Cat

 

I’ve always said I can’t afford a free cat, or even a free dog, for that matter. But what were we to do when we got home from camping, and a young cat began entwining itself around our legs as we tried to offload our truck? Purring, friendly, and almost tripping us, it scooted in the house every time we opened the door. Annie was not impressed.

Plus, the temperature was predicted to drop to freezing that night. I took its picture and posted a “found” notice on NextDoor. We decided to let it sleep in the garage, with the door just barely open so it could leave and find its way home. Just in case it were hungry, I gave it a scoop of cat food and a bowl of water.

The next morning, my NextDoor notice had several “likes” (?), but no one was missing a cat. This is not a feral kitty. It loves people and expects to be petted and picked up. Annie is still not impressed, even when the kitten hisses at her. We decided to buy flea medicine for both cats and move the wool cat bed which Annie deemed beneath her onto the porch for the kitten. 

We took Patten and Clara to the airport for their ski trip in Salt Lake City and then went to the Central Florida Koi and Goldfish show. I had not thought it would be outside under a tent, with the temperature 44° and wind blowing. The fish might not care, but I was dang cold in just a t-shirt and my rain jacket. We quickly looked at the best in show, allegedly worth $45,000 and chatted with the woman who owns the jumbo winner, 35+ pounds of gold lamé carp. Beautiful fish. Brrrrr. Time to go home.

Still no response to NextDoor except a couple more “likes”. What do they even mean? Do we have a new cat or not? Do we want another cat? Grant is worried it would outlive him. Could be, so I guess we would need to designate a heir. Shocking we’ve gotten so old we worry about not surviving our pets. Except, of course, for William, our box turtle who has another 25 years or so.

Just when I’d about decided the kitten was ours, Grant suggested it might belong to our southside neighbors who seem to be gone for Spring Break. Would they have just left it to fend on its own for a week. My reaction is yes, they are sort of vague. In that case, I’m keeping the cat. But I may be too harsh. Perhaps it just got out, and the cat sitter has been remiss. Maybe we don’t have a new cat.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Month of Garden Club

Image
April seemed to be all garden club, all the time. I started with the zone leader’ walkthrough for Spring Fever on Friday, the 5th, then 2 whole days of that event. Whew. April 11th was the Windermere Garden Club’s monthly meeting, a field trip to Southern Hill Farm, a you-pick and wholesale blueberry farm. We were inspire to add blueberries to our garden. Friday, April 12th, I was the speaker at Bloom and Grow’s monthly luncheon, touting the value of becoming a citizen scientist, specifically, downloading the iNaturalist app and participating in the City Nature Challenge 2024: Orange County. I was pleased with my talk, the first one I’ve given in person in 5 years. I still attend EarlyBird Toastmasters, but we’ve been on Zoom since early 2020. Before that, we’d moved to Key Biscayne for a year, and I didn’t drive up to Fort Lauderdale often. On the 21st, we toured Jeanne’s almost-all native, completely grassless yard, a B&G social with the mandatory wine and lovely appetizers and d...
Read more

California

Image
At o’dark hundred on Tuesday, we drove to our parking space at the Marriott to catch the hotel limo to the airport. Our 7:00 flight was delayed about an hour, while a mechanic fixed something or other. Slightly nerve racking since Alaska Air had a door come off inflight within the past month, then a wheel fell off another Boeing plane. I guess other people weren’t as sanguine as we were, since the plane was only 1/4 full. Grant and I each had an empty row. Would that the airline would lower its prices. I plan to watch to see if I can get some cheap flights. This time was our annual companion flies for $99 plus $37.63 of taxes.  I'd used previous years companion flight to go to Calgary for our Rocky Mountain train trip and Evelyn’s wedding. Going to California was the best I could do before the deadline to use the coupon came up. Next year, I plan to go to Fairbanks and see the northern lights. Or Hawaii, if the Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines goes through by then. Our project this vis...
Read more

Massage

Image
The vibrating massage ball being rubbed on my sore tendon at physical therapy seems to be helping. Or it’s a darn good placebo. Either way, I’m happy and have signed up for 6 more sessions over the next 3 weeks. I am also being sure to sit on a big, soft pillow every time I sit down, working in the yard, dragging it to restaurants, etc. I am actually starting to feel better. On Sunday, we drove to Weeki Wachee Springs to see Clara perform at Mermaid Camp, a 2-day affair at the state park. Her show was after the regular mermaid revue, this time the story of the Little Mermaid. Why, in this day and age, we have to still be celebrating a 15 year old wanting to change her body for guy is beyond me. I had hoped there would be a modern twist, but no. Well, Weeki Wachee was created in 1947, so I guess there is still a retro vibe, but still, really? In any case, the girls had fun and lots of exercise. Swimming as a mermaid is definitely a core workout. Because the attraction is now a state par...
Read more