sadness & catch-up

I'm behind on my posts. I've had a blow to my soul.

The gem show was great. I went for 2 days, Friday & Saturday. On Friday, I did find the crystal I had dreamed about. It's called Kyanite. I got a finger-sized piece for $30, my most expensive purchase. I also got a rainstick (always wanted one), and a lovely bowl carved out of fossil bone (for the altar). I bought $90 worth of angels for my friend's store (she couldn't come) and a nice tiger iron orb for another friend. Also got a great deal on some magnetic jewelry--paid less for completed pieces than for unstrung beads. Didn't buy much for resale cuz I still have all the stuff I bought last year.

I got to see my friend whose husband is in the Army. He's being relocated soon so who knows if/when I will see her again. He's going for officer training and then he is probably going to be deployed.

Sunday we went to Plymouth with my parents. My dad is a worry wart fussbudget OCD person. I know it's just the Alzheimer's amplifying his natural tendencies but it can be SO ANNOYING. He makes my fussy eating look like toleranance.

We went to Providencetown on the ferry (saw a 30' basking shark--to me it was just a big freaking shark fin, but the captain of the boat said it was a basking shark which are plankton eaters). Too crowded; didn't know it was Carnival week with a parade coming the next day. I wouldn't have gone if I had known. It was hot and crowded--too things I can do without. My father whined constantly. We got him some raspberry ice cream; it wasn't black raspberry ice cream (which is purple) it was regular raspberry which is pink, and he insisted it was strawberry due to the pinkness even though my mother ate it and said it was raspberry. He had a terrible time, hated the boat, hated everything. I bought myself a nice hat which fits my little head, and got a toy lobster for my friend's baby and a cool shell for my other friend who loves shells.

We went whale watching and saw 6 humpback whales and a minkey (spell?) whale. The whales were called....hmm..Soot, Barb, ack I can't remember now! I thought I got some good video with my digital camera but I wasn't doing it right, you aren't supposed to hold down the button, just click once to start and once to end.

My friend from Attleboro came up for lunch (the one I bought the angels for) and went walking on the beach with us at low tide. That was the only day the water was clear enough to snorkle, but snorkling isn't a companion activity unless everyone's doing it, so I didn't get to snorkle at all up there. My parents found some huge clam shells and a few sand dollars; we got lots and lots of cool rocks to finish the new garden edging. We also went to Plymouth Plantation one day.

My father worried constantly. Were we out of gas? Better fill up. (We just filled up last night). What about his baby (the cat)? His baby could be dead. He wanted to go home to his baby. Friday morning, the day we were leaving, he was up and ready go to at 6:00 a.m my mom said. To go home to his baby. We had to pick the cat up by noon or pay $25 extra (another day). We got there at 12:01 but they didn't charge the extra day.

My parents dropped us and our mound of luggage off and headed home with their cat. I went inside to see my own cats. Nutter fled from me as if I was a stranger (he's the original scardey cat). I checked the fish--all alive, suprise surprise--and headed into the bird room.

Ever since Scarlett died in 1994, I have counted birds. I counted 4, not 6. Lance and Gwennie's cage was empty.

My first thought--they escaped (they do that) and were in the baby cage. The baby cage (so called because when we have babies, they live in that cage once they have feathers) was empty. The cage doors were latched. I called because sometimes they are sleeping in the box, but no one came out. I pulled the box open. There was Lance, looking up at me, and next to him Gwennie, dead and decayed, her eyes gone, her neck back in rigor. I started screaming. My husband came running in. The person watching the birds had called THE NIGHT BEFORE and assured us all the animals were fine and alive. Clearly she had lied. I was hysterical. My husand had to net Lance because he wouldn't leave his mate's body. I wrapped her up and drove the 20 miles the bird vet, crying hysterically every time I saw the little bundle on the seat next to me. i was halfway there when my husband called to say Lance had diareha (I can't spell and right now I don't care). I continued on the vet and dropped off Gwennie for necropsy and cremation , and asked for medicine for Lance. They wanted to see him. I drove back home, grabbed him, drove back. They said they couldn't see him even though I had just made an appointment. I waited an hour and finally the vet said that he might have something wrong with his kidneys or liver (he's had liver problems before). His poop was funky too. He had lost 33 grams (133 last month, now 100) which is a huge amount.

A couple of hours later they called and said that Gwennie had an abnormal heart and liver (why that didn't show up on all the tests I had done on her 3 weeks before they couldn't explain) and that the metal they found her belly the month before (via xray) hadn't killed her because after all, it wasn't metal. It was small rocks, and she had already passed several of them.

The person who was watching my animals can't understand why I am angry at her.

There's a lesson in here somewhere.