The kitty boys will be back on routine as of this morning. My Dutch friend Marianne leaves today and has a 20 or so hour flight back to Amsterdam ahead of her, with several hours just waiting on the ground in Denver.
But first she has a three and a half hour ride in the Denver shuttle from Scottsbluff to Denver International after an hour ride from Alliance to Scottsbluff, where the shuttle picks her up. Whew! Thanks to my very longtime friend Terry, we will get her down there in time.
By way of thanks to Terry, we took him to Mi Ranchito for margaritas and a meal last night. I’m not sure how it happened but Marianne managed to pay for the meals, though I handed the checkout person the money. I paid with a $50 bill and that bill somehow came back to me…. Mystery.
So, the week went fast. One activity this week was we listened to music – everything from Baroque flute to Mauritanian traditional to Benny Goodman performing classical and pop. I have a very eclectic collection of CDs, though most of it is Baroque, Classical, and Early Romantic. Regardless, pulling out music from the collection that Marianne thought she might enjoy and spending a large part of the day listening to it was a nice cap on the week from heck.
I mean, the South Dakota adventure threatened to ruin the planned week, yet the week went better without the plan! Instead of bustling around two states, we talked, enjoyed each other’s company, ate sensible meals – mostly! – and relaxed.
Marianne added on foot exploration of Alliance to her activities for her morning routine, and she enjoyed this much more than sitting in a car, inactive, watching the scenery go by. Dutch are used to moving under their own power!
The kitty boys’ week was spent being little poops! Dougy was the more upset of the two when Marianne sensibly kept the guest bedroom door closed. He’d paw at the carpet under the door, pace in front of the door, try imagine how he could open the door.
Andy mostly avoided being touched, pet, “scritched”, held, or otherwise engaged in polite interaction with our guest.
Both kitty boys acted like warming up to Marianne would be against cat union rules. (In their defense, they are rarely around people other than me, and are shy.)
Fine you enjoy her visit
Marianne was the perfect guest! I thoroughly enjoyed her visit, and hope she enjoyed the visit as much as I.
I am glad Marianne enjoyed walking around your town. After my recent drive across the state I was so favorably impressed I know I would love to come back as a tourist rather than a through traveler. Although I must say Nebraska has the nicest network of rest stops from Virginia to Washington. As for the boys maybe it was a little jealousy.
That’s an interesting (and possible!) explanation of the reaction of the kitty boys to my friend Marianne.
If you ever do come back to Nebraska, I’d be delighted to have you stop by for some recommendations for places to visit. Of course, I will leave the fated boulder place out. Not worth the visit!
Yes, the rest stops are rated highly, something any visitor can appreciate. They also are part of a sculpture garden that was created for the US Bicentennial celebrations:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Nebraska+Bicentennial+Sculpture+Project&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirto_utMLWAhUJQyYKHcc4A4QQsAQIOQ
Humans are not privy to all cat union rules and their multitude of exceptions. 🙂
And how! I’m sure the kitty boys file lots of complaints. LOL!
Again a French proverb, Doug : ” A quelque chose malheur bon” . I mean the accident could ruin the pleasure of you both but this allowed at the opposite to Mariannne to be like an American and not only a tourist ! She lived a bit like you in Alliance and you enjoyed each other in listening to the music .
In friendship
Michel
Exactly! The word that best describes it is serendipity [If you find good things without looking for them, serendipity — unexpected good luck — has brought them to you. That’s one definition given on the Internet.]
What an exciting week, Doug. It’s fun to have company….occasionally. We can replay their visit in our head when the long cold winter months visit us. Sorry for saying you live in Independence when you live in Alliance….how can you tell I live in Canada? hehe
Jean
Um…”The Canadian Cats” gives a big hint. LOL! Yes, I enjoyed Marianne’s visit a lot!
I hope Miss Marianne had safe travels home & I’m glad you got to spend time together. I can understand Dougy being a bit perturbed, ’cause we kitties hate being shut out rooms! I bet Andy & Dougy are happy that the visitor has moved on so they can have your full attention again. Tee hee hee. Headrubs & tummy tickles for them.
Marianne had a great time here, fortunately. Of course, Andy and Dougy were upset, but they made up for sleeping on the guest bed as soon as Marianne was gone. Andy and Dougy, have, indeed, had their head and face rubs (purr~purr~!)and lots of make up “scritching” to take care of their upset over the closed door.
I am so glad you had this time with an old friend, Doug, even though the boys were poops! 🙂
Other than the car accident, it was a great week!
doug; glad you and marianne had a great visit; hope you both can get together again soon; it’s always awesome visiting with friends 🙂 ♥
Yes, I agree! It would be great to have more visits, but time and expense are an issue.
Your cats are a lot like my older two. I have two younger one-eyed gray cats and they refuse to be disturbed by visitors. The sit on their chairs defying anyone to move them. Demand their dinner on schedule no matter if there is a happy hour going on. Guests rarely see the other two who are lounging under a bed asking “did they go yet.”
LOL! I feel a bit better knowing my cats aren’t the only ones, Kate!
Yay! Andy and Dougy must be happy to see you!
They spent a lot of time sniffing things and slowly moving back toward the guest bedroom.
They would be jealous if you touched other cats XD
I think they would be, too, though they aren’t around other cats that much.
Seems that it was a nice time for you all. Back to routine shouldn’t be easy after a nice week, I know this 🙂 In your post, you reminded me one of best song “Sing, Sing, Sing” ! What amazing music. This is amazing…. Thank you dear WB, have a nice day, Love, nia
Yeah, Benny Goodman had a lot of great hits, but that was definitely one of the best ones!
We did have a good time, and I especially enjoyed our visits.
Of course so many great hits, but this one my best one, dance 🙂 This is amazing. I can see the film too.
Yeah! The dances of that era were very athletic for both partners, and the music was very energetic, too.
you had a super good time together, that’s worth any effort… I hate it when I have to wait and to change trains, airplanes and whatnot…but the waiting time is always the best time to watch people… like being in a zoo… and some peeps act that way as if they should stay behind bars ;o)
Ha! Ha! There is that! I’m not a good traveller because of the waiting time and the hassles of arriving at airports with little time to catch connections. O’Hare Airport in Chicago always is a nightmare for that.0
I am sure Marianne was very understanding about animal behaviour. However it is awkward when one’s resident animals do not behave well to human visitors. I used to have pet rats and one of them could be unfriendly to human visitors. However they were good to visitorss who admired them.
Marianne has had many cats in her life, so I expected them to be better behaved with her. On the “happy” side, I suppose, they are standoffish with me a lot of the time, too. I’m used to it and have lots of interaction with them on their terms! Marianne did get some of that time on their terms.
Glad you and Marianne rustled up such a good time. I’ve had that $50 bill mystery happen to me before too.
People can be poops when it comes to picking up the meal charge!
I vaguely remember Marianne pulling out cash and talking with the cashier at the same time I was handing her the $50 and the check.
I think the switch happened then. (Marianne was on my deaf side, so I didn’t catch the conversation she had with the cashier…)
I was expecting change back, the cashier handed me money, which I didn’t look at but put in my jacket pocket.
When we got back to my apartment, I took the “change” out of my pocket and discovered the switch!