LATFH

Alright, I’m coming out. I’m fessin’  up. I know this is a tad LATFH, but this is the photographic gear I’m packing for our trip to Saluda, North Carolina’s Annual Coon Dog Day.

Please, click through to get the full hipster details.

The pretty red oktomat comes from Ms. Calla Evans as a going away present, of sorts. I shot my last wedding with her last weekend, and now I’m off for peanut growin’, birthin’, and rearin’. The oktomat replaces my SuperSampler with which I was able to take masterful photos while I had one on loan, but kept breaking when I finally got to own one. I’ve had it replaced twice under warranty, and currently it sits in a box waiting for some useful instructions on how to keep that silly pull cord winding the film without breaking.

And so you don’t think I left Calla empty handed as I walked away from her, here’s what I made for her. CF card pouches (to replace her current system: ziploc bags). They come complete with colour-coded tags and zippers (red means stop, green means go shoot more weddingtimes!). Not only do the pouches match our ShootSacs, but the tags should make it easy to pull out the right pouch when stashed inside one of the Shootsac pockets.

And so you don’t think I’m only a hipster when it comes to photography, I just had to stage these pouches for the photos on my vintage Singer sewing machine bought at an antique market for $25. And it works.

Hubby and I will be without the internets for Coon Dog Day, but we’ll be tweeting. Follow us if you’re interested, or search for our emergent hashtag: #Coondogday09

 

Peanut

Ms. Calla Evans and I may have been having too much fun in one of our wedding photobooths one weekend.

 

Spoiled Rotten

We visited some elders from Hubby’s family yesterday, and were spoiled rotten with amazing home-cooked Indian food and Hindu traditions. Suffice it to say, we’re opening an RESP for Peanut, as it’s the only way we can stop feeling guilty for what when on yesterday.

One of the presents that was passed out yesterday. I wish I could tell you how amazing these smell.

 

Soup

You’ve heard me go on about our coonhound’s oral hygiene before. We haven’t really had much success in that department, and at the last visit to the vet, we got a quote for dental cleaning that made me a bit woozy. Ouch. Not going there. Not now.

Addie could have clean teeth if she just chewed for longer than the 30 seconds she’ll oblige you when you shove something towards her. That is, if she even attempts to oblige you. Often she just barks and pushes the bone away–she regularly has arguements with her bones that we know nothing about. When we moved into the new digs she found a real bone in the backyard that provided some much needed scraping for a few weeks, but soon it turned into the same old story.

If Addie could just put in 15-20 minutes a day on anything, her teeth would sparkle. I’ve tried everything, and the trials have not been cheap. I’ve bought all the gadets, I’ve tried all the bones–different types, textures, makes. We’ve tried edible, non-edible, soft, hard, nubbly, stringy, rubber….everything. She needs something else, but I’m determined not to spend any more money.

So today, I made soup.

I bought 10 drumsticks.

On sale! Check it: $2.28! (Okay, so I spent a little bit of money.)

I took 5 of them, put them in water, added a bay leaf, and brought everything to a boil. Then I reduced the heat and dropped in all of Addie’s hard nylabones (and the real bone she found in the backyard).

After it simmered for a while, I turned down the heat, and when it cooled slightly, I dropped in all of Addie’s soft nylabones. (Notice the green one is entirely untouched, despite being about 6 months old!)

I let the soup cool some more, then I took out the real bone. I let it cool. I gave it to Addie…………………………………………………

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SHE’S BEEN CHEWING FOR 43 MINUTES!!! (…and counting!)

I’m so proud.

 

Too Big to Fail

In honour of hitting the 24th week of pregnancy, a point at which (though not ideal in the slightest) our baby would most likely survive if it were to be born early*, we’re celebrating my Too Big to Fail point.

Hubby has been waiting to get me this t-shirt for a while.

For less flattering, but better bump-showing pictures, continue here.

*Knocking on everything wooden in my vicinity.

 

Jerzy Samson*

If you’ve ever been in my parents’ house, you’ve probably seen this portrait on their wall; if you’ve ever met my grandfather you’ve probably heard about this guy. Jerzy Samson, proud forefather of our family, guaranteed us a place in the Polish Nobility, and if it weren’t for those pesky Bolsheviks, we still would have had the dough to go along with the title (or at least the land). If it weren’t for the Russian mafia, we’d still have this original portrait**.

We’re pretty settled on naming our son after this man. Not Jerzy (though it is my father’s name–George, in English), but Samson. If you’re in the know, you know the last name that will go with it, and you’ll have to agree it’s a strong name. Not to mention the fact that it will need no translation for Polish or English-speaking relatives. I also enjoy that it will fuel further rumours that my family actually comes from a long line of closeted Jews.

Peanut will also be getting my last name as a quasi-middle name for legal purposes–sans hyphen. Now the question: do we stick a middle name in there that Peanut can actually use when he becomes a famous writer, bringing the total number of names to four?

* Fooled you. This post should actually be called Placeholder, Part 2!

** If anyone can spare $20,000USD, I can apparently buy it back. It would make a nice Father’s Day gift, don’t you think?

 

Placeholder

Hubby’s bummed that Tinypants has been quite silent during this pregnancy, and I daresay he’s not the only one. I do apologize for the lack of peanut updates. I have one in queue–it will be here shortly. And until then, here’s a placeholder to tide y’all over.

That’s my son in there.

 

Yogurette

If anyone can find a place I can get these chocolates in Canada (or even the States), I’ll handknit them a blanket.

My stash is running out.

 

Crafty

Hubby and I have been feeling crafty. Look what we made!

Peanut

It’s a squirmer. The technician had to be fast–like playing a video game–to snap the shots she needed.

 

Sippy Cup

Do you have a sippy cup? Some utensil you have to eat with otherwise the food just won’t taste the same? I do.

My sippy cup was a find at Winners. It’s Dutch, very small–kid size, really–and it holds just the right amount of coffee, so that I can drink it before it gets cold before I refill.  I had another favourite cup before this one, which I still revert to when this one’s in the dishwasher. It’s also small, and…stolen. From a cafeteria. Diner/cafeteria coffee cups are always the best–you don’t notice that the cup is small because they just keep refilling it for you. This one has the same proportions, but it’s just a bit prettier, first thing in the morning.

I have favourite forks too.

The one on the top, with the faux-wood handle, is my long-standing favourite. It was found by my dad on a camping trip–just laying in the dirt where our tent was to go. I love its long tines. Long tines on forks really make or break a utensil set for me. When I finally found a set I liked when Hubby and I first moved in together, I immediately bought two sets, just in case.

The fork on the bottom was stolen for me by a friend from a banquet hall. It’s a silver dessert fork. Its tines are not as pointy as the other fork, so it takes second place, but it’ll do in a pinch. It’s especially good for eggs and bacon, and for coleslaw.

Really, what make these my favourites is that they don’t match anything else we have. Addie’s favourite toys are ones that she’s found somewhere in the backyard or at the park–toys that belonged to someone else, got all stinky with some really good, quality smells. To a hound, that’s just the best thing that could happen. This toy’s been places.

When I was buying my “sippy cup”, there was another one on the shelf. I asked hubby if maybe I should buy the other one so we could start a mini set. “But then you won’t like it anymore,” he said. And he was right.