R.I.P. Connie Williams

Well, the day came when my friend Connie in Raton lost her battle against cancer. She was diagnosed 2 days before we left Raton, and it was truly hard to say goodbye to her. Other people, I knew I could probably see again, but I knew I was really saying Goodbye to Connie. She has 3 grown kids and several grandchildren, and I hope they can cope with the loss of her presence. They were all very tight-knit, so it will be hard for them.

Sometimes it feels like I've yet to make any real friends here, but I know that there are lots of people at work who care about me. They gave me hugs when I told them about Connie and that was very helpful. The thing about Flagstaff is...you know you're in Flag when someone offers to help you find something at Home Depot and they don't even work there...That's Flag. I stole that from an email circulating at work. Another good one...you spend an hour on the phone talking to someone and it was a wrong number to begin with. Its true. Its Flagstaff. Where else can you clothes for your doggie and de-icer for your bird bath at the local pet store? Yes, de-icer. Can't figure out what its got in it that would be safe for the birds AND keep ice at bay. And despite the mega-snow this winter, lots of people still ride their bikes to work. I mean bicycles, not motorcycles. How they manage it is beyond me.

What do you mean, its February already?

Ok, misplaced December and January. Probably too busy shoveling snow! The kids have not had school on a Monday since before Christmas. There has been a weekend storm every Sunday night! So, we have broken one shovel and seriously damaged another. Was going to get a new one, but we got about a foot of snow last night, so there went that plan!

We did get a new cat. Actually we got two. The first one was psycho. She was afraid of ceiling fans and hid behind the washer for 12 hours at a time. She got returned to the shelter. Poor thing. But the second time, we lucked out. We got a kitten and named her Meko. She is a ferocious, loving, playful thing who has won us all over. She can purr louder than any cat I've met. In fact, her nickname is the Purrinator. Hopefully a photo will attach, but you know how I am about that.

Other than cold and snowy, we are all fine here and enjoying our new hometown.

Slideshow?

OK, there is this thing...a slideshow...and its supposed to be real easy to put in photos. Well, its not. There, I said it. My drafts? Gone. My slideshow? Gone, but some of the pics are here. That's Jocelyn and AJ at Casa Bonita last year. And Mom, Katherine and Amber playing around. I'll try to retrieve the others that went missing as you all may enjoy them as well.

 

 

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Finally, SNOW! And lots of it. Started this weekend and still going, and its helped me get in the mood for Christmas. Actually wrote out some cards this year and its been ages since I last did that. I remember as a kid how the folks got a huge basket of cards every year. Mom would carefully catalog who had sent her a card, who she sent cards to, etc. If she sent and didn't receive for 3 years she would take them off her list. It was very methodical. Me? Not so much. I misplaced my address book in the last move (it will resurface soon, I suppose), so my send list is very hit and miss. Mom had a little file box with addresses and sent/received dates. I have my portable address book that doesn't even have some names in it!

Dave and kids are doing an excellent job in Christmas Carol. My coworker Dana has a son in the show, so at work she was talking about the show. She said "Its worth it just to see the guy playing Scrooge! He is really good!" I said Dave and the kids were in the show too and she said "Which parts do they play?" Oh, an urchin, a servant...and Scrooge. She laughed. She has a sense of humor similar to mine, so we have a good time together and 'get' each other's jokes.

We went to the Christmas Light parade last weekend. It was freezing cold, but fun. AJ had strep throat, so he and I spent Friday evening in the ER. He was much better by Saturday, so he only missed the Friday evening and Saturday matinee performances.

Well, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all! I'm headed into a stretch of night shifts, so I probably won't update this til next year. :-)

RIP Kitty Kat

With heavy hearts, we took Kitty to the vet today and released her from increasing pain. The kids are heartbroken as are we all. Viv did a great job this weekend cleaning Kitty up as hygiene was a huge challenge. Both gave her extra loving which Kitty loved. Her passing was in my arms, very quick and very painless.

Losing her brings all the other losses of the year back into play, but it also helps remind me of great memories. She wandered off in Raton in the middle of winter last year and was gone for some time...days if not a week. We had begun to give up hope as there was frigid cold and a raging storm. I happened to look up at the window, and there she was...ice on her fur, hungry, but alive. When we had returned to NM from Mom's funeral the kitchen was a mess. She didn't knowck over her food bag to get food, but she DID manage to get the CATNIP out of a cupboard and it was all over the kitchen. Who needs food when you have Nip, right?

I shall miss her.