Yes, I’m THAT Person

Toby, my low-life cheatin’ kittie

Someone in a discussion with my sister, wondered who those people were that were upset when their pets ran away from home, because if they had run away it must’ve been because they were bad owners. . . . she thought for a moment, and then answered, “my sister.”

It’s true. I’m THAT person. Here’s the story. I had my cat for over 12 years. She was the first cat we had while here in Tennessee–the alpha and omega of kitties. We found her in the woods and raised her from a kitten. The thing about Toby is she is the ultimate loner and admirably ferocious. I once saw her bring a rabbit out of the woods that was as big as she was, which was quite extraordinary. I, as a cat owner, am very “needy.” I need lots of attention from my animals. So when my cat disappears for months at a time, I assume she just wants her space, and I’m okay with that, as long as she shows up and lets me know she’s okay and happy. But when she moves in with my neighbor, (let’s call him Jeff), that’s when I get upset. What does he have that I don’t???? Better food? I give out kitty treats several times a day and sometimes even break out the canned salmon. Better home? I have a courtyard dedicated to kitties only. Love? Come on, do I really need to go on about my attributes here????

With this loss, I found myself going through the seven stages of grief. First Shock and Denial–how could Toby move in with Jeff? Then Pain and Guilt–did I do something wrong? Does Toby hate me now? Then Anger and Bargaining–I find myself driving by Jeff’s house thinking, “what a @@@itch, when I see Toby lazing in his yard and then quickly finding myself wanting to stop to say hello.” Next, I experienced depression–weeks of just trying to get on with my life, perking up at any stray meow I heard. Followed by some normalcy returning to my life–my other dogs and cats still need attention, walks, hugs, treats as I’m working through my loss. Then finally acceptance–“Okay, so Toby isn’t coming back. I still have two other cats that love my attention and two dogs that watch my every movement, basking in each dog biscuit…..

I guess I’m writing this post to admit that when it comes to my pets, I “MIGHT” be needier than the most obnoxious dog. I have high expectations–as long as they stick around they pretty much own me. I wonder if there’s a 12-step program for pet owners to work through the co-dependency issues.

Take care, All

I finally have Unplugged up on Barnes and Noble for Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unplugged-hillary-bergeron/1112136489?ean=2940014942355

THE PAIN IN MY BUTT

We have bees. Not by choice. My sister bought them before she left for Alaska and just kind of ditched them. So for the past year, we’ve left them alone and they’ve left us alone. A few months ago, some guys from the local bee association came by to check on them and saw that they were in good shape. Honestly, I’d pretty much forgotten about them. After deciding that we shouldn’t let free bees go to waste, we decided to get involved. Since we don’t know the first thing about beekeeping, we bought a book on the subject and contacted a friend who’s an expert. He showed us how to extract honey. A few weeks later, we pulled about a gallon of liquid gold from the hive. We could’ve taken out more gallons, but then nothing would have been left for the bees sustenance through the winter. It’s not a good idea to completely rob them or else you’ll have to provide them sugar water as food, which can’t be as good as their own honey. I would say our first venture in beekeeping was a success. We even attended our first bee meeting ever. Not only was it interesting, they had a potluck buffet to boot–and who never says “no” to good food–this gal, (2 thumbs pointed at myself).

So, back to the pain in the butt thing. One night, I came into my dark living room and decided to sit in my favorite chair. I accidentally sat on a giant wasp. He stung the fire out of my butt, then when I tried to swipe him off, stung my hand. He was huge. Of course I crushed him afterward, even though he was going to die anyway, but I had to exact revenge. I spent most of the night with an icepack alternating between my butt and my hand. When the Benadryl kicked in, I finally had relief. But for the next few weeks, I couldn’t sit without feeling the welt on my hiney and then as the pain went away, the itching started and it lasted for more than a week. I think the offender in question was a Japanese Wasp. They’re known to hang outside beehives and literally eat little honey bees. From what I’ve heard, they can destroy an entire hive. Honestly, I can’t think of a more useless creature and I have a keen remembrance of the pain in my butt to prove it. Life’s always exciting around here . . . I just wish it weren’t so painful.

Take care, All.

P.S. I have my books up on Barnes and Noble site for any Nook fans out there.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unplugged-hillary-bergeron/1112136489?ean=2940014942355

And as always, Unplugged is available on Amazon. This is the 2nd edition. I went in corrected mistakes in the other addition and added a little more here and there.

Happenings in June

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been pretty busy lately.  My nieces are visiting from Alaska.  Yesterday we played tourist and went to the Tennessee Aquarium.  I have to say my favorite parts were the penguins, sea turtles having lunch, sea horses and jellyfish.  The other day we went to Blue Hole in Pocket Wilderness and they jumped off the rocks into the river.  At first, they refused to do it–a snake on the other side.  But once the Forest Ranger came and pretended to “take care of” the snake, they were fine.  They had a blast.  We took them up to Johnson City where we ate the best pizza I’ve ever had at Scratch Pizza.  My daughter’s been trying to get us there for a while, and finally we made it.  It was totally worth it.

After letting my garden go for the last 2 weeks, I decided to get back to gardening today.  I put on my new snake boots and headed out to the garden.  Snake boots, you ask?  Yep, that’s right.  After all those close calls with snakes this spring, I decided maybe I should have a pair.  My niece decided that she didn’t want to have any close encounters of the slithery kind and I had to promise to stop by “Bass Pro Shop” on the way home from the airport after picking them up so she could buy some.  It was then that I decided maybe I needed a pair, too.  I did some research and found that the rubber garden boots I wear aren’t much protection from snake fangs.  Once they sink their fangs into the boot, there’s a chance that they could end up breaking off in the rubber.  When taking the boots off, the venomous tooth can scrape against your foot and if you weren’t infected before you would be then.  So now I have my own pair of Redhead Snake Boots and I love them.  I would wear them to the grocery store, if I could, but some people in my family would be horrified by my display of outright “redneckism,” (which I have no problem with–rednecks are some of my favorite people).

I’m a little disappointed by my orchard this year.  My peach, pear and apple trees seem to have a nice bit of fruit . . . but nothing on my cherry or plum trees.  The garden is coming along well.  I don’t want to count my vegetables before they blossom and grow, but we just might have a good squash and pumpkin year.  After several dismal years, this would be wonderful.  If I store the winter squash and pumpkin right, we could be eating them up in to February.  I noticed the peppers are coming along also.  I’m looking forward to having those.  I would love to have an abundance and store them in the freezer so I can use them all year long.  Our friends gave us an entire box of peppers one year and we ate off it for 2 years.  It was fabulous.

Speaking of living off what you grow–hats off to one of my best buddies.  She bought a much-needed car and decided she wanted to have it paid off in 4 months.  So for 4 months, she ate only food that she’d had canned the year or years before (pretty much beans, green beans, corn bread, etc.), and only spent $40 a month on groceries like bread, milk and eggs.  After a while, the mono diet got to her, but I’m so proud of her for making that goal and sticking with it so she wouldn’t have to be saddled with a car payment.  Way to go!!!

I have a new cat.  His name is “Kitty.”  This is confusing for all of us, since I’ve always called our other cat Kitty.  He seems to be settling in well enough.  The first night he was here, he took off, and then only came around for short spurts.  I was saddened by this.  I was hoping for a companion for Dark Angel, the long haired, short-tailed black cat.  But then he showed back up and staked his claim to half of the courtyard.  Dark Angel has gotten used to him lately.  She doesn’t like sharing me or her favorite snacks though.  Where she used to hiss at him if he came within a two-foot perimeter, now she sniffs him over, then steps back and hisses.  The other day, she didn’t hiss at all.  See-everyone’s making progress and that’s good.

Mountain Bob, my husband, is cutting wood for this fall.  There were some downed trees that we’d dragged over last fall and he needs the space to park the tractor.  So today, he dragged them over to the log-splitter and cut them up.  Now he’ll have a place to park the tractor and he can start building the foundation for his work shop.  He isn’t happy unless he has a good project going.  For him, that’s his bliss.

Guess I’d better go, Mt. Bob is asking for my help in carrying paintings over to be photographed.

Take Care, All.

s