Kamiak

Today we took a hike up Kamiak Butte so that I could collect pine-cones to put in my outdoor planters. It was perfect weather, and the view from the top is incredible.

So that I might win a purse too!

I am linking to Bekah Merkle's blog, Amoretti, because that way I get doubly entered in her give-away contest. So here it is, you all should check out her stuff, it's very cute!

Tee hee

This is what is happening a week and a half before I defend my senior thesis: I find lots of opportunities to not work on homework. The Onion news is one example.

Pictures from a wedding

The groom made a photo booth. Yes, made. Invented. Created. So all the guests got to take pictures which made for super fun memorabilia. I wonder if you can guess which one is Joel's favorite....

Ninja cat comes closer without moving!

This is a game we play with Whiskey too. Those of you who have seen El Orfanato might notice some similarities.....

George Herbert

I had to memorize a poem for this term for Traditio so I memorized Love (III) by George Herbert. It's arguably his greatest poem:

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.

A guest, I answer'd, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but I have marr'd them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?
My dear, then I will serve.
You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.

House Painting

We decided it was time to rid ourselves of the aqua green trim around the house. So we replaced it with something much newer and cheerier, red! At first it was too bright and I really didn't like it, but it's darkened over the week and I think it looks great now. We're going to paint the door red as well, and put in red window-boxes on the bay window and side window that you see in the first picture. I think that will tie everything together nicely.

One of my favorite things about Moscow

Every year we look forward to the fair. It's kind of an introduction to Fall, our favorite season. We like to go at night, when all the flashing carnival lights stand out starkly against the crisp darkness. This year we didn't go on any rides since tickets were exorbitantly expensive; instead we wandered through the livestock booths and thought about animals. We've been thinking a good bit about animals lately, since we've considered buying land outside of town and building a house on some acreage. And we'd like to have some livestock, not anything in large quantities but something that makes us feel more... self-sustainable I suppose. Anyway, it's just an idea, but it was certainly fun to wander past all the different animals and dream. We like to dream about the future and make plans and try out different scenarios in our heads. As I suppose all couples do. :)

After wandering and scheming we bought an elephant ear and listened to an old cowboy strumming country songs on his guitar. It made me appreciate living in America; I tried picturing Europeans in this type of setting and it just didn't work. He sang songs about the old West and about Idaho potatoes (versatile spuds, he said) and swing-dancing. All in all it was a very enjoyable night, and it reminded me strongly of where I live. I felt rooted, and perfectly happy with those roots.

If we do build a house on acreage we're going to call it Cohen Manor. Or Cohenfield. Or some similar noble-sounding name. :) Probably not, but we'd like to pass it along to our children and their children and so on, so that if we plant saplings in the yard now we'll know our descendants are enjoying their shade 250 years from now. Perhaps we'll stick a plaque in the yard to remind them.

Two Strange Events

These two events are entirely unrelated, but both I found very interesting.

The first had to do with my surgery last week. I spent a lot of last weekend on the couch at home, in a good bit of pain which was numbed somewhat by the Vicodin. I did have the time to reflect back on how terrible getting my wisdom teeth out would have been two hundred years ago. Perhaps they would have never come out and rotted back there or gotten infected and killed me. Either way, it made me very grateful for our modern dental services. Unfortunately I couldn't just lounge around all weekend eating ice-cream and watching movies, I had a Traditio class on Monday and we were assigned to read Francis Bacon. I have to admit, being on Vicodin and reading Bacon was sort of what I must imagine being on Vicodin and drinking alcohol is like. I couldn't get more than two sentences into that blasted philosophy book without passing out. It was extremely frustrating, and I can't say I came to class with a very friendly attitude towards Bacon. But then Mr. McIntosh, during his lecture, mentioned that because of Bacon's novel approach to science, we have him to thank for our wonderful modern dentistry. I did repent of my hard feelings towards Bacon after that. Ironic, eh?

The other event is just weird. Today while Joel and I were getting dressed for the wedding our kitten sat perched on our bedroom windowsill and watched the birds playing in the tree right outside. Joel went over to pet her, and just then a bird flew right into the closed window. Thunk. It flew away, leaving a large amount of feathers stuck to our window. We thought that was strange, but continued getting dressed. A few minutes later Joel's downstairs ironing his shirt and I hear another giant thunk. A SECOND bird had flown into the window, in the same spot. Two times in one hour is highly unusual for our window's bird-attracting scale, but then before we left it happened one more time. Another witless bird smashed its little body against the glass. I have to say that was one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed. Who knows how many more kamikaze birds attempted the same feat after we left. All I can say is that by the time I came home there were a lot of feathers stuck to our window. The only reason that I can think of why that would happen is because they saw Whiskey and were perhaps trying to protect their young? Or maybe Whiskey was luring them in with those beguiling kitten eyes. Who knows.

Wheee!!

You know how I feel right now?

Euphoric.

Joel says it's the pain-killers, personally I like to think it's just a newfound appreciation for the wonders of modern medicine. I was thoroughly expecting to be in extreme amounts of pain when I got out of surgery, but I was very happily numb.

This is how the surgery went. In I went to the operating room where the very young nurse (assistant?) informed me that he had already done one operation this morning. I suppose the alarmed look on my face was what prompted him to explain that he actually didn't do the operating. He just assisted. Believe me, that was a relief. So in came all the nurses, hooking tubes up to me and checking different things, most all of them thoroughly confused by the fact that my oxygen something-or-other levels were so low.... apparently you're supposed to be at 99, I was wavering between and 87 and a 93. Every time the machine read 87 all these alarms would start beeping which did not help me relax. Oh well. Apparently they decided my levels were high enough because the next thing I know a voice says "We're going to lower the chair back now." And then bam. I'm out. No countdown, nothing. The next thing I remember is hearing "Christine, are you okay?" and opening my eyes to see the assistant standing over me with a somewhat worried expression on his face. At least, I think he was worried. He kept splitting into two people and then merging back into one, so it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what face he was making.

I noticed that there were tears coursing down my cheeks. I thought this was very odd because I was in absolutely no pain and completely untraumatized. But, there I was, crying unstoppably much to my embarrassment. Since my mouth was entirely numb and speaking was not an option I gave him the thumbs up which I hoped communicated that I was just dandy besides the fact that I was crying like a baby. So out he wheeled me to the room where Joel picked me up, took me home, gave me the wonderful pain medications, and now I'm just happy as a clam here at my computer. I'm very slowly regaining the use of my mouth, which means that drinking has become a much less messy endeavor. And Joel's actually starting to understand what I'm saying! Always a plus.

So yes, just wanted to give anyone who was interested an update. I've been reading the Hobbit, watching some Seinfeld, and drinking protein drinks. I'm very grateful for all the prayers. Thank you all!

Oh, and although Joel begged me to let him take a picture of me to put on this blog, I'm convinced I look like a chipmunk. So no pictures until I feel prettier. Sorry. It's a vain woman thing, I know.

A quick update

Well, all that rushing around from my last post had to have its consequences... and both Joel and I came down with a cold. I hope that explains our long and neglectful silence on this blog. Joel was wise enough to take lots of zinc when he started to get sick, and so his cold only lasted three to four days. I, on the other hand, refused to believe I was coming down with anything, took no zinc, and thus have been stuck with a lingering cough and stuffy nose for a week now.

At first I was worried that my sickness would mean that I couldn't get my wisdom teeth out, but it looks like I'm still scheduled for a 9:30 surgery tomorrow. I'm trying not to be nervous... really... but it's not very comforting when everyone who hears I'm getting them out comes back with some terrible story about their surgery. "But I'm sure yours won't be like that," they say afterward, as if that's supposed to make me feel better. Ah well. At least if something does go horribly wrong I'll have an interesting story to tell you all about later (And they mistook 'wisdom teeth extraction' for 'total teeth extraction').

So tonight I'm going to savor my last solid-food meal for a while.

In other interesting news I had my first Latin class which was entertaining. Especially with a completely stuffed up nose. Trying saying "Nominative" with your nose plugged, it doesn't sound very good. But I think my students understood me well enough. I even played Latin pictionary with them at the end of class, so I hope that scored me good "new-teacher" brownie points. I'm really looking forward to teaching this year, it should be a great experience!