Together at last!

By the time I got home yesterday Fred was beginning to act like he had had enough of being in a room alone. So I took the towel from underneath the door and he and Bella "interacted" through the evening. This morning when I got up, he had one leg stuck all the way out to his shoulder, and was feeling around with his paw. So I picked Bella up and opened the door. He came out slowly and started looking around. I took Bella in the other room and put her down and they spent the next two hours out together. He was exploring and she was following his every step with a very watchful eye. I did hear one slight exchange of hisses while I was getting dressed, but they went back to their prowling mode.

I was beginning to worry about how I was going to get him back in the bedroom before I left when he obliged by walking in to his food dish. So I shut the door on him, to his somewhat vocal objections.

I think this is going to work!

The Second Day

Well, we made some progress overnight and when I went in this morning to feed and water Fred, he came up to me and allowed me to scratch his ears and pet him. Unfortunately a little later, I heard a loud bang from the room and when I went in he has pulled the desk chair over and it evidently really scared him because he was back to the hissing and spitting stage.

After I got home from church I went in and although he hissed at me when I got too close, he couldn't resist the feather on a stick I had and he played with me for a good while. But no more ear scratching.

Bella keeps going to the door and trying to put her paw under it--I am unable to determine just what that means!

The first 24 hours!

Well, the first 24 hours with the new kitty has been interesting. He was totally freaked out by the one hour plus he had to spend in the carrier, beginning with 3 1/2 miles of rough gravel road.

Then, although I had a plan about what I was going to do when I got home, I didn't follow it, which caused much more confusion.

I had planned to take him directly to the guest room where there was a litter pan, toys, food, water, the curtains all pulled open so he could see out, etc. and leave him there to recover from the trip. But he was so distressed that I made the mistake of letting him out of the carrier in the sitting room. Bella immediately came up to investigate and he went up to her to touch noses and she hissed and spit at him. Smart boy, he just backed up from her, but they then spent the next several hours glaring at each other across the room in the living room. I was afraid to try to pick him up to put him in the guest room because I got hissed and spit at by both of them if I even went near them.

So, come bedtime, I took Bella (with a litter pan) into my bedroom and closed the door, letting him have the house to himself.

Things were no better this morning, but fortunately about 9:30 he decided to explore the guest room and I was able to close the door. When I checked on him an hour later, he was curled up on the pillows in the sun, napping.

I have gone into the room several times during the day and sat in the chair and read for a while. The first time I went in he ran and hid. The second time he jumped off the bed and watched me. The last two times he stayed put, and just watched me closely. I guess I have to get him used to me before I will try again with Bella who is being a witch. If I stay in the room too long with him, she comes to the door and starts scratching, he goes to the door and they hiss at each other through the crack at the bottom.

I think he is not as socialized as Bella was, of course, she was only about 2 months old and he is six months old. So I guess a strange house, a strange person, and an unwelcoming cat would be enough to put anyone out of sorts.

I think he has been named. June commented on the way back yesterday (she went along for the ride), that he looked like Fred Astaire because he was dressed in his tuxedo and spats. So I guess he is Fred--not the poetic name I was dreaming up but more and more he does seem like a Fred.

All Saint's Day - 2008

For all the Saints who from their labors rest . . .


http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh711.sht

Christ Episcopal Church in Little Rock has a tradition going back many years concerning All Saint's Day. On the Sunday before All Saint's, the children of the parish gather after church to make banners commemorating those who have died during the previous year. Then at the All Saint's Service and on the Sunday closest to All Saint's Day, the children carry these banners in procession with the choir (sometimes a rather amusing event), and the banners are hung around the sides of the nave. After the Sunday service, the banners are given to the family of the departed.




This is Daddy's banner from All Saint's Day 2004, They took my description of him as a gardener quite literally, hence the many flowers and veggies, along with the tools of his trade.

This is Mother's banner from this year. It has books and flowers on it. It was carried in the procession by Natalie Pettit, the granddaughter of a friend of mine. Natalie is six and not a very outgoing child, and Joan (my friend) was delighted when Natalie said she would carry a banner this year. She made two practice runs before church. Since the banners go in in alpha order she found out at the last minute that she would be the first one. The banner kept waving in the breeze and she kept tweeking it back into place, it was all I could do not to laugh, she was so intent on keeping it facing forward that she forgot to be scared.

As a part of the service the names of all those remembered including those from years past were read by our Vicar, more than a hundred of them. He did it perfectly, each name got the same amount of time and emphasis and he did not hurry through any of them, the last one was read the same way as the first.

After the service we had a reception in the gallery with food and wine (for the adults) and punch for the children and the drivers.

New member of the household

Bella is getting a little brother! I was on the waiting list for another non-Standard Munchkin, female, not black. The litter arrived, all male, all standard (short legged) and no new litter is expected for several months, so I went back to the breeders web site and looked at the little black and white non-Standard male, the only kitten left from an April litter. Several visits later, and some information and new pictures from the breeder and I decided he would be a good companion for Bella. He is six months old now, used to being around older cats, and pals around with a two-year old neutered male. He is described as being outgoing and friendly, but still a little hesitant about new things (aren't we all!) and weighs in at 5 1/2 pounds so he will not grow to be a giant cat. He is at the vets now being snipped, better he blames the breeder than me for that. I will go get him on Friday, November 7 if all goes well.

The naming game begins. They have been calling him Midnight, but I don't think that fits since to me that means a solid black cat. He has a smudge on his nose and I am tempted with Smudge the Second. Those of you who saw my cat I brought home from San Salvador will know how appropriate that is. However, I am going to wait and see. Many cats name themselves with their behavior--hopefully, he will not deserve "Meanie" which is what a friend's children have named their cat!

I am open to suggestions.

In Memoriam

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; even so saith the Sprit; for they rest from their labors."

You may have read or heard on the national news the story of the local TV anchorwoman who was brutally beaten in her home. After clinging to life for several days, she died Saturday evening.

I don't claim to be a friend of hers, although I would have liked to. I did have several encounters with her over the past couple of years that lead me to believe that she was an extraordinary young women. In the summer before my mother died, I began to go to our 6:00 p.m. Sunday Eucharist service, which is followed at 6:45 by Compline. Compline is the last prayers of the day and at Christ Church they are sung by an a cappella choir with sometimes heart wrenching beauty. One of those Sunday evenings, as I was leaving after the service, I noticed a young woman who had been sitting directly behind me that I did not know. I introduced myself and welcomed her. She introduced herself in turn and it was Anne. She was filling in at 5:30 for the regular Sunday evening anchor and had dropped in for Compline on her break because she had not been able to go to church that day.

I continued to see her occasionally at Compline and she came into the Bookstore a couple of times for cards or small gifts for co-workers.

Anne was one of those people who make immediate connection with you. She was full of life and promise having just been promoted to a morning show where she did all sorts of weird things with unfailing humor and laughter.

So today, along with many other people in this small community Arkansas, I grieve for her.

Isn't technology great!

I have spent the past week fooling with my computer at the bookstore. It all started last Tuesday when I came in and turned the computer on and discovered splashed across the desktop, obliterating most of my program icons, a message that I had malicious spy wear on my computer and there were fatal errors that would prevent me from doing anything. All I had to do was click on the enticing little link at the bottom of the message and "all will be well."

Well I didn't get off the train yesterday and I did not click here. I immediately backed up vital programs and then started trying to get the thing off. After running the two programs I had installed for removal of such things with no success, I called a friend in the computer business. He came by Wednesday morning and ran a couple more cleaning programs with no success. He then called other people who gave him other advice, but in the long run, Thursday afternoon we gave up and reformatted the hard drive.

I don't ordinarily come into the store on Friday since I have a volunteer and I decided to just leave everything until Monday. However, about 10:15 my volunteer called to say that she could not find the key to the cash register. It was not where it was supposed to be and she had looked every where. Since I was just getting ready to head in her direction I passed by the Bookstore and opened the cash register with my key and made another search. We have yet to find the key. Everyone claims no knowledge and I was the last one to see it because the Sunday volunteer had left it in the cash register and I found it Monday morning and put it in the drawer. So add that stress to the computer thing.

Monday morning to began assembling all the softwear I had to put back on and spent all of the day doing just that. I put the last piece on this morning, restored my backed up data, and am sort of back into business. Unfortunately, Outlook cannot "locate my email server" so I have no email, but that is minor compared to almost a week's worth of bookkeeping I have to do and a bank deposit.

Right in the middle of that I got a statement from one of my book suppliers noting that I had a rather large balance that was 120 days overdue! The invoice numbers on the statement matched nothing in my files so I called them and spent 45 minutes going over purchase orders and invoices, only to have the person I was talking to finally say she didn't know where the information on the statement came from and I should disregard it. I told her to send me a fax saying that--I have had dealings with their accounts receivable department before. Unfortunately, this suppliers is one I can't quit on, they are my supplier for Episcopal prayer books, liturgical supplies, etc. and while I could get all those things somewhere else, not with the 46% discount I get from them.

The strange thing through all this I still love being here. I think it is because even with problems, they are mine to solve with no one second guessing me or trying to tell me how to do it.