March 30, 2023
It’s winter in San Diego.
While that doesn’t mean the beyond-blustery, eyeball-freezing, other-worldly winter of Minnesnowta, it does mean not-72-degrees-and-sunny 😉 In fact, with climate change underway, winters in San Diego now mean rain and wind. Lots of rain.
The Hillmeroids have decided maybe… just maybe… winters are best spent at home in sunny Tucson.
Butt, for this trip, we made the best of the rainy days.
Spike Hillmer, one of Fairmont’s Finest Philosophers, used to say (or so I’ve heard), “If it wasn’t for the rain, we wouldn’t enjoy the sunshine.”
Sometimes I swear Garrison Keillor wrote “A Prairie Home Companion” from a cedar-sided, lakefront rambler in a moth-balled little Lutheran town called Fairmont (population 10,000, give or take one or two).
Even if Garrison wasn’t in Fairmont, Spike was.
And Spike imparted homespun wisdom to his middle son Jay, who in turn, as natural as breathing, imparts it to his wife. And dogs. And pretty much anyone else who will listen.
Butt, I digress…
Rainy days, even if you are on a magical ride in a land yacht titled Tinkerbell, require some creativity.
We took advantage of the wet weather and headed indoors to lift some weights at the Navy Amphibious Base (NAB) with some Navy Seals. We fit right in.
Okay, maybe we stood out from the regulars just a tad… but only because we weren’t covered in tattoos.
“Lake Wobegon. Fairmont. A handsome fellow named Spike. All interesting. But, really, what about the cat in a fishbowl helmet?” you’re probably asking….
“Ziggy’s adorable. Really. But…the cat. The helmet. The fishbowl. Stop stalling and spill the beans already!”
About the fishbowl…
Frankie just couldn’t stop himself from exercising his pointy, little fingers on tender parts of Tinkerbell’s interior. In particular, the pleather side panels were of a certain attraction to Francis.
And his pointy, little fingers left large swaths of ripped shreds down the panels of poor, helpless Tinkerbell.
And so, Frankie’s parents did what any loving cat parents would do: they put Frankie’s head in a fishbowl and glued glittered caps on his front claws.
It turns out this decision was one of the best decisions Frankie’s parents ever made! In fact, doing so a few years earlier would have saved several fine, upholstered couches and leather chairs.
The cat helmet was something we found on Amazon (of course!). It’s quite ingenious actually: it opens in half and secures with a Velcro strap. It‘s perfect protection (for us!) as we trim his nails and glue the caps on his claws.
After a few catnip-flavored Greenies, Frankie put the whole humiliating experience behind him, sprawled out on the floor, and promptly proceeded to cat nap.
What, oh what, will we possibly do with our next rainy day? 😉
Tinkerbell's Travels 
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