As told by Marty (with added comments by Pamela)
Last updated 20-August-2002, any feedback about this page should be e-mailed to Marty (after you remove the leading "z" in the e-mail address).
Poor Pest and Squeak. They had lived first in an animal shelter, then in our home in New Haven, then in our home in Warwick, then in our rented house in St. Louis, then in our home in St. Louis, then in the rented house in Gladwyne, then in the apartment in Philadelphia, then finally in our home in Philadelphia. And cats hate change! But on the other paw, we spoiled them every chance we had.There was another move coming for them, but that tail is told later...
Meanwhile, Pamela, the trailing spouse, looked for work again. She first ended up in a goofy lab at Hahnemann. After she demonstrated the non-reproduceability of their results, there was little more to do there. She next worked in a lab at the VA Hospital, associated with the University of Pennsylvania. Again, she stayed there 'till we moved yet again.
Here we find the "crew," Cam, Lynn, Brad and Pamela, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware, new the New Jersey Aquarium, with Philadelphia in the background.
Brad really liked Pest and would carry him 'round every chance he got. Pest also took an instant liking to Brad. Perhaps family pheromones? In fact the boys spent a lot of time petting both cats - particularly at feeding time.
The boys quite enjoyed our house. They thought getting a bath in the master bathroom whirlpool tub was a great game.
Lynn snapped this shot at the airport just before she and the boys left for Melbourne.
After spending the night in the Weston, we drove off through Banff (stopping for lunch - too touristy), through Lake Louise, past several glaciers (stopping at one), and on to Jasper. We then managed 3 day-hikes 'round Jasper before going south to Lake Louise. There we did 2 day-hikes before returning to Calgary for one night before returning to Philadelphia.
Burr, enough said.
One of the hikes 'round Jasper led us to Angel Glacier. It was a damp and rainy day, but a fun and very scenic hike.
We were hot then cold then wet - but it was beautiful.
The pools of water beneath the glaciers were an incredible shade of blue.
The next day we took an easy hike in the hills near Jasper. Along one wooded trail we came face-to-face with a Wapiti. We slowly backed up and stood behind a tree. He mostly ignored us, turning off the trail to go down to a stream.
This was a pleasant hike. The view from the hills was quite nice.
Finally, we drove south to Lake Louise for two more days of hiking.
It was a long walk that Six Glaciers trail. Hikers leave the Lake Louise Hotel, walk round the lake then begin to climb, and climb.
We had good weather for this hike. No rain, not too cold, and some sun. We also got to see many mountain goats along the way (laughing at us?).
The approach to the confluence of the six glaciers was along the top of a narrow, windblown, ridge.
After getting to trail's end, we backtracked to a northward branching trail that led over another ridge to a suspended lake, then around to the hotel (the starting point). The image on the right shows Pamela coming down the switchback trail to the suspended lake.
The strangest thing happened as we ascended the ridge leading to the switchback and suspended lake. Marty ran out of energy. He was only able to climb for a minute, then had to rest for a minute - not at all normal. Thinking that the problem might be low blood sugar (he seems to normally have to eat every ten minutes), we looked for food. Luckily we had a muffin in his pack. But, as he tried to eat the muffin, along come a very aggressive Gray Jay (think Blue Jay on PCP). The bird tried to take the muffin. I almost fell off the trail laughing at them both. Eventually Marty won, ate the muffin, got his energy back and off we went. That evening he didn't fool around - he had the biggest steak they offered in the restaurant.
Apparently he had spent much of the week scratching his right ear - and that behavior was not noticed! He scratched it to the point of serious damage, a separation of the front and rear tissues.
The vet used through-stitching to try to return the ear to its normal shape. The "Elizabethan Collar" was used to prevent him from tearing out the stitches.
Marty did his best to console the cat with both cheese and couch-potato time.
I don't think that he expected so much salt in his beard.
Once again, Marty got to wear a rented tux.
On this occasion, Pamela and Marty took some time after the meeting to do the Disney venues. This photo was taken at Epcot.
The mere thought of the Florida heat and humidity got Marty to remove his beard.
One had to be careful of the plants when using that same roof deck to enjoy the nighttime view of downtown Philadelphia; various buildings on the left and the Amtrack station on the right.
Not having enough dirt 'round this city house, we and our nearest neighbors Mark and Amy S. had some planters built for the back driveway. I do have to admit, the Roses and Morning Glories were very beautiful.Our 'round the corner neighbors at the Please Touch Childrens' Museum loved the view of the flowers from their take-a-break fire escape location.
Squeak hasn't gotten much mention here. That's because she had no problems and just enjoyed life in general. She could even tolerate Pest as long as one of us was around.
The former prompted Marty to start considering other offers and we were lucky to leave before the later was fully in force.
So, it was on to Cleveland where Marty would become Chief, Section of Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology at The Cleveland Clinic.
So once more Marty went on ahead and Pamela stayed with a house-for-sale.