Second Childhood vs Insanity

I give you my single case-study, Katherine the Cat.  She and another of our cats, Cleo, have both recently hit 10 years old.  Cleo is just as crazy now as she always has been, she was starved for so long that she was little more than a skeletal model of a cat when we brought her home.  During that time, something happened to her mind.

Kat, on the other hand, appeared sane, if a little eccentric at times.  She did things like drop maimed-but-moving mice into the house via an open window and then leave.  She used to sit in a tree directly over the kids while they played and yowl if they moved out of her watch zone.  She would try to pull me out of the tub by my arm if she was able to bust down the bathroom door.  If she could not open it, she'd mash her face under the crack and meow like she was on fire.  She did other things, she'd wait until someone was asleep and either bite their feet or push her way under your hand, like a self-petting device.  Or else she'd check your breathing by jamming a muzzle into your mouth.

Over the years, she's wavered in her levels off annoying.  She routinely disappeared for days at a time, we'd see her on the barn roof or on top of the house, or way up in a tree.  Then, she'd be back at the door, demanding entry.  I have probably called for her 9,000 times and she's actually come twice.

For the past year or two, she's been nearly out of our lives.  Setting up in one of the crates I keep dry bedding in out in the shed, she opted for a life of solitude.  She and Muta have some kind of cat truce going on in which they will clean one another's ears and then stalk off afterward like it was the most disgusting thing ever.  Other than that, she does not interact with anyone.

Starting about 6 months ago, she started coming back inside again.  She has to be let out every so often as she will not use the litter box since The Spider Incident of 2006 during which, a spider got in the litter box.

Since then, I have changed her name from Lady Katherine Tallahassee Berryhill to Katherine Anne McGillicutty because she is NOT the same cat.  Now, her evenings are spent sitting in front of the closed bedroom door doing fierce battle with her tail, which makes the door rattle like a crazed killer is outside and when we open it, she stares blithely off in the middle distance, as though nothing was going on.  I only discovered the source of the rattling one night when Matt went to bed early and I stayed up to watch a movie with the kids.

She has a toy mouse she plays with, she has become addicted to cat treats, which we call Kitty Crack because she will climb your body to get to them.  She will also carry on like she's dying if her food bowl is not filled with them.  She has started needing someone to bless her food before she will touch it.  It was okay for a while to bump the bowl and make it rattle, then you had to actually poke a toe in it, now nothing short of bending over to stir it with your finger will shut her up. 

She wants toys hung on yarn so she can lay on her back and bat at them.  She demands sacrifice of a towel from the dryer to lay upon and shed her sheddy bits.  Not just a CLEAN towel, it must be warm as well.  And be from a load that has fabric softener in it.

I can't tell if she's reset and become a kitten again or if she's gone over the edge and is borderline psycho.  And I can't tell how she's managed to train us so specifically, the tiny dictator.

Saturday of Mild

One of the last tornado-damaged houses still standing in Cullman.

I love an easy-going weekend, well, an easy-going life.  But having down time and a chance to just hang out and be with people we really like without much in the way of heavy planning or effort-it's the best.

It started off yesterday when we dropped the kids off with Suzette and Matt and I headed to Athens and picked up our new papasan chair and couch!  I bought it off Craigslist from a guy who was moving, I had my doubts given the amazing price he was asking.  When we got there, his house was very clean, the furniture was in excellent condition and he was quite nice to boot!  I had asked about cats and smokers and the shape of the frame and all checked out perfectly-some minor marks, nothing damaged, we loaded it all up and came toward home. 

We opted to stop in Decatur and gave Daddy some ear mite stuff for Stoney on the way to Athens to kill a little time and we ate before picking up the furniture, so on the way back down the Interstate, we stopped in at the Refuge and talked to Daphne a little while, then walked a couple miles on Airport Road until Matt's foot started hurting from his shoe.

We decided to go on in to town and hit Academy and the thrift store, so we picked up a few things at both places-socks and a pull over at Academy and pants at the thrift store.  Ben has 2 pairs that fit him at the moment, he shot up again and is taller than Chan.  Now he has 6 pairs!  Go, Thrift!

Back at home, we set up the new stuff and moved things around a little, then lounged and ate nachos and watched 4 episodes of Fringe back to back.  I have NO idea why we thought Fringe would be a safe 'eating' show, there were giant worms coming out of people's mouths in the first episode alone, plus a vivid dissection and something covered in red Jell-o.  LOL  By LOL, I mean *barf*.  

When we got in, Chan's new backpack had arrived and was in Matt's car, so I looked it over and put it in her room.  This afternoon I had a little more time, so I pulled it back out to look over more closely and checked all the buckles, straps, zippers and grommets.  It's in GREAT shape, I think she will get many years use from it.  It's identical to the one I have used for the past 20 years.  I paid $40 for it, delivered and was happy to get such a great price.  When I put it back in her room, I saw a tag and pulled it out from under the shoulder strap and it said $12 Salvation Army.  hahahaha!  Ah well.

Today we went to Suzette's and got Ben and Chandler back along with Britney.  She bartered Jake off for a few days elsewhere.  We met up with Katy and her family and Gina and walked a little over 5 miles on the Refuge.  Afterward, Ben went home with Alex and Chan went home with Britney, so Matt and I have had TWO nights to ourselves!  I can't think when that last happened, maybe once last year.  Last night he played on his computer while I messed with my farm on Harvest Moon.  We stumbled to bed around midnight and crashed.  Not quite super-romantic. I'd like to say tonight we will make more of an effort, but I really want to check on my pumpkins and he's already playing his game!  hahaha 

Here is my haircut:

Sunset on the main road the other night:

 

A few shots from our walk, I was really too busy talking non stop to mess with photos.

 

I LOVE Matt's 3 day weekends, we still have a whole nother day left!  We just got in from downtown and picked up Looper to watch and a few goodies from the store (and pet food and laundry detergent).  Matt is making dinner now, what a great day!  One for the records.  : )

Two Down!

Chandler got her braces off yesterday, it was a successful treatment and other than wisdom teeth out later this year, she only needs 3-month retainer visits for another year and we will be done.  Hers are all paid for, too.

To be fair, I took Ben in for an evaluation.  He did not want braces and was fine with his little gap, though I decided I wanted a second opinion and I was the youngest of 3, time and money run out so often before the youngest gets stuff and often he is in second hand clothes and borrowing shoes because his feet have grown and I have not moved him up a size, he gets last choice pretty often and while I would have loved to not spend the money on another set of braces, I was not about to let that be the issue.

So, off we went, and he needs them, badly.  He has an underbite that is pretty well disguised at the moment because his lower teeth are tilting back as his lower jaw grows.  But when he closes his teeth together, they don't meet in the back.  We may be too late in getting him braces, there's a good chance he will need jaw surgery to correct it when he's in his late teens, but we are going to try.  Jake was in the same boat, opposite jaw.  His lower jaw was too short.  And we avoided surgery in his case, so I am hopeful. 

If Ben has to have the surgery, he will have to go back into braces afterward as well.  So we may get to pay for braces twice for him. But there's no sense borrowing trouble from some future date, it's a waste of energy to worry about it now.  6 years is a world of change in a child and a family, Matt may have a different job, better insurance, I may have a job by then-there could be all kinds of changes in our lives, no need to give it that much focus now.  Much.  I can't say I don't worry about it, that's a LOT of money and also not the least of it-surgery on my child.  No one can just shrug that off totally. 

Anyway, Chan looks great, if a little freaky.  Different freaky, not freaky freaky.  She has this teeny little mouth, so all I have seen for nearly 2 years is the brackets.  Now she has these little square white teeth in there!   And more of them and they are arranged so nicely.  It's a pain to budget in the initial down payment, but I have to say, it really is worth it for them to have not only the structural advantages of a perfect bite, but also to be so pretty!  LOL  Everyone wants to look nice and a great smile is no small matter to self esteem.

Cane Creek Canyon Finale

We headed out early New Year's Eve to go hike at Cane Creek Canyon.  The weather forecast called for clearing skies, but it never happened, we saw the sun once all day.  Overhead, the clouds were lined like the photo above, it was REALLY hard to focus while driving, we called them optical illusion clouds.

We arrived, signed in, headed out on the trail and stopped at the waterfall. In the first pool, about 15 feet down, there was a turtle on its back, we thought it was dead.  Jake climbed down to try to fish it out so Ben would not be upset to see it and when he moved it, it started struggling again. 

Matt zipped down to help and got himself soaked, but was able to flip the turtle back over and get him out of the water.  The poor thing had probably been swept over in the rain water and managed to land on his back, he was only just able to get his head above the water to breathe.  It was SO cold, we rubbed on him some and moved him back up the hillside.  The second set of falls is a 45 foot drop, he would have been dead for sure. 

We talked about moving him to the bottom of the falls, but turtles have a home range and if they get moved out of it, they can die.  The bottom of the falls would be foreign territory.

Look at that sweet boy, he was so tense, even seeing the turtle was moving all it's parts did not make him feel much better.

The first drop! 

We walked on back to the point and took the steep trail down to Linden Meadows and made tracks to our favorite campsite back at Creekside.  From there we headed toward Delony Hollow and climbed the trail to The Fin.

Ben and Chan were ZONKED all day, any time we stopped, they tried to nap.  On the way up, Ben had a relapse to 3 and wanted me to carry him out! 

Less than a mile in our 7 mile hike, Jake breaks out his snack.

Down at the creek, we met back up with the kids at Linden Meadows.  They go SO much faster than we do now, it's lots of hurry up and wait when they hike.  I imagine they could cover some major ground if let loose.

I felt rotten all day, I could not get enough air-all stuffed up.  That made my head hurt, which was made worse with any heart rate increase.  I took a couple rounds of painkillers to no avail.  I had taken Benedryl the night before and did not sleep enough to get that woozy feeling out of my skull and body and that was all I had on me to take for congested head.  I knew not to take more of it.  The only time my heart rate went over 50 BPM all day was when I was walking uphill or had consumed caffeine.  It was a good bit like being underwater all day.

The reunion is joyful.

At Creekside, our favorite little swimming hole is full and the campsite itself looks pretty bleak! 

We hiked up to The Fin and back out, the kids waited for us near Blue Hole and we made the push out together...for a bit.  We opted to take the Steep Trail out and they got WAY ahead again as Matt and I huffed and puffed and I lamented EVER being able to climb steep trails without feeling like I am going to keel over.

At the top, the kids were arranged in various poses of exhaustion, so at least they get tired climbing, too.  Just don't have the sense to stop and rest a bit to keep going...

Jake looks down for the count...

I perform the time-honored reflex test.

It LIVES!  It's annoyed, too.

Chan, in her final braced week!

This, being the only photo I have of all three recently, will be next year's Christmas card photo.

Matt attempts to jolt Ben back to action.

We walked back by the waterfall to check on the turtle and he was long gone, hopefully back home!  I slipped on the way down and CRACKED my rear end.  Luckily NOT on my mangled coccyx at least, but this morning I have a fist-sized bruise and it's very tender.  Waa

Before we left, Faye hooked us up with a TON of turnips and loads of greens and kale.  We have been cooking since we got home.

From the drive home:

It was a great way to end the old year, all together and outside...freezing.  It was chilly all day! 

When we got home, I had a final burst of energy and we got all the laundry washed and put away, including what we had worn hiking.  I crawled in to bed just after midnight, Matt had gone to bed ahead of me so he could get my side warm. 

When I woke up today, it was with another splitting headache and stuffed-up head, so I have walked 155 steps (it's after 4) compared to the 2 previous days of over 18,000 steps each day.  I hope THAT does not set my standard for the new year.  But, sometimes a thing is merely a thing and not a omen.  Today my thing is achy head.