Tag: Family

11 Years Ago Yesterday

11 years ago yesterday, I wrote this:

…AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE

We own a cat.

Her name at the shelter was Panache. We might try to change that. She’s black with white feet, much like Floyd was.

They told Jen to pick a room and let her out there. We chose our bedroom. She dove right under the bed and wouldn’t come out. We took turns sitting with her. She’d poke her head out now and then. While we were eating dinner she came out to say hello.

Progress is being made.

Happy belated cat adoption day to the fifth member of our family, Miss Patches, formerly known as Panache, also known as Cat, also also known as Kitty, also also also known as about two dozen other names.

Change of Plans

Today was supposed to be a trip up to Vermont to visit the kids. Lunch with one and a swapping of warm clothes for summer clothes for the other. Alas it was not to be… yet. Next week. An ear infection and a stomach bug have derailed the plans for today, but we’ve already rescheduled for next week.

Instead, Jen and I took a crack at the mess that is Bellana’s room. When the cellar was flooded the first time we started storing stuff in her room. When the cellar flooded the second time we continued to use her room for storage. We didn’t do it a lot, but we did pile up some stuff. We spent a good chunk of our Saturday morning getting rid of crap we don’t need and finding new homes for the stuff we might need in the future. The cellar, specifically.

My back is killing me from going up and down the stairs. That’s okay. I’m at my desk in the bedroom with the window open enjoying what is probably the last moments of decent weather. I hate fall. The leaves are starting to fall. Bite me, mother nature.

Oh well.

Baseball at 4:00, hockey at 7:00, guitar at?

Friday Morning

Friday. 8:42am. I’m on my work computer but not connected to the VPN or punched in yet. I got about 6.5 hours of sleep last night. The cat did try to steal my spot every time I rolled over or got up to go to the bathroom or whatever. She also tried to sit on Jen’s head once.

I’m going to be shorthanded at work today. At least for part of the day. Here’s hoping the customers take it easy on us. The customers… the universe… existence… you know.

I haven’t done any exercise yet. Doesn’t look like that is going to become a habit just yet.

Okay, I guess I will punch into work now. Hope you all have a good day. Talk to you later.

Is Our Cat an Antivaxxer?

Jen and I were just talking about antivaxxers. I told her that by not being an antivaxxer herself, she has given me everything I need to make me happy. What a perfect gift, am I right?

We then started wondering if Miss Patches the Kitty was an antivaxxer. It tough to say. I caught her listening to the Joe Rogan podcast. He said he wasn’t anti vaccine once but it’s kind of a red flag. I’ve also caught her on YouTube a couple of times and she quickly clicks off before I can see what she’s looking at.

I don’t know… lots of red flags.

Sad Cat

They say that if you bring a cat into your house it will imprint itself onto one of the humans, assuming there are more than one, and sort of declare that human as its owner. In our house, Patches chose my beautiful wife Jen as the owner. Everywhere Jen goes, Patches wants to go too.

Jen is working right now and she’s in a meeting. Usually when we go into a meeting we close the door to whatever room we are working in. The office door is closed while my beloved does her thing.

I just walked out of the room I’m working in (Harry’s room, for now) and saw Patches sitting in the hall outside of Jen’s office door. She gave me this super pathetic sounding meow when she saw me. She is the single saddest looking cat in the entire animal kingdom right now. Poor thing.

She’ll get even around midnight tonight when Jen is asleep and she climbs up onto her head and tries to sit there for a while.

Poor, sad kitty.

Awake

Still awake. I wanted to go to sleep early but it wasn’t happening. Oh well, I’ll keep trying.

I just watched the first episode of Y the Last Man on Hulu. Color me hooked so far.

I wish Major League Baseball had booked game one of the ALCS for tomorrow instead of Friday. I have all this built up hype and no where to put it.

I still don’t know why the NHL season opened on the 12th but the Bruins don’t play until the 16th. Is it a TV rights thing? The NHL is back with ESPN for the first time in something like 300 years. Figures. NBCsn streams to an iOS app. ESPN only streams to subscribers. Jerks.

I mentioned we are going up to Vermont on Saturday. We are bringing cold weather clothing to Bellana (and bringing warm weather clothes back home with us) and we are meeting Harry for lunch. I can’t wait. Weekly FaceTime calls are great, but I’m looking forward to actual face time.

Okay, I’m going to put some music on and see if I can sleep. Talk to you all tomorrow.

Pep Band

We found out yesterday that Harry has joined the UVM pep band that plays at hockey games.

I also found out that the athletic director responsible for my boycotting UMass Lowell athletics is no longer the athletic director.

I’m going to have to drill Harry on attendance and social distance policies and Covid safety at UVM games because of this:

I would LOVE to go and hear Harry play, even if I am secretly rooting for the other team.

Excitement

I was about to start writing something but tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead started. We need to wait for a commercial break. Hold on…..

….okay, commercial break.

We had a FaceTime call with my step daughter tonight. Always great to check in. She was telling us that she got accepted into a research project. Jen asked her what they were working on. It was all casual conversation like.

As soon as the question was out though, Bellana lit up like the sun. She started talking about the project with a level of excitement that was unreal. It was amazing to witness. She was thrilled.

She is so clearly studying the right subject. 100%.

At one point she was talking about cloning cells. I was going to ask if she could clone Patches. Just before I did, Patches walked into the room and vomited about 20 pounds of puke onto our nice hardwood floor.

Yeah, maybe we don’t clone Patches just yet.

Baseball

The Red Sox are down 1-0 in the second. The Blue Jays are spanking the Orioles, the Yankees are scoreless, and the Mariners are losing.

Come on, Red Sox. Let’s get it together.

I asked my father if he has any clue what happens if we end in a four way tie. He hasn’t a clue either. I doubt anyone does.

We had a FaceTime call with Harry and we are hoping to have another with Bellana. Jen and I have both closed our exercise rings, which is awesome. We’ve got two episodes of The Walking Dead tonight (one from the main show and one from World Beyond), Jen and I are caught up on Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. I’m up to date on all the shows I’m watching on my own.

I haven’t played guitar at all this weekend. I need to, soon. I did get a flu shot yesterday. I’m qualified for a Covid-19 booster starting Thursday, so the flu shot was kinda like practice*.

The Red Sox are still down 1-0 after 2.5 innings. Not worried at all**.

And that’s where we are right now.

* No it wasn’t.

** Yes I am. I’m totally worried. I’ve been a Sox fan since the 70’s. The multiple championships since 2004 haven’t cured me of all of the heartbreak.

When the Facebook Boycott Actually Hurts

I think this is the fifth day of the facebook boycott. I didn’t think this through.

Today is my niece’s birthday. I’m sure my brother and my sister in law are posting all sorts of great stuff about how wonderful she is. How smart, how talented, how generally awesome. All true, of course, but if I don’t go to facebook to see it I can’t contribute my tiny amount (likes and comments) to the festivities. I am missing out. It’s not the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) it is literally missing out.

My sister’s birthday is next week. My nephew’s birthday is the week after that.

Fuck. This actually hurts. Now I feel like an asshole for missing things on top of feeling like an asshole for blocking nazis and fascists and trumpers left and right. All because of some fucking social media site? What the fuck is wrong with me?

In summation: Fuck.