Monthly Archives: March 2010

Mar 31 2010

Busy Bees

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We’ve all been busy as bees around here lately. (Except the bees, who are dead. We’ll try again in a year or two.) Here’s what we’ve been up to.

+ Moved all the furniture out of Anya’s room and the sun room and crammed everything into the kitchen and living room.
+ Sanded, stained, and polyed the floors in Anya’s room and the sun room and started putting up new new trim.
+ Painted the walls and trim in Anya’s room.

+ Found the rams a new home.
+ Planted a bunch of daffodil bulbs purchased last fall and ignored.
+ Moved the living room furniture into the sun room, now known as the living room.
+ Bought curtains for the new living room and flung them over the rods. Tonight we may actually hang them up!
+ Moved most of Anya’s stuff back into her room.
+ Got a quote to pull down the wall we want to pull down. Shrieked at the cost. Asked a friend to help us.
+ Picked out the materials / styles for the new kitchen cabinets and counter tops.

Also, last weekend I went to another scrapbook thing and got a lot done towards finishing Anya’s first year book. All the pictures are in, and I’ve finished up to month 8! Yay! I also discovered I really like ribbon. Go figure. I’m still working on the squares for my brother’s blanket. I finished the eighth one yesterday. Anya has informed me that after “Bubba’s Blankie” is done, we have to make one for her. I haven’t told my mom yet. Hi Mom!

Mar 6 2010

Sana (2000-2010)

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Back in the day, Andy and I and some friends of ours (Kc, Josh, Ying) would get together every few weeks for cheesy dip, margaritas, and anime. One of our favorites was “Kodomo no Omocha,” and the main character was a wacky little girl named Sana. Another one of our favorites was “Fushigi Yûgi,” which had a character named Tamahome.

When we went to the humane society to pick out a new kitty in 2000, we already had one in mind. A little girl named Wheeza who had been dropped off when her people wanted to go on vacation. We’d seen her on the humane society’s website and gone in to see if she was still there. She was, and so was another really cute kitten named Shadow, who was one of a little dropped off. We couldn’t decide who to adopt, but luckily the humane society was having one of its BOGO sales. We took both kittens home. Wheeza became Sana, and Shadow became Tama.

We lost Tama after about two months to FIP, a disease he probably got from his mother.

Yesterday, ten years later, we lost Sana.

Around 2004, she was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, and I thought we would lose her then, but with special food and fluids, we kept her with us for six more years. I remember when I first found out she had kidney problems. I did all sorts of research and even pondered a kidney transplant for her. And then, when I called to ask how much a set of fluids would be and the vet tech said “nine ninety-nine” and I was terrified she meant $999 and I would have to come up with that every month. Thank goodness for decimal points.

So, I learned how to give a cat subcutaneous fluids. With a needle. Yikes. It took us a while, but we finally found that hanging the bag on a bent coat hanger hung on a hook on the bathroom door was the best set up. I’d put a towel or sweater or my flannel froggie nightie on the floor for her to sit on so she wouldn’t get cold. In the winter, I’d heat up the fluid bag in an old orange juice pitcher.

One of the fun things about Sana was her obsession with tissues. She loved to grab a tissue out of the trash and carry it around like a mouse. If I was in the bed reading, she’d bring one up to me and meow and meow and nudge my hand until I threw it for her to go fetch. Over and over and over. If she couldn’t find a tissue out and about, she’d just go grab one or two or eight right out of the box. She even taught Anya this trick. At night sometimes we’d be upstairs and hear Sana chirping and meowing. She was hunting. She’d eventually show up with something, usually a tissue, sometimes a sock or hairband, in her teeth.

Sana also liked to bury herself under the covers. I’d try to find her and look all over only to see just her nose peeking out from a pile of blanket or sweater. She’d make a little cave and crawl in. I think the other cats were jealous because they could never figure out how to create their own kitty igloo.

Even after she grew up, Sana was still like a kitten. Tiny and playful. Treefrog adopted her, and they often snuggled and napped. When Sana was sick, Treefrog gave Sana baths and kept her warm.

At night, Sana’s favorite place to sleep was on my tummy, staring at me. Goodnight my little Sanabear. I miss you.

Mar 3 2010

Continued…

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Our story left off with Andy approaching the knocked-on door…

Chapter 6
Andy opens the door to a grizzled man wearing a work jumper and a hard hat that says, “ASPLUNDH.” Andy climbs into his jacket and boots and leads Mr. Asplundh outside to see the fireflies.

Chapter 7
The next morning, Cabol is working at home and is still in her flannel froggie nightie when she notices a truck in the driveway up by the Craft Shack. A man is walking down the hill from the truck. Cabol shrieks and runs to get dressed. She goes back to the window and watches the man stand for a bit by the firefly home and then turn around and walk back to the truck. Cabol keeps an eye on the truck as she goes about her day. Eventually the one truck is replaced by another truck. With blinky lights on top. Hours, days, weeks go by and there is nothing to see but the blinky truck. Then a machine appears off in the distance, hidden by trees. Cabol waits.

Chapter 8
A low rumble pierces the air. The machine is on the move. Through the snow and ice, it crawls down the driveway to the firefly nest. Four men follow it. They stare up into the trees, point, and holler. Nearby, the scary snow sheep watch and wait. Cabol suddenly realizes the men and their machine are in danger! They don’t stand a chance if the giant rams of doom should attack. She bravely gears up, grabs a shovel, and forges out into the snow to warn the men.

Chapter 9
Cabol approaches the men and machine, her eyes flickering back to the sheep every few moments, her hand clutching the shovel in case the sheep should follow. One man notices Cabol’s approach and, with a cautious look at her shovel, yells at the machine to be quiet. Cabol speaks.

Cabol: “Hi!”
Man #1: “Um, hi. Why do you have a giant shovel?”
Cabol: “It is to protect me from the fearsome sheep with horns the size of winnebagos.”
Man #1: “Oh.”
Man #2: “Did you know your mumblemumble was fnurflebloopy????”
Cabol: “Yay!”

The men all stare at Cabol.

Cabol: “Soooooo. Um, there are big giant humungous sheep wandering around. They have pointy horns. But, um, don’t worry. If they start to charge you, just put your hand up and tell them to stop. That works. Usually. Want to borrow my shovel?”
Man #3: “We are big, burly men wearing hard hats. We do not need a pesky shovel. We will keep the teeny lambies away with our big, burly machine!”

Chapter 10
Back at the house, Cabol keeps an eye on the men, the machine, and the sheep. After a while, the machine starts to wiggle and bobble and then stretches out its neck waaaaaaaaaaay up into the trees. One of the men is standing on its head. Cabol can’t watch. An eternity passes, and Cabol hears a cheer explode from the group of men. She peers out the window but can’t see anything that interesting. Just a bunch of tree branches on the ground.

Chapter 11
Cabol is diligently working when the internet connection drops. Cabol yelps. She calls Andy.

Cabol: “Help! HELP!! No internet! AIE! PANIC PANIC!”
Andy rambles on about technical things.
Cabol: “I am panicking! I have no internet! Stop asking me questions!”

Cabol: “Oh. Look. The power is out.”

Epilogue
The power is back now, but the men and machine are gone. So are the fireflies. There are tree branches littering the ground under the power lines, and one power pole is wearing a brand new insulator. The electrical line running from the road to the house is no longer swinging in the trees, sparking and humming when it comes into contact with a branch.

The End

Mar 1 2010

Fireflies in Winter: A Novella

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Introduction:
Can you picture how pretty the glow of firefly butts would be in the winter with all the shiny snow?

Chapter 1:
A while back, Cabol notices little flickers of light out in the trees. At first she thinks it is fireflies, but it is too cold for fireflies. After a while of contemplation, she shrugs her shoulders and writes it off as the neighbors tromping about with a flashlight or telling ghost stories by a camp fire. She goes to eat pizza.

Chapter 2:
A few days ago, Andy has the pleasure of spending a lot of real quality time shoveling snow down by the barn near the trees where Cabol had seen the faux fireflies. He hears a creepy zzzzzzzzzzzzzzping sound from the power lines that follow a line of large pines down one side of our property. He makes Cabol go listen to the creepy sound. Cabol and Andy both say, “Hm. That’s probably not good.” They go eat pizza.

Chapter 3:
Last night, the three of us run errands and don’t return until after dark. Cabol carries the flashlight and trudges along the driveway out front, her eyes fixed on the ground lest she end up in a giant snow pit. Apparently Andy has cat eyes and feet because as he follows he does some sightseeing. Peering up into the trees down there by the barn, he sees them. The fireflies. The cats go eat pizza.

Chapter 4:
Andy calls the power company, who is eating pizza.

Chapter 5:
Around 9pm, as Cabol sits on the couch in her flannel frog nightie catching up on work and Anya sleeps and Andy does whatever he does in his officey area…something goes thump thump thump.

Andy calls out, “Did you make a noise?”
Cabol says, “Huh?”

Thump thump thump.

Andy, “Did you make that noise?”
Cabol, “I like pizza!”

Andy answers the door. Because there is someone at the door. The door at the end of the quarter-mile-long driveway covered in mountains of ice and snow pits filled with giant roaming sheep. At night. Who could it be?

TO BE CONTINUED
Will our fearless heroes be robbed by marauding bandits? Will they be converted into Baptists? Will they buy a hundred boxes of Girl Scout cookies out of pity for the crazy little kid who knocked on the door? Or, will they get delivery pizza for the first time in four years?