Monday, August 08, 2005
Honey, I'm Home
Home again, home again! Four weeks is a really long time to be away for business. I was in Bellevue, Nebraska, just south of Omaha. This is the most foul smelling place I have ever visited. Really. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what I was smelling, but it was horrid. I'm from Missouri, born and raised. Here we smell things like cows and pigs or a skunk on the road. This was worse...so much worse. On a particularly hot and humid day as I exited a building I couldn't help gagging. "Oh, that STINKS!" I complained out loud to myself. No one else seemed to really mind, but a passer by told me that it was a dog food factory. Yes. That was it. Dog food! You know how when you give your dog the last of the food in the bag and as you crush up the bag to throw it away all the smelly dog food dust gusts up into your face making you cough and gag? Welcome to Bellevue, Nebraska.
Now that I'm home I can say it wasn't so bad. I complained a lot while I was there, though. Kevin and Top came up one weekend and we went to the zoo. That was fun. The rest of the time I worked, read, and knitted. I went through a pretty nasty bout of post-Harry Potter depression, but it passed.
I couldn't wait to come home. Kevin had the grand idea that it would be a really nice surprise to take up the carpet in our bedroom and finish the wood floor. It is the only room we haven't done yet. And yes, that would have been a lovely surprise...if it had been finished. Instead, I came home to the sound of a sander, two pets covered in dust squinting at me through the haze, and a filthy, FILTHY house. My sister asked if Kevin welcomed me home with a clean house and a hot dinner. Yeah, right. I got a dusty kiss and then I got to work.
In other news, Lucy is turning into a true Reisenbichler cat. Kevin's parents' cats are always fat, stubborn, and lacking in the grooming department. Lucy used to be tiny, dainty, and sweet. Then we got her fixed. Since then she has really let herself go. I noticed after being gone that she's a fat chick now. Also, she has knots in her fur. She used to be what the vet called an overgroomer and licked her belly bald. Now her belly is a mass of white fur. While she's more than happy to lay on her back to have her belly brushed, she is above doing such things for herself. She's decided that she so much likes being brushed that she bites your ankle when you stop. Argh, cats.
I knitted my grandest project to date. It's a Christmas present for my sister. She knows it's a yoga mat bag...she knows that it's mostly purple...but that's all. I can't post a picture because I want to keep some little bit of surprise. Now I'm knitting a fuzzy green poncho/shawl thingy for my three year old niece. Knit, knit knit!
I have things to do. I'm back. That's all I really wanted to say, anyway.
Home again, home again! Four weeks is a really long time to be away for business. I was in Bellevue, Nebraska, just south of Omaha. This is the most foul smelling place I have ever visited. Really. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what I was smelling, but it was horrid. I'm from Missouri, born and raised. Here we smell things like cows and pigs or a skunk on the road. This was worse...so much worse. On a particularly hot and humid day as I exited a building I couldn't help gagging. "Oh, that STINKS!" I complained out loud to myself. No one else seemed to really mind, but a passer by told me that it was a dog food factory. Yes. That was it. Dog food! You know how when you give your dog the last of the food in the bag and as you crush up the bag to throw it away all the smelly dog food dust gusts up into your face making you cough and gag? Welcome to Bellevue, Nebraska.
Now that I'm home I can say it wasn't so bad. I complained a lot while I was there, though. Kevin and Top came up one weekend and we went to the zoo. That was fun. The rest of the time I worked, read, and knitted. I went through a pretty nasty bout of post-Harry Potter depression, but it passed.
I couldn't wait to come home. Kevin had the grand idea that it would be a really nice surprise to take up the carpet in our bedroom and finish the wood floor. It is the only room we haven't done yet. And yes, that would have been a lovely surprise...if it had been finished. Instead, I came home to the sound of a sander, two pets covered in dust squinting at me through the haze, and a filthy, FILTHY house. My sister asked if Kevin welcomed me home with a clean house and a hot dinner. Yeah, right. I got a dusty kiss and then I got to work.
In other news, Lucy is turning into a true Reisenbichler cat. Kevin's parents' cats are always fat, stubborn, and lacking in the grooming department. Lucy used to be tiny, dainty, and sweet. Then we got her fixed. Since then she has really let herself go. I noticed after being gone that she's a fat chick now. Also, she has knots in her fur. She used to be what the vet called an overgroomer and licked her belly bald. Now her belly is a mass of white fur. While she's more than happy to lay on her back to have her belly brushed, she is above doing such things for herself. She's decided that she so much likes being brushed that she bites your ankle when you stop. Argh, cats.
I knitted my grandest project to date. It's a Christmas present for my sister. She knows it's a yoga mat bag...she knows that it's mostly purple...but that's all. I can't post a picture because I want to keep some little bit of surprise. Now I'm knitting a fuzzy green poncho/shawl thingy for my three year old niece. Knit, knit knit!
I have things to do. I'm back. That's all I really wanted to say, anyway.
