Who brought the frog?

Tuesday September 15th
Over the course of the last week Janet and Patrick moved us from the Ponte Vedra office back to the Atlantic Beach office. As its Tuesday I thought I’d go to the office meeting…

Also as the world has changed again and Gina called and confirmed the job & I thought I’d do a dry run for the next couple weeks..just to get back into the swing of getting up early, getting the chores done, dressing in something other than shorts and whatever top is near to hand…
So at 530 I popped from the bed rattled around made coffee. peeked out the door – dawn looked to be incredible so I grabbed 2 cameras and headed out the door to the beach, all other good intentions down the drain.

It was worth the time spent on the quiet dark beach, the sunrise was indeed phenomenal. Home again I fed cats, did litter boxes, bottle fed the kittens, found and ironed something to wear, dressed and hit the office a full 20 minutes before the meeting. It was a homecoming. I got hugs from everyone, smiles & warm welcomes. Janet already there heard the laughter and came to get me. she had computer issues already so I spent the moments before the meeting trying to open a .zip file that should have just opened and didn’t. As it was a Contract and time is of the essence… The meeting was a long one with speakers and breakfast provided. At this point I had thought to nip off home and get on with the day. Nope. Janet’s .zip problems in the computer room, & our files hadn’t transferred from the old office, the laptop in her office wasn’t working, so I spent a few hours on the phone with Watsons tech support made a run to the dollar store and then Radio Shack got the laptop up and running while she went home to open the file bout the time she got back they fixed the problem in the common room, I got tackled by Janet Boone, her son had fallen on hard times and moved home from NY with 2 Maine Coons that need re-homing. Yada yada and I didn’t leave the office till 130.

I got home to find the gardeners were there chopping the yard to pieces with no supervision – this massacre arranged by big john. Finally in the house after pointing, directing and admonishing I hadn’t put down my purse before Boone and her son were at the door to look at my kids and talk about his. An hour later when they went out the door I went to check my mail and discovered I had no internet and no phone so I called Comcast and spent the next hour on the phone with them trying everything under the sun as nothing should be wrong. About the time they were scheduling someone to come fix my unknown problem the tiny voice of doom took on the sound of the hedge trimmer and a light went on ….marching out to the side of the house I found the mangled remains of my bushes and the cable line cut in half and cleverly shoved through the fence to look as though nothing were wrong. Yea right. Marching the gardeners to the scene of the crime… I then went in search of parts for repair; I know they are in the garage somewhere so I dismantle a pile of giant containers, tossing them out the back door into the garden because of course the one I want is not on Top. No luck and I ran Back to Radio shack. Once the cable had been repaired I thought to sit and do some work – finally – as the clock to CattyShack is ticking and so far today I haven’t touched a thing.

Not going to happen now either as Big John shows up wants my opinion of the work done by the Yard Monsters and then wants help figuring out how to answer his email. His kids (all 7 of them) got him one of those new itty bitty laptop type things. The idea was a kind one but the thought process was lacking. Hes a big man, got big fingers, is totally computer illiterate, the damn thing has a 9 inch screen and hes 80 years old with eyes like mine but he Doesn’t wear glasses. Help with the email has now escalated to something totally different.

By the time I finally got into the house it was about 5pm. I’d eaten nothing since breakfast munchies at the office and couldn’t Think much less figure out what of the million and one undone things I might have the energy to attempt at this point including finding something easy to put in my mouth. Don’t know how long I had been standing stuporously in the kitchen but was shaken awake by the rumble of thunder… too late. I ran to the side yard cranking shut the windows and moving the Motor home back into place – I’d moved it for the yard monsters, ran in the garage and started throwing things back in the back door that I’d thrown out into the garden while searching for Cable parts, dashed to my car on the other side of the house, jumped in it sat in a puddle or made one, I don’t know which, rolled the windows up and dragged my wet sorry ass into the house.

It took the rest of the night to feed, change, clean, do dishes, laundry and finally eat. Bout the time I was staggering gratefully towards the blissful oblivion of the bed ….someone brought in a frog. Pandelarium!! Well Hell I'd almost made it... Everything with fur was joyfully hopping, jumping and occasionally growling over ‘the Prize’….it made it under the TV console..and all I could see were rows of butts and twitching tails…like the magnets you sent me!....I said 'screw it. to late', and then on my way to the bedroom …a large palmetto bug – new focus! Wah Hooo…I didn’t know what to run from – the charging cats or the damn bug……..Crap. So I couldn’t go to bed without sucking up the bug lest someone ‘gift’ me with it at some point in the night and the poor frog..well when they were done with it but before someone ate it..it went in the trash.

Smell like a Goat....

I have entered the room and like little birds the mouths open and the chirping begins. Mee!! Mee! Feed Me! Grabbing up a squirming hairball I attempt with one hand to hold it still and with the other to wedge the nipple against the roof of the tiny mouth which is snapping in eagerness. Small claws have dug into my index finger and I've missed the mark. Let the Chewing Begin!! Never mind the nipple its gone right for the cap on the bottle and I must now extract the entire nipple & ring from somewhere in the region of its tonsils and start again, but I've lost my grip on its body so now its got claws sunk in my wrists, another set waving frantically, a death grip on the nipple with the little daggers in its mouth, its growling, and the bottle has a vacuum lock.

It weighs….13 ounces ….and its winning.

At some point in the ensuing battle after I’ve poked it in the eye with the bottle and been bitten a time or two the vacuum breaks the kitten drinks, milk dribbling out and for a few seconds all is right with the world. Ahhh…Food Glorious Food!!....

There is the ‘smart one’ that latches on with ferocity and sucks madly. The bottle drains, the tummy fills, there is ‘the Chomper’ snapping at everything fingers included, the clueless – ‘Arrgh! Get away, what is it? Oh gimmi!!’, each personality different in its approach to being fed. Finally… 20 minutes later....

The little tummy is round. The furred Pear burps, purrs and is laid softly amongst its siblings to nap. I, battle weary, covered with ‘paper cuts’ from toes to ankles (from the little claws eager for their turn), a bitten finger or two and smelling like a goat check the clock…and in 4 hours we get to do it again!!

Wind from the sea..

Thursday Sept 3rd



At long last, for at least a little while, the weather has changed. A fresh breeze sweeps in the open windows, stirs the curtains, caresses the skin and flows westward through the house. Months of air conditioning hum forgotten in the soft rustle of the palms off the porch. This is the season … I love Florida. Spring and Fall – which up here lasts most of the winter. It’s getting late, Johns away tonight, the Denizens of Bounding Maines are quiet throughout the house.

In the living room kittens snooze on chairs. Contemplating the night a host of adults nose the wind, long hair ruffling as they sit on the window sills. Scattered on the floor a few Jingle balls, catnip flat rats-well chewed, a mangled straw or two. The tide must be in, the ocean is loud in the night. I made a sandwich for dinner - Ham, Avocado, Cream Cheese, Tomato and Sprouts grilled on a nice seedy brown bread. Yummy, always one of my favorites. And watched a cute comedy called Bottle Shock about the Napa Wineries in the early years. It’s a quiet peaceful night. How RARE!!

Memories of Rays baby blue Z3M Convertible … those million mornings I cruized peacefully up through the wine country to the Napa office- you know he spent a fortune on those beemers and didn’t even have a drivers license- but I always had great cars to drive. The incredible green of new vines in spring, the Bodegas on the hills and fields surrounded by the summer roses they plant to keep the bugs away, the autumn fogs drifting through the bare vines. We were so poor in those years!! But they were good ones none the less. Then we were funded for that 64 Million and all our lives changed. Ray was a dear friend and we’ve kept in touch these last 15 years. I don’t think I told anyone but the old staff from Virtual Publisher..but Ray died of a massive heart attack on July 23. I spoke with him the day before, we were going to do another start up company together – one more time – just for fun. He was happy, dating an old flame and having a ball. Don’t you know it, somewhere, hes making God laugh.



Ahhh… Burning Man! (God laughing here too or shaking his head?) I remember the wooden sculptures that used to line the bay front in Oakland. Snoopy on his doghouse, Don Quixote, the biplane, all creatively made from flotsam and jetsam. I remember when they built the first ‘man’ on the Other side of the bay and it made the San Francisco news - 20 odd years ago. Who knew then what an Event it would become!! Yes Tis the Season!! Sorry I missed the wheeled caravelles to Black Rock. All Hail the Burners!!

A day in the life...

August 31, 2009

Well I’m just back from and early morning vet trip with Swifty, who’d been sold a few weeks back, little Mariah and Emma. All’s well, just a cold an allergy and a case of Acne, so home I came to do the morning chores left undone by my early departure. Walking into the kitchen I note that Piper, our Usual Suspect, has played in the water bowl again and the kitchen is awash. Drop a dishtowel on that accident waiting to happen. I pop a can of Friskies and the still damp floor behind me becomes crowded. All of them vocally admonishing me for being LATE!! with their breakfast. A large plate for the kittens in hand I head for the den. ‘Come on little honeys…’ has long given way to ‘ I can fall faster than you can run! You know where I’m going!! Go there!!’

Having fed the Tribe I trekked to the bathroom to do the 2 litter boxes in there. This should not be a difficult task, its quick, but in a house full of kittens…it becomes an event. Maine Coons being just dogs in cat suites must all go with you from room to room. I was followed by a train of furred goslings. I took the top off a litter box and set it down over someone in the way, dragged forth the lidded litter bucket we use (and carry from room to room) and proceeded to scoop away watched carefully and hampered by all the little bodies peering over the sides into the box. Half done a kitten jumps in and begins to dig for fun…I’m obviously doing so..so why Not!! Wah Hoo!! I pull out the imp and Swifty one of our sub adults jumps in and proceeds to Use the semi clean litter box… now there is another litter box in here. It’s undisturbed and un occupied!! But NO… so I’m sitting on the toilet in front of a dirty litter box waiting……one of the kittens bites his tail dangling out of the box while he’s peeing, this of course causes some comment.….still waiting….he buries carefully #1 and digs a hole for #2 and the same kitten swats him a few times in the head. I’m not sure the look I got was disgust or despair but rescue was out of the question, I want him outta the damn box so I’m the cheering section! ‘Go get him Calliope!’ All the while kittens are jumping in and out of the bathtub, climbing my legs and generally being a nuisance. Finally ‘finished’ I move on to box 2 and the process repeats itself a few times.

To finish up out comes the broom, 2 swipes later all I’m doing is dragging kittens back and forth across the floor as they dangle off the new toy. I give up, lean the broom against the wall and leave the room in hopes they’ll all find something else to do. Returning through the living room I am faced with 8 now empty plates along the plastic floor runner, having gathered them I return to wipe up any spillage. On my hands and knees wiping the runner a couple of kittens trying to break the land speed record shoot by under me on their way to the cat tree on the far side of the living room. Henry having been woken by the rushing wind of their passage is terrified. He shoots into the air and comes down on a vase of Peacock feathers, feathers everywhere. The Adults scatter as if the hounds of hell were loose in the house the Tribe thinks it’s the day of Jubilee and there are bounding kittens Everywhere. The cat flap to the screen porch swings both ways …and in comes Miss MeadowLark and drops a Lizard into the mix and now we have pandemonium. Oh Crap! And its only 10am…

And Away We Go....

Ok Gingie, this blog, started years ago and never kept up with is for you. As I sit down this first night after re-upping this blog...I am attempting to take stock of the Life of Reilly's at this moment. So bear with me as I catch up with the last...I dont know, few weeks....

Attila and Serife gave us our 6th and probably last grandchild on Aug 14th. A girl. Lilla Aria.

'Oh and are you not just Precious! Grammas Girl...'

Shes lovely and of course we will dote on her. Evidently on Friday last shortly after I'd headed off to Augusta GA for the Masters Cat Show and John had headed south to a Shriner event Attila rushed our little girl to the hospital with a fever that was diagnosed as Viral Meningitus. After a long and harrowing weekend...Grateful unto God Serife and Lilla came home last night and all is well. Although from the sound in their voices Attila & Serife...are still recovering.

You know we bought a 39 Ford replica earlier in the year, a coffee and cream gangster car, elegant, fun... Its been at the shop for months, we've replaced a bunch of stuff etc you know the drill. Well John went and got it just a week ago and took it off for the regular Sunday Shriner Motor Corps practice after which a friend was going to take it to his house and garage it for us for awhile....can you hear it coming? As the friend drove it home it started to rain- hydroplane and then he rear-ended someone in it, fiberglass all trashed, headlights dangling off, radiator ka-put...and it had been out of the shop...less than a day.

We do have another buggy, the Allison. The last one to ever come off the factory floor. Like any buggy or harley its always in need of 'tinkering'. I have to give my Sweet Husband credit he doesnt hesitate to step up. Gingie you know how Dad taught us about TOOLS. Use them, clean them and put them back. Its the only real peeve I have. John has tools, and his are wherever he used them last or any of the 3 or 4 places he puts them when he remembers to pick them up. I have MY Tools. Mine. In a case. NO Touchee Hollys tools! Its a Rule. If Im working on a project I dont want to make "hunting the tool" another Project. I want to go get the tool and get back to what I was doing. Well my Sweet Husband needed tools for something, no surprise there...and so he borrowed mine. I of course knew nothing. Probably would never have known as he would have put them back but over the weekend I got a call. The first thing he said was..

'I borrowed your tools' 'BAD HUSBAND!!' say I (smiling) - what else am I suppose to say?

'thats not all ' he says......' I ran over them with the truck.' ( crack me right up )

It is now Friday noon - we are almost ready to go. Sunny and beautiful here, but I've not been out. A cool spring wind off the water sweeping in through the house and rattling in the palms. The porch awash in bright flowers. (which will probably be dead before we get back) The Dolphins , close enough to touch, are going south just off the dunes out front.
Emma and Henry, on the tree in front of the picture window, raise an eyelid at the persistent ...tic.... tic ...of a large inept bumble bee banging repeatedly into the glass. Pirates of the Caribbean on the TV. Sounds peaceful and would be if not for ME! :-)

I'm frantically cleaning the fridge and the shower and the, and the, and the, and WHERE the Hell did I put the.... I just had it in my hand.....(see Holly wandering aimlessly through the house in search of ?) Scribbling constantly in the Kitchen Book where we keep phone notes and To Do's. Irreverently humming the Christmas ditty....Making a List and Checking it TEN times... lookin for stuff I just cant find...hm..hm..hmm..hmm...
Getting on a Boat for two weeks ...its not good to forget something, its not like you can run right out and Buy it.

John is in Cocoa Beach at the Shriners Car thing where clubs compete against one another. Synchronous team events and individual events, he'll be home tonight. Its probably good he isn't here to help me pack. I'm more than suitably inefficient all on my own.

system test

Well its late on Tuesday night. Let me bring you briefly up to speed.
I have one more Seminar tomorrow- all day. John has a competition in Cocoa Beach on Thursday- all day, we leave JAX on Friday, the boat sails Saturday.
We leave on Friday for Tishas in Tampa and henseforth to Spain by slow boat. The packing, well... its in progress - Everywhere - and of course it stands to reason the house looks every bit like the wreck of the Hesperus. and I cant find a thing.

Chances are highly likely that if its small and important Henry has played Hockey with it and someday we'll suck it up in the vacuume cleaner. If its Large I put something on top of it when we emptied the Lanai so Guy could re sheetrock it last weekend. Now if I were looking for a dust bunnie or a cat hair..... but anything else not a chance.

For example. Earlier this week I came across 2 large hooks. Knowing they were for Luggage and making the decision that we would not need them this trip I put them "someplace safe" - Im sure you can hear it coming... they ended up being for the Hanging Bag and I cant find the damn things Anywhere!! In my search today I tripped over the moniter on the floor, put my foot in a box of books and sprawled into the bed, suitcase and sleeping cat who walked over my head to escape the Menace - after which I bled. But I have still NOT found the hooks.

John, making some adjustments to Norton managed to lock us off the internet for awhile this morning.
Emma has left her footprints and a few clawmarks in the now hardened "mud" in the Lanai windowsill that Guy was finishing...back to scratch - literally - on that one....
And its another day at the Beach..