Arrived home to Texas late this evening. I was very sad to leave, but after two weeks in New England, I am so happy to be home. My Great-Uncle, who will be 88 in March, was so teary-eyed as we hugged & said good-by. He's been very emotional over Nana's death and I had to wonder as I walked away, if today was the last time I'd see him alive....
Tabitha hugged my neck so hard when she & Michael met us at the airport, that I thought my neck would break. The two of them worked pretty hard to hold the household together and they did a fairly good job. I'll be spending the weekend taking down the Christmas decorations, and trying to catch-up on home life before heading back to work next week.
Not to say that all went smoothly while I was gone.
Apparently, Molly (the cat) got out and may have spent the night out in the backyard. Tuesday, Michael noticed that she was limping & yesterday she wouldn't walk at all. After a trip to the vet Thursday, it appears she had an infected cut on her front right leg and had formed an abscess. So much vet care later and she has pain medication and antibiotics for the next 7-10 days.
Tab has been suffering through her first cold-sore and the over-the-counter stuff didn't help much.
Michael did get her to her check-up appointment but the dental cleaning got ix-nayed. So that'll have to go on my to-do list.
Miss H. from next door face-planted off of our swing set Wednesday & narrowly avoided a broken wrist.
Speedy is still alive and seems to like being dressed in Barbie clothes; accessories mostly like hats & scarves & dresses. Merlot is also reported to have helped her escape from the habitrail earlier today. But Michael & Tab seem to have a "search & rescue" protocol they follow now and Speedy was rapidly retrieved & put back in her home. Speedy still hates me though. Tab put her in the palm of my left hand. Speedy took two sniffs & promptly bit me twice. Damn Hamster.
So at this point, the luggage has been brought in, we've all had a bite to eat from Sonic, and the cats are all visiting me to let me know that I was missed. Doug is hanging out with me until Saturday for the two of us to "decompress". I've rapidly sorted the mail and gotten my e-mail down from 137 to 35 left in the in-box. So tomorrow is all about trying to restart those home routines. As I look around my home, I'm happy to be here, sad to not be in New England, and feeling the melancholy start to settle in. I took enormous amounts of photos and as I sort through them, I'll share. It'll be over a few days though.
As I sit here, staring at the screen & the keyboard, I am realizing just how overwhelmingly exhausted I really am. On that note, I'm going to go curl-up in my very own bed, with my very own pillow, hopefully with a few cats, and hopefully get a good night's sleep....