KateAndDally

Oh, the humanity...

UO, poor man, is sick.  He coughs, he wheezes, he invites sympathy (literally) and outright bathos.  He (plaintively) requests that someone set up a foundation for research into his disease; to which I add my request that someone start a telethon to raise funds so I might escape!

Designs, Designs

So.  It's coming up on two years for this blog and it's time for a re-design.  Thankfully TypePad provides a DC-theme skin to wrap my little bloggie in.  If you like it, hate it or are indifferent to it, let me know.

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I ordered Dally's memorial stone tonight.  Pennsylvania bluestone, which should make UO happy.  Inscribed "Our Friend Dally / 1994 - 2009."  It will look like this:

I have never done this for an animal before, not even Mishou our long-lived, revenge-minded domestic short-hair cat.  But then, Dally was like no other.

That was the week that was...

Oy.

Tonight we attended a "Old Time Diner" at Northwood, our kids' daycare (well,it was kids-plural when Offering Boy was of daycare age)...we paid $8/"spagetii diner" with salad and garlic bread; $5/ institutional chicken fingers and soggy fries; and $5/ grilled toast sandwich (no cheese that we could see) and more soggy fries.  All proceeds go to the homeless, and the kids themselves wrote the menus (hence the varied spellings of "spaghetti"), seated the customers, took the orders and figured out the tabs.  Not the most efficient operation, but heartfelt and good practice for their college years.  An adult friend kept bugging The Littlest Offering (before we got there, when she was still a "hostess") by asking for lager and martinis. 

"We don't serve alcohol!"  She huffed.  A definite minus, in my opinion.

As we were preparing to leave, we ran into our friend JB, who revealed that his wife was about to lose her job...so much for DC being recession-proof. 

"Anything you can think of," he said, "she'll take."  Bad times.  Bad, bad times.

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We (the kids and I) are trying to convince UO that it's time for a new puppy.  He is not yet persuaded.  Kate's breeder is awaiting another litter of pups but no word yet on when they are due.  As far as I am concerned, working in Bethesda is perfect for puppy potty-training, so now is the time, before the pod people wise up and relocate my office to Cap. Hill.  Get with the program, Dude!

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At the pod place... well, in January alone we had over 600 people reup with the PAC, for over $125K, and they all had to be thanked; and at least 1/3 of them gave less than $150, so I had to personally fold their thank yous and stuff them into envelopes, hunched over my desk; and dudes, I'm BONE WEARY.  I could go on vacation just about now.  Whiiiiiiiinnnnne, whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnne...

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Long-time readers of this blog know about my brother-in-law, Pineapple Bruce, who has terminal lung cancer.  2008 was a year for illness and death, what with my dad and Dally, and Bruce getting worse...Bruce is closing in on a year since his diagnosis, which is a real milestone, but he is weakening.  My sis-in-law, his wife Laura, says they will fight it as long as Bruce wants to; but he can't find the happy medium of pain-free clear-headedness.  Hospice is now involved, and they're wonderful, no question, but we all know time is winding down.  And it's all so unfair.  Plus the grief counseling for their 5-y.o. daughter has been cancelled by the hospital.  An obscenity, that a five year old should need grief counseling.

Another reason to have a puppy.  A small, shallow way to bring some light into the room.

Well. I didn't want to write a depressing entry, but apparently there's more on my mind than I thought.   Let's talk about wine!  In specific, Balducci's house Syrah, a 2005 vintage "vinted and bottled by Billington Wine Studio, Groton, CA".  Well, well... their website reveals the following:

Family-owned Producers, Importers and Marketers of wine from Argentina, Chile, Spain, California, Germany and Alsace.

And, some of their brands include Big Tattoo, Havens and Cousino-Macul.  Hey, I've heard of those! 

So why doesn't the Syrah taste any better?

Balducci's does this "house label" thingie with their wine, $9.99/bottle ... in the summer it was Pinot Grigio (not bad), now it's this Syrah and a Montepulciano D'Abruzzo that I haven't tried yet.  There's nothing bad about this Syrah, but there's nothing especially good either, and when I can spend a buck or so more and buy a much better Chilean or Argentinian red, why buy this?

So: Balducci's House Syrah:  feh.

Soggy Rescue

So last night I actually got a cooked dinner on the table within half an hour of walking in the door (props to me, you know you're jealous), which meant dinner was essentially over well before 7 p.m...And I could have an honest-to-God, relax-in-the-suds-n-steam bath, complete with clay face mask and book and everything (and the bathroom door locks!  Except I forgot that part)...and I did, and it was glorious, just glorious...and then The Littlest Offering bangs on the bathroom door.

Me:          Wha?
TLO:         Mummy!
Me:          What?
TLO:         (standing right outside the door) MUMMY!!!
Me:           (envisioning blood, throwing the door open wide) For God's sake, WHAT???
TLO:         Oh, you're in the tub.
Me:           (drip) (fume)

It turns out Kate the dog had encountered the scent of the small animal Kit the hamster, which normally wouldn't have been a problem since Kit would have been in her cage and Kate would have been outside it and thus unable to harm Kit; but the Evil House Gnomes must have struck again because there was Kit's cage, door wide open and Kit lost to the elements.

Except that Kate had found her.  In my closet, behind my storage boxes...then when we shifted the boxes, Kit waddled expeditiously behind UO's desk -- I grabbed one of her hind paws but let go fast -- I've hauled cats by theirs paws and dogs by their ruffs but hamsters?  too teeny and fragile.

So at the end of the kerfluffle, it's Kit 1, Mrs. O, wrapped in a towel and trailing bubbles, 0.  I'd have moved the desk but I was afraid I'd squish the hammie.  And there's no dignified way to keep one's towel securely wrapped while lying prone on the floor, one eye peeled to the tiny alley between the desk and the wall...

So we were crafty, TLO and I...I lured her out with some peanuts and raisins.  When she cleared her temporary tunnel, I scooped her up and returned her to her mistress' loving care.  And I gave the Evil House Gnomes a stern talking to.  Also TLO.  Funny how so often they correspond.

Noble Thing

Sing hey! For the bath at close of day
That washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing:
O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

After pretty much a month, we have a new water heater.  Praise the Lord!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Man!!

Today is the erm...umpteenth anniversary of the Totally Awesome and Wonderful Unqualified Offering (the person)'s Birth, so trot on over to Unqualified Offerings the website and tell him many happy returns.  (That's assuming you didn't start there first...)

At the Renaissance Festival...

Young girls become princesses...with ATTITUDE!

Sometimes I Think We Should Worry...

Giving the Middle Finger to Death...and other dispatches from the Father's Day Weekend 2008

The pod people having generously provided a "travel allowence" to their employees, we are caught up bill-wise, which is always a dangerous proposition for me, since Wikipedia's explanation of the phrase "cash burning a hole in one's pocket" has my picture front and center.  Anyway, Unqualified Offerings and I needed a little fun in our lives, so I went ahead and bought tickets to the Robert Plant - Alison Krause tour Raising Sand, which played at Merriwether Post Pavilion on Friday night.

UO had a good time -- after I convinced him that, yes, we really could afford it and yes, we were going to have to pay $15/hr for a babysitter -- but she's 27!  German!  a professional au pair!  Coming from Bethesda!  Willing to jump in at short notice!  YOU know what those kinds of arguments are like ... Anyway, we both had a great time, the kids loved Nina the German Au Pair, and we were home by midnight.  Just in time to get 8 hours' sleep so we could celebrate...

Laura and Bruce Renewing their Vows!  Also celebrating Jenny's adoption by Bruce, once Laura got done weedwhacking the Human Weasel.  And I got it all on video.  Let's hear it for the Flip!

First up: Laura and Bruce's vows, presided over by Pastor Paul, who married them in January of 1999...And here's Jenny and Skylar making their vows to their parents....And lastly, the presentation of the entire family...

And well, the less said about the Syrah they served, the better....I cried (at the vows, not the wine) and UO did too...

And since I keep promising to publish doggie stuff, here's some video of the doggles from when I first got the Flip (and then promptly let the batts run down...)

Catching Up

Well, it's been a while since we last chatted, and sometime when I wasn't watching (literally) KateAndDally.typepad.com had its 10,000th visitor.  I don't know who you were, but I thank you.  I feel I know you – I probably do, since I can count the folks who read this blog on the fingers of one hand; why you keep coming back 10,000 times I don't know, but I'm grateful.

Offering Boy turned 12 on May 24.  I am stunned and amazed.  He looks more and more like his father every day.  With my hair.  And I wish he'd give it back, my scalp gets cold. His hamster, the estimable Cream, passed away at the end of March.  We said, that's it, no more; but now OB's friend J has acquired two hammies, supposedly males, but no, no, sexing hamsters is very tough and instead of two males, our friends got one of each; and so in the fullness of time we shall accept one of their offspring, assuming Hammie Mom doesn't eat them first.

If one of Hammie Mom's offspring were to pen an acrostic poem, it might go something like this:

M - y guardian

U - sually doesn't cannabalize us

M - arvelous

M - agnificent

Y - ou might sit on us, though - ouch

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Speaking of acrostic poems, The Littlest Offering's class completed a unit on poetry and had a "Poetry, Parents and Pastries" party to celebrate their writings.  TLO recited this “surprise” poem, which Unqualified Offerings knew about, but I did not.

G - reat person

R - emembers his family

A - ll of us loved him

N - never said never

D - ied with a great heart

P - eaceful man

A - always very nice

Come on.  How many 7 year olds do you know could think up the line "died with a great heart"?

I had to go outside the room and cry a bit.

 

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It's storming here now.  It stormed last week and we lost power for 18 hours or so.  Just enough to lose everything in the fridge and freezer...But hey, we have power; AND we don't have a gas leak, for which I'm very grateful...I walked into the house this afternoon and thought, "oh crap."  I thought that yesterday too, but that was tangible, since Dally was suffering from diarrhea (ick).  Today there was only one explanation, and it wasn’t mammal-produced...geez, it never stops...so for a while I mulled calling Wash Gas against ignoring it and maybe dying, all because of some little "inconvenience;" and finally I called.  Turns out our old range is shot to hell Hel-lo, tell me something new), but there was no actual leak.  Thank you, Jesus. 

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On Saturday we go to watch Laura and Bruce renew their vows.  The horrible chemo seems to have arrested the cancer, but it hasn't carted it off to jail yet.  However, Aunt Laura, Samurai Wife and Mom, used the situation to bludgeon the Human Weasel into agreeing to give up parental rights to #1 Niece Jen so that Pineapple Bruce could adopt her.  Everything has been signed, so Laura made good her promise to Jen and officially changed her name. Now she, Bruce, Jen and Sky are all one family with one name.  Please God, let them remain so for many years.