Weekend Dog

We had a good trip to see Dr. V out in Norco this morning. The doctor further reduced Seven's phenobarbital dosage and it looks like he will be off the stuff in for to six months.
Here is Seven in the backseat of the Saab.

Our First KwH

After 7 weeks of misplaced orders and re-faxed requests, DWP came out yesterday and installed a spiffy new meter, connected the new box and cut the wires to our old interior panel. We won't be looking at that electrical eyesore anymore.

La Canada Burns

We got a pretty dramatic view of the wildfires sweeping through the Angeles Crest two days ago. In the course of ten minutes, the fire came up and over the hill.

We Have Trees

I left early this morning to buy some paint for the front of the house. About 9 o'clock the nursery truck came and dropped off the 2 Tipu trees and the Jacaranda. The holes we dug were far deeper than they needed to be and we filled them with compost and soil. We muscled the trees into place and added some more mulch and fertilizer. It's great to have instant shade now.
I then got back to painting the house. The front will be a two tone green with a near white trim. I love being able to frame the house's front with the new trees.

Unexpected Beauties

I returned home yesterday and decided to do some work on the hill behind the house. When I looked this morning, there were a bevy of pink blooms. Some kind of lily, I guess. A nice, if unexpected, surprise.

Watson Shoot

We were working today with one of our fave photographers Albert Watson, and Tristan took a nice picture of Gus and I watching the proceedings.

Miniture Pets pt.2

Today we had chicks in a neo-Victorian bedroom. Kinda sweet but I loved the lighting here. We tried not to use too many hot lights although some of the "actors" found the warmth snooze inducing...... Many jokes about grown men and doll houses. Wish I had a better camera.

Miniture Pets

We are currently doing a commercial with a carnival theme..... however all the patrons are small rabbits. We have a rollercoaster, balloon ride, tunnel of love and bumber cars. They have dressed the animals in period wardrobe. The entire spot intends to be insufferably cute.

Mauerhase

I went to see Martina's short film, "Aliens Among Us" last night at the IFC in New York. It was grouped with several excellent documentaries. The one that got me was titled Rabbit a la Berlin. It told the history of the Berlin wall from the point of view of the rabbits that lived and found protection in the no man's land between east and west. Very clever and inventive. All four of the festival films' trailer can be seen here

Unfurling

Our new banana tree seems to be doing well. After only one week, a new leaf is shooting up and unfurling. The tree should grow to 6 or 8 feet before giving us some inedible small bananas

Middle Class Republican

One of the most brilliant learned folks on talk radio is Thom Hartmann. Constitutional scholar and author. Yesterday he read a perfect reason for Liberalism/Progressivism in America and the world. A few days ago I heard people screaming at each other in town meetings. One person asked a conservative member to name one law that Republicans had passed to help the little guy. Thom puts it in perspective here

"A Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican"

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.
He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day) Joe agrees, "We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have".

Striptease

Last weekend as WL stained the floors and finished sanding.....I had 42 pieces of molding to strip. We figured we would save about $400 by not tossing away the the old solid wood moldings. Boring job but with the help of the ipod..... done!

Long Beach Dog

Last friday we took the day off and headed to Long Beach Dog Beach. Seven found some new friends and went all the way in the water. He's lost his fear of waves.

Pepper Plants

The pepper plants on the side of the house are giving us a multitude of super hot reds.