It’s dry here, desert dry, with humidity in the teens. When it’s hot and dry like this, black widow spiders come out to catch droplets of water from the hose, as the sprinkles shift strands of their webs in the rock wall in the lower back yard.
The other night, a few miles away, people were evacuated because of a brush fire threatening homes, an untimely reminder of last October and our four-day evacuation. I slept lightly, when I slept at all that night, worried we’d get a reverse 911 call, should the Santa Ana winds shift. Now that fire is well contained, and the sky is blue. Yesterday some high, wispy clouds stretched thin feathers across it, so high up we didn’t feel any moisture from them. At least they were pretty to look at.
The cat keeps getting charged up with static electricity when she plays. Then she touches me, gets a shock, and thinks I’m being unreasonable. But she’s a forgiving soul. As soon as the air conditioner chills her, she decides some lap time might be in order. Tara’s coat, which has fluffed out again after a few months in which we thought she’d grow up to be a shorter haired cat, now suffers from static cling, crackling close to her body as I stroke it. Her glorious, bushy tail picks up everything. It’s better than a feather duster.
Last night she cozied up to Barack Obama during the debate. I had the little desktop TV on, and she sat right in front of him, blocking my view, gently patting his face now and then. She completely ignored John McCain. I think Tara has cast her vote.
I’m still inner focused and in reading mode, sometimes online, sometimes in books. As soon as I post this, I’m off to read some more. Someone let me know when autumn starts for real around here. In my experience that’s around Halloween, so maybe my “autumn’s here” notice will be a knock on the door by little goblins.
I would be envious of people like Marion who are expecting snow soon, if I didn’t realize how many months of it she’s in for, away up there in Canada. Extreme weather for months and months — or just weather that’s too extreme, period — isn’t fun, at either end of the spectrum. I wish us all longer, gentler autumns and longer, gentler springs.
Kitten pictures follow. (Click on thumbnails to view larger images.)
The first two are from 3 months ago, when Tara was 3-1/2 months old and Indi was still with us — um, training her? Apparently they didn’t find anything good in the trash that time. In the second one, that was my clothing Miss Bigfoot was digging her claws into with the look on her face that said, “Gotcha!” She’s usually gentle with her claws when playing now, though she has yet to completely understand about not biting. Maybe when she’s finished teething in another month and a half. She’s gradually getting gentler altogether when we play, because she knows if she gets too rough, playtime ends, and she would prefer that it never, ever end.
The next two are from yesterday, at 6-1/2 months. I caught Tara in a quiet moment lounging on an office chair that she’s not really supposed to be on, but I’m just happy if she doesn’t claw it. The first shows a glimpse of her fluffy tail.
She’s starting to settle down, except for her desire to climb every mountain, which involves knocking things off high shelves. I have most of my breakables put away safely now, so if she doesn’t kill herself dragging a heavy, blunt object onto her own head, we’re all safe.
Well, if it brought black widows that’d be the end of me ever using a hose!
I’ve got our cat Sabrina sleeping on my lap right now, but she’s at the other end of her life. At least 19 and maybe 20. I don’t have a record and we realized a few weeks ago that we had perhaps been misremembering events we’ve always gauged her age by. She isn’t exactly playful, but still can jump up on the window sill. Her main “game” is meowing to wake us up if we stay in bed too long in the morning. For years she was practically silent and only found her voice about 10 years ago. Now does she ever have a voice! Hope Tara has many happy years ahead.
As for snow…I’d be happy to see it for a few days to enjoy the scenic effect. As long as it melted in a few days. Alas, I have lots of winter scenery in store soon here in the northeast. How about snow that would coat the mountains and trees and drift, but not on the roads, and unaccompanied by ice or cold? Warm, fluffy, non-slipper snow! Merely cosmetic, to cover winter’s dull brown landscape.
She’s adorable! I love kittens.
Hahahaha. I thought about Eric when I read about the Black Widows.
Tara is adorable with her distinctively fluffy tail. She looks so sweet - just like you. xoxo
Tara is beautiful-cats can be such fun!
Barbara, I can see something in your writing here: you need to sit down and work on a novel, a short story maybe. There’s poetry in your words.
I knew it. CATS.
She’s beautiful. I just love fluffy cats. My Smokey Joe has such a beautiful fluffy coat.
She should start settling down now, and maybe get into less trouble.
Cas
One can always hope.
You think those cats are cute. They are just using you.
Well, Barbara, it’s 96 degrees right this very minute according to the thermometer outside my office window. Did someone say it was autumn? Just another day in paradise.
When I got Misty (aka Artemis), she was (I thought) a short-haired kitten. Her mother was a Russian blue. But poppa, obviously, had some long-haired fluff genes, because Misty could easily be Tara’s twin, squirrel tail and all.
You’re right about the black widow spiders. I have to be careful when grabbing the hose to water the garden, or picking up the gloves and tools to grub about in the dirt.
When are we going to get some winter weather?