What a month! Home leave is officially over - I start training tomorrow morning. I will post several home leave stories over the next few weeks; it was surprisingly busy for a month off! The culminating event was a wonderful, wonderful weekend surrounded by family and friends, new and old, during which my brother married the love of his life. I had the privilege of officiating their ceremony (thank you Church of Spiritual Humanism!), and it was beautiful in every way. Stories and photos to follow; my Facebook page is already overflowing with photos.
I drove down to the DC area yesterday with the cats. We made great time (less than 9 hours with stops!), and I even had time to run to Target and Trader Joe's in the evening. Unpacking is about halfway done, and we're well stocked after a Wegmans and mall run today. Oh how I missed these three stores! I think if every overseas post had a Wegmans and a Target there would be no hardship posts...
The cats are settling in fairly well, though their anxiety and stranger danger is slightly more acute. They apparently were terrified by the housekeeper today and didn't come out from under the bed until after I'd been home for hours. Then I realized Callaghan was shivering while sitting with me on the couch. A friendly Google search convinced me he was hypoglycemic (they did travel all day yesterday and have been slightly off their food patterns), so I spent the next forty minutes trying to spoon feed honey to both cats. When that didn't work, I forced their mouths open and rubbed it on their gums to try and right their blood sugar. It wasn't till hours later when I started shivering while sitting on the couch that I realized the A/C vent is right there and blows directly onto anyone sitting there. So, I rearranged the furniture, and we're all much more comfortable now! I still want to move the dining room table again, but that will keep for another night.
My clothes for tomorrow are laid out, my bag and lunch are packed, and I'm ready! Now to bed to get up early. After more than a month off, this may be painful. Can't wait to see many familiar faces tomorrow!
I drove down to the DC area yesterday with the cats. We made great time (less than 9 hours with stops!), and I even had time to run to Target and Trader Joe's in the evening. Unpacking is about halfway done, and we're well stocked after a Wegmans and mall run today. Oh how I missed these three stores! I think if every overseas post had a Wegmans and a Target there would be no hardship posts...
The cats are settling in fairly well, though their anxiety and stranger danger is slightly more acute. They apparently were terrified by the housekeeper today and didn't come out from under the bed until after I'd been home for hours. Then I realized Callaghan was shivering while sitting with me on the couch. A friendly Google search convinced me he was hypoglycemic (they did travel all day yesterday and have been slightly off their food patterns), so I spent the next forty minutes trying to spoon feed honey to both cats. When that didn't work, I forced their mouths open and rubbed it on their gums to try and right their blood sugar. It wasn't till hours later when I started shivering while sitting on the couch that I realized the A/C vent is right there and blows directly onto anyone sitting there. So, I rearranged the furniture, and we're all much more comfortable now! I still want to move the dining room table again, but that will keep for another night.
My clothes for tomorrow are laid out, my bag and lunch are packed, and I'm ready! Now to bed to get up early. After more than a month off, this may be painful. Can't wait to see many familiar faces tomorrow!
