Category: Izzie and Purrl

For the most part of these past few weeks since I returned home from my Georgia trip with Barb, my life has been one where I’ve been swept away with the current. And, like any experienced ocean swimmer, I know the best way to get out of a rip current is to just swim along with it, parallel to the shore until it carries you back in to the beach. I suppose that’s where the expression, “to go with the flow” comes from.

There hasn’t been any one dramatic event directing my course, merely a series of events that have diverted my course as I had it planned resulting in an ever growing list of things I “need” to do. Let’s take yesterday for example.

My plan for the day was to head out to the gym first thing, meet with Lorenzo and then, fully energized, I would come home and tackle my household chores and maybe even surprise Dave with a batch of home-baked snickerdoodles. I would also take a look at the paperwork for the Virginia DCR Dam Grant and begin to put together an application for our HOA. Also topping my list is to contact a couple of the hotels in the Richmond area to check on possible group rates for Maggie’s wedding in September. It’s a pretty hefty chunk of work, but with enough energy and organization, completing it wouldn’t be that difficult.

The first sign that the day wouldn’t be as I’d hoped happened when Dave let Izzie, our calico, in the backdoor not long after she’d demanded to be let out. Dave asked her what she’d been up to and then called me to come take a look at her. Although it wasn’t raining, Izzie’s back was wet and mussed and along with a noticeable limp, she also had tufts of some other cat’s fur on her.  Having been through this drill before, we were certain Izzie had been in a fight and if we found a wound, would have to go to the vet. Since she stopped for a bite at her bowl, I deemed the situation not an emergency and headed off to the gym.

My workout on Monday had been great but for some reason yesterday morning I felt really sluggish. Lorenzo pushed me hard, which is what I pay him for, but for the first time in a very long time I was physically unable to complete the workout he’d planned for me. That, along with a gain of almost two pounds had me leaving the gym significantly less peppy than I’d arrived.  I hate it when that happens!

Once home I checked on Izzie. I found a bite on her back leg and made the call. A couple of hours later we were in the vet’s office where Izzie received a steroid shot and antibiotics and I received the bill. Dr. Godine and I had a nice chat about therapeutic laser treatments on soft tissue injuries. I learned that he was the Board Director of the North American Association of Laser Therapists. What an amazing little town I live in!

Anyway, back at the ranch, Dave was home when I arrived back with Izzie. He’d had is annual physical and was delighted that his cholesterol was below the medication necessary level but he was also in pain because he’d had to have a gnarly hemorrhoid excised for the second time this week. He announced he was under doctor’s orders to not sit or stand for prolonged periods of time and was to soak in the tub at least three times a day. Great. Also, the doctor had called a couple of prescriptions into the pharmacy at Walmart that I would need to pick up. So much for a clean house and wedding plans; at that point, I surrendered and began swimming parallel to the shore.

Today I have modified my plans. Dave is working from home nursing his “condition” and I am sort of working around him. While he was having a morning soak, I stripped the bed and vacuumed our bedroom. Clean sheets and carpet go a long way to make life more bearable, no matter how much clutter lurks downstairs.

Next I began to glance over the damn Dam Grant Application and was about to sit down with it until I looked outside and saw what a beautiful morning it is.  Izzie was asking to be let out, so I grabbed my jacket and coffee and went with her.   She likes to walk beside me as I review the progress of each new sprout and bud in the garden.  She also likes to lead me up to the wooded area in the back where she hunts moles.  That is how I ended up at my chat area.  It was so inviting with the new gray table I added to the group of red chairs last week so I sat.  The sun felt so good that I trotted back to the house for my laptop and IPad and decided to write for a while.  For me, it has been the mental equivalent of floating on my back over the waves with my face upturned to the sun.

I know I won’t get my pile of stuff done before more gets piled on top, the grass keeps growing and the dust keeps falling.  I also know that it’ll all get done; just not all in the same day.

So, in the meantime, I’m going to do my best to remember to stop and smell the flowers, watch and listen to the birds and feel the warmth of the sun on my face whenever I can. It may not remove the dust from my table tops, but it certainly removes it from my brain and that is most important!

 

The girls and I have spent the entire morning working in the office. For the past several hours I have been transcribing minutes from this month’s Habitat for Humanity Steering Committee Meeting, preparing bulletin announcements for the dreaded Annual Diocesan Appeal and finalizing the reservation for the HOA Annual meeting in January with the vice principal at the local elementary school.  As always, Izzie and Purrl have been keeping me company.

It’s our routine; I go upstairs, they follow.  I work, they snooze.  They perked up a bit when they heard the camera go on, but usually they are oblivious to my trials and tribulations as I volley between four different email accounts; two of mine, one for the parish, one for the HOA.  It is tricky sometimes, keeping track of where I am and which hat I’m wearing but so far, so good.

Of course our togetherness isn’t always welcomed.  Izzie will still from time to time demonstrate her displeasure at her life as an “indoor cat” by crying at the door, knocking small objects from table tops or “arranging” flowers from vases to the floor.  Purrl has frequent spells of “needing to play, NOW!”  She dances around the family room floor demanding in a high pitch wail until she is appeased.

In turn, I pester them as well.  I pick them up and give them loving.  Surprisingly, Izzie enjoys the attention and will nuzzle her head under my chin making a wheezy purr sound that is her own.  Purrl does not take to being held but does like to climb in my lap from time to time for pets.  As her name suggests, she is accomplished at purring.

In their quiet presence, they keep me focused on my office tasks.  Without them, I would be constantly looking for distractions to get me out of this chair and this blog would go unwritten. I owe them a great deal, my furry entourage.

Last night while Dave and I were catching up on the DVR, Andy called with a question only his mother could answer.  “Mom, a kitten showed up on my doorstep.  What should I do?”  In the background I could hear the quacking – mews of a kitten mixed with loud purrs.

I know how much he loves cats.   Except for the three years we lived in Hawaii, we have always had at least one cat member of our family.

When he was home in October, he went with me up to the SPCA to look at dogs.  Seeing the wall-to-wall cats, we decided we really wanted another cat instead of a dog.  Andy and I fell in love with this little guy, who we were going to name “Ralphie” (because it looks like he shot his eye out.)  When I went back, Ralphie was gone, and Purrl came home with us instead.

Knowing how irresistable a kitten can be.  I told him that he really should look for its owner.  He is already caring for two cats in the apartment he sublets and will be moving back home next months for an extended stay.  He suggested he could leave some food for the kitten on his porch but was afraid a coyote might get it.

I pushed for finding the owner.  “Okay,” he said, “I’ll call you back.”

About fifteen minutes later, he called back.  He’d found the kitten’s home.  While he was walking through his apartment complex he came across a guy and his kids.  The fellow didn’t know where the cat lived, but the kids did.  They ran off to the kitten’s home with their dad and Andy in tow.  Andy said they found a door cracked open with a dish of cat food on the stoop.  A very relieved young woman and toddler met him at the door.

Andy was very happy about the reunion.  He definitely had to go outside his comfort zone to go door to door looking for this kitten’s home, but his desire to insure the safety of this little creature out-trumped his shyness.

I think there is a lesson there for the both of us.  Sometimes leaving our comfort zones can lead us to great joy.  Carrying a fuzzy kitten certainly helps…. Maybe that’s where the idea ov