With our trip to Washington called off there were a couple questions, like, would I go back to work? I decided to take the time off, though. I haven't had a vacation where I just stay and do nothing, not even amusement park trips, since ... unemployment, and that sucked. Taking time just to myself and to do as I pleased was a lot of me doing what I do ordinarily on the weekends or holidays anyway but it felt like more for being a choice.
Another choice. ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyhugger's brother's wedding fell apart. Not from any romantic problems or anything; it was paperwork. There was some trouble getting the documents that the marriage license required and there wasn't time to sort it out so why not just come and hang out instead? With some encouragement from me bunnyhugger agreed to go out herself and hang out for the weekend and see the sights of Kingston, New York. I could stay home and keep watch on Roger.
The drawback is if I wasn't driving how would she get to upstate New York? The obvious alternative is fly, which bunnyhugger would rather not do and would absolutely not do at the prices for getting a flight week-of, thank you. With that out, the next alternative is the train. bunnyhugger has taken Amtrak out east as recently as fifteen years ago and it's always been. Um.
It's always started from the Toledo train station at 3:15 am, because --- thanks to 9/11-based security theater --- the train that used to run from Michigan through Ontario into New York stops at the national border. The alternative for some reason runs once a day when only the daft would go. And, worse, the bus that takes one from the East Lansing train station to Toledo leaves at like 7 pm, to allow for a sensible five-hour margin to make your connection. But since I was off, and willing, I could drive her to Toledo for the small hours of the morning. She insisted I take a nap in the evening, to be ready for that, and it wasn't a bad idea. I felt more refreshed than I expected following it, and she'll probably be angry when she reads this because she never has naps that good. It was a little bit weird driving the Route To Cedar Point (more or less) at that hour of the night, but easy enough driving.
Toledo's Amtrak station was built in the late 40s in the last era of passenger railroad travel being a thing anyone wanted, and by reports it's a marvelous International Style passenger palace. Unfortunately the areas built as passenger facility are now walled off as paid event space. Passengers instead sit in what used to be the baggage sorting area and you can tell. While it didn't have the dismal-bus-station vibe bunnyhugger remembered, and it had some nice little historical plaques and exhibits and such, it was not a place to hang out for five hours.
The train was a few minutes late, but hoped to make up the time. We hugged on the platform, and I saw her get on the train, and the train leave. I stuck around for a couple minutes out of some primordial instinct of ``what if they have to turn around for some reason?'' which of course they did not. And I drove back, taking it slow (and taking a rest break at some truck-stop gas station) because even after a nap it was still past 4 am. I got in a bit before 6 am, to a very confused Roger who mostly knew everyone was in the wrong places at the wrong times. Haven't stayed up that late since the awful night I killed my car. This time, despite Roger's problems and that I was going to bed alone, was a lot better.
I guess you can see Thanksgiving and some rabbit pictures now.
The dining room table, set for dinner. I'm not sure it ever looked this good.
And here's Roger, in his pen, waiting for his own dinner.
Is the attention I'm giving him worth just the one ear raised? Is that all?
No! I'm worth two ears raised! Hooray!
A little while later. Roger has somehow managed to get his food ball --- the yellow sphere, with pellets inside --- lodged up off the ground. I know it looks like it's resting on the corner of this Quaker Oaks box but no, it's wedged between the cage and his litter bin there. You see him in the background there looking all proud of himself.
You'd think butter wouldn't melt in his mouth as he gives the expression yes, he knows how he did it, but he'll never tell how.
Trivia: Wilbur Wright bought the 16-foot white pine spars for the brothers' 1899 Glider from a Norfolk, Virginia, sawmill for $7.70. (He had wanted spruce pine, and 18-foot spars, but neither spruce pine nor 18-foot lengths were available.) Source: First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane, T A Heppenheimer.
Currently Reading: His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine, S C Gwynne.
PS: What's Going On In The Phantom (Weekdays)? How can Elon Musk steal the Moon? June - August 2024 Of course it's not Elon Musk, not for real, but, it is the Moon. Well, it's Africa, anyway.
