Balloon Cthulhu

These aren't you typical balloon animals. Who knew they could be so cool.

Jason Hackenwerth's Balloon Art

Sweet Treat

You can't help but wonder if they got any pre-release consumer comments for this product.

Cherry City

Salem is known as the "Cherry City" as there are a lot of cherry trees planted all around town. On a recent nice day we went down to the capitol mall to see the trees in bloom. Here are some photos.


Here is an interesting fountain on the mall. Apparently it is rarely turned on as lawmakers are afraid someone would drown in it's 12" deep waters. Typical.


Here's Bear in a picturesque spot.

Gay Republicans = Squirrels for Huckabee

Our squirrels are most unhappy to hear this. If they were undecided before, they are most definitely Democrats now.

Married (No Children)

The Domestic Partnership Bill finally went into effect in Oregon on February 4. We filled out our form, had it notarized and went down to the Courthouse to get it registered. In typical government fashion there was an inconsistency in the way they required the form to be filled out, so we had to redo them. On our second visit to the Courthouse everything went smoothly. The clerk said we were probably the tenth couple so far to register. It is nice to finally be recognized and have some legal rights. Too bad it is only within the state of Oregon. Maybe one day it will be national, but I'm not counting on it anytime soon.

Twins again!

It seems as if at least once a week we get asked if we are brothers, or even twins. Seeing as how we are 13 years apart in age, it's either a nice compliment to Bear or signs I am prematurely aging! In any case, rather than try to explain our relationship to shop clerks we just say "yes" and leave it at that. Here's a picture taken today so you can decide if we have lived together long enough to now resemble each other.

Mac/PC ad parody

Still gorgeous

The tree peony I planted last fall is in bloom. The individual blooms are over 6 inches across. Too bad it isn't the color I bought. It is suposed to be red and white striped, which this obviously is not. Still gorgeous though.

Wanda Sykes on Gay Marriage

I've been sayin these things for a while now; looks like Wanda was eavesdropping on me.

We've gone nuts

In an effort to keep the squirrels out of the birdfeeder, we started giving them corn and peanuts. We call one "Notch" because she has a small crescent missing from one ear, probably from a fight. Notch has decided to let us know whenever we need to put out more food by coming to the back door and looking in, sometimes thumping on the door. She can be quite persistant, going from window pane to window pane in order to make sure we see her. We are extra careful never to leave the backdoor open now, for fear she would come inside and have a look around.

Falling water

One of the things we liked about the house when we were looking was that it had a water feature. It was in need of a complete overhaul however. Here it is as it was.

Here it is after the makeover. We think it is a big improvement.


As with all things, the backyard is still a work in progress. We hope to make it a lush private eden. Once plants start to grow in it will look even better.

Spring is busting out all over

We had a lot of spring color from bulbs, both from those and I planted and those that were a surprise.



Here are some other flowers.



It really is a beautiful time of the year out here.

Ninja Warrior: Makoto Nagano

I bet he played a lot of platormer video games.

The Inner Life Of A Cell (HQ)

Science can be beautiful!

Snubbed!

In an effort to be more social we had joined a monthly potluck club. We volunteered to host for March and got everything all tidy and cooked up a storm so everything would be nice and tasty for the event yesterday. Well, only four people showed up. Luckily it was 4 of the people we like the most. Of the potlucks we have attended there has always been at least a dozen people in attendance. I consider this a snub. Well, they won't get a chance to experience out Southern hospitatality again, as we will not be hosting again. Fuck 'em!

Twins???

We were at the supermarket today and a woman asked us if we were twins! Apparently we have lived together long enough to resemble each other as couples sometimes do after a while. lol.

Avenue Jew

Just watch it--it's funny!

Homeless no more

Well we've been in our new house about two weeks now. We found a place in South Salem. Nothing fancy, but it suited our needs and our budget better than anything else we had looked at. It is good to be in a real house again. We are slowly getting settled in, but it will be months before we are completely unpacked. The garage is completely filled with boxes. According to the movers we had 17,000 pounds of stuff! There's a lot of things we'd like to do both inside and out, but since we don't plan on moving again, we have the rest of our lives to renovate, remodel and redecorate.

Home Sweet Homeless

Well the house in New Orleans is finally sold, so we are officially homeless (well, houseless more accurately) and boy does it feel good. Especially with hurricane season almost upon us again! The movers come tomorrow with the rest of our furnishings so the only reason we'll have to go to New Orleans is just to visit friends and not because of any economic ties. I don't think I'll be returning there anytime soon in any case.

Gary Numan--Jagged

I picked up this album after listening to it on the iTunes music store. There is little to remind you of "Cars" here, other than Numan's instantly recognizable voice. There is a very dark and slightly industrial feel to the album, very NIN in nature but not as harsh. I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed this album.