Recorder Concert and Cactus Fruit

 

I forgot to take pictures of these until just now, but Saturday on State Street I bought a couple of crystals.

They are black tourmaline and sodalite. Here is another thing I finally took a photo of - my rick rack cactus blooms now and then, but it's been looking crispy lately, and my plant app said it was getting sunburned. Makes sense, I guess, since I moved it to a spot in a south-facing window where it gets direct sun all day long. I moved it into my plant room with the east-facing window, and I discovered this:

It's making a fruit! I guess some bug in our house must have pollinated it. These fruits are supposed to be edible and very delicious, closely related to dragon fruit, so I'll see if it ripens. Honestly, I just got this plant because the leaves are so cool, but with its showy and fragrant blossoms and now maybe tasty fruit, it has far outlived my expectations.

Today I worked from home, since the cooling system is out at work (now they say for at least a month), and many buildings - including mine - are closed. Hopefully my plants at work are okay - I'm going to check on them tomorrow, since that's the usual day I water them. Of course the AC had to go out right during the heatwave, so we were all told to work from home. It's like a mini-pandemic. 

Travalon didn't have to work today, so he went to Portage and swam in Silver Lake. From there he saw a couple of trains go by. Then he went to the Dells and saw this train.

Isn't it cute? Here are some photos.

And this is a former Sinclair station in the Dells that still is called Dino-Stop.

Then he kindly drove me to Adoration and walked down to the Union while I was making a Holy Hour. Outside the Union he saw this tiny bunny.

Then he even more kindly drove me to the church where I often go to Baroque concerts to see my former choir mate play with her recorder ensemble. They played some Baroque and Renaissance stuff, some shape note tunes, some Polish folk tunes, and a Welsh tune. I had forgotten my sunglasses (the ones I just won at the Alumni Party) at my bandmate's house, and I said if we met there, she could give them back to me, so we sat together. Afterwards there were make your own sundaes, and I sat with my bandmate, my former choir mate and her husband, another choir mate who had come to hear her, Pete the Sailor Man, and a woman they all know and I met a few times years ago. It turns out she and her late husband were both rail fans, so when Travalon joined us, we talked about trains, among other things. She's also on DuoLingo, so if I can find her, we can be friends. I have tons of friends on there I've never met in real life, so I might as well have a few (besides Seabird and my former choir mate's husband) whom I've actually met in person.

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RIP Cashmere 2005-2016

Today we had to put down our old bunny Cashmere. She would have been 10 1/2 at the end of the month. She was fine yesterday when I went to work, but when I got home, she had fallen over and couldn't get back up, and her eyes were all gummed up. I picked her up and put her back on her feet, and then she went over and ate and drank so she seemed to be feeling okay. I called the vet, and they said I should move up her checkup from next Wednesday to today. So this evening after work and walking Rodney, Travalon and I took Cashmere to the vet, who inspected her and said she was really, really sick but was too old and frail for surgery. I asked if I should just take her home to die, but she said Cashmere was in a lot of pain, and it would be best to put her down. It was very quick, and afterwards Cashmere looked so peaceful. I like to think she is with Charlie now. They haven't been together for 2 1/2 years. I imagine that meeting was very joyful.

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Hail Mary Pass

Did you watch that game last night? That game! What??? The first quarter, it appeared neither the offense nor the defense for the Pack had shown up to play, as they let the Lions quickly score 17 points. Then the defense started going to work, but the offense still couldn’t get anything going, so it was 20-0 at halftime in favor of the Lions. I looked online to see if the Packers could have been cursed and discovered, to my surprise, that when Mike Ditka wore that Packers sweater in a McDonald’s commercial, the Packers had stunk ever since so Bears fans were calling it the Ditka Sweater Curse. “I knew it!” I thought. “There really is a curse on them!”

But then, in the second half, things started to turn around, as if my awareness of the curse had broken it, just like that. Starks was running toward the goal line but fumbled, and just when I thought, “There they go again!” it was recovered in the end zone by Cobb – touchdown! Ugly and weird, but we’d take it! I was so relieved that it wasn’t going to be a shutout. Tiffy texted that miracles can happen, and I replied that at least it wouldn’t be a totally humiliating loss. Then the offense began racking up points while the defense held the Lions to one field goal. Rodgers even ran one in for a touchdown and got the longest run of the night. Why didn’t they put Lacy in? I’m sure I don’t know – he may have fumbled a couple of times in earlier games, but he was like the only thing going on for the offense in those games. Finally the score was 23-21, so the Packers just needed a field goal to win by one point, but they ran out of time and tried some weird lateral action, throwing the ball around and eventually getting it back to Rodgers. He was tackled – end of game… but wait! A flag! The guy who tackled him grabbed his facemask! We got one more down outside of time, so Rodgers got out of the pocket, evaded a couple of guys, and flung the ball so high and so far that it went almost 70 yards to the end zone, where the other Rodgers leapt up, caught it, and fell back into the end zone. Touchdown on a Hail Mary pass!! The Lions couldn’t believe it! (Sorry, Prairie Man.) I know the facemask call is a little controversial, but the refs missed a pass interference call against the Lions a few downs earlier, so what comes around, goes around. Anyway, there’s no arguing with Aaron Rodgers’ pass to Richard Rodgers – a perfect throw and perfect catch! Travalon and I couldn’t believe it, and Tiffy texted: “OMG!” It was Aaron Rodgers’ 32^nd birthday the day before, so what a birthday present!

It has been quite a week for birthdays, not just Rodgers and of course Travalon’s big one, but Sunday my bunny Cashmere turned a decade old. How did I commemorate this momentous event? I gave her a piece of banana, just like every morning, and snuggled her in the evening while watching Downton Abbey.

One more odd note - for some reason my "Very Boring Post" is attracting a lot of attention from Ukrainian readers. Yesterday over 50 of them read it, unless it was the same person reading it 50 times. Still, of all the posts to read, why that one? The name implies how mundane it is.

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Bad Bunny

Last night Travalon and I watched the College Championship game between Ohio State and Oregon, or the “Bucks” and the Ducks. I love that the two teams who made it had such non-tough mascots – isn’t a buckeye a nut? And ducks aren’t exactly tough – and also that they were both schools that focus on academics. It serves those football factory schools down south right that they got eliminated. My boss is a huge Ohio State fan, while Travalon was rooting for Oregon. I didn’t really care and honestly spent all of third quarter dancing around and listening to my iPod while watching the game, since I needed some exercise. It had been a frustrating evening for me, because we had bought some wire shelves to put my plants on, and I had tried to put them together by following the instructions, but they were very wobbly. I didn’t feel secure putting my plants on them, which means they are still on the floor of the plant room, and that of course means that Cashmere is still locked in her cage. Originally she had been reluctant to walk on the tile in the room, so we put down some carpeting remnants for her to walk on in a route that kept her well away from the plants. Lately she had figured out the tile is fine to walk on, so before I realized it, she had eaten half a bromeliad and part of a dracaena. Apparently these plants are not toxic, because she is no worse for wear, but I don’t want to subject the plants to more of her mastication. That is why she now has to stay in her cage all day long, which must be a boring life, but until we can figure out what is wrong with these shelves (is it user error or are they badly built?), she has to stay in there.

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Cashmere's Birthday Poem

Yesterday Travalon received a lovely birthday card in the mail from Ma and Pa Hat. It said they were glad Rodney threw him such a nice birthday party. Neither Travalon nor I was aware the dog was throwing birthday parties for us now, so we assume they meant Rich instead of Rodney. Anyway, it seems blogworthy.

A week ago my little bitchkin (as Hardingfele calls her) rabbit Cashmere turned nine. Age has mellowed her out a little, but she still refuses my affection most of the time, although last night I did manage to sneak up on her and grab her, so she was forced to cuddle with me. Most of the time when she sees me approaching, she runs behind her cage where I can’t reach her. As my regular readers no doubt remember, my boy bunny Charlie reached the ripe old age of nine and one half years, so I may have six more months to try to force Cashmere to love me. The only time she ever came close was at the vet’s office, when she wanted to be with me so badly that when I set her down, she leapt back into my arms - twice! Of course, being a female, Cashmere may outlive Charlie by many months, or even years. I’m not quite sure how to feel about that. Who wants a creature living in her house who despises her? You can no doubt sense my fondness for Cashmere, as evidenced by the fact that I completely forgot her birthday last Friday. Here is a little poem to make up for that oversight.

Happy birthday to my favorite bunny

Who happens to still be alive.

You can be a real honey

When you want a treat, or maybe five.

You are always happy to see me

When I have a banana to share.

Other times, not so much,

And when we’re cleaning your cage, beware!

It seems like only yesterday

You were a young rabbit, leaping about,

But now, after countless bales of hay,

You’re slower but just as much of a lout.

Perhaps I’ll never win your affection,

But you were good to Charlie when he was around,

And if I ever pass your inspection,

Cuddling you is where I’ll be found.

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Defeat at the Hands of the Blue Devils

I realized today that I completely forgot Cashmere’s birthday last Friday, when I was busy posting a tirade about racism. Perhaps tomorrow I will rectify that and post a birthday poem to her. It’s useless actually doing anything for her; she just runs away when I come toward her. Unlike Charlie, who LOVED his ninth birthday party, she doesn't want any commemoration of reaching this milestone.

Last night Travalon, the Other Couple, and I met at some sort of VIP thing at the Kohl Center before the big game. There were all sorts of hors d’oeuvres, like tiny quiches and bacon-wrapped shrimp (oh my golly, it’s as wonderful as it sounds), and lovely raspberry-and-dark chocolate chip bars. From up there Madtown looks like a booming metropolis, with all the tall buildings lit up around it. I think they’re mostly freshman dorms, but they still look impressive, like you’re in downtown Chi-town or something. The female half of the Other Couple took photos of us and posted them to MyFace. Then we watched the game, which was actually quite a lot of fun. Lots of pomp and pageantry, like three kinds of cheerleader type girls, and some members of the football team came out to show off the Paul Bunyan axe they won against the Golden Gophers last weekend. The halftime entertainment was a very flexible girl named Stephanie who stood on her hands and shot a bow with her feet, hitting the bull’s eye on a target. The game itself was quite close at first… and then it wasn’t. We kept missing shots, while Duke was on fire. They were getting everything in. Prairie Man must be ecstatic, since he was rooting for the Blue Devils. But that’s the danger of a Big Game: the whole reason it is such a big deal is because you are playing a worthy opponent, which means there is a good chance they could beat you. And in this case they sure did, by ten points. Still, it was a lot of fun. I guess I do like basketball, at least live, although it doesn’t seem to have as much strategy as football, but that could be my lack of knowledge.

Travalon and I also had free passes for the parking garage next door, which was handy before the game, but afterwards we were stuck for half an hour while everyone poured out of there. We got home close to midnight, and I kind of overslept a little this morning. I was having a dream where Travalon and I were taking Croatian, or actually some ancestral language like Old Church Slavonic, and we were studying verb conjugations. In my dream they had not just the first, second, and third person singular and plural, but a special form of the verb meaning everyone. You know… I go, you go, he goes, we go, you guys go, they go, EVERYONE GOES! Then I asked about the subjunctive, and the teacher said she wasn’t going to teach us that yet, but then she realized she had accidentally given us that form in an example sentence. The A changed to an E, but I think my subconscious mind stole that right from Spanish. This is undoubtedly influenced by my Irish class, where we are learning the present, past, and future of common irregular verbs, and I keep forgetting to ask if they have a special subjunctive form. Leave it to me to have nerdy linguistic dreams. 

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National University Press Week Potluck

This morning I was very sad about something, and Rodney must have sensed it because he came up to me and cuddled against me. Travalon was home (he has Wednesdays off) so it wasn’t just that Rodney was lonely. They say dogs are very astute at picking up our emotions, which does seem to be true because when I am really happy, Rodney will come up to me and act all playful. He is a refreshing breath of air compared to Cashmere the rabbit, who was letting me snuggle her every evening for about a week but has now decided to hide behind her cage every time I come to get her.

This week is National University Press Week, so we decided to have a potluck at work today to celebrate. Actually, we really decided to have a potluck because the people downstairs had one last week and the food smelled so good that it was driving us nuts. The “holiday” was just a convenient excuse to have one. I hadn’t had time to prepare anything since Travalon and I went to Liliana’s last night to celebrate our six-month anniversary, so I went to Trader Joe’s this morning and picked up pear cider and mini pizzas. I got two boxes of the mini pizzas and people only ate one box worth, so it looks like I’ll be having leftovers. That’s OK, I enjoyed them more than anyone else seemed to. Handy Woman made pumpkin curry soup, and there were a couple of fresh baked bread loaves and a couple of salads. Someone brought dark chocolate bark with pistachios and chili powder in it from New Mexico. Some people thought the potluck was so great that we should do one every month, but another coworker echoed my thoughts when he groaned, “Oh Hell’s bells, no!” I never know what to bring to potlucks, and having to think of something every single month is going to overtax my brain. If you have any suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments.

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Doggy Blues

Travalon has started his new job, and so far he loves it. He works for a rental car company, and he gets to drive lots of nice, new cars around. He also has to vacuum them out, but hey, that’s moving around. One of my coworkers said the other day that sitting is the new smoking as far as things that are bad for your health, and all I do all day is sit. Some of my coworkers have standing desks, so I’m thinking of trying that out.

The one whose life is most impacted by Travalon’s new job is his poodle, Rodney. Since Travalon’s job starts earlier than mine, Rodney and I both stay in bed while he is getting ready. Then when I get up, Rodney wants to go out, and when I get home, he wants to go out. He is so ecstatic to have company that he gives my face a bath with his tongue. Poor puppy, all alone except for Cashmere the Unfriendly and Superannuated Rabbit. She is looking very old and frail these days, but then again she will be nine at the end of this month. The 28^th, if you want to mark your calendars.

This is a little poem for Rodney. It probably won’t make him feel any better about getting left home alone, but I feel his pain.

Daddy left me but Step-Mom’s here.

Wait, is she going out the door??

Take me with you, please please please!

I can’t stand being alone anymore!

Time is passing, I’m so lonely,

Nobody here but that lagomorph,

And she isn’t very friendly,

Which they say is normal for a Poland dwarf.

Someone’s at the door!! Is it my daddy??

No, it’s Step-Mom, almost as good!!

Now she’s taking me out for a walk

All around our neighborhood.

I love to have a human with me

As I sniff around where the hostas grow

And find the perfect spot to pee on –

Here! This one! I gotta go!

Travalon’s a poet too. When I said something about being so lame because of something I did or didn’t do, he said, “You may be lame, but I love you just the same.” Awww!

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Random Tuesday Post

It’s only Tuesday and I already have nothing to blog about. Today was my first official day doing both the bookkeeping and the customer service positions, and it seemed to go smoothly. Mostly I was busy with the usual month-end reconciliation stuff. Yesterday a bunch of us went out to lunch to celebrate my coworker’s retirement, and then we came back and had cake. We gave her a gift card to Kohl’s, and she loved it. Did I mention on here that I got a gift card to Kohl’s for 10% of the value of my wedding registry? I didn’t even realize they did that, so that was an awesome bonus. Light Bright went with me and helped me spend it, then we went to the new Nordstrom’s Rack and she found an outfit. I looked at their shoes, but they were ridiculously expensive. Sometimes I think I should wear more stylish shoes, but sneakers are just so comfortable. Do I have to turn in my lady card for not being more into shoes? In my youth I was a girly girl, but now it just seems like too much effort. The good news is we got my old condo emptied out, so it should be on the market soon. First it needs new carpeting – those rabbits really did a number on it! Soon it should be beautiful, and hopefully some grad student will be ecstatic to buy a one-bedroom condo for under $80K. Here’s hoping it sells quickly!

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Getting the Jungle in Order

I apologize for my silence yesterday. I really wasn’t sulking over getting no comments on my previous blog post (but it’s not too late to comment, if you feel so inclined); I was just sick with a cold. In fact, that pretty much sums up my weekend: sick. I spent a lot of time sleeping and blowing my nose. Sunday Rich and Kathbert did come over and help me move some plants around, so now several of them are up in the loft, and there is a little more room in the Jungle. Of course, I forgot to ask Rich to bring over the Professor when he came, and he didn’t think of it either, so we still aren’t sure where that enormous plant is going to fit. Jolly Bob takes up a lot less room now that I have it propped up against the wall instead of sprawling all over. We moved the giant ponytail palm into the living room, but this morning I noticed it wasn’t getting any direct sunlight so my eternally patient husband Travalon moved it back for me. He really does have good humor about my dozens of plants! When you sit in his man cave, you get a great view of the Jungle, so that’s one good thing about them. We also moved Cashmere my bunny into the Jungle because it is getting too cold at night (already!) to leave her on the three-season porch. At first she seemed happy to be back with all her plant buddies, but now she realizes she has less room to run around, so she has been sitting in her cage, sulking. When I get some shelves to put the smaller plants on, we can move a larger scrap of carpeting into the Jungle so she has more room to play in, since she will not walk on the tile floor. At least not so far… Which is what I was counting on, because otherwise she could get at my poor, vulnerable, and in some cases quite toxic plants.

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Cashmere's Fur Adventure

Last night Hardingfele came over to see the new condo and help clip Cashmere’s claws. We had quite an adventure getting to the condo, because the main artery is all torn up and down to one lane, so it took half an hour to go maybe a mile. Then Hardingfele wanted to brush Cashmere, who is looking really ragged now that she doesn’t have Charlie to groom her. I tried to brush her now and then, but she hated it, so I gave up. The brush is at my old condo, so Hardingfele tried combing Cashmere with my comb, and then she just started pulling clumps of loose fur out. Pretty soon we had enough to make a whole new rabbit! Hardingfele was covered in Cashmere’s fine gray fur, but luckily I have a lint roller, so she got most of it off of her. Cashmere does look a lot less ragged now, so I should probably brush her even if she hates it. Maybe I can get Travalon to help me hold her down, since Hardingfele now lives so far away. Everyone does – Kathbert says it’s like I’ve moved to the other side of the world. Nope, just the other side of the lake, but with all this road construction, it’s hard to get back to see everyone.

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Bunny Stories

A happy story: someone let a domestic rabbit go at the Arboretum, and the workers caught it and brought it to the Humane Society, where he was named Roger. (I presume after the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) One of the fiddlers in our band volunteers at the Arboretum, so she became interested in Roger’s fate. She tried to talk me into adopting him as a pal for Cashmere, but I had already promised Travalon there would be no more rabbits in our future. Today she sent an email saying Roger has apparently been adopted, since he is no longer listed on the site.

A cute story: my cousin has a rabbit named Bailey and a son who just had a birthday party, so there were lots of balloons all over the house. Bailey loves playing with the balloons so much that my cousin doesn’t have the heart to get rid of them, so she’s just letting them deflate. Apparently Bailey just pushes the balloons around and does not bite them; I saw a hilarious video of a rabbit biting a balloon and then totally wigging out when it popped.

An adventure story: last night we forgot to make sure Cashmere was out on the screened-in porch, so she got to hang out in the living room all night long. Was this exciting for her? It’s hard to tell, but she sure seemed happy this morning, bouncing around the living room. As far as we can tell, she didn’t cause too much damage; there don’t seem to be any chewed-up wires, just a few poops on the floor. Possibly she annoyed Rodney again and he chased her. She never seems to learn that she should leave him alone while he’s trying to sleep. We can’t tell if she approaches him out of curiosity, loneliness (“PLEASE be my friend!!”), or if she’s trying to establish dominance. Knowing Cashmere, it’s probably the last one.

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Cashmere's Daring Escape

For those of you most interested in things Irish, I will post some more photos of Ireland – and Scotland! – most likely this weekend. Hopefully some of my readers enjoy cute pet stories, because that’s what I have to blog about today. In the evenings we have been letting Cashmere the Rabbit come out into the living room of the condo; at first she was kind of scared, but now I don’t even have to bring her out, I just leave the door to the screened-in porch open, and out she hops. So this morning I went to give her the daily piece of banana she always demands, and to my surprise she slipped by me and escaped into the condo. I said, “Banana, Cashmere!” but she was more interested in freedom than the banana. And believe me, very little is more appealing to Cashmere than a banana! I let her roam around for a few minutes then told her it was time to go home, and to my surprise she very cooperatively hopped back out onto the porch. We haven’t rabbit-proofed the condo yet, so I don’t want her out wandering about it while we aren’t home to supervise.

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LOL! U 2!

The other day Travalon’s mother asked me what color Ma Hat was going to wear to our wedding, since she didn’t want to clash with her. She said she was wearing pale blue. I had no idea, so I texted my mom, who texted back that her dress was light mint green according to her, sea foam green according to Pa Hat, and sage according to the label. I said both mothers would be wearing oceanic colors, and Ma Hat said, “We’ll make quite a splash.” I replied “LOL” to acknowledge her pun, and she replied “U 2.” I assume by that she meant “You too,” but that response really makes no sense to “Laugh out loud,” which makes me wonder if she thinks LOL stands for “Love you lots.” There was a textversation posted online where this guy’s mother said, “Your Aunt Esther died. LOL,” and he wanted to know why that was funny. She said it’s not funny, why would he think so? As it turned out, she thought LOL was “Love you lots” and had been texting this to ALL her relatives when notifying them of her sister’s death, so she was going to have to call everyone back and explain. That is the danger of acronyms and abbreviations.

Speaking of death, we just found out a person we work with “up the hill” died unexpectedly. She was not young, having worked there for almost fifty years, but neither was she particularly decrepit, just out of shape. People had been expecting her to retire for years, but someone told me she didn’t have much of a life outside of work so she just kept working to have something to do. How sad! I love my job, but I can’t imagine having nothing else to do. Surely she had some hobbies…? I was going to write a post at some point about her office full of fake flowers, which I’ve always found depressing. You know me – I love REAL plants.

Right now there is an amaryllis in full bloom in my office window. (It usually lives at Richard Bonomo’s house, but I brought it to work for my coworkers to enjoy, since Rich never notices my plants.) Handy Woman said she would take care of my work plants during my honeymoon, and Rich promised to try to take care of my plants at home. He is also going to take Cashmere to his house, so he can more easily administer her meds twice a day. Hopefully the change of scenery doesn’t freak her out too badly, but she was going to leave my current condo anyway, so she might as well adapt now. We’ll see how she feels about the new condo… 

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Sick Rabbit

Last night Light Bright and I converged on Richard Bonomo’s house to print out programs. His printer did fine for the first fifty or so, but then it got persnickety, so we went to Kinko’s, where even their printer did not really like the fancy paper. Still, it was so quick and so cheap, I should have just gone there in the first place. Then we folded all the programs, and Light Bright and I made lists of where we have to be when. There’s so much to do in the last few days leading up to the wedding! It’s kind of mind-boggling, and then in a flash it will be all over. I just hope I don’t have to use the restroom right in the middle of the nuptial Mass…

Cashmere my bunny has exquisite timing, and she has chosen now to get sick. I’d noticed she was sneezing a lot lately but had chalked it up to springtime allergies, since those are getting everyone. But then yesterday Hardingfele and I clipped Cashmere’s claws, and we noticed she had gunky discharge from her eye and her nose. I thought it might just be a cold, but Hardingfele was sure it was some terrible bacterial infection called Pasteurella. Luckily my boss is a really understanding guy, and he let me run to the vet for a couple of hours. Cashmere, who is so indifferent to me at home, was totally cuddling up to me at the vet clinic, even trying twice to jump into my lap. It’s nice to know she loves me at least a little. She just has trouble showing it most of the time. The vet prescribed antibiotic eye drops and oral antibiotics that taste like banana, Cashmere’s favorite food. Poor Rich will have to administer them twice a day once I leave for my honeymoon, and believe me, putting drops in Cashmere’s eyes is no picnic. At least she adores Rich, so maybe she will let him hold her. We’ll see if she is feeling better soon… When I brought her home, she was so tired, she just collapsed on the floor. She’s not a young bunny anymore; in a couple of weeks she will be eight and a half years old. Who can say how much more time she has left? I thought she was tougher than Charlie and would last a lot longer, but maybe she is so lonely without him that she has lost her will to live. And now I’m abandoning her for three weeks… Luckily she will have her favorite person, Richard Bonomo, visiting her twice a day. That ought to make her feel a lot better.

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Peace Through Swedish Falafel

Friday morning the crew got up and went to the health club at 6 am again; this time we did 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer after our warm-up routine. Luxuli said, “Let’s go for 45 minutes!” but I didn’t have the time or the energy for that. After I left, she attended a class at the health club. This is why she gets the Enthusiasm Medal. Cashmere hadn’t even stirred when I got up that morning, so maybe she was already acclimated to me getting up and moving around in the dark.

This morning was very painful because, thanks to the wonder of Daylight Savings Time, my body thought it was only 4:30 am when my alarm went off.  Cashmere did wake up and demand a treat, but even she seemed disoriented by the time change. Richard Bonomo was feeling it too, but off we went to the club to do our 30 minutes on the elliptical trainers. Luxuli’s husband found us and said he had come alone; she was planning to take the other car, and if we didn’t see her, it’s because she went to a class. Being curious, Rich peered into the classrooms at the health club, and he even checked the parking lot for her car, but we found no sign of Luxuli. Methinks someone couldn’t adjust to the time change…

As we were driving back to my house, Rich told me he was planning to go to Sweden for work, so he asked Kathbert what she recommended he see and do there, since she went for work a few years back. He said she was talking about the falafel you can get at the street stands in Stockholm, and she had a “look of peace and total serenity” on her face that he had never seen before. Apparently true peace is to be found in Swedish falafel. Now the secret is out.

Ma Hat is having identity issues, it seems. She sent me the following email: “We tried to send a response to your BLOG but we apparently don't have an identity.  Your dad knew what DI stood for before we got to the end of your Blog and found Rich's answer, but we couldn't send our response because of identity problems.  Dad wants to know if any DI has the hat.” I asked Rich and he said DIs do indeed have special hats, but he does not own one, and he doubts that Luxuli’s husband has one either. He thinks his father might have had one, although he was not a DI.

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Poor Cashmere

Poor Cashmere, my girl bunny! She is so used to having Charlie with her 24/7, and now she is alone most of the day. I try to spend some time with her, but of course I’m at work all day long, and in the evenings I am generally busy as well. Cashmere had been warming up to me a little as Charlie was losing touch with reality, and now she actually seems really happy when I come home and sad when I leave. In the past she never seemed to care; Charlie was the one who was always happy to see me. Cashmere still does not want to interact too much, because let’s not go overboard with the “friendship” thing, right? She still will barely tolerate me petting her, but if I am sitting in my easy chair, she will come hang around me. She needs a buddy, but of what sort? In a few months she will be living with a cat and a dog, but in the meantime what should I do with her? She is too old and set in her ways to want to welcome a new rabbit into her life, unless he were also an elderly rabbit. He would need to be easygoing like Charlie was, because Cashmere is a complicated rabbit and she needs somebunny simple to keep her grounded. Does such a rabbit even exist? And would Cashmere let him live in her house? 

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Travalon's 28th Birthday

So after I blogged on Saturday, Richard Bonomo, Catzooks, her boyfriend, a friend of theirs, and I went to a Mexican restaurant. Their friend used to be an airline attendant, but she was laid off. She said she would do it again in a heartbeat if they would rehire her. She told a hilarious story about how she got a rabbit, but it sat at her feet making a strange sound, so she returned it to the pet store, only to learn much later that it had simply been bonding with her.

Yesterday was Travalon’s birthday, and he wanted to go to Wollersheim Winery, so we drove to Sauk City and had lunch at the Blue Spoon Diner. He got a free scoop of gelato for his birthday. Then we went to Wollersheim and tried all kinds of wine, including their ice wine, which is $2 just for a taste or $10 for a glass. It was really good. We went to his favorite bar, Pooley’s, and he got a free beer for his birthday, but his choices were Bud Light or Miller Light, so he chose the Bud Light and then couldn’t finish it because it was so bad. Guess we are beer snobs! He also got up to $9 in free food, so we had some cheese curds. Then we went to Red Lobster and had seafood for dinner, and he got a free ice cream sundae, accompanied by some waitresses and me singing “Happy Birthday” to him. Finally we went to Rich’s house, where he and Kathbert were having some leftover desserts. When we were driving to Rich’s house, the clock said 7:28 and Travalon said, “In two minutes I will officially be 28.” Of course that’s not what he meant, but why not go with it? Happy 28^th birthday, Travalon!

Famous Hat

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. 

Famous Hat