Week 35 - Return of Autumn

By the calendar it may be early but by all other indicators, fall has arrived. The students are back on campus, water aerobics is back to 5 days a week and the weather has turned chilly with no sign of a return to summer weather in the forecast. Not only have the comforters come out of storage but I’m wearing flannel to bed and this morning I could see my breath when I let the cats out. Rest assured, I’m not complaining.

The event of the week has got to be the kitten. Three weeks ago, I found a cat that had been dumped on campus and after a trip to the vet, she’s been living in my spare room ever since. When I found her, you could tell she’d been nursing but it looked like her milk was drying up so I assumed she’d been dumped without her kittens. Tuesday I found out I was wrong.

I was feeding the cats like I do every morning, when I saw a little calico under the bushes near where I’d found the mom. She appeared to be about 10 weeks old and I instantly felt guilty that I’d taken her mama away and began worrying that there were others, alive or dead, that had been left behind. I spent all day beating myself up before I could cut myself some slack, saying I’d made the best decision I could with the information I had at the time. I went out that evening with a can of wet food and fed her. The good news was she was coming when I called so I was confident I could win her over and reunite her with her mom, who had not been adjusting well and still wouldn’t come near me despite the fact that she was more interested in being petted than eating the night I found her, and that when she was skin and bones and clearly starving.

Thursday night I planned to meet Belinda after water aerobics to catch the kitten. She and her husband came with a trap but that ended up not being necessary. I put some wet food in the back of a carrier (the one I’d transported her mom in so it’d smell familiar) and she walked right in. I drove her home and put her in the spare bedroom with her mom, foolishly expecting a Hallmark moment. NOT! The mama clearly was over the kitten and immediately started treating her badly. Yet another instance of a fool projecting human emotions onto pets.

I have been sleeping in the spare bedroom in an attempt to tame the mama and I can hear the kitten scampering around under the bed (yes, it’s keeping me up) and she’s using the box so I know she’s OK. As for the mom, she is now all of a sudden interested in getting out of the spare bedroom and last night approached me and let me pet her. So returning her kitten did help tame her but not because she’s enjoying a family reunion. Whatever works I guess.

As for the rest of the week, Saturday afternoon I went to Omaha with Andrea and her friend Cheri for lunch, a Penzey’s run and, of course, to hit a yarn shop. Unfortunately we missed the yarn shop we were planning on by a few minutes because they closed at 3:00 on a Saturday, which would be typical in Wahoo but this is in Omaha! Anyway, it was a nice afternoon and I didn’t spend much at all (some spices, groceries and silver teaspoon – not bad.) We didn’t get home until 7:00 so I called it a day and relaxed.

Sunday I was a machine. I was determined to get everything done that’s been languishing on my to do list for weeks since I’ve been doing the bare minimum so I could knit. Not only did I do all my chores but I finally moved the TV that’s been making the rounds from room to room since February and took the ugly green chair to the garage. I also did strange things like take everything out from under the sink and scrub everything down. I even pulled weeds from the driveway cracks by moonlight at 10:00 p.m. when I took the trash out. It’s like I was possessed by the get it done fairy. The result is that everything is done, the house looks great and I’m happy. What a great way to start the week.