Saturday Morning

I couldn’t think of a catchy title so I decided to name it what it was….Saturday morning

I got up because the boys were hungry and wanted me to get up and feed them.  I came shuffling out of the bedroom rubbing my eyes and trying to adjust to being verticle rather than horizontal.  I did the “normal” procedure for Saturday.  I picked up the food bowls and gave the boys fresh water and cat food.  Then, I set about making the coffee for the moma….

All of this I do before I get my contacts in.  Without my contacts, the world is just a bunch of blurring things in different colors.  Nothing is distinct unless I get right on top of it.  Or, it gets right on top of me.  Every had a cat sitting on your chest waiting for you to open your eyes?

Any way, I shuffled into the bathroom and put my “eyes” in.  I came back out, got my coffee,  and realized that the blinds in the bay window were askew.  The “normal” is to have the blinds up during the day and almost alll the way down at night.  That way the cats can still see outside without the whole world being able to see the inside.

When I looked at the middle set of blinds, I realized they were completely down.  Upon closer inspection, I  realized that the little white things that were supposed to be on the end of the pull cords were gone.  The cords had been completely chewed through.

My first job was to find the little white things.  That got me started looking for all the little things that the cats have taken over the time they have been living with me, not to mention all the other toys I have given them that have come up missing.  There is was in my pjs crawling around on the floor with a flashlight and a sturdy tape measurer trying to retrieve all of the “prizes” that the cats have claimed.

I am sure that the boys were very confused.  They followed me around sniffing at the flashlight and trying to play with the tape measurer.  You see, I did not have a yard stick.  The tape measurer is one of those “professional” ones that is really strong and has a button on the back that can keep the measurer out without it retracting.  Hey, you use what every tools you have on Saturday morning to get the job done…..

The boys thought it was quite an adventure.  And, the stuff we found.  Not only was there stuff under every piece of furniture and appliance in the apartment, but I found loads and loads of cat har and dust bunnies.  I found cat hair dust bunnies!  I found a sponge that I used to clean dishes with.  I found the purple tops from milk jugs.  I found all the little kitty balls that get lodged under furniture.  I found toilet paper rolls….(empty of paper…they love to roll them around).  I found pens…loads and loads of pens.  They love those things. 

Anyway….I gathered up all of the stuff.  I divided it between what was the cats’ and what was mine.  Of course, the cats wanted not only what was theirs but what was mine too.  I hid the pens so they could not take them again.  I gave them all their toys.  And, before I could sit down and really enjoy my coffee, they had already lost some of them.  So, the cycle started again….

My point?  Well, I finally found the white things that go on the cords.  I reattached them to the cords.  And, one would think that all was well.  Well, last night, I hear the blinds rattling again, yep the boys were after the white things again…. So, I had to shoo them away from the blinds.

This morning, the white things were still in place.  So far, so good.

What I have I learned?  If anyone ever attempts to tie me up with blind cord, my boys can chew through it and free me.  So, that is one less thing I have to worry about.  The boys are on it!

One more set of Angels

There is one more set of Angels to mention.  Those two are Georgie and Spencer.  They have invited me and a bunch of others over to their house for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am unable to make it back to Georgetown this year.  I was just there last weekend.  And I need to work.

God is great!  He has put so many wonderful people in my life.  It is so awesome!

God’s Angels

You don’t know who they are.  You cannot pick them out of a crowd.  However, I can assure you that there are Angels sent directly from God here on this earth.  I have met a few in my lifetime, the most recently this past week.

You all know that my rear windows in my Jeep have been malfunctioning, or actually not functioning at all.  I have been riding around with one in the down and one in the up position for almost a month now.  Why?  Well, the simplest answer is that I was trying to figure ou the creative bookkeeping way to get them fixed.

I knew I did not have the liquidity to go to the Dealership and pay a huge amount for the “complete” window assembly because in their words, they did not sell the parts separately.  Also the cost of installation and all the other add ons that they do, made the trip to the Dealership something I was going to have to figure out how I could afford.

In the meantime, I have been riding around with an industrial grade garbage bag slipped over the door and taped down to keep out the rain.  Rain, it kept out, wind and cold, not so good.  So, I was also riding around with the heat on high on cold mornings. 

So, God’s Angels stepped in.  One of my friend, Keith, stated that he would look at the windows and see what he could do for me.  So, I thought I was set up and things would be taken care of at a greatly reduced price.  Keith is an Angel indeed.  We just had to coordinate when we could get together.  He stated that he would take apart the door and see what parts were needed and then basically go on a “hunt” to find them whether in a wrecked vehicle or at the parts department at the Dealership.

So, we met yesterday and he took a good two hours to take apart one of the doors and assess the issue.  He knows what he needs and is on his mission to find the parts.  He taped my windows in the up position until they can be fixed.  So, YEAH!, I have closed rear windows that I can look out of when merging in traffic and will not fall into the door frame.  No more rain or cold!!!

And if that was not enough….more Angels have stepped in.  One set of Angels, who wish to remain anonymous, offered to take the vehicle to the garage and have the window that was down repaired as a Christmas Gift to me.  I was totally floored by this!  These people are the type that no one would even begin to think were put here as God’s Agents but let me tell you that they have hearts in the right place and are very special.  And, all I can say is God is Good!

But, wait, there is more…. When I actually got in touch with Keith, he told me that the Church had called and wanted him to fix the windows and give them the bill.  More of God’s Angels at work.  I can only imagine that someone who has seen me of heard of my plight got in touch with the powers that be in the Church and low and behold, they wanted to pay the bill for the windows.  These people are truly God’s Angels….God is Good!

So, I say to you, they are out there….The are tall, short, fat, skinny….They are men, women, children…..They are old, young and in betwee….They are rich, poor or just getting by….They are friendly, standoffish, or just a regular Joe….The see things and take action….For the most part, they wish to remain in the wings without people knowing who they are….They don’t want the attention….And, all I can say…is Thank You, Thank You, Thank You and prais God for all of His Agents and Angels here on earth!!!!!

Cat’s Books For Dummies

Just like for people, cats have an extensive library of “How To For Dummies” books.  These are produced by the TabbyCat Press and are available for order on-line as long as you have the human’s credit card number.  Simply order the book(s) you want and also one for the human, as cover, and we will make a charge to the human’s account from Barnes & Noble.  The human will get their book delivered by the US Post Office and assume they must have ordered a book without remembering they had.  Your book will be delivered to you on-line in a secret file with a number for only you to access. 

This secret file will be imbedded in the human’s computer.  Those humans that are not diligent about “cleaning up the hard drive” will never know it’s there.  Also, the file is hard to detect and does not usually get erased when the human does regular maintenance.  If it does happen to get erased, simply send a note to the TabbyCat Press.  We will access your file and determine what files we need to send back to you.

We have a number of titles for you to choose from.  There is the every popular “Spider Hunting for Dummies”.  There is also “How To Get The Human’s Attention”.  And, of course, “Irritating The Dog” which is one of our most popular books.  For an entire list of our publications simply access TabbyCatPress.Com.  Click on the appropriate icon for your subject and peruse the list of titles.  Most of the books are priced at $19.95.

Each of the subjects has an interesting blurb posted for you to read to see if the book will answer your questions.  You are allowed to read the table of contents and to read an exerpt from each chapter.  We have translated the books into several different cat languages for you.  You can choose from “alley cat”, “house cat”, “Siamese Cat” (Siamese can easily be read by Burmese and Persian varieties) just to mention a few.  Again for the full list of translations, refer to the “language” icon.

The books also include plenty of illustrations for you to follow.  It shows you how to perform certain actions that are gauranteed to bring about results.  To mention a few….illustrations show “how to tear up an important document”, “how to hide the nail clippers”, “how to knock things off a high shelf” and many many more.  We promise that you will be pleased with the results if the instructions are followed.

You may ask, how do I get access to the computer.  Well, we can tell you how to do that too…. Most humans do not turn their computers off.  If they do, the switch can usually be operated easily by a cat.  Often there are blinking buttons that are to be pushed or simple switches that can be pushed from off to on.  If you forget to turn the computer off, well the human will usually think that they left it that way.

Our staff of computer specialists have imbedded in all icons that will come up on the computer once it is activated the most common cat language so that you can understand the icons.  Humans are unaware that this has happened and do not see the cat language that has been imbedded.  They see what they want to see…..They don’t think that cats are capable of operating a computer.

Of course, we know that cats are completely capable.  Since it is a matter of pushing buttons and we have been able to push buttons, literally, physically, and figuratively for a long, long time.

There is one caution that we will give to all cats who attempt to order Dummy books.  Make sure that you order something that your human will read so that he/she will not return it therefore negating your purchase.  As soon as the purchase has been verified, we will send to you an email with the instructions on how to download your book to your human’s computer.  Those instructions will include how to make sure that the human is unaware that you even came near the computer except to lay across the keyboard. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

Family

This past weekend was spent in Georgetown, SC with my other siblings and my parents.  It was all in all a pretty good time.  There were some snags, though.  My sister is under the weather and her father-in-law had to have a toe removed due to diabetes and is in the hospital.  Even with all that, we found time for all four children to be in my mom’s house at the same time.

The last time we were together was in 2008 at Mom’s 80th birthday in March.  So, it’s been over a year.   I drove down on Saturday and came back on Sunday.

The window is still an issue.  About 30 minutes out of Charlotte, the trash bag tore loose from the window.  I pulled into a rest stop and just pulled it out of the window frame.   Even though it was 36degres outside and cold as heck in the car, it was better than hearing the flapping.  I cranked up the heat and the radio and drove off praising  God for his goodness.  Afterall, there was nothing I could physically do at the time to make it “better”.  So, I decided to praise instead.

The closer I got to the coast, the warmer it got as the day advanced.  So, it turned out to be a nice sunny and uneventful ride.

I pulled into the yard about 11:30 AM and surprised everyone.  We all hugged and said the usual stuff…”trip good?”  “Yep, yours?”  Then we commenced to “visitin” and getting filled in on everyone’s lives.  It was really nice to be there with everyone.   My sister was in Charleston visiting her in-law in the hospital.  She showed up later for us all to have dinner together. 

The two brothers, the sister-in-law, myself and mom piled into the car and rode “downtown” to eat lunch.  We had a nice lunch at one of the restaurants on the “water side” of the street.  We sat out on the back deck so we had a good view of the InterCoastal Waterway.  Afterwards, we walked along the boardwalk stopping occasionally to take pictures.

Sunday, after church, we all met up again at my mom’s.  We sat around after having had a really filling lunch and told stories about our childhood.  It was nice to hear the different points of view from the sibilings on the same events from our past.  One we agreed on was the story about the “Electric Chair” being in the Town Clock on Front Street.

My mom related the story that she had had a traffic accident on Front Street, a minor fender bender.  The Police were housed in the Town Clock t the time and when they arrived instructed her to come down to the Police Station to fill out the paperwork.  My brothers and myself were in the car.  My brothers thought that the Bell Tower of the Town Clock held an electric chair into which “bad” people were put.  How the got that idea….. I hazard to guess either Mom or Dad had planted the seed and encouraged the thought in order to keep the “troups in order” if you know what I mean.

Regardless….when Mom entered the Police Station, those of us left behind in the car were convinced that she was headed for the electric chair.  We all started bawling, as was mom.  She said that when she came of the Police Station, all the little ones in the car were crying.

Imagine the sight….A mom who is already upset, comes out to see her little ones terrified that she is going to be put in the “chair”.  I am sure that they had plenty of laughs about that later but at the time….it must have been very upsetting.  How do you comfort your three  little ones and yourself at the same time.

Anyway….Today, Monday, we are all off to our own places.  People flying back to Louisiana…people working….life goes on.  I am sure that my mom enjoyed the time.  I am equally sure that she misses us all right now and is thinking about times past.

We all missed those who were not there.  The grand parents that have gone to heaven….the dad that has passed….and the grands, nieces and nephews who were not there…..  All in all, a good time was had, good food was eaten, and good memories were made.

Upstairs Neighbor

I had originally planned on making today’s post the sequil to the Rain Days and Tuesdays one.  And, I still intend on writing the rest of the “Window Caper” in another post soon.  However, after listening to my upstairs neighbor for two consecutive days, I have been left to wonder just what goes on in the apartment above mine.

I live in the quite town of Davidson, NC.  I live in a middle class neighborhood in a middle class apartment complex.  There are the usual mix of people in this complex.  There are young singles who have roommates.  There are newly married or newly “living together” couples.  There are “young families”.  There are middle agers like myself either single or married. 

I would wager to guess that most of the residents have a pet.  I know that several of the people who inhabit my building have pets.  There are dogs that are being walked at all hours of the day and night.  There are dogs that bark behind doors as on climbs the stairs or walks down the hallway.  There are cats that appear in windows and stare out at the day.  As for other pets, I can only guess.  However, I hope that no one in my building has a snake!  That would be something that I would worry would make it’s way into my apartment somehow.

I live on the second floor.  The person who lives below me is very quiet.  The only sounds coming from his apartment are those of him opening and closing his door as he enters or leaves his apartment.  The people who live on the second level are all fairly quiet, myself included.  There is a family that lives at the end of the hall nearest me who has at least two children.  I am still now sure just how many people live in that apartment.  The kids occasionally squeal or scream and they plod up and down the stairs.  But, all in all, they are fairly quiet too.

The third floor remains a mystery to me.  I know one “guy” lives up there.  Whether he lives over me or not, I am not sure.  The other apartments are surely occupied on the third floor.  Which brings us to the person(s) who live above me.

The person(s) living above me must not have much if any furniture.  Or they do not spend much time sitting down.  From early in the morning until late at night, I can hear the steps of the person(s) above my head.  There is also slamming and dropping going on up there too.  And, often the sound of really loud music with a really turned up bass.  The music, while in itself not so bad, is not to my taste.  However, one has to make consessions when living in a building much like a college dorm. 

I can only imagine what is going on upstairs.  I don’t hear screams so I am fairly sure that there is no type of abuse or human bondage going on.  I also don’t hear moans or groans which would lead one to thing that the person(s) above me were just fairly “frisky” (if you get my meaning).  There are just lots and lots of footsteps and lots and lots of slamming and dropping.  (could be hammering…not sure)

So, my mind has started wondering just who or what is occupying the space above me.  It is a secret place for Santa’s elves to build part of the Christmas toys desired by boys and girls each Christmas?  Is it a chop shop?  Is it a gym with someone working out and lifting weights?  Is the person learning how to dance or teaching dancing?  (reference the music from before)  Is it a professor from the nearby university practicing his lectures, walking around?  Is it a chem lab?  (I don’t think so, there are not any weird smells)

Does the person build furniture?  Or maybe put together furniture might be a better way to say it.  I don’t hear any power tools or sawing.  Just lots and lots of pacing and slamming and dropping.

Does the person above me ever sleep?  I cannot attest to that fact.  The pacing begins, or maybe it has continued all night, early in the AM.  It continues until late, or maybe nevers stops, into the night.  There is no room that the pacing feet do not visit innumeral times during the day/night.  Jut when I think it is going to stop, it starts up all over again.  

The footfalls are not like those you would think you would hear like living in a two or three story house.  These are heavy footfalls.  As you can deduce by this post, they can sometime be distracting.  I have not yet become curious enough to go upstairs and ask.  I don’t want to be a bad neighbor…but I am curious.