Yukon Ho!
June 12, 2009
Well well well. Kim has been set along her merry way home, where she might spend the next three days scraping the mold off her person. Since I decided that it would be too confusing to back-track and post about her visit before I post about all the other developments of the past three weeks, here is a sweeping account of current events.
Silas graduated. Congratulations, Si!
I now have a driver's permit for Massachusetts. This makes the fourth or fifth permit I've acquired over the years, and I just walked in and took the test cold turkey. I've totally got the theory down, I just haven't ever learned to manipulate an automobile in real time. But this time it's really going to happen! I am determined! This girl is getting her license before she is a quarter century old, that's a promise.
Speaking of licenses, the hearing for the chocolate factory's oven license took place on Tuesday, with inconclusive results. The second hearing is scheduled for the 23rd of June, and I sincerely hope that the morning of the 24th will find our kitchen back in full operation. I'm tired of walking the croissants to the restaurant up the street every morning at ridiculous o'clock, and the mice and I long ago exchanged all that could be said between us. Now there's nothing but awkward silences.
I visited the oral surgeon a while back, and this next Wednesday he is going to remove my top two wisdom teeth. People here are very preoccupied with insurance; he seriously didn't want to have to charge me for general anesthetic and the full surgery costs of removing impacted third molars, and suggested that I wait to deal with the unerupted teeth until 1) they start to bother me, or 2) I have dental insurance that will cover it. As it is, he has agreed to do an extraction of the top two. I even got a prescription for anti-anxiety medication to take prior to surgery. The pharmacist that it will make me very C A L M. Fun stuff. Maybe the dentist will let me keep my ivories, and I can make a necklace! Or earrings!
I'm fighting an ongoing battle with the local vets about getting Scout spayed. The poor cat is in heat almost all the time, and spends the five days to two weeks between estrus cycles in a state of such deliberate maliciousness that it's like living with a schizophrenic. And she seems to spend a lot more time lurking suspiciously in doorways. Sooner or later she's going to figure out that Luther is waiting for her! Right outside! And there is no way in hell that Scout's little body will be able to support a pregnancy. So at this point, as I have made clear to anyone who will listen, we're just going to have to gamble on getting her spayed. If she dies, well...a year ago they told me she was doomed, and I honestly didn't expect to take her home after our little adventure last October, so at least it won't come as a surprise. So far all the vets I've talked to have been dragging their feet, either referring me to another clinic or refusing flat-out to perform the surgery. The funny thing is that if I asked them to euthanize her, given her medical history, they wouldn't ask twice. But ask them to do a common parlor trick with full knowledge that it may end in disaster, and suddenly nobody wants the job. I am reluctant to take Scout to one of those low-cost, walk-in spay clinics that will ask no questions, because if she dies on the operating table they might wind up with all sorts of legal problems, and they offer such an important service to the animal community that I don't want to jeopardize it. But it may yet come to that.
And if you've been paying attention, you might have noticed a certain wrapping-up-loose-ends trend underlying my summer activities. Since it is all official now, I am able to announce that Mom has accepted a posting in Fairbanks, Alaska. They pack out the third week of July, and she reports for work August 1.
I have always wanted to live in Alaska, and I will never have another opportunity to move there with so little expense or inconvenience as under the present circumstances. The lease on this house is up at the end of the summer, and I have no reason to stay. As much as I still enjoy my job, it isn't all-engrossing, and I'm getting mildly frustrated earning only ten dollars an hour in a city that gobbles my paycheck with its eyes closed. So I'm moving! My books are already culled (again) and packed, and after the fourth of July they, along with the heavier belongings that I can't bear to part with, will quietly insinuate themselves into Mom and Dad's household goods. The rest will be sold, abandoned, mailed, or packed into suitcases. Scout and I will get a plane ticket and crash on Mom and Dad's floor until we can find a cabin of our own. I have a good feeling about this move.
Silas graduated. Congratulations, Si!
I now have a driver's permit for Massachusetts. This makes the fourth or fifth permit I've acquired over the years, and I just walked in and took the test cold turkey. I've totally got the theory down, I just haven't ever learned to manipulate an automobile in real time. But this time it's really going to happen! I am determined! This girl is getting her license before she is a quarter century old, that's a promise.
Speaking of licenses, the hearing for the chocolate factory's oven license took place on Tuesday, with inconclusive results. The second hearing is scheduled for the 23rd of June, and I sincerely hope that the morning of the 24th will find our kitchen back in full operation. I'm tired of walking the croissants to the restaurant up the street every morning at ridiculous o'clock, and the mice and I long ago exchanged all that could be said between us. Now there's nothing but awkward silences.
I visited the oral surgeon a while back, and this next Wednesday he is going to remove my top two wisdom teeth. People here are very preoccupied with insurance; he seriously didn't want to have to charge me for general anesthetic and the full surgery costs of removing impacted third molars, and suggested that I wait to deal with the unerupted teeth until 1) they start to bother me, or 2) I have dental insurance that will cover it. As it is, he has agreed to do an extraction of the top two. I even got a prescription for anti-anxiety medication to take prior to surgery. The pharmacist that it will make me very C A L M. Fun stuff. Maybe the dentist will let me keep my ivories, and I can make a necklace! Or earrings!
I'm fighting an ongoing battle with the local vets about getting Scout spayed. The poor cat is in heat almost all the time, and spends the five days to two weeks between estrus cycles in a state of such deliberate maliciousness that it's like living with a schizophrenic. And she seems to spend a lot more time lurking suspiciously in doorways. Sooner or later she's going to figure out that Luther is waiting for her! Right outside! And there is no way in hell that Scout's little body will be able to support a pregnancy. So at this point, as I have made clear to anyone who will listen, we're just going to have to gamble on getting her spayed. If she dies, well...a year ago they told me she was doomed, and I honestly didn't expect to take her home after our little adventure last October, so at least it won't come as a surprise. So far all the vets I've talked to have been dragging their feet, either referring me to another clinic or refusing flat-out to perform the surgery. The funny thing is that if I asked them to euthanize her, given her medical history, they wouldn't ask twice. But ask them to do a common parlor trick with full knowledge that it may end in disaster, and suddenly nobody wants the job. I am reluctant to take Scout to one of those low-cost, walk-in spay clinics that will ask no questions, because if she dies on the operating table they might wind up with all sorts of legal problems, and they offer such an important service to the animal community that I don't want to jeopardize it. But it may yet come to that.
And if you've been paying attention, you might have noticed a certain wrapping-up-loose-ends trend underlying my summer activities. Since it is all official now, I am able to announce that Mom has accepted a posting in Fairbanks, Alaska. They pack out the third week of July, and she reports for work August 1.
I have always wanted to live in Alaska, and I will never have another opportunity to move there with so little expense or inconvenience as under the present circumstances. The lease on this house is up at the end of the summer, and I have no reason to stay. As much as I still enjoy my job, it isn't all-engrossing, and I'm getting mildly frustrated earning only ten dollars an hour in a city that gobbles my paycheck with its eyes closed. So I'm moving! My books are already culled (again) and packed, and after the fourth of July they, along with the heavier belongings that I can't bear to part with, will quietly insinuate themselves into Mom and Dad's household goods. The rest will be sold, abandoned, mailed, or packed into suitcases. Scout and I will get a plane ticket and crash on Mom and Dad's floor until we can find a cabin of our own. I have a good feeling about this move.
amelia, that is so awesome!!!!! i lived in anchorage for only two months (sept and oct), and i LOVED it. i too had always wanted to live in alaska, and it was even better than i could have hoped. i'm a little jealous. you will love it!
--liz
cool! I don't have to tell you twice to make sure you have your polar fleeces and to catch up on episodes of northern exposure. I spent a summer in Anchorage after freshman year which was great, but I've seen pictures of the winter which seems pretty hardcore chilly (even given global warming =P). I'll expect to see the northern lights and adventures on your flickr! =) - On Lee (PS. I'm going to new zealand for a few months at the end of the year! but I hope we bump into each other west coast style next year!)
Fantastic news about Alaska! I hope that it's everything you want it to be. Too bad I won't have any justification for going to Burdick chocolates now, though, other than need-for-chocolate! :-)
Good luck with Scout and the neutering. Perhaps I'm naive, but why would a "no questions asked" place end up with legal troubles if Scout reacted badly, given that you (her legal owner) are taking her in in full knowledge and acceptable of the possible results?
Liz - You have a gift for encouragement. The funny thing is that all sorts of people were all "WHY MAINE???" when I said I was moving there, but nobody is second-guessing Alaska. :-)
On Lee - Lucky bum, how did you manage to talk your way into a trip to New Zealand? That's awesome. Heh heh, I fully expect to have to do some hardcore parka-shopping around October...but hey, I'm looking forward to it.
Julia - Well let me know when you're flying in to Logan. I won't be rolling out until the very end of August, so maybe I can help you settle in with a nice iced chocolate. The trouble with the Spay Waggin' (not kidding) is that they don't bother much with any kind of preliminary exam; they gas 'em and get to work. That is in fact the kind of approach that I'm looking for with Scout, and there are all kinds of waivers and forms to sign, yes, but by the same token I'm sure it doesn't look good for them to have patients copping out on the operating table, and that is a very real possibility with this one. Dunno.
Hmm. I can see what you mean about SW (what an awful name!). Good luck figuring it out. I'm sure that someone will do it, eventually. You're stubborn enough to convince them.
Well, unfortunately, I roll in on the very last day in August, so unless our paths cross at Logan, I guess it will be a near miss. Too bad. However, the iced chocolate sounds gorgeous, so I'll just have to go get one anyway, to celebrate being back in Boston.
erm, might want to get that hardcore parka before leaving boston...it snowed 6 inches the day before i arrived in anchorage (sept 24) and that was the coast...
on the up side, we saw a moose eating someone's shrubbery on the way out of the airport! good times, i tell you. and i tell you because you are a fellow alaska nerd.
--liz