Fighting the Rat of Death

It's been a rough year. First Baxter was sick and we weren't sure if he was going to make it - thankfully, as he explained in the last post, he is doing well.

Then my mother-in-law, who has dementia and has been in a nursing home for nearly 8 years, started declining rapidly, after being relatively stable for a long time. Looking back, we realized she had been declining all along, but so gradually we didn't really notice it until this year. By June she had forgotten how to swallow properly and had started getting recurrent cases of aspiration pneumonia. Finally, she wasn't able to eat at all. DH's father made the decision to have a feeding tube inserted to enable her to continue to eat. "I can't just starve her," he said.

DH and I had looked into this back in 2005 when my own father was in a nursing home with dementia and was no longer able to swallow. All of the literature we read online and elsewhere said that inserting a feeding tube when someone has dementia and has lost the ability to swallow does nothing to prolong life and just results in numerous, constant complications.

Unfortunately, after 67 years of marriage, in the end, DH's dad couldn't let her go. He wanted just a few more months with her. So, the feeding tube was inserted after a few days of angst and tears on all sides. (Except for my mother-in-law, who, thankfully, had no idea of the drama circling around her). She hasn't been able to speak, other than occasional grunts or simple yes or no answers, for years, and at this point she was hardly even doing that, and was sleeping most of the time.

Next came a problem with our 13 or 14-year-old dog Diva. We adopted her 10 years ago, but were never really sure how old she was at that time. Given her arthritis and very grey muzzle, we are thinking she may have been as old as 4 when we adopted her, making her 14 now.

We started to notice changes in her behavior over the summer. She gradually stopped coming upstairs to sleep on our bed, preferring to stay downstairs on her own bed nearby her adoptive "sister," Angel.

Then in September we realized she was getting very deaf, and more and more sensitive to odd noises. She had developed a fear of thunder and fireworks a few years ago, but now she became afraid of acorns falling on the tin roof at our cabin in the Adirondacks, nail guns, hammering, and any other abrupt noises. She started shaking whenever one of these objectionable sounds occurred.

Then we went to Cape Cod for a week and she acted nervous in the car going up, panting and restless; then at the cottage, a new one for us that we hadn't stayed at before, she started acting nervous and pacing around every evening.

We had gotten a prescription for Xanax from the vet for her since we had started noticing this nervousness before we left, and that calmed her down but didn't cure the problem. She decided the bathroom was the only safe place to sleep, so we put her bed in there. Not very convenient when we got up in the middle of the night to use the facilities, but at least Diva was happy. We were afraid she was developing doggie dementia and that it was a sign of age and it would only get worse...

Then, the day after we got home, we finally realized what might be part of the problem - she had a urinary tract infection! She started asking to go out and urinate every half hour and we realized there was blood in her urine. We rushed over to our local emergency veterinarian clinic and had her checked out and the vet gave us antibiotics and painkillers for her. After only a day on the antibiotics and painkillers, her behavior became much more normal. After two weeks she seems back to her old self; but she still won't sleep on our bed.

We were up at the cabin this past week while she was still getting better, and we were still worrying about her, as well as DH's mom, who was back in the hospital with yet another bout of pneumonia. She had also developed a C. difficile intestinal infection from the antibiotics she was being given for the pneumonia, and was not doing well at all. Based on my experience with my own mother, this infection could very well be what swept her away.

One night while we were at the cabin, DH had a terrible nightmare. I woke to find him pawing my shoulder and making odd noises. I finally shook him awake and said, "What's wrong?" He said, "A rat. A huge rat."

The next day he remembered the dream: He had been dreaming there was this huge, snarling rat attacking Diva, and he was trying to beat it with some kind of a stick and get it away from her. He had been calling for our other dog Angel to come kill it but she was nowhere around in the dream. He said it was one of those dreams where you can't do anything -- you can't hit the rat, you can't move fast enough, nothing works.

I told him it must have been that he was fighting the Rat of Death and trying to keep it from Diva, and that Diva might be representative of his mother as well, since he was so worried about both of them.

The next day one of the doctors taking care of his mother in the hospital in New Jersey called to tell us that his mom had taken a turn for the worse and it was really time to let her go; he said it was unfair to keep having her go back to the hospital for treatment over and over, and make her suffer further (which of course we did agree with).

We left the cabin earlier than we'd planned and returned home, arriving late in the evening The next day we received a morning call from the doctor overseeing my mother-in-law's care to tell us she'd had to entubate her after she had stopped breathing earlier that morning, because DH's dad had not made a decision to put her on palliative care. She said Mom had been moved to intensive care.

We met at the hospital along with DH's dad, and told them we would like her taken off the respirator, expecting her to pass away an hour or so later.

As it turned out, after the respirator was removed, she stabilized and has been holding her own ever since. She is being given morphine and is no longer receiving any curative measures. But she continues to fight against the Rat of Death a little longer.

My father-in-law asks, "Why? Why am I going through all this at this stage of my life?" I can't give him an answer.

The Snowpocalypse Continues, and What I've Been Up to for 8 Months

Well, here is my first post of what I hope will be a month of daily postings. I decided that is the only way to get back into the habit of blogging and catching up with all my blogger friends and their posts as well.

One reason for my long absence is, for the second half of last year we were living in a condition of total chaos as our kitchen was being totally renovated.

It all started about a year ago when we decided to renovate our upstairs bathroom, which had deteriorated to the point that we truly expected the tub to land downstairs on top of the kitchen stove at some point. Tiles had fallen off the tub wall to reveal that there was no actual wall behind them. Things were not good.

The configuration of the bathroom was horrendous as well - it was claustrophobic and dated to the 1940s or 50s, we believe.

So we contracted with a local kitchen and bath contractor and started on the bathroom. It was to be a full rip-out, and they would be turning the tub crossways under the window to make the room more spacious.

Once they ripped everything out, they found, no surprise to us, that all the joists needed to be replaced and/or reinforced since they were rotting from water leakage over many years. This meant ripping out the kitchen ceiling to be able to get underneath the joists.

Now, the kitchen ceiling was a problem to begin with. It was a dropped ceiling, and we had long known that above that was a long-ago disaster of some sort, as there were two layers of plaster ceiling above it that had obviously collapsed at some point. All of the later plumbing had been piped in below the plaster ceiling and above the dropped ceiling.

To make a long story short, the bathroom turned out great. The change was amazing.

But before the contractor did anything about closing up the kitchen ceiling, he said,  "Um, since your ceiling is already all torn apart, if you were ever thinking of redoing your kitchen, now might be the time to do it."

DH and I looked at each other, thinking about the fact that some day we may want to sell the house, and the current kitchen just didn't cut it. It should be noted I'd also been watching a lot of HGTV recently. We decided to go for it.

We had to take everything out of the kitchen and the pantry. I had no idea how much STUFF we had stuffed into the cabinets. It all went in boxes. I tried to separate out stuff we didn't need anymore or was too old and gross to keep, from stuff we wanted to keep. The boxes went in the living room, the dining room, and the sun porch where we hang out and watch TV.

The boxes stayed there from the end of August to the end of December. No cooking could take place so we spent a lot of time up at the cabin or eating out.

When we were at home, DH would go out and buy McDonalds Egg McMuffins for breakfast on weekends and I was hitting Dunkin' Donuts for a bagel and coffee during the week. Every day around 8 a.m. the Men would come to work on the kitchen. We got to know a lot of the Men. The dogs loved all of them, and they loved the dogs too, luckily. The cat mostly hid under the bed.

Finally just before the holidays, it was all complete, even the painting. And then we had to put everything away. We managed to give away all the stuff that we wanted to give away (thank goodness the veterans and the Lupus Foundation keep calling me to see if I have anything to donate - I kept saying yes and making sure I had boxes to put out for them).

In the end we had gotten rid of our pantry and replaced it with a powder room. We finally have a first floor bathroom, and now that we have it, I can't imagine how we lived here for 27 years without one.

The rest of the pantry was converted into a deep closet, which we are using as a smaller version of the pantry - we put a set of shelves from Ikea that we'd had in our pantry into the back of the closet, so all the extra cans and boxes, pet food, paper plates and whatnot can go there. The rest of the closet has room for the vacuum cleaner and other cleaning items. We put hooks on the back of the door for coats, since we usually come in the back door.

We like our new kitchen so much we put a small table in the middle so we could eat dinner there and sit and stare at it in wonder. I've even been cooking more as a result of having a brand new stove, and refrigerator that actually is in the same room as the stove and sink! The old configuration required that our fridge be in the pantry, which was quite inconvenient!

So. That is what kept us occupied last fall and early winter. 

Then the snow came.

If you are living anywhere in the Northeast, or even many parts of the South, you know this has been the Winter from Hell. I haven't seen this much snow since maybe the mid-90s.

Of course, there were snowstorms in more recent years, including 2011 when our dog Angel showed up in our driveway at 8:30 at night on February 10. I wrote about her briefly at the time, but I don't believe I shared the full story of how she was found.

When we first saw her, she came from behind a huge snowbank at the end of our driveway, just as we got out of our car. We had been to an "elegant dining" event at my mother-in-law's nursing home and were just getting home. As I stepped out of the car, I heard DH say, "Well, hello little pit, where did you come from?" And then this very thin white and gray pit bull with cruelly cropped ears and hanging teats, who had obviously recently had puppies, timidly approached him.

She let us both pat her and the next thing you know she was following us up the front steps. The forecast was for the temperature to plummet to 17 degrees overnight. What could we do but bring her in?

Diva started barking when she heard and smelled a strange dog, but we were able to hustle the new arrival into the kitchen and keep her there with gates overnight. We started off the next day by giving her a much-needed bath and clipping her over-long nails. Here is what she looked like right after we found her.

We then took her to the vet and learned she had mange and had to have shots of ivermectin and special medicated baths. After a few days it became clear that she was now our dog. She wasn't going anywhere and we had fallen in love with her by then. We think she was used for breeding and then dumped when the last puppies were gone. 

We learned later on that she had approached another house in our neighborhood just before we came home, and they had not let her in. At that point she must have seen our car drive up and ran up the street to greet us.

We named her Angel because she came out of the dark like a white apparition. Her personality matches the description as well, since she is as sweet as can be and all she ever wants to do is sit as close to her people as possible. In the beginning she would run out in the yard to do her business and run right back in again as if she was afraid she might get locked out.

Now, after three years, she is much more confident. She and Diva have become great friends and make a wonderful team; especially when they're begging for food! And, she's not skinny anymore!

Of course, things aren't completely perfect. Angel has a very strong prey drive and apparently wants to eat our cat Baxter. He has to stay upstairs now, separated from Angel, as we still have not managed to train her out of trying to chase him. 

However, Baxter and Diva sleep on the bed with us at night, so he does get his share of attention. Plus we have been bringing him up to our cabin in the Adirondacks when we were still going up there - he actually seems to enjoy it. He gets the whole loft to himself and can look down on whatever we are doing and lord it over the dogs.

So, anyway, back to the snow. 

Sunday night we are supposed to get yet another snowstorm, and I really don't know if I can face it. Here it is, March 1, with possibly 8-12 inches of snow bearing down on us. Many other years we've been able to go up to the cabin by this time of year, but not this time. It has been so cold that we haven't been able to go there since early December. We truly have cabin fever this year, in more ways than one! 

Picture courtesy of BitStrips(R)

So basically I've been a hermit for the past several months. I sit around most of the day on Facebook; it's amazing how fast the day goes. While Facebook is indeed a big time-sucker, on the other hand most of my Facebook friends post links to interesting articles and news items, which I find very educational. Plus I have some really good discussions with many of them. (Of course, that's because a lot of my Facebook friends I first met through the blogging world!) 

I haven't even gone out to go grocery shopping if I can help it. I have discovered the joys of Peapod, the grocery delivery service used by Stop-n-Shop. It is remarkably reasonable - only $6.96 for delivery of all orders over $100, which is easy to reach with very little effort! Plus you give the driver a tip. But it's worth it to have it all delivered to my door, especially when there are heavy things like cat litter or bird seed! Too bad there isn't a wine delivery service as well!

I also keep busy with local goings-on. I write articles about my town's council meetings and occasionally planning, zoning or other board meetings, for a local blog called Baristanet.com, which includes news, restaurant reviews, and other information about several towns in our area. My mother would be happy I'm finally doing something with my communications degree, for what it's worth.

There has certainly been no shortage of news in our town. We've become a national spectacle because of an incident where our local police were caught on video pulling a car over on the highway and then proceeding to beat up the driver. All the facts have not come out yet, but the video is pretty clear that the man was being hit even after he was in handcuffs, and that his hands were up when the police first approached the car. This came on the heels of another scandal where the acting police chief accused one of the councilmen of trying to coerce favors from him. Both incidents are now under investigation by the county prosecutor's office. So, never a dull moment in our little town.

I think I have caught you up on the main events in my life for now. Next time I may have Baxter post! I know he is very popular with all his fans, and he has lots to talk about, I am sure, after all this time.

Summer Haiku Tuesday

After a whole week up at the cabin in cool springlike weather, coming back to New Jersey was a shock. It's mid-July. It's hot. It's humid. The only good thing is, there is a nice breeze. In fact, it was such a nice breeze yesterday, apparently, that two branches broke off and fell in my neighborhood - one on the sidewalk around the corner and one on our front porch steps!

The brinksmanship between President Obama and John Boehner slogs along. I think the President is playing it right for a change - actually holding out and saying that he won't accept any budget that doesn't include revenue, i.e., tax, increases. I just hope he doesn't fold at the last minute. At some point the Republicans will have to either give in and accept some tax increases, even if only in the form of closing loopholes, or else they will take the blame for the economic mess that would follow if the debt ceiling isn't raised.

But in the summer heat it's hard to get worked up about anything in politics. In the back of my heat-drugged mind I have questions: "If the government defaults on its debts, does that mean investments in treasury bills will tank?" "Do I have any investments that would be stable if this happened?" but I can't bring myself to think any further than that or bother to Google something to find out. Maybe I don't want to know. After all, what can I do about it anyway?

So, I decided today would be a good day for some haiku. As part of my resolution to get back to blogging, haiku is always a good way to get over any writer's block I may have! So....

Summer has arrived.
Cicadas are chattering
High in the treetops.

The dogs are panting
Diva's too hot to walk far
We sit on the deck.

The news is dismal
Haven't read the New York Times
Or the Star Ledger.

Budget talks drag on
Boehner meets with Obama
No progress is made.

My computer's on
My MiFi is blinking green
Where shall I go next?

Facebook is sluggish
The blog world is beckoning
Time to go explore.

I often wonder what we ever did without the internet? Can anyone remember? And don't say we read, because I still read. But I find the world has opened up and become so much more accessible since the advent of the internet. It would be very hard to go back to the past.

A Cat's Eye View

Baxter here. I'm finally Back. Sorry to have been Out of Touch, but I had a Health Issue over New Year's Weekend. My Humans went away to that Cabin place with Little Cat and That Dog, and left me here to fend for Myself as usual. But I didn't feel Good.

When they returned, I hid under the Bed and wouldn't come out. Finally I did come out and then stayed All Night by my Litter Box, just lying there, and refused to Eat. My Female Human then stuck me in that Zippered-Up Bag they put me in to Travel in, and dragged me to that place they call "The Vet." I was Not Pleased; especially when they shaved some Fur off my chest and stuck me with a Needle. Most uncomfortable. It turned out I had Something called Anemia and they didn't know why, plus I'd lost 3 pounds; I was down to a svelte 19 pounds.

So my Humans started giving me some Pills that made me Hungry and I started gobbling down Wet Cat Food, something I don't usually like to do; I've always been a Dry Food Type of Cat. But I figured why not - Little Cat has been getting All the Attention. Now it's My Turn. I started being Finicky and only eating Fishy Tasting Stuff. (I'll sneak Dry Food once in awhile when I'm sure the Humans aren't watching though). I'm off the Appetite Pills and doing Fine.

They still don't know what was wrong but I'm back to my Old Self and am feeling Quite Perky. Losing a little Weight didn't hurt me any; I have started Running up and down the Stairs again in the Middle of the Night as I used to do when I was Younger. My Human says she'll take me back for a Check-Up in a month or two and make sure my Anemia is gone. But since I'm acting Healthy she isn't as worried now.

However, something Else has happened since then. My Humans seem to have found Another Dog. Mind you, I haven't gone anywhere near It. But I've seen It from my safe perch on the Bed in the Spare Room.

From what I understand, The Other Dog appeared out of the Dark on Thursday Night and seemed lost, so the Humans took It in. Apparently It's a Girl because my Humans say she recently had Puppies. She was Very Skinny, had Really Long Nails and could hardly walk on them Properly, and smelled Very Bad. They gave her a Bath and took her to the Vet. Now she's getting ear drops for an Ear Infection, but is Very Healthy otherwise. I heard my Female Human saying something about her having had Shots and that she will be Spayed in a month, whatever THAT is.

My Personal Dog, the one I usually complain about, is Unhappy. I think she's Jealous of the New Dog. If she's Not Happy the Humans will have to find Another Home for the New Dog. I think they call her Angel. I don't really know why, because, as a Cat, I can vouch for the fact that NO Dog is an Angel. Far from it. But that's what they call her.

So, the Household has been Disrupted ever since the New Year. Little Cat and I are eating lots of Wet Food and there are Dishes of food lying around All Over, the New Dog is kept in the Kitchen to keep her Separate from the Old Dog. The Old Dog can't get out in the Yard through the Kitchen so My Humans have to walk her more than Ever. (That she's probably Happy about). The New Dog gets Jealous if the Humans pay attention to the Old Dog, and Vice Versa. It's a Real Circus around here.

Just thought I should check in and let you know What's Happening around the Maui Household. There has been Lots of News I haven't been able to keep up on, but either my Human or I will be back soon with some Updates. Oh, and here is a Picture of The New Dog. Anyone want to Adopt her so this Place can get back to Normal?

A Bit of Good Timing and a Final Farewell

We spent last week at Cape Cod. Yes, that was the week that the entire Northeast was getting pummeled by the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole. Home in New Jersey, the rain was unending and torrential, from what I understand. But guess what? It didn't hit the Cape.

We were really lucky - our weather was warm and summerlike nearly every day. It rained lightly at night a couple of times but cleared off by morning. We did have one foggy gray day, but it didn't rain. Friday of the week we were there, it did rain - but not until the afternoon, after we'd already been to the beach and Diva had had her swim in the pond. So we really chose the right week to get out of town.

Below is Diva enjoying the beach.


The main purpose in going to the Cape for the second time this year was to bring some of my mother's ashes and scatter them at the Cape where she spent time almost every summer since she was a little girl. We had also paid to have a bench installed with a plaque in memory of my mother and father in the little park surrounding the Eastham Windmill, so we wanted to see that as well.

My half-sister and brother-in-law came up for several days to join us, as they had not been able to attend my mother's memorial service and wanted to be there for this second event.

We brought some of the ashes down to the bay and I scratched them into the sand and let the water wash over them. My sister said a few words that brought tears to my eyes, and we stood there for awhile looking out at the bay afterwards. It was a cool and windy day and there was no one on the beach but us.

Another day, we brought a few of the ashes over to the Windmill park and put them under the bench as a little dedication. I have no idea if this is legal or not but we only used a small symbolic amount. Here are my sister and me, sitting on the bench:


And here is the view of the windmill from the bench.


I still have a lot of my mother's ashes left. I may take some to Scotland next time we go - it was my mother's other favorite place. I didn't realize what a large amount of ashes there would be - the other half are buried next to my father in the cemetery, so I thought there wouldn't be that much. I could scatter Mom in a number of other significant locations if I want to. Israel is another place that comes to mind; she loved her trip there back in 1990. While some people wouldn't like the idea of being scattered hither and yon, my mother, who loved to travel, would probably think it's a great idea.

One thing I won't be doing is embedding them in a tattoo or snorting them with cocaine a la Keith Richards.

We had a good time at the Cape, but of course, it reminded me of my mom all over again. But at least I'll always know there is a little bit of her that will forever be there with me.

Back from the North

We returned Monday night from ten days at the Cabin. In some ways it felt even longer, in a good way, because over the Labor Day weekend my dear friend and her daughter were visiting, then we had a couple of days alone, and then my father-in-law came up on Thursday and stayed until Monday. So it was as if we had three separate trips to the cabin, one after the other.

I was really glad my friend and her daughter could join us for the long weekend. My friend's daughter is very special to me, since I didn't have children of my own, and I've known her since she was a toddler; so I think of her as the daughter I never had. As Megan got older we joked that she takes after me, since we share some of the same tendencies and little quirks. So she calls me "MO" for "Mother Other." (We didn't want it to be Other Mother, as OM sounded too much like a yoga mantra). To keep her anonymity (she is almost 15 and I'm sure wouldn't want me to be blogging about her), in this post I will call her Megan, which is not her real name.

While they were there, the weather was very changeable. The first few days were basically nice, but windy with a mixture of clouds and sun.

It was cool enough in the evenings to sit out on our deck huddled around the fire in our brass chiminea, enjoying the flicker of the flames and telling stories. Megan had just gotten back from sleepaway camp, where she had spent four weeks over the summer, two in early July and two at the end of August. So she regaled us with all the camp songs she could remember, and the ghost stories that the counselors had told them. I chimed in with some of the ghost stories we used to tell around the campfire on our Girl Scout campouts, as well as singing a few of the songs I knew. I love camp ghost stories; they all share the common theme that whatever horrific thing happened, it happened RIGHT HERE at this camp, and the person telling the story KNOWS a person who was there at the time.

During the Labor Day weekend we spent our time together eating, drinking, reading books, walking in the woods, and journeying out for adventures.

One day we went all the way back to the Albany area to go to a Scottish Fair they were having in Altamont. It was one of those breezy, changeable days with clouds and sun, a perfect day for walking around the fairgrounds. Diva was welcome there, and spent the day meeting people she'd never met before, as we toured the various Scottish and Irish inspired jewelry, clothing and food booths. We stopped to watch the Highland Games for awhile and enjoyed the throwing of the caber.

We were surprised to come across a fish & chips booth that was run by Kearny, New Jersey's own Argyle Restaurant. Sure enough, there was one of the men we'd seen many a time when we attended the Robert Burns Suppers at the restaurant.

Of course we had to patronize a New Jersey business, so my friend opted for a plate of fish and chips, while DH and I chose fried haggis balls. Yes, that sounds really grotesque, but fried haggis balls are great. Take a bunch of meat, spices, and onions, wrap it in thick breadcrumbs and dough, and throw it in a deep fryer, and out comes crunchy, salty, tasty goodness. I'm sure my arteries have still not recovered. Haggis balls are probably almost as "good" for you as Scotch Eggs (fried dough around sausage with an egg in the center, which Argyle's had run out of before we got there, to our dismay).

We also stopped at the Beer Tent and had a pint while listening to a rollicking good band play Irish and Scottish music, followed by another group playing the pipes and drums. All in all, it was a great day for the Scottish - and anyone else who enjoys the food and music! Following are some pictures we took at the fair.

The entrance:


The band


The "feral haggis" display


My friend and her daughter holding Diva as she observes the native Scottish wildlife.


There were kilted men everywhere.


A view of some of the booths selling various goods and trinkets.


There was a lot of food to be had.


And lots of kilts to buy.


A young man clad as a primitive Scottish warrior of some kind, wielding his cell phone anachronistically.


Pipes and drums!


Diva meeting new friends at the fair.


While our friends were there, we also had a good dinner down in Whitehall, NY at our local Italian restaurant, The Roma Restaurant, which has the best lasagna I've found anywhere, even in New Jersey.

After our friends left, it seemed quiet, and we felt lazy and just relaxed for a couple of days. Unfortunately for DH's dad, the weather turned cooler and cloudier when he arrived, so we were stuck inside more than we'd hoped. However, we did have one beautiful day where we sat out on the deck to eat breakfast in the sun, enjoying pancakes and mimosas. (DH's dad brought up the champagne for that purpose).

On one of the cloudy days, we drove to Glens Falls and went to the Hyde Collection, a small exquisite museum contained within the Hyde family's historic home. It reminded us of a smaller version of the Frick or Isabella Stewart Gardner museums.

In addition to the permanent collection, there are newer wings added to the house that are used for changing exhibitions. We had just missed a collection of Andrew Wyeth's work on the day we were there. That was just as well, since the museum was remarkably empty during our visit; one of the guards told us there had been 700-800 people there over Labor Day weekend viewing the Wyeth exhibit.

The museum overlooks the Finch Paper Company factory, an industry that has been in Glens Falls since 1865 when it was founded as Finch Pruyn & Co. (It was sold in 2007 to a holding company funded by investors from another paper company, and is now known as Finch Paper LLC). The "Pruyn" part of the name is where the Hydes come in. Charlotte Hyde was originally Charlotte Pruyn, daughter of the papermill owner, and when she married Louis Hyde, he became a vice president in Finch Pruyn, thus helping to fund their hobby of art collecting.

The museum is still set up as a house, with each room containing priceless furniture, tapestries, and decorative pieces dating back as far as the 15th century. The artwork on the walls is equally exquisite. While the collection of paintings is not huge, it comprises gems from various eras and countries, from Rembrandt, Rubens, El Greco and Van Dyck to Renoir, James Whistler, Winslow Homer, Albert Bierstadt and even Picasso. This museum is a must-see for any art lover. Below is one painting from the collection - a portrait of Jesus by Rembrandt (taken from the Hyde Collection website).
The meal we had in Whitehall on our way back from the museum was also well worth mentioning. For anyone not familiar with Whitehall, my excitement about this restaurant has to be explained.

Whitehall is a rather down-at-heel post-industrial town on the banks of the Champlain Canal. The town was formerly prosperous, due to the proximity of the canal, which once transported goods up and down its length, resulting in many businesses springing up along its shores, and a number of grand homes. Unfortunately, now that this type of transportation is done mainly by truck, time has kind of passed by Whitehall. There are many empty shops and shabby storefronts, and very few good restaurants. There is one over at the marina that we have not yet tried, and one on the other side of the canal that was good but nearly empty the time we were there. Roma and the House of Pizza are the ones we frequent most often.

So imagine our surprise when we drove down the main street by the canal and saw a lit up, busy new restaurant one evening! We looked it up on Google and sure enough, they had just opened in August and were obviously fulfilling an unmet need in the community, as there was a line waiting outside the door to get in. City Steaks & Seafood is hip, trendy, and reasonably priced, with great lobsters and steaks as well as other more ambitous dishes.

The building used to be a bank, and the outside has been restored and lit up tastefully with the name of the restaurant above the doorway. Inside, it has been totally remodeled, with exposed brick walls, wood floors, and a cozy and lively ambience. The service was good, the waiter was friendly, and the food excellent. Our steaks were done perfectly (mine "mid-rare" and DH's "medium rare" - they actually managed to make mine a little rarer than his!), and Dad's twin lobsters (only $19.95) were hefty specimens and perfectly cooked. DH and I also had lobster (we had the steak and lobster special) and were equally pleased with our lobsters. We are looking forward to our next trip to the Cabin so we can go there again very soon. (Below is a picture of the outside of the restaurant taken from their Facebook page, linked above.)

The next day we had to pack up and leave our cabin until our next visit, which won't be until October 8th, as we are heading up to Cape Cod for a week in between. Before then, however, I will be catching up on blogs and blogging!

Diva's Turn - A Happy Ending Tale and a New Cat

Hi everybody! I haven't written here for awhile because Mommy and Daddy have been keeping me really busy lately, driving up to the cabin in the woods and back again every weekend. But I have some things to tell you about and am really happy to be here!

The best news is that because I'm so friendly I got another Pit Bull saved from a shelter! Here's what happened. Our town has something they call a Cruise Night on Wednesday evenings in the summer, where all kinds of people come with big old fashioned cars and hang around and they play loud music and everyone is in a good mood. The street is closed off and they let Daddy and me walk around in the street and I get to meet people. My favorite thing!

So one Wednesday evening we were walking and met a woman that Daddy knew from town. Of course I loved her right away. I love all people! Especially women! Of course I was on my best behavior as always, and wearing my purple harness with my matching purple bandana, and when I met the woman and her friend who was with her, my tail wagged so hard my butt almost fell off. They both loved me, of course. Who wouldn't?

As always, Daddy told my story, how I was adopted from The Animal Farm Foundation, which rescues Pit Bull Terriers from shelters and trains them and adopts them out to be what they call Breed Ambassadors. I try really hard to be the best Breed Ambassador I can be and I am always calling attention to myself to let everyone know how friendly I am. I even wag at passing cars if they slow down. After all, they might be friends I haven't met yet and they might want to stop and pat me!

As it turned out, the woman was considering getting a dog. And because she met me and was so impressed with what a great dog I am, she went to the Bukowski Animal Shelter and adopted a fellow Pit Bull Terrier - Lola Grace! Here is her picture. As you can see, she is enjoying living the good life just as I do!

So that is my good news!

The other news is, my Mommy and Daddy seem to have gotten a new cat. It's not even half the size of the other one we have, that big one they call Baxter. He knows his place and lets me chase him all over the house if I feel like it. But this little orange one they call Zoe is another story! The first time I came over to see her when she was in Mommy's lap, she made a big hissing noise and smacked me on the eyebrow. I try to avoid her whenever possible now, but if I come near her, instead of moving out of my way or running, as Baxter would do, this one just stands there. In fact, sometimes she goes out of her way to come in my direction or even smack me again! It's not very nice. But I just try to keep out of her way and will make the best of it as I always do.

For some reason they bring her up to the cabin with us and she acts as if she owns the place. I was there first. But I guess I can put up with it since Mommy and Daddy still take me on great walks in the woods and give me plenty of treats.

Another thing we get to do when we go to the cabin is go to a restaurant in a nearby town where we can sit outside while my Mommy and Daddy eat, and they let me come too! They even give me water and biscuits to keep me happy while we're there. I love going there! Everyone is lined up waiting to greet me when I arrive! And they are always glad to see me! Mommy and Daddy say they have good beer there too. I wouldn't know as I'm not allowed to drink beer, although it smells good to me.

We went to Cape Cod in June and I had a great time swimming in Depot Pond at the cottages we stay at. The Other Daddy came too, the one that seems to be my Daddy's father. He had fun too. I got to go on lots of walks and meet lots of people! My favorite thing!

Every morning we would walk to the little store on the corner and Daddy would go inside and come back out with a bag while Mommy stayed with me. Sometimes people would come up and say hello to me! I love that! A couple of times Mommy walked me there by herself and didn't go into the store. She wanted to just turn around and go back to the cottage, but I wouldn't leave until we waited outside the store long enough for someone to say hello to me. After all, isn't that why we go there? I also like waiting outside because sometimes a nice man will come out and give me a biscuit. It's disappointing on those days he doesn't do that. But if I get to say hello to someone that is enough for me.

The other really neat thing about Cape Cod is rabbits. They are all over the grounds of the cottages and I love seeing them. Mommy and Daddy don't let me off the leash so I never get to actually catch one. But I love to stalk them and then do a quick run until they hop away into the bushes!

Even though I love woodsy areas I also love being in cities and towns! We go to a place called Provincetown and walk up and down the street there. Lots of people stop and pat me. And there are lots of other dogs. There is even a big stuffed wolf in front of one of the stores! The first time I saw and smelled it I thought it was real! My hackles went up and I went over to it very cautiously. Then I realized how silly I'd been. It wasn't alive after all. Now I studiously ignore it when we go by.

When I'm home, if I'm not getting a walk in the park, I've been spending my time hanging out on the deck in my fenced yard, barking occasionally when the neighbors walk their dogs by my house, and on the hot days, Mommy or Daddy fill my pool and I chase the ball into the water and get wet. I love jumping in the pool! And it cools me off!

So that's what I've been doing this summer. How has your summer been?

Merry Christmas!

And for those who don't celebrate Christmas, have a wonderful, stress-free and relaxing day!

And here is Diva in the obligatory "dog wearing antlers in front of the Christmas tree" photograph, wishing you all a great day. Enjoy!

A Cat's Eye View

Baxter here. And let me tell you, THIS View is not a View I would ever have chosen! But for some Reason I ended up next to That Dog one day and my Humans took a picture.

I was Quite Worried this Week because I heard my Female Human talking about taking Me up to That Cabin they go to for a Week. There was Discussion about Cages and whether there would be Room in the Jeep. Luckily it seems they changed their Minds and decided not to do it This Time. I made sure they didn't Take Me With Them, though, when my Humans were leaving. My Female Human claimed that she was only trying to Say Goodbye when she called me over to her, but I didn't buy it. I hid under the Bureau until she left, Just In Case.

So, here I am. Thank Goodness they left the Computer for Me to Use. I haven't had a Chance to opine on the News for quite some time!

Today, instead of my Usual News Roundup, I want to talk about something I heard about Today that Annoyed Me. It has Nothing To Do with the President, Health Care, or the United Nations. It's about something totally Unrelated that just happened to Catch My Eye. Apparently the Government is going to start Regulating Tobacco and their First Step is to Ban all Flavored Cigarettes! The idea is that these Flavored Cigarettes appeal to Young People and therefore this should help prevent them from Starting to Smoke.

Now, don't get Me Wrong. I am No Fan of Cigarette Smoking. It is Dangerous, Smelly and altogether Icky. We Cats have Very Sensitive Noses and Smoke is Not our Friend. However, this is Some Slippery Slope they're going down. They're even thinking of doing something about Menthol Cigarettes, which have been around Forever. Plus it's such a Vague Law that Retailers aren't even sure whether Cigarillos or Small Cigars that are Flavored would count or not! (And hey, what about Pipe Tobacco? That comes in Flavors too - will it be Next?)

Next thing you know, they'll ban flavored Liqueurs or Sweet Wines! And what about Obesity? If they're So Worried about Kids' Health, are they coing to start Banning Snack Foods completely just because Kids might eat them? This Mentality doesn't take into Account that Adults may be enjoying some of these things. Shouldn't Humans have a Choice? And what about Catnip? It could be Next, and that would be the Last Straw!

Seriously, you Humans are Weird. Tobacco is a Legal Product, Bad though it may be, and it is already Highly Difficult to Smoke in many Public Places, although of course that Varies depending on what State you live in. So Smoking has been Declining as it is.

My feeling is, if they aren't going to Ban Smoking altogether then why shouldn't Humans have the Opportunity to Smoke whatever Flavor of Poisonous Tobacco Product they want? It's one or the other, People.

Of course, Banning Tobacco would also be Stupid. Americans seem to immediately turn to a Black Market to get the Vices they prefer. My Humans tell Me about something called Prohibition, when the Government decided that Liquor was a Vice Too Evil to be Endured and Banned it, resulting in the Roaring 20's, a period of Time when people drank More Than Ever and Organized Crime grew to Accommodate the U.S. Appetite for Bootleg Alcohol.

I have to tell You, I would certainly look to Underground Sources for my Dose of Catnip if I couldn't get it!

I think the Solution would be, they should just make sure only Adults buy Tobacco products, period. It should be Regulated as Strictly as Liquor. My feeling is, if a person is an Adult and is allowed to Vote or Fight in a War, shouldn't they just as well be Allowed to Choose what flavor of Cigarette they buy?

As an Independent-Minded Cat, my Preferred Recommendation to Reduce Youthful Smoking would be further Education about the Dangers of Smoking, keeping Smoking out of Movies and other Media that might make it seem "Cool" as the Humans say, and Strictly Regulate the age at which a person can Buy the Stuff. That is Enough. Because anything further would be that Slippery Slope I was talking about Earlier. What do You Think? I know this may be a Controversial Topic, but We Cats never Shy from a good Howling Match with other Cats so I'm Looking Forward to a Good Discussion.

Well, on to less Controversial Subjects. To end my Post on a more Pleasaant Note, I thought I'd show you a few pictures from the last time the Humans were in the Adirondacks.

Here are a couple of Nice Views from the top of a Hill near Ft. Ticonderoga.


A Nice Lady offered to take a Picture of all three of My Humans (including the Male Human's Father, far left)...oh yes, and That Dog. You'll notice she is Mouthing Off as Usual. That Dog never shuts up!

A View of Lake George:

A Scenic Barn with an Osprey Nest behind it on top of a Telephone Pole. A closer Shot of the Osprey below that. Looks Tasty but kind of Big so I doubt I could Catch One.

My Male Human's Father enjoying a View of the Pond and Woods at that Cabin place.



Until Next Time, Enjoy your Catnip Responsibly and Keep it out of the Hands of Kittens. They can Choose to Indulge when they are Old Enough!

Reflections on Cape Cod

Heading off to Cape Cod fills me with a different feeling than going to the Adirondacks. It must hark back to my childhood, when we went there almost every summer for two weeks. There is a certain excitement and anticipation that has a different quality than the feeling I get when we head off to the Adirondacks. That feels more like an escape, while this is a feeling of being a kid again.

The feeling reminds me of the cartoon, "Rose is Rose," where the characters revert to being little kids when they do something kids like to do.

As she has done for the past six years or so, my mother went with us. This year we took the new Jeep instead of the Saab wagon, since it holds more. Nevertheless, the luggage and various other supplies still filled the entire trunk area. Somehow our stuff always expands to fill the space allotted to it.

In addition to my mom, who rented her own cottage next to ours, DH's dad joined us this year as well. Since the cottage we rent has two bedrooms, he was able to come up for part of the week and stay with us, and not have to rent a separate cottage. He arrived on Monday and stayed through Friday morning with us.

As I mentioned last year, my mother, now 90, is slowing down. Whereas a year ago she refused to bring her cane, this year she brought it with her. (She still didn't use it, but she brought it. It's a start.) She has to hold onto my arm even more this year, since in addition to her shaky legs, she is now having more trouble seeing due to macular degeneration, so she finds it hard to see where her feet are going.

Long ago when I was just a toddler, she no doubt matched her steps to my tiny stride; now I have to match my steps to hers. We still joke about it - my mother will ask me to slow down and I reply "If I went any slower I'd be walking backwards!" But this year I couldn't help feeling melancholy thinking about it. Who knows how many more trips to the Cape with my mother are left?

We were luckier with the weather this year than last June. There was sun for about half of each day; sometimes our day started with sun and it clouded up in mid-afternoon; other days started cloudy but turned sunny later on. So we were able to sit outside, go to the beach, and enjoy ourselves more than we did last year when the last three days were cloudy and dismal.

This trip went faster than usual; maybe it was having both my mom and DH's dad with us; or trying to fit in all of our favorite restaurants and activities. As it was, we didn't get around to doing a few of the things we always do. A week just isn't long enough, I guess.

We were happy to see the Eastham Lobster Pool restaurant is open again, with a complete makeover. It's now Woody's Eastham Lobster Pool and has been remade with a new look: kind of modern, with spare furnishings and stainless steel exposed beams. In addition, instead of waitress service, the new deal is you go up to the counter and order what you want, and then come back and get it when they call your number. The food was good (we had lobster, my mother had grilled tuna) but unfortunately the music was a bit loud and it was noisier than I'd like. But I'd definitely go back, and it's nice to see it back in business again. I was also happy to see they saved the original Eastham Lobster Pool signs by mounting them on the walls of the restaurant, since they replaced them with a new outdoor sign saying "Woody's Eastham Lobster Pool."

The second night we were there, we picked up some fresh bluefish at Hatch's Fish Market in Wellfleet and cooked it up in the cottage for my mother and us. It was delicious and it was fun to eat at "home" for a change. I am usually so busy back home that I don't have time to cook, so when I'm on vacation it's actually a pleasure!

After DH's dad arrived, we all went up to Moby Dick's in Wellfleet that evening, a great casual seafood restaurant with nautical decor and enjoyed lobster rolls and, for me, scallops.

Another night we went to Mac's Shack in Wellfleet, where DH and I ordered generous platters of ultra-fresh sashimi, DH's dad had a huge stuffed lobster, and my mother enjoyed flounder stuffed with crabmeat. (I sampled it and it was delicious). We ordered the sashimi because by this time we'd had our fill of lobster and other types of cooked fish and were ready for a change!

As we always do when we visit the Cape, we got together one afternoon with our friend Sally, who owns the Midway Motel and Cottages, where we always stayed until we wanted to bring our dog up to the Cape. Unfortunately the Midway doesn't allow pets, so a few years back, we moved on to Gibson Cottages, which do allow pets and are on a picture-perfect pond where Diva can go swimming.

But make no mistake, the Midway Motel and Cottages are kept up beautifully, have lovely landscaping and flowers on the property, and have everything you need for a wonderful vacation on the Cape, as long as you don't have a pet you want to bring with you. We had stayed there every year for about 18 years and became good friends with the owners, Sally and her husband Ron. In the old days we'd go out to dinner with them, but now that her husband passed away a few years ago, Sally comes over to our cottage for lunch instead. We get a "to-go" order of lobster rolls and fries from the Friendly Fisherman (the lobster roll is huge, with tons of lobster meat) and enjoy it out on the deck with a little wine!

Diva got to swim every day in the pond, and we took her on a number of walks in Wiley Park in Eastham and in Nickerson State Park in Brewster - and of course, on the beach.

The last full day at the Cape was rainy and chilly, as was the day we left. But as soon as we got off the Cape the weather was sunny and warm for our whirlwind trip to the Adirondacks for one night so we could show my mother our cabin at Lake George. So our luck with the weather was pretty good overall! And we were happy to see the great progress that has been made at the cabin: the well has been drilled, the propane tank is there and is hooked up, much of the plumbing is done, the propane fixtures are installed, the walls and ceiling have been painted a soft cream instead of stark white, and the floors are partially finished. (Still another step to go). We may actually be able to stay in our cabin over the 4th of July weekend if the generator is in by then to run the well's water pump!

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

The pond at Gibson Cottages, close to sunset. Mom, DH and his dad enjoying cocktails on the deck of our rental cottage.
Mom with her sherry and cigarette. Seabirds on a rock in the ocean at the Nauset Coast Guard Beach.
Diva on the beach.
Dunes.
Now for something completely different....a view of our cabin in the Adirondacks with the ground dug up for the gas line that leads from the new propane tank to the cabin!
Interior of the cabin showing newly painted ceiling and walls.

The propane tank!