The trip up was incredible! The colors were brilliant, the sounds were not of heavy traffic, but of the wind blowing through all those red and gold leaves, and of birds singing. We made our first stop at Jacks service station, to use the bathroom and fill back up. They were still passing out treats, to us (KitKats) as well as George the 3rd’s usual Milkbone. And to my and the girls surprise, Pounces for Tinker and Belle. Jack said he always kept dog treats, but after seeing us so many times, he thought he should be an equal opportunity treater, so got some shrimp Pounces. He added that once he did so, he started seeing a lot more cat owned cars pulling in to fill up.Funny how that works huh? A dollar and a half expenditure has increased his business by at least 20%. He asked me if cat people left some kind of mark on a place, like the hobo’s did during the depression, indicating that you would be fed there. I laughed and said no, but that I thought it was a heck of an idea! Jack is such a nice guy. We stopped at the diner we usually go to so that we didnt have to cook that night, and the waitress, Joann, grinned at us and in place of a menu, she handed me a package of frozen salad shrimp and told me that I didnt have to worry about spoiling the girls, that she was! I had forgotten that not long after Linda’s passing, I had unloaded on her , telling her about inheriting the cats and their house, how beautiful and amazing they are, and how much I am in awe of them am, and that I was afraid I was spoiling them rotten. So now, I have accomplices in their spoilage – lol – Oh well, they deserve it! When we got to the cabin, and got everyone set up, litter boxed, and George the 3rd walked and – well, you know, we fed everyone, finished carrying stuff in and put it away, and Ramona and I were tired, so we decided to just sit on the back screened in porch and share some wine. Now, I dont know much about bottle size when it comes to wine, so I just looked in the fridge and there was a large bottle of Reisling there so I thought, well, theres 2 of us, that should work. And it did, way too well as a matter of fact. By our third glass we were singing old songs from the 60’s and Ramona said you know, that Tommy James song Draggin the line? Yes, what about it. She said we should change the lyrics to “Liking the wine”, and we laughed and I thought, yes and the backbeat should be “Drinking the wine, drinking the wine” and we just cracked up. Tinker came out and gave us a look that as much said that we had embarrassed ourselves, and by extention, her and Belle. We cracked up all over again, but that was enough to tell us both that these old ladies should clean up and go to bed, so we did. The next morning Ramona woke up to a cat purring on her chest, and she thought nothing about it, just began to pet it, and thats when she realized that it was not Katrinka, nor BlueBelle. She opened her eyes to a majestic long haired tuxedo purring at her, quite happy to let her continue to pet him. She brought him into the kitchen, and said we have a new friend. I told her we should go around and see if we could find its owners. We walked to the close neighbors and no one had ever seen it before. Mr. Tuxedo went willingly into a carrier, so we drove into town and asked at the animal shelter and no one had posted any missing cat signs. They checked and he was microchipped, so we got his info, and a vets name and number as well. We called the vet and he told us that Mr. Tuxedo’s owner was an elderly man, and he would go check on him and call us back. Sadly, Mr. Tuxedo’s owner had passed away, and apparently Mr. Tuxedo had decided to go find a new owner and picked Ramona. So we now have 3 cats, and a partime Basset. I think we are well on our way to becoming crazy old cat ladies. After we had determined that we were going to keep Mr. Tuxedo, Ramona, and I turned to each other and both of us started saying, “Linda would have loved this, and laughed her fanny off at both of us!” So, go ahead and tell me that we planned this weekend. I swear Linda set it all up and is still laughing her fanny off at us!
The trip up was incredible! The colors were brilliant, the sounds were not of heavy traffic, but of the wind blowing through all those red and gold leaves, and of birds singing. We made our first stop at Jacks service station, to use the bathroom and fill back up. They were still passing out treats, to us (KitKats) as well as George the 3rd’s usual Milkbone. And to my and the girls surprise, Pounces for Tinker and Belle. Jack said he always kept dog treats, but after seeing us so many times, he thought he should be an equal opportunity treater, so got some shrimp Pounces. He added that once he did so, he started seeing a lot more cat owned cars pulling in to fill up.Funny how that works huh? A dollar and a half expenditure has increased his business by at least 20%. He asked me if cat people left some kind of mark on a place, like the hobo’s did during the depression, indicating that you would be fed there. I laughed and said no, but that I thought it was a heck of an idea! Jack is such a nice guy. We stopped at the diner we usually go to so that we didnt have to cook that night, and the waitress, Joann, grinned at us and in place of a menu, she handed me a package of frozen salad shrimp and told me that I didnt have to worry about spoiling the girls, that she was! I had forgotten that not long after Linda’s passing, I had unloaded on her , telling her about inheriting the cats and their house, how beautiful and amazing they are, and how much I am in awe of them am, and that I was afraid I was spoiling them rotten. So now, I have accomplices in their spoilage – lol – Oh well, they deserve it! When we got to the cabin, and got everyone set up, litter boxed, and George the 3rd walked and – well, you know, we fed everyone, finished carrying stuff in and put it away, and Ramona and I were tired, so we decided to just sit on the back screened in porch and share some wine. Now, I dont know much about bottle size when it comes to wine, so I just looked in the fridge and there was a large bottle of Reisling there so I thought, well, theres 2 of us, that should work. And it did, way too well as a matter of fact. By our third glass we were singing old songs from the 60’s and Ramona said you know, that Tommy James song Draggin the line? Yes, what about it. She said we should change the lyrics to “Liking the wine”, and we laughed and I thought, yes and the backbeat should be “Drinking the wine, drinking the wine” and we just cracked up. Tinker came out and gave us a look that as much said that we had embarrassed ourselves, and by extention, her and Belle. We cracked up all over again, but that was enough to tell us both that these old ladies should clean up and go to bed, so we did. The next morning Ramona woke up to a cat purring on her chest, and she thought nothing about it, just began to pet it, and thats when she realized that it was not Katrinka, nor BlueBelle. She opened her eyes to a majestic long haired tuxedo purring at her, quite happy to let her continue to pet him. She brought him into the kitchen, and said we have a new friend. I told her we should go around and see if we could find its owners. We walked to the close neighbors and no one had ever seen it before. Mr. Tuxedo went willingly into a carrier, so we drove into town and asked at the animal shelter and no one had posted any missing cat signs. They checked and he was microchipped, so we got his info, and a vets name and number as well. We called the vet and he told us that Mr. Tuxedo’s owner was an elderly man, and he would go check on him and call us back. Sadly, Mr. Tuxedo’s owner had passed away, and apparently Mr. Tuxedo had decided to go find a new owner and picked Ramona. So we now have 3 cats, and a partime Basset. I think we are well on our way to becoming crazy old cat ladies. After we had determined that we were going to keep Mr. Tuxedo, Ramona, and I turned to each other and both of us started saying, “Linda would have loved this, and laughed her fanny off at both of us!” So, go ahead and tell me that we planned this weekend. I swear Linda set it all up and is still laughing her fanny off at us!