[	Tags	|	cat, farrah fawcett, michael jackson, pumpkin	]
[	mood	|	sad	]

Pumpkin was put to sleep 6/25/09, same day as Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. If we measure lives in stages and by cats and celebrities, 6/25 marked the end of an era for many. Pumpkin was going downhill very fast, quit eating and could not walk. She almost made it to 22.  She was acquired during the Twins-St. Louis 1987 world series, lived thru 5 presidents, the collapse of the Soviet Union , 9/11, and the first Black president, but did not see a Cubs World series……

Five minutes before she died, she spilled her last glass of water, something she always liked to do for mischief. 

We put that glass in front of her and she was lying the floor, barely alive. So she gathered up all the energy she had, got up, pawed at it and spilled it and then collapsed back on the floor. She even took a long time to die, the vet had to wait a good 15 min to make sure the drugs kicked in. She went down fighting.

I already planted some pumpkin seeds on her grave, will see what comes up. She was Jeff's cat and her first act when she saw me was to hiss and then claw and puncture a blood vessel. I said either Pumpkin goes or I go and of course Pumpkin won and at the end, I was the one who she hung out with most of the time. She would lay on my pillow and tickle me with her whiskers.  I tolerated the matted fur, the wheezing and the kitty litter covered paws. You had a long life, rest in peace now, plusha.

Dec 14, 2008

Dear all,

Once again it is time for our annual holiday newsletter and update. We spent Christmas 2007 in Menasha, WI, visiting Jeff’s parents. Then the rest of the winter, we spent shoveling over 100 inches (over 2.5 m) of snow that fell in Madison. The icicles got so long that we had one stretching from the roof to the ground. Kari had her 7^th birthday party with the popular “High School Musical” movie theme and with her 1^st grade classmates. She also did gymnastics, ballet, and a Broadway musical class. In the spring, she performed in her school talent show, doing a Karaoke version of Hannah Montana’s Best of Both Worlds. She was the only student who actually memorized the words and was not lip-synching. During the summer, we continued to improve the yard by planting more perennials, trees, bushes, weeding out the dandelions and pulling grass. The cats, as always enjoy the yard. Kari played on a soccer team and took swimming classes. Due to the high price of gas, we really never left Madison, but focused on a major home improvement project – renovating the bathroom. What seemed like a simple project, retiling the walls and floor became a monstrous down to the studs teardown, insulation, wiring, new fixtures, plumbing job that took over two months, expended a ton of money and four-letter words, and necessitated the learning of various new techniques such as drywall and electrical installation. However, the work was worth it, since the new bathroom is far superior to the old.  The repairs upset the mice and for a while we or the cats caught and released a mouse a day.  We did take one trip to Chicago to see the Cubs lose at Wrigley and visit downtown. Amid the repairs, we did follow the Cubbies through September, hoping this was the year (after all, it has been 100 yrs), but witnessed a heart wrenching collapse in the playoffs. We also were following the election closely and are hopeful that a new face in the White House will usher some much needed change on the economy, the environment and foreign and domestic issues. Jeff released a new CD “Threads”, which has his original compositions as well as a handful of jazz standards and some classical pieces. It is on his MySpace website www.myspace.com/jefflarsenmusic. Due to the bad economy, neither one of us is doing many gigs. Inna still plays hardanger fiddle and old time music with the Dark of the Moon Contra Band.  She has revised her second novel, Ball of Wax. She was selected as a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest and due to the suggestions of the reviewers, did a lot of revising. She is still hoping to pitch it to publishers, but if you are interested in an electronic copy, email her. The synopsis and excerpt is at www.geocities.com/jeffinnakari. We finally had our computer upgraded to high speed internet which has proved to be an addiction for all of us. For Kari, it is the virtual world of Webkinz and clips of Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana on You Tube. For us, it is looking at various musicians and old TV episodes, sports, etc on the web. We even have our own You Tube channel if you want to check it out. www.youtube.com/larsensrock Kari is now in 2^nd grade and learning to play a little piano. Her dream is to be a rock star and she occasionally has practices with her classmates. She is also in a Russian dance class and picking up a bit of Russian here and there. Jeff still teaches guitar at Ward-Brodt music. Inna recently left her position with Population Health Sciences and returned to her old Ophthalmology laboratory, doing more hands-on research and working with viruses. We are planning to spend Christmas 2008 in Menasha and for next yea, we would like to renovate the kitchen and the hallway. You can see our new and improved house on our livejournal blog http://hardingfele.livejournal.com. We wish you the best for the Holiday Season and the upcoming New 2009 Year.

Jeff, Inna, Kari and the cats – Oskar, Freia, and Pumpkin (who is now 21).

This is now our addition, watching funny videos, music, or whatever else is on and now for teaching purposes posting our own stuff. So for the first time in video - Here is Ringnesen -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lumo6aiqAr0
Rate it  or comment on it if you like

I realize that the Packer shirt was very quintessentially Wisconsin and distracting, but this was done about 1 hr before the Packer game today and uploaded as such.

Oh yeah and less than 2 months until Barack Obama is our president., Kari and I can pat ourselves on the back, because we both worked through election weekend stuffing bags, envelopes and doing various other work at campaign headquarters.

Kari now has her own blog at http://www.rockstartailorrock.blogspot.com/ Give her some feedback!

 

 Check out Jeff's new CD, Threads, on myspace. It has jazz/funk/fusion originals, a previously unrecorded Miles Davis tune, a handful of standards and a classical piece.  Become a myspace friend, leave comments, if you like. Web site is www.myspace.com/jefflarsenmusic

Thanks!

May was the month of seeding and transplanting, my car is a pit, because I dont even worry about bags, I just dump the plants right into the back seat.  By June, I thought i would be done.  But no, I find more people who want to divide, people who are ripping out native WI plants and dumping them by the curb, free for the taking.  So I plant more and at this point, I hardly have any grass.  The dandelion battle has been won at least for this year.  My neighbor got rid of stepping stones which are now in my garden and give it a classy accent.  The inside of my house is totally neglected, it is dirty, dusty and gross, the violins are neglected, the family is left to their own devices, because most of my free time is spent outside.  My ideal vacation is not leaving the yard at all. With the current gas prices at around $4, that may not be such a bad plan.  to all those people who are wondering about the flooding, our basement is damp, but dry overall, we are a block from the lake, but no flooding here in Madison.