criplomats

This has been a tough week. All of a sudden, we noticed that Noodle was pretty lethargic and appeared to have lost weight. We made an appointment with a vet in El Paso, and took him on Thursday morning (we were off from work for a Mexican holiday). Since then, he has not gotten any better – he is down to 6 pounds from 9, we are force-feeding him and giving him antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. The blood work shows that his little kidneys are in trouble. For several days now, he has just been catatonic but still drinking water and using the bathroom. We are so upset and don’t really know if he is going to pull through or not this time. It just seemed to come on so quickly – just a week or two ago, he was playing and mooching for treats.

On an upbeat front, Flavia emerged from her hidey-hole in the ceiling last week with a new, playful personality! It’s really funny – she is still her skittish self, but she wants to run and play and attack the fish on a string that Dail and Nancy gave her. Before, she was more of a “watcher” and let Noodle do most of the playing.

Workwise, things are still busy – the tide of people doesn’t stop!

We watched a great movie this week, The Savages, with Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. They are siblings caring for their aging father – excellent. We also watched Charlie Wilson’s War yesterday afternoon. (Noodle moved himself from under a chair downstairs to our bedroom, which is great, because we could watch him and a movie at the same time.) Oh, and last Sunday we watched No Country for Old Men, also good. (Can you tell we are happy to have our recliner sofa and big screen TV back???)

We did have a couple of nice outings this week. Wednesday night (before the Mexican holiday), two co-workers had a party – they are leaving Juarez soon after being here for two years. They invited all of the local staff, officers, etc. and it was a really fun, big party.

Yesterday we ran over to El Paso to do our weekly shopping and ran into our co-worker and neighbor Martha. She took us out to Canutillo, a little rural town just outside of El Paso for a wonderful lunch at an out-of-the-way place, the Little Diner – fabulous gorditas.

Flavia finally emerged from her hole in the ceiling last night around 10:30 p.m., so she is safe and sound. She really scared us – there isn’t an attic and no other access up there except for this little hole she found. She had some difficulty getting herself back through it, but all’s well that ends well!

The big news this week was that our household effects (HHE) arrived! We spent Wednesday and Friday off from work, unpacking and putting things away. The house is looking great, and it’s so fun to have our own things again. We still have work to do, but everything is coming together. We were very happy to get our “media room” set up so we could finally watch movies again. First on the list was “Atonement” – very good.

I was in Hot Springs last Sunday and got to see a lot of relatives. Pete and Ginger came for lunch on their way home from a wedding in Texas, then several cousins came over – we enjoyed Mom’s back porch and her new patio furniture. Later that afternoon, David and Alison took Mom and me for a wonderful and relaxing boat ride on Lake Hamilton, followed by another relaxing dinner on their deck. I left Monday morning to return to Juarez – it was good to get home to John and the cats.

Thursday night, we listened to an immigration attorney speak – interesting. Friday night, we met a bunch of work folks at Los Bichis, which was a lot of fun. Saturday, John stayed home to organize more of his things and I went shopping in El Paso for the day. All in all, it’s been a good week!

We’re a little concerned this morning, because somehow Flavia has gotten up into the ceiling of the house. We just hope that she can figure out how to get out again, and that there is no way she can get outside. Fingers crossed.

This week was really busy at work – most days we finish interviews by mid-afternoon, but several days this week we were still at the window at quitting time. The work is pretty interesting and varied – you just never know who is going to walk up and what their story is.

We had our first party at our house Friday night to welcome our friends Teresa and Michael to Juarez and to our neighborhood. We had a good turnout – it was great to have a house full of people having fun!

The next morning, I flew to Little Rock and am at Mom’s in Hot Springs right now. Last night we had a great dinner at David and Alison’s (David is on home leave from Diego Garcia this month). We sat outside on their deck overlooking Lake Hamilton, and watched Canada geese and mallards play while we ate fabulous grilled steaks and drank a bottle of wine. Being at their house is always so relaxing.

I’ve posted a few pictures from Juarez and of our house – click here to see the album. We haven’t received our shipment yet, so the house is still pretty bare with government bedspreads, no art on the walls, etc. but you can get an idea of the house and the city.

The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous since we arrived – sunny, in the 70s. Every now and then, though, the winds kick in and bring dust storms, like this past Wednesday. We had an admin day at work, followed by a volleyball tournament outside – the players really had a challenge fighting the elements! We stood outside to watch and eat a hot dog, and were covered in dust by the time we got home!

We’ve tried a few new restaurants this week. Last Sunday we went to lunch with some co-workers at Barriga’s, a local Mexican food chain that we had been wanting to try. It was very good, plus we had fun spending Sunday afternoon having a drink and visiting. John took me out for a nice steak dinner at Montana’s one night, and we celebrated Friday afternoon with lunch with our co-workers at a local Mexican restaurant that was quite good.

On Monday night, we went to Whitney and Ali’s house to watch the Final Four championship – what a great game!

The week at work was pretty interesting. We learned some about fraudulent documents, and have successfully caught a few applicants with them. We also had a video conference on Mexican gangs – they love tattoos. Luckily, I haven’t had any at my window that I know of.

Below is a photo of Flavia. After several years of using this kitty condominium for a scratching post, she finally decided it was OK to get inside it. She seems to be getting more used to our new home, and she’s playing more. She’s such a cutie!