We Gon' Party Like it's Yo Birthday

On July 16th, I turned 55. Fifty-five?! Holy cow. I never thought I'd live this long. I'm glad I have and I hope to live for many more years, but I don't take it for granted.

I do love being this age. I know things will get tougher the older I get, but right now, I feel like I'm in the sweet spot. I'm still pretty good physically, except for my stupid migraines, my brain is working as well as it ever has, and I've done tons of work trying to fix my self-esteem, and my emotional maturity. I am in a healthy marriage to the love of my life, I'm not rich, but I can pay my bills and save a little money, my daughters are adults, so I'm not spending all of my time trying to raise them, I have a cute little house with a beautiful garden, a job I like just fine, and more cats than I can handle. I consider myself one lucky bit@h.

John had to take his mom to a doctor's appointment, so I started my day with some much cherished alone time reading books and drinking tea on my porch, and then putzing around in the garden. It was perfect.

After John got back from his mom's appointment, we went for a bike ride to Sutliff Bridge. We met our friend Burne along the way.

The weather was unseasonably nice. It was about 82 degrees with almost no humidity. That almost never happens in the middle of Summer in Iowa.

We headed to Big Grove in Solon after our ride to Sutliff Bridge. I had veggie chorizo and potato tacos and a MIllstream rootbeer for lunch. I was in heaven.

Just before we left, we were interviewed by some reporters about a bike trail that was recently finished. Then we rode home and relaxed a little before dinner.

Part of that relaxing included opening gifts. John got me some great things. He got me a new computer and saddle for my bikes, a puzzle where we're actually in the photo, some cold weather wool undershirts, some alien socks, an Atlas Obscura, and a t-shirt that says "The Book Was Better (it's how I feel about most things anyway). Oh, he also got me a boot brush for cleaning shoes off before you go into the house. It was a bit of a POINTED gift, since I come into the house with dirty feet more often than not. Poor John.

Coadster came over for dinner and we ordered the fried chicken dinner from Bluebird Diner. They only serve it on Thursdays and you have to pre-order it, but if you like fried chicken, you should definitely get it. It came with mashed potatoes and gravy and biscuits, and coleslaw and whipped butter.

Coadster also did a recreation of the Lion King with Gus playing baby Simba's part. He was adorable.

After we ate and Coadster went home, we walked a few blocks to Shakespeare's and sat outside and had a beer. It was the first time since 2014 that we were home on my birthday, and besides the pandemic, it was a lovely, lovely day.

Here's to next year's birthday being the one we were supposed to have this year. We were going to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico getting ready to ride bikes to Las Cruces. Everyone wear your masks and wash your hands, so that vacations can be a possibility for all of us soon.

He's a One Boy, Cuddly Toy, My Up My Down, My Pride and Joy

So, I thought I'd finally blog again. So much has happened - well, in Covid-19 terms, so much has happened. Mostly, we picked up our new kitten two weeks ago. He is so sweet. I've never had a cat this young before, so I had some reading to do to learn about what to do with such a little baby, and how to integrate him with our two older cats.

 We picked our new baby up on a Friday afternoon. He was a little skittish at first. Since we didn't want him to hang out with our cats until he could see the vet, we kept him upstairs in our dormer room. The first night he was up there, he wouldn't go anywhere where he was out in the open. He spent most of his time under the futon frame or in a little crate where we keep my old albums. He is very vocal, and he would meow as he ate. It was adorable.

The next day he came out in the open more often. He also learned to use the litter box. He was an outdoor kitten before he came to us, but he caught right on to the litter box. Whew!

On Monday we were able to take him to the vet where they checked him out, vaccinated him against distemper and feline leukemia, checked him for both diseases, fleas, ear mites, and worms. He was good on all fronts, except for worms, so he got sent home with some dewormer meds, and some Frontline, just in case he had some fleas that the vet wasn't able to see. The vet also told me what a good boy he was. He has no problem with anyone touching his paws or ears or belly. I already knew all of that, even after three days.

After we saw the vet, we were able to gradually start integrating him with our older cats. Our older cats were decidedly not amused.

At first they were jealous and mad at us. They punished us by ignoring us and not sticking their butts in our faces for a few days. We were duly chastened. 

We also needed to name our kitten. We kind of liked old guy names. John also thought we had too many cats names that ended in an EE sound. We thought about Emmett, Ned, Stan, Saul, Simon, and Orville (after our favorite road name - the Orville Yoder Turnpike). We tried Orville, but the lack of a hard consonant was a problem for me and John has always had truble with his R's. We talked about it, and finally came up with Gustavo Gustafson, or Gus Gus, or Gus, or Mucho Gusto when he is being way too much.

At first I wasn't sure if John wanted another orange boy cat, since we already had one who is a MIGHTY presence in our house, but Gus and John and have a very special bond. John ended up sleeping with him every night for the first week and a half, and now Gus is the president of John's fan club, and I think John just started Gus' fan club.

In the two weeks we've had him, Gus has already grown so much, and he learns everything so quickly. We know from Archie, smart cats aren't always a good idea... Just kidding! I love smart cats.

Speaking of Archie...He is no longer jealous of Gus. His feelings about the kitten now are mostly just annoyance. Gus loves Archie and won't leave him alone.

Archie is forced to find places that Gus can't get to...yet. He is now often parked in the kitchen window with his back to the kitten.

Being annoying can be really tiring for our little guy too.

Gus is now full time downstairs and he is more and more comfortable in his new home. The bigger cats are also getting more and more comfortable with him.

Yesterday I couldn't find Gus. I called to him, got his food out, and still he didn't show up. I went outside and saw that the door to the screened in porch was unlatched. So, I frantically wandered around our yard yelling for Gus. I was so afraid he got out.

I noticed Archie going from window to window watching me outside, and then he started meowing. I went inside, and Archie was sitting right inside the door next to Gus. Archie was so sweet to bring Gus to me, but of course, once I was inside and Archie remembered how close Gus was to him, he started hissing at him. Silly cats.

And so, at least one good thing has come out of this Covid crisis. We were able to get our new kitten, while I'm still working from home. The bigger cats may not agree, but both John and I feel like he is a wonderful addition to our weird, messy, chaotic, family.

She'll Just Tell You That She Came in the Year of the Cat

This Emu has the same facial expression that I do lately.

So, wait. Do I have a blog? I thought I did, but then I haven't been here for a while, so who the hell knows.

Anyhoooooo. I am still  here, treading water like everyone else right now.  I haven't been writing, or even reading that much, which id weird for me, but I've been doing so many other things, I haven't had the time to relax and sit long enough, to read and write. As always, I will try to be better about that in the future.

I am VERY lucky that both John and I are working full time, and so far, we haven't been furloughed or been given pay cuts or haven't had to take unpaid time off. We're hoping that stays with the big number of cases there are in Iowa right now.

Even though we seem to live in a shit hole country right now as far as politics are concerned, I am hopeful more people will get out and vote this year, and we can turn things around and protect civil rights, the environment, and democracy in general.

The big news in our house right now, is that we are going to pick up our new kitten tomorrow! Both of our other cats are getting older, and we're worried that if one of them dies, the other will be pretty damn lonely, and we don't want that. Soooo, we are adding another little orange boy into our weird and chaotic family. We don't have a name for him yet. We want to meet him in person first to see who he is.

My friend, Julie lives in Newton and she is the best of the crazy cat ladies, and kitties seem to just know that about her, so the strays show up at her property, and she takes care of them and gets them to the vet, and our kitten's mom showed up pregnant. Soooo, John and I are both getting off work early to pick him up tomorrow, and then we'll start our week long birthday vacation at home. Yea!