Catching Up

Tuesday evening after a crazy hot day of cleaning and packing and working and getting ready to move myself for an extended away, I went to my mom's and spent the night. Nick was happy to see me. I guess. Wednesday I left my parents' and moved up the road and into Stacy's house. She is gone on vacation for 2 1/2 weeks and I am house/cat sitting. Yes, not being a cat person, I was wary of undertaking this task. And can I live/work in Barnettville without losing my mind . . . remains to be seen, lol.

The cat is a little challenging. She's probably upset by this change in her life. Her mommy is gone. I mean, if I were a cat I probably wouldn't be very pleased with me as the substitute caretaker. I've been trying. I'm following the routine. I'm getting up at 5:30 to let her outside. I'm rolling her ball around and trying to get her to play. I'm giving her treats and letting her sleep with me in the bed (as if there's a choice for me to make there! lol) Still, it's an adjustment. For both of us.

I am tired. I'm not sleeping well. And the cat seems to meow all night long, starting anytime after 2am and continuing periodically through until I let her out after 5. So I've slept maybe 8-10 hours total in the three night's I've been here, none of it deep and refreshing, just surface half asleep/half awake stuff. I drank a bottle of wine before bed last night. Knocks me out semi, but it's probably not the best medication either. I'm hopeful we'll adjust soon. Me and kitty. She did seem to sleep more herself last night, no meowing until around 5 when she could go outside. So I'm thinking it's just been the upset, the change, and now we'll get into the groove. Fingers crossed!

Yesterday was a DAY! I mean a real doozy! Sherry called and asked me if I wanted to go to town. I did! I wanted to check my mail at home, pick up a cd I had forgotten, check on things in general and pick up a few things at the grocery store.

There was a severe thunderstorm warning in effect.

Kitty was outside and I wanted her to come in before I left in case the storm happened while I was gone. I called. Sherry called. We both shook the treat bag and called some more. No kitty. So I called Janice and left a message on her machine that the cat was out in case it stormed, and could she come later and put her in. Then we went to pull out and I saw the kitty under the step (ignoring our calls and treat rattlings). So I got out took the treat bag and tried to coax her out from under the step. She was having none of it really.

The other evening when she escaped from the house past her outside time nearly after dark, I just picked her up and brought her back inside. Easy peasey. So when she came out from under the step I went to pick her up the same as I did the other night . . . not so easy peasey . . . she FREAKED OUT! I wasn't expecting claws and hissing and crazy squirming, yet I didn't let go, raced up the steps and put her in. Quickly closed the door. Crazy!

I had to go to Mom's and wash my scratches (bleeding) and douse my arms and hands in peroxide because everyone worries about infection. Note to self, up my garlic intake these next few days.

When you begin your day with a bloody fight, you should just stay home and hide.

No sooner had we got to Douglastown, when the brakes went on the van. We hung around Gary's work for a good 15-20 minutes and then ended up having to take his car and leave the van behind. No air conditioning. On the hottest most humid day yet. Yay!

Off to Newcastle with our hair whipping in the wind and the sweat dripping off the ends of our noses. We decided to go to Dixie Lee for lunch. Also, curiously, without air conditioning, only fans.

While we were in the liquor store the storm started. Thunder. Lightning. Rain. LOTS of rain! Soaked running to the car from the store. Sherry couldn't figure out how to run the wipers so I had to reach over and hold them on while she drove. No place close to park at Super Valu. A little lull in the storm though, so we didn't get any more soaked going in. Idling around the fresh produce there was a huge crack of thunder and simultaneously all the lights in the store went out. We looked out the big windows and all you could see was rain and debris. You couldn't see cars parked in the lot. You couldn't see the King George Hwy. Just rain and debris that seemed to be coming from two directions at the same time. You could hear the wind roaring. I wondered if a tornado struck directly onto the store how badly it would be damaged. It would be a bad place for a person to be, with so much stuff flying around. I wasn't surprised at all to find out that a tornado had been on the radar later when we got home.

We pretty much drove home without incident, but discovered we didn't have the keys to Sherry's house because we had switched vehicles in town, so we had to lug all her perishable groceries to Mom's fridge and wait for Gary to come home from work. Kitty was happier to see me when I got back. Didn't give me a hard time or anything. Slept better last night than others. So that was good.

Today I'm going to my family reunion. I'm making jerk chicken nachos for snacks. Yummy! Going to stay overnight. Will pass on cat duties to Janice for a day. Monday, we'll settle in for the long haul.

Mood: pretty good
Drinking: coffee, starbucks french roast, black
Listening To: wind chimes
Hair: pulled back in a pony