Scions of the Hadron Collider

Helen and family were just down to visit for a few days. This was their first visit since becoming Upstate New Yorkers.

Seeing one another is no longer a huge undertaking, requiring plane tickets, going to second base with the NSA (they could at least buy me a drink first, ya know) and packing my wee rucksack tighter/with greater complexity and precision than a Chinese puzzle box. Nope, now we’re just three and a half hours by car away from each other.
Monster cool is what this is!

On this visit Helen’s husband John was doing work on our house. Long talked of and put off (by The Amazing Bob and I) projects were tackled. -- shelving was built into the bathroom eves and along the basement steps (built in shelves -- the key to living in a small home. That and becoming a member of Pack Rats Anonymous), our front screen door was replaced, stairs off the veranda were constructed, screens were created for windows long without and more. All this and Helen fixed our oven which had gone all psychotically wonky on us! Having talented construction, carpenter, fixer types in the family is 20,000 kinds of awesome. At least.

My two youngest grandnieces (GRAND!!! What THE fuck?!), were here too of course. Madison and Juliana, are smart, beautiful, cheerful, loving and full of energy. Did I mention the energy thing? Overheated molecules bounce around less than my adorable grandnieces. The Large Hadron Collider looks sluggish next to the girls.

What’s this mean? Lots of post visit naps. Mega lots.

The girls had a beach day, an afternoon of school clothes shopping and movies with Grandpa (this is what they call TAB. I suppose this means that I’ll end up being called Grandma. sigh).

They brought their big, ancient wookie of a dog, Juda, with them. I was more than a bit nervous about how our princess Coco would react to Juda and vice versa. Would he decide that she’d make a tasty mid-afternoon snack? Would she eviscerate him while he slept? As it turns out -- neither.

Coco was def freaked at first. After the first night, when she had to sleep on my stomach ALL night, ensuring that I got no sleep at all, she understood that Juda was well past cat harassing prime.

OK, except that he preferred eating her food to his own. Not surprising. After all, our blue jay visitors rave about it. The raccoons, skunks and possums all swear by it. Possibly the Fancy Feast folk are putting Smack in the mix.