AND THEN THERE WAS TIBBOH

When Hobbit passed away, it didn't seem to bother our other house cat, 14 year old Tibboh. As they hadn't exactly been best buddies, we didn't think it would make any difference to our remaining pet.

After a while, we began to notice that Tibboh wanted more affection. She became cuddly, which was odd, because she'd never been especially cuddly before. It's been very strange watching her personality change now that she is alpha-cat of the house.

Wonko and I had a chuckle this afternoon when Tibboh snuggled up to Weeb while she was watching TV. Tibboh had head scritching ideas, I'm certain. Weeb, who had never been particularly comfortable with either cat getting too close to her, was happy to share her space and offer Tibboh some attention.

It's been an odd transition. Though I still very much miss Hobbit, it's nice to see Tibboh become more affectionate, especially with Weeb.

VANCOUVER SNOW LINE TAKE 2

The snow line came down a little closer to home, from the last time I blogged about snow.

They've warned that we'll have a cold, snowy winter due to El Nina, this year. As of this weekend, we have snow tires, a pink princess snow shovel and a fine layer of plastic over our windows. Temperatures will be below freezing for most of the week. We purchased this year's every-growing-child snowsuit purchased last month. We bought a new snow shovel a couple of years ago and bought a large container of salt for the walk way, last winter (then never needed it). We're set! Bring it!

THE TOOTH IS OUT THERE

Sorry, I couldn't resist the stupid title.

My daughter lost her first today.

I did not expect loose teeth before she turned 5 years old. And she was NOT thrilled about having a loose tooth, either. I was shocked each day that passed and that thing hadn't fallen out. It seemed to be loose for more than a month.

My poor girl. She is not a fan of change. I've worked so hard to

try and have her experience the changes of life as an adventure, but as much as I try to hide my own issues from her, she is very much like me. Sorry Baby, you've done nothing BUT change since the day you were conceived. Life is change. I'd say you'll get used to it, but you'll probably just stress about everything for the rest of your life, just like I do, regardless of how illogical it is.

Baby teeth are SMALL!

After the initial hysterics, she was quite interested in the tooth and how it fits in the mouth and the new tooth that's already growing behind where her baby tooth once was. I decided to show her my wisdom teeth. I had them removed when I was 18 and asked to keep them. I think they're awesome. My kid thinks they're awesome, too. And comparing them to her tiny baby tooth, I understand why these suckers caused me such jaw pain!

We thought about the best thing to put Weeb's tooth in so the tooth fairy could easily find it (and Weeb didn't easily lose it). We decided on this little container. She drew a picture of a tooth and the Tooth Fairy on it.

We're all smiles and gappy grins now. I wonder what the Tooth Fairy will bring tonight.

NOVEMBER SNOW LINE IN VANCOUVER

This is the view from where I work.

Well, it's the view once I've parked my car and walked towards the office door.

Plus it was from a couple of days ago when it we weren't enjoying a November rainy day complete with crazy wind.

But it's the view from where I work.

Well, probably not anymore. The snow line was pretty low when I took the picture but as they're talking about opening Whistler and some of the other ski hills this weekend, I'm guessing there is even more snow in 'them thar hills' now.

The snow can stay on the mountains, where it belongs.

Shame there wasn't any there for the 2010 Winter Olympics. *snicker*

DITCHED STILL

I am still obsessed by the digger in the ditch (see previous blog entries). It's still there. I've learned that the owners can't afford to get it out and that they did all the right stuff when it fell into the ditch - they removed any fuel, etc., called the city, they even tried to get a crane in, but due to the narrow farm roads, the crane was not able to maneuverer a rescue. The city has been giving them advice in how to best rescue their 20,000 tonne machine (this weight is noted in a local newspaper article, though I suspect they meant pounds, not tonnes).

Driving home yesterday, I noticed the crane was now an odd neon green. It had either been vandalized or the owners were blowing off some steam. I stopped my car for a picture, but there were men on the property (and in the ditch) working and I wussied out. I did notice one fellow was moving chunks of broken concrete to the property from a truck down the road. Was he dumping it in the ditch? No idea. Maybe they were trying to strengthen the dirt bridge that was built up from the road, through the ditch and to the property. I gather they did they to keep the machine from sinking further into the ditch, and perhaps to aid in getting other machines to the land to attempt rescue (and apparently provide easy access for some people with neon green spray-paint).

Since I am obsessed and a wussy and didn't get my photo, I somehow convinced my husband, upon his return home from work, to drive us past the site so I could snap a photo via the passenger window. A couple of hours had passed by, maybe all the guys that had previously been there were gone. My husband is very cool. And patient. And tolerant of my strange hobbies.

The photo did not exactly turn out.

We went and had dinner and tried again, but the photo just looked like a crane in a ditch in the dark. Nothing new, nothing funny, nothing neon.

This morning I passed by again, on my way to work. Nobody was there. So I parked my car at a nearby winery (my thanks to them) and walked the edge of the ditch to snap a picture. The lesson I have learned is this: If you are going to sneaky take a picture of a digger in a ditch, make sure your stupid camera's stupid battery is charged. No bother, I did get this shot. And then I laughed all the way to work.

Now again, I stress how tolerant my husband is of my insanity. Before he kindly took our daughter on a school field trip, he grabbed his camera and snapped a few good photos of the submerged, graffitied excavator.

The city has obviously come in between the time I took my photo this morning and the time my husband took his photos because in his shots there are more traffic cones and a city saw-horse announcing that yes, it's Richmond. You don't see stuff like this just anywhere and Richmond drivers are quite famous for being the worst in the world, excavator drivers included, it seems.

I will say, if I ever found out that my kid had pulled a graffiti stunt, I'd give them a good swift boot to the backside, but I can't help but find this funny. In case you cannot read the writing, the roof of the digger says STUDENT DRIVER and the arm of the digger says GET ME OUT. I am ashamed that I find this funny, but I do. And the neon green traffic cone on top makes me laugh even harder.

That there are now two more machines on the property, working to free this giant machine from the ditch, is even funnier still, visually. I am not proud, but I think it's hilarious.

I can't imagine how many more updates there will be in regards to this little accident. Eventually I suppose I'll have to post a picture of an empty ditch. I'll be a little bit sad on that day, though I'm certain it won't take long to find something else just as stupid to amuse me.

DITCHED AGAIN

So what's funnier, an excavator stuck in a ditch, a plan to get it out by piling sand into the ditch or the woman who stops her car a block away and dodges traffic to get pictures of said ditch oddity?

About a week ago, people from, what I assume must be the city, came out in droves to do some work. I figured with that many people, they'd certainly have that machine out of the ditch by the time I headed home from work.

Nope.

They seemed to fill in the ditch with a ton of gravel / dirt stuff that, at first glance, suggests they are going to try and pull this thing out from the road. Since nothing else has happened for a week, I suspect it's just there to keep the digger from sliding further into the ditch.

It isn't getting out this way. And it doesn't seem anyone is in a hurry to pull that sucker out of the ditch. I would LOVE to be there to see them remove this thing, when they finally get around to doing it. Heck, I'd just love to hear the story behind how it got there and how they're planning on getting it out.

Ah well, knowing THIS city, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone steals the thing.

See my original post on the excavator stuck in the ditch here.