We had a nice, slightly Gothic, AirBnB in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Felix and I, who have not lived together since 2014, have a relationship that might be considered co-dependent if we spent that much time together: at dawn, he makes some whiny noises just in case a human will respond. I will, needing to get out of bed around 7 AM under any circumstances. That leads to a bowl of food and a walk. We both like this very much, although I don't know how disruptive it is to his normal routine. On Thanksgiving, the 7 AM temp was just about 0. I'd looked at the forecast before packing, and was prepared, with a down jacket, heavy gloves, a hat, and insulated boots. The dog gave up before I did-- a small, rare, victory.
A shout-out to Will Baird: your songs (and guitar accompaniment) are sounding great.
After the turkey, and the turkey tikka masala, we headed to Vermont, to visit my cousin Barbara and her husband Michael. I love every trip to Vermont, and wonder why we don't seriously consider moving there (mud season, possibly?). Michael was putting up his Christmas lights, and I pretended to help. Truthfully, I probably attached more lights in 20 minutes or so with Michael than I had ever previously set up. He's got it all worked out in advance--without my "help," he would probably have finished in 10 minutes, and gone on to something else. We watched old silent family movies, transcribed to modern digital formats--many more to come, and sampled some excellent local beer and non-local whiskey.
The next stop was Frederick, MD, home to the last of the Kerber-Bogar clan. We had some fun, a couple of nice meals, and serious appreciation of Mom's watercolor paintings. A fancy dinner (with martini) might have been a bridge too far, especially when we got a call from Mom at 12:30 AM--'I've got a nose bleed and I can't stop it'. For context, Mom was the only one of the four of us who didn't have nosebleeds. She says that she was squeamish about blood, but that can't be right--Karen and I both squirted blood out of our noses as if we were in some kind of contest, and Dad (also prone to nosebleeds) was at work for most of that time. I guess Mom just couldn't imagine blood coming out of her own nose. Fair enough, but the oxygen apparatus, and the transition to Winter, are most likely enough to change the equation. We spent 5 hours at the ER. There was nothing really wrong.
Then we got a dog. We call her Sunny, because sunny is something we need around here this time of year. She is a smallish (30 lbs) hound mix--almost certainly Treeing Walker Coonhound, mixed with beagle or something small, but hound like. She is sweet, energetic, and definitely a hound. She was also not entirely house-trained at the time we adopted her. She has a great howl, which she should learn to use more sparingly.
In any case, the adoption of Sunny has derailed any number of projects (including this blog). Here I am in mid-January talking about Thanksgiving. A major motivation for me in getting a dog was to walk. I got more than I bargained for: we have been averaging 5-6 miles of walking every day. I have had to upgrade shoes and insoles more than once this month.
Felix looks like a larger, stronger version of Sunny, but he is not as insistent about getting his way, nor quite as athletic or ingenious about getting it. She likes a car trip, but would prefer to sit in the driver's lap. Seat belts will not contain her--in three consecutive days, she found three different ways to escape seat belt restraints: 1) press the button; 2) back out of the harness; 3) very slowly push forward so that the inertia lock doesn't kick in and you can just squeeze between the front seats and sit in dad's lap. So I got a wire grid to contain her in the back of the SUV. That has worked thus far, but today she removed the cap on one of the screws that holds the grid against the head restraints. I think she still won't be able to unscrew the bolt, but we'll have to see.
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