

no, not that way, but it got your attention didn't it?  haha!  well, she is back!

you may recall we have been a foster family to ducks before which we talked about here as well as on the DailyBoxer.  what i never did post was that our first adventure in 2007 (over on the DailyBoxer) did not end well - after 8 eggs mama abandoned the "nest" & Nacho had to take care of the eggs for me (no there was no omelet).  but we all learned from it (us and the ducks i hope) and our next two hostings in 2008 & 2009 were much more successful.
the last time we had guests, was 2009 & every year we anxiously wait to see if a mama, any mama, will return.  this year we got our wish - last Friday i saw a mama hanging out on our dock & just knew she was either house hunting or had settled in. she'd begun settling in by the looks of mulch all over the dock & the center of the planter dug out.  this was starting out a lot like 2007 & that concerned me.  but as i said before, we've all learned alot! so with that experience in hand, i did a little renovating to this year's rental unit.
we started with this little one bedroom number

i knew right away, based on the 2007 pot, this was not going to be big enough. when you go to your local nursery & ask to buy a planter that isn't for sale & they don't flinch a bit when you tell them why, but instead they offer it up for free, well you know you've got a partner in crime.  Picket Fence was kind enough to let me pay for this galvanized tub - i cannot thank you all enough!

now we are getting somewhere!  the new digs were looking more like this on Friday.

by Saturday, they were looking like this

a little hard to see but there are 2 eggs in there.  we think she has since laid at least 2 more.  her house got  a little beaten up today because we've had some pretty intense wind all day & out there on the dock, that tub is the only protection - i hope she has renter's insurance.  but mama duck is still hanging with us.  fingers crossed we will have a little family soon - whether we get to see them move on like before, who knows, but i will settle for mama just making it all the way this time.

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Portraits for PAWS

i got the opportunity this past Saturday to attend a group photo shoot at a local shelter.  the group organizes through the MeetUp site.  a friend recommended it to me some time ago.  i've never used it for anything before other than getting their emails about local events pulled together by individuals.  i like to play with photography but, like all things me, have a very short attention span so struggle with focus - haha pun completely intended.

when i saw the Portraits for PAWS, they got me!  anything animal related & i'm there.  it was enlightening (pun not intended) to say the least.  a lot going on at one time & varying levels of experience & equipment by members.  i may not have learned a lot about photography specifically, but i certainly got my feet wet in a photo shoot.  jockeying for position, waiting for that "right" shot, working with multiple levels of energy (the pets, not us), etc.  i'm so glad i did it!  besides, it will help me better prepare for this year's Portraits With Santa shoot that i know is being planned as we speak.  i also hope it will allow me to feel more confident in volunteering my time at another local shelter that could use the photography help!

so here are just a couple of photos, unedited.  i elected to shoot in black and white even though that may not be what works best for the shelter, i like the personality that it brings to a photo.  besides, there were several other people shooting in color so i wasn't worried about what the shelter will be able to use for their site.

you can see more photos from the group HERE.  i hope you will consider a rescue in the future.  there were lots of great pets that really do deserve good homes!

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talk about indecisive

i realize i will never hear the end of this from Rundle, but i found a photo today that offers even more ammunition against me regarding my indecisiveness:

yeah, we lived with both lights for almost 2 weeks because (1) Nacho only had time to install 1 of the new lights when he got back from Moser's and (2) say it with me everyone.....i wanted to make sure i liked it!  i know!  how did i ever get married?  a lot of booze and a double dare!

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i got Pot ting Bench

haha! you were thinking something else weren't you?  shame on you!

after several weeks of a little weld here, a little weld there, Nacho finished my custom potting bench this past weekend.  unfortunately i don't have any 'before' pics boooo.  but the before was a combination of salvaged pallets sitting on top of salvaged landscape bricks. do you see the theme here?  as proud as i was of my salvaged goodness, i just was not confident in it's abilities to withstand a flood & that is something we have to plan for in anything we do here.  so beholdmy new potting bench!

i've got shelves for storage, a wire rack for hanging, & a wire grate (in the middle) for soil to fall through to a collection bin.  pretty nifty eh?
i still get to shout out some slavaged goodness because the boards that we used for all 3 shelves are leftover pieces of our deck build.  that stuff is pretty heavy on it's own, so this thing is unlikely to go anywhere & has already proven it can withstand a flood or two.  the wire backing is leftover cattle/hog confinement wire from the gabions.  i hate to waste anything.

so props to Nacho for a nice build & to moi for outstanding Management! now i'm free to get my garden on!

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enlightened

technically we are still remodeling the kitchen. like many people, i could say we are "mostly" done & we are and have been for some time. and like most people, we still have that laundry list of little things to complete.  you know, the stuff that never gets done.

my biggest frustration in this entire project was lighting. i was not at all prepared for how expensive lighting is. "shock" is not an adequate word to describe what i felt every time i'd find a light that i loved & then saw the price. i mean, i get it, lighting is important & you want to get it right, but good lord getting it right is expensive.

so i just kept collecting little samples & hoping for the right light to come to me

we have a fortunate friend in Brandi because she was able to get us our final dining room light at a good price.  and while it was not my 1st choice, in the end, it really is the better choice!  as chance would have it, i actually saw my first choice installed in the Barrington Beach House project on This Old House (sikp to scene 8 about 21:24 if you care), and while it's still a beautiful fixture, i'm much more pleased with our choice & think it's more appropriate for our space & style.

the other area i struggled with was the island. finding lighting that i love was never the problem.  finding it at a price i was willing to pay was!  okay, i can justify god knows what for a faucet, but $250 for a light fixture is just ridiculous right?  yeah. so to the InterWebs i went!  i follow several diy "mommy" blogs & got some great ideas.  my best came from The Splurge or The Steal.  i located a similar fixture at Lowes for $30 but, unfortunately, they didn't have a brushed nickel model.  so some hammer spray paint later, i had these!

not bad.  this got me by until i could find something more to my liking (style & price point).  and it was Home Depot that came through for me at $99 each!

Source: homedepot.com via DeNacho on Pinterest

so i was not in complete love with this fixture, just a mild crush. but like all solid relationships, we started off friends & then something just kinda grew out of that. a little more googly googling & i found the standard height for a fixture over an island is 30", so of course, the hardware that comes with a light would be set for that that right? nay! our "out of the box" height was either going to be 27" or 33" - one was too high, the other too low!  so thanks to our good friend Barry, we were able to cut the pipe & he tapped a new thread to get baby bear juuuust riiiight at 30".

so we have a "finished" product.  def. finished = until i see something more shiny! actually,

we are in what i hope is the home stretch of lighting.  we have LED light strips under the cabinets & that gives us good lighting for the bamboo counter tops.  we recycled our old puck lights that once served as under cabinet lights, and now live on top of our cabinets for temporary up-lighting - i plan to replace those with LED strips just like the under cabinets.

however, we still need pot lights around the perimeter areas:  stove, fridge, & dining shelving.  you might notice in the pic above that we do have LED pot/spot lights in front of the windows, 3 to be exact, one for each window. in essence, it has come to this:

thanks to the IKEA online planner, i can at least attempt a lighting layout.  items in yellow represent existing lighting (like the island & dining table).  green represents lighting in question.  see what i'm saying about 1-4? is it enough? too much? am i even close on spacing/positioning? i'm not too worried about 5-8. those will likely be spot lights like the ones currently in front of the windows. 6-8 highlight the shelves & the boxer art & 5 will highlight new boxer art for Baxter! so i'm down to 4 lights & then one more item off the check list - aka Home Stretch!

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Post Attachment

i found this how-to today & since i already have an adobe.com account, figured i'd give it a shot.  i've actually had plenty of uses over time for attachments to a blog post & can think of other places this could come in very handy!

for my first "test" document, i'll use something that has made me immensely happy on the worst of work days:

click here to see the Report Card

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recovery

ahhhhh! got back into the pool this morning after almost 2 weeks away from it.  i promised Nacho i'd wear ear plugs because i still can't quite hear, everything is still muffled in both ears.  uggghhhh!  i also promised to only do the kickboard, no actual swimming.  and of course i stuck to that right?  riiiiiiight!  i did at least start out sticking to the plan (wink wink nod nod).  so TheGirls (that's the retired ladies i swim with, not my boobies), were excited i was back & very curious about how i'd been - i just adore them.  i foolishly told them about my promise to only kick board - i would pay for that later this morning.
as i said, i did start out keeping the promise.  my trusty kickboard & my newish Zoomers & kicked away.  i have this prominent bone on the top of both feet.  i have no idea what it is called, but it does get aggravated if i wear tight shoes & my Zoomers were just that, tight because they are newish.  so it became clear at about lap 13 that i was not going to get a mile in & i am OCD enough that i cannot swim less than that!  soooo why not try a little breast stroke?  i mean my ears were kinda getting wet just doing the kick board & putting my face in the water to replicate my usual freestyle breathing, so why not?  there's where the promise went out the window.  when it became obvious that the ear plugs were staying in on breast stroke, then why not try freestyle?  and the promise was a memory at that point. i was so excited to keep my "deal" and still get my mile in!  i did at least lay low enough that i didn't try any kick turns. i have a feeling my ear plugs would not have stayed in with turns - but really, i'm sure they do cuz don't people do this all the time?  shhh we'll find out tomorrow.
i was so excited that (1) i got back into the pool, (2) i didn't get any water in my ears, and (3) i got back to see TheGirls.......who all threatened to tell Nacho i didn't keep my promise.  and none of them were happy that i'd "pushed too hard" as far as they were concerned?  did i mention how much i adore these women?  not only are they just the best inspiration because the youngest is like 70 & they all swim or walk EVERY DAY, but they are like the aunts and grandmas i either never had or don't have immediate access to anymore.  just the best.  except that they are tattle tales!  well, thank goodness for blogging, cuz i beat 'em to it!
oh, and weirdest part of all of this?  so i'm done swimming, get out of the pool & remove the ear plugs......AND I DON'T EVEN NOTICE THE DIFF!  it all still sounds the same ear plugs or not.  awwwww when will this end?

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about last week

1 week ago today i celebrated my 43rd birthday. good god 43! to quote a movie, "you're really IN you 40's now".  and i celebrated it in a style only i could.....NYQUIL SHOTS FOR EVERYONE!
yep, you heard that right.  i managed to avoid the latest flu bug that has caught most everyone around me.  nacho had it a couple of weekends ago & i missed it even in my own home. unfortunately, i think i unwittingly got it the Friday before when Cookie & i did our usual round at the nursing home. they'd been on a 2 week quarantine where we could not visit. we got the ok to come on the 23rd, and the following Sunday i didn't feel so good.  i went to work on Monday & felt fine but by the afternoon i knew there was no way i going to be in the next day. the irony is, i'd considered taking a "sick" day for my birthday & hanging out with my girls from the pool. i have long had a theory that i don't fake sick days because karma would visit me & i'd actually be sick.  guess what?  meet karma because i rocked a 102 temp on my bday!  this would not deter Nacho though. after playing his 2nd game in hockey playoff that same night, he came home and made me a cake.  a cake that i could not see how i would ever eat given my state. but i did cuz he did. that's commitment people!
i remained in bed the entirety of last week and am only now "getting better". i use that term loosely because, unlike most people, my flu bug did not go respiratory, it went auditory. i sit here today with a double ear ,infection. WTF?  i've never had an ear infection my entire life. not as a baby, not as a kid, not ever until now & in both ears.  it was quite the surprise when i woke up last Thurs & couldn't really hear anything & then realized i could, it was all just incredibly muffled.  that was nothing compared to the raging pressure/pain in my ears.  so i'm on antibiotics until this Sunday.  i'm hoping the muffled sounds & constant ringing will end soon.  it made working today practically impossible.  but i can say i have a new found respect for babies.  i now truly understand why they are so miserable when they have an ear infection. i cannot imagine having to deal with this & unable to tell anyone what it is like or what i need. so if you have never had one & you have a baby who gets one, gimme a call cuz i think i can translate for them.
oh, and before i forget HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!  thanks to everyone who did call, text, email, yodel best wishes. i may not remember due to the nyquil induced coma, but it doesn't mean i don't appreciate it!

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