I came home today to find that the heat have brought out some uninvited pests into my kitchen.  I found a couple of ants milling about my kitchen sink area.  This is a sign that the ants are looking for a cooler place to hide from the heat outside.  The "scout" ants are sent to explore and if they find a suitable place, the full infestation will start!  So I had to act quickly and kill off the scout ants but also I had to make my kitchen an unsuitable place for them to move into. 

Because of Toby, I don't like to use any form of poison in my house.  So what can possibly deter ants without poisonous products?  Baby powder!!  Believe it or not, baby powder can kill ants instantly.  Imagine you are a tiny ant and suddenly you are covered with heavy scented powder that dries out your skin and covers you entirely so you can't breath.  Plus, it completely erases their scent trail cutting off any mass ant migration into your house.  To prevent a full invasion of my kitchen, I leave a stream of baby powder along the couter top where it meets the wall.

If you find yourself with a full ant invasion (a trail of ants moving into your bathroom or kitchen), stay calm, quickly look for the source of their entry, grab a bottle of baby powder and spray directly into the entry point.  That will instantly stop more ants from coming and you can then spray the powder onto the ants already in the house.  I love this simple solution because it is not harmful to pets.  I keep a bottle of baby powder in my kitchen and bathroom.

The temperature was 83° in my 2nd floor bedroom at 8pm this evening.  The humidity outside was 71%!  And through the night, I can maybe get the room temperature down to about 80.  Luckily, it is cooler in my guest room so Toby usually spends the evening on the futon in the guest room.  I only live 2 miles from the beach, so I can only imagine what it's like for folks out in the desert.

California is experiencing a deadly heat wave and today, it hit us in a very real way.  Recently, a tiny new 2-month-old Golden Retriever puppy named Drake joined our Power Line Gang. But tragically today, his owner came out and told us that she found Drake dead in her backyard when she got home from work.  She does not know what really caused Drake's death, but the heat couldn't have helped. 

On such hot days, it's best to bring the pets into the house and maybe keep them in a well ventilated kitchen with plenty of water.  I have worried about how hot my living room gets during days like these since Toby spends the day there.  So I keep windows open, curtains close, and a small fan on all day to circulate the air.  Please think of the furry creatures...imagine if you have to wear a wool coat in this heat.

The weather report announces a break in the heat wave soon...hopefully the humidity will go away too!  We are supposed to be world famous for our dry heat!

I was out of town for a few days and didn't want to bother anyone about feeding Feynman and Pascal.  Luckily I found these fish feeders that dissolve slowly in the tank to release food enough for several days.  I bought a pack for Pascal (freshwater fish pellets) and a pack for Feynman (Betta fish food). 

I was a little nervous coming home...more worried about Pascal than Feynman since Betta fish can usually not eat for days.  But I think Pascal can't go that long without food.  So if he happens to not like the food from the fish feeder, I may have a dead fish to greet me! 

To my relief...both guys were ok.  They were in the same state I had left them...Feynman sleeping and Pascal swimming around. :-)

Feynman didn't like his fish tablet, the green blob at the bottom.  He was starving for his little pellets that I had been feeding him for 2 years.  He ate 10 of them!!!

As for Pascal? He looked happy and satisfied with his feeder food. His belly looked pretty big to me!  At least next time I know I can leave Pascal alone for at least a week (they also sell the 7-day feeder.)  I may have to ask someone to take care of Feynman for me.  But at least Feynman is in a small tank that I can transport to someone else's home with ease. 

And yes, Toby was in the kennel...hating every second of it. :-)

I usually try to pretend to be a normal person. But sometimes my geekness is too much to contain. During one of my web browsing sessions I stumbled upon this site. I so want one of these computer aquariums for Feynman!!

Can you believe that these people actually converted their old monitors into such amazing aquariums?? I'm so jealous. I wish I knew a nerd who can make one for Feynman. He's been living in his little plastic tank for two years now. But he's slowed down quite a bit in his old age...just likes to squish himself up on his plastic plant and sleep. Someone once asked me "How come all your pets love to sleep so much?"

When I went to Santa Barbara's arts and craft show last month, I was mainly browsing the craft section.  However, there was one art booth that caught my interest.  Mike Champe is a local artist/cartoonist who draws pictures that capture the funny moments of animals and people.  I rarely buy art because I like to display photographs in my house, mainly photos I have taken.  But I spotted two pictures that I found to be extremely funny and cute so I bought them both.  One is a gift for someone and the other picture I bought for Toby.  The picture I am showing here is sitting on Toby's food bin.

If you want to view the entire picture, click on the image to the left.  Warning:  Do not view the picture if you are easily offended by certain dog behavior.  I personally find the picture to be offensively adorable. :-)

Yes, it was that kind of a day.  I apologize to everyone who had to work today.  It was a warm day in LA, but at the beach, there was a wonderful  sea breeze that kept Toby and I cool. I also discovered another way to keep cool at the beach, a small tent!  I found this children's tent for $6.00 at Ikea.  I had looked into more expensive versions of like this one but it was still way to bulky to carry to the beach.  This Ikea tent folds into a compact size like the straw matt which I can carry in my straw tote.  The set up and pack up takes less than a minute!  The first time I put it together, Toby snuck into it before I even set it down onto the sand!  Can you tell he really loves this tent??  Even when I walked down to the water, he would still be sitting in there staring at me.

There were two guys fishing in a tiny boat just off shore.  They were there for hours, just bobbing up and down with the waves.  Until the waves started getting rough...they ended up flagging down a boat and asking them to tow them.  And within minutes the coast guards came and towed the small boat away.

After giving Pascal his own webpage, Toby and I now have updated webspages too...just click on the "About Amy" and "About Toby" links above to view.  I was reading a little about html tables vs CSS online.  Although I like the clean structure of CSS, I'm still too rusty to make a whole page with it.  So for now, my websites are still heavily "tabled."  I apologize for my unprofessionalism to any web masters out there reading my sites. :-p

It's official, Pascal now has his own website. :-)  After two weeks, Pascal is completely happy and comfortable in his home.  He now swims around all day long, not just at night.  He'll also nap outside of his seashell house.  I think he finally realizes that he is the only resident of his tank. :-)  And when I open the vent to drop his food, he gets all excited and scrambles out of his shell to greet me...or his shrimp pellet rather!

Due to uncertainties at work, I've decided to bring Feynman home permanently.  Feynman is an old fish now, he's over two years old!  His belly has turned all silver in his old age.  I decided that he will retire from being a bubbles engineer and get to enjoy the rest of his days at home.  I hope Feynman will have many more years with us.  For now, he enjoys lots of sleep during the day with Toby. :-)

Change is in the air...Summer is upon us and many aspects of my life is shifting.  Some of you may have noticed the changes to my  webpage.  I have moved my homepage out of UCLA's server.  I have also changed the banner to my site.  I am also working on a website for Pascal.  So naturally I decided that I wanted to do something new to my home. 

I am a proponent of making life as easy and simple as possible.  If it's something I have to do everyday, I try to make it efficient.  But sometimes I live with small inconveniences for a LONG time before I do something about it.  I keep my printer and scanner in my living room in the armoire instead of upstairs in my home office because I use my laptop in living room in the evenings.  So when I have to print or scan something I have to sit on the floor with my laptop to hook to the printer or scanner.  No more!  Inspiration hit me last Friday afternoon while sitting in my office at work, I shall set up a little workspace in my living room!  It is truly no-cost redesign, I had a small table that was in storage.  There was a small dead space between my fireplace and my TV armoire that I filled with a plant.  Now the plant has been moved over to the other side of the living room.  Add a couple of pictures and accessories, and I have a tiny little cozy office space in my living room. :-)

Happy Friday everyone!

I LOVE, LOVE short work weeks! :-) 

Hope everyone will have a nice and relaxing weekend. 

And don't forget to enjoy the little things in life, like the feeling of sand between one's toes.

Happy 4th of July!  This day is also known as 'Toby's worst nighmare.'  As people are getting ready for the big show, Toby is trembling uncontrollably with each boom.  He can't even eat dinner, that's how scared he gets.  Sans giving him a sedative, all I can do is hold him and let him cuddle up against me...THE WHOLE NIGHT.  According to an unscientific survey of the other dog owners in my neighborhood, none of Toby's friends are bothered by the fireworks.  Once again, it's JUST Toby. :-)