Belated Merry Christmas

I drove down to my brother's place on Christmas Eve.

It's a bit of a drive, farther than going to the coast clinic in fact.  The I5 part of the trip seemed to go on forever and ever.  I just wanted to pull off somewhere and sleep.

But I did get there in time for Christmas Eve dinner--fondue.  We always used to have fondue when we were growing up, for Christmas Eve. Gloppy melted cheese in a pot kept warm by candles or, later on, electric plate.  We had fondue forks and used them to spike bread pieces or apple slices, then dip them in the cheese.

It was fun.  And the fondue was gloppy good.  Yes I am lactose intolerant but I indulged anyhow and seem to have suffered no consequences.   My niece was there with her boyfriend and told doctor stories, since she is in last year residency.  She's in the army.  Her boyfriend was in the army 8 years but now is out and is getting an advanced degree in business.  He's very smart and a nice guy.  My niece is very smart and extremely funny.

They were both tired after having driven down the day before from Washington state.  Five more hours distance than I drove.

I slept well and Christmas day we had breakfast at Bandon Dunes.   My brother has done a lot of work on that golf course, as a contractor and wanted to show me.  It was magnificent.  He is a very talented builder.  I think of him as an artist in blue jeans and a carhart coat.

Later on, when his wife's sister and daughter and her boyfriend arrived for dinner, we drove out to my brother's son's property.  He and his wife had finally bought a piece of property and intend to one day build a simple house on it, have a big garden space, etc.  They were not in town, since they went to his wife's family for Christmas.

We walked around the remote property, much of it forested and lots of junk buried in the foliage that they have to dig out.  Stuff like rolls of chain link fence, all kinds of things.  I went down into the forested part and ended up face planting.  I didn't see a line of wire, barbed wire no less, ankle level, covered in foliage. It was almost like a booby trap and who knows, rural pot farmers used to make them.  My foot was under it unknown to me, and when I moved the other foot forward it caught under it too.  No win there, and with my forward momentum I went down face first.  I was able at least to get my arms up to protect my face from any branches or rocks before planting into the brush.  I'm a little sore today, but lucky I did not get hurt.   Probably shouldn't walk on that property til they get all that hidden junk out of there.

We had a dinner of roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes, then I had to take off for home.  The drive home seemed so much quicker, as I went the coast route instead of almost all freeway.  It's just a more interesting and pretty drive, not the boring sameness of the interstate.

Wasn't much more than a 24 hour trip but I sure enjoyed seeing family.  My brother's wife's family, they're also very nice.  Her sister's daughter and boyfriend are such a darling funny couple.

I get home and was here and cleaning the mess the cats made while I was gone, and I hear a commotion, then pathetic little cries.  Sassy is on the floor on her side, has peed herself and isn't moving.  I scoop her up, realize she's probably fallen, and so try to keep her spine straight, and take her into the bathroom and put her on a heat pad, give her some warm fluids, try to figure what is going on.   She hasn't been right since her last vet visit, where all her remaining teeth were pulled.  I've had to give her sub cu fluids, but she's hard to catch and I can't keep her up on them.  I knew  she wasn't long for this world, but I was very sad last night when I realized she was dead.  I imagine she had a stroke or heart event.

My dear tiny Sassy, rest in peace.  She was one of those 9 cats who have been here since 2010, from a mobile home manufacturing business that didn't want them back after I caught them.  All were adults when I caught them with severe dental issues.  Most of the those left, seven now, have no teeth at all.  Sassy's sister, Alexi, also is not doing well, after the last of her teeth were pulled.  Rogue, the only boy of those 9, is slowing severely too.  I don't know any of their true ages, just that they have been here ten years.   Goodbye my mischievous shadow.

I should add that Q left on Monday.  I took him up to Karen in Portland, after she got off work.   A kitten rescued by a friend went too, and she took him also.  Both boys went to OHS on Christmas Eve.  Karen had secured permission to get them in there.  It was a godsend as there is nowhere here accepting cats at all.  We have no services for cats in the county where I live.  Rocky will be fixed tomorrow.  I'm fortunate to get an FCCO appointment.  He is cage weary and will have to return once fixed as there's nowhere for him to go, being a wild boy.  But at least he will be fixed and not reproducing.   Or fighting.  It's the best I can do for him.