Comfort

Theo no longer can jump up on my lap. But he’s never really been a lap cat. So for the past year when he’s tried to pull himself up on my lap I interpreted to mean he wanted to be fed just like all his other go to moves. The past week I’ve pulled him up onto my lap and have been surprised that he wants to stay there… Sorry lil buddy… I should have figured this out sooner.
 

A Moment with Norma Jean

Peek a boo… She sees you.
 

Camera Clicks

Alias is wondering how one is supposed to take a nap with all the paparazzi around. Norma doesn’t seem to have that concern.
 

Cute Nappers

They have such a rough life…
 

QBT

QBT =.quality brother time.
 

Business Assistant

Norma’s favorite spot to sit is whatever I’m working on.
 

Wonder Boy

Theo is wondering when he’s gonna figure out this thing called life.
 

Teddy Bears

When I was a kid, I used to sleep with a teddy bear. I think these two have an even more comforting arrangement.
 

Appointment Kept

Norma told the sun she’d meet her at the corner and the sun agreed. All were happy.
 

Sick

I was looking forward to the upcoming week as completing my return to the world. I had three speaking events the past month and it felt good being among other people again. Public speaking tends to energize me and I felt all three presentations went well and felt a little of my old mojo returning.  The upcoming week had an Easter dinner with some of my family, and three days away from home at a resort for a conference.  

I was a little worried about leaving Theo alone for three days. Since 2020 his eating routine has become a day long event. He basically only eats when I go downstairs, put out his dish again, and he’ll take a few nibbles. I feared he’d eat very little if I was gone. I hired someone from Rover.com to come over to feed Theo, Alias, and Norma twice a day for the three days. She came over last week to meet them and get all the routine. When she arrived I realized this was the first human other than myself that Alias and Norma had ever seen in our house. They ran away and hid. 

I began to feel sick Friday morning. It started with a sore throat, congestion and body aches. By mid-morning I couldn’t get warm so I crawled underneath my covers and turned on the space heater as I shivered away. I took a COVID test that turned out negative. Saturday morning I woke up and my sheets were soaked with sweat. I was feeling even worse so I took another test. This one was positive.  I can tell you the last time I felt this bad.  It was March 2020. I had the same symptoms. I was going into work because I was scheduled to testify in a few legislative hearings. I thought I was being heroic but in retrospect... Eventually I was told to go home. And then everything shutdown. I’ve always wondered if I had COVID back then and am happy I didn’t get any of my co-workers sick. 

So my full return to the world, significant to me on many levels,  has been derailed by of all things... COVID.

Face in the Window

Norma has learned when the garage door goes up, it means I haven’t permanently abandon her.
 

Eye Roll

Alias has learned that it’s best to let Theo be Theo.
 

Confirmation

Yes Alias, you have a very sweet face.
 

Alias and Norma

Cuddle huddle.
 

Our Tree

Friday was quite the sad day in our house. The 70 year old ash tree in our front yard was removed. For several years, I had been paying to treat it to prevent the Emerald Ash Borer. The past couple of years the tree’s foliage was noticeably less and less. The recent windy nights led to several large branches falling. I decided it was time to take the tree down. Norma and Alias loved sitting on my bed upstairs and looking out the skylight to the top of the tree where there usually were a bunch of birds. They also liked looking out the living room’s picture window where they watched squirrels race up and down the tree’s trunk. The noise from the removal scared Alias as he hid under the bed most of the day. Norma diligently watched the man at the top of the tree. Bigger than a bird, this was new for her. Life lost just a little bit of excitement in their daily lives.

I was caught off guard at how emotional losing the tree was. Because the tree was within 20 feet of my house, with every storm that blew by over the years, there was the added anxiety of worrying the tree would topple onto my house, or worse onto my neighbor’s house. Still, watching the crew dismember the tree, branch by branch, pieces of the thick trunk sawed into manageable chunks, it wasn’t lost on me that this was still a living being that had been around for a long time, with a lot of history.

I didn’t have the crew grind the stump away, temporarily saving a little money and afterward I’m glad I didn’t have them do that. Because there’s a nice reminder left behind of my once mighty ash tree.

“Now I’m out in the backyard leaning on a tree/And I have no way of knowing 

Can’t lean too hard that’s my philosophy/Man that tree is growing

Maybe I’ll never grow up to be straight and tall/But you can lean on me, baby, I won’t fall 

Maybe in the deal I can learn to bend/Learn to listen like that tree, baby like a good friend”

                                                                                          -John Hiatt ‘Stolen Moments’

 

Activity Report

It’s brothers hangout time. Meanwhile Norma is batting a bubblegum wrapper all around downstairs.
 

Sun Mates

I don’t know which it is, but either the sun always finds them, or they always find the sun. It’s uncanny.
 

Her Pillow

Norma has found an excellent heated pillow.
 

Help

Theo fell into the jaws of a cat eating box…
 

Guards

I’m guessing they are not going to let me go upstairs without first paying some fee, probably in food form.
 

Big Brother

Theo is making sure his siblings are all set for the night before he tucks himself in. He’s a good big brother.