A Tale of Seven Kitties

We are about to lose our youngest foster. Amani is going to spend a week at Pets to Go (only a week, caging her isn't the best thing) and will probably be off to Marin if she is not adopted during that week. When she arrived at our house she was skinny and hostile to the other cats, although she tolerated people quite nicely. Now she fits in perfectly well, has grown a round little tummy, and is a very affectionate wee girl. No more hissing and growling. She puts her paws up on my leg, asking to be picked up much the way very small children do. We will miss her so much and hope that she finds a great home, with at least one person who absolutely adores her.

Another short-term foster came into the house this evening. She was on the execution cart at the shelter but was rescued by Mary and Rosemary. She looks like a white cat wearing a black mask and cape and they are calling her Zorro. She is quite poufy, and we are hoping she meets the needs of one of the ladies in Nancy's office. If not, she is also scheduled to be off to Marin in a week. Luckily, a week isn't enough time to bond with and get so attached to a cat, so I won't cry for this one.

This was the special holiday for the Black Prince and he even got his very own Halloween card from way back east. We told him that he was extra special and the day celebrated him. He told us that it would be more appropriate to give him tuna than to be passing out Tootsie Rolls and spider rings to a bunch of kids. Pass out goody bags we did, however. Did you all get a bunch of Ninjas this year? Alex actually knew what they were. I thought they were Rangemen, but I guess Stephanie Plum isn't appropriate bedtime reading for children.

Everybody else stayed fairly calm and quiet for the celebration. They don't mind this one so much. It's July Four that they really dislike. Independence Day is simply too noisy for cats. Carm and the Wondermouse both hid in the small appliance cupboard for a while, but I think that was just because we got a spot of thunder. Or maybe because the George Foreman grill always smells a little bit like Salmon.

I'm off to Bodega Bay for a long weekend tomorrow morning. To that end I bought a platter of "premium" cookies at Bel Air, baked an apple pie, and pulled a couple of bottles of wine out of the rack. There won't be any cats there. How will I survive?

Who really needs to work out

Well, I did work out today, but I also got in at least that requisite 10,000 steps, and mostly up and down stairs. That should count for a four mile hike in addition to the workout.

Nancy and Ryan's apartment is almost empty. I have one more load to take tomorrow morning and Ryan will need to take the television, his camp chair, and his Wii. He has a little pied a terre set up in the old apartment. I left some beer in the fridge and a carton of what I presume is Chinese food. I thought he was just escaping from Nancy and Elph, but apparently the cable installation guy doesn't come to the house until Monday so he goes back to the apartment to watch television. That works. They did sleep in the house last night, but the bed is a mattress on the floor. Furniture will be fully assembled this weekend. They will have plenty of time to do so because they have to turn in the apartment key Friday -- no television for two days.

The house is full of boxes and they are stacked nearly to the ceiling in one of the "staging" rooms. I used to love moving. No matter how well I labeled boxes the ones I needed the most were always at the bottom of the stack. You just have to upack and get things stowed as quickly as possible. The interior pictures at the top of the page are the family room, entry hall, and stairway landing. (The extra picture has nothing to do with the house, it is Carmela relaxing atop the boxes that hold our creamation urns -- we still really don't know where to put them.)

Nancy and Ryan's neighbors all seem friendly and pleasant. Well, almost all. Everyone we talk to warns us about their neighbor to the right. She is going to be the interesting neighbor.

I wore my Flamingo pants to workout, lunch, and moving today. Everywhere I go I get complements on them. They are Target summer PJ bottoms that Lesley sent me and they make the best crop pants. Everyone should have Flamingo pants. Next summer I'm going to buy the pink pants with cats on them and perhaps some with rubber duckies. A nice thing about being old (in addition to Senior prices and free flu shots) is that you can get away with wearing whatever makes you happy. A little eccentricity really improves a girl's attitude.

The end of this tunnel -- on to the next

The move is almost complete and life is about to return to what passes for normal at our house. Nancy and Ryan have most of their stuff out of the apartment and in their house (above) -- unpacking and figuring out where to put it all is up to them. I have been a serious failure in the communication and exercise portions of my life the past couple of weeks. I have been keeping up with my Curves (thank goodness for those 30-minute workouts!) but have either walked an abbreviated route or failed to walk completely. That's too bad, because fall has hit the trees in our greenbelt and they look like somebody has been painting them. Walking is more fun this time of year. I've also not been E-mailing, except when necessary, and have a written note that is very overdue.

Today I'm over to the apartment to pack up as much as I can of the stuff that is left to take it over to the house. Ryan will need to get the big stuff out sometime today because the cleaning service comes tomorrow afternoon. Then all that is left is to move furniture back into place in our house (we moved some things to make room for the stuff that belonged to the kids).

We had friends from San Diego come for dinner Monday evening. Usually that would be occassion for fancy cooking and getting the house clean -- not so much this time. We had chicken with wine and mushrooms in the crock pot and brownies from a mix for dessert. I won't even comment on the state of the house. The conversation, however, was great and the drinking wine -- a Pinot Grigio from a winery just upriver from where they were staying in their RV -- was fine. It is always nice to see them, and this time it was a welcome break.

Friday morning Alex has an ultra sound to determine whether he needs to have a procedure on the artery affecting his kidneys. I didn't go to the doctor with him and I don't completely understand. Apparently renal function is declining, not unusual in diabetics, and they may need to do an angio-something on that artery. I am off to Bodega Bay with a bunch of Soroptimist girlfriends for the weekend on Saturday morning -- a long-planned and welcome yearly retreat. Pictures the first of the week and an update on Alex's situation when we get the results.

Next weekend is the Elks craft fair and the Friends of the Sac City Animal Shelter has a booth. I'm donating jewelry and working the booth all day. Come by and start your Christmas shopping if you are in Sacramento.

I will try to remember to take the camera with me today and will post some interior house pictures this evening.

If you live in California where it has been unseasonably warm, you will be glad to hear that Les and Tim got their first snow yesterday. Left and right coasts really are opposite!

Nocturnal

I have come the the conclusion, lately, that my cats must have taught me to be nocturnal. Although I was up by about 8:00 this morning and basically worked all day, I'm wide awake at 2:00 a.m. I'm not sure what is going on, but this has happened several times the past week. Maybe I just need the peace I find when I have the house pretty much to myself.

Friday was the Library Dinner. Dinner was only $30 per person. Not much for a fund raiser, so we shouldn't have expected much of the food. Nevertheless, it was really awful. Alex had the overcooked beef, frozen corn, and salad that was mostly iceberg lettuce with a cucumber slice and unripe tomato wedge. I had the bone-in overcooked chicken with the same sides. The potatoes were pretty good. Our table had a Janet Evanovich theme and we went as Stephanie's parents. I wore my hair down (automatic big hair), lots of makeup, an apron, and carried an iron and a pint of booze. Nobody got it. Too subtle, I guess. Everybody said they liked my hair down, and here I was thinking it looked really New Jersey.

Library dinners this close to election day are interesting. Everybody comes to troll for votes. You have to be careful about who you seat together. It's almost like arranging tables at a wedding where both sets of parents are divorced. Since our mayoral race is a hot contest other local politicos have come out in support of one candidate or another. The current mayor arrived late and stayed for the festivities, the contender was there at the beginning of the function only. However the two school board members (supporting the contender), State Assemblyman and Senator (Mayor), member of the County Board (Mayor), and two City Councilmen (one each) needed to be sorted out. There's bad blood in River City these days.

Yesterday Nancy and I ran errands and window shopped. I was going to just tag along and not buy anything myself. There was a purse in Coldwater Creek I had been admiring at a serious markdown and ........

Today was Farmer's Market in the morning -- all of the peaches and plums and nectarines are gone and it's on to apples and pears and persimmons. Beans and tomatoes are also on their last legs and it's nearly root vegetable time. Later in the day I joined Ryan's mom at the kids' apartment and we packed the master bedroom and the living room. All is now ready for the movers to come on Tuesday. We started out with very organized boxes, but by the end Jessica said she was tempted to simply label them "Surprise!" The next step, unpacking and sorting out everything, is up to them. They have everything they will need for the next few days and they can spend the weekend unpacking.

Breast Cancer Quilts

I went to Sutter Cancer Center today with two friends and we had a WONDERFUL time. What?!? The quilt display is on because this is Breast Cancer Month. You can see pictures of them at http://suttermedicalcenter.org/quiltauction/samples.cfm?page=1&start=141&show=140 but the snaps don't do them justice. They are all really amazing. The woman who chairs the event spent quite a bit of time talking to us and we learned that they sell for anywhere from $25-5500. Even those that are sold for the higher prices are a bargain. All proceeds go to cancer patients. Hours of work, tons of talent, and a good bit of creative thought goes into each quilt. They are donated by individual quilters and quilting groups. One of the nicest large quilts (and one of 50 to be featured in the live auction) was made by Jessica McCarroll, Ryan's mom. It already has a couple of bids, but the price will go up at the live auction on November 1. The number is 262 (or something close to that) if you go to the website. It is called Christmas Wreath.

I bid on a small quilt -- number 1156 -- to toss over the back of our living room sofa. Jessica made us a Christmas quilt last year and it warmed up our living room so much that I didn't take it down until July -- when holly and poinsettias began to pass eccentricity. The new quilt won't add quite the warmth, but it is very pretty and will look nice on the sofa.

My quilt-watching buds were a couple of Curves friends. Dorothy is the lady who made Nancy's chemo fleece, and she is a quilter herself. She made a great guide for Nadine and I, explaining the technique used in each fabric masterpiece. Nadine is a saint. She is 80 and cares for her husband, who has Alzheimer's. She has a woman who comes in for a few hours three times a week. Today she could be out until 2:00, so we had lunch at Cafe Bernardo after the quilts.

Please note that you should all eat out more. CB, usually swamped at lunch time, was nearly empty today. You can easily see that I was doing a public service by having lunch with my friends.

I'm an old codger now

Yesterday I had my Welcome to Medicare physical. I was eligible for it in July, but hadn't had time to go in. Good news all round. My hearing and EKG were perfect. Eyesight 20/30 without glasses and 20/15 with. Blood pressure 120/75. Weight on the high side and she recommended that I take off that ubiquitous 20-25 pounds extra (everyone's doctor seems to tell them that unless they are quite slender -- same amount if you weigh 150 or 250 pounds) but she wasn't terribly worried because I am in generally good health. Although I'm in good shape right now it would be a practical thing to consider installing grab bars in the bathtub and shower before I really need them. Isn't it funny that we have all of those numbers we didn't worry about 30 years ago that now mean so much to us? It's like getting grades. If you have the right numbers you get to move on to the next decade. My doctor is a feminine version of Doogie Howser and I really like her. She is young enough to relate to old people.

This morning we made our "end of life" arrangements. Everything is all set and we even have our cremation urns just waiting. Right now they are stacked on the table in the family room. Carmela was perching on them this evening. Nice little mini caskets ready for ashes when the time comes. We have to figure out where to keep them. Mine will have to wait a while since my Welcome physical indicates I should get through at least one more decade. I'm presuming Alex's will also have many years to gather dust on the top shelf of the closet or wherever. Maybe we should put them on the coffee table. I don't know if using them for storage of remote control devices or other stuff means we can't use them later for ashes, but they are attractive and a handy size.

Anyway, old people think about these things. Old people should think about these things. Keeps us from thinking we should run for President.

Driving Through Land Park

We had the car serviced today, and flushed. They flush the fluids in the brakes and the transmission -- I think it's the transmission. They charge $200 more for the flushing than for simply oil changing, tire rotating, and whatever else they do every 3,000 miles or so. Sometimes I wish they could flush me. Just get all of the bad stuff out of my body and replace it with good new oils and bloods and whatever other fluids I have in me. I'm sure that I have the human equivalent of more than the 40 something thousand miles my car now has on the speedometer.

On the way to Downtown Ford we drive along Land Park Drive. Campaign season is in full swing on Land Park Drive. There are signs for our mayoral candidates -- pretty evenly distributed, and I think that election will be a close one. Lots more Obama/Biden signs than McCain/Palin -- a good sign, I think. Some homes also have Yes or No on Proposition 8 (Gay marriage). The Yes signs are all accompanied by McCain/Palin signs and the No by Obama/Biden. Our Pocket neighborhood also seems to have lots of Obama signs (we all got ours pre-Biden). I'm sure there are McCain signs out there too, but I haven't seen them. In the North part of Sacramento they have been having a problem with lawn signs being stolen or vandalized. Not so much down here. We are a mellow group. We say our piece, but don't really mind if you disagree. We also tend to be on the liberal side. We know we are right and don't care if you are too silly to realize it.

After dropping off the car we had breakfast at Tower Cafe, a favorite neighborhood hangout. They open at 8:00 and we usually get there about the time they open. Alex always has the half-order of French toast and I have a half of Blueberry Cornmeal pancakes. We split a side of fresh fruit, he has coffee and (here is the variety that makes our routine) I have a cup of a different tea each time. This morning it was Caribbean Rum. Our favorite waitress stood and visited with us. Not too many people there before 9:00 -- mostly old codgers like us who live reasonably close. Kelly says she really likes to work the breakfast lunch shift because everyone is so laid back. No hassles, no rush. I guess that's why we don't have to worry about our campaign signs here. Just don't mess with our French toast or pancakes.

Metuchen and Highland park

Fall was just arriving while we were in New jersey, much like it is in Northern California. We spent one lovely day just putzing around in two small towns -- Highland Park and Metuchen. The photo at left was taken outside a small Italian deli on the main drag in Metuchen. We were hungry -- and I was especially hungry for fresh food -- good veggies and not so many carbs. We found this place called Fresco where Alex had a good sandwich and I had the most amazing antipasto salad. Lovely sausages, fresh cheese, and heavenly raw veggies. I was taking Alex's picture when the owner saw me and offered to take a snap of both of us. The day was crisp and breezy, the street quiet, and the three tables outside the deli perfect for a latish lunch. We saw a lot of people -- obviously locals -- going in and out to pick up what they needed for that night's dinner.

The trees were starting to turn and you would see bursts of color accessorizing a grove still wearing its summer green. This was a very laid back day, just what two weary folks from California needed.

We had seen an Obama sticker (one of Lesley's neighbors) in Yiddish and Alex had hoped to find one for a friend of his in California. We tried the Judaeca stores in Highland Park (a largely Orthodox Jewish town) with no luck. He lives in LA and can probably find one in the Fairfax neighborhood if he wants one. Now that we are home we are hearing about people stealing lawn signs -- a big fuss is being made about it in some neighborhoods here. I can see why, they are charging for lawn signs at the Farmer's Market. In the past they were always free if you were willing to let them put one up. My Obama sign is in a front widow. Since our across the street neighbor has hers outside, I'm sure ours in is in no danger. Just a couple more weeks and all of this madness is over.

New Jersey -- The Garden State

I must get Alex to start taking pictures with my camera. You can't download 35mm pictures to a blog or my Plaxo site. He takes tons of pictures of everything -- our official family photographer.

The trip to New Jersey was wonderful and restful. We just did simple things -- sitting in Lesley and Tim's living room which looks like a display room at Ikea -- modern and minimalist (Tim) with Lesley's special touch that gives it just a hint of Architectural Digest. Spending an afternoon at a farm near Princeton -- that's Elliot on the tractor with Les and Tim (second from top) and his parents (bottom) where there happened to be an alpaca display for the day (obvious) -- they were soooo cute. Ian said he was taking one home to the UK. One day in Highland Park and Metuchen (more about that in another post) and an additional day back in Princeton. We were both tired and needed to relax, so no trips into Manhattan this time. The top picture is our hotel room which had a bit of a Walt Disney feel to the furniture.

I worked out twice at the Curves at Highland Park -- very exotic decor. Purple and lime green with lots of leopard print and bamboo and tropical stuff. Grace, who I presume is the owner, wears a tiara.

The trip home was uneventful, but long. Sad news, Sharon died peacefully about noon yesterday. I find myself angry at her for leaving me, and feeling a bit weepy today. Normal reactions to grief, I believe.

Home From New Joisey

We had a lovely visit with Lesley and Tim as well as their friends Ian and Sulima Mairs and son Eliott, who were on holiday from Manchester, England. More about the trip when I get some pictures downloaded. We arrived home last night after an uneventful flight. Nancy met us at the airport and we stopped for dinner at Tower Cafe.

I went to the "main" phone to check for the message light and ...... no phone in the cradle. Checked the annex phone on the end table by Alex's recliner and ..... no phone in the cradle. I found one under the drapes by the slider and Alex found the other under the couch. There were also books pushed off shelves and toys strewn all over the family room. An empty Kleenex box was by the door. Not unusual. The phones, however, are a new trick. We think they knocked them out of the cradles, grabbed them by the little antennas, and simply turned them into cat toys. Maybe they were trying to call to tell us they missed us -- or maybe just calling out for an anchovy pizza.

Everyone was glad to have us home (six days seems like forever when you are a cat). Beatrice kept us awake for a while purring and licking our noses. We would just about doze off and lllllick, purrr, nuzzle. I think every time we leave she assumes we have been adopted and are never coming back.

The weather turned coolish while we were gone and I am wearing long sleeves today. Guess it's about time to switch to fall/winter clothes. Today is laundry and grocery day, so it's a good time to start the change. I just don't put the tee shirts and things I wear during the summer back into my closet.

Back to my chores, neglected for over a week now. More about the trip tomorrow.