Friday, August 31, 2007

Friday, August, 31, 2007

What a clusterfuck yesterday was.  Everyone's planes were all messed up, and my dad missed his connection, thereby spending the night in Atlanta since it was the last one of the night.  I felt completely guilty that I wasn't able to persuade them to hold our plane another 15 minutes for him.  It was all touch & go for about 90 minutes.  They said he would make it, then not, then he would, etc.  His plane got diverted to Knoxville since Atlanta had to close for storms, and they started running out of gas whilst circling.  I suppose the good news is that they noticed they were low on fuel before they crashed.   Apparently the VP of the US flew in to Jackson, Wyoming last night, and the airport was completely locked down.  That's why they wouldn't let us come in too late since a curfew was in effect.

It's wonderful seeing everyone!  A bunch of us decided to go to the Grand Tetons to hike.  This worked out well as I was able to spend some time chatting with a few people here & there along the trail as we got strung along.  We would catch up with each other at moose sightings.  And then there was the Great River Crossing.  One of my brothers decided to cross it on a fallen log 15 feet above the white water & slippery rocks.  That prompted Galahad to cross the slippery rocks and then rock climb up the other side.  Which prompted my next brother to cross on the fallen log, too.  My 9 year old niece was begging her mom to do that, too, but alas, she had to cross on the lower log downstream in the calm section.  Of course at some point, it started to lightly rain. 

This led my 15 year old nephew to ask me which way he should cross it.  Since it was a "TestFest" as my sister so aptly called it, I took his request seriously and told him that the bigger challenge was to cross the slippery rocks and rock-climb up the other side.  He's very big into martial arts, so I thought following his martial-arts-uncle's path was apropos also.  Galahad was very good about coaching him across, telling him where to place his feet, and what to hold onto.  It was somewhat amusing to see other tourists gathering around on the other side (the trail eventually winds that way) asking if this was a rescue mission.  He did make it successfully with no serious injuries, just some wet feet and blisters.

At the top of the mountain, I couldn't take it anymore and called my neighbor to see how Kitten was.  ;)  She said she was fine but lonely.  :(
 

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Thursday, August 30, 2007

We left today to go to my family reunion, of which I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I'm excited to see everyone; on the other hand, my family doesn't always do well when we're all together.  There are one or two instigators, and then eventually most of us fall back into childhood dysfunctional behavior, which I detest (especially when I do it).  :(

Plus, I'm going to miss Kitten like crazy!!! :((((

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Galahad and I had such a great time at the beach today.  There were all kinds of rip currents and waves crashing.  After our morning workout, we went frolicking in the waves.  I was in about 20 seconds before I came out to put my surf shorts back on over my bikini.  After I lost my hair tie, I decided a t-shirt was in order as well.  Those waves were ripping clothes off with a vengeance.  I was holding on to Galahad's hand for dear life at times.  The times that I didn't I got sent back to shore ass over elbows.  Mostly, we were all laughing so hard that we were ingesting copious amounts of seawater.  Two of our friends saw a small shark go by, but I was still eating so I missed it.  Probably for the best.  ;)

When I got home and showered, I was pulling chunks of seaweed out of my hair.  It was almost the exact same color and blended in nicely.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Monday, August 13, 2007

I learned an interesting fact yesterday whilst helping our friends move.  They're both very pro-environment and work outdoors with native plants.  Anyway, I was lamenting about ants infesting Kitten's food this weekend.  She told me that if we had red ants in our house, that was a good sign as it meant that we didn't have termites.  Apparently red ants tear up termite nests.  Good to know!  Now, we just have to deal with the ant problem.  For now, Kitten's food is sitting in a moat.  :p  And I have 3 bites on one finger.  I don't blame them as I was drowning hordes of them.  :(

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Today we did our usual Sunday morning beach workout & subsequent picnic.  Then we had just enough time to get home, shower, grab a snack, cool off for 30 minutes, and it was off to help some dojo friends move.  They're great people who recently got married and are consolidating households.  So even though it was brutally hot in the middle of a south Florida August afternoon, we went to help them move without complaint.  That turned into a 5 hour chore, but I made sure to put myself on food detail, so I got fish tacos out of the deal.  ;) 

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Saturday, August 11, 2007

We tried to pressure-wash our roof again this weekend.  Last weekend, the pressure washer wouldn't start.  So I called my brother (who moved to Arizona, the fkr), and had him on speaker phone to figure out the engine.  He determined last weekend that the engine had flooded (after much troubleshooting), so he said let it sit for a bit and to call him before we tried starting it again.  So we called him, woke him up (sorry!), and he got it started.  He's a genius with engines.

Seven hours later, Galahad the perfectionist finished the roof.  =)  At that point, he was too exhausted to go out as we had planned, thankfully as I was beat, too.  I was on ground detail.  I had to throw bottles of water up to him periodically, check the fuel level, and move the 200 pound machine around so the hose would reach various spots on the roof.  Obviously my job wasn't as tricky, but it still wore me out.  Plus I got filthy.  :p

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Well, the collar didn't last long, exactly 2 weeks.  Kitten came home today without it.  Aren't I curious what happened??

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

After much deliberation & vacillation, I finally decided to get Kitten her rabies booster shot, even though I was mostly sure it was unnecessary (except for legal compliance).  She fought me getting into her carrier, yowled on the way there, and then sat patiently with me for 30 minutes while we waited to see the Doc.  He pulled her out roughly after I warned him that she wasn't pleased to be shoved in the carrier (which is what I finally had to do).  She yowled and hissed at him.  He weighed her, injected her, and shoved her back in within 90 seconds.  And, I was done since I had insisted that she would be getting no other booster shots.  What a racket.

Once we got home, she bolted out of her carrier, and then proceeded to come back and play in it for the next half hour.  :p  Fortunately, she was fine all night.  No reactions, no symptoms, which leads me to believe even more strongly how unnecessary this shot was.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Wow, Kitten is a machine.  Two baby iguanas in quick succession this morning while we were all outside cleaning our roof.