Week 25 - Goodbye to Jay

Nothing like sad news on Sunday to end the week. There were a few bright spots in an otherwise lonely week (I do not do well working in an empty office!) but then I got a call Sunday afternoon.

Jay, the cat I'd had in my house all winter, was dead. I had last seen him Thursday and while he wasn't 100% (he hasn't been since his surgery this winter), he seemed normal. The weekend feeder had seen him Saturday and he said he looked fine. But Animal Control got a call on Sunday and found him soaking wet and near death on a path by the library. They put him down. At my request, they sent me pictures (gruesome!) and he clearly had been outside all night in the rain and you could see that his skin was bright red where it showed through the wet fur. Whether this was from a raging infection or being hit by a car, we'll never know. While I wasn't surprised that he was gone, it was still sad. But he was ~11 years old, which is ancient for a feral, and I'd done all I could. At this rate, there is only 1 regular cat left at my feeder but there are others eating there that I never see. Pretty soon there may be no cats left on campus. Jay is the middle cat in this trio and the other 2 are also gone and presumed dead. Calico Kitty disappeared a couple of years ago when I was on a trip and Tweaker disappeared during a storm this past winter. Sad.

Here's a bright spot in the week. The weather was cooler than normal but also raining on and off. Tuesday is my only night to go straight home and I was bemoaning the fact that it was raining because I had hoped to weed my veg beds, figuring the earlier rain would make it easy pulling. Then I had a thought – I have a slicker! So I put on my raincoat and spent half an hour pulling weeds out of the mud and transplanting things in the garden. Since I was bent over at the waist, my butt got wet where it wasn't covered by the slicker but I got it done. Can you picture it?

Maybe all that wet weather weeding was what distracted me because when storms woke me up around midnight, I got up to let the cats and found that I'd left the lights on in the back room. Odd but I didn't think much of it. Then I woke up in the morning to find I hadn't put the coffee on and the back door was wide open and my keys were hanging from the door knob. Sheesh! Clearly VERY distracted.

Campus was dead quiet all week and there was way too much drama on many fronts. Then I was the only one in the office on Thursday and Friday. At least the consultants were there Thursday morning but when they left while I was at lunch with Darla, I was completely solo for the rest of the week. I am not good at being so solitary. The time dragged and I couldn't get out the door soon enough on Friday night. Layton was out of town so I'd gone food shopping over lunch so at least I got to head straight home. I had big plans for my first weekend home all month.

Well, you know how big plans go. I had hoped to get all the yarn in the front room sorted and stored in my wardrobe. I'd sent off another huge box of yarn to Dottie so was left mostly with yarn I was keeping. But I got a late start Saturday and was in the middle of what chores I was attempting to accomplish before starting the yarn when Anne Marie called. She wanted to borrow my cherry pitter and knit for a bit. It was a lovely break but just after she left I heard a mower. John was here at last and had remembered his bagger so as soon as he left, I went outside to finish weeding and then mulched with the grass clippings. I was tired and dripping with sweat so had a lame dinner of leftover rib meat on nachos with some cheese melted on top. See? Lame!

Sunday got derailed by the call about Jay, which lead to follow up calls with Animal Control and the weekend feeder. This was bookended by visits. Lorri had come over after church and then Anne Marie came over to drop the cherry pitter back so I could pit the cherries I'd picked from my tree. By the way, this will be the first year I've ever used my cherries, which I planted 19 years ago. I'm hoping to get enough to make a batch of cherry jam. I did manage to get my bedroom organized, going through a stack of summer clothes that needed culling and clearing some surfaces.

Still no yarn organization and at this point it wasn't going to happen. But I did have some yarny fun, using the toy knitting machine I'd bought at Joann's to make a sock blank, which I then dyed with Kool Aid. I got lots of knitting done during the week too, making a bib for the consultant who had been in my office for months but was going out on maternity leave. I also finished 2 pairs of socks and a hat for charity plus started another. Lots of rain lead to lots of knitting time.

Besides laundry and dishes, I absolutely had to clean out the fridge and cook something healthy. I'd eaten totally crappy all the previous week so was determined to have stuff ready to eat for this week. I'd hit the Asian store and bought everything to make the egg roll in a bowl that Carolyn had recommended. I quickly cleaned the fridge, adding way too much to the compost pile. (Note to self – eat the produce I buy!) Then I started cooking. I roasted fennel to go with more grilled chicken for suppers and made Carolyn's recipe. Delish! By then it was time for Masterpiece so I settled in for the night. Despite falling asleep in my chair, I had trouble falling asleep when I went to bed and had to get up and take a Benadryl. I had Jay on my mind. : (