Journal of a Sabbatical

January 21, 2000

warm hats and bad dreams

Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society

Today's Bird Sightings:
Salisbury Beach
24 horned larks

Today's Reading: Winter from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake, Beach Grass by Charles Wendell Townsend

Every time I looked out the bathroom window last night it was still snowing and the parking lot on my side of the courtyard was empty except for my car. I was convinced that I'd missed the notice to move my car. That got me worried that I wouldn't get up in time to move the car when the snow stopped in the morning. I checked and reset the alarm so I'd be sure to be up and dressed if I heard the plow. I woke up several times during the night, convinced it was time to move the car. It wasn't.

Between checking on the parking lot and wondering where the neighbors had stashed their cars, I had awful dreams. The only one I remember now is one where Stacy had decided we were no longer going to accept cats over 8 years old and I was in charge of rejecting all these old cats that people were trying to surrender. As soon as I would tell someone their cat was too old, they'd tell me they were taking it to some other shelter, which I knew would euthanize it immediately. I was relieved when I woke up and realized it was a dream.

I'm not sure how much sleep I actually got, but I was up and dressed at 7:30 and the snow plow was nowhere to be seen. Also two of the cars, the ones belonging to the Russian lady and to her son-in-law, were back in their assigned spaces. They must have returned in the wee hours. There wasn't even all that much snow accumulated.

Figuring that even if the plow hadn't come to clear the courtyard yet, I might as well get the car out of there in anticipation, I took myself out to breakfast at Val's Sandwich Shop. This was also because I've used up just about all the food in my fridge and didn't want to buy groceries to let rot while I'm gone.

After breakfast I made one last shopping expedition to REI for waterproof gaiters to put over the second pair of boots I bought yesterday and maybe some of that polypro underwear. I don't know why I didn't go back there after my first trip when I failed to find boots that fit me and didn't look at anything else. I found some nice polypro long john bottoms and a capilene top that will be toasty under my outer layers. I even found some fleece pants that fit me, well maybe fit isn't the right word. I can get them on and they don't tie me up in knots. They look awful but I'm not trying to win a beauty contest. The best thing in the store was a Polartec hat with ear flaps and a visor like a baseball cap. It fits my grotesquely large head perfectly and actually looks good on me. It's toasty warm and it even matches my jacket. It'll get way more use than just this trip: Salisbury Beach, Plum Island, the East Bay Bike Path... it's the perfect winter hat. Now all I've gotta do is cram all this stuff into my suitcases.

The other mission of the day, also accomplished successfully, was to deliver Buddy to Brigham Manor. When I left there, he was making his way along the whole first floor sniffing every room and checking out the lay of the land. The residents are ecstatic. And so am I.