Or, as I prefer, Day {whatever} of “America Held Hostage”.
Sorry for the rather long absence. It’s not been the best of weeks here at the Freehold. Last Thursday, I had to have the last of our “Old Lady” cats put down. We knew the end was near, but we didn’t think it was quite so close. It always sucks, but this one sucked a little harder. We’ve lost all 3 of the Old Ladies in less than 18 months, and the last 2 this year.
However, God acts in mysterious ways. Monday, I had to go to the podiatrist. Yes, another effing specialist in my life. Working diagnoses is neuropathy in my feet, cause unknown. I’d blame my bum thyroid, but if it was the cause, this would have never happened since treatment for the thyroid ends hypothyroid-induced neuropathy. This is in addition to plantar fascitis, which I’ve had a mild case of for years. We’re working on treatment.
Getting old sucks, but it still beats the alternative.
Arriving home, Mrs. Freeholder informed me that she was hearing a cat meowing outside. We have neighbors with outdoor and indoor/outdoor cats, so this isn’t unheard of. Unfortunately, kitten and puppy season seems to be off to an early start this year (thank you, irresponsible asshole pet owners) and she said this sounded sort of high pitched. So I started looking. And looked, called, listened, heard it myself and finally tracked it down to her Jeep.
Shit.
Before we extracted the kitten, I had all the kids over helping. Son-In-Law and I had it up on jack stands and dismantled most of the front in our rescue attempt. However, we did eventually succeed. Meet Cherokee:
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| Yep. Totally worth the effort. |
According to the vet, she’s 7-8 weeks old and in excellent health. I’m guessing she’s going to be a little kitty, but that’s OK, because she’s home now. She doesn’t have to deal with outdoor dangers.
As those of you who are owned by multiple cats well know, this is an interesting time as the newcomer is found a place in the feline hierarchy and everyone gets used to the newcomer. Hissing, spitting and sulking are the order of the day. The cats are upset as well.
The current unsettled weather has also been an enabler for the migraines. Persistent fronts and pressure areas, warm or cold, high or low, give me fits these days. Fortunately the rescue drugs are doing their job. I suppose I should be…happy?…that these things waited until I was older and Mother Nature was done with me, rather than hitting me when I was young and studly, screwing up the sowing of my wild oats instead. But it sure feels like Time is piling on. I’m pretty sure another one is spinning up for later today. Yay me.
I have been out and about in the larger world more often. Not quite as much as “normal”, but far more than April. In most places, traffic is nearly back to pre-Wuflu levels. Restaurants are still closed, but most everything else seems to have re-opened (without Oberbannsturmfuhrer Cooper’s permission, I’ll note) in large extent. Besides restaurants, “personal services” are still pretty much out of order. If my barber doesn’t reopen soon, my son and I have a date with the hair clippers. He’ll be driving.
The beat goes on with business bankruptcies and closures, locally and nationally. Some of those I’ve noted are
- JC Penny
- Pier 1
- J. Crew
- Neiman Marcus
- Stage Stores (there go the local Goodies and Peebles stores)
- Borden Dairy (I remember touring their local processing plant as a kid, and I grew up on their milk and ice cream)
- Gold’s Gym (there goes 2 local locations-waiting on Planet Fitness to go as well)
- Ruby Tuesday closes two local locations
That list goes on and on and is added to just about every day.
I’m also getting more and more contacts from various charities where we donate. Second Harvest Food Bank is seeing large numbers of the newly needy. So is the Salvation Army. The Zimbabwe Pensioners Support Fund is also feeling the pinch. So is any group that depends on donations, from arts groups to the local humane society. I’m pitching in, and I encourage you to do so with your preferred charities.
What I’m not seeing so much of, at least in terms of what I expected, are toys and things not useful in a depression coming up for sale. I suppose it’s still early in the process. I am seeing houses for sale that are reducing prices. Son-In-Law also tells me the local car dealerships (remember, he’s a body guy at one) are starting to hurt and many are laying off employees. Daughter says the accounting biz is booming as individuals and business try to get in on the government money bonanza.
I’ve been getting emails from the various health systems that I’m an unwilling customer of, pointing out that they’re open, and not just if you have Wuflu. I suppose they’ve figured out that they are not going to collapse under the weight of infectious patients, and that it’s the elective procedures that keep the bills paid.
Criminal violence is up. Every day has another shooting in one of the nearby cities. Details are almost always thin. I expect this to spread. We should probably pray that summer is neither long nor hot.
There’s more, but this is already long, so I’ll save it for another time. For now, I need to load up the truck with donations destined for the Salvation Army’s local stores. There are actually some empty spots appearing in the basement. Huzzah!
