Idol, Year 20: "Cat-tales"

Cat-tales
Idol Year 20 | week 1 | 1700 words
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We all love our pets for their better qualities, but sometimes it's their individual weirdnesses that make them special.

We got Thor as a kitten in our first year together. He was a Holstein-patterned "pirate" cat, an altogether sweet and easy-going guy. He liked being carried on his back like a baby, and had a tendency to go face-first in the carpet thanks to falling asleep in bread loaf position. He was on the small side, but that doesn't explain why it sounded like his vocal chords never grew with the rest of him. He had a tiny purr, and his main noise was, "Weet?" I often mistook him for a bird when he spoke while I was outside!


Thor


Tigger was a medium-haired brown tabby, brought home after I discovered her living in a tree near the end of a road a mile down from my office. She'd clearly had a home before, and wanted to belong to someone again. We worried about how Thor would get along with her, but the two of them became besties. He taught her the rules of the house, including waiting by the water dish when it needed refilling, and sitting by the door to the garage to be let out to use the litter box. And above all, never speak! This was fortunate, because Tigger's meow sounded like a rusty gate hinge. :O ( Read more... )

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Back from Vacation!

We got back from Hawaii last Monday, but there's all the unpacking and getting resettled, and then work started up again, so...

We had a great time, and like always, it was over too soon. I spent a LOT of time at the lagoon, reading and occasionally snorkeling, which was wonderful. My limitations were the tide, available shade, and guilt. That last was because HalfshellHusband unfortunately spent a lot of his time alternating between the balcony (with views of the dolphins, the lagoon, and the ocean), the bed, and the comfy room chair. His back tensed up the third night we were there, and didn't want to let go. We still don't know why, and there's no real treatment for it other than rest and the TENs unit we brought. Those things helped a little, but the problem pretty much lasted through the rest of vacation. :(

The dolphins are always fun to watch, especially when the trainers are teaching them. The incoming tide was really impressive on the Wednesday we were there, with tall, powerful swells all day long. HSH also got a close-up view of someone climbing to the top of a palm tree near our room that had about 20+ large coconuts, in order to hack them off with a machete. We'd noticed the coconuts the day before, and that they were hazardous (mostly to the dolphins). I can't imagine going up one of those trees. They get skinnier and skinnier near the top, and that one was somewhere between 50 and 60 feet tall. Yikes!

I'm not a big drinker, but I enjoyed Happy Hour at several different restaurants. More the concept than the result. I tried a lilikoi margarita at Foster's Kitchen, but it was ruined by salt being added into the mix. I tried the same thing twice at A-Bay, but couldn't really taste the lilikoi-- mostly just slightly bitter alcohol. The strawberry margarita I had a couple of times at another restaurant was great, and I enjoyed the "Tahitian limonade" at Copper Bar. If only I liked Mai Tais! But no.

I wish I could say we ate a lot of good food, but not really. Some great lava cake, and I had steak 3 times. The rest was mostly fish for the protein (because of the GLP-1). I don't particularly like fish, so... it was more out of duty. :O

I'm not sure if the volcano was ever active while we were there? I decided not to try, because of the warnings about the effect on the air (HSH has congestive heart failure, and that affects his breathing) and because with HSH's back and cane, getting in a good viewing area seemed unlikely and possibly risky. So, we are 0-3 on the volcano.

Ten days seems like forever when you start, and then it's over before you know it. But well worth it. It was really nice to get a chance to finally relax!