Foolishness

The sight of a shirtless man passing my window startled me, mostly because no-one ever passes this way, but also it was rather surprising to see naked flesh in March.

A minute later, Grant, who I’d thought was in the living room, appeared around the front of the house. He’d gone out to enjoy the warm afternoon sun. A bit later, when I topped up the feeders I understood.

Tuesday’s temperature topped out at 75F/24C.

Lovely, but a bit warm for early March, and such a tease when the mercury soon plummets again. Changing weather does not suit old bones!

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It takes time for large accumulations of snow to melt. It was catching the light prettily, so I grabbed a handful to hold up to the Sun.

Without making the attempt, I seem to have created a creature with a pointed nose.

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Another handful turned into a tortoise?

Playing with ice is more enjoyable on warm days, but your efforts quickly dissolve.

Perhaps that is half the fun.

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Concerns about Dee Dee saw us off to the vet on Monday.

She is a very laid back cat but she does not appreciate being bundled into a carrier and carted off along bumpy roads to be poked and prodded. Especially without the courtesy of prior notification. She protested quietly.

Dee Dee spends a lot of time attached to Grant and he has noticed recently that she gulps periodically, for no discernible reason, so we decided to take her for her annual check-up a few weeks early.

Our girl submitted to the examination with good grace, considering she is a cat. Some cats require the handles to don protective gear, but that was not necessary, however nothing could be found that was likely to cause the gulping. More intensive examination would be costly and likely pointless since Grant will not consider subjecting Dee Dee to surgery.

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Cats have a tendency to low tolerance of anesthesia, this we know from sad experience, and the older the cat, the higher the risk. So we spend a lot of time watching and waiting. It is possible that Dee Dee is reacting to the freeze-dried food she favours and we agreed not to give it to her for a while to test the theory, but today Grant admitted that he gave in to her demands. He’s not hard-hearted like me.

So, watching, waiting and worrying. The latter serves no purpose but one does it anyway.

For now, Dee Dee appears absolutely fine.

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Across the valley, snow was now all but fully gone from the hill.

Contrails continued for the rest of the day.

We often go for days without seeing a contrail, yet most of these flights probably operate daily. I suppose it all has to do with temperatures and wind conditions. Even as a little girl before I knew much about aeroplanes I loved to watch them.

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A news item I saw this morning mentioned great disruptions in airline schedules related to the current situation in the Middle East and I can picture the chaos in the affected airports.

So many flights route through the Gulf. My brother and my friend Tim both passed through Doha only days before all this started. I thank heaven they were not caught in the middle, but I know many were and can imagine the anxiety of their family and friends.

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It was another story, I will admit, that distressed me more. Many residents of the UAE have been evacuated – 45,000 British alone and many have had to leave their pets behind.

In that situation, I think I would have to remain, but I have never been faced with such a decision, so I cannot be sure, but if I was forced to leave a pet I know I would never forgive myself. It is heart-breaking to think of all those abandoned animals.

What we humans do to each other is bad enough, but why must animals always suffer from our foolishness?

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