ROKR Clock

I wish I could be outside enjoying this gorgeous weather even if that meant actually picking up the sticks I said I was going to do like 2 weeks ago, but alas, I'm stuck inside working on a project.  I did go get the mail and eyed by flower beds that I redid last year.  It looks like at least some of the tulips, hyacinth, and daffodils have survived so far and are starting to poke through the mulch.  I can't wait to see everything in bloom! 

I bought this ROKR clock for Joe for Christmas.  It was a kit that you have to punch out the pieces and assemble it.  I generally get him at least one of these every year because we really enjoy working on them together.  Haleth can't tell time and seems to be unaware of how old she is.  It makes me so happy that she's doing so well even at over 2 years old!  💗

Glorfindel definitely can't tell time which is clear by his incredibly wacky schedule.  Some mornings he stays up until 10 AM, and other mornings he is back in bed before I get up at 6:15 AM.  Some evenings he gets up at 8 PM, and other evenings he doesn't get up before I go to bed at about 9:30 PM.  I never quite know when I'll get to see him.  But when he is awake, he tends to be very loud so when I hear him, I make sure to check on him and give him kisses.  😊

Even in the world of AI, I don't think hamsters can tell the time from a clock, no matter what the clock looks like.  Hahaha!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm really loving the warmth we are experiencing this week.  I know that winter isn't over, but I appreciate the break from the cold so I can work on getting the yard cleaned up a bit.  We already have so many sticks that have fallen from our trees.  I'm hoping I can at least finish cleaning up the front yard before it gets cold again, but with the way my schedule is this week, that means I need to do it today, so we'll see how that goes.  Haha!

Haleth is such a sweet old lady.  It's been a few years since I pulled out these props I made for a Valentine's Day photo shoot.  Haleth didn't seem that interested in exploring.  I think she just wanted me to quickly finish taking pictures and cleaning out her tank so she could go back to her real bed.  Hahaha!

Glorfindel is turning out to be quite good at modeling for me.  Having treats set in the right place has worked well for getting at least one good shot for almost all of my hamsters.  But then I've had a few overachievers like Glorfindel who just work the camera and then I have trouble picking just a couple pictures so instead you get a lot of them.  💗

Here are some fun text-to-image AI pieces I made to go with my Valentine's Day themed pictures.  I'm always impressed with how good the fur looks!

Tea Party Celebration

I loved that warm and sunny break from the cold we had in the middle of the day!  The wind and rain we have again are scaring Arien, so she's back in the basement for protection.  😅  She's really cute when she's scared, but I do feel bad that she's so scared.  I don't understand why she's scared though because she wasn't always like that, so I think something must have happened when we weren't home or something.  I think I'll go make her a cat-sized bomb shelter (aka pillow and blanket fort 😂) and see if that helps.

I don't know exactly when Haleth was born, but she is probably two years old now, so we had a little celebration!  I didn't think she would live this long as my female hamsters have tended to have shorter lifespans, but I'm thrilled she has!  She actually seems to be in really good health so I hope she sticks around for a lot longer.  Or at least until March when we can celebrate her gotcha day.  💗  Maybe I'll try again to get her to actually wear her party hat.  😂

This was the first tea party that Glorfindel has attended.  He quite liked it!  Although he tipped over his tea cup after he was done eating.  I think he needs to practice his manners.  At least he is cute!  😅

Last summer when I first heard about text-to-image AI art and saw some of it, I quickly knew I wanted to check it out.  I was busy with work though so it wasn't until last December that I spent a couple hours over two days reading about it, looking into different platforms, and trying out a couple of free versions.  I soaked up all the info I was finding and the first chance I got, I proceeded to spend an hour telling Joe about everything I was learning and what I wanted to use this for.  He dived right into learning about it as well and by that night, we had Stable Diffusion installed on our desktop.  I definitely have a lot to learn, especially since I haven't actually spent that much time using it, but I'm loving the results!  I have a lot of plans for what I want to create with this.  In the meantime, I'm planning to share some of my favorite images with each post.

I am impressed with how much better than hamsters look now compared to when I was first doing images with them last year.  I do still think some of them look too much like a mouse or even a guinea pig.  Anyways, I knew I wanted to create images that would show what a hamster birthday party could look like if it included a party hat, cake, and lit candles.  The results varied a bit and quite a few of them had the party hat lit in addition to the candles, which I find both hilarious and adorable.  Overall, I really happy with these!