An "extra" vet visit

We are trying to ensure that we have all items checked off before our trip to Alaska this summer... one of the items (not truly "Alaska" related, but because we'll be driving through Canada and leaving and re-entering the US) is to ensure that we have Miss Kitty's records all in good shape.

I knew that we'd gotten her rabies vaccination last year, and, since I've always gotten a 3 year vaccination, I figured that was fine -- but I checked the official document and it indicated only a 1-year vaccination. It would still have covered her through the duration of the trip (we are due to be back in the lower-48 in early September, and the year would have been through the third week of September), but I decided to check into it just in case for any reason we got delayed and didn't get back into the lower 48 until after September.

She gets her care at Banfield now -- the biggest advantage is that any Banfield anywhere in the US can look up her records. I stopped at a Petsmart in South Elgin last week and talked to one of the folks in the Banfield located there and they said that there really is not any difference between the dosage or content of the 1-year or 3-year vaccination, and that the Banfield who administered the vaccination (in Crystal Lake) may be able to just update it in the system. I contacted the Crystal Lake office, and talked with the veterinarian there -- he was not sure why it would have been recorded as a 1-year vaccination -- that they only do that if the pet owner had only a 1-year license with the county in Illinois for their pet. However, we are not Illinois residents, so we have no requirement to have an Illinois county pet license (and Texas counties, or at least Polk County, does not require pet licensing). Anyway, he could not change the record that had been entered last year, but he would give her a new vaccination for no charge and record it as a 3-year vaccination. I didn't really want to put her through getting another vaccination, but he convinced me that it would be okay.

This Banfield is located outside of a Petsmart, in a freestanding location.

We have been hearing that there may be a separation coming between Petsmart and Banfield (evidently some of the Petsmart locations want to have their own veterinary services, not within the Banfield system). I just hope there will continue to be a way to use the Banfields across the country with a common data system for Miss Kitty's records!

Miss Kitty was very vocal in her disagreement with the plan to get another vaccination!

We got the vaccination and the updated paperwork, so I think we are now ready to go into Canada and return to the US with, hopefully, a minimal amount of issues!

Seeing grandsons play...

Grandsons Blaise and Thatcher had games last Saturday and we were able to go to watch...

Blaise in the outfield near the beginning of the game

The fans

Batter ready!

Ready to hit the ball!

Carl was amazed at how reasonable the prices at the concession stand were!

Grandson Thatcher running to third...

... and he scores!

Unfortunately, Thatcher's game was cut short due to the rain, but they did well!

Neither of us are baseball fans, but we enjoy getting to see Carl's grandsons doing things they enjoy!

More visits to places of Carl's past

On last Thursday, we both had doctor appointments near Central Dupage Hospital (CDH). We hit an area of stopped traffic on the way, but Carl quickly turned around and took a different route to get us to CDH.

The hospital is near where Carl and Sue lived for much of their marriage and child-raising life. So we drove by their old home:

The trees have gotten so much bigger...

The driveway looks to be in good shape!

It is great to have a chauffeur who knows exactly where he is going and even how to go a different way when we run into a traffic jam!

Visiting with friends, part two

On Tuesday, friends Jim and Melanie came to Paul Wolff Campground to stay for two days -- they booked the site right next to the one we had booked, so we enjoyed being neighbors for two days!

We went out for dinner at Culver's, and then stopped at Woodman's Markets in the next shopping center.

Carl had been telling me how huge the Woodman's Markets store was -- we just took a few minutes to look around and get a few things -- it will take longer to truly appreciate all that this store has!

One of the evenings, we enjoyed a nice fire...

Jim and Melanie had brought along a packet that produced colored flames...

They were very pretty. We enjoyed chatting around the fire.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Jim and Melanie -- it is so nice to get to camp with friends!

Visiting with friends

Friends Kathy and Ed invited us for supper last Monday evening -- so we drove out to their place in Crystal Lake on Monday afternoon.

We had a great visit with them -- this was at the end of our visit with their front yard behind us...

Their Catahoula Leopard Dog, Lucky, wanted to get in the picture too!

It was so nice to get to see them. They had just moved into their new home in Crystal Lake when we visited in September last year. It was amazing to see how much work they have put into it in such a short time!

Visits to places of Carl's past

After visiting the cemetery on Monday, we continued on to places in Elmhurst that were parts of Carl's growing up life...

We went to Hamburger Heaven (http://www.hamburgerheavenelmhurst.com/) for lunch...

It opened in 1948, 7 years before McDonald's started flipping burgers. They are known for Richardson Draft Root Beer.

Burger and fries for lunch!

We then drove around Carl's high school - York High

We visited the convenience store where Carl started work when he was 14 years old. At that time, it was a White Hen Pantry. He was the person who opened the store in the morning and got the coffee going when he was just 14 years old! A very responsible young man! It is now a 7-Eleven.

Carl told me that he had not gone into the store since he quit working there when he was 16 (he quit just before the holidays in November). He started working at Jewel Foods in January of the following year after having the holidays off from work.

Carl going into the store for the first time since he was 14 years old. He said that the layout of the store had changed a lot. We talked with the fellow working at the counter and let him know that Carl had worked there 55 years before! (I'm not sure how impressed he was...)

The house that Carl and Steve grew up in. Carl said that it doesn't look like they have maintained the driveway since his Mom moved out in the 90s!

We also drove past the home where Sue grew up, and the church where Carl and Sue got married. Carl related that on their wedding day, he, his father and brother were standing outside a side door at the front of the church. Just about the time the service was to start, a rogue wind blew through and slammed the door shut, locking them outside. Steve quickly ran around through the back of the church and up the side aisle to re-open the door; otherwise, the groom would have been AWOL!

It was good visiting places in Carl's memories.

Cicadas

While we were at Mount Emblem Cemetery last Monday, we immediately heard and saw the periodical cicadas that are emerging here. It is the year of the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicadas in this area of the country (https://www.britannica.com/animal/homopteran/Natural-history#ref1301175, https://www.britannica.com/animal/homopteran/Natural-history#ref1301175). Since only certain areas of the US have these periodical cicadas, and the areas of Texas and Virginia where I have lived do not have them, I had never heard of them. Carl remembers when he was in Junior College and taking a photography course, they were emerging, and he took many black and white photos of them. That was 51 years ago -- 3 cycles ago. So, I guess the ones emerging this year are the great-grand-bugs of the ones that he took pictures of back then! (Well, except he didn't take pictures of cicadas at the cemetery that year, so maybe they are cousins of the great-grand-bugs... etc etc.)

We saw quite a number at the base of trees -- either the discarded shells, or some seemed to be dead. There were a few moving in that mass of bodies too. You can see the toe of Carl's shoe in the bottom left of the picture to get a comparison of size -- they were about 1.5" long.

One of the adults that had emerged -- with the black bodies and those red eyes, they look like some fantastical creature as described in the book of Revelation!

Left one is leaving its protective shell -- wings are coming out. Right one already has emerged.

The "shell" left behind after the adult has emerged - the back of the shell (integument) splits and the adult backs out.

Just starting to emerge from the shell

We think that the lighter colored ones have more recently emerged and will turn dark.

At different stages -- empty shell at top, emerged with deployed wings, and one whose wings have not yet straightened.

Two emerging from their shells

A short video of the two emerging:

If the embedded video does not work, it can be viewed on YouTube: https://youtube.com/shorts/z0Iog234CsM

Don't they look otherworldly?

When we got out of the Jeep, we heard a pretty constant hum, like wind blowing through high tension wires (in fact, that's what we thought it was). Then we would hear a rising and falling sound, the type of sound that we associate with the song of cicadas. The Britannica article says that the "song" is that of the male hoping to attract a female. We have heard that there are two "broods" emerging (the 17 year periodical and maybe another shorter periodical brood) - maybe the songs are from different broods? We don't know. 

We saw young trees shrouded with netting that was to keep the cicadas off of them. We weren't aware that the cicadas could damage the trees, but if you go back and read the Britannica article that I linked above, they indicate that the limbs where the females lay the eggs could be damaged and die.

We're glad that we got to see them, but we're also glad that they aren't in the campground where we're staying! Carl says that they fly around and are not very precise in their flight so can fly into you -- and they are pretty big to be flying into your face or hair or even hitting your body!