Jose is sooo cute!

my runin with the *fake* law

a fresh start

for my sister

man, I've been terrible at keep up this picture-of-the-day thing... it has almost become a picture of the month website.
Jillian, keep your pictures coming on your site and i'll try to be diligent with mine.
PS>>>watch the mail.

a fancy grape feast from the vines in the garden

dad of the corn

whoooooooo!

mom and sister of the corn

don't feel left out-- something we ate made all of us sick...
but we missed you like crazy

alas! its been too long!

Onward Hence!

This picture was actually much harder to get than expected and I had to crop my hand out of the frame. Tater-Tot Hamster wouldn't stay on LeoPard's back for more than a second or two at a time. I was hoping they'd hit it off and ride into the sunset, but that just wasn't the case.

leopard, homework, and coffee

"my cape is all blustery!"

it looks as though there might have been a slight breeze.

My little sister is all grown up!

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, JILLIAN!!!
Leopard, my dad, sister, and I celebrated Jillian with an honorary Brunch-
I love you, sister!

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, JILLIAN!!!

back to school

For those of you who don't already know, the reason I am in Tacoma is that I had to go back to school. Shadowing over my last two years has been knowing that I needed to come back here to finish a credit in order to get my diploma. I decided to take two classes so I would be considered a "full time student" to be able to sign back under my parents' insurance. I'm taking introduction to fiction writing and an introduction to Shakespeare class.


While I really like both classes, I have a paper due Monday on The Merchant of Venice and I am feeling slightly defeated by it.

tacoma safari!

little cat meet little dog.

I think Maggie could not have cared less.

down the mole hole

I spent almost 5 straight hours on my parents' riding lawn mower this last Saturday at their new house. I was restless all that night at woke up at 4 the next morning-- once I had made a big pot of coffee and found a pair of my dad's extra large rubber boots to romp around and adventure in, I went outside, only to discover the 3 acres I had mowed filled with fresh mole holes! Either there are a billion of them living right there or they work faster than I could have ever imagined.

rawwwwwwrrr

Jillian and I spent the weekend with our dad at our parent's new farm house in North Eastern Washington. LeoPard came along for the ride.

goat vs. leopard

U-District

Lord LeoPard flies coach

I have already gotten behind on my new LeoPard picture of the day. I made a promise to let everyone know where Lord LeoPard came from but then got caught up in moving and being back in school and managed to let a few days slip by without realizing.

So, here is the deal:
My friends Abby (who has been previously mentioned in this picture-of-the-day blog), Emily and I were all working at some point during the day on which prom in Juneau was taking place. Feeling slightly jealous that we couldn't dress up and go ourselves we decided to hold our own. The plan was for Abby and Emily to go out the road to the consignment shop (as they were just getting off shift as I was clocking in) find themselves (if they didn't already have something) and me something prom-erific and also to collect friends and allies who wanted to partake in the big event.
By the time my shift ended, Abby dropped off the dress they picked out-- which is a different story entirely--, left, they both had come back with people who also wanted to partake, ate dinner, and I got off shift. Emily had plans already for the later evening, so as I was getting off, she was leaving. At this point it is Abby, Abby's roommate Courtney, one of their friends, myself, and our friend Logan who works across the hall at the pizzeria. Logan didn't know what to wear so he raided his roommate's closet (?) and found her dad's old letter man jacket (at least I think that was the story) which said LEOPARDS on the back.
One of our man-friends came over and was asking about what was going on and why we were dressed up like we were. We explained we were at prom and as he considered that, standing behind Logan, Abby heard him say something to the effect of "LEO-PARDS [pronounced like leotard, as in what a ballerina wears, but with a p replacing the t], what is that? Some English football team or somethin'?"
And thus, Lord LeoPard was conceived. Two days later Abby brought in the action figure for me to work which she loving drew each circle on in order to turn him from the tiger he was into the leopard he is today.

the smuggled LeoPard peaks out of my carry-on

Lord LeoPard flies coach

Lord LeoPard

I've decided to take this blog on a different route-- after a long break from updating my picture of the day because my computer crashed and I had to get the hard drive replaced, a fantastic thing occurred and Lord LeoPard entered my life. I promise to get to that in my next post, but without further ado,
this is he:

valentine

...until next time...

my computer went kapoop, so unless something miraculous happens there will not be pictures for a while.

to those of you who have been checking, thanks and I'll let you know when we're back in business.

flee the country!

I'm ready for some serious adventure... on my list of top places to go outside of the US are Micronesia, Chile, Norway, Holland, Japan, Hungary (more specifically, medieval Transylvania), and Iceland.

I wonder if I'll have to get a new Passport if I actually get to go somewhere before my current one expires because Jose-Chinchilla snacked on mine.

fit as a fiddle...

...or at least my eyes and brain will be...

crisp Tuesday morning

easter in the anglosphere:

cremation of chief kowee

In 1880, Chief Kowee led prospectors Joe Juneau and Dick Harris to gold deposits in what is now known as Silver Bow Basin along Gold Creek, the stream that runs through town. The deposits turned out to be one of the largest ore loads in the world. Tradition has it that Chief Kowee was cremated 12 years after he took the two gold-seekers to their fortune-- this is the shrine to commemorate his death. It is about twenty feet from the apartment my parents and I are living in and I can see it from the livingroom window...

on my walk home...

this was the first pretty morning in a while.

pieces of heaven

oh my -- abby and courtney made Guinness cupcakes for St.Patrick's Day--
AMAZING!

spring has sprung... well almost

It was looking as though Spring was finally on the way-- sun, melted snow, warming temperatures-- but I think we've been fooled. Today I woke up to the wind and snow, which, to say the least, was an unwelcome surprise. On a spring-y note, my mom put daffodils in my room the other day and they have finally all opened.

They remind me of the poem "Daffodils" written in 1804 by William Wordsworth:

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

plush carnage

three 'babies' lost their squeakers today...

not much to say.

i need new pants

"i'd lose my head if it weren't attached..."

so, the truth of the matter is I had misplaced my camera since my last picture post. since I managed to lose my phone at the same time (give or take a day) I had feared the worst-- that they were both long gone, snatched up by some exceptionally lucky person. Out of desperation I decided to tear apart my room and there it was-- in all it's shiny glory under a pile of dirty clothes and strewn books. My treasure couldn't have been found at a more perfect time because I was lucky enough to score a place on an Alaskan Brewing Company VIP tour today. My friend, Abby won the trip for her and 7 others, and the following are the remnants of one fantastic journey.

Coming to a bar near you...

The belly of the Beast

Abby, me, Courtney, Margarete, Jessica O.

And that wasn't the end of post worthy picture taking!! On my way home I had to stop by the store to pick up some groceries and in the parking lot I stumbled across a birder's dream:



I think that they had found a frozen fish-- the coolest part of the whole thing was that they allowed each other to take turns chipping away at it. No fighting or eagle screeching or extreme impatience. It was obvious, however, that none of them were leaving without getting a turn.

wise old owl

My friend, Corin showed up downtown the night before last donning what I think was a cheap version of an Akubra, old man glasses, and a mustache. I managed to somehow weasel away the mustache and glasses from him and at some point in the evening my little owl money bag (that Will sneakily bought me in SanFransisco while we were in Chinatown after I said how much I liked them) took the facial hair from me.

"not too toot my own horn or anything..."

Tourists to Juneau are ushered in to town by at least a handful of interesting, dramatic, and often confusing public works; "Raven Discovering Mankind in a Clamshell," painted by Bill Ray in 1988, is a fine example of this colorful little city's culture and warm welcomes. The mural depicts the legend describing how Raven discovered man and is responsible for the present order of our universe. Unfortunately, the mural has become a blank canvas to be marred-- the graffiti has included bad words, moustaches, and most recently- passed gas.

ps>> good work abby for spotting this little gem!

Playground Tyrant

My parents sold the house Jillian and I grew up in and are planning on moving out of town this summer. Until they leave, mom, dad, and I are living in a nice apartment downtown which is across the street from an elementary school. T-Rex lives here-- in the confines of the playground.

i [heart] Guinness

.mmmm.
thank you, andy!

ps> meanhappyguy, bottoms up. ;)