A Simple Page

I found this picture on one of the National Guard sites. I really liked it. The page is terribly simple, but still moving to me.

Home Again

This evening when I got home, I let the dogs out, and I let one wet, hungry, generally annoyed cat in! I fed him, and then wrapped him in a towel and held him for a bit. He purred and became much happier. He was gone for almost 3 full days. I think that's one life down, Grady.

Today I went to the Renaissance Festival with my brother-in-law and family. The rainy weather held off until almost 4, so that was pretty good. We had a good time. It was pretty much the kids first time. (It was my niece's first time and my nephew's first time since he was 8 months old) I took some fun pictures, but like two years ago, I'm not in any of them. That's normally not so bad, but again I wore my renaissance dress with no photos to mark the occasion. Ah well. This is my favorite picture.

Missing: Grady

Yesterday morning when I got up, only Sam was at the bedroom door to greet me. That was strange. Occasionally it's Grady only, but never in almost 13 years has Grady missed walking me downstairs to the food dish. I called him, but he didn't appear. I looked for him yesterday, in the crawlspace, the garage, the little out of the way places he likes to go. No sign of him. I'm not sure if he snuck outside Wednesday night when I let the dogs out, or what happened to him.

The Phone Call from Public Utilities

Tuesday night when I got home there was a message from Public Utilities about an issue with my water meter. I called yesterday, and the woman said that she wanted to send out someone to look at the meter, because she suspected that either the meter was broken, or it wasn't the right type for the computer to read.

Last quarter, I thought our water bill was too high, but I wasn't sure if it was because it was more than 3 months being billed, or if it was because of the sprinkler system, or what. At the time I thought I should call, but I guess I didn't feel like fighting, so I shut down the sprinkler system and paid the $500 water bill.

Now, when I was talking to her, we talked a little about the past bill, and she didn't think that was right, and she said I wouldn't even believe the amount of my new bill. My June-Aug water bill: $2500!

I was chatting with Dave before the utilities man came to check the meter, and we calculated it out... A water bill that high would mean something like 10,000 gallons of water per day. It was so beyond ridiculous, that we had fun with it.
It ended up that the meter was an incorrect type, so it was telling the computer something like 1000 gallons for every 1 gallon used. They're going to review the account to figure out what I should have been billed and what I should be refunded.

A bit random.

Dave did a little bit of traveling over the weekend, but he made it there and back with no trouble. I talked to him on the phone and it sounded like they were putting up circus tents in the background. But I don't think the circus goes there.

Ok, a little explanation from last time: RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, classes to learn about becoming Roman Catholic. The group meets until Easter, and my dear friend Carrie is going to be my sponsor.

Over the weekend, I put together the last page of my Japan scrapbook. Now I have to go through and do the journaling. The two week trip made a 66-page scrapbook. Whew! The only thing I wish I had in there was something about visiting the glassmaking place. Maybe I can beg Chie to send me pictures or a brochure or something... (please please Hamabe sama)

When I was in Japan, one afternoon Chie and I went to a glassmaking place. It was kind of a school, but you could pay and make several kinds of glass objects, like blown glass or stained glass or some glass bead jewelry. I have been fascinated by the glassblowing at the Renaissance Festival for years, and I always consider buying something but I never do. So I thought, how cool, something that I can make myself. So we signed up to do it.

When we walked into the workroom, suddenly I panicked. Chie and were going to be on opposite sides of the room, each working with a glassmaker. A Japanese glassmaker.
My rusty Japanese language experience really didn't cover glassblowing terminology.
But thankfully my instructor spoke just enough English for us to get through it. (Bro hurt = Blow hard) It was really fun. I made a little round vase.

Good news for Rufus

The tests came back on Rufus's foot, it was a benign squamous papilloma tumor; which comes down nearly to being the human equivalent of a wart. So he should be just fine.

Dave sent me a bonsai tree - I'm so excited. It's really cute. It needs a little water daily, so I hope I can build it into my routine. [let the dogs out, feed the cats, water the plant] My only other houseplant, a Christmas cactus, forgives me even if I neglect it for a few --um-- weeks. But the bonsai... I'm really motivated to NOT kill it. Hmm, we'll see.

Tonight was the first night of RCIA. I met the group, and I think this will be a very good experience.

How low can they go?

The gas prices, I mean! The Holiday in Rosemount was $2.23 tonight on my way home. I did a double take. I guess I'm a cynic but I don't expect them to stay low for long. (Is $2.23 low? I don't even know anymore) I think the price hike this summer was a complete scam. But oh well. What can you do, really? Sure, you can forsake that drive to the Dairy Queen for a dilly bar, but you can't stop driving to work. (Well, sometimes.. but you get my point) I suppose many would say the solution is political, but honestly politics bore me to tears.

Rufus is Home

Rufus did very well at the vet today. I made him a nice comfy bed out of blankets on the floor because he's pretty groggy yet.

It's Monday...

I dropped Rufus off at the vet this morning for his surgery. It's nice that he's so curious and social, he happily went back with the tech. While he's under for the foot surgery, they're also going to polish his teeth. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get him some canned dog food as a special treat when he comes home.

I didn't get my 14 hours of sleep on Friday, but I did take a nice nap yesterday. That felt really good. It's been cloudy and cold since Friday, and that always makes me want to curl up with a book and a blanket and something hot to drink.

Busy, busy!

Wow, things are really hopping this week at Too! Sales, drawings, classes, crops, all kinds of fun. Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to pick up my niece and nephew after school, and then I think I'm going to go home and sleep for about 14 hours. Yeah, that sounds nice.

Happy Labor Day

It's Labor Day! And I labored. Actually I worked at the scrapbook store and it was really a fun day. Lots of fun people. (You know who you are!) The day went by quickly and we got a bunch of things done. I don't know what I would have done with myself if I had had three days off in a row. I probably would have busied myself drinking all the wine in the house. ;)
I'm kidding. (Ok, the humor is that we have more than 200 bottles of wine. But it's not funny if you think I'm really a lush. I'm not. Honest. I'd be fast asleep after about one bottle. And then the room does that awful spin-y thing. So I'm kidding.)
Dave told me about some of the things that may be in the works in the next year for him. It's too early to talk about, but does anybody know where I can cast my vote? Hey Army, here's what I want. Hm? Anybody?

Roo's News

Rufus had a pretty good weekend, thanks to a stylin' red dog bootie that Sadie's mom brought over. He's pretty much accepted the fact that he's stuck with the bootie, so he actually spent most of the weekend without the cone. When he's home alone, I'll put it on him though... I don't trust him that much. He also has been surprisingly patient when I put a sandwich baggie over his foot so he can go out in the rain.

As for me, I had a pretty quiet weekend, but good. It's hard to believe that Dave and I got engaged one year ago on Labor Day, and then had to say goodbye. Hitting the one year mark is a big milestone. It means that the deployment is two-thirds over.