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Sorry for the very long absence on this blog. If anyone is even still checking it, I'll just give an update:

Rick and I are both in Michigan now. Yay! I've been enjoying the weather and I'm really psyched for fall. I missed it so much last year. I've been seeing my nieces and nephews (some for the first time!) and other family and friends.

Our cats made the 5-day journey across the country quite well. No sedatives were needed. Our only scare was when Rowdy had been sleeping in one of the kennels and had not moved ALL DAY. I was nervous that he was unconsious or sick or something. Luckily, he was OK. I think the car put him in a trance.

I got a job at the Holland Sentinel newspaper as a copy editor/page designer. It's right up my ally, so it was an easy transition to make. The only down side is that I work a second shift *and* I work weekends. Boooo. But I'm thankful for a job, make no mistake about that.

Rick is still deep in the job search, but we are seeing a couple of options begin to surface. We're praying hard that something surfaces soon. It's a tough market out there.

We're trying to stay positive though, and in the big picture, we're doing well. We are healthy and blessed to have such great family and friends to come home to.

Behind the curve

I gave in. I joined Facebook, the social networking site that allows people to reconnect, or meet new friends. I was into the reconnecting thing, since I knew some of my old friends were members. It turns out, almost ALL of my old friends are members. I was just about the only one who wasn't.

Now, I always thought these types of Web sites were sort of dumb, but now that I'm living so far away from everyone, it really serves a purpose. I've missed knowing what all my friends are doing, and now I'm not so out-of-the-loop. I don't feel quite so all-alone anymore here on the other side of the country.

It only took me a few years to catch up with what everyone else was doing, but I seem to always be just behind the curve when it comes to things like fads and technology. I don't have an iPod yet, and my younger friends at work think it's ridiculous that the music industry is still selling CDs. They think that "nobody buys CDs anymore." It may be half-true, but I'm still buying them. For now anyway. Rick and I are definitely heading down the path that will some day lead to iPods, but we aren't there quite yet.

California burning

For anyone who hasn't heard, wildfires are ravaging California. Although our little corner of Northern California has been spared for much longer than the rest of the state, we're starting to see some evidence of the burning elsewhere. Air quality alerts have been issued for many places, but so far, Crescent City is OK. Our county's southern town of Klamath is expected to have an air quality alert issued this week though. I can see the dirty smoke and haze from fires hanging around the coastal mountain range. But today I saw the strangest sight. A gigantic plume of smoke was rising to the east, very visible, even from my house. Apparently it happened when, from about 3-5 p.m., fires were stoked from the dry heat in the Siskiyou Wilderness area. You can see it in this photo our photographer took.



I'll be happy to escape this burning state come August, but I still worry about it. I don't really know how folks can live with these wildfires year after year. So many people south of me are evacuating their homes, then returning, then evacuating again. And the air is so poor that people are urged to stay indoors. It seems like fires are a big a factor every year.

The heat here is also mild compared to the 100+ temps elsewhere in the state. Crescent City is topping out in the mid-70s or so. Hot for here!

Well, I'm enjoying the lovely parts of Del Norte County for my final month. Last weekend, a co-worker and I went beachcombing, but it was so windy we couldn't last longer than a half-hour or so. We also did an inland hike, which was much better.

Rick started his job on Monday, and all is going well. I miss him though :(

Why meeee?

Rowdy: "I went to the vet today because I've been having poop problems. What a nightmare! First they were poking me and prodding me, then they did something awful called 'taking a stool sample.' I'm OK, but as you can see, it wore me out!"

We're comin' home!

For those of you who haven't heard the news yet, Rick and I are moving back to Michigan! We've been looking for jobs for a few months now, and just recently Rick landed a job in the Kalamazoo area. It's a sales job, and we're confident it'll be a good fit for him. He's moving back in July, and I'll be following in August. We've enjoyed being on our own for a while in this beautiful corner of the country, but when all is said and done, we just don't like not being near our family and friends. Not to mention I actually miss having seasons ... even snow (sometimes). I can't wait to see everyone, but I think we'll need to change the name of our blog! Hmmm. I'll have to think a new name...

Birdwatching: A fun hobby

A glimpse of summer

I am 27 years old and last night I saw my very first drive-in movie. Rick and I went to see National Treasure-Book of Secrets at the local drive-in. It was fun, and it almost felt old fashioned. It also seemed like such a summery thing to do.

We've been having near record-high temps around here lately, although I think the heat wave is on its way out. The location of Crescent City is such that it stays relatively cool, even when surrounding areas are heating up. For example, on Thursday it was 100+ degrees in the towns all around Crescent City, even at the coast just north of here. In CC temperatures were hovering around 70 at that same time (it got to a high of 81 that day at 10 a.m.). The all-time high for CC is something like 93 degrees.

Well, despite the modest temps, it's still been sunny enough to make it feel as warm as summer. In fact, I went to the beach on Saturday with a co-worker and I got very burned. Ooops! Rick's been calling me red lobster!

In cat news ... the kittens are scheduled to be fixed on Tuesday! Yeah! I'm ready to get that over with. All the cats are still getting along, and I think they even like each other! Yesterday, I caught Weezie cleaning Chloe. So cute.