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Journal of a Sabbatical |
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December 13, 2000 |
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a better story |
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Adopt these cats at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society Today's Bird Sightings: Today's Reading: Tall Trees and Far Horizons by Virginia Eifert, Autumn from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake Plum Island Bird List
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I left my travel mug in the car last night. No big deal. At least I had it ready when I stopped at Perfecto's for some coffee to sip on the way to the cat shelter. Of course it felt kind of cold to the touch. The woman who took my order asked if I wanted her to warm it up first so I wouldn't have iced coffee. She took it over to the sink, figuring to run some hot water through it I guess. The cover was kind of hard to get off. Suddenly a giant brown ice cube flew across the room and clattered on the counter. Oops. I hadn't realized I'd left it with coffee in it! Talk about iced coffee! This is coffeed ice! The entire staff stood staring at my travel mug for nearly a full minute before someone thawed out the remaining ice and filled it with coffee. What a way to start the day! At the cat shelter, the parking lot is full and someone is attempting to back out without turning around, despite the fact that there is room for her to turn around. I park my car behind Bob's, figuring on moving it if he leaves before I do. This theoretically still leaves room for this person to either turn around or back out the driveway. However, she looks at me strangely and communicates by gesture that she can't back out around me. Now, I've put myself in a position where I have absolutely no room to turn around and am forced to back out. This is not easy as the driveway is narrow and the landlady has put up a new fence between our parking lot and the building next door's parking lot. I back slowly out into the vet's parking lot in front. The other car still keeps on backing up and I have no choice but to back into the street. I've always wanted to back onto Rt. 1. Really I have. Not. Miraculously, no large trucks ram into me while the other driver is parking in the last spot in the front lot. I drive straight in to the back lot and park behind Bob's car as originally planned. The strange driver, with child in tow goes into the cat shelter. This is odd since we don't open until 11:00. Maybe she's a new volunteer? But with a little kid? I'm right behind them with coffee in one hand and my bag containing clean shirt, notebook, and camera in the other. Scooter makes a break for it. Darn. I try to catch him but with both hands full it's kind of awkward. Kendra goes after him while I stash my stuff in the socialization room. What is it with Scooter? He pulled this same stunt last night. So the woman and kid want to adopt a kitty and do not seem to understand that we are in the middle of cleaning and the place isn't open yet. They hang around looking at the cats while we descend into chaos. Sandy is tense because Scooter is challenging him for world domination. Stormy is ready to scratch any being who comes within claw's reach. It can't be the full moon 'cause that was Monday. Must be the approaching snow storm. This would make a better story if Bob actually had driven off with my car keys, or Sandy had drawn blood from Roy or from Scooter (he's species-independent), or Roy had succeeded in changing a light bulb, folding the laundry, and drying the dishes simultaneously. But Bob didn't drive off with the car keys. Sandy didn't damage anybody human or feline. And Roy did light bulb changing, laundry folding, and dish wiping serially instead of in parallel.
Me and Roy find Manny Ramirez's salary mind boggling ($160 million for 8 years). Neither Bob nor the cats weigh in on this. We conclude Scooter is a Republican and Sandy a Democrat. Maybe the supremos will choose Scooter as dominant-cat-elect. Veggie sub at Angelina's. Coffee at Fowle's. Used books at Olde Port Book Shop. I finally scored Reminiscences of a Nonagenarian by Sara Anna Emery. Despite the fact that everything is frozen and there have been no gyrfalcon sightings reported today, I have to look for birds. I am immediately rewarded with two northern harriers very active in the dunes. They're close enough to watch without binoculars and they put on quite a show chasing something or other invisible to me. The other highlight is tons of yellow-rumped warblers, more than I can actually count because the bushes are just vibrating with them. I try to count one flock hanging out by the road but a car comes by and scatters them into the shrubbery as well. Salisbury Beach yields a huge flock of mourning doves browsing in the campground and lots of men taking olive drab motor boats out of the water. Are these guys part of a club that paints their boats olive drab? Who knows. There are about 6 of the olive drab boat guys, a flock of tree sparrows, and some dark-eyed juncos. I remember to take the travel mug out of the car once I get home. |
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Copyright © 2000, Janet I. Egan |
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New
cats abound. Lucy and Lacy are two female former feral
kittens. They're a little timid but they are both
affectionate once you get past their shyness. They hiss at
you when you open the cage door, but you can pick them up
without fear of bodily harm and they actually do accept
petting. They have longish hair and
are about 16 weeks old. I couldn't tell Lucy and Lacy apart
but one is supposedly more friendly than the other. Their
poor little foot pads are all dry and cracked so Kendra went
downstairs to get some kind of skin cream from the vets. I
cradled one of them in my arms while Kendra put the skin
cream on the other. The skin cream smells nice. The kitten
fell asleep on my arm and I detected a faint purring.
My
write-up on MaMa Bessy won't win any literary prizes. Gotta
work on livening up these things. MaMa Bessy is a 1 1/2 year
old short-haired female who is affectionate and loves to be
petted. She loves to play and is good with children. MaMa
Bessy would prefer a home without dogs.
Mandy
is a short-haired female about 1 to 2 years old. She's
affectionate and friendly and likes to be petted. Today's
Mandy is different from a previous Mandy, but she doesn't
have a number, a Roman numeral, or even a "the second" after
her name. The names are getting crazy. I saw on the board
that Emma was adopted then moments later saw Emma in her
cage. I asked if there was another Emma but nobody who was
in today seemed to know. We're going to have to start giving
these cats surnames.
Red
Head had a vet appointment this morning and was just back in
his cage when I was doing the photos so I decided not to
open his door for the portrait. Red Head is a super sweet
cat who loves to be hugged. He came to us as an
abandoned/stray cat. We estimate his age at about 1 year.
Red Head is a real lap cat, affectionate, friendly, OK with
kids as long as they're relatively quiet, and he likes being
petted. Red Head would prefer a home without dogs. Red Head
must be an indoor cat.