Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

Check this out. Aaron and I are having a time on this thing!!

My Silly New Gadget Charger/Holder

Rainy Day in the Maze at the Apple Orchard

The Hay Ride at the Orchard

The Orchard Apologizes!

Aaron Speed-Picking During the Rain

Joey Turns 5. Of course I’m sharing the picture of him opening up the present we got him! 😛

There was actually a good hour or two the first day we got to the B&B when it wasn’t raining

The first morning we were there, this is what we awoke to – the clouds rolling in over the mountain. Grey, but lovely!

Luckily, we located some candy while on the trip

Aaron explains the subtle relationships between the sugar people.

Aaron works at home. I wake up at 6am, leave the house by 7:45am, and have to start getting ready for bed at 9:30pm (I putter in the morning and at night. I can’t help myself. No meds are active at the ends of the day to get me focused.) We think that we are both very fun, but we’re dying to hang out with other people. That said, it’s a real struggle. We are new in town. I know several people, but so far, not much is working out socially. We see Steve and Linda and their two kids regularly, which is so saving us right now. We have invited one couple out so many times that to call any more would border on the ridiculous – they are two of my favorite people in the world, but alas, they are hermits. The peeps down the street are wonderful, but they have busy lives. It’s just really hard to meet people who are social and interested in hanging out at the times we’re able. Without free time and connections, it’s hard to forge friendships. It’s a puzzle, even for me. I’m typically able to make friends with a wall – I’m the pro. But not when I’m working so hard. These days, I’m lucky to get enough time to check my e-mail at all between 8 and 5. Such is life, I guess. Being a grownup is hard!

Sheesh, people! Yes, I’m alive. It’s just that I don’t like talking about going out of town on the old blog, since it’s a good way of saying, "Hi! My apartment is empty except for a coupla felines and the occasional petsitter!" What we were trying to do was peep at leaves (fall foliage, that is). Unfortunately, much like the apple picking adventure of last weekend, it was another rain-soaked adventure. No nature drives. No hiking in the woods. Luckily, the B&B in New Hampshire was lovely. We read by the fire, played board games, and did our damndest to relax. We did an OK job, too.

Not much going on with us now that we’re back, except we napped much of the afternoon, and we have to get moving on all these apples before they are no longer usable. Luckily, I picked up this cookbook at our stop at Cracker Barrel on the way up (yes, they actually have a few of those up here!):

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Update: They weren’t kidding about MacIntoshes being mushy when you cook them. I made some crumble last night, and BLECH! The applesauce I made afterwards was lovely though.

Kitty died last night. Kitty joined my family in the late 80’s, when my best friend Lesley’s boyfriend Peter got busted for having a kitten in the Emory dorm. She was a strange one for sure. Real annoying lots of the time, brutally affectionate, hostile, cranky, but my mom and I always loved her so much. We knew she’s probably been harrassed by all the stupid college freshmen, and so we forgave her licking our head in the night while we tried to sleep. We forgave the foul moods. In her own way, she was a sweetie. Her health had recently deteriorated, and she was in a lot of pain. Mom said that Winnie has kept vigil the last few days. It’s really sad. She will certainly be missed.

Regards to my kitties today. I think they must have known I had a kitty loss, because they were both being very sweet, especially Maggie. I actually got some good purry lap time.

I’m not sure what I think of the gravestone my Dad has made, but I have to agree with the idea that Kitty was most certainly not a Christian. In fact, she stayed "Kitty" because the only other name that was hanging on was "Satan." My parents figured her for a Wiccan, so she got a pentacle, not a cross like sweet Henry. Personally, I voted for the Ankh with kitty ears on the top. Link to Dad’s post and a picture of the very odd grave marker.

Rest in peace, Kitty.

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Addendum: I want to include what my mom wrote about Kitty. It’s from the comments section on my Dad’s blog. Mom’s more of a comments section writer, less of a headline act, but this time, I want to use her words, because she was closest to Kitty:

Thanks to everyone for your condolences. Kitty was a strange cat – so much so that we could never agree on an appropriate name for her, and finally resorted to naming her what we had been calling her for a year. She was very passionate about everything. She loved passionately, purred loudly, attacked visciously. The veterinarians who treated her both had warnings on her chart. In Atlanta, there was a big red circle that said, “Will bite.” Here in Jasper, there was a note that said, “Do not treat without anesthetizing first.” I refused to have her anesthetized, feeling that would kill her in and of itself. But she also would snuggle up with me and try desperately to nurse on my thumb or my arm while purring with ferocity. She would walk on my head at night and lick my forehead, waking me. Whatever she did, she did it big. But in dying, she went softly. She was weak and allowed me to minister to her without complaint. When we found her body this morning, she had crawled under the bed to die alone, as cats do. She looked very peaceful, as if she were just taking a nap. She was never the elegant cat that Winnie is, but she died with great dignity. I only hope I can do it as well when my time comes.