0 Random Bits of April

 So I've somehow managed to stay fairly busy over the past few months despite not being an contributing, productive citizen. Max's schedule has booked up (and I'm working on that post, I promise- just trying to get better images to share with you!) and that occupies the better part of my Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Mondays to be added soon.
Anyway, I've collected a few random things from April (with a cheater from the very end of March...) to share! If you follow me on Instagram, these are repeats. Sorry!

I've joined a FB page that networks people to transport shelter pets to rescues willing to take them. So far it's only worked out for me to make one drive, but I took these two sweet, pregnant cats on the first leg of their journey up to VA! They were taken in by two different rescues, but close enough in proximity that their transports were able to be combined. Both of these mamas were so loving and sweet, and both owner surrenders- so *soapbox* spay and neuter your pets, please! For every accidental (or for "fun" purposeful) litter, there are perfectly wonderful cats and dogs being put to sleep at shelters. These two girls are quite young- 1-2 years old- and lucky to have been given the chance to a great life. This is another opportunity for me to stress that if you really, really want to experience a litter of cats or dogs, volunteer as a foster with a rescue! Both of these girls were going to foster homes who are caring for them and the kittens, and then they all get to find homes through the rescue, and be spayed and neutered in order to end the cycle! Best of both worlds! (More facts and pleading here.)

A new friend of mine here has season tickets to the Hurricanes, and I'd told her that, back in college, Paul and I went to as many Atlanta Thrashers games we could (also leading to my mom unexpectedly falling in love with her tiny, already bossy and rotten-smart granddog, Sloan, who she was kind enough to puppy-sit for us during the games!) and when a game came up that my friend and her husband weren't able to attend, she offered me the tickets. Y'all. IT WAS AMAZING. Sucks for Paul, he was out of town at the time, so my friend Sarah who lives in Chapel Hill (and I've known since 4th grade!) went with me. We had a fantastic time, despite the 'Canes losing to the Caps.  Paul and I are planning to catch some more games, although we definitely miss our college-student discount tickets!

 My sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and niece came to visit me for the last half of their Spring Break! We were fairly lazy during their visit, which was great, as I really liked the bonding time with the kids (who have grown up SO much, even since December when we last saw them!) but we did head up to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences one day. It was a bit of a selfish jaunt, as I'd found out about a Titanic exhibit that was closing the next week and I was dying to see it- it included actual items found in the salvage, which was fascinating. The kids weren't as interested, but the rest of the museum struck their fancy! My niece Charlotte and I had a great time seeing all the creepy crawlies, particularly a prehistoric eel-looking thing, but he refused to hold still for a picture, so you get this frog delicately balanced on a tiny twig.

The end-of-race celebration, where everyone threw leftover packets of color into the air! We stayed to the side, as our lungs were already pink and purple, but I was pleased with the shots I got of the powder!

The last day of their visit was also the day my friend Alicia (who I've also known since 4th grade- it's the year the magnet school I attended began, and when I met my classmates for the next 8 years of school- several of whom now live in NC) and I had registered to do a Color Run knock-off, "Color Mania". We had a great time and I got some extra packets of color prior to the race so Charlotte and Brad (my nephew) could throw them at us- and Charlotte pegged us with the pink you see on my left leg in the "after" picture! The race was really crowded with a lot of bottlenecking at each color station, so I was glad neither of us were planning to have a serious run- we were there for the fun, and that was a success!

Before and After. I had an old pair of white yoga pants, so I figured I'd wear them to get as much color as possible. Alicia was smarter and stuck to black! (She was also smarter with the headband... !)

The ground after the color packet celebration above! Gorgeous, right?

Now that I feel like I've got you a bit more caught up, I have a less hodge-podge post planned next- I went back up to DC for a few days in mid-April! (Can you tell it's my favorite U.S. city besides Atlanta?!)

2 No Doubt in My Mind Where You Belong

It's clear I've got a rather strong attachment to my pets. I don't want to say it's unique or special, because I know many other families with interspecial relationships like ours, but I also know that, for people without these kind of bonds, it's nearly unfathomable.

A natural course of life seems to be the realization of death. I don't mean this in a tragic, morbid fashion; just that, as children, we often don't understand death and as teenagers and in our early twenties there's an undercurrent of invincibility, of the vast promise of the future. That any mistake you make can be apologized for, time made up, alternate plans pursued.
I often wonder if having human children gives you an additional link to this infallibility, this belief in possibility, since (assumably) you're involved in someone who will go on after you've died, someone who will carry on or grow from wherever you've left off. Having animal-kids seems to make us face the brick wall of The End a bit sooner. The first sign of stiffness as your dog gets up from their bed, the first tooth a cat needs pulled, the first grey hair on a snout you've kissed thousands of times- these are all hints of a future that involves your heart falling out of your body, your belly aching with a knot of anguish, your throat choking on a ball of tears. We have to recognize that life as we know it- as we've chosen it, since few animals come into families in an "oops!" or accidental fashion- will change dramatically.

I'm a total sucker for a white face, even though it breaks my heart. Max has been an old man his entire life, so to be honest it just looks like his face is catching up to the rest of him. Don't get me started on Sloan's rapidly whitening mask, though.

I didn't intend for this post to be a tear jerker, despite the fact that I've got some escapees on my cheeks as I type this. I'm a natural worrier, but in a planning-for-all-outcomes way that helps me deal with things before they actually occur, so I can feel a bit less out of control when the not-best scenario plays out.  This trait makes my mom exasperated with me and my needless "freak outs", it makes Paul roll his eyes and tell me I'm insane- but it helps me.  Paul prefers to deal with things as they come; he's never been a planner or a worrier, and he sees my constant chess games with the future as unnecessary ways to torture myself.

He may be right. But, then, when I'm angry with the dogs, when Sloan won't stop barking or Max turns into an uncooperative brick wall or Mia rips into yet another bag in the kitchen in her never-ending search for food, I think about the day when I won't have to yell at Sloan for barking. I won't have to physically force Max to do something I know is best for him but he doesn't want to do. I won't have to pick Mia up by her armpits and hold my face close to hers, speaking in careful tones as she merows in frustration at me.

I've learned this lesson the hard way, but really, aren't the biggest lessons in life learned that way? My cat Bonnie was hit by a car in October 2005 after yowling to go outside at 6 AM (he was a 10 year old indoor/outdoor cat). I picked him up, yelled at him to shut up, and put him outside. I never got to see his pale green eyes again, and I only got to hold his dirty, lifeless body as I buried him.  Not all of my pets' deaths have been so tragic and guilt-ridden, though. Harry, my childhood cat, died at the astonishing age of 19, when I was in college. Each time I went home I knew it might be the last time we saw each other, so I was careful to spend time specifically with her, picking her up more gently than when I was 5, but loving her just the same. Lucas, our cat who died in April 2009, died naturally, in our living room. We were heartbroken, especially because he was only 9.5, but I'd kept him in the night before when he'd asked to go out at 10 PM and for that I'm eternally thankful.

Mia loves to sleep ON me, especially in the early breakfast-adjacent hours. I prefer when her head is near my chin, but opening my eyes to toes isn't unusual.

I've been a "stay-at-home dog-mom" since we moved back, and, while some days I get more than a bit stir crazy, I really do feel lucky to get to spend so much time with them.  We play throughout the day, but when I leave the house they still get delightfully excited upon my return.  Sure, I get tired of the constant in-and-out-and-in-and-out and the barking at our neighbors' cats, but I also get to see their bursts of silly, and when one of them comes up to me randomly, just for a scratching, I feel like I've won the lottery. Of course, they do sleep quite a bit, but sometimes I disturb their dreams for some snuggles- because I will make sure they know they are loved, and I will make sure my regrets for their lives are as few as possible.  I will make sure I choose them over selfishness, even if I'm cranky and lazy and wanting to sleep in instead of getting up to walk the dogs before the heat of the day hits.  No matter what the opinion articles say, I'll usually let my spot on the couch be stolen, since I can get an adorably guilty tail-wag and kiss out of it. And the rare nights when all three of them get in "Big Bed" with us? I guarantee neither human will sleep comfortably, but we'll both have smiles on our faces.

She's an evening snuggler and we both fully support this habit. This is Ceba, a stuffed seal I've had since I was little. I gave him to Sloan about a year and a half ago, and not only has she not torn him up (miracle!), but she carries him around each evening and refuses to go to bed without him. Yes, it does totally melt my heart.

In the end, sure, I know life goes on. I know that the hole which my heart fell through will slowly turn into a dull throb and gradually become tear-misted laughter as the funny stories overtake the sad. I know that I will love other animals- ones that might be even bigger hooligans, or maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll stumble into a life with one of those mythical dogs that's easy-going and unfazed by the UPS truck. But for now, I've got two lovable mosters and a small beastie who make me exasperated, make me scream, embarrass me... but also make me laugh, harder than anything else. And make my heart burst in happiness just by laying a lead-weight head on my leg when I'm in the least comfortable position. And I know they're worth every minute.

*title courtesy of Bob Dylan, "Make You Feel My Love"

0 Strawberry Picking at Vollmer Farms

I have a thing for fruit. I get more than a little excited as summer approaches, bringing with it strawberries, blueberries, cherries, blackberries, huckleberries (one of the few good things we found in Idaho!), peaches, plums... I can keep going.  I like almost all fruits- I'm not keen on most tropical fruit other than pineapples and I won't touch bananas, cantaloupe, or oranges (or any wanna-be oranges, like tangerines).
Anyway, I also have a thing for organic produce, especially those on the Dirty Dozen list.  Since we're also not bajillionaires (and more on our favorite money pit later in the week- don't worry, it's almost all good news!) buying $5/pint organic strawberries shipped up from Florida wasn't a viable option for our summer smoothie habit. (I got Paul hooked a few years ago, and for a guy who used to avoid fruit and vegetables, it's quite entertaining!)
I started googling around, and there are loads of farms relatively near us that grow strawberries... but not organic ones. I found a few that grow organic, but they were all at least an hour away and some had very limited hours. I ended up settling on Vollmer Farm, in Bunn, NC. I called to make sure they still had a good crop and we headed up!

Vollmer Farm has several fields full of strawberries. We didn't get there until around 1PM but since they limited rows open for picking and had just opened up some new rows, we had access to all the giant, fresh strawberries we could handle!
They ask that you not eat berries whilst picking in order to limit contamination to the field, so my mouth just watered the whole time instead!

 They charge $3.20/lb or $16 for a 5-6lb bucket- we picked 5 buckets!

Of course we had to stop in the on-site ice cream shop before we headed back home! Because I avoid hormones, antibiotics, and I only buy dairy from "happy" cows, my ice cream choices since we moved back to the States have been limited (and our ice cream maker was broken during the move.) so I couldn't resist fresh ice cream! We each got one scoop of strawberry and one of chocolate (I ordered first, in case you were wondering who the copycat was) and ate it up before I even thought of taking a picture... sorry! Just know it was delicious!

After we got home, I froze most of the strawberries whole for smoothies, sliced others and froze them in simple syrup for topping, and I've eaten somewhere around 5 lbs fresh...  YUM!




*Also, hi! I'm working my way back- I've got a bundle of half-written posts as well as a pile of pictures, and I'll talk about what's been going on over the past few months more. Just know that a) unlike the rest of the world, I'm NOT pregnant (and for us that's a good thing!) and b) we're all healthy and well.  Thanks for hanging in there with me- I hope I don't let you down!