In Memoriam: Rocky—April 1993-February 9, 2009

Well, Rocky has finally decided that he had had enough. He died this afternoon about 4:30. He had hidden himself under our bed. Jeff found him, wrapped him in a towel, and placed him on top of a heat register. Less than an hour later, Rocky died. So, now he's out with Eddie in our backyard. Rocky never really got over Eddie's death in Feb. 2005. Jeff dug the hole last November when we thought we would have him put to sleep.

We think he had diabetes. He drank tons of water all the time. He also had a voracious appetite, but kept losing weight. He didn't seem to be in any pain, though.

We first got him in May 1993 as a very small kitten, maybe six weeks old. Jeff opened his office door to find the girlfriend of a colleague's son standing there with this little tiny white kitten in her arms. He hadn't even been weaned properly yet. We think that his mother figured out that he was deaf and kicked him out.

Rocky loved to watch things fall. He chewed on glass objects. When in the right mood, he would sit on your lap forever. He hated being picked up. He was only secure against a body or a lap. We will miss him terribly. The girls are a little confused right now, but at least they have each other.

The best way to get photos of Rocky was when he was asleep. I'm sure I have some somewhere of him awake, but these were on my computer.

Clearly, I'm an idiot!!

Well, I should never have posted about the three car situation. I blew our Saturn's engine yesterday. I was less than two miles from a gas station where I could fill up and get oil for the engine. Needless to say, I didn't make it! The engine block has a hole in it because I'm an idiot. We just had the Saturn in for service and I meant to call and have them do an oil change, did I remember? NO! Did I not pass numerous gas stations, WalMarts, Targets, etc. to buy oil? But, no, I had to get to 72oo South to fill up and get oil.

I have never felt so stupid in my entire life. I road in a tow-truck—certainly not on my "to-do" list for my life. I had a love/hate relationship with the Saturn. It got good gas mileage, but was soooo loud and small.

So, instead of three cars we are down to two. After the gymnastics meet at the U tomorrow, D and I will stop and clean out the Saturn. It has the rods for my punches in it, as well as, some other things that I would prefer not to lose. And yet another car goes to the Kidney Foundation. I really don't think that Jeff is willing to pay $2500 to $3000 to put a used engine in the car.

When I told one of my classes today, a student (who I see every day) asked if I cried. When I said no, he wanted to know if I swore a lot. I replied in the affirmative. Now I want to cry. But there really is no point. I cried when the station wagon was hauled off. I learned to parallel park in a Colony Park station wagon. I can park anything!

So, we are back to two drivers and two vehicles. Maybe later we will buy another small car for its gas mileage. Over the last two days the Grand Voyager hit 30 mpg! with 1000 lbs of drywall in the back.

Guess what I will be doing this weekend? Hanging drywall! And working the daddy/daughter event for Girl Scouts. Neither my dh nor my dd are attending. Well, D might attend as a PA, but not with her dad. Neither of them thought the event looked interesting. I tried in Service Unit meetings to make it more appealing. But did anyone listen to me? No, of course not.

Well, since it is the wee hours of the morning, and I have to read 150 junior Language Arts exams tomorrow, I had probably post this and head to bed.

I hate hate hate February!!!!

Last call

Deirdre and Sarah taking an order from a neighbor. All cookie orders have to be in by tomorrow (Wed., Feb. 4). If you haven't order any yet and want to— drop me a comment.

Cars

We have three cars and two drivers. When we bought our Honda Oydessy, we decided to keep our green Plymouth Grand Voyager. This meant we had three cars and two drivers. This semester we are doing the car "musical chair" game. On Mondays and Fridays, Kate drives the Honda and Jeff the Grand Voyager. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays Kate drives the Saturn and Jeff drives the Honda. At 15 1/2 years old the Saturn still gets 35 miles to the gallon. It makes more sense for the car that is driving 500+ miles per week to be the one that gets the most gas milage. Jeff drives carpool on Tuesdays and Thursdays and needs the Honda. Kate has class on Wed., and Thurs., and drives the Saturn. The Grand Voyager is full of drywall at the moment, so it has no seats besides the driver and "killer" passenger. Sort of hard to drive carpool with no seats. :) Amazingly enough all three cars are being driven each week!

Great Game

What a supremely awesome Super Bowl. I wanted the Steelers to win and they did! Great emotion here. Screaming could be heard many times. Freaked poor Greymalken out enough that she left to go sleep in our bedroom. What an up and down game. Felt sorry for the Cardinals.