Four Part Harmony

While we’ve had some sadness to start off the year, I also wanted to post a few photos of the happy things that have happened for us in this new year so far.

First off this photo, which was actually from the last couple days of 2009. A forecasted rainstorm ended up turning to snow and dropped 6 inches or so of snow all over Portland right before rush hour. It caught everyone off guard, and the roads around Portland were in chaos. It was taking people 4 and 5 hours to drive across town. People were abandoning their cars on the interstate. A big delivery-type truck slid down a hill into our truck as Nicki was driving it home and she ended up having to walk to a friends place nearby. While all this was going on though, the kids and I were in the backyard having tons of fun. It was absolutely perfect snowball weather, and we put this huge snowman together in about 10 minutes.

A couple more nice pictures. We took a long hike down in Tryon Creek State Park to start the new year.

Here’s our latest fun inside activity. I’ve been running a microphone into my old amp and letting the kids go crazy with it. Sometimes I’ll plug the guitar in too, and we’ll sing some songs or just make noise. So far the most favorite activity is to run the microphone through the delay pedal for maximum echo and spacey weirdness.

Milo got his first haircut, and that was pretty fun and exciting for him. We have always taken Anna to the same place to get her haircut. It’s a nice place. Nothing super fancy, but always a pretty nice haircut for not too much money. Anna likes it because at the end of the haircut the woman brings out this box of spools of ribbon, all different colors, and ties bows in her hair. Naturally, Milo picked up on the fact that that was indeed the best part of the haircut, and he insisted that he get a bow also. I never did get to see him with the bow in, sadly, but was amazed when I got home how much older he suddenly looked. It didn’t really even seem like he had that much hair to cut, we were just planning on giving him a trim to even things out. Suddenly he looks like he’s 3 years old.

I finished Anna’s guitar a couple of weeks ago. That was big excitement for me (and Anna I think). I realized I’ve been working on it (on and off) for nearly 18 months. I think it came out looking and sounding pretty nice. I’ve had the strings on and off it a few times now, trying to dial in a good set up on it. It’s really going to be too big for her for a while, the neck profile isn’t actually all that much smaller than a standard guitar. She seems to like it though, maybe more so just for the fact that I made it for her and we’ve been talking abut it for so long. Here are a few pictures:

Hope all is well with all of you.

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I wanted to take a minute to post a bit of sad news. Floyd, our beloved cat and companion of 15 years, died last week. Floydie was a great cat. Nicki got her as a kitten a year or so before I met her. She moved all over Portland with us, living with lots of other cats and dogs and people along the way. She even lived with me in Idaho for a summer. I drove her out there in my little Subaru, with her litter box behind the drivers seat and her crawling under the pedals and on my lap as I drove.

As you all mostly know, Floydie has been pretty sick these past couple of years, slowly and consistently losing weight and getting less and less active. This past week, though, it became clear that she was nearing the end, and it was pretty tough for everyone. Our biggest concern was that we didn’t want her to be in pain. We took her to the vet and ran some blood work and it was clear that there was very little that could be done for her but manage her pain. The vets were very nice, not trying to force us into long shot treatments or rush us to euthanize. They gave her a few days worth of pain medication and we took her home. We spent the next two days giving her as much attention as she seemed to be able to handle. She seemed to enjoy the time as well, but it was also clear that she was ready to go. In the end she found a quiet place to lay down and drifted off peacefully. It was all we could have asked for for her.

It was a sunny winter day, a treasured rarity, and the type of day that would have been her absolute favorite. She was always fond of a nice sunbeam. I carried her out into the sun and set to work making a grave for her at the corner of our garage. We buried her with her food and water bowls. In her last years, her favorite thing in life had become fresh, cold water. She meowed for it two or three times a day, and even if her water dish was still full we would empty it and pour in fresh cold water. It was a small luxury but the only one she requested.

The kids had been napping and when they woke up we talked a little bit with Anna about Floydie dying. This is our second pet to die in a matter of a month. It is a really hard thing to explain. We made some tea and asked if she wanted to go out and see where she was buried. It was mid-afternoon but the sun was still shining. We lit a candle and set some rocks around where she was buried. We talked about that Floydie’s body had died, but that her spirit would always be with us. Looking around the yard we could see the row after row of garlic we had planted in the fall just starting to sprout, life springing forth from the earth, and we felt blessed.

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