Too cool!

Lavi's looking stylish in her new sunglasses.

She's so cool, the rest of us just bore her.

Matt liked this one best. Don't know if it is possible to have too many dog wearing sunglasses pictures?? Maybe?

My coworkers

Here are a few pictures of my new coworkers. They are hard workers, as long as looking cute and sleeping all day are a major part of their job descriptions.

A visitor

So, the cat, dog and I were in the office getting some work done when we heard Merlin go nuts. When we got into the dining room (Merlin's new home), we could see a black cat right outside the window looking in. Considering there is only glass between him and the cat, I can imagine why Merlin freaked out. Lavi immediately ran to the window and checked the kitty out. Then Namir jumped up on the window sill and started to carry out a conversation with him. The other cat did not care about Namir or Lavi, he was very focused on Merlin. He hung out for a while and Namir just kept yapping and yapping as if he was telling his life story. Hopefully he does not plan on paying us another visit in the middle of the night. We think he lives "catty" corner to us and his owner brings him inside at night. Hopefully.

Beautiful clear day

The sky was unbelievably clear this past Sunday, so my neighbors took me to the top of Council Crest. From the top, we could see hundreds of miles. We had an excellent view of Mt. Hood, which is about 50 miles away. We do get good views of Mt. Hood at other times as well.


We were very fortunate to also see Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier. Absolutely beautiful. You can see Portland at the bottom.


Matt and I are very lucky to have great, friendly neighbors. Here are Doug, Morgan and Susan. Doug and Susan live directly across the street from us and Morgan lives next to them.

Our new home in Portland

We are finally here trying to get everything set up and organized. We are enjoying the amount of space we have after our little apartment. Namir LOVES the basement. He can often be found with cobwebs and dirt all over him after he does some exploring. The dog on the other hand is not a fan of the basement. At first we did not want her to go down there because it is unfinished so we used a gate at the steps. But we did not have to worry about it, she won't even go near it. She would much rather run around in the backyard - even in the rain! She now has a big yard with grass and trees and lots of sticks! We are waiting for the fence to be completely enclosed so we can leave her out there for longer periods of time. My desk in the office faces out the back window so I will be able to watch her (from inside!) We did get her a raincoat and she does not mind wearing it.


We owe a big thanks to Mimi (my mom, Maxine) for coming out here and helping us get situated. She was a huge help making this whole move not so daunting. Here she is with the gang. (Notice Merlin's new cage - he is a very happy bird)!


We also could not have done the move with out Mike and his folks (Joe and Connie) who helped us move everything in. It is not yet a week and we are still getting settled and waiting for Matt's truck to arrive. We had it shipped separately and are slowly finding out that we packed several necessities in it (like the corkscrew - how are we suppose to start enjoying these Oregon wines without a corkscrew? (note - we went to the store and bought a new one the next day)).

Here is one last photo of Lavi on her new bed (great deal at Costco) next to me in the office. The whole house is hardwood floors and her boney little body doesn't like it very much.


More later.

Preparing for the move

Although we only lived in a 1 bedroom apt in San Diego, it is amazing how much stuff we needed to pack. This was even after tossing a ton of stuff using the tools I learned watching one of my favorite TV shows, NEAT. It felt really good to pare down on the "crap". The animals were a little confused and were very clingy. The dog was nervous every time we left the house during the last 2 days in SD. The cat was never far either. (Side note, thanks to the latest chemo treatment we gave Namir, he was back to his old self exploring, running like a crazy cat and falling into boxes.) On the last night, we all slept on the floor because everything was packed. Namir and Lavi even found comfort in one another (when they weren't harassing Merlin, who was in a small cage under a cover on the floor).


The next morning, Namir and I went to the airport and Lavi, Merlin, Matt (and friend Mike) started the 2 1/2 day drive. It really was a toss up as to who got the raw end of the deal. A 2 1/2 hour flight with a cat screaming non-stop or a 2 1/2 day drive worrying about a little parrot and very confused puppy - you choose! Neither was an experience we look forward to doing again. Here is a rare picture of Namir in his carrier between crying fits.



Although this was a very fast move for us, we are glad we got it over with.
Here is a cute cake of Oregon my coworker, Bill, made for me before I left. It even has our litle family on it.