Il Cane Emergenza

We had a trip to the emergency vet with Scully a few nights ago. Compare and contrast the following two experiences:

1.  Several years ago, while visiting my in-laws with our first dog, she badly tore her dew claw. There was lots of blood and she was in so much pain that we could not touch her paw. It was about 7pm. We located a vet nearby that had an after hours emergency service, called them, and drove right over. The vet basically trimmed off the dangling bit and bandaged her up in about 15 minutes. We paid $80. And I'm guessing this happened about 10 years ago, so let's go ahead and double the price if it happened today.

Just a little reminder of how darn cute Scully is.

2.  Several nights ago, while Scully was eating his dinner, all of a sudden he just ran into the living room making really weird faces and not being able to walk straight. This little fit passed by the time Nathan even called out my name, and Scully then indicated he had to go outside immediately. I was concerned enough by Nathan's report of his behavior to follow him outside, and there, I found him running around the yard, frantically eating all different kinds of grass and plants and shrubs. Just frantic. Now Scully is crazy, but this behavior was very abnormal. I made him come back inside, where he kept pacing to go outside and licking his lips. We called our normal, local vet here in Italy, but his office had just closed. We did some quick, internet research and while we felt like he might only have an upset stomach, the not walking straight and continued symptoms had us concerned enough that we wanted a vet to see him immediately. I remembered a 24 hour emergency service vet located in the village right next to our house, and a friend had told me months ago that they'd had good treatment there in similar situations. I called to ensure a doctor was on the premises and let them know we were coming in immediately. We arrived, waited about five minutes, and the vet brought us in for the exam. [And it's amazing how much Italian we speak when we have to. Panic brought up more vocabulary and grammar than I realized I knew.]. We explained what happened, he examined Scully thoroughly, told us he felt like it was nothing more serious than an upset stomach, but he went ahead and did a blood draw. Disappeared to examine and test the blood. Came back and gave Scully a shot of pain medication and another shot that we think was something like an antibiotic. Spent time talking to us. We discussed the possibility of stomach twist (deadly for dogs, and he assured us this was not the case). Then I also showed him a cyst on Scully's head. Scully used to get these cysts all the time in the U.S., and one vet told us not to squeeze them (usually, gooey stuff comes out - they are pretty icky) because of risk of infection. This particular cyst has not gone away like many of his others, so I'd previously made an appointment at our vet's office on base (many bases have vets to care for military working dogs, and they will see family pets on a space available basis) for an overall health checkup, thinking the cyst would be included. And during my appointment, found out that I would only be seeing a vet tech, not the actual vet, so to have the cyst looked at, I would have to make (and pay for) yet another appointment (and make the 1.5 hour roundtrip drive again). So this emergency vet took one look at it, reached out and squeezed it slightly, the entire thing erupted, he cleaned it out, and the end. He finished up by writing a prescription for Zantac to give to Bubba Boy. Entire cost for this treatment of in-depth exam, blood draw, pain shot, and 2nd shot, all at 9:30pm:  55euros (less than $70).

I'd like to suggest in the U.S.:  Access to affordable health coverage for our pets...Discuss/debate amongst yourselves.

Scully, the Crazy Dog

He's a darn cute, little fuzzbucket.

Nathan feels that Crazy Dog has been absent from his fans for too long. Thus, this post is all about him. Scully continues to love Italy. He guards the perimeter of our house like a happy, fuzzy, gentle attack bear. Workmen (who are here often) and our landlord still ask at every single visit to the house: "The dog will eat me?" While I have repeatedly assured them that the dog will not eat them, and I desperately hope that what they're actually trying to ask is if he'll "bite" them, because otherwise, where on earth did they get their knowledge of house dogs...I forgot where I was going...oh, I have repeatedly assured them that he will not, in fact, eat them, but because our little Crazy can look scary and loves, loves, loves to sniff private parts extensively, I can see how they're a bit afraid.

With our recent news, we have wondered what Scully senses. He knows something is different and has turned into a little cuddlebug. His favorite thing in life used to be his toys, but now, his favorite thing is cuddling. Hugs, kisses, lying on the sofa to be my naptime pillow, sleeping with me in the mornings after Nathan has left. He's always been a sweet dog, but now, even more so. Unless you're a stranger walking by our house on the street. Or a cat. Then, he's a snarling, growling beast. I shudder to think about how we're going to manage back in the U.S. This house is our ninth in sixteen years (plus one six month residence in a hotel, so really, tenth), and it is the first with a fenced yard. We don't gravitate towards suburbia, where one might find a home rental with a fenced yard. But now, we may have to reconsider. That's right. We wouldn't consider moving to suburbia for our child, but for our dog, yes. If we treat our child anything like our dog, we are going to have one indulged, spoiled brat on our hands. Two, if we include Crazy on that list. Note to self: Do not spoil child, do not spoil child, do not spoil child.

I write this as I look out onto our terrace and see dog toys strewn everywhere. The dog has roughly 55 toys. The dog. But remember, toys used to be his favorite thing, so we just couldn't resist. Anything that squeaks and he can flop around and hit himself in the face is a winner with him (the moniker Crazy Dog is not in jest), but we have hit the jackpot. On our recent trip to the States, I stopped into our favorite, dog toy store in Alexandria, VA (The Dog Park on King Street), and there, I found a supersonic toy. The squeaker squeaks at a frequency that Scully can hear but we cannot. Yippee! So now, when I'm on the phone or friends come over, and Scully begins to act like a two year old wanting attention by squeaking his toy right-in-my-face, I can just sit back and continue my discussion. Hah! After four years, I have outsmarted the dog. I am going to be a fantastic mother.

It's the "Island of Misfit Toys."

A Winter Day at the Beach

Last weekend, we had gorgeous weather with clear, blue skies and warm temperatures. Thinking it would be nice to take Scully on a walk on the beach, we soon changed our destination from our small, local beach to the wide expanse of sand just over the hill from us. We had yet to visit this beach, but we've taken good looks at it from up on high, while visiting the ancient ruins of the Cuma settlement. A friend who takes her dog there gave us directions, and with Scully full of excitement in the back of the car, we headed out. After a few wrong turns, expected, we found a road we thought could lead to the beach (our directions included "turn down the unmarked, dirt road") and voila. The unmarked dirt road is one car wide, full of ruts, huge pits, water, and has broken, barb wire fencing falling into it, but it does parallel the Cuma hill, which has some really cool caves that are only visible from the beach. This beach is unlike almost all other beaches in the area. There are no "clubs" with parking and fancy structures and beach beds, the beaches are wide with light colored sand rather than volcanic sand, and edging up to the sand is all vegetation, not a human structure in sight. Getting out of the car, I almost doubled over in horror at the smell. Stink is not even the word for it. Horrible, putrid, icky! There is a sewage outlet at this beach, and supposedly, the sewage is treated before it's dumped. But this is Naples. Now I'm not saying the sewage water wasn't treated, but I am saying the place smelled like a public toilet that hasn't been cleaned in a few months...or years. But Scully was just so excited, so we decided to at least let him run on the beach. That is until we actually stepped onto the beach and saw the trash covering it. My picture above doesn't really capture just how much trash was present. Tiny pieces of litter were everywhere in addition to the big stuff, like metal drums, cargo ship sized boat fenders, even a refrigerator. There was so much trash we decided to keep Scully leashed in fear of him cutting up his feet. Between the smell and the trash, we didn't last long. Thankfully, the same friends who gave us directions also recommended a walk in the forest.

Heading back to a turn-off road, we followed a narrow, dirt path that opened onto a small parking lot and a walking trail. We could hear the roar of the sea, but smelled only fresh air while surrounded by trees. Scully even found an old temple to play on (these are the remains of a Temple of Isis, built in the 1st century B.C. and in use until around 400-500 A.D.). We may give that beach another try at a later date, or we may just skip it and head to the lovely walking trail. I love to think about how we're walking the coastline where the first settlers of mainland Italy landed and began creating a new city that, 3000 years late, is part of the densest city in Europe.

Visiting A Vet

For some reason, none of my posts have been uploading when scheduled. I wrote the below last week, the day before driving to Rome to pick up my Mom for her two week visit - and thus, never actually checked the blog again to make sure it uploaded. It didn't. So, this is from last week:

Well Crazy Dog has finally broken a bone. It had to happen sooner or later. He started limping a couple of days before I returned from Greece, and I thought he’d just pulled a muscle playing or gotten a sore spot on his toe pad. After a few days, with no improvement in the limp, I headed off to the local vet, with a little bit of trepidation. We’ve visited a vet here before only once, while in a small town down south, and it turned out to be a sore spot that just needed a little cream put on it every day. This seemed more serious, and while waiting in the lobby, I talked with another client who mentioned that his dog had previously torn her ACL, which required surgery. Dogs have ACLs?!! Surgery!

There are a couple of vets here in town who speak English, and while I know I should be taking every opportunity possible to practice my Italian, I’m thinking that ship has sailed – I can barely remember how to order a pizza. And anyway, I’ve never spoken science Italian. I did, however, pretend I spoke Italian with a lady in the waiting room. Her dog was interested in Scully, and she kept pulling him away. I finally said (in Italian) that Scully is friendly, and she spent a long time telling me something about her dog – I think it was that he’s attacked three dogs in the past. Shortly after this, she let her dog come up and sniff all around Scully. So I have not a clue what our conversation actually was about. I also tried to listen in on a conversation between the vet assistant and a man there with his cat. When I reached the point where I thought the vet assistant was telling him his cat should wear clothes, I was quickly sidetracked into an imaginary conversation that was probably much more interesting than their actual conversation. Thankfully, my turn arrived soon to distract me from my distraction.

The vet found a swollen area which X-rays showed to be a bone fracture. It’s in an area the orthopedic surgeon’s office said would do better healing on its own rather than surgically, so our little Crazy is on bed rest. A dog, on bed rest. And more importantly, our dog – the one who dances to music on his hind legs every day, who must have daily ball chases and/or toy throwing breaks, who considers it the highest form of excitement to defend our lands against the invading Other Kitty, who routinely runs laps around our house throughout the day, even when no one or nothing is chasing him. Stuck in a crate all day, every day, for several days as a pre-cursor to being housebound for weeks, going outside only on a leash to prevent running or jumping: If dogs could imagine a Hell, bed rest would be Scully’s.

Second Round of Visitors

We head up to Rome today to pick up one of my dear friends from our days in San Diego, who is making the trip to celebrate a milestone birthday. Since it's not my birthday, I won't put an actual number on it. Her one special request for her time here was to visit the gardens in Tivoli, outside of Rome as they were a place her father really enjoyed. We will spend the weekend at an agriturismo - our very first agriturismo stay! My horseback riding trip was at an agriturismo, but this is mine and Nathan's first family trip. Even Scully gets to go - he's going to flip when I motion him into the car. Actually, when he sees me pull out his portable crate and start shoveling dog food into a Ziploc, that's when he'll start walking in circles on his hind legs. A neat trick for a 55 pound dog.

After we get Paige from the airport, we'll have a nice, quiet dinner in Tivoli and hope that our beds back at the agriturismo are comfortable - it's hit or miss in Europe. Actually, it's also hit or miss what kind of bed you will get. Options are either a Double or a Single. A Double bed could be anything from a Queen Size, Full Size, or two Twin beds pushed together - or even two Twin beds not pushed together, and when you complain to the front desk and show them your reservation form with Double bed on it, they look at you in surprise and say, "You just push the beds together," so then you trundle back up three flights to your room, and move around several nightstands and possibly a chair before trying to shove really heavy beds in place and then you have to actually move those same heavy beds every night and morning in order to pull bed sheets up or down (true story). Regardless, our agriturismo apartment sleeps four people and we will only be three, so I'm confident there will be some sort of suitable arrangement.

On Saturday, if Paige is coherent after 30 hours of traveling and a nine hour time difference, we'll visit Villa d'Este for their gardens and Adriana's Villa (Hadrian's Villa), also a worthwhile site to see. Before returning home to Naples on Sunday, we'll swing back by the airport to pick up a childhood friend of Paige's, who will be joining us for our week of touring around. Nathan will be sorely outnumbered next week with a house full of women, but he'll only have to put up with us for a few days as we head to Capri and then back up to Rome to pick up my aunt and uncle flying in from Georgia. Either my blogs are going to be more interesting because I'll actually be sightseeing every day or they'll be non-existent because I'll be falling into bed exhausted every night.

Nettles Galore

 We've just spent three hours pulling nettles out of our yard. Here are two photos of our yard - these photos cover every grassy space except Scully's Kingdom, a small clearing reached by a two foot wide path above our back patio and not a place we ever visit.

 Now imagine every part of this green space covered with weeds and nettles instead of grass. Our gorgeous yard basically turned into a trash heap of weeds...and dog poop. We've had to switch Scully's food to what we can get here, which has affected, ummmm...output. This has also been pretty detrimental to our yard since we no longer "watch" and then pick up when he uses the privy. BUT, having a yard for Crazy Dog to run has been amazing. He loves it, we love it. Sometimes, as I'm sitting on the sofa on the computer, I look out the wall of glass windows onto the terrace and notice Scully out there throwing his toys in the air. Other times, I watch as he runs by at full speed, then again a few seconds later - he just gets taken over with the urge to run laps around the house...which is one of the many reasons we call him Crazy.

But back to the nettles. They were everywhere, big ones, small ones. We weeded and bagged until neither of us could bend over anymore (and have now resorted to strong cocktails to ease the muscle pain). Now, we have a dirt lot covered with palm fronds to keep Scully from digging holes and preventing grass to grow. The palm fronds are from our dead palm tree. I thought our neighbors had killed it on New Year's Eve when they shot a firework directly into the top of it, however, it turns out Naples has the plague of the Red Weevil right now, currently killing off the palm trees. There is no cure. So far, only one of ours has died but the others may soon follow. I suppose I'll have to come up with a new name for our yard then. I name everything. The yard pictured above is called Palm Tree Path. I really hope the name can stay, but if we lose them all, we'll still have a few Eucalyptus trees as well as some cacti varietals, so I can come up with a new name. While pulling out all the nettles, we even found a flagstone path in part of the yard that we didn't know existed.

We're constantly finding things we don't know are there, even in this small yard. The reason is because everything gets so overgrown so quickly. In the Lost Gardens (named after the television show)...

we're constantly finding little surprises. I think I blogged already about the huge, amazing water fountain we found in the back corner of one (we haven't tried to get it working yet, and with a large tree growing all around it, may never do so). Last week, in the small, island garden, I found a huge piece of carved plaster or stone - like a pediment over a doorway. It had been covered by ferns and other growth, but I was in there weeding and found the half-buried carving. It's a lot of fun and is why we call these the Lost Gardens. Peek behind a plant, and I find some sort of ruin.

Scully's Kingdom, which I mentioned above, has some sort of citrus tree (itty-bitty, orange, sour things), a huge area of a flowering tropical plant, some bushes and grasses, a chimney (??, no idea why), and best of all for him, the wall bordering our yard upon which Sinbad and Other Kitty like to saunter. Scully spends lots of time up there, lying about in the sun, standing up on the wall to look for his kitties, and other dog sorts of things. Since that area is his Kingdom, he does not pollute it with his waste. How thoughtful, to not poop in the one area we never, ever visit.

Our terraces and patios have completely boring names with no iota of creativity - so disappointing. They are Front Terrace, Back Patio, and Roof Terrace. We also have Glass House, but that's also pretty uncreative, considering it's a large room with metal framing and glass windows forming every single wall. We did finally secure some citrus trees for the Glass House - actual, usable citrus, rather than the sour things growing in Scully's Kingdom. On our way home from church today, a nursery on our drive was finally open, and we spotted some lemon and orange trees in her offerings.. We found the lady to be incredibly helpful (at least in Italian - we hope we understood her instructions) and were able to pick up a four-season lemon tree and an orange tree - only two oranges left on it, and then, no more until next winter. We were hesitant to buy more than the two as we don't know if we'll be successful in keeping them alive. We also got a camelia bush that has a bud on every single, little branch, and I can't wait for them to open! We're excited to see what spring is like in our yard.

Totally off topic from this post: Nathan just showed me the Bing homepage today. If you're reading this on Sunday, take a look at it. For those unfamiliar with Bing, it's a search engine and the home page each day is always some sort of fantastic photo of a place in the world. Nathan likes to look at it every day and read about the location - he calls it his daily "Ten Minute Vacation." Today's photo is the Galleria Umberto, here in Naples. It's a mall located downtown with the most gorgeous roof and plaster work you've ever seen.

Islands and Spas

My soul to-day

  Is far away

    Sailing the Vesuvian Bay.

      - Thomas Buchanan Read, Drifting

Today, it's not just our souls sailing the Vesuvian Bay. We are headed via ferry to the island of Ischia, and more specifically, to Negombo Spa. Ischia is a mountainous island about an hour's ferry ride from Pozzuoli. While we'd love to spend a weekend out there, we didn't actually do any advance planning for that, and Crazy Dog is at home. So off we're headed for a day at Negombo, a highly recommended spa complex with multiple pools, saunas, grottoes, and gorgeous gardens. While the last half of the week has been cloudy and rainy, tomorrow we're predicted to have sunny, blue skies and temps approaching 60degrees, so I hope we have the chance to really explore the complex. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Crazy Dog is scaring off Other Kitty. Sinbad has not shown his face in awhile, but Other Kitty has been making multiple, repeat visits each day, wandering along a high wall and stopping to groom himself just out of Scully's reach, sauntering along the terrace, just on the other side of the glass wall as Crazy Dog works himself into a righteous froth inside, or, like today, settling down for a rest on the other side of a potted palm tree, poking his head out now and then to stare down Scully, causing much racket and commotion inside as Scully raced around our tile floors in consternation. Good times.

Cross Country Skiiing - One Time and One Time Only

My new profile picture says it all. I don't think we need to discuss the issue further...except I would like to note that the background of that picture is a hill. I thought cross-country skiing was across FLAT land. I will post the same picture at the bottom of this post since I don't intend for that to be my profile picture forever.

So moving right along past Day Three, on our final day in Chamonix, our group once again split up. The guys decided against another ski day and instead did the trip up to Aiguille du Midi. K. spent the day exploring town further and resting, and I took a cable car trip up the other side of the valley, using the Brevent lift. I found this to be far, far more terrifying than the Aiguille du Midi trip. That cable car was large and packed with people. Even though we could see just how high up we were, the snow beneath the car gave the illusion of a soft landing, and with all those bodies around, again, an illusion of safety...I might be able to bounce off of one them in the event of a disaster. Not so on the Brevent lift. It's a small, gondola type car which I had all to myself as we went up, up, up over a clear-cut path littered with spiky, tree stumps. There was just no place for my mind to go for reassurance of possible survival. I was quite breathless upon arrival at the top, especially as a paraglider went flying by at close range.

The day was sunny and incredibly warm at the top of the mountain. I roasted in a ski jacket and fleece pants, and the lounge chairs set up for folks to sit and sunbathe at the edge of the mountain made perfect sense. I was also intrigued by the number of people up at the top of the mountain walking their dog around the ski area. These were not patrol dogs, just regular people who apparently put their dog on the gondola and took him/her up for a little jaunt in the snow. But then, dogs were everywhere in Chamonix, even in nice restaurants and bars. France is clearly the place for me and Crazy Dog, but Crazy would have to learn some manners, like the French dogs have. Several of them even carried their own leashes! Meanwhile, back in Naples, our nutso ran away from his BFF's house when a maintenance man left the gate open. He apparently galloped about in a mud field somewhere, or perhaps just the gutters with all the other Neapolitan strays, until our friend's landlord found him and drug him home, with mud covering him up to his stomach. Scully once again earned his nickname, even though at this very moment, he is lying peacefully in his dog bed, looking so innocent and cute. He had a hard morning patrolling our grounds to keep them safe from Sinbad, the one-eyed cat, who cleverly taunts Scully from atop our fence.

But back to the Brevent ski area...following a little wander around, I braved another cable car - this one stretched between two mountain peaks and is a pretty, red box that slowly moves horizontally and slightly up while dangling over absolutely nothing at all. At the top was yet another nice, sunbathing area, a couple of men with a yellow lab who were straight out of an L.L. Bean catalog, and the most panoramic restaurant yet. I'd intended to ride some other cable cars and/or the train that connects the villages throughout the valley, but one look at this restaurant threw my schedule out the window. It was irresistible. Before taking a seat, I availed myself of one of the lounge chairs, planning to read for awhile. However, it was quite disconcerting to sit back in a lounge chair on a bright, sunny day and see only snow-covered, mountain peaks while listening to the clicks of skiers stepping into their bindings. I didn't last long before heading over to the restaurant.

Our last night in Chamonix was lighter fare after the many pounds of melted cheese consumed the previous days. We loved our wintertime visit to the Alps and hope to do another weekend trip in the summer for some hiking among that gorgeous scenery...cross-country skiing, however, will most likely never be attempted again.

Back in the U.S.

I left Italy on a gorgeous, blue morning this past Sunday - our first clear, beautiful day in forever. We had coffee that morning in our Glass House, sitting on our NEW sofa. The Glass House is finally usable! It was heaven to sit and enjoy our caffe while looking out at Capri and the ferries leaving Pozzuoli port. Scully decided to use his great, fluffy tail as a table sweeper and near knocked my caffe onto the new sofa, so he was banished. But he's too cute to have let that last, especially since his tail was wagging so hard due to happiness at being near us. There's just no getting irritated at that.

I flew from Naples to Munich, flying over the Alps on the route. Wow! Absolutely phenomenal, especially from the air. Mountains as far as the eye could see. Snow has hit northern Europe, so we then flew over a white blanket, and at one remote farm, there were three horses with riders galloping across a field, headed towards a home with smoke coming from the chimney. What a wonderful, winter scene and so relaxing in preparation for the many hours I was about to spend crossing the Atlantic. I had a 1.5 hour layover in Munich, and it was just enough. The Germans are super serious about their security measures. I'm thankful for it, but as I was standing in my final security line watching the monitor that stated my flight was boarding, I must confess to a little anxiety. And when my time through the line came, I realized what all the hoopla is about in regards to the airport pat-downs. My security officer was very professional, but I haven't been touched in all those places by someone other than my husband since I was a toddler. We were so intimate that I really feel like I should have gotten her name.

The flight from Munich to Chicago was brutal. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I kept thinking, "When this agony ends, I have another three hour layover and then two hour flight to Baltimore. This trip will never end." The movies on offer were recent, new, and plentiful, and my seatmate was pleasant, so the trip wasn't so bad. I'm now in Baltimore at my sister's house, and it is fantastic! I love spending all this time with my niece and two nephews. They are adorable and I love when they come running into my bedroom in the mornings, hollering "Auntie, Auntie." We spent the first two days running errands. I had a short list that quickly grew very long of things I need to buy here and take back with me. Although in just the first day, I'd collected a pile so large that I'm now putting together a box (or two) to ship home. I miss the stores here. I know it's just familiarity and knowing where to go for what specific item, so in time, I know I'll love the shopping available in Italy. Right now I'm still in the stage of having to figure everything out. Where to go, how to get there, where to park once there, do I have a euro coin for the shopping cart (you have to "unlock" the carts with a coin, then you get your money back when you rejoin the cart to the other carts), how do I ask the shopkeeper the question I have to find an item or about an item...the list just keeps going. It has been nice to have a few "normal" errands.

Yesterday, my sister and I, along with her sister-in-law, took the kids to Longwood Gardens in Baltimore to see their Christmas displays and lights. It is beautiful there. I've included a few photos at the end of this blog. Longwood has the most incredible Children's Garden, filled with water features, fanciful ironworks, pathways and a "secret" staircase. The conservatory was filled with rooms of beautiful trees and plantings, and I think the kids had as much fun as the adults.

I'm here for a few more days before traveling to North Carolina for most of next week for my best friend's wedding. I'll return home just before Christmas. Nathan is back in Italy with Crazy Dog, who is reportedly acting even crazier than normal. Nathan's uncle lives near a great, pet supply store that sells eco-friendly dog toys (organic fabrics, etc.). We got one for Scully just before leaving for Italy and it became his very best friend. He loved his bunny rabbit to death, literally. Nathan's uncle sent a dog toy care package, which arrived a couple of days ago, and here is Nathan's email to me on the events surrounding it's opening:

Scully was too funny as I opened the box and was reading the note.  He repeatedly tried to steal/walk off with the new toys as though I wasn't looking.  I figured that he should get to enjoy the care package from his Great Uncle.  So, I cut the tags off and laid them out on the couch for him to choose.  He sniffed them all very carefully, decided on one, and ran off to the yard with me chasing after him, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Not outside!!"  I finally caught up to him (he thought it was great fun), and brought it inside.  He never put it down and ultimately slept with it in his box.
[Box is our name for his crate, which we now use for his dog bed that used to be inside the crate, but is now just in the corner of the room.].

Here are the Longwood Garden pics:

Finally...

I am writing this post as I sit in the rooftop solarium. Today is a beautiful, Mediterranean day with a cloudless, blue sky, a temperature warm enough for a T-shirt, but not stifling hot, a gentle breeze blows through the walls of open windows, the island of Ischia is rising out of a haze in the distance, and the sea is calm and filled with fishermen and ferries traveling about. Before your irritation starts at this seeming lap of luxury, this moment is earned after seven straight days of 13+ hours of unpacking, organizing, sorting, cabinet stocking, trash hauling, and so on. Most days, lunch was a sandwich at the kitchen counter while planning my afternoon assault on the house. I’ve come up to the solarium exactly twice – once to figure out which keys worked for the lock and the second to bring a load of stuff that goes up here.

We still have pictures to hang on the walls and kitchen cupboards to line with non-skid, but those are the last projects for the inside of the house. The solarium is another story. We’ve searched a few stores here for some decent outdoor furniture, but we haven’t found what we want. Since we intend for this to be an everyday, living space, we’re looking for comfortable furniture that can handle the sun and the greenhouse effect. And Nathan wants some Meyer lemon trees.

Speaking of which, I’ve just found what I think is a lemon tree in our yard. Scully has this favorite area in the yard which is a small, grassy ledge that overlooks the back patio. He loves hanging about in the grass up there watching over his domain. I noticed some sort of stone structure up there and went to investigate, finding a citrus tree in the process. We also have an out of control eucalyptus tree which grabs at our legs when walking up to the side yard (aka, Scully’s bathroom). Conveniently, Scully has selected the area right beside our outdoor kitchen as his toilet. He is continuing to enjoy his yard, and is living up to his Crazy Dog moniker. This morning, he was watching me sweep the patio when all of a sudden, he galloped off in some sort of odd fit, raced around and around, the whole time growling at himself. I think he’s been getting into some sort of yard berries I don’t know about.

Our first couple of days here were a challenge with a few unhappy surprises, but as the week has continued and we’ve become more settled, we’re both growing to love the house. Here are the things I love so far:  we have a street sweeper who cleans our street once per week (there is a trash crisis going on right now, so I’m thankful to live on a street where there is not trash piled outside the doors), we have dumpsters and recycling bins just half a block away (no curbside service here, so it’s great to have something in walking distance!), the garden is so beautiful with plants, statuary, and planters everywhere, our bathroom (it’s small, but has great storage and water pressure), metal shutters that close up the house (I never knew how much ambient light affected my sleep in the U.S.), large doors and windows that open up for indoor/outdoor living, a garage so I don’t stay awake at night and wonder if our cars that don’t have theft insurance coverage are being stolen, that from a certain spot on the roof terrace, we can see the ruins of a medieval castle jutting out on a cliff, and our 6-burner, gas stove the Navy loans us.

Well I’m off now to grab the camera and take some pics. I’ll try to upload them soon…on my way downstairs to post this, I found a big, basil plant! I can’t wait to really explore the yard and planters to see what we have!

Temporary Digs

We're slowly settling into our temporary digs. After the fabulously, fun beach trip out to the shore, we spent a week shuttling back and forth between my cousin's house in a DC suburb and my sister's house in Baltimore, staying a couple of nights here, a couple of nights there, etc. We then had a wonderful weekend visiting friends who live near Roanoke. Great food (thank you, Sherry!), great talks, great outings. We then moved into our one month, temporary rental back in Old Town. We LOVE being back in Old Town. It feels like home. Our house is very cute with quite a lot of space for a temporary rental. We're just two blocks of Old Town's main drag, which has meant eating out most nights, although to our credit, that has included walking to Whole Foods (yes, walking! It's only four blocks to that wonderful, money-sucking, place) for a "pick out some yummy cheese and a baguette)" dinner.

Today, Armageddon hit DC. I haven't watched or read any local news yet, but I'm anticipating some amazing stories. One of the worst thunderstorms I've ever been in hit...and keep in mind that I grew up in south GA, which I'm pretty sure is the inventor of thunderstorms. This one was so bad that I actually took cover in the stairwell, along with the dog, because I was sure that something - tree, construction material, Toto - was coming through the window at any moment. Nathan left work at his normal time to ride home on the metro. At about the two hour mark, he called me from the bus he was on. The metro had stopped at one of its stops and never restarted due to trash across the tracks. He and a co-worker got on a bus to get back to Old Town, but it's route was diverted due to trees and light-poles lying across the roads! What? Nathan and his co-worker eventually made it to the restaurant/bar where they were headed, which is only two blocks from our old house, only to find that all lights were out at that end of town. So they walked twelve blocks to another popular place - and lights out at that end of town, too. So they headed up to the area where we now live for a last ditch attempt at a fancy, schmancy tasting room...one hour wait to get a table. I'd joined them at this point, so off we went to Whole Foods, which has a lovely generator to keep them operational and serving us delicious, healthy meals.

We're headed into our countdown now. At least once/day, I have the thought that it's only "x" days now. I feel all this pressure to see everyone, do everything in these last days. At the same time, I set some goals for myself for some projects I've been putting off for a few years, and on top of those, I'm starting an accreditation class which is going to involve quite a bit of studying. But knowing that we're living in the same house for the entire month has meant I've finally gotten some sleep! Yay! After three months of very little sleep, I'm now back to my much needed 8.5 hours. I thought that meant I would no longer be a crazy person when some moving crisis arose, but today has proven me wrong.

I called the military vet office to make the appointment for Crazy Dog to get his USDA vet-approved, international certificate, only to find that since our military flight has a layover in the Azores, we also have to follow any Azores pet importation rules. Except I couldn't find any instructions on this. In addition, due to the vet's scheduling, the only appointment available is exactly 10 days before our flight, no later (the certificate has to be within 10 days of flight), so nothing can go wrong. No delays, nothing. So I handled it in the calm, cool, and collected way that I've handled all of these irritations along the way - by calling Nathan, at work, in Red Alert panic mode while hyperventilating. He took care of the problem and my blood pressure has now returned to normal. I then spent the rest of day making inroads on one of my major projects and am now off to veg on the sofa with either a book or the TV. Nathan and Crazy Dog have gone to bed - CD is in my spot, which is where he goes every night, then growls at me when I try to move him. He would be very happy if I disappeared forever and he got Nathan, his True Love, all to himself. I think this is very odd, and a little off as well, for a dog, but others have assured me that most dogs pick their Person and this attachment is normal. I'm not convinced.

Unemployed

Yesterday was my final day of work. And guess where we went to celebrate! To get gelato! It's a real gelateria in Arlington, and the pistachio flavor tasted just like we should already be strolling down those ancient, Italian streets. Nathan went for Chocolate Guiness - it was pretty good but tasted more like regular ice cream.

Today, it was so wonderful to sleep in a little...or I imagine it would have been if Scully the Dog had allowed it. Nathan left about 5:45am, and the Dog promptly decided to stand in our family room and bark. After three episodes of this in half an hour, I made him come into the bedroom and shut the door. He hates the door being shut and proceeded to spend the next hour jumping on the bed and off the bed, on the bed and off the bed, standing over my head and panting, standing at the door and whining - you get the picture.

We hope to put our house on the market by next week, so I've been working on cleaning and organizing. Today has included painting the bathroom ceiling after Nathan's repair to the joint tape, and deep cleaning/staging of the dining room, bathroom, family room, and kitchen. Plus all the ironing and posting a book review on Library Thing (Love Library Thing - it's an online site for the OCD book lover where you can catalog all your books. One of the neat features is that publishers provide pre-releases of books, and users can sign up to review one/month. If you haven't heard of it, check it out!).

This weekend, I'm off to babysit my lovies (niece and twin nephews) while Nathan works in the yard. Oddly, he suggested he'd have an easier time getting his project done without me around telling him how to do it. Confusing.