Journal of a Sabbatical

January 12, 2000

fur flies

Today's Reading: Winter from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake, Faith in a Seed by Henry David Thoreau, Beach Grass by Charles Wendell Townsend, Lord Timothy Dexter of Newburyport by John Marquand

Lots to do today on not enough sleep. I woke up at 3:00 in the morning and stayed awake until 4:30. When the alarm went off at 7:30 I never even heard heard it. My back and shoulders and arms ache from carrying Buddy around yesterday. Boy am I glad I decided not to go to the second floor. With Roy out sick and Brit off someplace, the labor force is a little light today. Without Roy drying as I wash, I revert to my old ways of building giant pyramids out of clean litter boxes so they can air dry. I have outdone myself today. This is the tallest a litter box pyramid has ever gotten before being knocked over by a cat. I could have stacked it maybe one level higher, but I don't want to mess up the photos of foster kittens on the bulletin board.

The tension level is high. Giggle Girl calls my attention to the fact that Lucky is about to attack Max seconds before he leaps on Max from behind and they get into a serious fight. The screams and howls from Max and Lucky provoke Nicki to attack poor unsuspecting Chloe-2. Fur flies. Huge tufts of black fur, presumably Nicki's shoot out like projectiles. Can cats throw their fur the way we always heard porcupines can throw their quills (which of course they can't anyway)? I'm up to my elbows in dishwater so Bob breaks up the fights. Max gets back into his cage as does Lucky. But now Chloe-2 is cornered between a hissing caged Max and hissing uncaged Nicki. Chloe-2 is terrified. I keep trying to explain to Bonnie and Kendra but they think I mean Chloe, who is happily curled up in a cat bed on top of one of the cages. I know I should say "Chloe dash two" or "Chloe number two". I finally communicate the concept of "the white Chloe". Bob somehow squirts her to get her to leave the spot next to Max's cage. She is very grateful to finally be back in her cage.

All this action has Shanti terrified. She makes low growling noises and puts her ears back. I can almost hear her saying "that's the last time I venture out of my cage, there are CATS out there!" The tension level stays elevated for a long time. Shanti does venture out again, but Max gets let back out and tries a home invasion on her cage. Poor Shanti is definitely not happy. Eventually Bob gets Max out of the way, Shanti leaps into her cage and I close the doors so she can feel a little safer. Whew!

Bob's measuring the laundry room again. He built a platform for the new dryer so it will clear the pipe that he determined was in the way the last time he measured. Now he thinks he was off by two inches and we don't need the platform. But it's ready anyway. Now all we need is some strong young people without back problems to get the new dryer up the stairs. Count me out on that one. Carrying all 20 pounds of Buddy up and down the stairs is enough for me. It will be way cool to have two dryers though.

I was still doing dishes long after Bob and Giggle Girl left. It seemed like there would be no end. The developmentally delayed man who comes to fold laundry in the afternoon arrived and Shanti started to get way too interested in him in a definitely unfriendly way. She started after him and I had to herd her away with a towel. She raked the towel with her claws and hissed at me before getting back in her cage. I closed the doors so he could fold laundry and I could do dishes without worrying about Shanti.

It's really too bad this has been such a stressed out day for Shanti. Both Monday and yesterday when I came to pick up Buddy, Shanti was friendly to me. Yesterday she walked right up to me the minute I walked in and started rubbing against my legs. Absolutely unprecedented. She was even kind of friendly today until the cat fights around her got her all worked up. I'm sure she'll calm down again by tomorrow.

Desperate for a change of pace, I went to Pat's Diner for lunch. It's an old Worcester Lunch Car, used to be called Ann's Diner and was something else before that and something else before that. It had been closed for awhile before it's present incarnation as Pat's. I ordered a cheese omelet with home fries and toast. As I was munching on this, the waitress offered me complimentary baked beans. I took 'em. They were great. The only thing that would cause me not to come back to the diner is that it smelled heavily of cigarette smoke even though I didn't see anybody smoking.

Since I was headed that way on Bridge Road I decided to check Salisbury Beach for birds first. Plenty of ring-billed and herring gulls. High winds making for heavy surf on the river made it impossible to see any bird life that might have been out there swimming. No little tree birds and no short eared owls in the campground either. And that wind is something.

I turn on the radio for the drive over to Plum Island. The weather service has apparently issued high wind warnings for this afternoon. Hmm, guess those winds are kinda high. Not much in the way of bird life is stirring in the usual places except for some buffleheads at the boat ramp. When I get out of my car with intent to walk on the beach at Sandy Point, the wind drives me right back in. I didn't know I should've dressed for Antarctica today.

Speaking of Antarctica. I never did get those Gore-Tex pants I wanted for the trip. Not much time left to shop and pack now. So I head up I-95 to the Kittery Trading Post where I score some TH4 pants, which are just as waterproof and breathable as Gore-Tex and have the advantage of being in my size and on sale for way cheaper than Gore-Tex. Finally got those neoprene socks I wanted too - in the fishing department. The clerks at the trading post are as excited about my trip as I am.

I struck out on the polypro long johns though. They were sold out of everything but small and medium in every material except cotton. Since cotton is totally unsuitable for any activity in which you might get wet and cold, I'll have to look elsewhere for wool or polypro or some other miracle fiber that doesn't guarantee hypothermia if you get wet.

Boy, I must be manic doing all this in one day. I guess having a deadline boosts the adrenaline.

And I just heard a forecast for snow tomorrow.