And Then There Were Two *

Last Friday, our cat, Lucky, died. It was time. He lived a good 18 years.

We got Lucky. with his sister Lucy, as a young kitten from one of Theo's classmates. When Lucky, a black** kitten, was a few weeks old, he followed his mother out a door that closed on him before he was all of the way through. His family thought the slamming door had killed him, but no, Lucky had other ideas. When he came to us a few weeks later, he was a healthy, playful kitten that we named Lucky because of the good luck he had already had in his young life.

It was soon evident that he was the dominant cat over his litter mate Lucy, a sweet gentle girl. Three years later he remained the top cat when the other two cats, Leo and Annie, came into the house. Despite constant challenges from Annie, Lucky remained in charge. No need for swats or growls to keep the others in line. A stern look from him was all that it took.

As part of his leadership role, he was a leader in the food department. He was the one who got to eat first and the one who opened the food bag for the others. He could tear a hole in a new bag of food in no time flat. Then the others got to enjoy the spoils of his efforts. We tried to put the food away as soon as we got it, but he was amazingly fast at this trick.

He also got first crack at the prey that ventured into our house. He didn't bring the dead mouse or mole to us as many cats do, he hid them under one particular rug in the basement. The same rug that he did his trick of laying on his side and running around the edge of it. We don't know what all of that meant in cat behavior, but I guess he did.

Lucky was also a relaxed cat who enjoyed a good lap to purr on and a pat from anyone--stranger or not. Even the vet. That was until he had some medical problems that needed invasive procedures. After that, the the vet was not his friend. In fact, sometimes it took two or three of the most experienced people at the vet's to help Lucky with what he needed. Can't say that I blamed him. I wouldn't have been very happy with the people who poked and prodded me for no good reason that I could understand. But he and I survived as well as the other cats whom he hissed at for several days after they had been to the vet.

He was also our adventure kitty. All of our cats were indoor cats. They were curious about the outside, but happy to watch the show from a window. A door left open by mistake might get a cat creeping outside, but never a dash. So we couldn't figure out how and why we would occasionally find Lucky outside meowing at a window to come back in. He seemed happy, just ready to come inside for a little warmth. Sometimes he had been out all night and we didn't even know he was out there. He helped us figure out one time that we had a torn screen (maybe he tore it), but other times we never figured out how he made it out. But he always came back.

I have 18 years of stories to tell about Lucky, too numerous to tell all of them here. Let me just say that there is an emptiness in our house now that wasn't there last week. Lucky had a good long life that we are very grateful for and he will be missed.

*We now have two cats, Annie and Leo.

**On first glance, Lucky was a black cat. But a further look revealed more. Each one of his hairs was black tipped, but the rest of it was light grey often giving him a curious look. The vet called him a tabby because of the stripes on his tail and officially a Domestic Short Hair. We called him Lucky.

Post I Never Got Around To

I sometimes have an idea for post or take a picture for one that never quite makes it to the blog. It seems I get distracted by something and forget about my idea and move on.  Then while looking for something else, I run onto them. I find it hard to find the time to develop them all, so I thought I'd do some abbreviated versions before I forget about them again. Here is my first post in the Posts I Never Got Around To series. (I plan more, but we'll see.)

A Few Pictures From Around the Yard Over the Last Month, A Second Look so to speak.

You saw another picture of these cosmos in my last post, but I wanted to elaborate on one of the comments I made there. The local Girl Scout troop did a project on bees and one of the points they made was to plant plants that attract bees. To encourage that, they made bee bombs which were soil balls embedded with seeds. I wasn't sure what was in them, but this is what came up from my bombs. I think this would be a fun project for other kids. 

Stinkhorn fungi. I found these for the first time last year in another location in the yard. They come from little white puffballs in the ground. It will be interesting to see where they pop up next year.

I got two, small, inexpensive ($1.77 each) mums from Aldi's last year that came back quite nicely this year. I especially like their round form. 

We have yellow mums in the back that were there when we moved in.

They have continued to spread and fill quite a large spot. I want to do some more with this bed, but hate to disturb the mums because they are really happy in this location.

I was going to take more pictures to go with each one of these, but, well, you know.

Until next time... :)

Harpers Ferry

Last weekend, Ward and I wanted to get out of the house. We weren't in very good moods and thought a distraction was needed. After several considerations, we headed for Harpers Ferry, WV, which was about an hour or so from our house.

Harpers Ferry is a small historic town that is perhaps most famous for John Brown's Raid in 1859. Brown was an abolitionist and attacked a federal armory there hoping to start a liberation movement among the slaves. Things went badly for him and he was eventually hanged for treason.

However, there is more to see than the spot where Brown's raid took place. The town has many of the original houses that have been turned into museums. But this visit, we didn't go to study the civil war or way of life 150 years ago, we went to see a collapsible boat designed by Merriweather Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. We have visited Harpers Ferry a few times over the years and had never heard of this boat. We saw it online and we were curious.

Harpers Ferry is a National Park and as national parks are so good at, they had a bus service to take us into town. The day was a little cold and windy (or refreshing as Ward would say) so I didn't take many pictures because my hands were in my pockets most of the time.  However, below are a few of them.

Harpers Ferry is interesting geographically. It is at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers and is where Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia meet. We were not at a good angle for a shot, but this is where the two rivers meet.

The Appalachian Trail goes through the town, so Ward has visited the area more than I have on backpacking trips. Notice the railroad bridge in the background. There is a close up of it in the next picture.

There was a nice footbridge across the river next to the railroad tracks that we crossed to the other side to explore. However, something happened along the way back. I remembered I was afraid of heights and decided the best idea was to get back to solid ground as soon as possible. That's me hightailing it in the blue. Ward took his time examining how the bridge was built. He said the only thing that would have made it better was if a train had crossed while he was on it.

However, we did see three different trains throughout the afternoon. I enjoyed them along with Ward when I was on terra fima.

This is where John Brown's raid took place. Have you noticed that we're meandering a bit on our way to find the collapsible boat?

Not only did Lewis build his boat here, he secured other supplies for his trip.

The boat was to be carried with the other equipment and used in inaccessible areas where the wooden boats wouldn't go. The details of the boat did not photograph well, but you can get an idea of how big it was from Ward at the edge of the picture. The original boat was never found, but this replica was built from Lewis's notes.

The collapsible iron frame was covered with animal skins and sealed with pine tar. It did well in tests on the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry.  However, the exploration party didn't need to use the boat until Montana where there were no pine trees for tar to seal the seams. The other things they tried as sealants didn't work, so down it went. I was disappointed to hear that it didn't work, but probably not as much as Lewis and Clark and the others on the exposition. 

We came home in a better mood and did a little of our own exploring in our yard where we found these cosmos that seemed to have gown a foot overnight.

Thankful Sunday, October 28, 2018

I am thankful for later sunrises.

This was at official sunrise time, 7:32 am, this morning. However, the first light was peaking from the clouds about 45 minutes before that.

It seems no matter what I do, most nights I fall asleep at approximately the same time.  But I wake up according to the sun. As soon as the first light creeps from the sky into our bedroom, I'm awake. That means in the summer when sunrise is 5:30 am or so, I'm sleep deprived. But this time of year when sunrise is an hour or two later, I get more sleep. That makes for a happier me and a better day for all of those around me. So for a later sunrise, I am thankful.

One Last Day

Maine Trip, Day 7, Monday

We had one last day in Maine before we were heading home. We decided we would visit another must see for a Maine visit--a light house. Our destination was the Pemiquid Light House. We had been there before and wanted to go back because of the interesting rocky shore. Our goal was to go in the morning before it was supposed to start raining in the afternoon. We made it and left as the clouds and a tour bus rolled in.

The Pemaquid Lighthouse was built in 1835 and became automated in 1934. You might recognize it because it is featured on the Maine state quarter.

The shore is rocky and an interesting place to climb around or sit and watch the waves.

The rocks are also interesting to study. The metamorphic gneiss rock has been intruded by igneous rocks to make some interesting formations.

The actual lighthouse was closed for the day, but the museum in the keeper's house was open. I asked for a tour and this man delighted in showing us items and telling stories about them. 

We saw several monarchs here. We also saw a few at Salisbury Beach earlier in the week. Not sure if these are stragglers or they haven't started their migration yet.

After the lighthouse visit, we headed toward Damariscotta for lunch and at stop at Reny's, a Maine discount store. That was where we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing the decorated pumpkins. By the time we left, it was raining steadily, but Ward wanted to go a little out of the way to try to find Lie-Nielson that we had passed on our way to Bar Harbor. Lie-Nielson makes high end woodworking tools that Ward had read about but never seen.

Lie-Nielson is known for its high quality hand woodworking tools. They are sold all around the world, but this is where they are all made.

Ward enjoyed examining and trying out the tools in the showroom.

I asked the woman in the showroom if they gave tours and she said that there was enough time to take us on one right then. It pays to ask because that was the second time that day we got an unscheduled tour. Here our tour guide is telling us about some plane caps that are in progress.

These men were polishing plane irons. Ward was fascinated with the processes and was in seventh heaven during the whole visit. I appreciated the tour even though I didn't understand everything they were working on.

We were getting tired, so it was time to go back to my sister's house and pack our things for tomorrow's departure. However, on the way, we stopped at another Maine tradition, Moody's Diner.

Moody's has been around since 1927 and is a good, old fashioned, family-owned diner. They are famous for the many different kinds of pies they make. So what did we have? Pie, of course. Blueberry for Ward and apple for me. :)

The next day it was back to reality when we arrived home after a bumpy, but uneventful flight. I can definitely say that a good time was had by all on our trip to Maine. :)