The last of it

Okay - quick rundown on the rest of the road trip... mostly because it involves cool pictures.

We spent some memorable nights at hotels like the Wyo and Ruby's (in Missoula). Ruby's was on a river and pretty sweet. I also found I loved Missoula. It's a real college town, like Cambridge or Ann Arbor, but smaller, and in Montana of course. It was hip with a very visible gay scene and we ate yummy vegetarian at Tipu's Tiger.

We visited the sight of Custer's last stand (left). It was sobering. The battlefield remains untouched and basically identical to what it was like back then. We also drove through the mountains of Montana and Idaho, passing through tiny mountain villages like Wallace. Some of these places were famous for their whorehouses (a miner's gotta do what a miner's gotta do).

We made a stop in Spokane to visit dad's cousin Henry and his wife Renee and spent our last two nights at a hotel in downtown Tacoma. The view was nice (but not as nice as my place) and Sive enjoyed herself immensely (see left).

On the 8th the movers finally came with all my stuff. Minus my bedframe which was still tucked away in a warehouse in Michigan. It has since been sent via UPS. The move appears to have resulted in a broken 15-year-old hand-me-down CD player (not a big loss), a few scrapes, warps and paint chips as well as some serious drama regarding my couch.

My beautiful, comfy, warm, cozy, awesome, anyone-can-lay-on-it-all-the-way leather couch would not fit in the elevator. My gung-ho movers were not to be beaten and decided to start carrying the couch up the 15 flights of stairs. As they arrived on floor 6 one mover came up to check out the clearance from the hall into my apartment. It wasn't going to fit!

Now what? Big leather couch on stairwell. We deliberated about what to do, I consulted the landladies about where to put it, cried a little bit (hey - moving is stressful stuff!) and ultimately we came to a solution: I could store it for free in the apartment oversize-storage space as long as I got rid of it in a few days. Now... would it fit into the storage space? With much maneuvering, rolling, lifting, standing on end, and four brains figuring things out it was finally laid upright in a storage unit. I listed it on Craigslist for all of $100 (9-foot leather couch - probably worth $800 in its used condition). I got a ton of interested people within hours. The lucky recipient of a brand new, used, leather couch, a dude named Colin who bought it as a b-day present for himself, and his buddy were able to maneuver the couch out so much easier than it went in! I mourned but I'm dealing.

Then there was the Ikea drama. Long story short: Ikea dresser bought, dresser assembled (over two-day period), by father for most part (love ya!), Ikea dresser drawers don't work, Ikea dresser weighs 200 lbs, Ikea customer service finally agrees to replace dresser and remove old one, also agrees to assemble dresser for me. Horray! It was a long ordeal and I was known to say "I hate Ikea" or "I'll never shop at Ikea again, the bastards!" but in the end Ikea was great and helped me work it all out. With the help of Mom (love ya!) who knew how to finagle customer service like a hardcore pro. Another dresser bought was much easier to assemble, restoring some faith in the Ikea system. See the massive amounts of screw and pegs for the dresser that caused all the problems at left!

So that's pretty much the excitement of the first few days in Tacoma - then, after the 'rents were all gone, there was the kitty situation (mentioned in the last post).

Sive was exhibiting all the signs of a kitty UTI and had to stay for about 24 hours at the vets to get a urine sample. Results on Monday. They took other labs but I'm pretty convinced she's overall healthy, just may need to clear a bit of a urinary tract infection. Poor baby. I missed her so much and last night without her was actually harder than I thought!

When I returned to the vets this afternoon the receptionist and I started talking and there was meowing from "the back". Sive heard me talking and started yelling for me! They brought her to the front and she immediately started reaming me out for leaving her there. They loved her and were sad to see her go. I got lots of compliments on what a good kitty she is. :) But I got a stern talking ot about her weight. They recommended a prescription diet cat food. Expensive, but something I'll think about for later. For now we'll just play more and eat a little less :)

And check out the view from my living room sofa the other day :)