I see Dobby every day, but meeting him was a real treat for Melanie. Her blogs about her trip to Seattle will be all about Dobby, and I’m very interested to see what she posts about my Big Boy. For me, the trip was all about seeing Melanie. It was her first visit here, and in addition to showing her my home and my setup for Dobby, it was fun to show her around Seattle.

The day before she arrived, my daughter’s house guests arrived. Surprise! Matt & Mo were our resident musicians for Melanie’s whole stay. You never know what is going to happen at the Funny Farm. Here is part of an impromptu concert:

Dobby is pretty used to live music around here, but they usually don’t play on his deck! He was pretty interested at first, but eventually retired to his under-the-stairs Harry Potter Hideaway.

Most of the time when I visit Melanie, we go to the vet. There aren’t a whole lot of experienced capybara wranglers available, and it is somewhat of a specialty of mine. We didn’t get to take Dobby to the vet, but that is probably a good thing. We did get to take Carl Sagan, my little foster guinea pig, to the vet. His left eye had become suddenly cloudy. Wiley Wabbit had sneezed a few times a couple days earlier and with his fur shedding in huge puffs, I wasn’t surprised. Now, though, he kept sneezing as if he had heard about Carl Sagan and wanted to go to the vet, too.

Carl is just old, about 6-1/2 years. He will probably slowly lose his sight in this eye. If I don’t make big changes to his cage, he’ll be able to get around just fine. Eye drops may help some, but there isn’t really much that can be done. He’s very cooperative and seems to enjoy the extra attention. His friends are happy with the extra treats it brings, too!

Wiley’s lungs sounded good, so he was just faking it. Wiley was a feral rabbit, running wild and free in a downtown Seattle neighborhood, so I don’t know how old he is but he’s been here seven years. Two years ago he was at the vet because he got fat, but I’m happy to say he lost two whole pounds and is at a very good weight now.

Melanie asked to see the Frank Gehry building, Experience Music Project (EMP). The guy selling tickets couldn’t give us senior or handicapped pricing but pulled a two-for-one special out of his hat for us! Seattle is full of nice people, it isn’t just an urban legend. It had been years since I was there and they have updated and expanded the exhibits and made better use of the dynamic spaces. It has a couple better-than-your-usual gift shops, too.

It has a prime location- so prime that the Monorail runs right through it! Seattle does have some pretty cool stuff that you tend to forget about until someone visits. EMP is a building that looks different from every angle.

The surfaces shimmer and change color depending upon the sun, or more likely, the lack of it. Seattle appreciates colorful buildings. From this angle, it’s orange and pink. In the first photo of it  it was pink and orange.

Sometimes this section looks purple.

In the photo below, that’s the monorail track behind Melanie. I wished and wished and couldn’t make that Monorail show up for my photo.

I had tried to get lunch reservations at the Space Needle, but discovered that they are booked up about 2 weeks in advance. It’s fun to look off the observation deck, but much, much cooler to watch Seattle rotate around you as you enjoy a nice leisurely meal. We decided to see if they took walk-ins.

When we asked about cancellations they were very apologetic but recommended that we keep checking back. We stepped back outside into the atypical Seattle Sun Festival and re-considered our options. The door burst open behind us and the reservation clerk leaned out and asked us if we were ready for dinner NOW, because they had just had a cancellation! Yes! So up we went.

The people in front of us had a spectacular dessert! We had a fabulous dinner and shared a bottle of Prosecco. I was delighted to see that kids were still sticking notes to the windows for people to see as the restaurant rotated. (It isn’t really Seattle that does the spinning)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, and it was just as cool back then. My family drove up from California, but I never dreamed I’d move here 21 years later.

You will be reading that Melanie doesn’t think Dobby likes her, and it is true that he clicked at her. He clicks at Dick all the time, and he even clicks at me when I am too thick-headed to understand what he wants. The fact is that he enjoyed the attention, and was sad when she left. He always knows when people leave- we think he must know about suitcases or something, but he really does know. When I returned from the airport without Melanie, the kitchen was a mess.

I had left some treats for him, but he created a small “masterpiece” and jammed a blanket in the doorway to keep it from closing. That allowed ALL of the flies to come indoors.

“Goodbye, Melanie! I’ll miss you!”