It was a chilly 20° on my Google page when I fired up the computer this morning. The thermostat was set at around 53° so this boy was chilled getting out of a nice warm bed at 2:30. Stumpy has gotten to clawing at the side door of the bedroom when he wants out. That bad boy was clawing loud enough to wake me up. The rules are: no outside privileges till 4:00 a.m. when the alarm goes off! I blocked off his access to the door and hurried back to the warm bed. Daggy snuggled in against my chest under the covers: we dozed until the alarm announced the four o’clock hour. The tab was switched over to the BBC World News broadcast on the local NPR station and my day began. First business of the day was to get Stumpy outside. He flew out the back study door into his backyard. I shuffled into the kitchen to put the water on to boil for my coffee.
The motion detector security light was on, and my computer needed to be restarted. There must have been a power outage during the night. It is always something around here.
I joined Facebook the other day. The Rowing Club opened a site, so I joined when I got an invite from Robin, the president of the club. It was a very frustrating experience getting it all set up. In order to condense hours of frustration let me just say I ended up having to delete and reinstall the Java program on my rickety old computer. It is scary how that site picks out people for me to add as friends that I know.
There are so many quirks to get used to; I’m still pretty much a “Luddite” when it comes to this type of social networking. My nieces and nephews are all listed and are now on my friends list, so it really does serve a function of keeping in touch. I’ve even started a new blog so I can post my journal entries I want to share with them on E-blogger.
On a sad note, I was reading through my favourites on my journal site this morning: I have not been keeping up as much as I should. The trips last month really threw me behind. “LBH” said how she missed her cat McQueen. With a sense of dread I went to her homepage and read back to Jan 11th. Her beautiful Tabby had been hit and killed. As I was reading this sad news the side of the house was shaking. Stumpy was clawing at the screen on the bathroom window to let me know he wanted in. That window is a small hinged window that swings out. It is high off the ground, but easily accessible for Stump perching on the frame of the outside shower. It takes forever for him to come in the house this way. There is a whole elaborate process to go though. This routine ends with me hoisting Stump over my shoulders and draping him behind my neck. As I walked to the bed, (where he launches off my back for a soft landing) he got some extra hugs.
Losing a beloved pet is the same as losing a family member. Sometimes it can be worse. This takes me back to the fall of 1997. It was shortly after Thanksgiving I had to have Chloe, Ron’s old tabby cat put down. Her quality time was gone: she was in pain. Things had not been going well in my life, that act precipitated a free fall into depression. The following six months were pretty much the bleakest I had ever lived. Enough said. It pains me too much to even think about that period of my life. When Daggy and Stump took over my home the following June, the fog began to lift. Ever so slowly life returned to whatever my “normal’ is.
“LBH” you have my deepest sympathies with all you are going through. I’m not a religious person, but I like to think there is perhaps an afterlife where we are reunited with all those who have had an influence in our life. If that is such, I know McQueen will be there for you and Chloe will be in the welcoming committee for me.
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