In Memory of Fikus 1997-March 19,2009

Fikus was a great kitty that raised himself living out of dumpsters the first year of his life (and the food I would leave out for him). He always got excited at the smell of ice-cream, so he must have licked a lot of ice cream containers in his first year. He was really wild when I got him, so if he can be tamed...ANY cat can be tamed! This picture disguises it, but he had a tumor that was on the right side of his face (the left of the picture). He was such a sweet Kitty and will be greatly missed.

The Getty Villa

My friend from Florida and I went to the Getty Villa just north of Santa Monica today. It had nice gardens and a lot of Greek statues.

Visitor From Florida

Today, a friend and I went to The Getty in downtown LA. We only saw about half of this amazing museum. Best of all...it's free (except the $10 for parking).
This painting was so amazingly colorful and very detailed. Each flower was delicately painted by each petal. The flute that the girl is playing showed detailed carving on it.

In addition to the paintings there were rooms filled with furniture, vases and other old items.

Desert Activities

Today was the Adelanto Grand Prix. I went and took some pictures as I haven't taken any actions shots with my camera yet. Looked like fun!

Duncan and Marlene's Wedding

Here are some of the pictures from Duncan and Marlene's wedding.

Valentine's Day

Visit With Family

It's fun to be spending some time with family. Here are a couple pictures of my youngest brother and his wife. More pictures tomorrow of my other brother and his soon-to-be wife.

Cold Weather

Today, we had snow, rain and hail and it was COLD! What a perfect evening for a fire in the fireplace and to sip a cup of hot chocolate.

Rainbow, Blue Skies and Biggest Loser

Today, on the way to work, I saw are really wide, short and brilliant colored rainbow on a day with sun and blue skies. Unfortunately, by the time I stopped to get my camera, it had faded some.
At work, we had pizza and cake to celebrate the end of our biggest loser weight loss challenge. Our winner lost 30 pounds which was 12% of her body weight. Ranked 5th out of 11 people by losing 8 pounds. Combined, we all lost a total of 114 pounds and an average of 5%. We're taking a few days off, then we're going to start again on February 16 for 12 weeks, ending on May 11.

Painting Project

When I bought my house, all the walls, ceiling and trim were all off-white. Even though I pictures and decorations in the powder bathroom, it still seemed "cold". Today I painted it "soft camel" and it looks much better. Hmmm...now it makes the rest of the house look cold!

Kitty on Facebook?

Tonight, I left the room to answer the phone, when I came back, Fikus was sitting on my computer. It looks like he's catching up on Facebook!

Photographer - Audrey Woulard

Here is a link to an article by Audrey Woulard that's in Rangefinder Magazine...one of the top magazines geared toward professional photographers. She was one of the photographers at the Learnfest photography course that I went to in Baldhead, NC last September. Love the eyes on the picture below (one of her photographs featured in the article).

5K Run

This morning, I went and took some pictures at a local YMCA fun run. This was the 5K group that was almost ready to start.

Two Parades

While Washington was having it's own inaugural parade, we were excited to send out new model down the road with a parade of vehicles.

From the drawing board in April 2008, to heading down the road in January, it's now on it's way to the Miami Boat Show...has quite a trip there. From the pictures, you can see from the size that it requires a five car escort. A pole care in the lead (to make sure it can go under bridges), a police car, a wide load vehicle, then THE YACHT, another wide load vehicle and finally another police car to end the procession. Once it goes in the water later this week, it will have to have the bridge installed (sits on top of the boat for the captain to drive from), then it has a several day of grueling travel by water to FL. With no hardtop, there is no protection from the sun or other elements as it travels.

Living in the Desert

On the way to work this morning, this coyote strolled across the road in front of me, not far from my house. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures...making me a little late for work. It was the first time I've seen a coyote since moving here, and definitely the first time I saw one so close. I saw the coyote after seeing a beautiful sunrise this morning. What a great start to the week.