MORE BREAKING NEWS

The second egg has hatched!!  Welcome to the deck Hester Pigeon!!!  There will be pictures at a future point...but suffice it to say she is really cute!!

Indiana Installment #2

Yes folks, you read correctly...it is indeed time for the much anticipated Indiana Installment #2.


As I mentioned the first trip to Indiana was in order to fly home and surprise MuzzMo (aka Mother) for her birthday.

*BREAKING NEWS: JUDY PIGEON JUST RETURNED TO THE DECK WITH A WORM FOR LITTLE JIMMY PIGEON*

The reason we had to fly home for her birthday was to deliver her present. Most daughters would consider a surprise trip home enough present for their mother's birthday...but not Chumbers and I. MuzMo's official birthday present was...wait for it...wait for it...a homemade Snuggly (don't want to infringe on any trademarks). In order to give a homemade Sunggly one has to make the homemade Snuggly first. I was able to get it mostly fabricated here in Sioux Falls (during a Meryl Streep Mini-Marathon: Out of Africa and The Devil Wears Prada). But there was still some last minute touches to be made:

Well I was working on that Chumbers was busy modifying our official Christmas 2008 tee-shirts (we made them over thanksgiving and wore them home for Christmas). They now sport a special Birthday patch as you will see in a few minutes. Here are two of the may modeling pictures taken of me that are up being considered for use in the Snuggly Infomercial...as you can see it is personalized with a big SPU patch. SPU is, after all, my Alma Mater and hers!!

Just look at the functionality and comfort!! (Yes I will be taking orders for personalized Snugglies)

Now would be a good time to mention that I was sick for the whole ordeal. So not only had I driven 12 hours from SD to IN but then had to work hard to finish the Snuggly in time. Also, I should reiterate my distinct distaste for flying. Poor Chumbles never realized just how much it all stressed me out until we flew home together...on top of which I was sick. Of course going through security I was pulled aside and chosen to go through the special machine. At the time I just thought it was some new magnetic metal detector or something (I found out about a week ago that it is one of those visual strip search machines...ummmmm....yeah....good thing I didn't know at the time...and I'll be hornswoggled if I ever have to do that again). Anywho the security lady was alerted that there was something in my right back pocket. Of course there wasn't. I checked a million times...mind you, this was after being asked by the security folk about 12 times if I had a belt on...by the end I actually responded: "Nope...still no..." Anywho because there was some concern about my right back pocket I got patted down...just in the right back pocket area. I have never been so mortified in an airport. Now that you know all of those contributing factors I think you can understand why I looked like this the rest of the flight:

In the end we made it home...and I managed to try to look somewhat normal...and MuzzMo was thrilled with her surprise birthday present...she was actually more thrilled with Chumbers and I than she was with the Snuggly. It took her awhile to come around on that one...but all reports from home indicate that she has become a loyal user of the Snuggly!! Here is a pic of Chumbles and I in our special birthday shirts with the Birthday Girl!

The rest of the trip consisted of my being sick on the couch. I manage to hold off becoming really sick until I got home to the Edmonds Estate at which point I went down hill quickly. Having recently discoverd the joy that is Psych (the best show on TV you're not watching) we had a 3 day Psych marathon. Even Pappy got into it!! I think this a good place to end IN Installment #2. My most recent trip will be more thorougly covered in IN Installment #3.

Thanks all for reading!!

BREAKING NEWS!!

After I finished my last post I decided to go check on Judy Pigeon....and....ONE OF THE EGGS HATCHED!!!!
Welcome to my deck Little Jimmy Pigeon!!!  (Sorry the picture isn't very good...all I've got is my little cell phone...and I didn't want to get too close...but you can double click it to see it a little larger).  Now Judy and Johnny Pigeon are just waiting on one more little egg...

A Few Items of Business...

Before I launch into Indiana Installment #2 I wanted to take care of some business:

1. I realize that it is around graduation time (some have already occurred and some and almost hear). As I know a number of my loyal readers have or are graduating this year I wanted to give them all a shout out. So congratulations to all my 3rd Mo/SPU friends, to those down at PLU, and here at USD!! And a special shout out to any readers who may have just graduated from Pepperdine with their Masters. To all my graduating readers I officially welcome you to the post-college world (or in my case Post College....some car dealer in WA thinks I am attending Post College...which I suppose is fair enough since my post-college life has turned into more college!).

2. I need to brag a moment. I officially received some very kind words at the JPair blog (check it out to see pictures of the cutest little puppy...I think there is a link on the sidebar). As JPair is blogging from a different state I think that means I have officially become nationally acclaimed...ha ha ha. So thank you JPair...and I wish you a speedy recovery. (Incidentally if you have stumbled onto my blog from hers and are the un-named friend who promised her brownies during her recovery...you really should follow through. I'd bring Jess brownies myself but the drive is a little long...sorry Jess!)

With the sappy, but heartfelt congratulations, and the bragging out of the way I can now get down to the much anticipated IN Installment #2...as soon as I get some coffee for my empty mug...

Guess who is just around the corner...

No, the answer is not Suzy...but there she is looking and wondering who is just around the corner.  Who could it be?  Keep reading to find out....
For those of you waiting with baited breath for IN installment #2...sorry, this is not it.  Don't worry though...I will get around to it sometime in the very near future.

This post is for three reasons:

1. To let you all know that IN installment #2 (an possibly even more) will be coming soon...and it will be worth it!

2. To give all my faithful readers an update on the Judy Pigeon situation.  I'm not sure exactly what's been going on, but Jonny Pigeon (or possibly some other 3rd unidentified pigeon...I haven't mastered the art of telling all pigeons apart yet) has been bringing more nesting material to my deck for the past couple days.  I'm not sure if Judy has been advertising to her friends and someone else is moving in, or if Judy was just uncomfortable.  Needless to say I am somewhat alarmed and keeping an eye on the situation (but from a safe distance so said eye does not meet the wrath of Judy's beak).

3. To ask a question: What is a non-trad student, such as myself, supposed to do in the middle of a 3.75 hour long finance class when she gets a random flashback to high school and almost starts laugh out loud?  For all two of you who will understand....We were talking about financial planning (so that no one is taken by surprise) and out of nowhere I had a visual image of Hope being just around the corner...poised and ready to surprise.  Of course I had the song stuck in my head the rest of class.  So here's to you, sultry Miss Stella Ashton, and the Christmas Cafe...still making a difference this many years later!  In the opening picture of Suzy I believe she was actually saying: "Hope! Stop hiding behind corners and come play checkers!"   And to other parties concerned...last week when I was really antsy I drew a smaple tree forest in the margins to get my focus back.  Maybe this all means I've been in school too long and need to get out...

Well that's it for now.  I must needs go try to live my life the best I know how for awhile before I can come back and regale you all with stories from my travels to IN.  So until then...remember that Hope is just around the corner!!

I think I'm Tippi. Wish I was Eva Maire. Glad I'm not Janet!

Alright....I think it is somewhat safe to assume that most young girls wish their life would be like a movie.  While I suppose I am not exactly a "young girl" any more, I still at times wish my life would be a like a movie.  Unfortunately last night I realized that it just might be!

I've been seeing some other birds (not sure what kind, but they are neither doves nor pigeons) flying on to my neighbor's deck with what appear to be nesting material.  Last summer/fall across the parking lot in a big open field there were lots of birds that would hang out...but apparently now they have decided to move into the building!  I happened to be thinking about this and feeling oddly strange and uneasy about it when I started flipping channels.  Of course Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie was on.  I didn't stop to watch it, but seeing Tippi Hedren for that brief moment brought it all together for me.  Here I was cowering in my apartment becoming afraid of the growing number of birds that seem to be massing around my apartment building--with an almost attack from two days ago.  A better way to explain the run in I had with Judy Pigeon two days ago would be: think of the first time Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) gets whalooped in the head by a seagull only without actual contact.

I suppose I am partly to blame for this all, but when I had wished my life would be like a movie I wasn't thinking Alfred Hitchcock...least of all The Birds.  Of course I've never seen how it ends, but I saw a clip of Tippi talking about filming some of the last scenes online last night.  I don't need to actually watch Tippi get pelted by an array of birds to realize that I am not going out on my deck for awhile.  Especially since at least Melanie Daniels had Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) to then whisk her away to safety.  I have no Mitch to save me.

If my life had to be like a Hitchcock film I would much prefer North by Northwest  or even  Notorious.  I suppose I was hoping for some N by NW  excitement when I moved to this great state.  After all, it is the Mt. Rushmore scene that really makes that movie.  Despite the parts involving hanging off the face of Mt. Rushmore, what girl wouldn't want to be Eva Marie Saint...living an action packed life involving both Carey Grant and James Mason?!?  I definitly need to start riding the train more!!

I guess at then end of the day I should just thank my lucky stars that if it must be a Hitchcock film at least it is The Birds and not a worse alternative.  Maybe its a good thing I've grown my hair out, live far away from Arizona, and avoid people with a taxidermy hobby.  Sorry Janet Leigh, but I'll stick with Tippi on this one!!

Now I just hope I don't somehow develop Marnie's irrational fear of thunderstorms or it will be a loooooong summer...

IN Installment #1: Galesburg Loves Compnay

Alright... here is the deal: many of you know I have a Mac, some of you know that I have partitioned the hard drive and have Vista operating on half of the computer.  I mention this only because some of my Indiana pictures are on the Mac side and the rest are on the Vista side.  SO in this first installment of my adventures in IN I will cover the drive home from Trip #1 and the drive to IN from Trip #2.  The rest of both trips will be covered in subsequent posts once I switch my computer over to the other side.  Sorry for the confusion...but I do have to keep you all on your toes...give you that off balance feeling!

Trip #1 was the Birthday Surprise trip from March.  My sister, henceforth refereed to as Chumbles and variations thereof, and I flew home in on our mother's birthday to surprise her.  In order to do this I had to first drive to IN so we could fly out of the Indy Airport.  The drive back to SD from IN was not super eventful...but I do have some highlight pictures:

The above picture is the gas station in Elkhorn, IA.  It is notable because with my trusty USD travel mug I got a full mug of coffee for $00.63!  You can't beat that price--and as far as gas station coffee goes it was actually pretty darn decent! (And yes, I do consider myself an authority on gas station coffee...since moving to SD I have had more than my fair share of gas station coffee).
This picture is actually from Elkhorn, IA as well.  Elkhorn is the home of the Danish Immigrant Museum (picture below) and the Danish Windmill (pictured above).  Unfortunately I did not get to Elkhorn until about an hour after both closed.  I did feel compelled to take pictures as I am Danish.  I very much want to go back and explore more and get in touch with my Danish heritage.  So if anyone if up for a road trip (I think it was about 4 hours from SF) let me know...Elkhorn here I come!!

Trip #2 to IN was last week.  I left the day after finals ended and stayed for a week.  Chumbles decided it would be alright if I brought a friend along for the visit.  So I took my good friend Marigold with me.

Did I mention that Marigold is my lucky Bamboo!  Here she is all buckled up (after all, it is the law) as we are getting ready to leave SF.
Of course, being good Scandinavians we need our coffee.  So here we are after we've gotten the necessary coffee at Starbucks before setting off...last chance for non-gas station coffee...

This is Marigold at a fun little gas station somewhere in IA (I forget exactly where).   I thought the barn with the silo (which is actually the mini-mart) made a good photo op for Marigold.  IN case any of you were worried I did wait until there was no one really around to take Marigold out of the car for the picture.   And yes, I did get gas station coffee there...wasn't that great but the novelty of the barn made up for the lack of real cream (they had a powdered creamer dispenser...made it look like it would be real cream, and the next thing you know you've got sketchy off-white powder dissolving in your coffee).

Those are just some highlights from the various drives.  Sorry they all took place in IA.  But IA is a surprisingly large state.  The drive between Sioux Falls and West Lafayette is about 12 hours, and over half of it occurs in IA.  The big non-IA highlight of the drive for me is always stopping in Galesburg, IL for apple pie at the McDonalds.  I always feel like I should stop in Galesburg because there are a bunch of signs leading up to it that read: "Galesburg Loves Company!"  

So Much To Tell....

Well, dear readers, we have a lot to catch up on. I have my cup of coffee, so I suggest you get one as well to drink while we shot the breeze! Since I have so much material...and pictures for real this time...I am probably going to break things down into a couple different posts. I have two trips to Indiana to cover not to mention various different life events from the past couple weeks.
I think a good place to start is with a few random recent occurrences. For those of you who are also readers of the nationally acclaimed JPair Blog (for the record...I am acclaiming the JPair Blog right now...and I live in a different state from the author...so it is indeed national acclaim!) you know that she recently got the cutest little puppy Bella!! Congrats to her!!! Not to be outdone in the blogosphere by JPair I have my own recent animal addition. No it is not a puppy, nor is it a kitty..I have become the proud landlord of a rare and beautiful dove family. They are rare and beautiful because they are colored doves!! Ok, so that just makes them pigeons and not rare at all, but it is more fun to think of them as colored doves. (If you don't believe me that doves are just white pigeons look it up...sorry if I just shattered anyone's world views with the revelation that doves are just white pigeons...but you knew coming into this that my blog is edgy and controversial!) Judy Pigeon moved onto my deck a couple days ago and proceeded to lay two eggs. (Those would be the eggs in the picture). Johnny Pigeon doesn't live on the deck with Judy but does come to visit her frequently. I have tried to befriend Judy Pigeon, but it is a slow and now terrifying process. Occasionally I will open my window and do my best pigeon coo impression, or stick my head out on the deck to say hello. I am officially "The Mad Bird Woman of Sioux Falls." Yesterday afternoon I stuck my head out on my deck to see how Judy was doing and she flew up at me and veered away at the last moment--the look in her eyes said: "You come out here once more and this beak will be the last thing your eyes see before they are pecked out." My heart is still pounding from that incident. While I am honored that Judy Pigeon decided on my deck she is cramping my style a bit. I can no longer go out and read on my deck (even though the weather is perfect for it), I cannot go put planter boxes on my deck, and I cannot turn on my AC (as you can see in the picture the nest is right next to it). The AC thing wouldn't be such a problem except that Tuesday and Thursday were devilishly hot, but the wind was so strong it was next to impossible to have the windows open. Thank you Judy! By my calculations it will be less than two weeks until the eggs hatch. I'll keep you all posted on how things go...

In other exciting news I am the proud new owner of a ChemEx coffee maker.  While I may not have delusions of grandeur, I do have delusions of Mary Tyler Moore.  For those of you readers who are diehard fans of the MTM show (mmmm....awkward silence.....) you may recognize this coffee making device.  It is indeed the same type of coffee maker Mary Richards  has for much of the MTM show.  So now I am a single young career girl living in the midwest with the right coffee maker.  All I need is a big "E" for my wall and a Phyllis and Rhoda.  Anyway it actually does make amazing coffee--not bitter at all!  And for those of you from my college days, that is indeed the Agnes mug.  I actually took this picture as I filled my mug up just before I sat down to blog.  The mug is now empty so I think I will bring this post to a close and refill my mug before I embark on my many adventures in IN.

On the 3rd Day of Spring

For those of my faithful readers who have been following my own personal 12 Days of Spring (1 Robin Red-Brest, and 2 strutting Pigeons) sadly I did not see 3 fowls of any sort on my deck railing today...but that doesn't mean they weren't there, I was in class for much of prime fowl spotting hours.

From the shores of Gitchee Gumee I wish you all a very happy Friday!

On the 2nd Day of Spring...

Yesterday there was 1 Robin Red-Brest on my deck railing. Today there were 2 Pigeons(aka. colorful doves...no joke!) strutting around on my railing. I'm excited to see what shows up tomorrow!! I tried to take a picture but accidentally scared them off before I could...sorry all!
Now I'm off to review how to figure out how much the molding department spent on molding bowling balls last month...the excitement never ends in the wacky zany world of accounting!!! (It actually is more fun than if sounds...by the end of the semester I'll be able to figure out if I should congratulate or chew out the molding department production manager for being under or over budget...it's all about the standards!)