A while back, I reported my fear that one of our cats had started suffering from migraines.
This is not my cat
This week, I took her to the vet and described the systems to the doctor. I told him that it looked just like the poor thing was suffering from migraine headaches.
I don’t think so, the vet replied, and he went on to describe the usual symptoms of neurological problems in cats and dogs, none of which my cat was exhibiting. “Your cat is just acting like a cat.”
I’m relieved. Sort of.
It appears that hard work, dedication, and a good attitude sometimes pays off. Who knew?
(Not our bird, but similar)
Each year, there is a family of birds that nests in our carport shed. I think they like the ready supply of crickets there, as well as the worms and bugs in our garden.
Last week, CVH found a baby bird on the ground below the nest entrance. It was very young; naked and ugly as newborn birds are. If she left it there, it would soon be some predator’s tasty snack.
So CVH (a certified wildlife rehabilitator) picked up the baby bird, and made a little nest for it on top of the gas grill. She would check on it several times a day, and change its paper towel bedding when it became soiled, taking care not to “imprint” it. We watched the little critter grow at an astonishing pace, getting taller and sprouting feathers.
Yesterday the time came. Our little charge spread its wings, and in a series of clumsy bounds, found its way to our garden. It should be well camouflaged there, and have lots of insects to eat and water to drink. Plus it’s still only a few feet from the rest of its family.
CVH says she is now suffering from separation anxiety.
Roadtrip! To Fern Creek, Kentucky!
Actually not as much of a road trip as you might think; Fern Creek is a suburb of Louisville about ten minutes down the road from our house. We only seem to make a trip there about once a year, but once again it was a worthwhile diversion.
First stop on reaching Fern Creek was to check out their Saturday morning farmer’s market. We picked up some baby Patty Pan squash (my Patty Pan squash plant quit producing), hot mustard, ground beef, blackberries, German striped tomatoes, and eggs. I talked with a guy who sells rain barrels for gardens and I plan to measure my garden to see if I can install one.
Next we visited the Fern Creek library. This is a tiny branch library in a strip center, but always seems to have a selection of books that we don’t see at the branch in our neighborhood. CVH checked out several books, including two cookbooks of grain dishes. I guess we’ll being riding the high fiber road for a while.
Chocolate Chess pie
Out of the library and down to one of Louisville’s finest traditions, the Homemade Ice Cream and Pie Kitchen. A family run institution with several locations in town, it’s exactly what it sounds like. I picked out a slice of chocolate chess pie, and a slice each of chocolate silk and Italian cream cakes. CVH got chocolate covered cherry pie. I could try and describe how wonderful it is, but I’ll just leave it to your imagination. Your imagination won’t be disappointed.
Finally we ducked into a new consignment store. It’s one of those kind where they rent out booths to sellers. The sellers range from part-time antiquers to some that had booths which looked like they just cleaned out their basements and dumped the stuff there. A fun place to spend half an hour, looking at stuff from the sixties that used to set on everybody’s living room tables. Not sure if I’ll ever need a green Osterizer or pink pig figurine, but if I do, I know now where to look.
I’ve said it before, but I still don’t understand how it can get so hot in a place where it snows.
I took Grandchild 1 back to Indiana today to see the museum at the Falls of Ohio. This time we learned about how the Ohio River Valley was formed, how the indigenous people of the region lived, how the U.S. Government carved up some of that region and gave it to the soldiers who fought alongside Clark when he took it from the British, and why the fossils there are of tropical plants and animals even though we’re up here in the Midwest now.
A pioneer journal
After visiting the museum exhibits, we took a shuttle over to the site of where General Clark lived after the war. The Hoosiers were putting on the first annual George Rogers Clark Days there. We saw an actor portray the General in his later years, reminiscing about his glory days. We also made our own little Lewis-and-Clark-style pioneer journal and heard a small cannon fire. I find these volunteers who research and relive the early pioneer days fascinating, but GC1 declared it “boring”.
A big propeller
On the way home we stopped at the McAlpine locks, but naturally there wasn’t a barge in sight so we didn’t get to see the water go up and down. We did see this large propeller from a riverboat. Forged from solid stainless steel, it is pretty cool.
Me with my zoo hat
Tonight we went to the zoo, courtesy of Norton Healthcare, one of the local hospital/doctor chains. I’d like to think that we were there as part of their healthcare outreach initiative (promoting healthy lifestyles, early disease detection, etc), but perhaps it’s also partly the fact that we’re regular customers.
Grandchild 1 had a fun time; she particularly enjoyed the herpatarium, where we saw giant snakes, spiders, a white alligator, and other fauna that even CVH kind of enjoyed. We saw the bald eagle and got to hear its cry. And we saw one of the new polar bears; I’m not sure which one, but she likes to eat ice.
I got a close look at my favorite animals, the giraffes and rhinocerouses. They were all out and active and seemed to be enjoying themselves. And although we didn’t have to pay to get into the zoo, we made up for it by making several purchases at the gift shop. I got a little giraffe. CVH, the owl lover, got a little barn owl and a snowy owl. GC1 picked out a water bottle.
Jack LaLanne
Yesterday I took Grandchild 1 downtown to the big spray park and playground. We ran around for about two and a half hours, climbing the hills and monkey bars and spinning on that spinning thing which was my favorite piece of playground equipment when I was her age but that I thought lawyers had since rendered extinct.
It had been many, many years since I had climbed around on monkey bars, and boy am I sore today. Who needs a gym membership when you can just put a set of monkey bars in your backyard? Although I suppose the neighbors might find you a bit odd.
During the summer, like right now, it doesn’t always rain a whole lot here, and the Ohio river gets low. This was a problem back in the day when getting around the Midwest meant going up and down the Ohio River. Due to a series of falls right where the river passes Louisville, boats were often stuck here waiting for favorable water conditions. Which is how this town came to be in the first place.
At the fossil beds
What it means for us, though, is that the bottom of the river is exposed over on the Indiana side and that rocky bottom is full of millions and millions of fossil remains. Today we took Grandchild 1 and climbed down there and ran around looking at some of the fossilized horn ferns and shells and other things that covered this part of the world way back when. Because second graders can get pretty bored by fossil rocks pretty quick, there are also lots of little pools that you can float driftwood in and pretend they are boats. And you can look at the big bridges and buildings. It amazes me how normal small children will still act if you can just get them out from behind their video games.
On a fossil rock
On another fossil rock
We Saw Rock City
We decided to take the advice of the barn sign and see Rock City.
Under Shelter Rock
I had seen Rock city before, when I was about the age of Grand Child 1, and when CVH said she had never been, I thought it was time for her to go, but I was a little concerned about how the institution had fared in the intervening forty five years. After all, it was old fashioned even in 1960’s. I should not have worried. They’ve done a great job maintaining the place (although several of the little imported gnomes have followed their brethren to the great garden in the sky), and CVH thought it was a lovely place, if a little old fashioned. The camera obscura is no more; but in its place was a nice garden area where we sat and ate our hot dogs while we enjoyed the spectacular view.
Raptor show
Also new was the raptor show; this was an excellent show, allowing several very up-close looks at the birds (one flew so close his feathers brushed my hat); CVH really enjoyed this. Since you exit through the gift shop, we of course bought a bunch of souvenirs; they don’t automatically put a bumper sticker on your car anymore (primarily because cars don’t have bumpers these days, I suppose), so I got the View Master 3D reels and a little cardboard “SEE ROCK CITY” birdhouse for nostalgia’s sake.
We were all tired after walking around the gardens and a couple of us were cranky, so we came back to the hotel for either naps or swimming in the pool, depending on one’s predilection. We ate dinner at 212 Market, a restaurant known for its use of local ingredients, and followed this with a walk to the river where we could see the huge river boats tied up along shore, as well as a number of small recreational watercraft. We stopped at the Ben & Jerrys store on the way back, and then did some more shopping at the local souvenir shops.
And for some reason, they drive an awful lot of Nissan Altimas in this town.
