When I snapped Patty's chef, little did I realize that I would meet a real live pig three days later.
Yet here's Mr. Miller, the pet porker who lives out behind the Lynx Lake Store as one of the dogs in this enclosure. Mr. Miller is house broken -- and wags his funny little tail when he's happy.
The door is the entrance to his quarters; the dogs live next door.
Meet Annie. This stout, aging Australian patrols the hallways at Samaritan Village Care Center and often sticks her nose in one of the resident's rooms for a little visit and an ear scratch.
These guys are there to watch when one sits in the lobby. They eat, they play, they peck, they groom one another and themselves.
Animals such as these provide a wonderful, life-affirming presence. I know how much Mom has wisted for a pet -- a cat or a bird -- since she's lived in retirement housing. If only I had known -- one place, the Peridot, does set aside a section for residents who want to keep pets.
The GD had packed -- and repacked several times.
There was the saga of the turtles, which was related by the dotter at OmegaMom, one day before departure time. The Niece from Memphis, whose organizing skills kept everybody from going insane, masterminded the trek down to Sky Harbor in the Valley of Death (that's Phoenix, to most folks.) She insisted that we were all needed down there to handle the assortment of containers plus a very lively 5-year-old.
There she is, leading GD into the very spartan ticket counter area.
Here's all the luggage, including the 2 cats, 3 turtles and a car seat; the amphibians are in the large kennel at left and will fly in the hold of the jet.
I was astounded at all the paper work the dotter had to handle, largely because of the travelling zoo. Of course it turned out that she had lost the cats' health report and had to throw herself on the mercy of Alaska Airlines, with a promise to have proper papers faxed to SIL at the pickup end of the trip, just in case. All I can say is "bless the cell phone;" we couldn't have contacted the vet in Flagstaff and the SIL in Alaska otherwise. Of course, turns out the health certificates weren't demanded after all.
The little one inspects the tranked cats, scheduled for under-seat travel.
And they're off. (It's now been a handful of days since the Big Trek and already the kids have a bid in for a new house.)
As we left the airport, headed for the Cool Mountains, our car was thanked. An old buddy of mine thought that all cars in this age of automation should be equipped with a reply sign that says "you're welcome."
...1 dotter & 1 grandchild. SIL is already in Montana, on his way to the great frozen north; he's driven three of the 10 days he's scheduled, which will include a final four on the AlCan Highway. He's driving 1) for the adventure and 2) because of dawg (above). The ladies are flying with the cats (limit, one pet per passenger, per Alaska Airlines.) The turtles? FedEx. Honest.
So here's the sociable one of the two guest cats. Name, Wooly. Other cat, Piggy, is a very shy Siamese mutt who fast found a new hidey hole upon arrival at Chez GrannyJ.
The three turtles are represented by the three containers. If you peer closely into the open unit, you can see Frankie. The other two: Yurtle and Halley.
What else is happening with our full house? Well, GD is marking off the days til she sees Daddy again; and there's the map that is tracking his progress, day by day.
We also had a cool mom-&-little- one get-together with Singing Bird yesterday. A couple of parties are in the offing and, on Saturday, dotter's childhood buddy, the Niece from Memphis, arrives with her offspring. Full house. In spades. Early next week, my dotter & GD & cats fly to their new Alaska home, niece & her dotter attend the local Shakespeare Festival. And, of course, we will all spend some time with my Mom, (the girls' grandmother & great grandmother to the third generation.) Whew!
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