After the Funeral

So Cat's Grandpa died over the weekend after several days of not having any brain activity. Several of Cat's relatives poked him, whispering things to the effect of "Teddy, you forgot to turn your body off when you left." So Cat's Mom and Bother were their when he actually died. Then everyone descended on the house (including little children - ah!), and they had a Big Fat Polish Funeral. In addition to black and white, many people wore red - I guess that's from the Polish flag. Also Cat's Grandpa wore it all the time. And they served Polish sausage at the luncheon - and a concertina player (that's an accordion folks) played polkas through the luncheon. Cat says the grave site thing was nice. They put him next to Cat's Uncle Scottie - she's glad the little boy isn't alone now. They did the Catholic prayer thing and then the V.A. did their bit. They were too cheap to get him hearing aids while he was alive, but they did send four nice young service men to help the old guys do the gun salute thing and the stuff with the flag.

Cat's birthday sort of got postponed - you know people were busy with other things that had to be done so they could bury Grandpa on time. That was okay - Cat didn't feel like having a fuss then anyway. Though her Aunt decided last minute to make a cake, and that was good. Not a lot of fuss - just enough to know it wasn't forgotten. So one of these days, Cat will actually have her birthday.

Christmas is also low key, though we do have plenty of presents to guard. Sheepy seems to want to steal them . . . we'll have to keep an eye on her.

Hopefully, we'll get to see some of our friends before we get dragged back to Champaign or out to Michigan, but plans are still really shaky and Cat's not sure when she's going to be where.

Bad News, Bad Time

Cat's Grandpa is dying. It sucks. We're in Michigan instead of under the Christmas Tree at home or at Cat's Mom and Dad's.

Miss Caitlin, the Computer Hog

It turns out that a masters degree in Library and Information Science requires a person to be on the computer a great deal of the time. Miss Caitlin has been constantly doing homework for her computer networking class or her cataloging class, and then she turns it off to read for her children's literature assignments. It is most vexing.

Miss Caitlin has made it into the K-12 Media Specialist program, meaning she will be certified to work in Illinois schools as a librarian. She has to take a bunch of education classes, so that won't be hard, but then she has to do a practicum and student teaching. I am not at all interested in this part of her education - sticky children are not at all interesting to me.

Miss Caitlin is still ill and not sleeping. The sleep specialist has gotten back to her saying her sleep study was "inconclusive." Miss Caitlin thinks that means they want to get more of her money. But she needs to sleep so . . .

In happier news, Deirdre and Miss Adrien came to visit. They young ladies spent their time on campus mostly, while Deirdre stayed with us. However, Tipsy positively hung on her the whole time, so I was unable to meet with Deirdre alone.

She will travel this week for Thanksgiving to visit her Grandparents and immediate family. Hopefully she will remember to take us as well.

Departure for Libraryland

Miss Caitlin and I head tonight to Chicago, where we will attend the annual American Library Association conference. We will be staying at her bother's house, which is a bit away from the conference, though on the correct CTA line to arrive there. She has a loose schedule of interesting things for us to do, though the main point is to go and see how an annual conference works, so that in the future she can take better advantage of it. In the future, in this case, refers to a time when she would be actively seeking a job.

I hope to have pictures to display from the conference, in addition to reports on all the interesting things we learn while there. Fear not, we will continue posting pictures of Josey on her adventures, and I believe that Dierdre also sent us some to post from the National Park she works at.

False Alarm

Cat's still miserable. Air test said mold's not enough to be causing the continued problems. What is causing the problem? No one's sure . . . isn't that exciting? Meanwhile Cat is stupid, incompetent, and really frustrated about it. Examples include repeatedly needing to be shown how to override holds at the public library, replying to a list of people instead of just the one she wants to talk to in an email (even though she HATES people who do that), not being able to read her text book because the words "won't stay still," and leaving us here TWICE when she went to visit her family (and, you know, half our friends). So mostly she cries about it, since no one can figure out anything constructive to do about it. Comfort tries to, you know, comfort her, but there's only so much that can be done. It's been going on for MONTHS now and no one's got a clue. And somehow this is an excuse for her to hog the computer . . .

In other news, more pictures from Josey. These are from some monasteries in Meteora. Look at the view! Josey seemed to like this weekend trip, but CFJ writes in her email that it was really tiring because of all the hiking, and she got annoyed because she had to keep wearing a skirt! I remember Cat had a tie-on skirt she would put on when we visited churches when we went. CFJ says Josey had it easy because she was in her coat pocket - coat pocket!! I'm glad we always had Cat's bag. That seems more roomy, though Cat kept shoving OTHER stuff in, like souvenirs and stuff. Anyway, the Plan continues . . .

Sickness . . . to be Fixed Soon?

Miss Caitlin has been sick and hogging the computer. She has not been getting much done besides work and her practicum at a local library. She had an expert in mold abatement come and he said that the people hired by the landlord were at best mistaken when they said that there was no visible mold. At worst they were induced to report as the landlord wished. Either possibility has Miss Caitlin . . . frustrated with the landlord. She awaits the results of the air testing.

In other news, Josey has gotten back to us about the continuation of the Plan! She has been very busy. We will put up her photographs over a few posts. Here she is on the island of Crete, exploring the labyrinths of Knossos.




It seems Josey had critical bow failure in most of the pictures and spent most of the time trying to not lose it. She had other things to occupy her mind while on her adventures.

Late in Posting, as Usual

We have again have been lax in posting. I blame Miss Caitlin - she has been ill and very busy and she has quite hogged all the computer time.

Miss Caitlin's illness is thought to be linked to mold (or something else toxic) in her apartment. We have just returned from spending several days away, during which Miss Caitlin's health improved significantly. She has contacted her landlord and they are looking into the problem and possible solutions. Miss Caitlin fears that it may mean moving to another apartment.

No word from Josey. Miss Caitlin suggests, and I concur, that this is likely due to the fact the CFJ and Josey are occupied with a variety of things, which may not include writing to us. Additionally, there is a major delay in mailing times between here and Greece.

Miss Caitlin has finished classes for the semester, and has a bit of a break for the next few weeks during which she is only working. Mrs. Caitlin's Mother will likely come down next week to help Miss Caitlin clean. Cleaning would probably mitigate Miss Caitlin's illness until further action can be taken. Or so Miss Caitlin hopes.

The ants have not returned, though the spiders are moving back in. Miss Caitlin will be glad to finish cleaning, as the spiders are less likely to be a problem after a good cleaning.

Sping Break

We have confirmed successful initiation of the Plan. I repeat, confirmed success. We have received word from Caitlin's Favorite Junior (hereafter referred to as CFJ) that Josey, acting as an agent on behalf of all animals who currently own Miss Caitlin, has arrived safely in Greece and is studying the area with CFJ.

CFJ wrote us a letter, informing us that Josey had arrived in Athens, but that she had been a little jet lagged from the trip in the box. The week she arrived, she recovered while CFJ went to class, then CFJ took Josey on a short trip to Crete, where it seems they visited several Minoan sites. CFJ writes that the site at Phaestos is very well preserved - I am rather jealous that Josey has the opportunity to visit such a historic site. CFJ reports that their next trip should be to Sparta. I am positive that more information will be forthcoming as CFJ has the chance to write. She had not found a place to let her upload her pictures, but she assures us that she did take some. Perhaps by the time Josie returns and can tell us all herself, the pictures will be available.

In other news, I feel it is necessary to point out that this was not uploaded sooner because Miss Caitlin went to visit her family, took the computer, but did not take us. So we missed the opportunity to see Percy, the King, Dog, and all our other friends at Miss Caitlin's Mother and Father's house. She remembered to take the tax documents away from Tipsy so they would be packed, but she did not take us. Just to be clear.

Yesterday, to make things exciting, the kitchen was invaded from the outside. They were small. They were black. And they were all over the sink. Miss Caitlin's Mother thinks the ants were probably after water - which was odd since it had just rained. But so far there is no evidence that hte ants made it into any food. Miss Caitlin purchased some spray and traps, which have taken care of this wave of the invasion. Miss Caitlin fears that they have only momentarily retreated to regroup, and that they will assail us again. She encourages us all to constant vigilance. Meanwhile, the caustic odor of the spray lingers in kitchen.

So March

Hi. Tipsy here. This has been a strange weekend. On Friday, it was unofficial St. Patrick's Day. Cat accidentally wore green. She said it was a bad choice, though only one person asked if she'd been drinking. Most people seemed to get it that she's a little too smart to start drinking at 8 a.m. on a day she has class and work (and game). She had to spend the whole day dodging green-clad drunk people. It was stupid, and everything smelled bad.

It's been warm. Yay, we turned the heat way down. It's been raining lots. That's cool. It's nice spring rain. It's really windy. Like no kidding windy. It seems this rain and wind thing was too much for U of I. They have no power. That's right, U of I has no power. And here we thought the only time the U of I lost power was in the LARP's games.

So Cat has no Tae Kwon Do, since the rec building is closed for the foreseeable future. This is sad because she is supposed to test for the next belt next weekend. But she has a lot of stuff to do and isn't feeling well, so it's sorta good she has a break.

Cat's gonna have people over to teach them Euchre and other card games on Friday. It's like sharing family bonding with people who are not family. Cat has to clean before Friday though.

No news on the Plan since its initial implementation. We hope to hear more soon.

Oops.

So, we didn't post in January. Cat is all better, though she is still relearning to breathe through her nose. She seems happy about her classes. She comes home from the Family's house this sort of blue color. Cat says she's helping the Family's Mom paint. I think she wants to be a Smurf.

So Deirdre sent us some pictures. It seems she and Miss Adrien went to some other park-type places.


This is Deirdre on a morter at Yorktown Battlefield. There was a battle there. In the Civil War. That's all I got on that.


Here she's at Jamestown - It seems like she really likes cannons. At least now she is sitting ON them instead of INSIDE it.


This is also Jamestown. It looks like a really old house. I don't have more info than that. But it's all good to see Deirdre and know that she is okay.

So, in other news, Josie has been chosen to be in charge of a Plan. We roped Cat into the conspiracy; we needed some money and a car to make it work. Otherwise, we wouldn't bother because Cat's like no fun. How well the Plan succeeds depends on Cat's Favorite Junior. Hopefully, she will go along with The Plan. Here is Josey at the inception of our Plan.


Josey, we're rooting for you. Plus, we'll be pissed if you mess up our sweet Plan. Just keep that in mind. Favorite Junior as well, if you don't go along with the plan, we'll be sad.