Here is a video of Quantum chasing after what I can only assume he thinks is a bird.  Make sure to turn up your volume, so that you can hear the adorable sounds he makes.

In other Sugar Glider news, Countess is expecting some babies!  I think she is having twins.  I tried to get a picture of them the other night, but Countess wanted nothing of it!  Phil and I have no idea what we are going to do with them or if we are going to neuter Quantum.  As cute as babies are, I don’t think we can handle a farm of Sugar Gliders in Phil’s 1200 sq foot apartment. 

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Quantum is a very inquisitive, destructive beast.  You have to watch him very carefully when he’s out if his cage.  If it can be chewed, he chews it.  He has more or less destroyed each and every one of our books on our bookshelf, especially if it has anything to do with China. You should see what he has done to my purple folder that contains a lot miscellaneous paperwork from when we were teachers in China.  It doesn’t even look like a folder anymore.  I don’t know why he likes to chew so much.  I don’t think Countess chews like he does.  Maybe it is a guy thing or something.

He also likes to grab things and take off with them, too.  I constantly find things that he has hidden in the couch.  One day, I found a USB device that he had taken.  Sometimes he really reminds me of a monkey, especially when he throws his food around.  He is such a silly guy.

The following video is of craptastic quality, but what can you expect of any camera in a dim room?  Because Quantum and Countess are nocturnal, we have to keep the lights turned down low.  We don’t want to hurt their eyes.  Also, a portion of the video is upside down.  I didn’t know it was filming like that when I first picked up the iPhone.  And lastly, sorry for the expletive that Phil uses.  You would probably yell too if a Sugar Glider clamped down on your finger.  They may have little teeth, but it hurts like the dickens!

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It isn’t written in stone yet or anything, so I can’t go into detail about it,  and I have been specifically told not to get excited, but I can be completely vague by giving some strange countdown until the event in question occurs or doesn’t.  Hehe.

T-minus 13 months!

In other news, life is pretty normal.  Phil and I have been looking for houses, made a couple offers, but still haven’t found the house that truly speaks to us.  If we made more money or won the lottery, which of course we would need to play in order to win, there are plenty of houses out there that would be glad to have full fledged conversations with us.  Perhaps one of these days we will find what we’re looking for.  Did you just hear that song in your head, too? 

The furbutts(Sugar Gliders) are doing fine.  Quantum is as sweet as pie and has bonded to us, but his girlfriend, Countess, is a complete whore bag.  She is always trying to bite us and run into places she isn’t supposed to go, ie the stove.  I will give her some credit though.  She has gotten a little better than when we first got her.  I’m hoping that in time that she becomes more like Quantum, but I’m not going to hold my breath or anything.

Work is work.  I’m now in the Benefits Office if I haven’t mentioned it already.  I was moved out of the Employment Office due to budget cuts and lack of work. I’m just glad I still have a job.  It is going to take some time to learn everything, but I guess that is how all new jobs are.

Our garden attempt this year has more or less failed.  We still have some plants in the spare bedroom, but I have a feeling we are never going to get around to planting them outside.  If we do, it will be too late and they will never produce anything worth eating.  Oh, well.  There is always next year.

Speaking of next year, the Braves are sorta sucking it up.  I know it isn’t even the second half of the season yet, and that anything can happen, but if they continue to play the way that they are (of course, they would blank out the NY Yankees as I write this), then I don’t expect an extended October.

Okay, well, I promised I would blog again one day, so here it is.  I’ll start looking for old videos and pictures, as well as trying to write more about my present life.  I used to have time to blog more, so I know the time exists.  I guess I just have to try harder.

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Quantum is slowly getting used to Phil and me.   I can now take some videos of him without him crabbing like crazy and trying to run away.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a video of him gliding soon. He can’t glide that far because he is still technically a baby, but he is slowly getting more brave.  Enjoy the videos.

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Quantum is usually far more active than this video shows, but since he is nocturnal, he sleeps all day and stays up all night.  I just wanted to let you guys see him.  When I can catch him doing something really interesting at night, I’ll post it.

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Quantum chilling on my arm.

Quantum chilling on my shoulder.

Quantum sleeping in my hand.

Quantum thinking about attacking the camera.

Quantum hiding his face with his tail.

Quantum being cute.

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This is going to be a teaser post because I don’t want to reveal what exactly we have done until I have pictures.

On Sunday, Phil woke me up bright and early at about 8:30 AM.  This is highly unusual because Phil loves to sleep all day.  Usually, it’s me asking him to get out of bed so that we can enjoy the day doing something outdoors.  And he hates me for it.  So, I guess he was just trying to give me a taste of my own medicine.  Well, anyway, half asleep, Phil informs me that I need to get up and get dressed because we are driving to Atlanta to get some lamb.  Why do we need to go all the way to Atlanta to get lamb, you ask?  There is a grocery store there called Super H Mart, and it sells all sorts of yummy, Asian goodness – food – not people.  Particularly, they sell thinly sliced lamb that we love.  We fell in love with it in China and it was by far our favorite dish.  When we last went to Atlanta in July, we bought several pounds of it.  Seven months later, our supply is nearly gone.  Since having no lamb in the house would make us unhappy, it seemed like a great idea.  An hour later, we were in the car and on our way to Atl.

30 minutes away from our destination, we came across the Pendergrass Flea Market.  The place is huge and I mean HUGE.  Phil had been there before, but since I hadn’t, he wanted to let me see it.  The place was a complete mad house.  There were people everywhere.  It took something like ten minutes to find a parking place!  Once inside we strolled around seeing if there was anything worth buying.  I really didn’t see anything, I never really do at flea markets, but Phil found a Playstation 1 controller that he needed.  Phil thought they had animals, so we walked around looking for any they might have. We didn’t see any at first.  As we were just about to leave I saw a sign with pets written in red, pointing down a hall way. I think it was the one area we hadn’t looked before giving up.  Why does that always seem to happen?

I’ll give you this much:

It’s cute.

It’s furry.

It’s about 9 weeks old and weighs about 1 oz.

It isn’t native to South Carolina or any state for that matter.

I’ve wanted once since I first saw them at an exotic pet show at Jamil Temple years and years ago.

He makes the strangest, but cutest sounds ever.

He’s nocturnal by nature.

And his name is Quantum.

And for the record, this was totally Phil’s idea.  I just gave him permission.

Can you guess what it is?  I’ll take some pictures of him soon.  He’s a little scared right now, and I don’t want my camera to cause him any more stress. I imagine that when he gets acquainted with his surroundings – he is going to become a regular on this little blog.  I hope you all like him as much as Phil and I do.

PS My boss said that I just need to get married and have a baby.  Whereas I am sure that would help with the need to have something to love at all times,  human babies aren’t furry and they don’t purr.

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I am always very excited when postcards arrive in my mailbox from countries that either A) I don’t get often, or B) I haven’t gotten at all.  This is my first postcard from Spain.

I don’t know what to say about this postcard.  I tried looking up information on the artist, Malcolm Greensmith, but I couldn’t find a whole lot about him, other than that he is a renowned military artist.  I don’t know when he was born, or if he is still living.  I’m assuming he is from Great Britain because that is where the card was printed, but who knows if that is a correct assumption. If you like his artwork, there are several sites offering cross stitching designs created by him.

I’m not sure how ploughing is related to the miltary, so perhaps this was drawn by a differnt Malcolm Greensmith.  Either way, I like the postcard because it’s cute and has animals on it.  Perhaps, that is why the sender chose it for me.  I like the old feeling the postcard has, too.  It reminds me of the country.  It would be nice to have a horse to help me plough my garden this year.  I am not looking forward to hacking away at the ground again, even though the hard work eventually pays off.

PS  If you by chance know more about this Malcolm Greensmith guy, be sure to share your knowledge in the comment section.

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I can only imagine what type of people are going to end up at my blog with a title like Blue Tit.  I guess it doesn’t matter how they get here, as long as they get here, and most importantly, stay.  Although, if they are looking for anything other than a Blue Tit bird, they will sadly be disappointed when they do arrive. 

The sender of this card said, “It is a very common bird in Finland and stays here the whole winter while most birds are spending winter time somewhere in warm southern countries.”

I at first thought she was talking about a type of bird we have here in South Carolina called a Tit Mouse, but when I looked it up in Wikipedia, I found they are different types of birds, although, they do come from the same Tit bird family – the Paridae.

In Finnish, a Blue Tit is called a Sinitiainen, and they only have a lifespan of about 1.5 years.  Blue Tits are considered valuable destroyers of pests, like aphids, but can also be annoying pests as well.  They sometimes pull off the buds of various trees in search of insects to eat.  Another thing I found interesting, is that a pair of Blue Tits will use the same nesting box year after year.  When that pair dies, another pair will take its place.  Wikipedia didn’t say, but I guess that means they mate for life.

This spring I want to go bird watching. I hope that I can take pictures like the one above of the various South Carolina birds.  I’ve tried getting pictures of the ones in my yard, but they hide too far up in trees and won’t sit still for nothing.

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I was going through the pictures on my computer and decided to post a few that have never made it on this little blog of mine before.  As you can tell by the dates on the pictures, they are all rather old.  I need to go through all of my China pictures and see if there are any interesting ones I forgot to post.  I’m sure there has to be a few.  Phil and I took something like 5,000 pictures.  And if there aren’t any more photos, I’m sure there are still a few blog worthy videos.  I’ll try to find some this weekend.

I’m anxious for spring to roll around again.

I love taking pictures of flowers for some strange reason.

I am pretty sure that this was taken at Swan Lake in Sumter.

Maybe I will go again this year – get their when more flowers are in bloom.

RIP Dopple

Dopple was my favorite orange cat ever.  He totally could have been a real life Garfield.

RIP Morgan Rose Ireland Yvette DeWitter

She was the best kitty ever!

RIP Thames

Thames talked with every step he took.  He was one strange kitty, but I still loved him.

I found this grasshopper behind One Eared Cow Glass several years ago.

He stayed on that stick just long enough for me to snap a picture of him.

I don’t even know what this is, but it’s scary!!

Anyone have any idea what this critter is called?

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