Surprizingly enough, this work is exhausting, so I will post a Penny story before going to work.
Penny and the Band
October 2005
Last weekend was another adventure filled weekend for us. As usual, we were supposed to be in two places at once: the hurricane relief show in Brenham and my mom and dad's vineyard to help clear out the lost cabernet crop. Guess who won? No question. Mom comes first. The Brenham show still gets our entry fee donation, but Mom won our actual presence.
Mom has hired the local high school band to come pick her grapes every year for the past three years. Personally, I think this qualifies Mom for Mensa and sainthood! It used to take our family two days to harvest the grapes, with the help of the local monks. The high school band has it done by noon. The band likes it, too. This is how the new kids who show up pay for their uniforms. Usually, this takes place in August. Unfortunately, after promising a five year contract, Mom's new winery rejected her grapes at 21 bricks (that's sugar content) at harvest time.
(Now, just so you know, Mom's old winery--Texas Hills--did an exclusive run on their vineyard's grapes at 21 bricks, aged the vintage in oak and came up with about the best red wine I have ever tasted. I wouldn't just say that because it's my mom. Heck, I wish I could find this wine somewhere else, because I adore a good red wine, and there are less than two cases left in the world.)
But the new winery wouldn't accept the harvest (it appears that the vineyard/winery world is kind of like the cat breeder/buyer world: When they're happy, they're ecstatic, and when they're pissed, it's someone else's fault. Unfortunately, Mom was in a pick or die situation because of a fungus. She knows better than to pick bad grapes...hmmm...must be in the genes. When the
winery rejected her crop, the fungus won. So the band had to wait until October1 to harvest the mummies. Mom will eradicate the fungus this winter.
Penny. Ah yes, Penny. This is about Penny. On Friday, she had finally fulfilled her duties as queen of the day. When the first graders left, she crashed. When we got home, and I started
packing, she crashed again. She crashed in the Jeep as well, and she slept all night at Grandma & Grandpa's after our 1:00 a.m. arrival. The next morning she was ready for the band.
The band arrived in a school bus at 8:00 a.m. I found this out afterward. Spencer woke me up at 8:30. There were scattered pick-ups in the front. The bus was gone. I heard voices. I got up, got dressed, and went out to find my mom. Shortly afterward, she said to me, "You and Susan are in charge. Make sure they're working."
I don't like to be in charge, but Mom had to take care of Daddy who had a stroke 3 years ago. I immediately yelled to my little sister, "Susan, you're in charge!" (My new principal has taught me all about delegation.)
Mom was worried that work wasn't getting done because she kept seeing band members walking around the vineyard and laughing, squirting each other with water from the water bucket, etc. I went in to find Penny, and slipped on her leash/harness.
(Have I mentioned her leash training? It goes like this: Thursday night I put it on; she was trained.)
We went out to the vineyard to supervise. I set her down, and she cavorted amongst the grass, chasing butterflies and other smaller insects. We were immediately mobbed by gushing high schoolers around the water trailer. She is a kitten, still, yes indeed, a mere 11 weeks old--so tiny to them, so growing up to me. They marveled at the kitten on the leash. They wanted to hold her. I figured, heck yes, the more strangers handling her, the better. :) I also hovered like a nervous mama, ready to snatch her back. When they identified her as looking "like a leopard," I beamed.
Finally, the mob subsided, and Penny and I were able to walk up and down the rows, inspecting. She's as happy in my arm stretched out with her hand on my palm as she is walking on her own. We marched up and down many completely grape mummy denuded rows before she insisted that she wanted to play in the grass again. When we were finished, I rushed from the vineyard into the backyard.
"Susan!" I hollered to my sister who was chatting with a band mom, "We need to start cooking! They're almost done!"
It was ten in the morning, and we needed to cook lunch for the high school band. Normally, this would simply involve barbequed hot dogs, buns, condiments and sodas. But since I had to boil chicken before Hurricane Rita, and Spencer had bought 80 non-perishable tortillas before Rita, the band got a treat. Chicken fajita tacos. My job. While I was frantically changing boiled chicken into tasty fajitas, several girls came in to use the restroom and to play with Penny. Some just wanted to play with Penny, but one poor red-faced youngster locked herself in the bathroom and had to be rescued. This is a common hazard with the oldsliding door, and I assured her upon her release that we had all been there.
Lunch (or in this case, brunch) is a picnic in Mom & Dad's backyard under theshade of the ancient bodark tree. Benches, chairs and steps are available. Blankets are spread for the lounging pleasure of high schoolers at a Romanesque feast. I brought Penny back out on her leash. She again leapt over the grass, chasing grasshoppers, butterflies, her leash and nothing.
"Aunt Bobbi Jean," a voice chimed, and I turned to realize in shock that my little niece, my baby girl, Victoria, was one of those high schoolers lounging on the blanket nearest me. "Bengals come from leopards, don't they?"
Ah, I could tell by her tone that I had been called in as an authority to settle a debate. I told them, "They originated as a cross between a domestic cat and an Asian leopard cat, which is a like a very small leopard. Penny is about six generations away from the ALC."
One of her companions, a lovely young blonde lady, asked to walk Penny, then inquired, "Where can I find that toy she likes?"
Ahh...one who came inside to play with her. I relinquished the leash and went to find the Princess Penny's scepter. I handed it over with all intention of hovering, but Mom called me away to be the Official Photographer to click the handing over of the check from River Ridge Vineyard to the Blanco High School Band. I left Victoria in charge of her cousin, Penny. (Victoria is thrilled to have two cousins now: Rubah and Penny.)
In all fairness, I must mention that Rubah, Penny's best friend, was there, too. It was a windy day, so he didn't want to be outside much, but I overheard my nephew, Robert, tell a sophomore, "I'm a dog person, but I love THAT cat." He was talking, of course, about Rubah.
"I want one," the sophomore replied.
"Oh, sure," a freshman girl snipped, "got $800? Those are expensive cats"
Despite my worries, Penny was fine. In fact, she ran that blonde around in circles so much, the
girl fell over. :)
Soon afterward, the school bus drove up my parents 1/4 mile driveway and the band departed. Penny immediately collapsed, and I handed her off to her grandma so Spencer and I could trek off to Ace in the Hills hardware store for plumbing supplies to hook up the outdoor sink to actual water (Mom's birthday present).
I have never seen a happier nor more replete sleeper than little miss Penny,Queen of Zackaire, on completion of her royal tour of the River Ridge Vineyard.
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