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Down from the Heights

Sunday
7/29/2012

We’re just back from our trip to California where we enjoyed a few days exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park after chilling out with friends at Lake Tahoe for a long weekend. Our friends have a lovely home on the west side of the lake, and we had fun hiking, kayaking, sitting by the fire in the outdoor firepit and playing games.

On the summit of Lassen’s Brokeoff Mountain, we met the world’s most confident chimpmunk. He practically stood on our boots while demanding tribute.

We normally camp out when we visit national parks, but this year we decided to splurge on a cabin right outside of Lassen because we weren’t sure if I’d be 100% at this point.

As it turns out, I felt fine (still some residual itching, but my skin is much improved). It was nice, however, not to have to mess with a lot of gear for a change. We did three days of hiking at Lassen, and although the trail to Lassen Peak was closed for maintenance, we got lots of views from other peaks around the park, including Brokeoff Mountain, Cinder Cone, and Prospect Peak.

It was only a matter of hours after we walked in our front door that we picked up our latest villa residents. Of course, we needed to go with an Olympics theme, so welcome Athena and the Olympians. Athena is a lovely brown tabby who, for a change, is not small and skinny. The four Olympians – two boys and two girls – seem healthy and happy. We quickly realized that there was no need to rush out to buy powdered formula. Athena shouldn’t need any assistance with these guys.

They were rescued off the street when the kits were just a couple of days old, but Athena is not feral at all – she’s very loving and friendly. She purrs up a storm and sticks her tongue out when you pet her.

She and her kits (which are about 12 days old now) have spent the last week and a half in Kitty City, which is Homeward Trails’ temporary housing area.

They got lots of love and good care from the volunteers (shout out to Cindi!) while they were there because the kittens are used to being held, and Athena is not bothered when we handle them.

So we need some help with Olympian names for the four kittens. Three of the four are tabbies, like their mom, but the smallest girl has some tawny spots, while the boys just have white trim.

The other girl is gray and white (although she might also have some tawny spots – we’ll need to look more carefully).

We’re still trying to find out the status of our remaining Spies – they aren’t on the HT website, but we haven’t been able to determine why. We’ll let you know when we find out.

Tomorrow I go in for my radiation “dry run” and start the real thing on Tuesday. That will be the first of 33 rounds, which I expect to be a walk in the park.

filed by: ME

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