We like to check on them when we haven’t seen them for awhile. Dash is usually in my closet asleep on a blanket. Sometimes Cody is with her, but most times, Dash is alone. I still haven’t discovered where Cody goes. The other day, Charlie found Rhody sleeping next to Dash in the closet.
Like the other cats, these kittens know when it’s mealtime and they just show up. Dash is very vocal when she wants her food. She and Rhody are the only two cats who let me know that they want me to hurry up and get those dishes down.
I was in the kitchen this morning when I heard Cody running and skidding through. I turned to see that she was being “chased” by Rhody. Although his manner of chasing is to just trot along a distance behind her. She burns herself out by running as fast as she can and Rhody just follows her, not even breathing hard.
Mr. Creme has been on insulin since December 21. Usually it’s easy to give him his injection. He loves the attention he gets. Charlie holds him and pets him while I do the injection. Eventually I should be able to give the shot without Charlie having to hold Mr. Creme, if I need to. He’ll go back next week to get his blood checked and see how he’s doing.
Sheila is not quite back to normal, but she’s getting there. I fed her chicken and rice for a few days and then rice mixed with her dry food. She likes the rice, but I think she’s suspicious when I mix it up. It’s like she’s not sure she is supposed to be eating this kind of food. Not that she doesn’t like it, but I think she is wondering if she will get in trouble.
Today a Christmas card was returned to me with “No Such Number” stamped on the envelope. It was to my friend, Glenda, who I have been sending cards to every Christmas forever. I haven’t seen her or talked to her in a long time. She lives in Virginia. I’ve known her since we were in third grade together.
I was a little concerned that the card was returned like that, so I called the number that I had for her. No one answered, but it did go into a message recorder. I left a message for her to call me back, hoping she still had that number.
In the meantime, Charlie and I decided to go to Imperial Beach for lunch and hit the farmer’s market near the pier later. The last time I was at the beach was a couple of weeks before Christmas. I met a friend for lunch. It was windy and cold and even though it was a Friday and they had the farmer’s market, very few people were there. I had my choice of parking spaces that day too.
Today was sunny and warm and we had to drive up and down to find parking. As we were walking to the restaurant I had in mind, we turned the corner and there was “Jersey Boys Diner”. People were sitting outside and we were intrigued. We decided to try it.
The menu was very complete. They had everything you’d want to eat. Very reasonable prices. Breakfast anytime, half pound hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, all kinds of sandwiches, seafood, Mexican and Italian. Charlie had a BLTA which is a BLT with avocado slices. It was served with lots of fries.
I had a chicken quesadilla, which was way too much, but very good. It was served with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. They also brought a basket of chips with salsa. The salsa was very good, but kind of too hot for me to eat much.
My glass of wine was very good. Charlie had a thick chocolate and peanut butter milkshake. I tasted it and it was like a liquid peanut butter cup, very creamy and very good.
We were just finishing up when my friend, Glenda, called. She and her husband are fine and still living at the same address. I told her about the card that was returned. She said her mailman “couldn’t read”. I said, “Well, he should be delivering your mail to you”, and she said, “He does, all over the neighborhood!” It was fun to hear her voice and even though it had been so long since we had spoken, we just picked up where we left off.
There was a lot of catching up to do, which we did. It didn’t take us long to start talking about our cats. The last time I saw her, she had two cats. She told me that she now has 10 cats. I was amazed, but then, I can see how it can happen.
Apparently she had a couple of cats who came to her house and had kittens. She said she tried to find homes, but “no one wanted them”.
About six years ago, a little white cat showed up on Glenda’s back deck. It was snowing outside. She brought the little cat in and fed her and named her “Snowflake”. “Sissy” was the only resident cat at the time. I’ve met “Sissy”, a tiny little calico. She’s about 17 now. Anyway, “Sissy” is a lot like our calico, “Jezibel”. She’s never met a cat that she liked.
When Glenda discovered that “Snowflake”’s front paws were declawed, she knew that she had been someone’s pet. She tried to find the owner, but no luck. So, “Snowflake” and “Sissy” have been sharing the house, only tolerating each other.
One day the two cats got into such a fight that Glenda said she had to take the pillows on the couch to break them up. She decided that she would take “Snowflake” to the animal shelter because she was afraid “Sissy” would hurt her.
She went back to the shelter to check on “Snowflake” in a week. She was still there, so Glenda brought her home again.
Donnie, Glenda’s very patient husband, said, “Well, you had to pay to take “Snowflake” to the shelter and then pay to get her out.” Donnie, by the way, is allergic to cats and he gets a shot every week. I couldn’t make this stuff up.
All of Glenda’s cats are female. We both thought that was strange, but it just turned out that way. When she was trying to get them all spayed, the cost was overwhelming. The vet suggested that she get in touch with PETA. She said she’d heard so many bad things about them, that she really didn’t want to. But, she didn’t have a choice when the cost of spaying and vaccinating is in the hundreds and for so many cats.
PETA helped her get all of the cats taken care of. I didn’t ask her if she had to sign something in blood. But, I’m glad that she was able to make sure her cats were taken care of. However, for me, the jury is still out on PETA. We lived in Virginia and that organization caused a lot of mischief in their home city of Norfolk and across the country.
Anyway, Glenda and I caught up on what was happening with our families. In the hour we were on the phone, Charlie and I left the diner, crossed the street and went to sit near the farmer’s market. While Glenda and I talked, Charlie got his phone out and became engrossed in playing “Angry Bird’s” I think. I just noticed that he was occupied (smart phones are great!), so I felt I could talk with Glenda until we were all talked out.
It was fun hearing about her cats. She loves hers as much as I love ours. There are always those “special” ones though. We talked about the two cats in our life that we’ll never forget. For her it was “Marvin”. He was a big, beautiful black and white tuxedo cat. I had the pleasure of meeting him. I remember how Glenda was so attached to him. I wasn’t with her when he died, but I know what she went through. I went through the same thing with my “Taz”.
With so much in common, I jokingly told Glenda that we should live together and then we’d have 20 cats. She said, “But, then, we wouldn’t have our husbands!” Who knows, we might. They love our cats too.
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When Glenda and I were growing up, we were best friends, always together, like sisters. We used to talk and plan that one day we would travel together. We even knew what kind of car we wanted–a little red convertible. We could see us going down the highway, who knows where. Of course, we didn’t think about how we would pay for it at the time...
Glenda and I have stayed in touch all of these years. I know that the next time we talk or see each other, no matter how long it’s been, we’ll just pick up where we left off.
We said goodbye, her telling me to say “Hello” to my brothers and sisters, and me telling her to do the same with hers when she saw them. As we always do, we promised that we would talk more often. I wonder how many cats she’ll have when I see or talk to her again?
More later................
Nope, it wasn't angry birds. I have a Kindle app on the phone that let's me read my ebooks with my phone. The kindle and the phone even stay in sync with each other so I can keep my place. I'm currently reading George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. It's really good. By the way, while we sat on a low concrete wall engrossed with our phones, two small children were climbing about and running along wall. They thought it was great fun to clamber around us, which frustrated the mother who thought they were bothering us. We hardly noticed. :-)
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