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Category Archives: Pets

Maggie on the loose!

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So I was in charge of putting Maggie in the bathroom when I left for work. This is not a big deal, but it does entail wedging a large piece of wood precisely inside the door frame and then hooking it to the door frame with bungee cords. (We had a baby gate, but she learned to climb over it within four days.) So we get home from work and there’s poop on the entryway floor. Hmmm. How could that be? Cat poop? Nope, dog poop (we could tell because there were carrots in it—one of her chew treats). How did that happen? When did she do that? So we go upstairs and the dog is not in the bathroom…and the piece of wood was moved enough where she could get out!

Turns out that I didn’t place the wood quite precisely enough and she got her paws in and moved it! Oh, imagine the fun she had once she got out… but ironically, somehow she had gotten herself locked in our bathroom! So, we have no idea how long she was free before she got herself caught! We joked that the cats probably got tired of her chasing them and they corralled her and locked her in!

Stupid Cashier Story

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So we went to Petsmart. We had a coupon for

ONE FREE BAG

(emphasis not added to enhance the stupidity of what happened, but to show how big the words actually were on the coupon—so, yeah, I guess to also enhance the stupidity of the clerk) of Brand X cat food. As I’m sure you’ve seen on these types of coupons, there was an empty box for the actual product value to be hand-written in. There was no limit on the value, but we were limited to a 4# bag.

So we get to the cashier and she rings up our first item then rings up the cat food. I hand her the coupon and she looks at it and scans it. I can see her register screen and it is asking her to enter the amount of the coupon. And she’s looking at it. And looking at it. I’m wondering what the problem is. It appears she is confused—but maybe, I think, she is looking for a max value in the small print so, fine. So what does she do? Cancel the coupon and scan the coupon again. Funny, the same thing pops up again—enter amount. She cancels it again and scans it again. Lather, rinse, repeat x 4. By this point, I am ready to explain what needs to happen, but on the flip side, I want to see just how long it takes her to actually figure it out (there was no one behind us).

So she finally does it one last time and quickly enters .01 (I kid you not), slides the coupon in the drawer, and gives me my total. I say “That coupon was for a free bag of food.” She says “Oh, was it?” OH WAS IT? Well, now she has to call the manager over to open her drawer to get the coupon out to verify, which means he has to cancel the entire transaction (good thing we only had two items). The manager leaves. So she rings us up again and she gets the coupon and scans it and…looks just as confused as the last time. I let her go through the scan and cancel routine three more times before I say “It’s just asking you to enter the cost of the bag of food—$7.99 [which can be clearly seen on the register].” Oh, she says, and punches in $7.99 and completes the transaction.

What the hell? I tried to think of any reason she could be so stupid…first day, young kid, etc. but if it was any of those, you’d think she would at least have said as much to explain the problem. But aside from that, how hard is it to read a screen and follow the directions? And if she was having an issue, why not call someone over? Especially after she screwed it up the first time?!

It’s been a busy week!

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Luckily Tom is still home recovering from surgery, so he’s able to take care of all this stuff! I don’t know what we’d do if either of us had to keep making all these trips back and forth. (These were all little things so I saved them all up for one big post!)

MONDAY

We had someone out to move the water lines for the refrigerator. If you recall from a previous post/rant, the brain surgeon who installed it put it about a foot beyond where a normal refrigerator would be. It was covered up by our trash can, but we had them move it anyway. Now we’re just waiting for someone to come back and fix the hole in the wall.

TUESDAY

We had guys out to fix our front door. It didn’t shut quite right (the top right corner stuck into the house about 1/2″ or so, like it was warped) and would have been an issue for the security system (oh yes, we have a security system—the builder pays for the first year). I’m not entirely sure what they had to do, but all I know is the door is fixed, but we’re still waiting for them to come back and fill all the holes they made.

We received our cruise documents today. And I about had heart failure when I saw that the itinerary had changed from what we originally saw on Orbitz!! Normally an itinerary change wouldn’t be any cause for alarm, but we had purchased our Royal Dolphin Swim for the specific day we were going to be in a specific port—and that had changed!! I knew it wouldn’t be a problem to cancel the shore trip and get our money back (you can cancel up to 11 days prior), but of course I think the worst of everything and assume that the other day will be sold out and I will miss my dolphin swim after being so careful to plan ahead! Tom called and spent forever on hold, but got everything straightened out (yes, the itinerary changed and yes, we switched dolphin days). Poor Tom was so frustrated with having to deal with it…and I just said “I’m glad you had to do this. You take me for granted because I’m the one who always deals with this stuff!”

WEDNESDAY

We finally started putting up some personal pictures. I finally have my picture wall! I can’t remember where I got the idea, but I’ve always wanted to have one wall dedicated for framed pictures (all different frame types). The stairwell is perfect for this. I’ll take a picture of it eventually (or when I get home).

We had someone out to install the new dishwasher—finally. (We never thought it would take 1+ weeks.) It’s a KitchenAid. I’d never heard of KitchenAid dishwashers before we went looking and never guessed we’d end up with one! Anyway, we love it—it’s the best dishwasher we’ve ever had! We can actually fit like two or three days’ worth of dishes in it. Large items like cookie sheets and pot lids can fit in no problem. And we can even take out the top tray if we have something really tall we want to wash (which we did last night—I had a 24-quart cooking pot we’ve always had to wash by hand and I wanted to get it really clean). Plus, it’s QUIET!

We’ve solved the cats whining at our bedroom door issue. Remember, we locked them out of our bedroom once we moved in…and it worked for the most part, but Fuzzy would still whine loudly in the morning (we couldn’t figure out quite what for, since he had plenty of food and water). So now they all get locked in the living room/4th bedroom at night. They have water, but no food…but even if they did whine, we can’t hear them! We’ve slept SO well the past two nights!!!

THURSDAY

The guy came to install the new countertops today. We didn’t get the dripless edge like we thought (we got the waterfall [rounded] edge, which is still 100% better than the straight edge we had before) but it looks GREAT! Even though it looks good, it’s strange getting used the new color since I was really used to the purple—and liked the purple. But this new design/color is perfect. The installer said he’d never seen such crappy work before—he told us that the guys who had originally installed the counters had been fired because they did such poor work (after our house, they were on their way to fix another crappy install). So, we’re thrilled to have great new counters.

new counters

The TV repair guy came to look at our TV. (Back story: we got a really great deal on a TV at Sam’s Club last weekend—because it had been repaired. It also had no sound so we got them to knock it down more. We didn’t need sound because we hook it up to our receiver…but turns out it had sound, so…BONUS.) But we noticed that it had a problem near one of the edges—some color squiggles and a black spot that affected the viewing area. Tom called Samsung, they said it was under warranty, we called a local repair guy and…turns out it was nothing major. It was [something like] a piece of foam padding [that sits between the case and the screen] that was buckled or crinkled, which was affecting the rear projection. So, it was a quick an easy fix and we have a brand new TV for a great price!

The Heating & Air guy came to check our system. It actually started about two weeks ago (or, shortly after we moved in). It seemed to always be VERY cool in the house, even when we had the temps set to like 79. Now, I know what 79 feels like—at our old house, it would have been sweltering—but in this new house, when the thermostat SAID 79, you’d still be CHILLY. I was positive something wasn’t right, but we decided to wait it out a bit since they had JUST fixed the a/c and we thought that might have something to do with it. Well, we just got our first electric bill last week and WOW, it was a doozy. I mean, we knew it would be more since it’s a bigger house (plus it had the $25 connect fee), but it was the same price for two weeks as our old house was FOR A MONTH (in the height of summer, $130-140). We didn’t think it should be THAT high for just two weeks, so I convinced Tom we had to call. I mean, we thought we were doing so well trying to keep the temps warmer to conserve energy/save money, but no matter what we did, it was cool in the house (not always COLD, but enough so that you’d get goosebumps some times). So, the guy came today (which surprised me that it only took a day) and guess what? The calibration was off by SEVEN DEGREES!! And there were holes in the freon line so we had leaking freon!! I’m not sure of the mechanics of it all, but the guy assured us it all added up to a higher bill than we normally would have had. And everything is now fixed so that’s good. And I’m reassured that I am NOT crazy and the temps were out of wack.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS DONE WITH ENTRIES FOR THE WEEK

Tom just called to say…the guys are there tearing up the driveway! (Oh yes, did I forgot to mention that we talked to the agent and she said they’d replace the driveway?) There was no advance warning or phone calls…they just showed up and started in with a backhoe. We have no idea how long it will take to finish, either—we’re guessing quite some time, as we’ve been driving them nuts with it and they probably hate us! But at least they’re sticking to our agreement of “by the end of the month.”

AND AN HOUR LATER…

Tom just called to say “GUESS WHAT?” While tearing up the driveway, they completely ripped out the cable line, so we have no internet and no TV. And when he went out to confront them, they suddenly don’t speak ANY English (they’re Mexican, but you know they know English). Now Tom is trying to call Time Warner to get it fixed and he’s trying to call the builder’s rep to let her know what happened and also that they will be paying for any repairs.

I wonder what else is going to happen???

Pictures are online!

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You would think with ALL the work we’ve done and ALL the painting we’ve been doing (two rooms just this weekend!) I would have more pictures…but of course I’m only showing you the best ones!

The cats exploring and getting comfy in their new house:

2005-08-03catscomfy1

2005-08-03catscomfy2

2005-08-03catscomfy3

2005-08-03catscomfy4

2005-08-03catscomfy5

2005-08-03catscomfy6

2005-08-03catscomfy7

The office, which is just off the fourth bedroom–or our living (tv) room. It’s much more cluttered now!

2005.07.31paint-01

The living room / sitting room / fireplace room! We have curtains to match the furniture and blinds for the center section.

2005.08.07paint-02

Don’t mind the mess in the kitchen…

2005.08.07paint-03

The blue paint, depending on the light, can look anything from gray to blue to periwinkle.

2005.08.07paint-04

I LOVE THE BEDROOM! I’ve wanted that quilt for over a year, so it was the inspiration for the color scheme (the bath is purple). We saw the idea for the color block wall on HGTV (for someone who didn’t have a headboard, as we don’t) and thought it would be perfect. I didn’t realize until AFTER we decided that it would be perfect with the quilt design, as well!

2005.08.08paint-05

The master bath. We took down the big wall mirror and put up the medicine cabinets. We still have some tweaking to do (i.e. a shelf for some of the clutter). I LOVE HAVING TWO SINKS!

2005.08.12paint-06

The jacuzzi tub on the left…and my lilac shower curtain!!

2005.08.12paint-07

The dining room. The chair rail and crown molding look great…but are a PITA to tape/paint!

2005.08.13paint-09

Notice the peeled paint on the tray ceiling…thanks to the bad paint job (dust not cleaned off before the builder painted), our paint peeled right off. So much for the hour or so of work it took both of us…and the hour or so it will take Tom to fix it. We plan on putting a large mirror (that used to be over our fireplace) on that back wall.

2005.08.13paint-10

Wow. Just, wow!

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Long story short, we’re moved in to the new house. Long story long, it wasn’t without some annoyances and trauma. As you know, it started with our power being turned off Friday morning and it only got better from there.

Not house-related, but we had an appointment at lunch Friday to go visit a cat that we were considering adopting…a fully declawed Tabby that we were REALLY excited about (I really really want a Tabby). However, he is almost 20# (not a problem) and unfortunately as we discovered while visiting him, a nipper (a problem). We did not want to bring home an alpha male that bites/nips. So that was disappointing—it’s rare to find a fully declawed cat. Now on to house stuff.

I had called last week to find out about switching our water service. They told me it had to be done in person. Fine. Annoying to have to make the trip, but fine. So Tom had been meaning to get to it while he was home packing and moving, but never made it. So Friday afternoon, after closing (4pm), I went. So I get there and wait in line for about 15 minutes, and…they tell me they don’t service the new address (ARGH!) so I had to go halfway across town at 4:30 on a Friday to start service! (Yes, it was my fault for not asking and merely assuming the new house TWO miles away would be the same water…but annoying.) Anyway, before I left, I asked for a letter of recommendation for the new water place so I could hopefully avoid a deposit. She said “just have them call us” — okay. So I get to the new place and ask about avoiding the deposit and she said they need a letter. I said “They said just to call them to get the reference” and she said “Yeah, we don’t do that. We need a letter. And they will charge you $5 for it.” I said “You have GOT to be kidding me.” She assured me she wasn’t. I told them “You two water companies should really talk to each other. I can’t be the only one this happens to.” Then I wrote out a $45 deposit check. ARGH. (I will be getting the other water deposit back, but still.) Oh, and I asked about when I might be able to get my deposit back… “Once you have lived here for five years…” OMG! FIVE YEARS!? I was not a happy camper. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but stuff like this just rattles my cage.

So I get home, still fuming, and run into Tom on the road, taking a trailer of stuff to the new house. I tell him what happened with the water. So I was getting dinner ready and Tom seemed to be taking forever but I really didn’t think much about it. He finally comes in and says “I can top your water story” and proceeds to hold up the plastic tray from our grill and says “This is all that’s left of the grill.” Our $600 grill. I literally said (pardon my French): “You are fucking kidding me.” Apparently the strap broke and the grill went FLYING off the trailer doing 40mph. Luckily no one was in the opposite lane where it landed (although he did have to stop traffic to gather the pieces). And of course we can’t afford another $600 grill and I don’t want a cheapie grill now that we’ve had the best. UGH. We’re laughing about it now, but man, that just sucked hard core. (Actually, the grill really isn’t in pieces…but the smokestacks are crushed, the lid is buckled so it doesn’t close, and the knobs and such are missing. Apparently the gas line survived, along with the gas tank, so Tom and Roger think they can try fixing it.)

More utility fun. Tom called LAST WEEK to switch cable service (internet/tv). It was supposed to be turned off on Saturday at the old house and ON on Friday at the new house. Saturday morning…neither had happened. I called and…oh, wait, I didn’t call from our home phone because they turned that off Saturday morning, apparently at the crack of dawn (I scheduled it for Saturday, and they tell you “sometime Saturday” but it’s apparently first thing). So I had to waste my TracFone minutes ON HOLD forever while they told me…they didn’t have a disconnect order OR a connect order for either residence! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. And it gets better. Apparently the lines haven’t even been run to the house yet (“Are there painted lines on your lawn? No?? Hmmm.”), so it could be UP TO TWO WEEKS to get service. No one told Tom this when he called to switch service A WEEK AGO. ARGH!!!!

And did I mention that the A/C was NOT WORKING at all on the second floor (we have two units, one for each floor)? We discovered this Friday after closing when Tom first walked in, about 5pm. Like you could get anyone to come fix A/C at all this time of year, let alone a Friday afternoon! But Roger came to the rescue and managed to find our contractor (who he happened to see in the neighborhood) who called the A/C guy…who, of course, happened to show up Saturday morning WHILE WE WERE GONE. Another call and the guy was scheduled to come back out Sunday! Phew! (So, this is jumping ahead, but our first night in the new house was spent on the air matress on the first floor where the A/C was working.) Apparently what had happened was the builder had the A/C set SO low that it froze the line.

Then we had been running late on packing, what with the 4-hour Friday power outage when Tom couldn’t get into the house (no keys, garage door opener didn’t work), but we were still aiming on being done by 3pm when the carpet guy came. But in the meantime, we were still loading stuff into the new house. (Actually, Roger and Tom were loading and hauling stuff to the new house, Dick [my bosses partner/myold Staples manager] and I were hauling boxes into the new house.) Anyway, around 2 we went back to the old house to get the last of the little things, still trying to beat the carpet cleaner and, of course…he was EARLY! In retrospect, we should have said “Sorry, you’re going to have to wait until 3!” But instead, we just piled all that was left into the garage, kitchen, and back porch (all areas he didn’t need to clean). Technically the house was ours until midnight, but we wanted to be DONE by 3. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out quite like that. Anyway, by this time we’re just exhausted but we have to finish. So it was power washing the garage floor and loading last-minute outside stuff like hose reels and hanging plants.

So around 5:30 we were back at the new house to shower to go have dinner at Roger and Ursula’s (which was fine, since we didn’t have much food available). So I have to find the shower curtain and liner and I get it all together and hang it up and…it’s too short. There was a good 6″ of space between the bottom of the curtain and the bottom of the shower. (We have a shower now, with just a little lip on the bottom.) I was about ready to cry. Not that it was a big deal…I was just exhausted and my entire body hurt and we were upstairs without A/C and all I wanted was a simple shower! Luckily the rod wasn’t screwed in—it was just a tension mount—so we could move it. Well, actually it wasn’t a tension mount because we couldn’t change the width—all we could do was slide it down the wall…which worked, but now it’s out about 4″ too far so the curtains are at an angle. And I still managed to get a huge puddle of water on the floor. And we had the crappy showerhead because we didn’t have the plumber’s tape to install our own showerhead. OH YEAH—I forgot—we also didn’t have hot water since no one had turned the hot water heater on—but luckily it was SO hot upstairs that we didn’t want a hot shower—cool was just fine.

This isn’t directly related to us, but just an update: we talked to the buyers on Saturday afternoon (they showed up while we were there), and he was asking us THEN where he had to go to turn on water and power. This was after I already told his agent THREE WEEKS AGO and she told him, plus I told him personally about the water because I had to give him directions, plus the messages she left about the power issue on Friday. He is a nice guy, but totally clueless.

So Sunday Tom had to go back again to take out the laundry sink…and stuff we forgot in the kitchen like my purse and the vacuum (I thought Tom was loading everything into the car and Tom thought I would at least grab my purse). Hoo boy. I’m glad we at least know the buyers a little and they’re nice enough to not destroy or steal anything!

The A/C guy came and fixed the A/C. Now it’s working like a charm. I painted the office…I didn’t really want to paint so soon, but we wanted to get that room set up, and once all the computer stuff is in and all the cords are all over, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to paint, and we didn’t want to have to set the room up twice…so I painted it. It wasn’t too bad—the painter’s tape I used this time did its job wonderfully…but we somehow ended up with a dime-sized blotch of paint on the carpet. OH MY GOD. I wanted to scream! I blame it on Tom, LOL, because I had everything covered with a drop cloth (because I was PARANOID about not getting paint on the carpet)…and at the very end, he came in to help fold up the tarp and… later when we’re setting up the office, I noticed the paint. Hoo boy. It never fails.

Sunday dinner I start making something…and realize the plastic utensils we’d been using are just not going to cut it for this meal…so we go on a 20-minute hunt for silverware. Of course it’s not with all the other kitchen stuff because I totally forgot about it, so it’s in an unlabeled “last-minute item” box. Or so I thought. Turns out it was in a “kitchen” box—actually in the kitchen that I’d already opened—I just hadn’t fully unpacked it.

Oh, and the cats. OH MY. They are soooooooo confused. They didn’t like being in the carriers of course, but we only let them out in one room (with their litterbox) while we went to dinner at Roger’s. We let them out when we came home and oh my, the crying and meowing… They freaked out whenever we left them and they couldn’t understand the upstairs and downstairs and got especially confused with the balcony. They would be downstairs crying and we’d call them from the balcony and they just meowed louder and louder, never looking up. It was like they were crying for us to come get them and lead the way. It was so funny. It’s better now after a day, but the first night, Fuzzy started crying in the middle of the night and Tom had to go find him and he carried him upstairs to the litterbox—that was what he wanted. He apparently got lost or couldn’t find it or didn’t remember… now, a day later, that’s been okay, too. It’s been an adventure.

So that’s where we are. Now we just have a ton of unpacking and painting to do….

Stupid kittens…or are they?

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So I said to Tom last night, “When we move into the new house, we should lock the cats out of our room so we can sleep better.” I mean, I love nothing better than seeing a cat curled up on our bed, but at night…well, they walk on you and wake you up (those little kitty feet, although small, can really hurt), they start crying and nudging you at 6:30am (weekday or not), and they often fight and/or play with each other at the most inopportune times. And the previous night, I had been rudely awakened by a kitten actually jumping on the bed and landing square on my back—not how you really want to be woken up. So I wanted to try locking them out at the new house—figuring a new place, a new routine. Well, Tom suggested we just try it right then. So we did. (Well, we left Fuzzy in because he was under the bed and he’s usually good for the whole night.) I didn’t have high hopes, because we’d tried it before a few times and they always (ALWAYS) end up crying in the middle of the night. It wakes me up but Tom generally sleeps through it, so he thinks it was successful… But I was game to give it another try.

As always, the first few hours went fine…and then in the middle of the night, you start to hear the whining. And the crying. And then you hear the door handle jiggling (seriously) so you know someone is up on their hind feet trying to get in. AND THEN (and this is the most hilarious of all), you hear them actually running headlong into (INTO!) the door. By this time, Tom and I are both (yes, BOTH!) awake and laughing at our stupid cats trying to get into our room by butting their heads into the door. It’s 2am. So we try to ignore it (very hard for me) and then we hear the ultimate in can’t-sleep-through-it noise: Fuzzy getting ready to puke. If you’ve heard it, it’s UNMISTAKABLE. And then we hear him actually hack something up. Well, now we’ve GOT to get up to find it and clean it so we don’t step in it (having forgotten about it by morning). Well, this means we have to open our door and now, yep, the kittens rush in and Fuzzy rushes out. The kittens curled up on the bed, totally content, and fell right asleep. Tom and I laid awake for probably an hour. After finally falling asleep, Charlie—right on schedule at 6:30am—starts crying and nudging me. ARGH! About that time, Tom got up and chased the cats out so I could sleep in peace awhile longer.

Like I said…new house, new routine. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.

My Lap Cat

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Charlie is such a lap cat…especially when she knows it’s time to eat (or when we should be eating). We typically eat dinner on the couch, and she can tell when we’re ready, because she runs out ahead of us and waits for me to sit down so she can sit on my lap. She’s not trying to get my food or anything, she just wants to be ON me. Sometimes in the morning I eat breakfast on the couch and she sits with me then, as well. It’s so sad when I don’t, though, because as I walk to the door to leave, she’s up on the couch crying at me. (This happened this morning.) So I usually go over and give her a good butt scratch or belly rub and she is all purrs. I swear, I could just sit with her all day and be content.

Major Brain Fart (a.k.a. CRS)

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So yesterday someone asked Tom how long we had lived here and he said three years. It sounded plausible, but it seemed too long. So I started thinking about it. Then my mind wandered and I forgot about it until today, LOL, when someone else asked how long we’d been here and he said three years (again). I started thinking about it tonight, and came to the conclusion that it has been almost TWO years, not three. We were married in 2001 and were in Virginia for 1.5 years which would put us moving to NC in 2003. I even checked our HOUSE site and pulled out our contracts to make sure!

At the same time, I needed to know how old the “kittens” were. My immediate answer was…pure confusion. I could have sworn they were “just over a year” because it seems we haven’t had them that long—since last summer. The more I started thinking about it the more confused I got. I pulled up our CATS site and that implied 2003 but I thought maybe I had made a mistake. (I tell you, I was really confused.) Then I looked at actual dates of digital pics I took, and that said 2003 as well. I still couldn’t believe it, so I went to the filing cabinet and pulled out the receipt and…yep, September 2003. It just didn’t seem that we got them so soon [a few months] after moving here…

Sometimes I think I’m losing my mind. The sad thing is, Tom was at a complete loss, too…

Sneaky Cat!

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JUST LOOK WHAT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH! LOL!

Sneaky Cat

The closet door was not left open for more than a few minutes while I was getting the next batch of clean towels to put away…and what do I see?? Charlie resting nicely about half way up the closet. DAMN GIBLETS! But they’re so cute you can’t help but laugh and run to get the camera! 🙂

A visit….and alone again!

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Dad and Linda left this morning after an 8-day stay with us. It was really nice FINALLY being able to show them our house! They brought Sassea, so that was interesting with the cats…we had originally thought she would just stay on the porch for the most part, but after a few hours, we let her in and eventually, the cats got used to her. It was hilarious watching, though. The cats LOVED Sassea’s bed and slept in it more than the dog! They also loved her water bucket and often drank from it instead of their own bowl. Of course, Sass retaliated by eating their food when we weren’t watching (or when we forgot to block it off). There was some growling, hissing, and snapping, but overall it went well.

Dad Lin Visit 2005

Dad Lin Visit 2005

Dad and Tom also worked on a wood project. Originally, way back when, it was supposed to be a shed. Then it was dressers. Then it turned into…a cabinet to showcase my grandma’s eggs (plus, eventually, some of my mom’s and some of my own)! I am so excited about it—-it’s gorgeous…complete with a glass door, hanging rack (for those on pipe cleaners), and mirror back (which makes it hard to take pics)! There’s even enough room at the bottom, depending on how many shelves we use, for an ostrich egg and maybe a kistka and some wax as a display! This will be SO much better than the tupperware box they were in before! I will take more pics when it’s fully done and cleaned up!

Dad's Egg Case

Dad also helped with some small projects around the house, including installing blinds on our kitchen door and staking up our willow that was getting quite sad.

As usual with family tourists, LOL, we took them on a tour of the base and surrounding areas, including a stop at the beach. The weather was a little cool, but it was nice for Dad who whines at anything above 70! 🙂 Dad and Lin took a few day trips by themselves to Wilmington and New Bern—-with a few stops to beaches along the way so Lin could collect shells. Dad had his new digital camera shipped to us, so we got to play with that all week, as well.

Meals were a bit harder to plan as compared to other guests…let’s just say Dad is a little picky. Let’s just say he’s a Vanilla guy, while most of our family is Rocky Road. (hehe) I’m not sure he could have survived the week without his PB&J! Tom and I still can’t get over the fact that neither Dad nor Lin really like steak. I mean, who doesn’t like steak? LOL But we all managed not to starve while they were here. One special treat was dad’s favorite carrot cake with extra cream cheese frosting. That certainly didn’t last long! We did drag Dad to a hibachi place, saying “You like chicken and shrimp, you like mushrooms, and you like rice—-how can you not like this?” Well, he ate it, but he wasn’t thrilled—-too many fancy ingredients like soy sauce and sesame seeds. Hoo boy. You gotta love him! The funniest thing is he kept saying “But I’m not picky! I’m easy!” HA! Poor Linda!

Dad and Lin enjoyed the cats and we enjoyed having a dog temporarily. We watched a few movies during which Linda entertained us with her, um, shreiking (we still can’t figure out how someone can be so nervous, LOL!). The weather was great—-not too hot and not too cool (although Dad pretty much wore shorts the whole time). Overall, it was a nice time!

Understanding Cats, Part 2

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So this morning, I was awakened about 7am by Fuzzy’s god-awful crying. Crap, I thought, I must have forgotten to feed them before I went to bed…because he only makes that much noise when he’s starving and just can’t wait any more. I tried to ignore him, but then he came to my side of the bed and cried in my face. There’s no ignoring THAT nonsense, so I got up. And did he run to his food bowl (which was actually empty)? No! He ran right past his food bowl to the door! Damn cat woke me up because he wanted to go outside! UGH! This has never happened before, and I surely hope it doesn’t become a normal occurence. It’s just not acceptable to be forced up at 7am on a Sunday morning…BY A CAT.

Understanding Cats

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Sometimes I understand them just fine. When they hear me get up in the morning, they start crying because they’re hungry and want to eat. When I go into the kitchen and they start crying at the door, that’s obvious—I know they want to go outside. Fuzzy has always been especially good at telling me what he wants—he’ll come up to me and start crying. When I stand up, he will lead me to whatever he wants me to see. So just now he did this. I figure he either 1) was out of food or 2) wanted to go outside. From the extreme loudness and anguish in his voice, I was sure it was lack of food. So I got up from the computer and followed him. He ran to the food bowl—aha, I was right! But wait. There was food in the bowl! And he was eating it! So apparently, he wanted me to…watch him eat? Strange kid.

Damn Sneaky Giblets

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So this morning I go to put on my shoes and EEEEEK! I got a wet foot! Damn giblets…I gave them some ice cubes before I went to bed last night (one of their favorite things to play with on the vinyl kitchen floor—they come running when they hear me getting ice from the refrigerator)…and they generously left me a present! This isn’t the first time it’s happened!! I’ve actually seen them carry around an ice cube in their mouth.

Our Sweetie: RIP

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Although we only knew her a short time, we loved her dearly.

Rainbow Bridge
AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water, and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing: they each miss someone very special to them who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face, your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together….