Journal of a Sabbatical

January 10, 2000

one of those days

Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society

Today's Reading: Winter from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake, Wild Fruits by Henry David Thoreau

OK, so this was supposed to be a uniting the cats and elders of the Merrimack Valley Day. Instead it turned out to be one of those days. Just one of those days.

I have no idea where the morning went. I was up by 9:00, which has been a rarity lately. I made breakfast and coffee and consumed same, combated my feelings of isolation by catching up with correspondence -- both e- and snail-, took a cursory glance at yesterday's paper's gigantic Help Wanted section (no there aren't any ads for cleaning litter boxes or documenting conifers), picked up laundry, dropped off dry-cleaning, and suddenly there I was in Andover at Starbucks. Tom was there talking with the artist whose name I think is Arthur about deep geologic time.

Tom told me this morning that we have not had meaningful snowfall in 300 days. We have had flurries a couple of times, but every predicted snowstorm has passed us by. 300 days isn't exactly deep geologic time but it's an awfully long time to go without snow. When Julie arrived, she seemed perfectly satisfied to go without snow for another 300 days. M&M arrived with their lunches. They are in favor of snow.

As all this deep geologic time and 300 days without snow conversation progressed, the sky got darker and darker. I could feel it pressing on my head. I started to feel sleepy. We speculated on whether it would be rain or snow. It's so warm nobody was willing to bet on snow.

The rain hadn't started by the time I left to go pick up a couple of cats to take to the nursing home. Martha's sick so it's just me and the cats. When I got to the shelter, I was already behind schedule - having promised to be at the nursing home at 3:00 and here it was 2:55 and I hadn't picked out a cat yet. The pickings are slim, most of the cats we have right now are not that into being handled or are in a bad mood. We've got a litter of cuddly kittens but I'd have to have them back early because they're going to be neutered this afternoon and their appointment is at 5:00. The choices came down to Buddy who is VERY affectionate but weighs at least 20 pounds, and Meko who's affectionate but is a little standoffish right at the moment.

A wave of fatigue washed over me. The temptation to procrastinate overwhelmed me. I looked at Buddy and imagined carrying him around from room to room and up the stairs to the second floor. The dark sky started to shed a few raindrops. I thought: "I can't do this." Then I said it out loud. I called the nursing home to cancel. She says: "That's OK, just come tomorrow instead." I agreed and hung up.

The heavens opened up as I was driving to Petco for cat food for my own feline, as well as on a mission to do other errands before returning for the Purrfect Companions meeting at the shelter at 6:30. I allowed 2 hours for this mission. With the rain and the traffic, it took that long and more. It was 6:31 PM when I got back to the shelter. It was around then that I dimly began to realize that Buddy would still weigh 20 pounds tomorrow. And I was very wet.

Only one other person showed up for the meeting, Gail, who does the visits at another nursing home. She brings her own cat, who is sweet and gentle, on the visits. Wilbur would bite any elders I tried to visit with him. So I' afraid his career as a therapy pet won't even make it to the level his acting career did. Anyway, without the rest of the committee it was a little difficult to transact much business. We did discuss and accomplish a few important things despite constant interruptions from both cats and humans. We adjourned. I went home tired and wet. Nancy told me Buddy would still weigh 20 pounds tomorrow.