Short night, long day

I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. - John Cage

Last night was one of those that was either way too long or way too short depending on how you look at it. Being awoken multiple times by various offspring coming home for the night to roost, then bouts of coughing and snoring after they settled, cats thumping around in the litter box one after the other and then… the final insult as there was feline scratching at the door in the middle of the night. I get up to investigate, no cat visible, stumble back to bed, not once but twice. The third time I say to the bed partner “there is a cat being held hostage somewhere” and he suggests the walk in closet. Bingo! Large grey cat released from bondage who strolls out to the food dish. This of course was the problem, the need for a midnight snack as his almost 17 lb self had been more than two hours without eating. How, and when Gary got in there remains a mystery as he isn’t allowed access to the closet as he chews shoes (thinks he’s a dog remember?) and shreds bags as if he’s a dump picker.

Today the boat left for a few days of fishing with the usual captain and the prodigal son as apprentice. When I asked the shore captain how long it would be expected for someone to catch on to ‘taking the boat’ I was told that “it depends on how smart he is” which I took as a challenge being issued as I saw the #1 son’s chin raise in answer. So am hoping things go well. He likes the Captain and will likely do better than with parental instruction.

Work was the usual frantic with a side order of emotional upheaval. Visiting dignitaries down from the district facility, work site meeting, vaccinations, calls from the district facility as I’m covering for the next ten days and excessive whining from several internal sectors. I need an injection myself - of patience I think.

This evening my travel partner and I met up and went to have our ‘publicity photo shoot’ which went rather well if I do say so myself. The photographer April is very talented, patient and obliging so within 10 minutes we each had a series of proofs to choose from. She’ll burn a CD of the poses and we can use them as we wish. I wanted to look thinner and my travel partner requested wrinkle eraser but… April’s not into computerized plastic surgery so we settled for excellent quality photos. We had some catching up to do and that took longer than the posing. I had to go home and wash my face after being the movie star.

The man of the house was watching a foreign language film with subtitles about Haiti in the 1970s. As if that wouldn’t be depressing enough the story line was of cougars (you know older women from developed nations who visit tropical countries to pick up younger men) at an opulent resort in the middle of devastating poverty, culminating in murder. Tragic. I asked him why he kept watching it and he said because he couldn’t stop so I’m guessing it was well done if gruesome.

Plans are well underway for the celebratory BBQ this weekend and the weather forecast is even great. We’re all so busy it’s a shame that it takes a special event to ensure we all get together. We’re up to over a dozen and counting. Will think of you all when we’re toasting the milestone.