Jun 09 2012

Cucumbers Corralled and Tomatoes Tied

Helped my friends, Sylvia and Rodrigo, tidy up some of the more aggressively growing vegetable plants in their garden. We started by added a plastic mesh to a portion of fence to coax a fast-spreading cucumber to grow upwards instead of outwards, some more mesh to surround another cucumber plant, and some clothes-line rope to string up some ever-expanding tomato plants.

Lilo and Stitch were the job foremen barking out orders and waiting for the errant tomato to drop.

The whole operation turned out really well and the garden looks less overrun and a lot more kempt and organized.

Before
After
Before
After
Garden variety
The foremen
Tie line
Stringing tomatoes
Strung tomatoes

Jun 08 2012

Back Home And Cheap Food

Took Lilo and Stitch to pick up their parents, Rodrigo and Sylvia, after a late night arrival at the airport to officially end their first-ever trip to Hawaii. The dogs were so good and patient as we sat in the cell phone lot waiting for the “we’re out on the curb waiting to be picked up” text message from Sylvia.

On the drive home Sylvia and Rodrigo shared a few stories from their Oahu adventures at Pearl Harbor, of snorkeling and of visiting Disney’s Aulani Resort, all of which lead to them telling me how expensive all the food is out there. That lead to us thinking about getting a late dinner (late for me, three hours earlier for them). We decided to go through a local In-N-Out drive-thru and eat the meal at their house where they could unpack, tell more stories and show some pictures and video while we all ate delicious burgers and fries at midnight.

And so ended my official Tapia house-sitting duties.

Jun 08 2012

Tapia House-Sitting: Day Six

Lilo was feeling so much better when we got up this morning. Although she was still being very careful about not jumping around like she normally does, she seemed not to be in any pain. She was even sleeping upside down on her back. Plus, her appetite had returned with a vengeance so I decided to stop the pain meds and just keep her on the anti-inflammatory liquid.

Because I needed to keep a close eye on her the whole day it was a quiet and restful day with the two dogs sleeping a lot and me working on my ever-consuming online stuff.

Jun 07 2012

Tapia House-Sitting: Day Five

After the nerve-wrecking morning with Lilo at the vet, the remainder of the day was spent very calmly and quietly resting. Lilo slept the remainder of the day on the mattresses I placed on the floor in the living room so she wouldn’t have to jump up on anything. Stitch really didn’t seem to mind that things were peaceful. He got really excited when she came home but soon afterwards just laid down next to her and also spent the afternoon napping.

Jun 07 2012

Lilo At The Vet

So on day five of house/dog-sitting for the Tapias while they were enjoying a much-needed trip to Hawaii, something unfortunate happened to poor little Lilo. After jumping off the bed she yelped in pain and seemed a bit afraid to move very much. I couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with her but noticed she was being very guarded and careful with her movements. After checking her paws for any damage I first called the emergency vet to let them know that if she didn’t improve that I might be bringing her in. Even made an afternoon appointment to see a doctor. Then I spoke to Sylvia and Rodrigo to let them know what was going on we decided that she needed to be taken in right away to be checked out, especially since she began to shiver from anxiety.

Leaving Stitch at home I drove Lilo to the Pet Emergency and Specialty Center. She was able to walk in on her own without any problem but she did not want to be taken into the back. I picked her up and handed her off to a nurse. Eventually I was also taken back, but only as far as an empty exam room where I spoke with Dr. Willey. She told me that Lilo had appeared to injure her back somehow, probably when she jumped off the bed. She wanted to run some blood tests to rule anything more serious out, as well as take a couple of x-rays of Lilo’s spine.

At this point Sylvia had called and through my cell phone’s speakerphone the three of us went over the details. Sylvia gave the go ahead for the tests, the doctor went into the back procedure area and I had to wait in the lobby, watching disturbing episodes of Animal Planet on the TV.

After being there for about an hour, and texting with Sylvia the entire time, they finally brought Lilo out, and she was more than happy to be taken out of there. They hadn’t found anything serious and sent us home with two kinds of meds.

UPDATE: Lilo was already doing much better the very next day, after being totally knocked out by the pain and anti-inflamatory meds they told me to give her when she got home.

Scared, heading to the vet
Pet Emergency Clinic
Clinic reception
Inside an exam room
Me anxious, hating the waiting
Heading back home

Jun 05 2012

Tapia House-Sitting: Day Three

My day started off with a fantastic blueberry muffin for breakfast. (For what happened after that please see my other blog posts about going to the Zoo with Heather (work in progress), lunch at Phil’s and the Venus Transit.)

The evening brought a nice surprise in the form of a video chat with Sylvia and Rodrigo all the way from their hotel room in Hawaii. It gave them a chance to see the dogs in real time and to tell me about the things they got to do. They told me about their visit to Disney’s amazing Aulani Resort where they got anniversary buttons, a throw blanket from the Holdens, a Mickey Mouse Tiki figure for her brother and a couple of nut leis.

I can now finally check off “video chat with someone in Hawaii” from my bucket list.

 

Jun 05 2012

Venus Has A Transit Pass

Spent about five hours taking multiple photographs at fifteen minute intervals to capture Venus’ transit across the face of the Sun. It was a long, choppy process. Once the photos were taken I had to sift through them all and choose the ones that would work best when put into an animation. Then I had to take the chosen files into Photoshop to mainly crop, slightly rotate and align all of the images (because I was shooting hand-held), but also to re-color a few because the Sun darkened and reddened as it set. Once all that was done I imported each image (layer) into Photoshop Extended’s Animation window, set up a time duration for each image and then exported it as a movie. I then took that movie and imported into Apple’s iMovie to loop it three times and add fades and text graphics. Exported that one more time as another movie.

Like I said, it was a long process for twenty five seconds of video, only two of which is actually of Venus’ transit.

Jun 05 2012

Post-Zoo Lunch At Phil’s

After a fun morning spent at the San Diego Zoo with Heather and Lauren, our empty stomachs demanded that we head over to Phil’s BBQ for lunch. I had the amazingly good and filling Broham (pulled pork) Sandwich. Something about the food and ambiance at Phil’s that makes me feel comfortable.

After finishing our extra-saucy lunch we headed back to the Zoo parking lot because we had carpooled from there. Unfortunately, we got stuck in really bad accident traffic on South 5 through downtown. But the good news is that it gave me the opportunity to take some shots of the planes flying directly over our heads to land at Lindbergh Field.

Jun 04 2012

Tapia House-Sitting: Day Two

My day started off with a breakfast of champions: a bowl of Cocoa Puffs Brownie Crunch, Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch and Honey Nut Cheerios, all mixed together in a Kellogg’s cereal bowl. Watching the dogs was more enjoyable today since I stayed here all day. They did come out with me a few times, but only as far as the back gate where I left them when I watered the garden. The most excited they got during the whole day was when it was time for treats (Pup-Peroni if you’re interested). Once evening came around they were pretty much spent.

Crunch time
Lounging
Sentenced
Sprouts
Treat time
The end

Jun 03 2012

Introducing…Oliver

Ladies and germs (literally), may I introduce you to the latest addition to the hairy side of our family. He is the recently ejected son of Enzo, Stephen and Jeri’s feisty, four-legged child.

He is…the adorable Oliver.

Please, sir...about that "more" I mentioned earlier...

Jun 03 2012

Comic Fest Meeting, The Third

Went to pick up my friend, Archie, and then drove over to Tierrasanta for our next Comic Fest meeting of organizers and volunteers. At fifteen people, it was the most individuals that have attended yet. Of course two of them lived in the house we met at. It was also probably the most productive, as well as the most vocal, meeting we’ve had so far.

With each subsequent gathering I’m getting a better feeling about how this little convention of ours will turn out.

Jun 03 2012

Tapias Say Aloha

Dropped Sylvia and Rodrigo off at the airport here in San Diego this morning so that they can finally begin their almost week-long and much needed getaway to Hawai’i with Mary, Dave and Diana and so that I can begin my almost week-long stay at their house watching their fur-kids, Lilo and Stitch while having some of Stewie Griffin’s patented sexy parties.

Vacations for both of us.

Jun 02 2012

Mole Hole Cleaning

I went to take a closer look at a second mole hole in our backyard and noticed that the mole had done some house cleaning and discarded some detritus. I first thought it was just old grass, weeds and roots, but upon close inspection I discovered some small mammal bones and bits of hair mixed in with the grass. I dug around the pile a bit (which was smelly and had worms digging around in it) and it turned out to be the remains of a rat.

I have no explanation as to why rat remains would be tossed out of a mole hole, or what the rat was doing in there in the first place, or even how it died.

But I love a good mystery.

Jun 01 2012

Fly, My Own Little Dragon, Fly

While out taking pictures of tiny Monarch larvae I came across this small dragonfly just sitting on one of our patio chairs. He let me get really close to take a few pictures. First time I’ve been able to do this without them flying away.

Jun 01 2012

Monarch Trek: The Next Generation

Found at least four new and tiny Monarch larvae (each one about an eighth of an inch long) munching on the milkweed blooms. Also got a shot of a visible egg, which are usually hidden underneath the leaves.

With the milkweeds in full bloom and the Monarchs already showing up in force, this promises to be great butterfly Spring and Summer.

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