Mystic Seaport Fourth of July

Lately, there's been an increasing mouse problem that has something to do with the way food is disposed. The cans the food should go into are maggoty and filthy and really need to be sanitized or just plain replaced. Management keeps sending the baggers--lowest of the low on the totem pole and mostly teenage kids--out to clean these things. Heidi tells me the baggers stand around talking until enough time has gone by that they could claim they did clean the containers and then they go back in. Who can blame them? What 16 year old wants to clean out a crusty maggoty garbage container?

Anyway, for whatever reason, mice have been coming into the store and the managers' solution has been to set traps.

Last night, Heidi found a baby mouse in one of the traps. She thought it was dead and was disposing it (and the other dead mice) when it moved and she realized it was barely alive. It would not be for long and so she killed it. When she came home, she broke down and wept long and hard. Even though she knew she was ending its suffering she was very upset about what she did.

Some might say, it was just a mouse, just a pesky nasty critter and of no significance. Still, when you love animals as Heidi does, it must have been a traumatic thing to do.

She wants to find another job. I don't blame her.

Hope you're having a wonderful time, Little T, and see you soon!

Now...back to those pictures...

Here is one of the pictures I took at Olde Mistick Village. I took frequent breaks from shopping to take pictures--especially of the duckies.

You can't see any of them in the picture above but if you want to see them and the others I took, click here.

Cruise on the SS Sabino

The pictures in the slide show go up to about that point. There's still more to come!

Mystic Seaport Day 1

After we got off the ferry and out of the car, TB and I walked up toward the castle. Along the way, I was taking pictures like a lunatic. Everything looked so pretty!

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One of the coolest parts of our vacation was that TB and I felt free to make side trips and visit places on the spur of the moment. We both enjoy exploring wherever we are.

On our way up on 95N, we pulled over to use the restrooms at one of those places that has tourist information and brochures. We'd seen mention of a castle in a Connecticut guide booklet we'd received from AAA and it sounded like just the place to go. According to the book, it wasn't that far away from the rest stop. I asked the volunteers about the castle and they enthusiastically told me it was worth a visit and that we should ferry across the river.

Sounded right up our alley! So we took a little detour and stopped in East Haddam to visit William Gillette's castle. We wanted to take the ferry and so these are the first pictures I'm sharing before I have to go to my doctor's appointment.

Here we are in line to get on the ferry to cross the Connecticut River. We didn't mind the wait--we were in no hurry!

In fact, I got to take several pictures of whatever caught my interest. I liked the wildflowers growing along the side of the road and here's how one of them came out.

I even took pictures of just your regular average bushes!

After a wait of maybe 15 minutes, we got to the ferry. It's not very big but I think it could fit up to a dozen cars.

We were parked smack dab in the middle and towards the rear so we couldn't take great pictures but we sure enjoyed the ride!

What pretty flowers! I'm hoping that all mothers had as wonderful a day as I did. The best gift of all was having us together. TB, Kristin and I went up to NY to get Billy and bring him home for the summer. It's nice to have him back for a couple of months! To see the rest of the pictures I took today, just click on the pic!

I meant to update about our little Tomas. He is doing so much better! He willingly put on the nebulizing mask at the doctor's office when I last posted, thank goodness, and so he got a full treatment. Linda's been giving him his meds and he's been doing much better! He still hacks a little bit but the meds are really helping!

This picture was taken at the restaurant this morning.

It got so bad, Linda says, she told the nurse to stop and leave. Linda held the mask by Tomas's nose and the nurse kept haranging her, saying you're not doing it right! Linda felt that at least this way, Tomas was getting some benefit although the nurse was saying you're wasting the medicine. Okay, now, by then Linda had told the nurse that T is on the autistic spectrum. Aren't pediatric nurses supposed to know what to do when they have a special needs child? Surely there is another way to do this. Tomas has never allowed anything on his head or face, no hats, fake noses or what have you.

Anyway, after 3 hours, they were finally able to come home. By then T's pulse-ox was up to 93%, still low. Linda told me they would have to return in the morning (this morning). So they've been gone almost 3 hours again and I'm wondering what's happening. Will they have to send T to the ER? I'm very worried.

At dinner time, I was remembering what the early intervention teacher said once about having Tomas sit in a booster seat so that his feet would touch the chair. It's supposed to help a child feel centered. Tomas doesn't like his booster seat but he does like his little chair and table so we moved it close to the big dining room table and it seemed to work. He had both feet on the floor and his own table to sit at and he just seemed much more comfortable.

For some reason, putting on his pants and/or shirt remains an issue. We haven't quite figured that one out all together. I know he prefers his pants to have snaps and zippers. Maybe that's why he's reluctant to put on jammie bottoms or track pants. As for the shirts--we also know he does not like button down shirts. Polos and tee shirts are fine but not always. We are all a work in progress.

I took pictures of Tomas at play the other day. Click the picture to get the rest of the album!

Ready, set, go! To see the pictures I took today click on this pic

How did Indigo react? Check out This That & The Other Thing to find out!