A Quick Trip to Philadelphia

Hi, everyone!  Life has been quite busy around our house.  Mr. Guy and The Lady are both back at work and the animals and I have been at home during the day.  I thought things were going to be calm and quiet for us, but we have been having lots of landscaping done at our house.  The dogs have spent the days watching intently and barking a little, the cat has slept through it all, and I have been trying to stay out of the way.  despite all of this busy-ness, we got to take a short weekend trip to Philadelphia last weekend.

The Lady is part of a group called NOAH, National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation.  Every other year the adults of NOAH get together for a weekend of fun.  NOAH is for people with albinism.  One of the things that that means is most of them have white fur.  Even though I have blue fur and Mr. Guy has no gray fur, they let us go too.  People with albinism also have difficulty seeing so Mr. Guy and I were able to help them find things in this unfamiliar city.

We got to the airport early, but not as early as when we were flying to Salisbury all those times, on Friday morning, September 11.  We sat down to eat a quick breakfast in the airport.

As we were finishing our meal, there was an announcement about a service of remembrance in the airport chapel.  Mr. Guy and The Lady explained to me that fourteen years ago at exactly that time, a terrible thing happened in our country and  lots of people lost their lives.  As I was listening to what had happened, I got very sad.  Mr. Guy held me tightly and we all said a prayer for all the lives lost and changed forever on September 11, 2001.

So that I wouldn't be quite so sad, Mr. Guy took me to the candy store and bought me a treat to have on the airplane.  I got grapefruit, watermelon, and peach gummy chews.  Yum!

I must have fallen asleep as soon as we got on the airplane, because I don't remember the flight at all.  I didn't even eat any of my candy!  When we got to Philadelphia, we met some of The Lady's NOAH friends in the airport and then we all rode to the hotel together.  While we were in the car, I realized that it has been quite a long time since I have added any new photos to my 100 People Project.  I hoped that while I was in Philadelphia that maybe I would meet a few people who would be willing to support my project.

As usually, Mr. Guy was carrying me when we walked into the hotel.  Several people called out, "Look!  It's Blueper B!"  I wasn't sure who any of these people were or how they knew me.  Mr. Guy said that he bet that they read my blog and that's how they knew who I was.  I felt kind of like a monster star.  I got to talk to people, shake hands with them, and have my picture taken with them!  The first one is with Joni.  She and The Lady are good friends.  They have lots of things in common like this thing they do where they tie string together with two sticks.  Somehow they make the string turn into objects like hats and socks. They call it knitting.  I think it's some kind of magic trick.  Maybe they could knit me a magic T-shirt.

The NOAH people said that people are fascinated with their white hair and that sometimes people ask if they can touch it...and sometimes they don't even ask; they just do it.  I don't think that that is very polite.  Another friend of Mr. Guy and The lady asked if she could give my fur a new style.  Ms. Cindy worked hard to give me a Mohawk.

What do you think of my new fur-do???

I think Mr. Guy might be a little jealous that he can't have a cool Mohawk like mine.  

Since I let Ms. Cindy practice her hairstyling skills on my fur, she agreed to have her picture taken with me.

Ms Cindy and I had some interesting conversations.  She lives in Canada and invited us to come visit her some time.  That would be fun; I have never been to another country before.  

On Saturday, we went on a walking tour to see some of the historic buildings in Philadelphia.  Well, I went on a carrying tour; everyone else walked.  We had to take a short ride on a train to get to the starting point of the tour.

We saw lots of old buildings that are important to the history of our country.  Since I don't go to school, I don't know very much about history, American or an other kind.  We had an entertaining tour guide whose name was Mr. Jim.  He knew lots of things about all of the historical places in Philadelphia.  Though there is much more that I need to learn, he gave me a good start on learning a few things about my country.

We saw Carpenters' Hall where the First Continental Congress met.

Independence Hall where the U. S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were debated.

The U. S. Mint.

We saw the Liberty Bell, but only through a window.  The lines to get into all of these buildings were long.  Mr. Guy and The Lady said that we will go back sometime when we can spend longer looking around.

We saw this interesting sculpture.  The Lady was taking pictures of it when Mr. Guy said that she should take a picture of the reflection so that all of us would be in the picture.  I don't have many pictures with The Lady because she is always behind the camera.  

I am grateful that Mr. Jim was willing to show us his city.  And, that he was willing to be photographed with me!

Even though it was a quick weekend trip, I had lots of fun in Philadelphia.  Mr. Guy and The Lady have some great friends in NOAH.  One of them in particular made me laugh all the time.  Her name is Becca.  She is very silly and lots of fun!  Becca and I ate donuts together and we had our very first Slurpees together.   I think that will make us friends for life! And her blue eyes make my blue fur really stand out! We also had a Philly Cheesesteak together in the airport.  She said that she might come visit us in Texas sometime.  I hope so! 

Thank you everyone for letting me share in the NOAH weekend even though I have blue and orange fur instead of white fur!  You all are lots of fun!!  The Lady just told me that I will get to see you all again next summer in Pittsburgh.  Yay!

Back To School...For Some

Things are about to change at my house!  School is starting so Mister Guy and The Lady are going back to work.  Mr. Guy had to go back last Monday for teacher work days.  That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  Just the teachers were there.  No students.  If a teacher's job is to teach students and there were no students, how could they be working?  They didn't haven't papers to grade or anything.  Mr. Guy said he just had to go to lots of meetings.  That doesn't sound like very much fun to me.  I wonder if he learned anything???

The Lady has a few meetings and has to give some tests this week.  I sort of understand the meetings, but tests?  The Lady hasn't even had any classes and she is already giving tests. She said that the tests aren't the kind of test that you take in a class.  The Lady called them placement tests.  She said that these tests help her to advise the students as to what classes they need to register for.  I don't think that I want to go to a school where they give you a test before they even teach you anything!

On Friday, Mr. Guy spent the day getting his classroom ready.  Since he teaches students about computers, that meant plugging in lots of stuff and pushing lots of buttons to make sure that all of the computers worked properly.  He is good at that kind of stuff.  In the afternoon, The Lady and I went to school with him to help make his classroom pretty.  We got to hang stuff on the wall, arrange some shelves, and do his bulletin boards.  Mr. Guy is not so good at that kind of thing.

While I was in his classroom, Mr. Guy showed me what he does all day.  It was kind of like take your monster to school day.

Mr. Guy has his own special computer.  From his computer he can see the screens of all of his students.  He knows when they are on YouTube or Facebook or playing games when they are supposed to be doing their work.  He can even take control of the students' computers from his desk.  He is kind of like a hacker spy!

Then I got to see one of the computers that the students use.

I like computers and Mr. Guy has taught me a lot, but I don't know if I would like them if I couldn't look at Facebook or work on my blog.  Mr. Guy said that he teaches his students to use the computer for "professional" things like writing letters, making spreadsheets, and creating data bases.  I don't know what those things are, but writing about my adventures on my blog sounds like more fun than any of those things.  Mr. Guy says that that means that I like the humanities rather than STEM subjects.  I guess figuring that out is the kind of thing they taught him in all of his meetings this week.

Yep, computers are for writing.  I now know where all of the letters are on the keyboard.  I'm not sure where they go in all of the words I want to type, but I will figure that out.  And if not, I have just discovered Spellcheck.  It puts all of the letters in my words in the right order.  It is magic!

Mr. Guy has lots of computers in his classroom.

I asked Mr. Guy if I could come to school with him and be in his classes.   I don't really want to learn about spreading data and base sheets or whatever is that he is teaching about, but I am going to miss everybody when they go back to school.  The dogs, cat, and I are going to be at home watching HGTV and talk shows five days a week.  There is only so much of that that a little furry blue and orange monster can take.  And the dogs are not very good about fixing me lunch.  I'm sure that we will all adjust.

On our way out of the school, I saw a sign in the hallway.  Mr. Guy said it is the rules that the students need to follow when they are walking in the halls.  Boy do schools have A LOT of rules!  

I understand the one about listening to adults.  I know that you are supposed to do that even when you don't like what they are saying.  And it makes sense that since you are inside the school that you should use an "inside" voice.  But, some of these rules don't make any sense to me.  Slow down?  Is there a speed limit in the hall?  Does everyone have to go slower than they want to go?

Hold to the right.  Hmm.  Mr. Guy always carries me over his left shoulder.  Does that mean when I go to school with him he has to carry me on his right shoulder?  Or that I have to walk beside him and I have to hold his right hand?  But if I hold his right hand, it will be with my left hand.  Maybe he is supposed to hold my right hand with his left hand.  So many things to worry about!

And "Exhibit catch and release."  How do they having fishing in the halls?  There isn't even any water!  When I was in North Carolina, people would catch fish and then release them back into the pond.  What kind of fish live out of water?  Maybe you have to slow down so that you can catch the fish.  And use an inside voice so that you don't scare the fish.  Once you catch them,  you have to clean them.  "Display cleanliness." Now I get it!  But wait.  You are suppose to catch and release them so you can't clean them.  Oh, I am so confused.  

I think maybe watching The View and Love It Or List It all day is more my speed!

Good luck to all of you teachers and students as you start a new school year!

A New Shirt!

I got a new shirt!  The problem is that it has been so hot here, that I don't need, or want, to wear a shirt...or anything else for that matter.  The temperatures have been over a hundred degrees and that makes my fur all hot and soggy.  It is a very yucky feeling!  Because of the heat, we haven't gone out much.  Mr. Guy and The Lady have been busy getting things organized at home before they both start school in a week or two.  Hopefully we will have another adventure or two before they go back to school.  I will miss having them home with me all day, but I know they need to work.  That is how they earn money to buy me new shirts!

I really like this shirt.  I know that there is good in the world.  I meet good people all the time.  They are nice to me and make me happy.  I hope that I can make people smile and be happy too!

Hopefully it will cool off a little bit and I can get out and continue working on my 100 People Project.      Right now, though, I will be happy at home with Mr. Guy and The Lady.

Digging

Today was a busy day for all of us. Since we came back from North Carolina, we have not done too many things.  The most exciting thing was going to see Avenue Q where I got to meet Nicky! 

Even though we haven’t gone places, The Lady and Mr. Guy seem to have been working on something though I was not too sure what it was. They have been talking to a lot of different people. Today I finally found out what is going on. Before I was adopted, they put a lot of time into remodeling the inside of our house. I did not realize how much they had done and how many changes they made. Apparently it was a completely different place.

Now they are ready to do work on the outside. When we had some serious plumbing work done earlier in the summer, the yard was all torn up. There is almost no grass left in the front yard. That is what got The Lady and Mr. Guy moving on remodeling the outside too. 

They talked to a man called a Landscape Architect. That is another thing I did not understand. But The Lady and Mr. Guy are teachers and they do not mind explaining things to this blue and orange furry monster. A Landscape Architect makes a plan for the whole yard. He figures out where all the plants and trees will go, what kind of grass to plant, and even builds sidewalks all to make the yard really pretty. The Landscape Architect that they called used to be a teacher. He and Mr. Guy worked at the same school a long time ago, but it took them awhile to recognize each other. 

Tomorrow someone is coming to clean up the yard. There are some trees that Mr. Guy says need to go away. Also we are getting a sprinkler system. I did not know what that is, but Mr. Guy told me it is a way to get water to the lawn without him having to run around with hoses and these little twirly things that spit water. That sounds like a good idea to me.

Even though there are people coming to work on the tress, there were things we needed to do before they come. We have some flowers called irises. They needed to be taken out of the ground because The Lady and Mr. Guy hope to save them to be replanted somewhere in the new yard. I saw them this year and they are very pretty. I am glad they are going to try to save them.

I got to help!.  Since I knew that I was going to be outside digging in the dirt, I put on my Dirt Shirt that Ms. Michele gave to me on one of our visits to Delaware.  That way I would not look dirty even if I was!

The first thing that we had to decide was which of the irises that we were going to dig up and save.  

There were lots of them and Mr. Guy said that there would not be room for all of them in the new yard.  We had to dig up only the irises that we wanted to keep,

Then they had to be trimmed, but I was not allowed to use the scissors so The Lady did most of that part. Finally they had to go in a box.

The box will go into a cool place until it is time to put them back into the ground. The last thing we had to do was throw away the parts that were cut off. 

While we were working the delivery man came! He had a Dirt Shirt on too!  At least it was brown like mine.  I don’t know why he needs a dirt shirt when he drives around in a truck all day. I was really excited because I like it when packages come to our house. Sometimes I even get surprises!   He gave us three boxes!  

One was for Mr. Guy. He got new shoes. One was for The Big Sister. She got shoes too. Boy these folks get lots of shoes!  I wonder why I never get new shoes. The last box was for The Lady. I thought she must have gotten new shoes too.  But nope; she didn’t.

The Lady let me open the box. 

Hmm…it was filled with funny plastic pillows.  

I tried to look grateful for the present, but these pillows seemed like they would be hot and sticky and make my fur all soggy.  

We usually have soft cloth pillows.  The Lady told me to keep looking in the box, that these were not pillows and they were not the surprise.  When I looked again, I saw our basket from Ms. Susan, the basket lady in North Carolina! I had forgotten that she was making us a basket! So this was a surprise for me. 

Ms. Susan was one of my 100 people project. I think today’s package surprised Mr. Guy and The Lady, too. They did not expect it to come so soon after we got home. 

So, we got all of our yard work done today and tomorrow I can stay inside where it is nice and cool and watch the professional tree guys cut down some of our trees and remove some bushes.  Maybe I will find a snack that I can put in our new basket!

I Met A Star!

Tonight I got to go to the theater.  This time yesterday I had no idea what that meant, but now I do!  The Lady explained to me that we were going to her school to watch a musical.  I thought that you are supposed to listen to music, not watch it.  Then I realized that The Lady said musical.  She explained that a musical is when there are people called actors that are on a big thing called a stage and they tell a story through words and songs.  People, and little blue and orange furry monsters, sit in chairs and listen and watch.

Mr. Guy and The Lady took me to this particular show because it has puppets and monsters just like me in it.  It was called Avenue Q and was performed by the Brookhaven College Theater Department. 

The Lady teaches at Brookhaven College, but she teaches music, not theater.

There were lots of things in Avenue Q that I did not understand - things like finding your purpose, and wanting someone to date, and schadenfreude, and porn, but that was OK.   I did understand the parts about the two boys who love each other, those about monsters being teased and having their fur pulled, and the part about a special school for monsters.  Well, I sort of understand that last part.  I know about monsters and since I have spent so much time lately with teachers, I am beginning to understand what schools are all about.  I think that I might like to go to a Monstersori school like the one that Kate Monster started in Avenue Q.

Like I said, I went to this musical especially to see the puppets.  They were just like me!  It made me think that some day when I am a bigger monster that maybe I could be in a musical too.  Of course, I will first have to learn how to sing.  I don't think that I want to be like Trekki Monster, though.  The characters in the show called him a pervert.  I asked Mr. Guy what that meant and he said that it was not a good thing.  I want to be a good monster.

While I was watching the show, I thought that it would be exciting to get to meet one of the puppets in person.  The Lady asked the director of Avenue Q if that might be possible.  She said "yes" and even said that I could have my picture taken with one of them!  I was one excited monster!

At the end of the show, I waited for the actor people to come out to the lobby where we were.  They have a special place called backstage where the audience people can't go so we had to wait for them in the place where we were allowed to be.

And then it happened!  Nicky said that I could have my picture taken with him!  And not only that, I could have it taken on the stage!  

In the story, Nicky loves Rob, but it takes almost the whole show for Rob to realize that he loves Nicky.  By the end of the story, Rod and Nicky are both happy!  I think it is neat that Nicky and I both have blue fur!  He doesn't have orange horns like me, but he does have an orange nose.  I think that those things make us a lot a like.

Nicky has a person to hold him and take care of him like Mr. Guy does me.  His name is Mr. Tony.

Mr. Tony is a friend of Mr. Guy and The Lady.

Even though there were lots of things in Avenue Q that I did not understand, I had a great time tonight.  It was fun to see monsters sing and dance on the stage.  I feel honored to have met my first star.  And, it is fascinating to think about the idea of one day being an actor just like Nicky.

Monster Travels!

 

This is Ms. Megan.  She took care of us while we were at the cabin in Asheville.  I especially like her because she gave The Lady and Mr. Guy laundry soap to wash my shirts (and some of theirs too) so that I would be a clean monster as we travelled home.  I really liked staying at the cabins; there were all kinds of things for little blue and orange furry monsters to do.  Mr. Guy and The Lady seemed very happy there too.

Getting home to Dallas was another story...

We had to check out of our cabin at noon and our airplane did not leave until evening.  We decided to play a few games before we left. 

 The Lady has always liked to play skee ball.  She thought that I might like it too so she showed me how to play.  I liked the orange balls and the game was fun too.  After I practiced a few times, I asked Mr. Guy to play a game with me.

He did pretty well.  Then it was my turn.

I had some beginner's luck.

I learned about being a good sport.  Even though my number was higher than Mr. Guy's, he still played well and we both had fun.  And fun is what it is all about!  Next time, Mr. Guy's number might be bigger than mine.  And that will be OK.  It is just a game.

We both played hard so we needed a little rest before our big travel day.

I sure like cuddling with Mr. Guy.  I'm glad that he did not get mad because my skee ball numbers were bigger than his.  Winning a game is not nearly as important as having someone to nap with in a hammock!  

After our rest, The Lady took one more picture of us before we left the cabins for good.

I hope we get to come back here again!

All of the game playing and picture taking made me hungry.  The Lady said that there was a place in North Carolina that she liked to go when she was in school here.  She told Mr. Guy that it was not the healthiest food, but it would bring back some silly memories for her so he said, "Let's go."  So, we went to Hardees for lunch.  The Lady said that she really liked their sausage biscuits, but it was lunchtime when we went so she could not get one.  she said that they also had pretty good hamburgers.

When we walked in the door, I saw this sign.

This was puzzling to a furry monster.  North Carolina is not the southwest. Texas is the southwest.  I like tacos, but I wasn't so sure about these tacos.  Mr. Guy said you have to be careful about Mexican food when you are not really in the southwest.  We ordered hamburgers.  I decided that I could wait until I get back to Texas to eat tacos.

Even though it was early, after lunch we decided to head to the airport.  That was OK.  I like to sit in airports and watch the people, especially when they stop and talk to me.  We got to the airport and then the real adventure began...

Our first flight from Asheville to Charlotte was delayed by three hours.  That meant we would miss our next flight from Charlotte to Dallas.  Uh oh!  After a lot of pushing buttons on the computer, the airlines lady said that they would just call a driver to take us by van to Charlotte so that we would be there in time to leave for Dallas.  We sat and waited to see if anyone else needed to ride in the van with us.

Then the airplane lady said that they were wrong.  The plane to Charlotte was leaving only one hour late so now we could fly on it rather than ride in the van so she gave us a new ticket.  I felt bad for the van man who came and was waiting there to help people and then we didn't need him.  Mr. Guy and I told him thank you for his willingness to help us.

After we got our new tickets, we went through the weird place where they make Mr. Guy put me in a bucket and go through the scary tunnel all by myself.  I don't like that!  They take pictures of me, but they are not like the one's that The Lady takes.  These pictures make me look black and white instead of blue and orange.  The Lady said that they are looking at my insides.  I don't know why they are doing that!  I am always so happy when Mr. Guy picks me up at the other end of the tunnel!  Ms. Linda told me that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  So far, she is right!  But the airplane lady was wrong...now our plane was leaving another hour late!  I don't know how to tell time, but that is not my job.  I think people who make airplane schedules should know how clocks and hours and schedules work!

They told us that we would still get to Charlotte in time to get to the plane home to Dallas.  Our plane left even later because it ran into some birds and they got tangled in the engines.  I did not want to hear anymore about that.  It sounded very yucky to me!  We finally got to Charlotte.  All of the people on the plane with us had to hurry to get to other planes.  We got to ride on one of the funny airport cars.  I didn't know that they would take us for a ride.  Usually they just honk and nearly run us over!  Even with riding through the airport, we didn't make it in time to catch our plane.  

Now we had to spend a night in a hotel.  I thought that would be fun, but The Lady said that it would not be because we did not have any PJ's or clean clothes for the next day.  Uh oh!  Fortunately I had been a neat monster and hadn't spilled anything on my shirt.  

We finally got to a hotel and went to sleep.  It was very late and I was very tired!  

Ms. Linda read on Facebook that we were going to be in Charlotte all day so she came and got us and we all went to lunch together.  That was fun and I was a happy monster that I got to see her again!  After lunch, she took us back to the airport.  We had a lot of time to sit and watch the people.

Mr. Guy helped me play games on his phone.

We played together so that we didn't have to worry about each other's numbers.

Then we watched more people.

And finally it was time to get on the plane and fly home.  I slept in Mr. Guy's lap the whole way home. 

 I liked Asheville a lot, but I am a little tired of airports.  I have had a great adventure and met lots of really nice people on this trip!  But, I have to say, it is nice to be home in my very own monster bed!