Thanksgiving Dinners

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Sorry for my silence the last few days, but now I am back and ready to blog. Where was I? Here's a quick rundown:

Wednesday Travalon and I went to two movies, Elf and the new Hunger Games. Thursday I went to Travalon's mother's house for their family Thanksgiving dinner, then we came back to Madtown for the dinner at Rich's house. As always, these events can be crazy. Someone at one of these dinners made a comment about "too many black people" being shown on TV these days, and someone else would just break out into Gregorian chant at random moments. One person kind of dominated the conversation. At one point I managed to make the topic burial and how we'd like to be dealt with after we die. Hey, I want people to know - no embalming me. Rich lit a menorah for the first day of Hanukkah, which will not coincide with Thanksgiving again for another 70,000 years. I don't know what your plans are, but I will be lying in the ground, unembalmed. Friday I took the day off of work, and Rich and I worked out. He made me do all kinds of weight machines that I didn't even know existed. Then he, Kathbert, and I had leftovers. Today I met Jilly Moose and OK Cap for coffee, then OK Cap and I took a rosary walk and had some pizza for lunch, and then Rich, Kathbert, and I went for a walk since it was such a lovely day out, at least compared to the last few days. Now I am at Rich's, blogging while he naps.

Famous Hat

Lambeau Field

Saturday Travalon and I watched part of the Badger game, but we had to leave to go to Mass. It seems that nothing happened while we were at Mass, because the final score was the same as when we had left. I told Travalon that was God doing him a solid because he didn’t miss anything.

The reason we went to Mass on Saturday is because Sunday we had to get going early to get to Green Bay. It was not my first time at Lambeau Field – I was there once for a scrimmage – but this was my first actual game. The temperature was barely in the 20’s but I had numerous layers on and was fine for the first quarter. It was an exciting atmosphere, but the Packers were losing to the Vikings, who are terrible this year, so the mood was a little sour. At halftime we went into the lobby to warm up and stayed there for part of the third quarter. We went out to brave the cold again, and the Pack fought back to tie it up, so the game went into overtime… and stayed there. We were so cold, we were almost ready to see Minnesota score, just to end the game. They played the entire fifth quarter just to end in a tie, so at least I didn’t see the Pack lose during my first game at Lambeau. Of course, I didn’t see them win either.

Then Travalon and I went to a bar from Bottoms Up called JD’s, so we were halfway through the book. There was another stop in Green Bay, Titletown Brewery, so we went there too, and I tried beer with green tea in it. We are more than halfway through the book! Yay! Our pilgrimage continues…

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RIP Charlie 2004-2013

Here is Charlie's obituary. I wrote it in the third person because I've never seen one written in the first person.

 

Charlie the Calico Floppy-Eared Rabbit was born June 1, 2004 to a woman who bred both Holland lops and humans, since she had eleven children. He was tattooed with the marking “C-21” in his left ear and adopted, along with his brother Midnight, by an equally large family, where he apparently led a happy life for his first three years. When the family moved to another state, the mother’s sister took Charlie in briefly but then didn’t like his habit of chewing on clothing, so she gave him to Famous Hat. (His brother Midnight went back to the breeder.) A few months later, he went on some bunny dates and met the love of his life, Cashmere.

Charlie was an accomplished rabbit who could jump through a hoop and walk on his hind legs on command. He was distinguished by his sweet, affectionate nature. While not as destructive as his mate, he did personally decorate some of Famous Hat’s clothing with little bite marks. As he grew older, he lost his senses of hearing and then of sight, so he no longer came running to greet Famous Hat when she called his name or walked in the door.  His last few days he could not move on his own and had to be fed by hand. He died peacefully on the morning of November 22, 2013, the 50^th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination. Charlie is survived by his owner Famous Hat and life partner Cashmere. He was preceded in death by Sylvia the Hedgehog. Burial was at 1830 or thereabouts on November 22 in Richard Bonomo’s backyard, with Rich, Kathbert, and Famous Hat in attendance, followed by a toast and then dinner with Luxuli and her husband, and of course a carrot cake. As Kathbert said, “He was a good little floppy-eared bunny,” and, “He’s still beautiful even in death.” In lieu of memorials, Famous Hat and Cashmere ask that you take a moment to appreciate the animals in your life. 

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Charlie's Sorry State

Sorry for the lack of blogging yesterday. I took the afternoon off and went with Travalon to see the movie 12 Years a Slave, which was a very good movie about a terrible true story of a free black man who is kidnapped and made a slave. It sort of reminded me of The Killing Fields because it had a similar theme of someone with a lot of education having to hide his smarts from his less intelligent oppressors. These movies always scare me, since I am fairly well educated, and if someone less intelligent were oppressing me, I’m not sure I’d be clever enough to convince them that I know nothing. In other words, I’m not smart enough to act not smart.

Then Travalon and I went to David’s Jamaican Restaurant for dinner and to solidify plans to have them cater our wedding reception. We had asked a number of people (including readers of this blog) what they thought of that idea, and everyone seemed good with it. We will have “boring” chicken and fish for the people who don’t like jerk sauce. We tried their banana cake, and that was delicious, so it’s really tempting to just get a sheet of that instead of a fancy but barely edible cake. Then I went to choir practice while Travalon hung out on State Street, and then we went with some choir members to the Essen Haus for a beer. Travalon and my choir director bonded over their interest in history and music.

The big news in my life is that Charlie the Rabbit is coming to the end of his own life. Tuesday his back legs gave out, and I came home to find him scooting around in circles on the living room floor. I thought he might not survive the night, but when he did, I felt obligated to feed him by hand and give him water from a glass, a messy proposition but I couldn’t find an eye dropper. This morning he was still alive, so I took care of him again. Bunnies have special soft poop they eat as well as the non-messy pellets, and I obligingly scooped this soft poop off of Charlie’s rear end and fed it to him. The things we do for love! He ate it with great gusto but didn’t want any water. I am not sure how long he can survive in this state, unable to move on his own. My coworker pointed out that I might not be able to give him enough food and water, so he might be suffering. Maybe I should put him down, but I would really like for him to die naturally at home. Cashmere is understandably upset by all this and hovers around him protectively but does not actually groom him. Maybe he just smells too bad for her taste – he does kind of stink of pee and poop. Poor little guy has no dignity left.

Famous Hat

Bunny Bath

Can’t remember if I already mentioned this, but Banjo Player (who has given up the banjo to focus on the lute) has a blog now at Elfshot.info. Check out her post today on bizarre ICD-10 codes. You don’t even have to have worked in the medical field to find it hilarious. Hopefully I don’t suffer V96.00XS “unspecified balloon accident injuring occupant, sequela” when and if Travalon and I ever successfully go on that balloon ride…

Last night Hardingfele came over and helped me give Charlie the Rabbit a bath. Now a healthy rabbit does not need a bath, but Charlie is so arthritic that he has trouble grooming his more intimate spots, and so he had gotten a bit messy. Hardingfele brought rubber gloves and corn starch, and we gave poor Charlie a bunny butt bath. He was good-natured about it, but I could tell it wasn’t his favorite activity of all time. Good thing I wore sweat pants, because he did kick some poopy water onto my leg. Hardingfele was not confident about cutting away too much of his matted fur because she wasn’t sure where the fur left off and the skin began. She suggested Charlie may need the services of a professional to help with the fur, and with what appears to be an infection. Poor old rabbit! Watching him grow old has really made me rethink my desire to live to be 105. Now I only want to do it if I can still clean myself.

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Roller Derby Girl

I hope my readers had a good weekend. Friday I went to a talk on the mathematical evidence for God’s existence, then Richard Bonomo and I met Catzooks and her boyfriend at Granite City for some soup. Saturday I had a busy day: I met Jilly Moose and OK Cap for coffee, then Hardingfele and I worked out, and then I went to the funeral of a friend of a friend. (I never met him.) Afterwards my friend said she didn’t want to go home, so four of us dropped in on Rich and Kathbert. Rich showed us all his broken glasses, which for some reason he keeps around the house instead of throwing them away. Then he left for a birthday party at a bar, so I went home and got to bed at a reasonable time for once.

The next morning Rich told me the bar was too crowded, they weren’t letting people in, so he didn’t get to go to the birthday party. In the afternoon Travalon came up to Madtown, and we watched the first half of the Packer game at the Free House, then for the second half we went to our usual spot at Middleton Sports Bowl, but that didn’t improve the Packers’ luck at all. I said I take the long view, and the Packers are like stocks: they may sink in the short term, but eventually they will pick back up. Then we went to Rich’s house and gave Kathbert a very late birthday present of a T-shirt that says “Roller Derby Girl” because whenever she is busy, she says she has roller derby practice. She liked the shirt and modeled it for us, but when Rich took a picture of her, since she had her back to the camera (because the words were on the back of the T-shirt), the facial recognition square formed around her derriere. Digital cameras – they think they’re so smart. Catzooks said she couldn’t make it Sunday evening, and Luxuli and her husband both told Rich they couldn’t make it, so when there was a knock on the door, we wondered who it was. Miss Heartsong! She told us a great story about walking by a cosmetics counter, and all the people behind it said she needed their products because she looked at least eight years younger than her current age. I said I’d like to walk by that cosmetics counter, but what if they said I look ten years older than I am? Miss Heartsong told them they shouldn’t mention age in their spiel because at best it will make the person realize she doesn’t need their products (like in her case) and at worst it will give the intended victim a complex. So it’s totally lose-lose for them.

Famous Hat