Rituals

Life without Max is so weird. You don't realize the work you do for somebody until they are gone since its so ingrained in your schedule.

For instance, my Dad dropped by last night to talk for a bit and brought me some flowers. I took them out of the wrapping and went to take out the baby's breath - oh wait, there is no cat anymore that I need to worry about eating them and poisoning himself. I took the baby's breath out anyway - I don't want it there. I slept an extra 15 minutes this morning and didn't need to feed Max, give him his shot, and clean up puked on blankets, peed on pee pads or anything like that. I almost actually forgot to feed the bunnies before I left the house since I'm really a creature of habit and one change kind of throws me off. This is going to take a lot of getting used to.

In a way though, Max's parting is going to help other animals in the way that an organ donor would. We went out to our vet yesterday to drop off unused insulin, needles and cat food. Vescone is going to keep the blanket we brought Max to them in and that he died in - the vet mentioned that it will come in very useful for snuggling other patients and keeping them warm. I put an add up on Craigslist for someone to take our pet steps and leftover pee pads. This is one of the responses that I got:

"Hello, I wrote to you last night from my home e-mail. I have
not heard back from you if you have given them away yet. My mother in law
REALLY needs these items. We always buy her the puppy pads and man they are
expensive. Also The she's been wanting the steps because with her arthritis
she cant pick up the dog anymore. Please let me know you would make an old
woman happy and easier. I can pick it all up. I live and work in Watertown
so it's not a problem. Just tell me where."

I just replied to her. It makes me feel better that the things we got to help Max out in his final months will go to help an older woman's life easier with her own pet. To connect to our cheezy vacation, its a small world after all (and all that).

FL pics, summary

Brian was able to put our trip pics up: http://tk7602.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=145 . We don't have any pics of us *in* the parade, since once in the park 'behind the scenes', we weren't allowed to take pictures. We're keeping our eyes open to see if anyone else that saw the parade has pics of us (we'll be easy to spot, because we were the only 501st Tuskens).

(please forgive my typos)

We arrived on Thursday late afternoon, did the Magical Express (Disney gets your luggage from baggage claim, takes you to the hotel and drops luggage in your room). This was so cool - staying in a resort hotel was totally worth it. After some exploring our hotel (Port Orleans French Quarter) and grabbing food we met up with our friends and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner, shops and browsing Pleasure Island (it was only open for another hour, and we didn't want to pay the $ to get in for only an hour).

On Friday we hit Animal Kingdom in the morning and did the Safari, the new Everest rollercoaster (so good, and per our friend Lori the Disney expert, is their biggest one yet). I loved the walk through jungles with the animals - lounging meercats and huge bats, oh my! There wasn't time to hit everything (I wanted to see The Lion King show, next time) and we headed to MGM. Of course we did Star Tours, I got to see the AT-AT, we shopped in Tatooine Traders. We did a lot of the pseudo-rides (Muppets, Movies, Narnia, Backlot Tour). There wasn't time to do the stunt show (new) or the Indiana Jones Stunt show. The Rockin' Roller Coaster (Aerosmith theme) was so much fun and probably my favorite ride, but alas, too short. We saw the closing water show/fireworks at the end of the night which was neat.

Saturday was the parade at MGM. We had to be at the park at 9:00ish and after bomb sniffing dogs oked our luggage (!) we were let into an employee part of the park. We changed inside of a huge garage and had access to the employee bathrooms (I didn't go, but Brian did and got to see the costume room through a walk up check out window and the bathroom which had a sign noting its closed every hour for 10 minutes for cleaning for sweeping up fur, beads, sequins, etc). The parade was at around 11:00 and only lasted about 10 minutes but it was so much fun! So many excited park patrons. Here's hoping we get pics later. Post changing and lunch with the FL Garrison outside of the park we got back to the hotel at around 2-3, freshened up and headed to the Magic Kingdom. We did splash mountain, thunder mountain, haunted mansion, small world, and other things I'm forgetting. Brian and I forgoed Space Mountain so that we'd have time to explore a bit before the parade and fireworks. It was neat to see the traditional stuff and see how they emphasize education in places (its not all mindless entertainment).

Sunday was Epcot, so cool! We went on the new Soar ride, like you are hangliding in CA complete with pine and orange smells as you fly over groves of trees. We did the ride inside of the globe, the figment imagination thing, Ellen Degeneris dinosaur thing, checked out the Nemo aquarium (sharks and dolphins and manatees and cuttlefish, whee) and checked out most of the countries. Again, we ran out of time. The final fireworks over the pond at Epot was really neat, titled "Reflections of the World" and having the same general feel as Its a Small World (Look at all these people all over, dealing with the same thing). We hit the pool and jacuzzi at the hotel on Sunday night.

Monday was our trip home. Brian and I had time to walk and explore the resort a bit more, and found we'd prefer the other Port Orleans Hotel (Riverside) the next time we stay (less cheezy and more plantationy, really good breakfast at their restaurant). We sat along the "river" to kill time before Disney printed our boarding passes, took away our luggage again, and took us to the airport. The flight was uneventful.

We definitely had a great time and would love to go again (perhaps in a cooler, less crowded time, like November or early December). The effecient entertainment machine that is Disney is quite impressive, and it was nice not having to worry about anything, having people to look out for you everywhere. It was totally what we needed, and I think a good way to prepare ourselves for what we'd have to deal with when we got home.

Weird

Brian and I were driving home from the supermarket, talking about how weird it is to be without Max. Our house just seems so empty not having a kitty there. We thought we'd go out to Pet World (where we've adopted both bunnies from, and where friends have adopted pets from). There were many cute kitties there, but none that seemed like they'd be it. Brian wants to adopt every cute fuzzhead he meets, but I just have to have a right feeling, you know?

We headed home after buying glue sticks (the initial reason for the trip out west) and I popped online to check out some shelter sites. Charlie just made me say "OH" out loud: http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=5231853 . I've always loved tiger cats and told Brian that I'd want the next to be one too, if it worked out that way. Brian's on the phone with the adoption coordinator now, and learned that Charlie is currently living outside in Everett of all places (where Brian grew up). Of all places, Brian would want to get the poor guy out of there. He's estimated to be around 2-3 years old, so tomorrow we'll fill out their little application form and if approved (which I'm sure we will be) they'll put us in touch with the foster mom.

Oh my