A post script on cat trauma

An interesting thing about Frik in the middle of his traumatic 'trip to the vet' experience:

After howling up a storm in the truck, about halfway in to town he started to purr - loudly enough to be heard over road and traffic noise. He surely wasn't suddenly having a great time and feeling cozy. We think he was trying to comfort and calm himself.

A lesson for all of us in this sometimes hectic holiday season? I'm not sure what my equivalent to stopping and purring to myself is, exactly, but I'm going to try, at least in spirit, to follow the little guy's example.

Terrible Trauma

Today was the day for the cats to go to the vet. We loaded them into the truck - in their new carriers that had seemed so interesting to them when they were inside the house - and off we went, with Frik howling from the first step out to the garage. Maddie, who in the best of circumstances has the tiniest of voices, found hers could rise to the occasion too, after listening to Frik yowl for about 10 minutes. Poor things.

The vet was running late and they had to be weighed and prodded by a tech first - tension rising. When we finally got around to poking in ears and examining teeth it was all too much. Frik was first - and hissed and growled and had to be restrained with a towel. Maddie took her cue from him once again and followed suit. Shots were dispensed, certificates signed - they obviously wanted us out of there quick! They didn't really even have a chance to be amused at all of Maddie's extra toes. We were all embarrassed.

The trip home was spent in brooding silence. (Cats and us.)

Doesn't bode well.

But! The new carriers fit in the truck much better than the old ones, and we think they can be 'seat-belted' in; a benefit Frik will enjoy, since his rolled off the seat on the way home and he was left dangling for a bit while we pulled off the road and got him righted again. And surely they will be relieved after a few hours of driving the next time when they realize they at least aren't going back to the vet?? We can hope.

We spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the heat in front of the fireplace and pondering the days to come. We'd had all the trauma we could stand for one day, evidently. I wish there was some way to explain. Surely they are left with a big question mark in their minds - "What on earth was THAT all about?"

Getting it together again

There's still turkey leftovers. But that's the least of our complications.

The 'to do' lists are growing exponentially. So is the list of people who have a hand in this relocation business - realtors, movers, coordinators for the movers, vehicle shippers (and, of course, coordinators for the vehicle shippers...) mortgage brokers, temporary housing coordinators - it's mind boggling. And somehow, very few of those people are managing to get our email address correct in their records or returning phone calls.

But we're getting there. Things are sorted. Things have been donated. The 'dump' has been visited. A temporary address has been obtained.

That's all good, because we are leaving on Saturday! Yikes!!

Plenty of time to deal with the turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving

Todd has been here for the past 2 days and we've been having a wonderful time in spite of the interruptions and inconveniences of a household about to move across the country. Today we spent the afternoon sorting through things of his that we still have in boxes or drawers - basketball trophies, prom glasses, graduation announcements, drawings of cars and, of course, boxes and boxes of Legos and baseball cards. He found the collection of school work that I had saved from each year in elementary school and was reading over his 'essay' from 6th grade entitled "My Cat" and which I reprint here for you in its entirety, for general amusement and because I don't have another blog topic. Ahem...

"This story is about my cat and how strange she is, and what she is like in general.

My cat is very fat. She is very fat because we keep her food dish full all the time, and because my mom spoils her. She eats about 3 full food dishes a day, and about 1 dish of water a day. Her favorite people foods are turkey and cheeses. She will only eat cheese if it is cheddar and shredded. She weighs about 15 pounds, and is still eating.

This cat is very lazy; probably the laziest cat I've ever seen. All she does is eat, sleep, wash, and, once in a while, chase string or bat things around.

She sleeps in a very weird way. She finds a comfortable spot (which is normally in the middle of my [indoor] basketball court) and lays down. She sleeps on her back with all four feet sticking up. With her tail too, she is a little under 3 feet long and about a foot across. That shows how fat she is, and how much of my basketball court she takes up. When she lays down she looks like a geek.

My cat is a calico cat with fur about 2 inches long on every part of her. She sheds all over the place. She can't always keep herself clean because her hair is so long.

She does not like people with beards for some reason. She hates birds because they fly and she can't go outside to catch them (like she would ever catch them anyway!) She likes to eat spiders. She's scared of the vacuum cleaner because it makes noise and moves. She likes to play with the little plastic rings that seal milk cartons.

She says "mrrrr?" a lot when you scare her, or when she wants to tell you she is there. She only comes to "kitty-kitty-kitty" because she thinks that means food.

She bites very hard, and all the time. She does not have front claws because she was tearing up our furniture so we had to have them removed. She makes up for not having front claws by using her back claws and her teeth.

My cat is not allowed outside because we don't want her to get fleas. Fortunately she has not caught fleas yet, even though she has snuck out of the house a few times. She is very sneaky about trying to get out. First she just walks around the door and acts like she's just looking out. Then when you turn around, she runs out the door and heads for the bushes. After she has gotten out and we have caught her again, we lock her in the bathroom for a while.

My cat is normally a happy cat, except when I terrorize her or when John Hall comes to our house. She doesn't like John Hall because he has a beard and he is mean to her. He hisses at her and pulls her tail.

All in all my cat is very fat, very lazy and very weird."

That's how it is at my house on this Thanksgiving Eve. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Using up without filling up

Emptying the freezer or pantry in preparation for a move across country isn't as easy as it would seem to be. You always have odds and ends of unmatched things, none of which will easily feed 2 reasonable adult diets. But all that stuff is still THERE, making you think you have to use it up... For example:

I have lots of cheese but no bread for grilled cheese sandwiches. I have miscellaneous canned things - but can't think of a recipe that would take diced green chilis, chicken noodle soup, raspberry jam and water chesnuts; although I do have a box of stale Wheat Thins that might round things out. There's lots of leftover spaghetti sauce in the freezer - along with the applesauce that I labored over so lovingly at the end of the summer - but Mark is tired of spaghetti (and applesauce, for that matter.) And there's lima beans. For some reason I am overstocked with frozen lima beans, possibly as a result of trying to have something to pack around ice cream to keep it frozen on the trip home from the store over these past long months of hot weather. Condiments are in great abundance as well - but again, what meal will result from mustard, ketchup, salad dressing, barbecue sauce, soy sauce, wasabi and something in a bottle that the label has come off of. Even the fact that I have lots of rice doesn't make any of THAT appeal. Mark at least likes plain rice - but I don't.

Interestingly, I have all the ingredients for at least 6 more batches of chocolate chip cookies. Of course that should surprise no one.

Frik and Maddie are even down to just one flavor of cat food. They don't seem to mind though.

I think I'm going to have to 'restock' after all - especially since Todd will be here next week. But I'll be more careful this time - and try to get something to go with the water chesnuts at least.

Did I mention all the applesauce? That will have to get foisted off on the neighbors I guess. Sigh.

Arghhhhh!!!

Scheduling vet visits, replacing truck tires, extending prescriptions, getting a AAA triptik, picking up the drycleaning, having the windshield replaced, spiffing up the house... endless errands and details! We still don't have the house listing taken care of here in KY but a myriad of folks in Seattle have called or emailed to offer real estate, mortgage loan and moving assistance. What a flurry of activity for a confirmed old recluse like me!

I wrote a note to the person who will assign us a real estate agent in Seattle that probably sounded more like a blog entry than a list of housing requirements. Hmmmmm. I probably need to switch gears here, huh?

Anyway, we're off and running!

‘Cathy’ no longer without a plan

I started this blog because I had stepped out of the workplace, was in a new state and new community and didn’t really have a plan for my life. I made a few tentative inroads into volunteer work and ‘interest’ groups and took the time to read, write, cook and enjoy life. “Cathy without a plan” was born and I’ve had a grand time! But now…

Mark has accepted a job in Seattle and we are moving again! Already! So I guess I better start ‘planning’ in earnest… right away! He has to be there by December 12 – not a lot of time to sell a house and move across the country again. But we’re experienced. We can do this.

I’m concerned that the blog will suffer from the time and attention demands of other things, and hope that any readers I’ve picked up along the way will understand and keep checking back until I have a chance to give it more attention again. Since I am mostly writing it for myself, you know I’ll get it back on track by the first of the year.

In spite of not having a Plan for quite some time, I’m actually pretty good at making them and carrying them out – this should be a lark! Stay tuned! There will be adventures along the way.

Grannies in Golf Cars

I do hope my mother will forgive me for including the picture...

I had a great time in Arizona - got out for a hike, a steak at the local 'cowboy' steakhouse, snuck in to a performance of my sister's singing group, worked on the gazebo in my mother's yard and, of course, tried out the golf car. (That's Daisy, her Golden Retriever, in it with her) Great fun. And yes, it now has seatbelts!

On the Brink

I’m leaving tomorrow for a little trip – requiring me to fly through Chicago. Cause for major trepidation!

The last time I had to fly through Chicago I got stuck there because of weather. It was a summer storm and Chicago was acting like there had never been bad weather there and they didn’t know what to do. There were long lines to the ticket counters as passengers tried to rebook alternative flights. As the evening wore on the United Airlines employees working those counters went off to dinner, then to breaks, then finally it was quitting time, and the lines had barely diminished at all. Before we knew it the last employee had turned off the lights and slipped away and they were announcing the closing of the airport for the night – and there were literally 10,000 of us still there, standing in line!

And thus began the quest for an over-priced Chicago hotel room. The airport offered reservation service, gave us the name of the hotel and the confirmation number and sent us off to stand in the taxi line for another hour or so. The hotel was many miles away from the airport (causing the taxi drive alone to break the budget) and when we arrived, at 2 am, there was no room available, no reservation recorded, no offer of an alternative. There were no rental cars available to just ‘get out of town’ and on our way, no promise of a flight out the next day because they were already overbooked. We couldn't retrieve our baggage and were stuck in our travel clothes for the duration.

We arrived at our destination a day late and hours after the occasion for which we were traveling was over. On the return trip, another storm caused us to miss our connecting flight in Chicago again, the last one of the day, and we had to do it all over.

So if anyone has any great and powerful ‘weather zen’ I’d appreciate it if you’d cast it out there. I swore I’d never do it again, but I’m flying through Chicago!

I’ll really feel like a fool if it happens again.

Calendars

I was in a bookstore yesterday and noticed the amazing array of 2006 Calendars already offered for sale. I was particularly interested in the one that offered a picture of a different type of Bass fish for each month. I didn’t know there WERE that many – or that someone would want to see them, for that matter. It was the size/format of the wall calendar that was striking, if I can use that word. Maybe you had to have been there…

The subjects seem to be endless – from the traditional scenery calendar (my favorite in spite of all the other possibilities) to the cartoon calendar (they still have Far Side) to specialty interest calendars, like bass, of course, but also Bad Cats (certainly a particular interest of mine) and sports (wouldn’t you want cheesecake photos of the New York Yankees on your wall? Well, maybe you would, but I still prefer scenery!)

You can get daily lessons on new words from your calendars. Recipes, astrological advice, Star Wars pictures, penguins, collectable teapots, and seemingly endless ‘puppies’ possibilities are available… in fact, Barnes and Noble offers no fewer than 2,892 calendar choices, according to their website.

One year we got Todd a ‘goat’ calendar because he had visited a friend in Washington whose family kept small goats and he broke into hysterical laughter just at the sight of them – they ARE pretty ridiculous. So we had to find him a goat calendar to keep him laughing.

There is even a ‘2006 George Bushisms Calendar’ – who knew? And, of course, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar. There is a ‘2006 1000 Places to See Before You Die Page-A-Day Calendar’ – never mind that there could be only 365 possibilities in it. Wouldn’t you ask for it at a third of the price? Orlando Bloom has his own calendar, but then so does Joel Osteen. Go figure (I mean about Joel - Orlando goes without question.)

The ‘Left-Handers Engagement Calendar’ leaves me wondering what left-handed people could be engaged in that I, a right-hander, could not.

You can get 365 Bible verses, horoscopes, crossword puzzles, vocabulary words, fishing jokes or pictures of Italy.

The possibilities are endless. Depending on your choice, so might the year be!

The 'Niagara' of the South

We took advantage of the day yesterday and went for hike again - the color is still amazing but won't last another week! This time we went to Cumberland Falls - nicknamed 'The Niagara of the South.'

Last summer we visited Breaks Interstate Park, which is on the border between Kentucky and Virginia. This beautiful place is known as 'The Grand Canyon of the South' even though it is a tiny park encompassing only a few miles and probably wouldn't even be noticed if dropped into ''the real thing." Doesn't that make you wonder? Is there a place in the West that has adopted the name of a famous landmark that is actually elsewhere? Does the North compare its beauty to the South? The Midwest? The Pacific Northwest certainly doesn't - and doesn't need to. Isn't the South beautiful enough on its own that it doesn't really need to identify all its attractions as they compare to something wonderful somewhere else? While Cumberland Falls is truly beautiful, it really can't compare to Niagara.

Here's another thing about Kentucky's Parks: The state parks are 'resorts' and have lodges with restaurants (and usually a Sunday buffet) and public swimming pools, putt-putt courses, horseback-riding stables... People spend their honeymoons at these places. (We don't do that in the West - we go for 'natural.')

Silly stuff.

Sweet Anticipation

I have two wonderful things to look forward to this month – I’m going to Arizona to visit family, the 9th through the 15th (probably no blogging then though,) and Todd is coming here for the week of Thanksgiving.

I think a Good Life has to have that “sweet anticipation” in it. Sure, we need to relish the here and now, and find things within our day-to-day lives to savor, but having something special to look forward to? That’s really important.

The ‘other’ kind of anticipation – the waiting for something to happen that is supposed to happen but is out of your own control… THAT kind of anticipation though… not so good. We’ve had too much of that lately and it usually results in me eating leftover Halloween candy or worse.

So here’s to Sweet Anticipation of the Good Things in life!

Complications from Cats

Today I rediscovered just how difficult it is to make a bed with a cat inside it.

Is that where the term "cattywompas" comes from?

The Wonderment of the John Deere Tractor

I had to mow the lawn yesterday. The drought this past summer has played havoc with our yard and we’ve had to till up a big patch to reseed. But the rest of the grass (and weeds, let’s be honest here) were in need of a trim.

So Mark thought today’s blog should be about, and I am quoting here, “the Wonderment of the John Deer Tractor.” (And I know he said that with a Capital “W”.) What is it with men and their toys? Other than the topic, he didn’t elaborate, and I am left to my own devices to figure out what, exactly, that ‘Wonderment’ is.

There IS the sound… a funny whining sound when you start it, and a distinctive motor noise when running. A neighbor down the street was mowing her lawn when I started – and she doesn’t have a John Deere – so I could tell that the sound was different. Could that be it? Frankly, it is noisy and sounds like a big lawnmower to me. Not really something I can wax eloquent about.

It does have a wide deck and can cover a lot of territory in a short period of time; corners pretty nicely (although it kicks up quite a bit of dust just now;) can get up even our steep hill without too much trouble. But surely those advantages are offset by the lack of suspension that bounces me all-but-off-the-seat in our poorly graded yard.

Ah – the neighbor that was mowing before I started? She was still mowing long after I was done. Maybe that’s ‘Wonderment.’ Mine’s faster? Surely not.

I suspect that “mine’s bigger” could have something to do with Wonderment-with-a-capital-W. Years ago, when we bought our house in Oregon, we needed a mower and went looking at Home Depot. They had ‘Cadet Cub’ and ‘Lawn Boy’ and several other brands, but none would do but ‘Yard Man’, once he saw that. No sissy lawn ‘boys’ for Mark. If there was a ‘Yard Man’, it was to be his. So this time, nothing but John Deere would do – and a big one at that.

But, really… “Wonderment?” Sorry, it just doesn’t come to me.

Woes of the World

I know I’ve done this before, but I couldn’t resist a recap of yesterday’s ‘important’ Headlines:

Charles and Camilla Dine at Capitol
Forest Service to Corral Off-Road Vehicles
Jackson to Speak at Parks Funeral (which – Michael or Jesse? Would it make a difference?)
50 Cent Says Kayne West Wrong About Bush (Huh?)
Belligerent Drunk Man Plays Role Too Well
Woman Admits Killing Daughter to Rid Her of Demon
Man Battles Buck with Bare Hands; Wins
No More Pepsi at Subway

And sure enough… Joey Buttafuoco shows up on the ‘Entertainment’ news.

What a day. The end of the world is surely near.

Pleasures of Fall

I’ve rediscovered the joy of a crisp, tart apple dipped in caramel. Exquisite. The perfect fall snack.

With the change in seasons the sun is finding its way into the house – and there are sunbeams to sit in, for reading or napping. The cats are luxuriating in one now, not quite asleep because I can hear them purring. Such ecstasy.

And with the breeze blowing in the woods behind my house the trees seem to be waving their colors at me in a happy goodbye.

Add “crunching along a beautiful trail through fallen leaves” to the list of sublime fall pleasures. There is a ‘nature trail’ being built near our house. It goes down into a small valley between the hills that the houses in our area are built on – down far enough that you can’t see the houses once you are on the trail. It follows a stream bed, starting at what might be loosely described as the ‘headwaters’ and gradually growing wider and more pronounced as it travels down the hill. It passes two ancient rock wall ‘fences’ built by early settlers in the area. The trail is wide enough for two to walk, and covered with leaves at this time of year, although there is still quite a bit of green in this secluded little valley.

Small pleasures. Pure delight.

Trick Or Treat

A bevy of Halloween thoughts and reminiscences:

Buying the candy is the dilemma - get something you actually like (chocolate!) and risk eating it yourself, or something you won't like and risk having too much and having to throw it away? I always go for the good stuff and yes, I certainly eat it along the way and then hope to have some left besides! ("Pleasure-seeker" personality, what can I say?) Buy it early to get the best selection; and then have to resupply several times during the month because 'someone' ate it all?

Then you have to wonder if you'll get any kids at all. But we always do. The little ones are the best. They sometimes hold out their hand instead of their little bucket. They are too shy to approach; they ask for a different kind; they aren't sure what they 'are' when you ask. And sometimes it's hard to know, if you are outside of 'kid' culture!

(Last night Mark gave a whole history lesson on why our little neighbor girl should be Sacajawea instead of Pocahontas, since her brother was Daniel Boone - they left a little confused! But another neighbor said she reported that she was both, by the time she got to their house.)

The bigger kids are just looking for the 'haul' although some of those actually comment on our pumpkins, so that endears them to us anyway. (We're easy) They don't have anyone to remind them to say 'thank you' but a surprising number of them say it anyway.

(Another story - when my brother was very little and had been given a cookie at someone's house, my mother prompted him with "Now what do you say?" His response? "I don't like that kind." She was always straight to the point, after that, if we forgot to give the appropriate response - "say 'thank you'")

In California, whole Mexican families, including the mothers, would Trick or Treat together - no costumes, just very large pillow cases... mothers too.

In our little town in Alaska, the 'trick' part was taken up by the high school crowd. Vandalism was rampant - one time even our little pumpkin on our porch was smashed - and the local store owners (the same ones constantly asked to donate to teenage fundraisers by the dozens) were always faced with expensive clean-up and repair costs after Halloween.

(One year in Alaska there was a beautiful display of the Northern Lights that had everyone mesmerized on Halloween night. Of course I was home handing out candy and missed the whole thing!)

When my oldest sister had her first baby, she made a paper mache "turtle" costume for him - he was just starting to crawl. It was so cute. My mother used to sew our costumes for us - and they were wonderful! One year I was a pumpkin - stuffed with newspaper or something to keep the 'roundness' in. I used to sew costumes for Todd too (and still have them all in a box in the basement!) until he decided that 'cute' wasn't his goal. They were darling - so was he.

(This year he reported that he went to Chipotle (Mexican Restaurant) dressed as a burrito just so he could get a free one! (Chipotle wraps their huge burritos in foil - so his 'costume' was him in a sleeping bag wrapped with foil - prompting Mark to wonder if he hadn't used up more foil than the burrito was worth in the first place.)

It's always amusing; sometimes surprising - Halloween.

(I bet if I went shopping today the stores would be full of Christmas stuff!)