Not Dead

  Well, that was a very long gap between posts here. Clearly I'm too comfortable and happy in life to need to worry about writing stuff in here. That and the odd worry about sick cats and the usual other stuff hasn't made much of a need for me to write it down.

  So where have we been since the trip to France? Mainly dealing with Boots' cancer which after some treatment we are going to have checked this week. He seems much better so maybe the medicine has helped and he can live a bit longer being healthy rather than the obvious feeling bad he was before. He is old so he still doesn't exactly run around and leap everywhere like the girls but he isn't just sighing curled up in his basket all the time now.

  Really, life has just been normal happy times so far this year. Some working, lots of time with my wife and our cats. Plenty of relaxing and generally just enjoying things and not worrying about much. When you consider that when both of us went to get out eyes tested and we were both about the same then things really haven't got worse at all since eyes generally do deteriorate after 40 as the doc liked to tell me. Nothing really bad has happened and things got better slowly. We may even do some of the basement this year once the holiday we are taking in August is done.

  So, I suppose that is why. Nothing really for me to say since life is on a happy track and good things are happening. No reason for me to write stuff out to think it through since I don't have much to think deeply about. Funny how that goes.

Trip Survived

  After 6 flights, driving a right hand drive car on the wrong side of the road and two 25 plus hour days we made it to France and back successfully. The traveling was obviously quite long but relatively easy with no real problems. We made all our flight connections and had no hassles getting through the various passport and customs bits. So after all that how was it, let me surmise it in a list of thoughts that came up:-

1. French drivers are pretty shitty, wandering around in lanes and other dangerous driving things. I saw more dented cars there than here in the USA which I though was bad in the first place.
2. Our nephew is so big now especially since he is only almost 4. Also he has a thing for pirates right now with multiple viewings of the Aardman pirate movie and going to the pirate themed restaurant.
3. The area of France we visited reminded me how young the USA is. So much there is very old even down to the house we stayed in being built in 1836.
4. A baby can be incredibly clingy as our niece is right now. She really wanted to hold on to her mother most of the time or at least be in sight of her. If she didn't get to be with her mother she got very noisy.
5. We saw where my wife worked in France before I met her up in the mountains. It was a bit foggy and clouded over but it is strange to go somewhere your wife was before you met given so much we've experienced together since then.
6. One thing about old houses, they are creaky and hard to heat up. It got cold and noisy in the gite we stayed in there.
7. Doing basic computer maintenance made me a genius in the eyes of my sister in law and her husband. Scary when you think how much computers will feature in the future. Hopefully our nephew and niece pick it up a bit better than their parents.
8. We required an extra suitcase to bring back all the chocolate with us since our original one would have been overweight (again).
9. Being home is so much better than being in someones house. It felt so good to be back home afterwards.
10. Cats only take a day or two to get used to you being back after being away for 10 days. Nicely even Archer seemed to have missed us.

  I think that's it for now, my brain doesn't know what else to think of. Oh also I lost another 3 lbs in France despite eating pastries and stuff. No idea how that happened. Hopefully I'll be able to eat all the yummy stuff my wife is making and still lose weight (mince pies!!!!).

Flying sucks And Fog Of Death

  Next week we get to attempt our trip to France again but it involves flying which at the moment is just really a pain to do. Getting somewhere, queuing up, waiting again, queuing again, sitting in a noisy metal cramped tube for hours and then doing it over again and then again since we have to take 3 flights. Traveling just isn't fun, it is more the activities you get to do when you get there.

  Still I suppose we will get some time away from home seeing our niece and nephew. Now we just need to actually get to fly this time without something getting in the way like a last minute strike cancelling flights.

  I'm wondering how our cats will take it, we haven't been away from them for a long time for just over a year now and with Archer in the mix now the pet sitter feeding should also be interesting to make sure he doesn't eat everything left on the floor. Hopefully Boots will get enough food to eat even though it may take separating Boots and Archer a bit. Still when we get back they will be very keen to see us.

  In other stuff to write about my stomach seems to have been confirmed as the source of the fog of death. I've experimented with not eating certain foods and it has improved what comes out of my mouth quite a bit. A doctor visit has happened and a specialist follow up is going to happen and hopefully we can work out what to do about it other than drastically changing my diet. Not having sewer death breath would be a nice thing so lets make it happens doctor people.

  Then finally I can just say that I actually "won" something for one of very few times in my life. Someone I follow on twitter gave away a code to get a game. I actually managed to get it so I now have a free copy of the latest Borderlands game. Woo me, it gives me a reason to play something other than Destiny for a bit.

Screw You Air France

  Well Air France just messed up our trip to France. Well the pilots originated the screw up by striking and hence cancelling our flight but the company really didn't help. They couldn't get us to where we wanted to go within a reasonable time frame or even guarantee that a replacement flight won't be cancelled. All that and then they won't give our money back until after 8 weeks.

  The most annoying thing about this was that we were going to travel to meet our new niece, spend our wedding anniversary somewhere nice and then meet up with our family. All messed up because pilots want to make sure they are paid more. Really frustrating and annoying not to mention in the end self defeating. You can't get paid of the company you work for has no money to pay you since they can't earn any money if you don't do your job.

  As a result of this we won't be flying Air France any more and our replacement flights are booked with another airline. We don't not use many things/products but it seems we have another one on the list now.

Different World

  Even though the world is still here and the "same" it feels so different now that Fudge is not with us. It is the small things, where you expect him to be somewhere or just think you see him around and then realise he isn't there. His favourite basket is still in its place, not being used by any other cat. It really is weird just not having him here anymore. For someone who was in our life so much it is hard not having him there anymore. No one else in my life has been like that. Sure I've had relatives die but they were all people I saw relatively infrequently, especially since moving countries. Fudge was there every day and for my wife all day.

  Other things do carry on like normal though. I work, we live together, we eat normal stuff and all the other cats are carrying on now. Just Boots seems to be missing Fudge now. He has taken to spending some of his time where Fudge did and wanting more attention occasionally in between his sleeping all day. I suppose eventually we will reach the point where life feels normal again but it is going to take a while.

  Still we have a trip to France to see our niece and nephew coming up. Them and a visit from our parents while we are there is going to make it one big family get together basically. Hopefully we get some relaxing time in as well since it is our holiday for this year.

  And that is all I can write. If I sit and think about what to write too much I tend to get stuck on thinking about Fudge and cry. It hurts too much to do it so I have to stop now.

Goodbye

  It has taken over two weeks for me to write this post since we were so devastated. Fudge died back on 22nd July after coming home from the vets. He simply didn't recover and slowly passed away in his sleep. I was there at the end, panic induced stress and all. Trying to give a cat mouth to mouth may seem desperate but I really was almost dumbstruck with what to do at that moment. He was a massive part of our lives for 14.5 years.

  The best thing I can say is that he brought so much happiness in to our lives it is hard to be sad about him. Sure we miss him so much but he had an incredibly happy life. He was never upset or demanding. He was always happy to see us from when we came home to when we got up in the morning to when he just woke up from a nap.

  To really rub it in that week we learned Boots did have a malignant cancer in his foot. He is recovering well but he had that to deal with along with the loss of his "brother" Fudge. He went looking for him the first few days and now finds it hard to be somewhere Fudge didn't curl up. Boots spends a lot of his time in baskets and places Fudge would.

  It really doesn't feel like Fudge has gone some of the time though. He made such a huge impression on us we subconsciously expect him to be somewhere, or make room for him where he would sit with us or simply look somewhere thinking he is there. Especially with Boots spending time where Fudge would you get fooled briefly sometimes.

Awesome old man

  Boots became an even more awesome old man during the week. 15 years old and still going although obviously not quite as strong as he used to be. He can run and jump when he wants to like after a particularly refreshing poop but most of the time he likes to find one of the many baskets around the house and curl up in it and sleep. He has earned his rest through his years of companionship and getting to the equivalent of being an old age pensioner for a cat.

  Now my wife and I just need to be as awesome as Boots is when we are that old. If we can be as lazy and restful as he is that would be a bonus too. Although I doubt we will have a human or two to slave over us like he does when he wants something.