My goodness, it has been since April that we last posted?!

You may think it is because our lives are boring, but quite the contrary mon frereeeee.

Let's see. In April we fostered a momma cat and her four kittens who were about four weeks old at the time. We named them right away: Meep ('cause that was the sound she made; cute black kitten with blue eyes), Bap ('cause that's what he did to you bap, bap, bap with his paws and claws; cute cream and brown tabby color), Ozzie (short for Ausberger's syndrome; regular grey tabby color), and Chicken ('cause she was a chicken and the last to come out of the cage; cute tuxedo). Then there was momma cat, who was mostly called Momma, as all momma cats are. The kittens were super cute and we had them for two weeks before we went to...

New Mexico! Two of our favorite people live in N.M., and we finally made arrangements to go see them. Their house was lovely and their hospitality was fabulous. We went to Santa Fe one day, which was a lovely drive and the town was very charming. While browsing through all the art galleries we decided that our next house needs to have some charm - creaky wood floors, plaster walls, cool architectural features, or something. Thing is, we've talked about building a place in the future and I don't know if we would purposely put in creaky wood floors.

I forgot to mention that I broke my hand in April. On the 20th, to be exact. Just as I was getting ready for the show season! I was having my first jumping lesson and I think we were all a little over-zealous about getting ready to show and did more than we should have. Paddy and I were approaching a jump and I pulled him up and through a small chain of bad-timing events, I heard my hand break. I actually heard it break! It sounded like knuckles cracking so I wasn't sure at first if it was broken. I tried to continue my lesson, but realized shortly that something was wrong. I got off and tried to wiggle my fingers and heard and felt a popping sound. So when I got home Colin took me to the urgent care place and the doctor confirmed the breaks. My 4th and 5th metacarpals were broken, the fourth being displaced. So I got a temporary cast on and off to the grocery we went for drugs. Before they put my cast on, thought, I realized I was wearing the wrong shirt, so Colin took his off and was shirtless as he went into Albertson's and asked the pharmacist for some narcotics. Klassy.

After two weeks I went to the orthopod and got my regular cast, which wasn't a regular cast at all. It was a mold-able, removable splint, which I wore for almost 12 weeks, as the x-rays indicated I wasn't healing well. The displaced bone was totally separated and the callous wasn't filling in as quickly or as well as the doc had hoped.

But it all worked out and I am now finally out of my cast and into physical therapy and riding regularly and about to start lessons again soon. Unfortunately I don't think I'll make it to any shows since I haven't done much this summer. Oh yeah, that and it is EFFING 105 degrees outside! Bloody hell!!!

After that short side-story, I should mention that we also went to Hawaii in May for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. My brother and his girlfriend were there and we all had a lot of fun. We, as usual, did nothing much more than sit by the pool and take naps and go out to dinner and eat and drink. That's what vacations are for, though, right?!

Back to the future. Since our Little Man of Great Ferocitude (tm) was likely eaten by a coyote, we were one cat short. We discussed getting a replacement kitten, but it had to be a male and he had to be fierce enough to get along with the dogs and open a can of whoop ass on them if necessary.

It is kitten season at the shelter where we volunteer and so we had the pick of many litters. Coincidentally, by the time we decided we were ready to adopt, our little foster kittens were at the shelter ready to be adopted. So Colin chose Bap, whose new name is Little Monster, or Yokai as our N.M. friend translated into Japanese. Little Monster likes to fart and it stinks. Big time. He also likes to bap with his paws and claws, and bite with his sharp teeth. This is quite a juxtaposition with his sweet kitten moments when he lays on my stomach and purrs and sleeps, or sleeps through the night by my side. Thankfully he is a good sleeper.

True to his job description, Little Monster holds his own with the dogs. And he and Iggy actually seem to tolerate each other pretty well.

In between April and now we've had some fun times with neighbors and friends, drinking, swimming, drinking, eating, drinking. Ok, please don't think we're alcoholics. We just enjoy our beer and wine - and so do our friends!!!

Last weekend, for example, we went to "Starry Starry Night" which was a benefit for the local hospital foundation. It is held on the grounds of the Empire Mine, which is a lovely historical point of interest and state park. Everyone wears white, so of course we had to go shopping so that we'd fit in. We went with our neighbors (he's a doctor, she used to be a nurse but at the moment is a very pregnant lady who can't wait to pop!) and enjoyed the time out with them. Unfortunately the event itself sucked and I wouldn't pay the large price to go to it again. The wine mostly sucked (Nevada County wines pretty much all suck and I don't know who on earth thinks otherwise), the food was just okay (they didn't really have options and served pork ... who serves pork to a large crowd? That is what chicken is for! I just had a side of the orzo), and there was no dessert bar as promised by our neighbors. Never again! No dessert bar, no dice. Sadly the suckiness of the wine did not stop me from consuming it and so I was placated by that and the breadsticks I kept eating.

Our next trip is to Idaho to visit my brother and his girlfriend. We've actually been toying with the idea of buying property and building a place on it some day. So we might consider Idaho. Mostly we'll consider places in the west, with not too much rain, or too much heat. And we could certainly get a lot more for our money in Idaho than we could get in California. We'll see. We're going to drive there and listen to books on tape. Not about the Revolutionary War, though, because I might just jump out of the car if Colin puts that on.

Colin has some fun pictures to post - from Starry Starry Night to our rattlesnake friend who showed up again (he even got a video!). I'm signing out for now, as I have to go feed the boys.

Ciao!
- posted by Susan @ 5:08 PM