So, I’ve been amongst the missing lately. Can’t be helped. I’ve been so busy that some things, like this blog, and my yard, have had to go on the back burner for a while. We’re about ¾’s done with our Man Town makeover, and we’re already halfway into a total gut of our den. Add to that a couple of humungous projects at work both coming due at the same time, and I’m left with nothin’. Most nights I just crash and burn wherever I stop. (Note to self: falling asleep on a kitchen stool is not a good thing, on so many levels…)
It’s a good tired though, because it comes from getting things done and moving forward. The only bad part; things are happening that I want to comment on, and I can’t. Consequently, my mind is filling up with random thoughts that I need to purge, so without further ado, I will now proceed to purge:
I’m convinced that we have some of the strangest and most determined squirrels in existence living in our back yard. Trying to keep them from wiping out our bird feeders is like a never ending chess game. No matter what we come up with, they find a way around it. Lately they’ve come up with a new trick, now they’re eating our pumpkins. They gnaw big holes in them and feast on the seeds, and they don’t just work on one until it’s gone, they hit all three at once. My wife sprinkled them with pepper this year, didn’t deter them. They just waited until a good rain washed it off, and then started in. The greedy little beggars are really starting to bother me. I’m thinking I might be able to make a pretty nice pair of slippers out of them. Would it be a tripping hazard if I left the tails on? That would look pretty cool.
Man, what a season the Pats are having. Nail biting excitement, major drama and a 6 and 1 record, does it get any better than this? I don’t think so.
Speaking of the Pats and major drama; Randy Moss is one far out dude. The guy just can't help himself. I think it stems from the sense of entitlement some of these guys have. They're catered to from High School on, and it gives some of them a really skewed sense of reality. Randy doesn't seem to understand, or care about, the consequences of his actions. He gets his money no matter what he says, or does. If I ever bad mouthed my employer in a news conference, I'd be looking for a new job, and stressing big time. Not old Randy, he just moves on. He’s landed with the Titans this time, good luck to them.
While we’re on the subject of entitlement, I think it’s time for all of us to take a good look in the mirror. Go ahead, take a look, I’ll wait… Ok, you know what you just saw? You saw both the reason for the current economic downturn, and the solution to it. It’s not the banks and big business that have done this to us; we’ve done it to ourselves. Sure, they’ve been a big part of it. The banks were making sketchy loans, and Wall Street was selling shares of nothing, but we bought into it, and we have to change the way we think and act to get ourselves out of it. Its not gonna be a quick fix, either. It’s going to be a long and painful process. We have to refocus on what’s really important in our lives, and cut out all the excesses. No one held a gun to the heads of the people that are walking away from their debts and forced them to buy houses that they couldn’t afford, or to put all their money into a market heavily invested in said bad loans. Our culture of entitlement is to blame. If you can’t make the payments, don’t buy it. If you’re border line on your mortgage, then don’t fill your house with chrome appliances, granite countertops and huge flat panel TV’s. If you’re building a nest egg, put it in the bank; don’t give it away on Wall Street. We all have to start living within our means and being smart if we’re ever gonna get out of this mess.
Along these same lines, I was very disappointed with the recent elections. Part of it was the tone. We’ve reached a point where smear tactics are the norm, and I’ve had enough. I don’t want to watch their nasty ads, and I don’t want them besieging me with their robo-calls. Think any of these pols understand how fruitless this behavior is? Everyone I know has been screening their calls for weeks, and the mute buttons all across America have been working overtime. What a waste. If they took the money they spend on this foolishness and donated it to a good cause, they'd have my attention immediately. The other part of my displeasure is the partisanship. It doesn’t matter whether you vote the Republicans or the Democrats in, if they don’t work together, nothing will change, and they won’t work together as long as we the voters continue with the current lynch mob mentality. They’re petrified to cooperate with “the other side”, in fear of angering their base and getting the boot. I understand people being angry and wanting to clean house, but it doesn’t help. As I said before, there is no quick fix to our current dilemma, and people need to face that fact, as awful as it is. We need to change the game, not the players. We need to insist that our elected leaders work with their opposition, instead of thwarting them at every turn, and we need to do the same. You may not like who ends up getting elected, but you need to support them, regardless. I hear all this talk about change from both sides, but I don’t see any evidence of it. All I see is gridlock and pettiness. Only teamwork gets it done people, try to remember that.
On a lighter note, the Celtics are looking good so far this season, and it’s been a delight to have The Big Shamrock in town. Posing as a statue, leaving autographed sneakers somewhere and tweeting clues to the location to his fans, priceless. He’s been a force to recon with on the court, also. You’ve gotta love this guy, and this team.
Apple has been bitten by a bug once again. This time there’s a glitch in iPhone iOS4.1 and your calendar won’t recognize the switch to Daylight Savings Time. They promise to fix the problem with the release of iOS4.2, and I’m sure they will, but this is just another example of releasing a product before it’s been fully tested. Their breakneck pace on that front is driven by, you guessed it, us. If companies don’t keep up, they get left behind, ‘cause everybody needs and wants that “next big thing” yesterday, even though they know there’s going to be issues. Now I love gadgets as much as the next guy, but I’ve learned the hard way not to be an early adopter. Along with that instant gratification comes issues and regret, always, and I’ve already got a boatload of both, thanks.
On the frost on the (half eaten) pumpkin front, it’s starting to get a bit chilly here in New England, and as I said earlier, we’re in the middle of some remodeling work. Plastic sheeting has become our best friend during this project, it is not, however, a very good insulator. brrrrrrrr. Things are moving pretty quickly though, and I think we’ve finally found a keeper with this contractor. I can do a lot of things, but carpentry is not one of them, so it’s good to have someone who knows what they’re doing, works quickly and is pleasant to deal with. They’re doing a phenomenal job, and really helping us to stay within our budget, which is important. This is a mandatory energy saving thing, not just a beautification project, as last winter we had to nail a quilt over one section of the den wall to stop the draft. It was brutal. The bonus here is that these guys are kind of fun having around, all things considered. You have to be comfortable with a contractor who’s in your house all day, every day, and we are. We’ve had some real beauts in the past…
Argh! While I was writing this, the Pats laid an egg of epic proportions. Make that 6 and 2…
That is all.
Showing posts with label Cold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cold. Show all posts
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Thursday, December 24, 2009
A Christmas Tail
It was late on a bitterly cold December night. One of those windy 12 degree New England evenings, the kind we come to know and love by midwinter, but aren’t really ready for when they arrive early. My wife and I had braved the cold to try and wrap up our Christmas shopping. We were both cold and tired on the ride home, but happy none the less, as it seemed we had finished off our pre Christmas checklist and could now coast into the holidays.
I pulled into our driveway, shut the car off, and as I looked down at the ignition to remove the key, I heard and felt a thump, accompanied by both a surprised yelp from my wife, and a plaintive yowl from outside the car. I immediately looked up and saw a pair of great big luminous yellow eyes staring back at me.
We both just sat there for a minute, stunned. There was an animal standing on the hood of the car and staring in the windshield at us. What the heck was it, and why was it so bold? It looked like a raccoon at first, but as our eyes adjusted, we realized it was a good sized cat. A good sized cat that appeared to have just fallen out of the sky…
It cried again and put its paw up on the windshield. It obviously wanted our attention.
I carefully got out of the car, and moved up to the hood. Our new friend responded by coming right over to me and trying to get inside my coat. I usually don’t snuggle on a first date, but this cat was insistent. My wife came around to join me, and the cat moved back and forth between us, prodding us with its head and meowing loudly.
The cat was impressive looking. It was a longhaired brown tabby with a large ruff, similar to our Maine Coon, but under that beautiful coat I could feel that it had no meat on its bones, and the poor thing felt cold. It didn’t take us long to figure out what was needed. My wife stayed with the cat while I went in and got a little kibble and a bowl of water, which the cat dove into with gusto. When it was finished eating, it sat by our door and watched us as we lugged in our packages and started closing up for the night.
Now it was decision time. The cat was obviously sick and emaciated, and it was hella-cold out. The right thing to do was to bring it in, but you have to be careful with sickly strays when you have other pets. We decided to set up a bed and a box in the basement, and call around to all the local Vets and Animal Control in the morning. Hey, maybe we could make someone’s Christmas by reuniting them with their lost pet.
I went back outside and the cat was still there, sitting right by the front door. It came up and rubbed against me, then followed me around to the back of the house. When I opened the back door that leads into our basement, the cat followed me right in with no hesitation. At first it preferred my lap and the inside of my coat to its new bed, so I sat with it tucked against me as my wife filled the box and the bowls. Gradually it ventured to the food and litter box, then curled up on the warm blankets and conked out.
The next morning we took some digital pictures and emailed them to all the Vets offices in a 20 mile radius. We also printed up flyers which we put on every bulletin board and light pole we could find. My wife was tireless in the effort. For the cat’s sake, as well as in the interest of our own pet’s health; we brought it in to our Vet for a complete workup. They were great. Even though they were busy and the holidays were rapidly approaching, they squeezed us in and checked her out. Yes, it was a girl, and after they shaved off some of her matted undercoat, they found that she had been spayed. Blood tests showed that she had been living off of her fat reserves and had a pretty bad urinary tract infection. The Vet felt that between the infection and the malnutrition, she had probably been on her last legs when she gave herself up to us. A full course of antibiotics and lots of TLC were prescribed.
On the plus side, she had tested negative for feLV and FIV, and didn’t appear to have any fleas or ticks, so we’d be able to integrate her into the household a little more without fear. She also appeared to be about a year old, and in otherwise good condition. A well cared for housecat that had fallen on tough times.
Checking out, I was stumped when they asked for a name to go on the cat’s file. When I said “Hopefully, we won’t be keeping her for long”, they just laughed. They know us all to well. My wife suggested that we call her Noelle, seeing as it was Christmas and all, and I quickly agreed. We took her home and set her back up in her basement nest, but this time we left the door open so that she could come up if she liked. The next few days she stayed put in the basement, mostly sleeping. She would get up for her food, and readily allowed me to pill her twice a day, but that was it. This was one sick and exhausted cat.
Our big old Maine Coon, Ted, came down to investigate once or twice during those first few days, but he kept his distance, and he didn’t appear all too happy about this new development. He kept going to the basement stairs and looking back at us, as if to say “Don’t you guys realize that there’s a stranger down there?” No sir, he didn’t like it one bit.
As she started to feel better, Noelle began to investigate her new surroundings. Her first move was to the laundry room, where we’d find her either sleeping on top of the dryer, or nestled in a basket of clothes. When one of our other cats would come down, she’d hop up into the rafters above the washer and dryer. I think her little adventure in the wild had heightened her survival instincts, and she wasn’t taking any chances. It was priceless to watch, they’d tip toe around, checking her bed out, even going into the laundry room, and all the while she was watching them silently from her lofty perch. Ted reminded me of John Belushi in the scene from Animal House, where he’s sneaking across the campus at night. All exaggerated moves that wouldn’t fool a blind man.
Right after Christmas, she started venturing upstairs, and that’s when the real fun began. We like to refer to those times as the “Stair Wars” period. One of the established “guests” always seemed to be stationed by the stairs, like little cat sentries. Not a problem for Miss Noelle, she’s one tough chick who knows how to get what she wants. Her ultimate weapon is a rising howl that seems to strike fear in the hearts of the others. She’d creep slowly up until she was face to face with one of them, and then just stare them down for a while. The minute they’d flinch, she’d let out that blood curdling howl and bolt right for them. They would always panic and turn tail, not even Teddy the Lion Hearted could withstand her fury.
It didn’t take her long to stake out her territory, and of all places it was under the Christmas tree. She loves sleeping on the tree skirt, especially when the tree lights are on, and she has no end of fun climbing up into the lower branches and reaching through to bat at the ornaments. Very fitting behavior for a Christmas cat, I’d say.
Meanwhile, my wife and I would freeze every time the phone rang that holiday season. We’d passed the point of no return, so to speak. As well intentioned as we were, we were really starting to get attached to Noelle. The thought of giving her up was a real downer.
It turned out that we were worrying for no reason. As we approach another Christmas, Noelle, the cat that magically dropped out of the sky and into our lives, is still with us. No one ever claimed her, much to our relief, and we actually have a theory about where she may have come from. About two or three weeks before we found her, there was an estate sale around the corner from us. Someone had passed and the relatives were in from out of town to settle things up. At one point there were people lined up down the street for a chance to get in, everyone loves a bargain. We think she may have been part of the household and gotten out during all the hubbub, only to be forgotten. We’ll never know for sure, we’re just glad she found us.
Of course, Noelle has taken up residence under the tree again this Christmas. She loves to lay there amongst all the presents and stare at the lights. I think it’s a comforting thing for her, the symbol of a new warm and loving home. There’s still a little tension between her and Ted, but things have mellowed a bit. We lost our two oldest cats this year. Zoë was 16, and little Phoebe was 15. Phoebe left us just a few weeks ago, and the dynamic in the house has changed dramatically since then. Little Peep was Ted’s running mate. She was the Yin to his Yang, and they were certainly an odd couple; Ted, the big 18 lb Coon, and Phoebe, the little 5 lb Peep. He’s been kind of lost without her, and it’s awful hard for him to guard against “Noelle encroachment” all by himself. I think he’s just resigned himself to being pestered. Get used to it Ted, women can be very bossy.
So, that’s my little Christmas tail, and now it’s time for me to wrap this up and get wrapping. I leave you with this; if fate puts you in a position to help someone out this holiday season, whether it’s a fellow human or a stray animal, take a chance. You won’t regret it.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
I pulled into our driveway, shut the car off, and as I looked down at the ignition to remove the key, I heard and felt a thump, accompanied by both a surprised yelp from my wife, and a plaintive yowl from outside the car. I immediately looked up and saw a pair of great big luminous yellow eyes staring back at me.
We both just sat there for a minute, stunned. There was an animal standing on the hood of the car and staring in the windshield at us. What the heck was it, and why was it so bold? It looked like a raccoon at first, but as our eyes adjusted, we realized it was a good sized cat. A good sized cat that appeared to have just fallen out of the sky…
It cried again and put its paw up on the windshield. It obviously wanted our attention.
I carefully got out of the car, and moved up to the hood. Our new friend responded by coming right over to me and trying to get inside my coat. I usually don’t snuggle on a first date, but this cat was insistent. My wife came around to join me, and the cat moved back and forth between us, prodding us with its head and meowing loudly.
The cat was impressive looking. It was a longhaired brown tabby with a large ruff, similar to our Maine Coon, but under that beautiful coat I could feel that it had no meat on its bones, and the poor thing felt cold. It didn’t take us long to figure out what was needed. My wife stayed with the cat while I went in and got a little kibble and a bowl of water, which the cat dove into with gusto. When it was finished eating, it sat by our door and watched us as we lugged in our packages and started closing up for the night.
Now it was decision time. The cat was obviously sick and emaciated, and it was hella-cold out. The right thing to do was to bring it in, but you have to be careful with sickly strays when you have other pets. We decided to set up a bed and a box in the basement, and call around to all the local Vets and Animal Control in the morning. Hey, maybe we could make someone’s Christmas by reuniting them with their lost pet.
I went back outside and the cat was still there, sitting right by the front door. It came up and rubbed against me, then followed me around to the back of the house. When I opened the back door that leads into our basement, the cat followed me right in with no hesitation. At first it preferred my lap and the inside of my coat to its new bed, so I sat with it tucked against me as my wife filled the box and the bowls. Gradually it ventured to the food and litter box, then curled up on the warm blankets and conked out.
The next morning we took some digital pictures and emailed them to all the Vets offices in a 20 mile radius. We also printed up flyers which we put on every bulletin board and light pole we could find. My wife was tireless in the effort. For the cat’s sake, as well as in the interest of our own pet’s health; we brought it in to our Vet for a complete workup. They were great. Even though they were busy and the holidays were rapidly approaching, they squeezed us in and checked her out. Yes, it was a girl, and after they shaved off some of her matted undercoat, they found that she had been spayed. Blood tests showed that she had been living off of her fat reserves and had a pretty bad urinary tract infection. The Vet felt that between the infection and the malnutrition, she had probably been on her last legs when she gave herself up to us. A full course of antibiotics and lots of TLC were prescribed.
On the plus side, she had tested negative for feLV and FIV, and didn’t appear to have any fleas or ticks, so we’d be able to integrate her into the household a little more without fear. She also appeared to be about a year old, and in otherwise good condition. A well cared for housecat that had fallen on tough times.
Checking out, I was stumped when they asked for a name to go on the cat’s file. When I said “Hopefully, we won’t be keeping her for long”, they just laughed. They know us all to well. My wife suggested that we call her Noelle, seeing as it was Christmas and all, and I quickly agreed. We took her home and set her back up in her basement nest, but this time we left the door open so that she could come up if she liked. The next few days she stayed put in the basement, mostly sleeping. She would get up for her food, and readily allowed me to pill her twice a day, but that was it. This was one sick and exhausted cat.
Our big old Maine Coon, Ted, came down to investigate once or twice during those first few days, but he kept his distance, and he didn’t appear all too happy about this new development. He kept going to the basement stairs and looking back at us, as if to say “Don’t you guys realize that there’s a stranger down there?” No sir, he didn’t like it one bit.
As she started to feel better, Noelle began to investigate her new surroundings. Her first move was to the laundry room, where we’d find her either sleeping on top of the dryer, or nestled in a basket of clothes. When one of our other cats would come down, she’d hop up into the rafters above the washer and dryer. I think her little adventure in the wild had heightened her survival instincts, and she wasn’t taking any chances. It was priceless to watch, they’d tip toe around, checking her bed out, even going into the laundry room, and all the while she was watching them silently from her lofty perch. Ted reminded me of John Belushi in the scene from Animal House, where he’s sneaking across the campus at night. All exaggerated moves that wouldn’t fool a blind man.
Right after Christmas, she started venturing upstairs, and that’s when the real fun began. We like to refer to those times as the “Stair Wars” period. One of the established “guests” always seemed to be stationed by the stairs, like little cat sentries. Not a problem for Miss Noelle, she’s one tough chick who knows how to get what she wants. Her ultimate weapon is a rising howl that seems to strike fear in the hearts of the others. She’d creep slowly up until she was face to face with one of them, and then just stare them down for a while. The minute they’d flinch, she’d let out that blood curdling howl and bolt right for them. They would always panic and turn tail, not even Teddy the Lion Hearted could withstand her fury.
It didn’t take her long to stake out her territory, and of all places it was under the Christmas tree. She loves sleeping on the tree skirt, especially when the tree lights are on, and she has no end of fun climbing up into the lower branches and reaching through to bat at the ornaments. Very fitting behavior for a Christmas cat, I’d say.
Meanwhile, my wife and I would freeze every time the phone rang that holiday season. We’d passed the point of no return, so to speak. As well intentioned as we were, we were really starting to get attached to Noelle. The thought of giving her up was a real downer.
It turned out that we were worrying for no reason. As we approach another Christmas, Noelle, the cat that magically dropped out of the sky and into our lives, is still with us. No one ever claimed her, much to our relief, and we actually have a theory about where she may have come from. About two or three weeks before we found her, there was an estate sale around the corner from us. Someone had passed and the relatives were in from out of town to settle things up. At one point there were people lined up down the street for a chance to get in, everyone loves a bargain. We think she may have been part of the household and gotten out during all the hubbub, only to be forgotten. We’ll never know for sure, we’re just glad she found us.
Of course, Noelle has taken up residence under the tree again this Christmas. She loves to lay there amongst all the presents and stare at the lights. I think it’s a comforting thing for her, the symbol of a new warm and loving home. There’s still a little tension between her and Ted, but things have mellowed a bit. We lost our two oldest cats this year. Zoë was 16, and little Phoebe was 15. Phoebe left us just a few weeks ago, and the dynamic in the house has changed dramatically since then. Little Peep was Ted’s running mate. She was the Yin to his Yang, and they were certainly an odd couple; Ted, the big 18 lb Coon, and Phoebe, the little 5 lb Peep. He’s been kind of lost without her, and it’s awful hard for him to guard against “Noelle encroachment” all by himself. I think he’s just resigned himself to being pestered. Get used to it Ted, women can be very bossy.
So, that’s my little Christmas tail, and now it’s time for me to wrap this up and get wrapping. I leave you with this; if fate puts you in a position to help someone out this holiday season, whether it’s a fellow human or a stray animal, take a chance. You won’t regret it.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)