Halfway out of the bag, halfway awake

These little ladies have an interesting cycle. They sleep a lot. Like, really a lot. They are happy to sleep in until 11pm - midnight. We have some plant lights that turn on around 5 am so thats when they go back to bed. And all day long, they are lazy little balls of fuzz.

But when they do get going, as Erik puts it, they are ADHD hamsters on speed. They move so fast! And they want so see everything RIGHT NOW.

The part I find the most interesting, is the transition. When they first wake up, they start to shake. But this isn't fear or anxiety. Its their metabolism kicking into overdrive. It takes a bit to get going, and you see them moving around slowly, then bit more, until bam. Engines are heated, and ready to go.

Yoggie treat

Even though they are twins, one of them is growing much bigger than the other. Our breeder warned us that this could happen with twins, especially since their mother was small, and their father was remarkably huge.

This is the larger one, weighing in at a whopping 65 grams. Don't worry, her sister is gaining weight too (now at 56 grams, up from 50 two weeks ago). And she got the next yoggie treat :)

Good morning!

Or maybe not. Might be time for bed, instead...

Videos, at last!

These two little gliders are seriously anti-light. I don't know if they will get used to a little light, at some point? For now, they are a little tricky to photograph.video. Here's what we have so far:

http://www.youtube.com/user/yawfleschmawfle/videos

Mini glider update

Just wrote a really long post that my blogging app ate. Sorry folks.

So here's the short version: really long tails, not stinky, great memories, funny noises, totally nocturnal and taking us with them, here's the short list of names:









And more pics:

Testing

Marsupials, ho

I've decided to resurrect my long neglected blog, to talk about our experiences with sugar gliders. Many people have asked us questions about them, and I understand why. The information on the web is wildly conflicting! If you do a YouTube search for sugar glider, these are the top two hits:

http://youtu.be/c5xOvvv5AOk

http://youtu.be/8mlwzf_bqVI

When we first saw these, we weren't sure what to think. I was intrigued enough not to give up right away, and decided to read a little more. Its true that they require a special diet, and lots of love and attention, they do make noise if they are lonely or depressed, and they are smart enough to get in trouble if left out of their cage unsupervised. They can not be potty trained. And still, the more I read, the more I was hooked. I think most people get into trouble thinking that because they are small and furry, they are like small rodents. The appeal for me, is that they are very much not like small rodents. They are smarter, more social, much more curious, and live five times longer. Have I mentioned that I have a life long obsession with marsupials? Seriously, they are so cool, and so weird.

Eventually, I became convinced that Erik and I could make it work. Convincing Erik took a bit longer... But here we are. We've bought this beautiful pair. We will pick them up on Wednesday afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes! And post a lot of pictures :)

http://s937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/thelonganeckergroup/Gordon%20and%20Marley%20joeys/

Got my youtube working again

I got my youtube working today. It's amazing what I get done when I'm putting off something bigger. These videos are a little on the boring side, but I still think they are pretty :)

Thirteen birthday cards

This was perhaps the biggest part of Asha's birthday gift. I drew & watercolored thirteen cards, and wrote a memory of Asha in each.

This may not seem like a big deal, but the thing is, I can't draw birds. I have never really understood their shapes, or anatomy. I've never even been much of a bird person, or thought about them much, except for pigeons. So this took a lot of research and practice. I did at least one, sometimes 4 or 5, full color figure studies for each, to figure out how to make them look right.

Selecting the birds was also a big project, but lots of fun. I really wanted to play with their forms- the king fisher with the large head, the kiwi is nearly teardrop shaped, the asian blue quail might as well be a fancy jelly bean. Several were chosen for their colors, I loved the black and white birds, some greys, mixed in with the bright tropical ones. I picked the Japanese crane for it's dance, and the flamingo because it was the only bird I was excited about drawing in flight. Anyway, by the end, there was something very special about each!

Thirteen birds for Asha

I wanted Asha's thirteenth birthday to be memorable. It's a big land mark, and she's a very mature and talented young woman. She really is growing up.

Last summer, Asha came up to visit for a week. We had a great time adventuring around capitol hill. One thing we both spent a lot of time thinking, and talking about was Pigeons. Pigeons are really kind of awesome if you think about it. The are fat, lazy, friendly, and they always wiggle their heads when they walk. Can you imagine anything cuter?

Ever since then, Asha has been interested in birds. So I thought it would be cool to get her thirteen gifts - one for each year she's been my sister & friend - and make each one bird themed. Some of them I made my self, or assembled myself, others I bought. I put a lot of thought into each and every one.

White & gold ring holder, from Anthropologie

Hand illustrated plate, from LoucheLab

Cabochon bird earrings. Can't wait to see these on!

A pretty little feather ring

Stamps for things that require bird-decorations

Stationary, envelopes, note cards & erasers from Daiso. The creamy one with green leaves has the cutest pigeon ever on it.

There were too many good fabrics. I was able to narrow it down to pink bird fabric.

A make your own felt bird kit. I bought the pattern, and assembled it myself, with valentines colors for the upcoming holiday.

Similar idea here. A bird cross stitch pattern, with all of the necessary supplies. I gave her enough colors to do three different color themes, or mix and match :)

Maybe everyone needs a vintage bird poster for their room.

Letter press no. 1, from Dutch Door. These art prints are spendier than letter press cards, but they are totally worth it. Very high quality paper, impeccable registration, beautiful design.

Letter press no. 2.

And last but not least, a large printed version of this picture. I took this picture, and this is the flock of pigeons near my house, that Asha first fell in love with.

Wedding inspiration

If we could somehow get the whole reception to look kind of like this, I will be happy.

Erik's ring

Erik's ring came last Nov, but I didn't want to burn everyone out on wedding talk, so I waited to post it :)

It's a 2.5mm half round band, made of hammered 14k gold, with a satin finish. He has big knucles, so it fit perfectly once we got it on - but it's probably never coming off. Sometimes I feel guilty that we put it on him, but he seems to be fine with it. I guess we all reach an age where we're so comfortable with commitment, that we're fine wearing a ring we can never take off? Or maybe we're just really ready to be married.

Kate Szabone made his band to match my grey opaque diamond ring. Once again, I have to say, she is so awesome. Go check her out.

Snow, please come back.

We miss you.

Cats and String

Post x-mas, playing with cats & string. The string was so striking, and the light so nice, and the kitties were so expressive... I took way way too many pictures. Wasn't sure how to narrow them down, until I noticed the eye contact pictures. They are so serious, even wrapped up in these squiggling strings. I knew I had my set.