Lhunpaurwen's Ramblings

Moving Along, Avian Amusement

2017-02-28T22:20:18Z

Had the icky sickies of a flair and sinus infection since my last post. Had a lot going on with training with Tesla, physical therapy, and an unexpected trip back to Texas to look for rental options. I went alone with the dogs this time because Mike didn't have enough time to take off work, and needed the time and money for moving. As we found out the last time, the rental market there is crazy and if you don't immediately jump on something you like, you lose it. This happened several more times over the past months and even during the trip. We finally managed to find something that will work for us, and were approved! I will be going back and forth between there and my aunt's house while waiting for my disability stuff to be sorted out, and also so I can help family with some things. Mike is moving down from NJ to the new house mid March. I will move most of my things over to the new place so they are there for when I can move there full time. Now he is closer to his employer and better job opportunities. It is only about an 8hr drive from New Orleans (more for me since I need to stop frequently to take breaks), so we'll finally have a chance to be back together again after waiting so long and it will be easy for me to travel back and forth as needed. So insanely happy! During this recent drive there and back, there was some avian amusement. I literally watched a chicken try to cross the road in Caldwell, TX. By a busy traffic light, the young bird was at the edge of the road and would start to dart out, but then run back when a vehicle would get too close. This happened several times as vehicles ahead of me passed it. I slowed down, and it tried again. This time making it halfway across the road. It had to fly frantically the rest of the way to avoid traffic. The chicken crossed the road, and it did get to the other side! The next month or so is going to be crazy busy. Excuse my sporadic presence online.

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Updates, Nirding

2016-07-02T00:50:16Z

I return. Sort of. I have had a horrible go at it with reoccurring flair ups of my autoimmune issues. No thanks to the stress of having to jump through more hoops to get a little help.

It is better explained here, with neat pictures of my crazy flesh!

http://www.patreon.com/posts/handy-hands-5871180

It is finally letting up enough where I can think somewhat clearly and function enough to venture on here and see what everyone is up to.

I have a ton of little updates to make here or there, mostly passing comments about random things that have happened.

That includes a very random and rapid visit from my friend, the good doctor Jenn.

She brought along her friend and fellow doctor Abby ( who was moving to Louisiana, yay! ) and Abby had with her an awesome gyr-burd.

The nirds taught me great wisdom of avian ways. Shenanigans were had, great photos were captured ( envy of Jen and her snazzy super lens ), tasty gator was partaken and good company shared by all. It was an awesome day and evening full of laughs and animal geekery that I have been dying for.

They got to meet Ember and Chakotay and experience the silly that is service dogs given a "relax and say hi" command. Chakotay did very good for his first lengthy outing working alongside Ember with all sorts of crazy distractions ( like birds! ). It was also his first experience doing a long and boring down/stay under a restaurant table.

It was totally worth the recovery time from all the activity afterwards. They went to the French Quarter the following day before leaving town, and while I wish I could have too, there is no way I could have gone along and managed to keep up. Especially not in the scorching heat and humidity.

Other stuff happened. I found a baby possum skeleton, I saved a fledgling Blue Jay in epic fashion, I have been training with my dorky dogs when my body allows, and I continue to battle medical conditions and fight for the aid I need. With the Medicaid expansion I am finally getting access to immunological medications and other treatment options, which we hope will better control symptoms.

I think I covered all the main highlights.

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Decade Dog

2016-03-05T21:04:28Z

Ember is officially a Decade Dog today. 10 years old and just as silly and spazzy as the day we first got you. You don't act a day over 2yrs. My gross, disgusting Dogmeat creature. I love you. Here is to many more years of the joy and happiness that is you.

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Spanning Horizons

2015-10-26T20:51:28Z

Very exciting changes will be happening over the next year or so, thanks to my aunt believing in me and wanting to help with an investment that she saw the value and potential in. I can't talk about it too much just yet, but this is opening limitless opportunities for us and for our future. So insanely happy and feeling so fortunate my aunt has the ability to help with this. As everything falls into place and comes together, I'll be able to share more details.

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I have amazing friends

2015-09-20T03:00:19Z

Caine decided to send me a surprise package with some unexpected trinkets. One thing was a beautiful wall hanging I knew he'd managed to get for me. It's a beautiful color with Celtic design and little Japanese magatama all over it. Which is really symbolic and special.

What I wasn't expecting was a hand formed ceramic dish with a magatama design swirled in the surface, a hematite ring, and a little sculpture of me! He also included a beautiful card with a dragonfly on it, knowing how special they are to me. And a beautiful hand written letter with a little wax seal. It all smelled like patchouli or sandalwood.

It made me cry happy tears when I opened the package and saw everything, and read over the card and letter. How thoughtful and perfect it all was, and couldn't have had better timing with everything that is going on right now.

Thank you so much Caine, you sly Kitsune you. I wondered what you were up to!

As a side note, you are seriously making me want to get one of those markers to make my own wax seals on stuff I send! I have seen them in stores before, but never seen any I really like ( most of them seem to be initials or generic stuff ).

Eternal thanks again goes to Arikla, who helped cover Journey's recent medical bills so we could get a diagnosis.

We wouldn't have been able to afford to get these answers as soon as we did without your generosity. Thank you for caring and for helping so we could have that peace of mind to have a better idea of what is going on with him.

Thanks also for your participation in the "art experiments" as well. :D So many good laughs to be had with all of these things. Can't wait till we can show off the finished products!

I received even more of a surprise in the mail from Amie the other day, in the form of a very generous donation toward the fundraiser for me to acquire a new assistance dog. I cried happy tears of disbelief when I saw it. One raindrop raises the sea.

Even while her and her family are going through a very difficult time right now and she has had a lot more pressing things on her mind to worry about, she was still as compassionate as always and trying to help a friend. It means a lot to me and your selflessness is an inspiration.

I just wanted to take the time to really thank you guys more than I already have, and let you know how much your love and support means to me.

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Designing All The Things

2015-07-07T03:05:14Z

Making dog bandanas. I can't believe I didn't invest in a rotary cutter much sooner! Also working on a huge overhaul of my website with new coding and updated layout. So much to do, and almost travel time!

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Jurassic Park / Jurassic World

2015-06-11T05:01:36Z

Even after over 20 years, seeing this opening scene from Jurassic Park still sends a shiver down my spine.

20yrs ago I stood in line for almost two hours in front of Movies 8 to see Jurassic Park on it's opening day. Tomorrow I am totally doing the same for Jurassic World if I have to.

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Birthday Wish

2015-05-08T02:47:48Z

My birthday is coming up on May 21st ( two weeks from now).

I have one big wish I am asking for this year, and hope to somehow make possible.

I want to go visit my dad.

I haven't seen my dad since I was about 3 years old. We recently reconnected with each other this past December, when he found me online.

He stayed in touch long distance throughout my life. We lost contact and track of each other after Katrina. I searched for him online for years and never managed to find anything solid and all the contact info he ever knew for us changed when we lost our house. The one address I did find and send a letter to, was returned by the post office as "undeliverable, address not found". I was worried I may never find him.

Then he found me. I have been so overjoyed with being able to catch up after all these years and have a chance to get to know him better and share stories and memories of childhood.

Our only form of contact has been via phone calls, texting, and online chat sessions when he can get online through the local library for a few hours at a time. He is a telecommunications contractor and having a hard time finding large steady jobs, so his money is extremely limited or else he'd happily be paying part of the expenses to have me come visit.

It would mean so much to me ( and him ) to be able to go see him and would hope to spend a week or so visiting. He's not getting any younger ( no offense dad ), and I want to have an opportunity to visit with him in person while I still can. Many people never get that opportunity. I don't want to be one of them.

We'll need around $1,600 USD for this to happen.

My PayPal: leopardwolf@gmail.com

I am estimating for round trip travel expenses, for having someone take care of my marine aquarium while I am gone, fuel, possible need for lodging (not sure I can make the full drive in a single day with my health issues ), food expenses for the trip and while I am there, and some extra spending money to be able to take my dad to do some nice things and for any unseen circumstances.

I'll be documenting the trip along the way, so you'll get to share in the adventure and the reunion through pictures and video.

If you have a few dollars to spare, I would be eternally grateful if you'd consider contributing to giving the gift of spending time with my dad in person after so long apart.

I'd create a crowdfunding thing for this, but didn't have a lot of success with them in the past outside of friends helping ( thanks again you guys! ). I'm not sure if it's the kind of thing people would care about enough to help, since it's not a medical necessity ( sure it is! ) and I really don't have a lot to offer in return besides art and creative things or my supplies and materials for such things. I could do dog and cat training and behavior consults in exchange. Website and graphics stuff too.

While this doesn't have to happen by May 21st, I am hoping to make the trip within the next month if I can raise the funds.

Thank you for taking the time to read.

You have permission to share / repost / reblog this to help spread the word so more people might see it and want to help.

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Working with awesome people and their animals

2015-03-07T03:52:31Z

Today was the second dog training session with a new client I am working with. The family is awesome. The dog is awesome. Their cat is awesome. All around full of awesome and fun to work with. :)

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Creativity Flow

2015-01-24T04:44:19Z

I am inspired by many things in the world around me, especially by animals and the natural world. Besides my cats and dogs, one thing that has always had a special place in my heart is water and aquatic life. I grew up exploring the creeks, marshes, and swamps near my home along the Gulf Coast. I love going to the aquarium, or even just to the local pet store, to watch the fish and other creatures. I've almost always had an aquarium or at least a betta fish on my desk. I enjoy sitting listening to the flowing water, its soothing and helps in meditation and daydreaming. I love watching the fish as they glide along effortlessly. The colors, the way light flickers through the water and the plants sway with the current, it all inspires my creativity.

When we moved from Minnesota, I had to leave my 29gal aquarium and all my supplies and fish behind. It made me very sad and I figured it would probably be a long time before I could have an aquarium again because of our living arrangements. Recently I thought about getting a betta, inspired by a nice little desktop setup a friend had. That idea evolved thanks to Mike's help in funding the "fish fund" so I could have that little slice of happy back.

I ended up finding a beautiful 13gal slim profile wide view tank kit for the same price I would have paid for the 5gal. Just the right size to sit next to me on the dresser, and large enough that I could get the other fish I really wanted.

Community tank inhabitants currently include: School of neon tetras, school of emerald green corydoras catfish, one happy male betta, one mystery snail, and some ghost shrimp.

Aqua-scaping counts as a form of artwork, right? I created the environment. It is aesthetically pleasing. The fish are happy. They make me happy.

What inspires you?

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Raaaaiiin

2014-12-24T05:04:05Z

Relaxing with the animals, enjoying the wonderful thunderstorm.

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Giving

2014-12-19T00:21:43Z

Journey and I just got back from Walmart. It was a madhouse. We grabbed what we needed, expecting to be in and out, and stood in line. The lady behind us was with her daughter. They were buying brownies for a school party tomorrow. We were chatting and they asked me about Journey. There was a delay ahead of us, and come to find out the checkout registers crashed while we were waiting in line and they could only run cash or check. Lucky for me this was one of the only times I actually had come in intending to pay with cash!

The lady made the comment that she didn’t have any cash, only credit when the store manager started making the announcement that they couldn’t run cards. She told her daughter they’d have to put the brownies back and not get them, and the girl was obviously sad.

So I offered to pay for them! This got a big smile from them both and the cashier too. We walked out to the parking lot together and I told them more about Journey’s job and about Ember, and it turns out the mother is a teacher at a local school and asked if I would be willing to come give a presentation to the kids if they could get the okay for it. So I gave them a card and my contact info, and we’ll see what happens.

Either way, days were made brighter. I wished them a merry Christmas and happy new year and off we went.

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Visiting Mike In September

2014-08-11T01:03:18Z

As many people know, Mike has been staying at his mother's in NJ, working a part time tech job. I have been here in New Orleans. We haven't seen each other since we left Minnesota almost a year ago now. The good news is nearly the full year to the day, I will be flying into NY to see him finally. Come Sept 19th I'll be in NJ and staying for two weeks. It's not a long time, but it's better than not being able to see him at all. We've missed each other terribly. So excited and looking forward to seeing him.

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Spring happy

2014-03-30T00:51:31Z

Spring thunderstorms are love. Cool crisp breeze, rain, and the scent of sweet olive, wisteria, and citrus blossoms in the air. ::Happy sigh::

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