BUGGY: Yesterday morning, we had a visitor. Check out this beauty of a beetle!
Christian discovered him on the screen door, right by the head of our bed.
I posted the photo to Facebook, and before too long, the visitor was IDed as a June beetle, one of several types of Scarab beetles.
It's scientific name is Cotinis mutabilis. The critter is also known as the figeater beetle, the green fruit beetle or fig beetle. Per Wikipedia, it belongs to the subfamily Cetoniinae, comprising a group of beetles commonly called flower chafers since many of them feed on pollen, nectar, or petals, and its habitat is primarily the southwestern United States.
We're definitely western U.S., but not south, that's for sure. We do have a fig tree in our 'new' yard, so I wonder if that's why the beetle paid a visit.
It's interesting to me that even though we really didn't move that far (15 miles), there is a big difference in the bird and insect population from old to new. Gone are the seagulls we saw so often, living near the sound and Locks at our last place. And here there are hardly any crows, while we had many a murder of them in Magnolia. Also, no robins yet, whereas our last place was teeming with them.
Our new "campus" has some small birds of prey I need a closer look at to try to ID. And we have a few hummingbirds and I'm working to attract more! We have an abundance of bumblebees and so many dragon flies.
It's fun getting to know these unfamiliar environs.
SCHOOLED: CJ is in the midst of his first summer school experience. He is about halfway through a three-week programming class through Seattle Public Schools at Seattle Center. I'll let him tell you more about it. ...
VETTED: One thing we've discovered is that life doesn't stand still even though you're all-consumed with moving. There are still other things you must tend to, including a dog with a bald bottom.
Poor Laika. I'm glad she can't see her rear. It's pretty much devoid of any coat whatsoever. It's just her pale, kind of blue-tinged skin. I suppose I could have posted a photo to illustrate, but I'll spare her that indignity.
I did some Googling regarding the symptoms, and the most likely explanation was an allergy to flea bites. Even though we brush and bathe her lot and haven't seen fleas, that doesn't mean they're not there.
We decided we needed to take Laika to the vet to get checked. But we're in a new neighborhood now, and weren't sure where to go, so we turned to the helpful Internet.
Annabelle quickly found a well-reviewed and seemingly super affordable place, the aptly-named Afford-A-Vet Animal Clinic. It is in Kent, not far from where we love to grocery shop at Winco.
We didn't even need an appointment. We just walked in with Laika a little after 1.
She was a nervous wreck. That's kind of her perpetual state, really. Let's just say she was on high alert. It didn't help much that an enormous Pit Bull named Santana was all up in her business in the waiting room. Santana was super cute and his owner was really nice, but Laika just wasn't in the friend-making mode.
We got into an exam room after about 20 minutes of Laika cowering. She didn't really relax in the exam room, because she knew something was up.
Apologies for the blurry photo. She was trembling. ;)
While waiting for the vet, Annabelle and I learned lots about plants that are toxic to pets thanks to this engaging poster.
Some of the plants I'd heard were trouble, but I didn't know that the very common-round-here azaleas and rhododendrons could be trouble.
The vet did find one flea on Laika, and deemed that enough probably cause to confirm my allergic-to-flea-bites suspicion. So, she got some hardcore meds and we'll double down on our efforts to keep fleas out of the house.
It's interesting to me that even though we really didn't move that far (15 miles), there is a big difference in the bird and insect population from old to new. Gone are the seagulls we saw so often, living near the sound and Locks at our last place. And here there are hardly any crows, while we had many a murder of them in Magnolia. Also, no robins yet, whereas our last place was teeming with them.
Our new "campus" has some small birds of prey I need a closer look at to try to ID. And we have a few hummingbirds and I'm working to attract more! We have an abundance of bumblebees and so many dragon flies.
It's fun getting to know these unfamiliar environs.
SCHOOLED: CJ is in the midst of his first summer school experience. He is about halfway through a three-week programming class through Seattle Public Schools at Seattle Center. I'll let him tell you more about it. ...
Recently, I have been taking a programming class at the Seattle branch of the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE). According to their website, the AIE is a specialist games and film educator established by industry with alumni in studios around the world. The Seattle branch is one of two branches in the United States (not counting the online course), and is located in Seattle Center's Armory.Though CJ isn't thrilled with spending 5+ hours of his summer days indoors for three weeks, he is learning some good skills, and it's also a good opportunity for him to be more independent, so win-win.
I have been going to class since the 5th, and I will continue to go until the 28th.
In class, I have worked on various different projects. Here are some of them:
One of the first projects we got to was making a version of the classic video game Pong using Javascript (technically HTML, but HTML was only used to contain the Javascript). We were first guided step-by-step by a Udemy course, and I have put a version of it on my website (linked below). At class, I was able to make a space-themed version of the Pong game (with Earth as the ball). Unfortunately, this version is not yet on my website.
Another project we worked on was animation using Toon Boom Studio. Toon Boom Studio is a popular program for animators (usually amateur ones), and it is a stripped down version of Toon Boom Harmony. With Toon Boom Studio, I have made animations of a ball bouncing, as well as a concept animation of my Pong program.
My favorite project would probably be the Neocities project. Neocities is a free web host, based of the classic defunct Yahoo! free hosting service GeoCities. On Neocities, I run a website about the Shar-Pei Hive Mind (an elaborate conspiracy theory that I came up with), along with some of my other things. My Neocities website is at sharpei.neocities.org.
VETTED: One thing we've discovered is that life doesn't stand still even though you're all-consumed with moving. There are still other things you must tend to, including a dog with a bald bottom.
Poor Laika. I'm glad she can't see her rear. It's pretty much devoid of any coat whatsoever. It's just her pale, kind of blue-tinged skin. I suppose I could have posted a photo to illustrate, but I'll spare her that indignity.
I did some Googling regarding the symptoms, and the most likely explanation was an allergy to flea bites. Even though we brush and bathe her lot and haven't seen fleas, that doesn't mean they're not there.
We decided we needed to take Laika to the vet to get checked. But we're in a new neighborhood now, and weren't sure where to go, so we turned to the helpful Internet.
Annabelle quickly found a well-reviewed and seemingly super affordable place, the aptly-named Afford-A-Vet Animal Clinic. It is in Kent, not far from where we love to grocery shop at Winco.
We didn't even need an appointment. We just walked in with Laika a little after 1.
She was a nervous wreck. That's kind of her perpetual state, really. Let's just say she was on high alert. It didn't help much that an enormous Pit Bull named Santana was all up in her business in the waiting room. Santana was super cute and his owner was really nice, but Laika just wasn't in the friend-making mode.
We got into an exam room after about 20 minutes of Laika cowering. She didn't really relax in the exam room, because she knew something was up.
Apologies for the blurry photo. She was trembling. ;)
The vet did find one flea on Laika, and deemed that enough probably cause to confirm my allergic-to-flea-bites suspicion. So, she got some hardcore meds and we'll double down on our efforts to keep fleas out of the house.
Good luck Laika. And hello to the fig beetle.
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