Wheee!

Well, another Christmas done and gone. Lots of excitement this year. It started Christmas Eve when we had about 19 of our nearest and dearest friends over for an afternoon of food and drink. 'Round about 10:30pm the last of them stumbled out the door, followed by a half hour clean up, then sleep.

Foggy headed in the morning, we had to get all geared up to go over to Pender Island. Rounding up our stuff was the easy part. Rounding up the cats however is, as we discovered, something that should wait until the first cup of coffee has been consumed... Simon was simple to round up, seeming to take the attitude that he'll probably get fed wherever we're going, so why fight it. The ever adorable Merlin decided that he most decidedly did not want to go into the cat carrier. He demonstrated this by releasing approximately a quart of spray. While I was holding him. To the mellifluous tones of his howling, one could hear the liquid start to hit the wall, followed by my redirecting the stream towards a more cleanable surface, as I shouted "Get me a towel!" We got him to the cat carrier, opened the door, put him in, and then closed the door. Only one problem. In the nano-second between releasing him and closing the door, he managed to launch himself out of the carrier, and half way across the room. Another small chase ensued, during which Merlin was able to release the last urine in his body in dribbles all the way up the stairs, around the corner and into the bedroom. Scratch that. Not urine, but spray. Pungent cat spray. He also managed to get just enough on both my pants and sweater that I had to change out of my carefully chosen Christmas outfit. The adorable little girl Lola bit both Lance and Lara as they caught her... after I moved the fridge out of the way so that they could get to her in the first place. She also managed to scratch Lance deeply enough that he spent the weekend anointing himself with various ointments to avoid infection. After a game of ring around the posey played around the bed, I caught Furleigh, who then commenced screaming as if I was torturing her. This prompted Merlin to attempt to squeeze through the 1/2" spaces in the grill work of the cat carriers door. Wheee! They then proceeded to settle down and act like angels for the rest of the trip. Go figure.

We had a delightful Christmas day, exchanging presents, eating fabulously, and generally unwinding for the rest of the day. We spent the next two days similarly occupied. The trip back on Monday was uneventful, the cats practically jumping back into the cat carriers. We opened the store Tuesday morning, and had quite a pleasant day. It was also a marvellous night. Starting with a goodbye party for the sushi restaurant next door that was closing, where we had our last sushi and tempura and sake for a while.

I then got to see my friend Jenn (Who I quoted on Dec. 5th)! Yay! A beer lubricated conversation lasted well into the night discussing politics, health care, privacy, relationships, parenting (of dogs, and potentially children)... everything. It was great. I miss her.

That pretty much brings me up to date.