If you need some stress relief, get a pet. I'm so glad we got these kittens back in the fall -- they are too funny. Today was a long, stressful day, but I laughed so much tonight that all is better.
I've been thinking about this first story for a while, trying to figure out how to tell it best without grossing you out.
First, our kittens (like any kittens) LOVE string. Any kind of string. Lately they have taken to mint dental floss. So, whenever I floss, they basically fight for it. And I don't put up too much protest (no, not the stuff I actually put in my mouth) and let them play with it and chew on it (kitty breath!). I always figured that if they ate any, it was just a small amount. So, we're heating dinner tonight, and Lefty (Greg swears it was Dusty, but this is my blog) comes into the kitchen from the litterbox... with a string trailing her. It was the funniest thing, once I realized it was about a foot of floss! I was laughing too hard, but Greg finally helped her.
After dinner, it got quiet. Too quiet. I didn't think much of it, but Greg went searching out the cats. They had locked themselves in the bathroom again, but much worse this time! The first time, they just shut the door and shut themselves in. Tonight, they shut the door and then managed to get a drawer open right behind the door, which basically prevented us from opening the door more than 1/4". We tried using stuff to push the drawer shut, but it was so close to the door that it was actually catching on the imprints on the door if the door was anything but completely closed.
We tried everything ... curtain rods, hangers, a pencil, but the door had to be closed to get the drawer to move and our hands were a tight fit under the door. Greg started trying to take off the door knob, only to realize that the screws to take off the knob are on the inside of the door! At that point, we were starting to worry. The kittens weren't -- they kept trying to play with everything we used to try and poke and prod. And somebody was purring pretty loudly.
Maybe half an hour later, I finally managed to wedge my hands far enough under the door to use this long rod from Greg's trombone to rest on the drawer and push it in as Greg pulled the door closed.
Once we got it open, I burst out laughing.
Oh, and the black string in the picture is Greg's solution. The doorknob is tied to the linen closet doorknob, and the little loop in the middle goes around a hook on the back of the door.
Until the cats learn how to tie knots...
I haven't seen many battlefields, but it was surprisingly small, when you consider there were 3 lines of Continental troops. It really emphasized for me how close you would have been to your enemy.
After we got back to the visitor's center, we met a World War II veteran, and talked with him for a while. What a wonderful man! He told us some stories about the war, and we shared some information about my grandfather, who also fought in Europe. It has again sparked my interest in learning more about the war. The last time we were in France, we visited Normandy, and I was hooked.
After the battlefield, we got some lunch in downtown Spartanburg. I had never been there, and I was surprised by how little there actually was, in terms of shops to poke around in, restaurants, etc.
A Target run for some last minute travel supplies (and scrapbook stuff on clearance!), some pizza, and we were in for the night.
