Hanging on

Snow came last Friday. It wasn't a blizzard, but I took the bus to avoid having to clean my bike and there was talk of chili-making around lunch time. The Flatirons got a pretty dusting, the tenderest plants in the garden lost their fight and I even turned the heat on for a little while. I gathered the last of the zinnias in the night before. One of my cats also stopped eating on Friday.

The sun returned by Saturday morning, but my weekend turned into a whirlwind of visits to the emergency animal clinic (because no animal of mine has ever managed to fall ill during the work week) and a whole lot of anxious waiting. I busied myself tearing down the vegetables, planting crocuses for next spring and watching this year's flower bed residents gather the tail end of their own harvests.

The butterfly smacked at the bee, the mantis lie in wait for both of them and the spider hurried off with his jaws full. It was a beautiful day with a light sense of impending doom.

The local emergency clinic gave back my unimproved cat and a very large bill (but still no answers) as they closed Monday morning and then we were off to CSU, an hour away. If you are ever tempted to take a cat for an hour-long joy ride, let me dissuade you. While the good folks at the teaching hospital poked and prodded my cat, I whiled away a few hours in Fort Collins in the brilliant sunshine feeling ever so slightly miserable. I picked up a copy of Smoke and Mirrors to distract myself, but reading "The Price" might not have been the best decision.

The good news is, one last vet-sponsored sleepover later, I got a mostly normal (though rather shorn) cat back and everyone is back home again. Thanks to Tony at Eco Thrift who gave me a farm-fresh carrot, the girls at White Balcony who distracted me with shiny things and the amazing CSU staff and students who fixed the acute GI issue I brought them.

My friend will knit him a belly cozy and some leg warmers.

Now I just have to deal with the second cat who, after pining away (I thought) in the first cat's absence, claims never to have seen him in her life and growls and hisses at him 24/7. Oh, and when they mention "vocalization and pacing" as a potential side effect of a cat's meds, they're not kidding. There doesn't seem to be an off switch. I love my housemates.