Gus is in the ground

Wednesday: MB woke me around 9 asking "how long will it take..." "To say goodbye?" I finished her sentence... "Not long." I got up and threw on some clothes and went downstairs. MB carried the body of Gus the cat wrapped in a towel (given to her by a member of the team on an intro to GC course). "What do I do?" "Put the cat in the hole." Gus actually looked quite peaceful down in the hole, but MB couldn't get the towel out from around him gently, so it became his burial shroud. Very gracefully, MB shoveled earth on to our little friend. We picked rocks out of the soil as she did this. When she was done I started pouring water on top to help compact the earth. MB had a batch of Impatiens that she adroitly planted in the muddy dirt. I piled the rocks up around the edges. Gus was in the ground.

Oscar appeared from behind the fence, again giving the illusion that Gus had managed a stunt worthy of Houdini.

She headed off to work and I took a shower. I had a nice breakfast of eggs and coffee, listening to how the polar ice caps are melting, and how the Russians are making a "land grab" for the newly accessible areas. Happy thoughts. Down basement for morning practices and drums. Put some odd gauge strings on my old ovation. Paid some bills. Laundry. Did some tidying. The cleaning person came, much appreciated, and I headed out.

I took a batch of now un-needed supplies to the vet. They took them back and gave me $150. Headed towards work. A quiet day in the office, realizing that the extension of the addressable space may need to be done in two segments. Still, just a few more bits would help a lot.

MB came and picked me up at 8 PM. We drove over to Alston and had a nice dinner "on Gus" at the Grasshopper. Then, we walked around getting some coffee and ice cream. We were sitting on the steps of a church, when a young man said to us, and to some other people standing around "Do any of you have cracks? If you do just say yes." No one said a thing. Is this a common question to be asked by a stranger in this part of the world, I wondered? Our fingers were sticky from the ice cream, so we were happy to have some little wipes in MBs newly detailed car.

Back home, we took a walk over to Sty's apt and watered plants. No cats in sight, I wonder where they are? Back home, cleaning and organizing in the basement in preparation for its use by a member of the team. On the back porch, a fat racoon. In the basement, many spiders. I mostly left them alone.