Homecoming Weekend -- Friday Evening

Little Girl and i went to the shelter without Uriel and Anna, because cats have that cloak of invisibility when they know something is up.  The shelter was the usual afternoon business, with potential adopters looking at cats, volunteers cleaning and doing paperwork, and Miss W overseeing it all with her usual aplomb.

Since i had been there just a few hours earlier cleaning the kitten cages, i knew who needed medication, and which rooms needed extra attention, and by now Little Girl and i work the Friday afternoon shift like a well-oiled machine.  She feeds and waters kittens while i feed and water the roaming cats and office cats.  She feeds the ones in the colony rooms while i dispense medications.  She sweeps floors while i change out the water bowls in the colony rooms.  We almost always finish at the same time.

While there we got two phone calls.  The first was from #1 Son, informing us that the decision was made to let Meatball go.  Treatment with that level of heart worm infection would have been futile and cruel.  Because the boys all live in a rented home, Cody's ex-girlfriend and her mother, who loved Meatball dearly, took him to their home to bury him in the back yard.

The second call was from Grandma, that she and Grandpa were on their way.  We got everything done at the shelter and hurried home so Little Girl could pack.  She, Bigger Girl, and i went in Cicero (Bigger Girl's car) to the hotel while #2 Son took Jalopy (the van) to go help Cody.

That evening was supposed to be spent at a big whiz bang event at the hotel, but Grandma didn't want to go.  What Grandma wants, she usually gets, so we girls skipped the big whiz bang event and went out for a girl's night.

First stop, Hobby Lobby.  Grandma never met a craft she didn't like and couldn't do.  She's where my girls get their artistic talents from, as i can't craft my way out of a paper bag.  We spent a pleasant hour looking at tons of fun things, and Grandma found a crafting stamp she had been seeking, a cute and happy pig.  Then it was time to seek dinner.

Getting back into Cicero, Bigger Girl laughingly said, "Check the back seat for zombies first!" and Grandma shot back, "There's not much scarier than your mother in the back of a car!"  We all laughed and decided to head to a bakery that specializes in vegan, gluten free pizza.

Over dinner, we talked and Grandma told stories about Nana, her mother.  Listening to them, i was so glad that my children so look up to and love to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.  In the words of Little Girl, "They are cool to hang with!"  Not many young people today take that attitude about the elders in their families, and i know i'm blessed.

When we got back to the hotel, Grandpa greeted us with, "Boy, did you guys miss a treat!  I only went to this event because I was trying to be polite, but it was great!  The speaker was hilarious and kept us wanting more.  You should have been there!"

While he talked about the event, Grandma got out and cut the papaya she had brought.  It was just over 7 pounds, and had grown on her own papaya tree in the back yard.  "I have some 3 and 4 pounders, too," she said.  "And more on the tree, about 30 or so, and more blossoms.  We're going to be having a lot of papaya."

"How did you grow the papaya tree?" Little Girl asked.

"It was an accident, really," Grandma said.  "I tried several times to plant the seeds from a papaya that I would buy from the market, but they never 'took.'  Then, about two years ago, I noticed something growing in a place in the yard where I had never planted any trees, and I almost pulled it up, but I decided to leave it and see what it was.  And it was a papaya tree!  It's at least 15 feet tall now, too, maybe more."

"If it gets any bigger, I'm going to need to climb on the roof to pick them," Grandpa said.

"Don't do that!" #2 Son said, walking in for the evening.  "If you need someone to climb on the roof to do that, call me and let me do it!"

This, from the kid who has to be bribed to do chores.  See, i know he loves Grandma and Grandpa if he's willing to go do that for them! i laughed, and so did everyone else.

Bigger Girl and i then headed home, while #2 Son and Little Girl stayed the night at the hotel with Grandma and Grandpa.  We would be back the next morning for breakfast, at least, that was the plan.  We all know about plans, though.



 
Today is:

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Slovak Nation -- Slovakia

Buy A Doughnut Day -- any wonder who started this one? (insert eye-roll here)

Checklists Day -- prevent tragedy, create great checklists; in honor of the development of the first well known checklist following a B-17 prototype's crash due to pilot error

Create a Great Funeral Day -- don't make your family choose the plans in the midst of grief, plan your sending away party now, it's more fun when it's done -- in advance!

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions -- most former Soviet Republics

Edgar Allan Poe Evermore -- Mount Hope Estate, Manheim, PA, US (nights of suspense with the stories from the master, acted by professionals; through Nov. 10)

Look in the Back of Your Refrigerator Day / Haunted Refrigerator Night (And hope the old hamburger isn't grazing on the moldy salad.)

Mischief Night, a/k/a Goosey Night, Devil's Night, Cabbage Night -- US

National Candy Corn Day

Practice Winter Snuggling Night -- when it gets really cold, you'll be glad you practiced

St. Dorothy of Montau's Day (Patron of brides, difficult marriages, dying children, parents of large families, widows; Pomerania; Prussia)

St. Marcellus' Day  (as a Roman centurion who threw down his armor and refused to take part in pagan worship, he is Patron of conscientious objectors)

The Rhyne Toll -- Chetwode Manor, UK (through Nov 7) -- the Lord of the Manor may tax any cattle he finds on his Liberty (free pasture) on these days

Try on Your Hallowe'en Costume Early Day -- to see how goofy you look, and make sure you have everything you need



Birthdays Today:

Gavin Rossdale, 1967
Diego Armando Maradona, 1960
Harry Hamlin, 1951
Henry Winkler, 1945
Grace Slick, 1939
Claude Lelouch, 1937
Robert Caro, 1935
Louis Malle, 1932
Ruth Gordon, 1896
Charles Atlas, 1893
Ezra Pound, 1885
Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1821
John Adams, 1735


Today in History:

Antioch surrenders to Rashidun Caliphate and his Muslim forces after the Battle of the Iron Bridge, 637
End of the 8th Crusade, 1270
King Henry VII, Tudor, crowned, 1485
Queen Isabella bans violence against Indians, 1503
The first Methodist church in the US is initiated (Wesley Chapel, NYC), 1768
Dr. Richard Gatling patents the machine gun, 1862
Founding of Helena, Montana (capital city), 1864
John Willis Menard, of Louisiana, becomes the first black elected to the US Congress (by special election, he was challenged by the loser, but was allowed to address Congress from the lectern), 1868
Daniel Cooper patents the time clock, 1894
Martha Hughes Cannon of Utah becomes the first woman US Senator, 1896
The first US Automobile Show opens in Madison Square Garden, NYC, 1900
Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia's first constitution, creating a legislative assembly, 1905
Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy, 1922
John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter, 1925
Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States, 1938
Anne Frank and sister Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1944
Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier, 1945
Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, 1960
The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise, 1961
The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time, 1973
The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire, 1974
Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain's acting head of state, taking over for the country's ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco, 1975
In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit home entertainment system, the TurboGrafx-16, known as PC Engine, 1987
Quebec sovereignists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada (vote is 50.6% to 49.4%), 1995
The last Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) early time-sharing operating system is shut down at the Canadian Department of National Defense in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2000