Just one more: Flashback Post - 22 Sept 2010

All this thinking about cats and Mills had me running through my archives and looking at things labeled thusly...and I found this marvelous ad that I'd forgotten about.  100 greyhounds in IKEA...what an idea.  :)

Happy Inside

Flashback Post...Miss you, Little Man.

I was at an event at the Greenville Humane Society last week and wandered into the PK room (The Mister works there and apparently that is jargon for the Puppy and Kitten room) and locked eyes with a beautiful little black/grey tabby boy who reached out from his cage just like Mills had done in the Spartanburg shelter so many years ago.  I purposefully rubbed his head and then my eye just so I'd remember why I can't have any more cats.  But that has gotten me thinking about my Little Man...and tomorrow will be a year to the day since he left me and Simon for the Bridge.  I'm still thinking about Alfonso, the green eyed devil in the PK room...but no one could replace my Mills.

Night Night, Little Man.

Miss you, Mee-uhls.  To.Absolute.Bits.

Night, night, Little Man.

Mills!, a photo by Nancy Dunne on Flickr.

"And when the stars fall
I will lie awake
You're my shooting star. "
-Michelle Branch

Mills Dunne
31 May 1998-30 October 2011

Happy Inside

Can you imagine if they released 100 greyhounds into an IKEA? There wouldn't be a meatball left in the store, I can assure you of that, and they'd find them all asleep on the Ektorp sofas.

(There's a ginger tabby that looks right at the camera at one point...looks SO much like my Mills...)

Mills, mon Aristochat

Everybody wants to be a cat,
Because a cat's the only cat
Who knows where it's at.
Everybody's pickin' up on that feline beat,
'Cause everything else is obsolete.
-"Everybody wants to be a cat," The Aristocats, Disney

That cat is my hero this morning. After an overnight interpreting assignment that has left me useless and out sick from work today, I was awakened to the familiar sound of Mills chasing thin air as he does every morning. Only this morning it wasn't thin air. It was a mouse.

Sadly I was on the phone to Simon when I discovered what Mills had and therefore caused him some permanent hearing damage when I split the sound barrier squealing.

My little mouser first cornered his prey in the closet in my office, then herded it out to the sitting room as I got something to scoop it up in so that I could usher it outside. Mills chased it out from under the chair, and then kept it under the table until I could get it into a tupperware container. I then took it outside and flung it into the yard and that little buggar ran STRAIGHT BACK FOR THE STAIRS to come back in the front door. Thankfully it saw me standing there and ducked around into the bushes on the front of the house, then into the house via a vent on the front in the foundation. Hooray.

I couldn't just sit and watch Mills kill it though...don't get me wrong, I don't want mice in my house but there is something so evil about how cats kill their prey. And it made eye contact with me...that was all she wrote. Simon had encouraged me on the phone to save it, chuck it out the door to freedom rather than let Mills kill it, so that's what I did. And the intelligence I saw in those eyes (coupled with terror, of course) lead that little critter right back into the crawl space under my house. Again I say Hoo-Ray.

His adventure this morning has bolstered the opinion in Mills's mind that he is the alpha in this pack. As I was making my tea, he stood up on his hind legs to look (he seems to think that this simple posture will magically make him tall enough to see over the top of the counter) and the dogs came over to see what he was watching. I don't know what exactly happened next but Mills moved his head at them like "You want some of this?" and all three dogs BACKED UP. Too funny.

I gave my little man a saucer with a little milk in the bottom and scratched his ears before he took off on patrol again. Je t'aime, mon Aristochat. Je t'aime très beaucoup.

Franny and Zooey

Zooey in black, Franny in grey and Mills in the middle

Finally, they are together again. Be free kitty girl. Tell your brother I miss him.

What Dreams May Come...Again...and be TiVo'd

This week I moved further into the 21st century and got a TiVo. What I ever did before that I don't know...this is the easiest and fastest way to see what I want to see on television I've ever known. Of course, I'm sure I said the same thing about my first VCR...

My power apparently blinked off yesterday morning, a fact that doesn't really mean that much because it's a Saturday, but it did allow me to sleep in because the alarm didn't go off. While my fuzzy alarm clocks did whimper and nudge at various times, they didn't rouse me from sleep until almost 10am...something that NEVER happens in this house anymore.

I chose not to set my clock until just this morning. Well, let's be honest, I just didn't set it because my ADHD-wannabe mind was wrapped up in a zillion other things instead. Again, this morning, I slept until 9am, but this morning I had some disturbing dreams. I think my brain was trying to warn me that I needed to get up.

The first one took place in an airport I think. I might have being going to or returning from the UK. Either way, a young man that I've kind of been crushing on (can you tell I have friends that are teenagers?) was in the dream and suddenly he was with another woman. All I remember of that dream was walking along behind them and seeing them start holding hands. In retrospect, I realize that the woman looks a lot like his ex-wife...but in the dream I remember thinking she'd come out of nowhere and feeling kind of "Oh well" about the whole thing.

The second one took place at Sandy Paws, a greyhound gathering I attend in the spring. I knew the people I was staying with and had all my animals there, even my cat Mills. Someone had some greyhound puppies there, and Mills was playing with the puppies.

Suddenly these people came in, saying something about the puppies making noise, and gathered them all up into a duffel bag. It had mesh on the sides and I could see Mills in there with them, meowing, but the puppies barking and whining drowned out the meows. They took the back out the door and I hopped up to follow them. Once outside they took off at breakneck speed, dragging the bag on the ground! I chased them to some woods and caught up to them as they dumped the pups out, saying that here they wouldn't bother people with their noise. I scooped up Mills and then confronted one of the men. He made a comment to his friend about me being AR (anti-racing) and I got in his face to tell him he was wrong. He blew me off and walked away.

Bizarr-O. Both dreams had a common theme though...I was left alone, feeling like "I knew that was going to happen," and not being able to change anything to make myself happy. I think I need to get up on time tomorrow, and leave the drama to TiVo.

Counting Down...

In 19 days I will leave my precious hounds with my friends, then kiss my kitties on their furry noggins and beg them not to make craft projects out of my carpet and drapes.

In 19 days I leave Greenville to go to Austell, GA, to my sister and BIL's house.

In 21 days I will board a plane for London (overnight flight).

In 22 days I will land in London and board another plane for Edinburgh.

In 23 days I will fly back to London from Edinburgh and spend the next 6 days there.

In one month I will be spending my last day working for the SC Department of Mental Health.

In one month and two weeks, I will be starting my first day with the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.

In the 30 seconds required to post this, I've realized that if I make it to September 18th alive, it will be a bloody miracle.

Confessions and Phone Conversations

Several of you that read the Lettuce have emailed me to ask what I mean when I mention the "Alabama Job." Being the superstitious sot I am, I was trying not to jinx it like I think I did the job in Decatur last year...not that I wasn't offered the Decatur job but that when I was everything else sorta fell through. Well...I'm trying to convince myself that we make our own luck, so here's the confession. I've applied for an interpreter job with the Alabama Dept. of Mental Health. SCDMH was great to raise my salary last year to keep me here, but they have raised it as far as they can without re-classifying me...and I just feel that I really NEED to get out of South Carolina.

Okay, all that aside, on to the phone conversation, which I'm afraid is a harbinger of things to come as far as my moving goes (if I get the job). Kinda reminds me of where I was this time LAST year...

Nice Lady at Apartment Complex in Montgomery: Good afternoon, X apartments, can I help you?
Me: Yes, I'm Nancy Lassiter and I'm calling about your X apartment that I saw advertised on X.com?
Nice Lady at Apartment Complex in Montgomery: Sure, what can I tell you about it?
Me: Well, it says that you allow pets and that you allow large dogs, and I was wondering if you have a weight, breed, or other...
Nice Lady at Apartment Complex in Montgomery: We have breed restrictions for large dogs, yes ma'am. What kind of dog do you have?
Me: A greyhound, I'm sure that's not on the...
Nice Lady at Apartment Complex in Montgomery: Oh no ma'am, they aren't on the list from our insurance company. Greyhounds are not aggressive dogs like the ones on the list.
Me: Well, no, they aren't. So is there a fee for...
Nice Lady at Apartment Complex in Montgomery: Yes ma'am we allow two pets and the fee is $500/per pet. When would you be looking to move in?
Me: Well, I have more than two greyhounds.
Nice Lady at Apartment Complex in Montgomery: Oh, okay, well thank you for calling. (click)

Why don't they just put that on their website and save all of us a lot of time and trouble? 2 pet limit, $500 fee per pet. Not difficult.

From a posting made by my friend Mary:

this is the kind of person I am...
and have always been. Loving dogs is easy, they are part of me.
Please accept me for who I am.
My dogs appreciate my presence in their lives...

Lordy, I didn't even get to the cats...

Why I Am Now Afraid of the Drawer in the Kitchen

So I'm doing some housework last week, right? I take the vacuum cleaner into the bedroom and head for my bathroom to see if there is a plug in there. I don't really use that bathroom because the toilet flushes only when it feels like it and I have the cat box in there, so I had no idea if there was a plug there or not. I open the door all the way (it stays cracked most of the time just so the cats can get in and out) and nearly jump out of my skin to find Mills sitting in the sink. His eyes and the top of his head were the only parts visible over the top of the sink, and his ears were plastered to the top of his head. By the time I'd run to get the camera he had disappeared.

Or so I thought...

Later that same day I finished washing and drying the dishes that were rapidly taking over the sink and was putting them away when I made a horrifying discovery. I opened the end bottom cabinet by the stove...the one that has access to the only drawer in the kitchen and can only be opened about 6 inches due to the required placement of said stove...and pulled the drawer out the 2 inches that it will come out before hitting the door. Without looking I reached into the drawer to put the pizza cutter in and something in the drawer swatted at my hand!

On the verge of simultaneously wetting my pants and bursting into hysterical laughter, I bent over and peered into the drawer. There sat Mills, his ears in the same position as they had been in the sink earlier, front paw poised and ready to strike. Little stinker.

Since then everything has come out of that drawer that doesn't need a coating of orange cat hair and I periodically just open it and reach in to give my little furry golem a scratch behind his flat ears.

For those who don't think he exists...

For those who don't think he exists...
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Meet Mills, destroyer of cabinet doors, lurker of sinks and drawers, the Almighty 3am Meower...Pure Evil this cat is. That's my boy!

(please ignore the horrid curtain, it came with the house...)

Another Whirlwind Weekend

I keep wondering when my life is going to slow down and I can relax...but I'm coming to the realization that life doesn't slow down, not ever. You have to decide if you're going to hang on for dear life like my "nephew" Drew clinging, white knuckled, to the pole on the carousel horse...or just hop off and hope you land on something soft to rest for awhile.

I again ventured into the murky depths of the basement of the Anderson house on Saturday to take things to the storage building on my Dad's property in Georgia. Some of the stuff in there was almost obliterated by the flooding we had 2 years ago...and because I was too lazy (and too afraid of the basement, let's be honest here) to survey all of the damage some of it was still sitting where it had been when "the rains came down and the floods came up."

Dad came up to help haul stuff in my aunt's truck, so that helped somewhat. Had I been forced to drive the Hound-a (my new name for my Element...okay, so I'm the only one that thinks it's funny?) packed to the ceiling with musty clothes and slightly moldy-in-places boxes I would have been on the short track to the ER. As it was, though, with the really nasty stuff riding in the back of my aunt's truck, I only suffered from an allergy attack that Benadryl made quick work of when I got home. By the way, if you're allergic to those kinds of things and you have them in your car don't turn the heat on full blast on your way home, I don't care HOW cold you are. By the time I got to Scott's to pick up the dogs I could barely see my eyes were so runny and itchy. In fact, my nose is STILL stopped up to some extent now, three days later.

I also got some work done on Kalyne's costume on Saturday. We got everything except the sleeves cut out and all that needed to be fused to interfacing was so fused. She's coming down this weekend so I can put it together and fit it on her rather than sewing and crossing my fingers that it works at the last minute.

Sunday was a blur...the dogs actually let me sleep a little late which was good...see, I took Claritin and Benadryl before I went to bed, so I was physically unable to get out of the bed before I'd slept the required 8 hours in a coma that Benadryl forces on me. At least it wasn't as bad as the night last week where they woke me up to go out at about 3am, I let them out, opened the curtain so I could see them, and crawled back in the bed "just for a second while they are outside." I woke up at 4:30 to Hunk frantically whining to come in. Bad bad bad Mommy.

Knuckleheads. I love them...they've kept my mind off the fact that I lost my best friend a week ago Saturday, my Zooey Boy. I guess now that it's Monday it's time to get off the soft thing I landed on yesterday and merge back into life at full speed, eh?

Franny Hide and Go Sleep

Franny Hide and Go Sleep
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Happy Late Birthday, Franny-Girl. I know yesterday was the first one you've had to celebrate without your brother Zooey, but I don't think that warranted you trying to open a vein on my arm when I tried to help you dislodge that piece of food from the top of your mouth. I still love you, though...the way you scream when I pick you up or run across the room like a rabbit whose tail is on fire. Happy 12th, babygirl. Here's to 12 more.

Holy SMACK what a weekend...

Mornin' Daisy!
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Monday again. I'm still trying to figure out when I'm going to wake up from the dream that was this past weekend.

Friday night is an absolute blur. I was going back and forth between playing on the computer and holding Zooey and crying my eyes out. Saturday morning was crazy...I went to the McDonald family gathering (Mom's side, once every 3 months or so) at my parents' place in Cleveland, Georgia after dropping Zooey off with Scott to go to the vet for the last time. Cried a little on the way down but not too much. "Car Talk" and "Whaddaya Know" kept me entertained and distracted.

At about 1pm I started fooling with Daddy's computer to get set up to watch Daisy's first official maiden race. My cousins Margaret and Kristen were there to watch with me and I think Margaret really enjoyed it!! Daisy didn't do so well...you can read about it here.

After everyone left Daddy and I took a load of my stuff up to the storage building behind my grandmother's house, I grabbed dinner with them and then headed home. Somehow things are always worse in the dark, and as I was hurtling down the mountain from Cleveland to Toccoa I was overtaken by sobs. I was so afraid that Zooey was not going to forgive me for breaking my promise to him...that I would figure out what was wrong with him and make him better.

Somewhere around Westminster, SC, I had a revelation. I did make him better. He didn't hurt anymore. What I was feeling that was making me cry was just my own selfishness at wanting to have him around forever. I made it home by about 9:30 and played Everquest till I was falling out of my chair asleep.

Yesterday was another blur. Funny how only Saturday, the day he left, has any clarity. I know that I got some things done, I know that I slept a lot...but now it's Monday again, first Monday without Zooey yodeling to me while I'm in the shower.

I guess I could encourage Mills to sing...

I'll see ya soon, Zooey...

The Eyes Have It
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

He was not my first choice out of the litter of kittens. His sister Franny, a grey tabby with a penchant for screaming at the top of her lungs was my first choice. In fact, I wouldn't have ever had Zooey if it hadn't been for her. When I went to collect her to take her with me to West Virginia (my internship was with the West Virginia Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) she ran around behind Zooey and cowered. Zooey, being the gregarious sort, meowed at me and purred when I came over to retrieve Franny. They didn't even have names then...and we thought Franny was a boy...hard to tell on a three month old kitten that won't really let you pick it up and investigate.

So I took both of them with me, figuring that this way my little grey screamer would have some company. They were tiny tiny tiny, and sat in my lap as I drove my old Ford Escort over the winding roads leading to my new home and our new life.

That was twelve years ago, in the summer of 1994.

Zooey is going on a new kind of journey tomorrow, one that I can't share, at least not yet. He has been sick off and on for about three years now, and has been steadily losing weight. Two nights ago he looked me in the eye, straight in the eye, and I knew it was time...or rather, I knew my time had run out.

Zooey is my Tiny Man. He's my Zoe-Boe. He would sing to me in the shower and could jump almost up to my waist chasing after a feather on the end of a stick. He could sit on command and if I said "Gopher" he would sit up on his hind legs for a treat. Zooey's favorite foods were peanut butter, strawberry jam, strawberry pop tarts, strawberry nutri-grain bars (seeing a theme here?) and cheese. He never liked milk, and would rather chew on my hand than eat canned cat food.

I'm choosing to post this older picture of him because the cat sleeping in the chair behind me in the office now is not my Zooey. I'm not quite sure how I will get along without him. Twelve years is a long time to get used to having someone around.

I love you, Tiny Man. Rub your head on Lizzard's legs for me and watch out for BoBo, he'll probably feel like chasing you now. I won't say goodbye to him...everytime I leave the house to go anywhere I tell my animals I love them, and I'll see them soon.

See you soon, Zooey-Schmooey. See you soon.

The Eyes Have It

The Eyes Have It
Originally uploaded by NanLassiter.

Me and my tiny man, taken in 1998. Not so terribly flattering of me, but doesn't Zooey just look like a little angel?