Chicago – Part 3

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We ate at a lot of great restaurants in Chicago! At one called Cupitol they had a bulletin board with photos of people’s pups that came with them to the restaurant! I am a Tiger I was not eligible for a photo here, drat. They should have another bulletin board for TIGERS!
One day we went to a beach! This is the Ohio Street Beach and it is right downtown. Mom and Auntie Darcy wanted to go swimming but did not have swimsuits with them so they went swimming in their underwear!!! Ha ha ha that was so funny! They decided that undies were not much different than bikinis and there were not many people at the beach anyway. There were only about 10,000 people who could see them from the office buildings and condos that surround the beach! Here is a picture of me at the beach. They did not want a picture posted of them in their undies!
I wanted to tell you more about The Bean! One day when we were visiting mom looked around at the people from all over the world who came to see this great sculpture and said that it would be fun if we could get everyone to hold hands and make a big circle around The Bean. It would mean that people would have to be willing to hold hands with strangers, and to understand the goal just by looking. A few days later we tried it!
It was so awesome! Auntie Darcy recruited a few people to get it started, and then people understood almost immediately what was happening and joined in! It only took a couple of minutes and we had a complete ring! What was extra special is that there were some men there making a video and they got it on film! Here is the link to the video! https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pSxG-P8EGZw
A little later on Auntie Darcy was talking to a security guard who mentioned that over their security radios they had heard about a gathering, then a disturbance at The Bean! Ha ha ha that was us making a disturbance by holding hands! Between swimming in underwear and holding hands with strangers it is lucky we did not get into any trouble with security while we visited Chicago!

Chicago! Part 2

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We went to the Art Institute of Chicago and it was fantastic!!!! Definitely one of the best art museums we have been to. Here I am outside with one of the Lions. Lions are okay but it would have been better if it was a TIGER. Tigers Rule!
We saw many famous paintings! This is the real deal!
It is good to look at art books or art online, but there is something special about seeing the real thing. You can see the paint texture and the colors in real life.
The Art Institute building is beautiful and amazing but also very confusing. Mom and Auntie Darcy spent a lot of time figuring out how to get around and even when they got directions it was like “walk through two galleries until you see such-and-such a painting, then go down the stairs and turn around and go under the stairs and there will be elevator on the right go down another floor and all the way to the other end of the building and take two flights of stairs back up and when you see the statue of such and such there is an entry just past that”. Here is a picture of a painting of Monet’s water lilies for serenity.
In case you could not tell this is a painting by Picasso.
When we finally left the museum there were some awesome drummers out on the sidewalk! After a long day looking at art it was perfect for getting re-energized!
On the way back to the hotel there were a bunch of professional photographers set up at an overpass and we found out it was because of the fall equinox. Twice a year on the equinox the sun passes right between the buildings on this major street and is super cool to see. You can search for it on the internet for good photos! We decided to stick around and wait for it!
Soon a good sized crowd had gathered and spilled into the street and was causing a headache for traffic! It was great fun! You can see where the sun will pass between the buildings, but about 5 minutes before the event a cloud covered the sun and no one got a good photo. Everyone will have to try again in 6 months.

Hike to Mt. Kit Carson!

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We went hiking! Last time we were on this mountain it was winter and mom got tired of breaking trail through the snow so we did not make it to the top of Mt. Kit Carson back then.
In case you did not bring a trail map the park puts them up in a few spots. We did not bring a magnifying glass but it is okay because we were familiar with the trails where we were going. Notice the special Chicago pin I am wearing! From our trip to Chicago!
This is me with Nick and Joey! Who we met at the summit of Mt. Kit Carson! They were super nice to talk to and are both super handsome. But not quite as handsome as me. Hey guys if you are reading this, you were right! Coeur d’Alene is French and it means “heart of the awl” because the French fur traders thought the indigenous Schitsu’umsh people had skillful trading practices. So it does have to do with Native Americans too.
Here is the view from the summit! There is wildfire smoke making it hazy but it was still a beautiful day and a fun hike!

Trip to Chicago (OMG!!!) – Part 1

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We went on a trip to Chicago!!! It was SO MUCH FUN!!! Here I am on the Riverwalk along the Chicago River! So many kinds of boats use the river – private yachts, tour boats, kayaks, barges, coast guard boats; it is very interesting to watch.
OMG!! Auntie Darcy met us in Chicago that made me so happy she has so many good ideas for things to do! Here we are at the famous Chicago Cloud Gate sculpture also know as The Bean. Auntie Darcy lets me ride on her head mom does not let me do that.
Here is The Bean in the evening you can see the reflection of some of the skyscrapers. We really loved this sculpture it is really cool and amazing! I will write more about The Bean later!
We stayed at the Chicago Swissotel and it was great I highly recommend! This is the fruit plate that Auntie Darcy had for breakfast every morning at the hotel restaurant The Palm.
This is Alejandra who took care of us at breakfast every day she is soooo beautiful and super nice and helpful and made our visit extra special!
Here I am downtown after it rained and the streets are still wet. On the way out of the hotel we asked the concierge if it was going to rain and he said yes would you like an umbrella and mom said yes Auntie Darcy said no she had her good rain jacket. Then after walking for 20 minutes it started POURING RAIN!! Ha ha that was funny! me and mom had an umbrella and stayed dry and Auntie Darcy decided to go back and get an umbrella she is so much fun!

Rug Spa!

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We took our rugs to the Rug Spa!!! I did not even know there was such a thing! Kirishian Rugs here in Spokane also cleans rugs and has some super cool equipment and everyone there is super nice! As soon as we brought the clean rugs back home and put them down the cats laid on all of them they were like ‘where the heck did you go?’ The rug in the photo we bought used!
In the back yard after mom finally finished building the shady garden she realized she needed to add a pathway for the lawnmower to reach the lawn! So we put in these natural flagstone-type steps. They were REALLY heavy and mom was super careful when moving them to make sure she did not drop one on her foot. We were using a small dolly to get them from the garage to the back yard and once when the dolly went over a bump the dolly handle popped out of mom’s hand and landed on her foot !! Ha ha ha that was so funny !!! but mom was not laughing her foot hurt a lot for a few days but it is better now.

Penguin Art Class!!!!!!!

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We went to an art class where we made clay PENGUINS!!! OMG!!! I love PENGUINS!! Mom’s pengiun looks like it is part penguin and part possum ha ha ha! We decided to make warrior penguins so he is holding a sword. This way the penguins can protect their homeland.
This is me with Collista who taught the class she is really beautiful and was so nice and really helpful. She knows a lot about clay penguins did I mention that I love PENGUINS!!! I can hardly wait to see our penguin when it is fired and glazed.
Our pepper plants are growing like crazy! I am a Tiger a carnivore but I will sometimes eat a vegetable.
We are are also growing hot peppers that are supposed to be not too hot. Mom thinks they are going to turn yellow or red so we have not tried one yet.
Here is our current foster kitten he is so stripey!!! He was really unsure about people at first but now he loves to play with mom and purrs when she pets him. His name is Chauncey.

Farmer’s Market and a Party!

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It has been very hot lately and even the dinosars who like it hot wanted some relief so we got them umbrellas.
We went to the Farmer’s Market! This is me with Jodi the owner and baker of Alcyone Baked Goods. Jodi is super gorgeous and is super nice! We got some banana bread which was to die for!!! We highly recommend!
We went to the Museum of Arts and Culture which has an exhibit of Preston Singletary’s work called Raven and the Box of Daylight. Mr. Singletary is a Native American artist and we have seen his work in other art museums as well. It is AMAZING what he can do with glass! I almost did not post this photo because it does not do justice to the work; the canoe, the paddles, the fish and the river are all made of glass. How do you make a canoe out of glass??!! There are many versions of the story of Raven and the Box of Daylight and the exhibit was really wonderful.
Our friends Heather and Mitch had an ice cream party – Yayyyy! Tigers LOVE ice cream! Me and mom made mango-coconut bread to take to the party. It was nowhere near as good as the banana bread we got from Jodi but people seemed to like it. Almost anything goes good with ice cream!

Coeur d’Alene Art Festival!

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We went to an Art Festival in Coeur d’Alene and walked along the street but did not see any art it was all the vendors with stores who had put out tents to sell their stuff. The city of Coeur d’Alene is named after the Native American people from this area and it means Heart of the Awl. Awl not Owl.
Then we found out we were at the street fair and needed to walk to a park where the art festival was. It was a very scenic walk along the lake! I wanted to play on the beach and jump in the water but mom said Not Now. I guess that is better than No.
It was a super nice park with super green grass to walk on which is much nicer than hot asphalt. The best part was lunch from Island Noodles food truck and mom was happy too because they had a vegan option with lots of vegies and even though I am a Tiger a Carnivore it was delicious!
This was a second best thing a GIANT sand castle!!! I would have REALLY liked to play on it but mom said Definitely Not.

Blueberries!

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We went Blueberry picking!!! Piper Farms has the best blueberries!
Even though there can be lots of cars in the parking lot the farm is so big it is eay to have lots of rows to yourself! We could not even see many other people but we could hear them. One lady had a phone that rang a lot and it had a cool souding song for a ring tone. Also there were a group of women picking blueberries and were talking in a different language and they were having such a good time and laughing and we wished we could understand what they were saying!
We went hiking at Turnbull Wildlife Refuge!!! We have not been there in a long time! The ponds were really full of cattails which give birds lots of good places to hide and hang out. It was a great weekend!

Bar Stools and Shady Garden

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We have not been having many adventures lately because mom has working on some projects around the house. We bought these cool bar stools at a thrift store for $14.99 each! They are solid wood! When we got them home and started to clean them up mom decided they needed to be refinished. So she proceeded to spend about 8 hours sanding them with 3 kinds of sandpaper, bought wood stain, polyrethane, brushes, a special cheescloth thing to apply the stain, more brushes, more sandpaper… It look three coats of polyurethann not sure how to spell poliiyurethan with guess what more Sanding between each coat. Between all the supplies and our time these barstools are now worth about $500 each. Mom says we will never do a furniture refinishing project ever again!
This is our Shady Garden project that is still in progress. Mom was thinking about hiring someone to remove all the sod but then decided to do it herself. So most weekends we are out here cutting the sod, digging it up, removing the dirt, moving the sod around to dry out, and finally putting it in the yard waste bin. Then the fun part starts – putting in plants that love the shade!
OMG – a couple weeks ago we were walking around the yard and saw two baby birds laying on the ground! They did not have feathers yet and their eyes were closed they were really small and fragile and we looked and looked and finally after about half an hour we found the nest they fell out of. Mom put on gloves and carefully put them back in the nest. Then we checked on them every couple of days and they were doing great! The Mom Bird was obviously feeding them and sometimes from a distance we could see her coming and going to the nest and the chicks got big and strong and one day the nest was empty – they had fledged! Normally you should leave the nest alone but mom was worried that the nest was in a poor location and some other animal might be trying to steal the chicks. I am a Tiger but I would never do that. But maybe a Wild Tiger who was really hungry might.