Pedro

Tomorrow, August 1, is my nephew Pedro’s birthday. He will be 9 years old. Of those 9 years, I haven’t seen him for the last 4, which is just too long because I’ve missed 4 years of him growing up. While a trip down to Buenos Aires looks unlikely this year, I hope to travel there sometime next year. I haven’t seen my other two nephews either during that time – Pedro’s younger brother Juan, and Seba, my nephew who lives in Montevideo. While I’ve seen plenty of pictures and heard lots of stories through the years, it’s just not the same as actually spending time with them.

Soon after Pedro was born in 1996, his father Jorge had to go on a business trip. So my sister Maus came to stay with us for a few days with Pedro so she could get a little extra help from my mom, who after raising three children has plenty of experience with babies. I remember that during one of those days my friend Sophia came over to watch a movie. Maus tried to join us, but was so exhausted from her new role as a mother that she fell asleep almost immediately after the movie started. One of the things that I most remember about Pedro in his first months of life was the way in which he often slept. With a very serious expression on his face, he would stick out his tongue a little and sleep like that.

Since then Pedro has grown up a lot, as is clear from the pictures – the one of him as a baby was taken when he was around 4 or 5 months old, and the other was taken last summer (winter in the northern hemisphere). Pedro enjoys playing chess and soccer, and shows great interest in animals at the zoo. I can’t wait to take him there again. But in the meantime, I can wish him a very happy 9th birthday. ¡Feliz cumpleaños Pedro!

Rejection

An integral part of searching for a job is getting rejected. Or at least it’s an integral part of the job search for most of us. And while you know that it’s likely to happen, it doesn’t make it any easier to get those letters saying things like, “Although your qualifications are admirable, this position has been offered to and accepted by another applicant.” This is especially hard when the letter is regarding a job you thought you had a good chance of getting or were very excited about, as happened to me today. The job I interviewed for on Monday, for a position at the planning department of the OKC public library system, was one that I was particularly interested in for a number of different reasons. I also thought that I was a good fit for the job and that my interview had gone very well. I guess it didn’t go well enough. The fact is they found someone that they liked better or they thought would do a better job. Oh, well. I have other job applications out there, and in fact yesterday I sent out two more. I just need to be patient.

On a more positive note, I found a free piece of furniture today. Okay, so it doesn’t quite make up for the rejection letter, but as our friends from Monty Python sang, “Always look on the bright side of life.” We’d been wanting to get a small bookcase for our guest room, and now we have it. While I was out with the cats this evening, I noticed someone had left it by the dumpster. I inspected the bookcase, found it to be in good shape, and so I dragged it to my backyard where I cleaned it off a bit before bringing it inside and hauling it up the stairs. And Tim and I spent quite a while out at the pool, where we enjoyed the water and talked to some of our neighbors. So overall, I would say it’s been a good day.

Interviews, Interviews

On Tuesday I went to the interview that I mentioned Monday, and it went quite well, I think. The doctor was particularly interested in my ability to speak Spanish fluently since many of his patients speak little English, and his own Spanish is pretty limited. Aside from the interview itself, we had a nice conversation about a variety of topics, and I think he would be an interesting person to work for. The starting salary is rather on the low side, so I’m not sure it would work out even if he did call me for another interview. But we’ll see.

Just as I was thinking I was going to have a boring rest of the week without any other interviews, this morning I received a phone call for an interview with another company. It was this afternoon and I feel that this one went well, too, and the salary is much higher. In fact, it’s quite high for OKC. While it doesn’t sound like such a fun job, it seems good enough, and the relatively high salary is attractive. Now I have to see if these people will call me for a second interview.

I keep wondering which interview is going to land me a job, but in the meantime I’m having fun going to them and meeting people. I did find out today that the job I interviewed for last Tuesday, which was for an administrative position at the financial development department of the YMCA, didn’t work out. That’s OK, though. The way I see it, the more interviews I go on, the more experience I’ll get, and eventually I’ll find an employer who wants to hire me and not someone else.

Trip Pics

Here are some pictures from my trip. There are two from Tent Rocks, and two from Mesa Verde. I chose the ones from Tent Rocks because they show the peculiar rock formations found there. As for the Mesa Verde pictures, there is one from Balcony House, looking through a small window in one of the walls, and the other picture is of the petroglyphs that we saw on our hike. The petroglyphs don’t show up so well when the picture is so small, but if you click on it, you’ll get the larger image and will be able to make out the figures depicted.

Close Encounters of the Feline Kind

This evening I made some major progress with one of Mama Cat’s kittens. This is not the one who tried to suckle Hairy a couple of days ago. This is one of his sisters, who is a mix between a gray tiger and a splotchy mess. She has white paws, a white belly, and the rest of her body is striped in gray with patches of tan. She’s the smallest of the litter and extremely cute. About 4 days ago I began playing with her with a string. At first she was very wary of me, but definitely curious. She was intrigued by the string moving along the ground and kept coming a little closer to me. Finally she batted at the string for the first time, and she was hooked. I gradually got her to come closer and closer to me until finally I had her close enough that I could briefly pet her. That always startled her, but gradually she began to get used to the occasional pat. Then she began to bat not only at the string, but also at my fingers, and from there she progressed to biting my fingers a little (though always gently – she clearly understands the concept of play).

By yesterday she was letting me run my hand down the length of her little body a couple of times before she’d jump away, as if she feared that she’d let me get too far. Today when she first saw me she was with one of her other siblings, who promptly ran away when it saw me pull out a string and lay it on the grass (I will get to that kitten someday - I hope soon!) The little tiger kitten and I played for a while in front of one of my neighbors’ door and then I led her back toward our door. We played for a while and since Hairy was there, I played with him at the same time so he wouldn’t get jealous and spoil the fun. So I had a string in each hand and had to keep both of them moving enough to keep a full-grown cat and a kitten occupied and entertained.

Tonight I decided that I needed to be able to pick up the kitten. So as we played I grabbed her a couple of times and her only reaction was to bite me a little, but always gently. I took this as a good sign that she understood this as play and wasn’t feeling threatened. Hairy gave up on our game and jumped onto my car. The kitten grew interested in what he was doing up there, so I gave her a boost onto my car’s hood. There we played a little with the string and then I thought I might as well try to pick her up. It went incredibly well, and she let me hold her. I had thought that at least the first time she would try to bite or scratch. Instead she seemed to be rather enjoying it. I put her back down on the hood and tried again. Like before, she didn’t complain. Afterwards, on the ground, she rubbed against my leg for the first time. And then she came up to me for more cuddling. So I picked her up a few more times and very soon she was purring very loudly. A tiny striped purring machine. The trouble was that then she didn’t want to leave me – she was clearly enjoying the company and the attention. We played a little longer, but then I decided it was time to go back inside and tend to my own cat, my little Lena who was waiting inside for some love. And she’s been getting it. In fact, as I type this, she’s sitting on my lap, purring.

From the Garden

Here are a couple of pictures of plants from our garden. Some of our plants have been having a rough time in the hot Oklahoma sun, even though we specifically chose plants that were well-suited to being in full sunshine. These are some of the plants that are faring the best. And even some of the plants that aren’t doing so well are rebounding. Several of them are growing new flowers, which is a good sign.

I have also scanned pictures from my trip with Kathy. Some of those will be posted tomorrow.

In other news, I had a job interview this morning that went very well. I liked the people I met at the interview, which is good because if they end up hiring me, I would be working with the three of them a lot. They told me that by the end of this week or by next week they would finish talking to the other people who applied for the job, and they would decide who they want to hire. Choose me! And just to prove my earlier statement that when it rains, it pours, this afternoon I got a call for an interview for yet another job. I’m not so interested in this one, but I would be foolish not to go anyway and talk to them. So I will.

Confused Kitten

I often wonder what behaviors are instinctive and what behaviors are learned. I know there has been much research done on these topics, but I am not familiar with what has been found out about cat behavior. Earlier this evening, I was sitting outside with the strays that I feed. The one I call Mama Cat, who had kittens in March and is pregnant again, was lying by my front door after having her dinner, and the one I call Hairy, because of his long hair, was also sitting by the door but on the other side of the mat. One of Mama Cat’s offspring from March came around, had some food, and then decided he wanted some milk. He and his siblings have been eating solid food for quite some time now, so I was a little surprised by this. I expected Mama Cat to hiss at him since that’s been her standard response whenever her kittens want to play and she wants to be left alone. Instead she let him lie down and start suckling (I don’t know if there was anything to drink or if this is simply a comforting behavior for the 4-month old kitten).

My neighbor arrived, and when he got out of the car we started chatting. This startled the kitten a bit, and he got up and sat on the mat, between Mama Cat and the Hairy one. When he realized that the situation was not threatening, he decided to go back to what he’d been doing. Except this time, he went to Hairy instead of to Mama Cat. Needless to say, Hairy was not happy to have a kitten trying to nuzzle his belly and he hissed, sending the kitten running. This both amused and confused me.

Really the only similarity between Mama Cat and Hairy is that they are both black cats. Mama Cat is short-haired, while Hairy has long hair, as mentioned earlier. Most importantly, Mama Cat is a female, and Hairy is an un-neutered adult male. And even if they were very similar and of the same sex, wouldn’t the kitten know who his mother was? He’s already 4 months old, and it’s very clear that he’s male. I’d think that at this age, and with his sex so clearly defined, he’d know which cats were male and which cats were female. Or maybe he does know, but doesn’t necessarily understand that male cats can’t produce milk. Perhaps it was simply momentary confusion. Or just wishful thinking. I don’t know what happened there, but it made me laugh. And it got Hairy crankier than he was earlier (he’s a very cranky cat). Cats are weird creatures, but they are very entertaining to observe.

Travels Through the Southwest, Part II

The following day, Friday, I took it easy in the morning while Kathy was at the conference and went to the swimming pool. Afterwards we met up for a lunch of sandwiches made with freshly baked croissants, and since the conference was officially over we drove north to Taos. Kathy’s cousin is spending the summer there so we met up with him and his girlfriend and talked to them for a while. They recommended a few places for dinner and we ended up going to a restaurant housed in the oldest building in Taos, which is allegedly haunted by the daughter of the first governor of the territory of New Mexico. Luckily she didn’t interfere with our dinner and we enjoyed our food.

When we got to the car we saw that I had managed to leave the lights on when we parked a few hours before. I tried to start the car anyway, and sure enough, it did not start. I called AAA and in the meantime Kathy asked passersby if they had jumper cables. No one did, but AAA said it wouldn’t take them very long to get to us. As we waited, another guy walked by and we decided to ask him, just in case. He said he didn’t have jumper cables, but that if the car had a manual transmission, we could try popping the clutch. I knew there was a reason why Tim and I were so adamant about buying cars with manual transmissions! The guy was kind enough to not only tell us how to do it, but to do it himself. Fortunately we were parked on a street that sloped down slightly and there were no cars in front of mine. Kathy and I pushed the car and he jumped in and got the car running – it was a huge relief to know we could be on our way. We thanked him profusely, and then called AAA to cancel the roadside assistance call. It’s nice to meet someone who not only knows how to do useful things, but is also willing to help. My plan is to buy jumper cables soon, and also write myself a couple of how-to lists to keep in the car: how to use jumper cables, and how to pop the clutch. Very useful information.

Saturday we took off from Albuquerque and drove off toward Durango, Colorado. We stopped for lunch at a diner in a small town and looked at the directions that Kathy’s friend had given her to find a trail near Durango that would lead us to several waterfalls. When we got into Durango the weather was less than ideal, and it even hailed for a while. Luckily that stopped and we went off in search of the waterfall hike. We didn’t find it (and later learned we hadn’t gone far enough), so we returned to Durango, parked the car, and wandered around for a bit. We walked into an art gallery that had some beautiful and very expensive sculptures that Kathy and I really liked, and then inside found a bunch of prints by a Blackfeet artist named King Kuka. His prints are gorgeous and both Kathy and I fell in love with his work. Someday I will get some of his prints! Afterwards we went to dinner at a restaurant called Ken and Sue’s that Kathy’s friend had recommended and had a wonderful meal. We ended the day by driving to Cortez and checking into a small motel run by a little German lady. The motel was cheap but very clean and the room was very impressive for the price. If I return to Cortez, I will try to stay there again.

The following morning, Sunday, we got up early and headed to Mesa Verde National Park. I had been there just 3 months before with my mother, but knew that today I would be seeing some different things. Balcony House was still closed when I was there in April, and Kathy and I also planned to go on a hike while we were there. So we signed up for the Balcony House and Cliff Palace tours, and it turned out that the 32-foot ladder at Balcony House wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. It would have been even better if there hadn’t been a little girl ahead of us who started crying because the wooden rungs of the ladder were hot. I felt bad for her, but at the same time was a bit annoyed at getting stuck partway up the ladder. The dwellings of the ancestral Pueblo peoples at Mesa Verde are really an amazing place to visit. To think that those buildings were built in alcoves on the cliff faces is incredible, and then to think that their inhabitants climbed those cliff walls regularly in order to get to their crops on the mesa tops makes you realize just how easy we have it, with the variety and quantity of food available at our grocery stores.

After the tours and after driving around a bit, looking at the sites that can only be seen from the opposite side of the canyon, Kathy and I went on a 3 mile loop hike that leads to a panel of petroglyphs. We didn’t pick up a trail guide at the trailhead and so kept wondering what all the numbers we encountered stood for. We found out from other hikers that they mostly pointed to the different plants found at Mesa Verde, so we were at least glad we hadn’t missed out on other archaeological remains. But I do need to learn more about plants – at least we learned about the yucca, many of which had large fruit growing on them. The fruits are edible but apparently taste horrible. Kathy and I were terribly tempted throughout the day to take one and open it later, but we didn’t. We almost missed the petroglyph panel when we saw a sign that said Do Not Touch. We thought it referred to the rather strange rock formation that the sign was perched on, and only after we looked above the sign did we see the petroglyphs. Oops. But the petroglyphs were definitely cool, and the hike itself was fun. It was mid-afternoon and the quality of the light was starting to change, giving the rocks a sort of glow which hadn’t been there earlier in the day.

We left Mesa Verde that afternoon, stopped in Durango for dinner at an Italian place recommended by Kathy’s friend, and then were on our way back toward Albuquerque since Kathy’s flight was on Monday. We thought we’d stop somewhere along the way but found that the towns south of Durango on Rt. 550 didn’t have much of anything, and definitely did not have any motels that were visible from the road. So we drove all the way to Bernalillo, which is just north of Albuquerque and arrived past midnight. The following morning we drove to Albuquerque and I dropped Kathy off at the airport and then began my own journey home to Oklahoma City. It was an uneventful drive, but the sunset was gorgeous and the Weatherford wind farm at twilight was beautiful, too.

Travels Through the Southwest, Part I

My trip to New Mexico was well worth it, despite the long drive there and back. The drive to Albuquerque was uneventful aside from the good news that someone wanted to talk to me about my job application. I made very good time and got to Albuquerque expecting that I’d be able to get a key to the room and wait for Kathy there. Well, the lady at the front desk said there wasn’t a key for me and that without talking to Kathy she couldn’t give me a key. I knew Kathy had left a key for me earlier that day, but the lady couldn’t seem to figure out where it was. Kathy was making her way down Sandia Peak with a couple of other people and didn’t hear her phone ring, so I waited for her in the lobby of the hotel. Luckily I had a book and found a plush chair to read in till Kathy got my message and let the person at the front desk know I really was supposed to have a key. Unfortunately by then there was no time for the nap I’d been hoping to take.

That night we went to the botanical garden where they were having a dinner for the conference participants. It was already dark by the time we got done eating but we wandered around the grounds of the botanical garden for a while. The next day Kathy went off to the conference and I went to the Old Town section of Albuquerque. It was a 2 mile walk from downtown, and even in the morning it was almost too hot to walk. But I walked anyway. I went to the art and history museum, which had works by New Mexico artists as well as an exhibit on the history of Albuquerque. I enjoyed the museum and then found myself a late lunch. Afterwards I wandered around a bit more and then figured out how to take the bus toward downtown so I wouldn’t get even more dehydrated in the sun.

When Kathy got out of the sessions she’d been attending we met up with a couple of other physicists and drove off to Tent Rocks. The plan was to hike the trail there and head to Santa Fe for dinner. We got to Tent Rocks after 6 pm and the place technically closes at 7. We figured the car wouldn’t get towed, and off we went on the trail. We’d read that flash floods are possible there, since there is a slot canyon, and while the sky was cloudy, the forecast said there was only a slight chance of rain in the area. That was good enough for us. Tent Rocks is named for the unusual tent-shaped rocks which are the result of different episodes of volcanic activity millions of years ago. The area has also been shaped by wind and water erosion, forming the slot canyon and other features. I’d never seen anything quite like this before and I feel I need to learn more about geology to better understand how places like Tent Rocks have formed. The more we climbed, the better the views got. But even before we started climbing and were walking through the slot canyon, the place just looked so cool! The rock is soft and there are many small holes that we later saw made perfect homes for small birds. In addition to the birds, which we couldn’t identify, we saw a variety of interesting beetles (which we also couldn’t identify!)

It took us about 2 hours to get to the top and back down again, and from there we still had to drive to Santa Fe (about 40 miles away) for dinner, not really knowing where we’d end up eating. The two physicists we’d brought along, Oliver and Gary, went through some information we’d brought with us, selected a restaurant called Santa Café, and called to see if they’d seat us if we arrived after 9 pm. They said yes, and we made it just in time. Luckily it was already dark outside, and we were seated at one of the tables in the courtyard. Otherwise they would have seen just how dusty we were. We did get a few Looks from some of the other restaurant patrons who noticed our shorts and hiking footwear, but we didn’t care. We were just glad to be there, and the restaurant turned out to be excellent. We had some unusual appetizers, including some spring rolls filled with cactus, and as a main course I had a delicious poblano filled with quinoa and mushrooms with a chipotle cream sauce. I would definitely go there again.

When It Rains, It Pours

Just when I was beginning to feel discouraged at my lack of job interviews, I got a call from one of the jobs I applied for. This happened while I was on my way to New Mexico, so Tim took a message and called me on my cell phone to tell me the good news. I then played phone tag with the lady who had called me and finally was able to talk to her the next day, after visiting the art museum in Albuquerque. I was afraid that she wouldn’t want to wait for me to get back into town, but she sounded enthusiastic about meeting me and we agreed that I would come to see her the morning after I got back. So I met her yesterday and the interview went well, but it was only an introductory interview and she said she’d be calling a couple of people back for a further interview and to meet with the CEO of the organization. I do hope she calls me back – this is a job I’m really interested in and I hope she thinks the interview went as well as I thought it did.

Then today I had an interview for another job. It was a tough sell for me because the job is in an area that I have no experience in, but they do provide training. My interview went quite well, I thought, so we’ll see how it turns out. And actually before I left for that interview, I got a phone call inviting me to an interview for a third job. That interview will take place on Monday morning, and I’m really excited about it.

It seems that my persistence at sending out resumes and letters is finally paying off! What a relief.

Bugs

Today was a productive day and I’m very proud of all that I managed to do. Among other things, I sent out applications and resumes for 5 jobs and cleaned up our apartment a bit. It really needed it. I even washed the kitchen floor. I wanted to leave the apartment clean (or cleaner) before taking off to New Mexico for a few days since Tim will be staying home and taking care of Lena. This means that he won’t be able to completely ignore her while I’m gone since he’ll be feeding and watering her, and cleaning her litter box. I thought straightening the place up a bit would be a nice thing to do for him.

I also swept up a bunch of dead june bugs. They seem to come into our apartment for no other reason than to die here. It’s really annoying but I do feel bad for them. There are a lot more insects and spiders here than in Boston, or at least they didn’t end up in our apartment as much there. The spiders have me a little worried here since I know brown recluses are dangerous, but they aren’t very distinctive and while I’ve seen pictures of them, I don’t think I’d recognize one if I saw it.

There are also lots of wasps that live around our apartment. I often see them flying around outside when I’m sitting at the computer. Recently I found not one but three wasps in my kitchen. They were flying between the kitchen window and the blinds, trying to get out. Common sense would have dictated that I kill them since getting stung by a wasp (or three) isn’t a pleasant experience, but instead of using common sense, I felt sorry for them and then spent quite a bit of time trying to save them. One by one I managed to trap them in a plastic cup and then released them outside. Yes, not only do I feed stray cats, I also save wasps.

Tomorrow morning I hope to leave by 9 am. I know that I probably will leave a bit later, but it’s OK. Since I’ll be driving from Central Time to Mountain Time, I’ll “gain” an hour, so I’ll still get to Albuquerque with plenty of extra time to make it to a 7:30 dinner. And now I really should get to sleep so I can get up early and get the rest of my things together.

Good Neighbors

One of the benefits of spending so much time outside with the stray cats that live in our cul-de-sac has been that I’ve gotten to meet several of my neighbors. One of them is a great lady named Deana who I met a few weeks ago when I found a terrier wandering lost. She and her husband Nathan were out checking their mailbox so I asked them if they knew the dog, they said no, and then I spent a couple of hours talking to Deana after her husband headed back home. (As for the dog, I had to keep her overnight till someone called in response to the flyers I put up. I was very relieved.)

I ran into Deana today, since I had a favor to ask of her, and ended up spending about four hours with her, talking about all sorts of things and playing with her cat. Like me, she’s an animal lover and has some great stories about growing up in a very small town here in Oklahoma, where she ended up with some unusual pets as well as many cats and dogs. The guy who lived next door to her just moved out and told her that she could take any of the plants in his backyard, but one of the pots was rather heavy and since she and her husband have back problems they weren’t sure how they were going to get it to their place. So I volunteered Tim, and he came down to help and met them for the first time. We ended up spending another couple of hours with them. Tim hit it off with them right away since they are so friendly and have a great sense of humor. And besides, Nathan is also a Texan and was also in the Navy, so they had a number of things in common.

Deana agreed to the favor I asked her, which is to feed one of the strays while I’m gone. The others I’m not so worried about because another one of my neighbors feeds them as well, so I know they will have enough food. But the cat I’m concerned about isn’t in great shape and he only likes to eat wet food. I don’t know if he’s sick or if he’s just old and scrawny, but he is always hungry when I feed him, and eats a whole can of wet food in one sitting. He sometimes growls a little while he eats – I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but I’m playing it by ear with him. He’s extremely affectionate and I’m going to miss him while I’m in New Mexico the next few days. Oh, and I’ll also miss Tim and my own cat, Lena!

Which brings me to my upcoming trip to New Mexico. My friend Kathy is going to be there for a conference and I haven’t seen her since I left Boston last year, so I’m making the drive to Albuquerque to spend a few days with her. She was one of my roommates in college and then moved to Boston for grad school, so I continued to see her there for another 3 years. Here in OKC I’m pretty isolated from my friends, who are mostly spread throughout the Northeast, so I’m really looking forward to this trip. We are going to see some stuff around Albuquerque and are hoping to make it down to White Sands, and then either head up to Durango or Taos. We haven’t decided yet – we’ll figure it out when I get there. The drive to Albuquerque will be pretty boring (you take I-40 out of OKC and keep going west for 8 hours) but I am bringing plenty of CDs. And even if the drive is boring, it will be well worth it!