Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Batteries, batteries, batteries!

Why does it seem that every battery my dad needs has gone dead while I've been here????

Car battery: Dead, so we got a new battery. Charged up and 2 days later, dead again. Took to the shop, where they found a rodents nest and patched a bunch of bare wires. 2 days later, dead again. Took battery back to Sears, they tested it and said it was good. Now charging again so I can drive back to the shop and leave it. Lucky my dad has my car to drive meanwhile. Still, I hate to leave him with his car (much nicer than mine) undriveable, and he is stressed out about it.

Cart battery: The electric cart he uses to get around inside was losing it's charge by the end of the day. Took it in to get new batteries and they found issues with the charger, too. Should get it back this afternoon.

LifeAlert battery: The panic-button thing that I bought him a couple of years ago needs new batteries. Debating whether to pay $20 for 2 little batteries from the company, or get much cheaper ones with the same specs. Probably doesn't matter too much because he never wears it anyway.....

And then there's Big Red, still in the shop with seized-up brakes, so he can't get around outside at all, to take out the trash, check the propane level, etc.

I really should probably move back here for awhile. If I knew it would be just a year or so, I'd do it in a heartbeat. But I certainly don't want to sell my place on Whidbey, and I'd certainly want to spend at least part of the year there. And if I moved back here, I would need my own place; I don't think I'd be happy living fulltime with my dad. Sigh. Hard, hard decisions to be made.

I think I could spend, say, January-March in Michigan, April-May on Whidbey, June in Mich, July-Sept on Whidbey, Oct in Mich, Nove-Dec on Whidbey. That's only one more trip than I'm making now, and I would be here during the winter months when I worry the most about my dad. I wonder if I could find a furnished rental? Or maybe just fix up the basement as my own apartment? Comments on any of this would be sincerely appreciated!

While I was out at the cart battery place I tried out some of those ultra-comfortable chairs with the lift option which helps you get up out of them. Took a brochure home for dad, and I though he'd say no, but he gave me the OK to get one. Yay!

Heading home tomorrow!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Gold, gold, and more gold

The sun came out today and I traipsed about 7 miles through the woods and grasslands of Chippewa Nature Center. Although the maples are now past their prime, the forest floor is a patchwork of golds, browns, and reds, and the oaks and beeches are nearing their peak color.
Beech leaves

Mystery berries

Golden pathway

More gold

And yet more gold

wow

Even the grass is beautiful!

Oaks have finally turned

OK, one more golden pathway



I am so happy to be able to spend this time of year here in Michigan. Where I live in Washington is stunningly beautiful, of course, any time of the year, but it's a beauty that just shouts at you continuously: Look here! Ocean! Look there! Mountains!  Here, it's so much more discreet and understated. It forces me to be meditative, reflective; it slows me down. I need that. 

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Golden

Everything has turned to gold here at Chippewa Pines. It's almost impossible to capture the beauty of being out in the woods amongst all that golden light, but here are some attempts. These are taken on my dad's property, on the route that I have now walked for almost 50 years.







The sunshine has not been very cooperative, but is supposed to show it's face tomorrow so I will be out bike riding.  For the first time EVER, I have visited here when the river is liquid,  without going paddling. It's been rainy and windy much of the time, and now the boat ramp next door is closed for the season, I've already put the canoe up in the barn for the season, and it's just too difficult to launch the kayak from our property anymore.

Earlier this week I had a nice visit with high school friend Donna over coffee, and a long breakfast visit, lasting until about lunch time, with cousin Pat. Pat is about 6 years older than me and when we were growing up, it seemed like she was in a different generation from me, but in the past few years we have become pretty good friends. She's one of the few liberals I know around here!

Monday, October 13, 2014

A 911 call, Fall Colors, and More Art

 I thought I’d program one of buttons on Dad's new phone for  911. However, I hit the wrong key and realized I had actually dialed 911, so I hung up. Within 15 seconds, I got a call back from 911 asking if everything was OK. They also confirmed that they had Dad’s correct name, address, and phone number (they did). I’m impressed. 

Yesterday I forged another 20 miles west on the Pere Marquette trail. I've now ridden the first 75 miles. It's hard to say how much further this trail goes, as the official website only shows it going 30 miles, to Clare. I don't know why so many rail trails have such poor information published!

My time here has gone quickly and I've got just over a week before heading home, and quite a few visits and chores to get in before then. 

Fall color along the Pere Marquette trail
 On the way to do this ride yesterday, I did some exploring to see if I could find the headwaters of the Chippewa River. Here it is, about 50 miles (MUCH further by river) upstream from Dad's house. Someday I'd like to paddle more of it than the last 20 or so (by road) miles, 13 of which I've done too many times to count.
Headwaters of the Chippewa River, about 50 miles upstream from Dad's house.
 I'm catching up on posting a few pictures from last week. Here is my dad at the High Banks Rollway near Buckley, Michigan. It was a bit of a a stretch for him to walk (with his walker) the 50 yards from the car but I think he enjoyed the view.
Dad at the High Banks Rollway near Buckley MI

This place is NOT easy to find but well worth visiting in the fall!
Fall color at the High Banks Rollway near Buckley MI

Here are a few catch-up pictures from my visit to Art Prize
I want to ride this rollercoaster. Someone has cleverly combined pictures of several different coasters.

30,000 crayons! Each panel was completed by a different Catholic community, and the scene is supposed to depict the story of Noah.
Close-up of crayon picture


Quilting inspiration for me this winter. I am a sucker for bright colors!


Why I did not spent much time in the Grand Rapids Art Museum. This is a pretty good depiction of how many people visit Art Prize. Luckily in most places they are more spread out!


This abstract painting fascinated me because I'd swear it's full of people, but when I look closely I cant' find them!~

Photo does not do justice to this amazing painting

Lovely mosaic in Grand Rapids.You can't tell from the picture but it's 3D, with the nose sticking out.






Saturday, October 11, 2014

First Frost, Phones, and Kids in Trouble

We had our first frost of the year here at Chippewa Pines last night, and it was a heavy one, with grass all white this morning. So Dad and I spent the morning doing getting-ready-for-winter chores: Bring in the hummingbird and oriole feeders, put the canoe up in the barn, move the weed whacker out to the barn and the snowblower up to the garage. I'm hoping the guy who installed Dad's new generator gets back out here before I leave, as it's already not working, dang it.

Not only that, but Big Red, the three wheeler that Dad depends on to get around outside, is on the fritz with its brakes frozen up.Gotta get that guy out here too, and my gosh, I've only got 10 days left here! The time has gone fast.

Dad has two cordless phones that haven't worked in years because the batteries won't charge. I found out today it would cost more to replace the batteries than to just buy a new phone! I think I have convinced him to put the new phone within reach of the chair where he spends most of his time, instead of having to haul himself out of his chair, into his cart, and over to the kitchen phone, which is currently the only working phone in the house.

Yesterday Dad and I took a long drive to look at the fall color. It's about at it's peak a bit north and west of here now, and I'm sure last night's frost will move it along here.

We got home about dusk, and as we turned onto our road, we could just barely see three bicyclers ahead, in dark clothing with no lights, no helmets. We passed them and then stopped to get the mail, and I waited while they rode up: Two 12 or 13 year old girls and a maybe 9 year old boy. I asked them how far they had to go, and they said quite a ways. Turns out they were almost 8 miles from home! I told them to come on up to the house and I would drive them home after I dropped off Dad. But how haul them and their three bikes? I could get the bikes in the back of my car but then no room for them. 40-year-old Jeep pickup to the rescue! It started, somewhat begrudgingly, we threw the bikes in the back and the four of us crowded into the front, and off we went, hoping not to pass any police cars.

Their story: Parents were away for the day, due home pretty soon. Kids had decided to ride bikes to visit Grandma. How could Grandma have let them go riding back into the dusk? Kids seemed really nice, happy, well cared for, etc, but still I lay awake worrying about them and wonder if I should have stayed with them until their parents came home. But didn't really want to get the kids in trouble either; I'm sure they will think hard before doing this again.  I hope I did the right thing.

Watched Faux News this morning arguing with itself over whether the security on the new Iphone is a good thing or a bad thing. It's interesting to me which side they will come down on: paranoia about the "bad guys" being able to keep secrets from the government, or paranoia about the government being given more power to spy on us. As good capitalists they can hardly be against Apple satisfying their customers, can they?  And yes, I know just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

The Greatest Thing I've Seen In My Life, or Any Other Time

OK, that may be stretching it a bit, but it will take me a while to wind down from this! Just got back from a huge big band swing dance (alas, I was only an onlooker). A 20 piece big band, great vocalists, great swing and jazz, and 200+ people dancing in the street: This is GROSS, the Grand Rapids Original Swing Society,officially (per Guinness), the largest swing dance group in the world. It's all ages, and they dance every Tuesday night. This is their last outdoor dance of the year but they continue indoors next week. Tonight it was almost all kids, I would guess high school and college ages, although there were a few oldsters mixed in. Barefoot girls, girls in high heels. Both sexes in t-shirts, jeans, plaid flannel. And everyone having a great time. It was just delightful to see.

The band was Hark Up Horns, and I do love me some horns!. I will definitely look for their schedule when I'm in Michigan.

Check out

http://www.grandrapidsoriginalswingsociety.com/

Art, art, art

I am in Grand Rapids MI, resting up after four hours of wandering the streets looking at Art Prize art. Here are some of my favorites so far:
NOT a photo. This is an oil painting. Quite a few photorealistic paintings, but this is my favorite so far.

The Bat Bike

Infinity Box. There were a bunch of these mirror-filled boxes to peek into. The box itself is only about a 2 foot cube. My favorite of the 3-d art so far. See my reflections?

Another Infinity Box

Plenty of outdoor installations too

Pyrography (wood burning), amazing detail

There are just crowds and crowds of people here. And lots of kids: every grade school in the tri-state area must take a field trip here. After four hours I was exhausted and even a latte did supply much additional energy. I'm trying to muster the energy to walk the half mile to the Founders Brewery taproom for dinner. Founders Dirty Bastard ale is my very favorite beer. I can't miss visiting it's home!

I am staying tonight in the middle of downtown at the CityFlatsHotel. It's pretty pricey but you can't beat the location. I've never seen a hotel decorated (or not) like this before; I would call it minimalist mid-century modern. No colors in this room except for various shades of taupe, grey, tan, black and white. Lots of hard edges, cork floor, stainless steel. Chair and lamp designs straight from the early 60's.  LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. An interesting place. 

Oh wait, one of the lampshades is olive green.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

Birthday at the Farm

Yesterday Dad and I drove up to Standish to celebrate Uncle Louie's 82nd birthday. Louie is my dad's little brother and my one remaining uncle. Some of the cousins finally went through the necessary paperwork to get the Centennial Farm designation. It was Albert and Mary who built the farm. No one in the family knows anything about Albert's parents, although there is a rumor he may have run a house of ill repute in a neighboring town.

When we got out to my dad's car to start up there yesterday, the battery was dead. After leaving it overnight on the charger, it's still dead, so I am in town to buy a new one today.Glad this happened while I"m here to help.

It was the usual entertaining chaos up at the farm, with kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids all wandering through. Cousin Doug gave me two huge Kossak kohlrabi out of his garden... 3 or 4 pounds each. He's got every flavor of basil imaginable in his garden: pineapple, cinnamon, lime; I did not know these things existed.  I also scored a handful of fresh tomatillos and one of the last cukes of  the season.

On the way home made our usual stop to buy jerky and smoked whitefish, and we had a fine dinner of smoked fish and kohlrabi while watching Marty Stewart. 

Tuesday will find me driving down to  Grand Rapids where I will spend a couple of days wandering through Art Prize: 1537 entries at 174 locations around the city. Likely I won't make it to all of them. Check it out at http://www.artprize.org/ 

I'm hoping the weather improves as I'd also like to explore some bike trails in Grand Rapids.  It's been 45-50 with sporadic rain for the past couple of days, and we got a full 2 inches dumped on us one night, complete with a  little bit of thunder and lightning.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Coffee Time Musings

Another fabulous indian summer day, and I have ridden into town to spend some time at my favorite coffee shop, Cafe Milano. I'm the only one in here right now.

I dropped my old Subaru off at the car mechanic this morning, hoping they can tell me why the check engine light is on and it's having trouble accelerating, stuttering a bit. The check engine light has been on for quite a while but now it's actually flashing at me so maybe it's serious.

I while back I bought one of those electronic picture contraptions that will show an ongoing slide show, thinking my dad might enjoy seeing old pictures. I loaded it up with all of the old Whittington and Hagley pictures I could find. Still I was a bit worried that he would reject it, being one of those new-fangled things that he doesn't understand. But all he has to do is plug it in, and.... he loves it! He comments over and over about some of the old pictures.... mom and him on their first date, on their honeymoon, his dogs Rascal and Skipper, Fuddy Cat, Buckshot ("my" horse that he took care of). It has sparked a few stories I hadn't heard before. I am so glad I got this for him!

I did a 32 mile bike ride on Saturday and then was so tired the next day I spent it watching TV with my dad, which I know he appreciates. Jaws 2, Jaws 3, Hee-Haw. Lawrence Welk. Marty Stuart. The Porter Waggoner show.

It's hard to believe, but a restaurant that has been here nearly all my life has gone out of business. I will always think of it as "Tony's" but it's been through several name changes and in recent years I think it was The Texan. I have so many fond memories of going there with my mom; we'd always find some excuse to go there when we went to town, and we always saw someone we knew. And in more recent years, it was the place my dad and I went for breakfast. A year or so ago I talked to a waitress who said she'd worked there for more than 30 years. Sad to see it go.

Here are a few pictures from the bike ride
Dow Chemical Founders Garden, with Dow in the background

Pretty purple flowers by the downtown boat launch.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Michigan Again

Back in Michigan again for a month. Fabulous early fall weather, 70's and sunshine, with a little bit of color showing up in the trees already.

This morning I took my dad into town for his coumadin check (OK, although he is having a lot of bruising on his arms) and lunch at BK. Then back home to inventory the cooking supplies and plan some meals, now at the coffee shop prior to heading to the grocery store. I ordered a small Milano's Addiction (10 oz latte with 2 shots) but he gave me a large instead (16 oz with omg FOUR shots) and of course I have to drink all of it. I may be up late tonight.

Dad seems about the same although he says he is he is having more trouble getting around. I suppose I will have to have the assisted living talk with him pretty soon. But his mind is still good and he can still take care of himself and his cats.

Which he now has four of, one of them a kitten who was born feral, and who's mom has now disappeared. "Buffy" is very fuzzy, probably going to have long-ish hair. It's hard to say how tame he/she (don't know yet) will become but at least he will come in the same room with us to eat, although if I make any move or sound at all he will run. But that's pretty much the way Tiger used to be, and he now will let me pet him as long as I don't make any sudden moves. The eldest, Snoopy, is 15 and has apparently stopped grooming himself since I was here last, so I don't expect him to be around too many more years.

I got the new customized stem for my Bike Friday, which will make it much more comfortable. The color really doesn't match... lemon yellow stem with more of a gold for the rest of the bike.... but I don't care enough about it to complain. One of these years I'm going to send the whole bike in for repainting anyway.

I was wondering how I would get from Flint to Midland for my trip here, and had sent out a plea to just about the only 4 people I know here anymore (2 cousins, my old HS math teacher, and a HS friend), asking if they would consider picking me up. And every one of them said yes, bless their hearts, although there were a couple of schedule conflicts. Then I found out I could rent a car one way for less than $40, which is about what it would cost in gas for a round trip to Flint anyway, so that's what I did. Took it back to the local airport the next day and cousin Pat met me there and took me back to dad's house.  Cannot seem to find a deal like that for the way home but my high school friend Donna said she would be happy to drive me back. Nice people, gives me a nice warm feeling.


Friday, June 27, 2014

SO Glad to be HOME!

My flight was about 45 minutes late getting in last night, highly unusual for Southwest, and I was afraid I'd miss my connection to the Whidbey-Seatac shuttle, as that would give me only about 30 minutes to collect my bags and get to the shuttle. But as usual, my bags came down the chute within about five minutes of my arrival at the baggage claim and I got there with time to spare. Another reason I try to always fly Southwest.

Bright and early (well, 9-ish anyway) this morning Gerry and I were in the car heading back to Seatac to pick up Tom from the Seattle Airpet Hotel. This place turns out to be a tiny, fairly shabby looking, very smelly little place tucked into the side of an industrial-looking building just down the road from the airport. Probably not a place I would choose to board my pet, but the guy (the only apparent employee) was very friendly and said he had much enjoyed petting and playing with Tom.

I am so glad Gerry wanted to ride down with me, as that enabled us to use the carpool lane and bypass the perpetually backed-up traffic through downtown, and we made the whole round trip, door-to-door, in about 3 1/2 hours, including ferry and a stop at the store to get cat food and litter. When we got back to the ferry, some tourist bozo coming from the other direction had the nerve to do a u-turn and cut into the line just a couple of cars in front of us, not just impolite but illegal. We were the very last vehicle onto the ferry, and that only because somebody must've ratted the guy out, as the ferry-worker stopped him and let us go ahead of him. (Hmmm, why do I assume it was a "him"?)

Tom has spent several hours exploring every possible nook and cranny of the house, proved that he knew how to use the litterbox, made amazing leaps into the air in pursuit of his new cat toy, climbed up and down his new cat tree a few times, laid down for about five minutes, and now is back playing with his toys again. I hope he wears himself out before bedtime.

Summer has arrived: The tomato plants I set out just before I left are blooming, and one of them is almost 5 feet tall, I kid you not. Chard is ready to be harvested, arugula has already bolted, irritating horsetail has once again covered my hillside, lobelia is in full bloom (and the deer haven't eaten it!), yard will need to be weed-whacked before I can even use the mower on it.

It's so, so good to be home!

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Cat Shipping, Homeward Bound!

Yesterday before sunrise I was in the car driving Thomas Evelyn Cat to the airport. Delta Air Cargo said he needed to be there a full 2 1/2 hours before his 8:20am flight. The airport here is tiny, 2 or 3 gates at most, and as I expected, when I got there a little before 6am there was not a soul in sight. After yo-hooing for a few minutes, I finally roused a somewhat irritated-looking woman from the back.  She proceeded to take me through a maze of paperwork and requirements, among which were:
1. I had brought a COPY of  Tom's medical certificate, and they were supposed to have the ORIGINAL. She reluctantly agreed to accept the copy, she hoped it wouldn't get "rejected".
2. The plastic nuts on the (metal) bolts holding the carrier together were officially unacceptable;  everything was supposed to be metal. I had read this on their website but couldn't find any carriers that came that way. Nevertheless I had come prepared, I thought, with replacement metal wingnuts in case they actually enforced this. However, two-thirds of them (all out of the same bin at Ace Hardware) did not fit the bolts. Again, she reluctantly agreed that they would probably be OK.
3. She had to go in the back somewhere to print out an hour-by-hour weather report of all the connecting airports, as the shipment was off if the temperature was predicted to be above 85F along the way. We squeaked by with 82 in Detroit. Believe me, this is not an issue in Seattle.
4. She couldn't process my credit card payment, some problem with computer passwords. She had to just write down my credit card number and process it later, but promised to call me (she did) and shred the evidence.

Stressful. I stopped for my morning latte on the way back to the house, then had breakfast, took a long nap, and spent most of the afternoon watching Gunsmoke and Bonanza with my dad. Promptly at 5pm,  I got a call from Delta Air Cargo in Seattle. Although I had filled out multiple pieces of paperwork stating that the Seattle Airpet Hotel would be the ones to pick up Tom, they were still confused as to whether it was them or me he would be going to.

Ah well, it all worked out and he is now safely ensconced at the Seattle Airpet Hotel, awaiting my rescue on Friday. I won't get home until about 11pm Thursday night (which will be, ugh, 2am Michigan time), and then will jump right up Friday morning and take the 1 1/2 hour trip back to Seatac to get him, hoping to get back to the island before the Friday afternoon ferry traffic backs up.... it's full on tourist season now and there will likely be a 2 hour line by late afternoon.

I always have such mixed feelings when it comes time to leave here, though. Last night I stayed up watching the fireflies and enjoying the feel of the soft, humid summer air here. And thinking about how lonely my dad must get; he's had all of 3 visitors in the month I've been here. I wish I could convince him to get out to the senior center and make some friends.

But I sure am looking forward to getting home!

Friday, June 20, 2014

More Canoeing, and The Dump

Yesterday cousin Pat brought her two grandaughters, Emily and Addy, out for a canoe ride. I have been trying for years to convince Pat to come canoeing with me. She apparently had a bad experience on a much rougher and wilder river, many years ago, but I finally convinced her that in order to get in trouble on our stretch of the Chippewa, you'd have to be passed out and land face down. I've tipped the canoe exactly once in 50 years, and that was when a 14-year-old friend and I were goofing off. The bigger problem here is dragging bottom, or hitting a rock in the shallows, and if that happens you just step out and pull for a few feet.

We took the shortest cruise option, which usually takes just an hour, although it went a bit long with 4 of us in the canoe, only me paddling, and a stiff headwind. At any rate, the girls and Pat all seemed to enjoy it, as did I.  The highlight of the trip for me: We saw a gawky baby great blue heron, about half-adult sized but still covered in yellow fluff.

When we got back to my dad's house, Pat and I had to drive back up the river to get her car, and the girls, who had never been to my dad's house before, wanted to stay behind and explore. By the time we got back, my dad was down by the river with the girls, pushing them on the old swing on the oak tree. Then he took them for a ride around the property on Big Red, his ancient Honda 3-wheeler. I don't know who will have better memories from this day, the girls, my dad, or me, seeing him enjoy himself this way. I hope they will come back out to visit him!

Our afternoon entertaiment was a trip to the dump. Dad really can't do this on his own anymore, so this was an eight month accumulation of cans, non-returnable bottles, newspaper and magazines, just enough to fill the pickup (1974 jeep, still runnning!) Then back to shovel out the ashes from the old burn barrel and haul them out to the field, and replace with a new burn barrel, in which today we're burning several years of accumulated trash from the garage, barn, and B-8.

Hmm, not sure I've ever written about B-8. This is a sizeable wooden building, probably 20' X 40', my dad bought from Dow Chemical many years ago for $40. It cost him something close to $700 to have it moved, but still... it's SOLID and just a beautiful building. Heavy old timbered floors, an attic, an old pot-bellied stove, workbench.  It's just classy. I wish I knew its history from Dow.

The dark side is that when he first bought it, the lead-based paint was peeling, and one of his cows ate enough of the paint to be mostly blinded before he got them away from it. I'm sure at some point that cow must've made it into our freezer.... ???  Oh well, can't be too much worse then the lead shot we used to come across in the wild game we ate.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Thousand Dollar Cat

OK, Thomas Evelyn Cat has been neutered, brought up-to-date on shots, micro-chipped, wormed, and given a clean bill of health. He is scheduled to be shipped via Delta air cargo next Monday, weather permitting,  to the Seattle Airpet Hotel. I fly out on Thursday, and will pick him up on Friday, after I go out and buy all the cat stuff that I got rid of a couple of months ago when I thought I would not have any more pets for the foreseeable future. That plus the vet bills, shipping, and boarding will make him pretty close to a thousand dollar cat. I keep repeating to myself, it's only money. It's only money.

And as long as I'm spending it, I bit the bullet and ordered my dad a new seat for his wheelchair. Not much luck trying to find a place to reupholster the existing one and get it back to him the same day. Too late for a father's day present, but he's got a birthday coming up in July.

Yesterday I took the 3 hour cruise down the river. I had left my kayak outside leaned up agains the garage, and when I turned it over, about a half dozen large garden spiders, those nasty big black and yellow things about 2 inches across, went running under the seat and into it's various hidden places. Ugh, it still makes me shiver to think about it. I blasted it with the hose and stomped on whatever came out. Then when I was about to load it onto the car, here came yet another one creeping out.  Right, this is the thing I'm going to lower myself defenselessly down into, to where I can barely move, and not see what's crawling on me? Gulp. Well, I did, and amazingly I guess I either got all of them, or they stayed well hidden.

And yesterday was a truly perfect day for a float down the river. 82, sunshine, no wind. Bathing suit weather, and I have the sunburnt shoulders to prove it. Followed by nap-in-the-hammock weather.

It seems to be full-on summer here now, clammy muggy hot, and I am longing to be back in the temperate northwest, where Leslie says it might get into the 70's this weekend.....

Friday, June 13, 2014

Stressing about Cat Shipping

I've  been stressing for the past several days about cat shipping. It's not simple.

 Theoretically, you can take a cat as carry-on baggage on Southwest, but the carrier has to be big enough for the cat to stand up and turn around in, yet it can't be more than 8.5 inches tall.....? And they only allow a maximum of 6 pets per flight, first come, first served, no reservations.???? So what do you do if you get to the airport and there have already been 6 pets ahead of yours????

So, cross that option off the list.

There are outfits that will drive your pet across the country for you, door to door. The only quote I got was $940. Enough of that.

You can check your pet as baggage, but nearly all the airlines now have a summer "embargo" on that due to heat issues.

Short of driving my car back to Seattle, the only remaining option is to ship via air cargo. Delta sounds like they have a good  program for that, and I talked to an actual human being who seemed to know what they were talking about and was very friendly about it. It costs pretty much the same as a seat on an airplane (so why can't I just buy another seat on the plan and strap him in????). I guess I'm committed, and resigned to that cost. BUT, if the weather forecast shows temperatures above 85 for any of the airports he's going through, they still won't take him that day. So, hope for cool weather for the next couple of weeks for the midwest.

Then there's the issue that I must ship him before I leave, which means he will get there before I do. I've found a kennel near Seatac who says they will pick him up and board him until I can get home, drive back to the airport, and rescue him.

When I lost my poor old Sabrina a couple of months ago I got rid of all my cat stuff, thinking "no more pets until I'm too old to travel much anymore". So much for that.

I still don't know for sure if he is litterbox trained. I've kept him in my bedroom overnight, and there's a litter box in there, but so far nothing has appeared in it, or anywhere else in the bedroom (that I've found anyway). And even if he is litter trained, he may find that he prefers to go on the Sabrina-scented carpeting in my livingroom. I hope not.

I just wish this was all over with. Now I have nothing to do but worry about it for two weeks. I'm sure it would've been simpler to get a cat in Seattle, but what can you do when a cat choses you, and you fall in love with it, and he is so cuddly,  and in addition your dad has mentioned taking it to the pound?????







Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that my severe back pain from a couple of weeks ago is gone, and I apparently will not need back and/or hip surgery any time soon. The bad news is that the pain, which was followed by a rash, and now itchy little pimples on my left torso, front and rear, is: Shingles! So far it's just irritating, sorta like a bad sunburn with a bit of poison ivy thrown in,  and I'm actually relieved to know it's not a serious back problem. I was able to get in and out of the local walk-in clinic very quickly this morning. The doctor said the drug treatment window is only within the first 48 hours, and there's not much to do but keep it covered as it is definitely contagious. And of course, get a shingles vaccination when I'm insurance-eligible (next January), which he said would make future recurrences (and somewhat ominously he said "when", not "if" they occur) less severe. I have never been sure whether I actually had chicken pox as a child. Now I know.

I have decided that Tom E. Cat has definitely adopted me as his person and will  be coming home with me. He is scheduled to be dis-balled, have necessary shots, and get his travelling papers next Monday. I've bought an airline approved container for him. Still investigating the actual airline arrangements, but I think I will ship him on Delta, which offers nonstop flights from the local airport to Seattle, so that he won't have to endure the 15+ hour trip that I will do on Southwest. I don't imagine it will make much difference to him whose cargo hold he is in. I don't know what I will do about the Sabrina-pee-smelling carpet at my house, but I don't feel right about leaving Tom here so we'll have to work something out.

Biking friend Rebecca was here for a couple of days, and got the standard tour of town: bike trail, Tridge, courthouse, Chippewa nature center, canoe ride, venison dinner fixed by my dad. This morning she headed off for Stratford, Ontario where she has tickets for several plays (it's a big months-long festival every year there). Unfortunately, she had forgotten her passport, so had to have it overnight Fed-exed to Port Huron, just this side of the border, where she hoped to pick it up at 10:30 this morning and still make it to a 2pm performance in Stratford this afternoon. I hope it all went as planned.

Last Thursday the 5 of us in New Buffalo did a beautiful 67 mile ride around the back roads there, pictures below. We stopped for lunch at Fernwood, a very interesting place with flower gardens, unique sculptures, and a fantastic outdoor model railroad display.

Friday I drove back to my dad's house, taking a detour to visit an old friend I hadn't seen in 15 years. Sadly, her husband had a stroke last year and is not doing well, but she, at 82, is still going strong. It was great to see her and I promised not to let another fifteen years go by.

It was a long drive and I was so exhausted I spent about half of Saturday napping in the hammock by the river. Hard to imagine a more pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
Yet another center of the world

Mini farm

Interesting sculpture at Fernwood

Happy bikers at Fernwood


Wednesday, June 4, 2014

New Buffalo

I am in New Buffalo Mich for the week, staying in a house with some of my biking friends from the Underground Railroad and norther tier bike rides, two from Nebraska, one from New York, and one from Ohio. This house is truly huge: we each have our own bedroom and bathroom, there's a big screened-in porch, kitchen, two patios with grill and firepit, at least three indoor fireplaces, large living rooms both upstairs and down, I don't know how many big screen tvs (none of which we've turned on). The shower in my bathroom has 10, count 'em, 10 nozzles: a "normal" one and 4 variously pointing waist-level ones on each side. It's like a stand-up hot tub / steam room, quite wonderful. There's another one of these shower in another bathroom, and two of the bathrooms have 2-person jacuzzi tubs.

I've finally gotten rained on. We started out for a bike ride this morning but only made it about a half mile before Lynn and I decided we'd had enough. I brought a raincoat but that's all-- no long pants, no full gloves, no shoe covers, no helmet cover. That added to the fact that I'm riding in sandals just seemed to make for a bit more damp and chilly than I would enjoy. Christine, Debbie, and Rebecca, intrepid souls that they are, rode on while Lynn and I retired to the local espresso shop.

And why, you might ask, am I riding in sandals? Because I forgot my dang bike shoes! Luckily Rebecca brought an extra bike with non-clipless pedals (It seems like that should make them clipped pedals, doesn't it? ) I had to go begging for help at the local auto parts store, where they kindly loaned me one of their wrenches and he-men to remove the pedals so I could put them on my bike.

So, yesterday we had a beautiful 37 mile ride in sunshine, and tomorrow promises more of the same. We visited Warren Dunes State Park, had a gourmet lunch in downtown Sawyer, and then toured the bicycle museum in Three Oaks, where we found the mother lode of bike route information for Michigan.

We spent some time talking to the museum proprietor, Who started the museum and the Three Oaks Spokes bike club in 1974 . They currently have about 60 members, and their own clubhouse attached to the museum. the club puts on a ride called the Apple Cider Century every September, limited to 6000 people. In their clubhouse they have an impressive display of Apple Cider Century tshirts going back to at least 1982.

A shady road

 

Haunted house

 

Rebecca looks through a giant kaleidoscope in Three Oaks MI

 

this old building was originally the Warren Featherbone Company, purveyors of fine corset stays

 

A different design for a tandem bike

 

Monster cruiser

 

Dinosaurs

 

Interesting house behind the dinosaurs

 

Dino closure up

 

Dino tarantula
Warren Dunes
happy bikers at the beach