POOR FELIX-INDIFFERENT OSCAR-AND LOPEZ ISLAND

POST#16
Last Saturday, I made the decision to head across the water to Lopez island which is only a short ferry ride from here on Orcas. During my last visit to Orcas back in October, this journey had been one of the things on my "to do" list but I ended up enjoying Orcas so much I never made the time to go to Lopez. After a few rainy days, the forecast was telling me that Saturday, would be the only day in the next while that was going to be a sunny one, so the cats and I were up early, so that I could catch an early ferry.
After feeding Oscar and Felix, it was time to put them outside for the day, which for Felix at least wasn't his normal procedure. Usually after breakfast, he's ready for another nap, so he was a bit shocked when I carried him down the stairs and placed him out on the porch along with Oscar.
With the cats taken care of, my lunch packed and the bike in the back of the truck, I headed south for the short drive to the ferry terminal, with plenty of time to spare.
Soon after, the ferry arrived at Lopez, and my bike journey began. The guide book I had, stated "once you get beyond the steep initial climb from the ferry dock" that the journey on Lopez would be fairly easy. Well all I can say is that whoever wrote the book probably hadn't done much cycling, because the "steep initial climb" seemed to me like a walk in the park, so I figured then, that the rest of the journey should be quite easy, which proved to be correct. The only issue was one of a fairly stiff breeze out of the south, which meant a headwind for me. Anyone who has done a fair bit of biking knows, that it isn't so much the hills that are a problem, but the damn headwinds that can make an easy ride, more of an endurance test. (I remember a day many years ago in northern California, when the headwind was so severe, that I had to put my bike in the lowest gear and stand on the pedals just to go DOWNHILL. I'll let the reader imagine what thoughts were going through my head that day.) By comparison, the wind here on Lopez, was insignificant.
After about a half hour I arrived in Lopez village, however due to the early hour, there wasn't much going on, so I continued on south. My objective was to find a farm on which was located a small house that is owned by the lady I am currently housesitting for. My journey was a success and I had the opportunity to go inside and have a look. It's a house on wheels, and it would certainly live up to my standards as far as size goes, being only slightly bigger than my old cabin, Snug, back in the Yukon. She calls the place "Raven house", and if you go to google images type in raven house and scroll down to the bottom of pg 4, you can see a picture of it being towed by a pick up truck.
The sunny day never did materialize and with my objective complete, I headed back north, now enjoying the tailwind that pushed me gently towards my destination. I had some time to spend, before the ferry arrived, and found a wonderful little coffee shop with a cast of local characters, and I spent an hour or so just enjoying the local chit chat. The impression I was left with, is that Lopez is a very friendly place, and I could see why the people living there probably think that it is the best place in the world. Now I don't know about putting it at the very top of the list of the best place in the world to live, but it certainly has a very relaxed charm about it.
I continued on my journey north to the ferry and before long I was back on Orcas and eventually home. No cats were around when I arrived which certainly wasn't out of the ordinary, and finally around cat dinner time I checked outside and sure enough, Oscar and Felix's internal food clock had not let them down, and they were wanting to come in.
Unfortunately, Felix, was favouring his front right paw, so after feeding them I spent a long time with a magnifying glass and a light, examining his paw. Everything appeared to be very normal, and he even let me touch his paw without pulling away, so I couldn't really diagnose the problem. This is where the cat/human interface breaks down somewhat. "Tell me what's wrong Felix?" I asked, half expecting him to form his meows into something resembling english so that he could explain his problem to me. But who was I kidding?
So now it's Tuesday, and for the last 3 days or so POOR OLD FELIX is still limping around. Aside from the front paw, he seems perfectly ok, with a good appetite etc. I have been spending extra time with him, and have gotten into the routine of carrying him from one sleeping place to the next, or up and down the stairs so that he can go outside and do his business. I even bring his food dish to him, to save him the trouble. I have had numerous people including the vet's office yesterday suggest that he may have just injured it jumping down from somewhere, and the suggestion is to give it a couple more days to see if there is any improvement. So in the meantime I continue to fret about my buddy Felix, while Oscar on the other hand doesn't seem to care one way or the other, that his brother isn't feeling 100 per cent.
Maybe Felix is getting use to all this special treatment and has decided to milk this situation for as long as possible so that his human servant treats him with extra special care. I don't really think this is the case, but at times I wonder. But it makes me feel sad and helpless really, and I wish I could make him better. At least if you had a sick child, you might be able to find out what the problem was. And even after all the advice I've received, and in this age, where all we have to do is "google" some topic to get information about it, here am I still pretty helpless when it comes to a sore cat's paw. How pathetic is that? So I'll continue to give Felix any special care that I can, monitor his progress, and if things don't improve soon, then it's off to see Ron the vet, in order to get to the bottom of this. For the past 3 days it's all I can think about, so I do hope that Felix gets well soon.
This morning after breakfast I carried him downstairs and outside so that he could pee, and now he's gone for a bit of a wander (just to stress me out even more), but maybe he needs some time outside to breath the fresh air and commune with nature for a while. Oscar, on the other hand is curled up in front of the heater, looking quite content, without a care in the world. Where's the brotherly love, Oscar?
So now it's time to finish this blog entry, so that I can head on out to my twice weekly visit to the senior's centre down the road, to help out in the kitchen for lunch. I'm sure this will be a good distraction from fretting about Felix, as I can put my concern towards other humans for a few hours at least, and during that time if any of them come up to me with a sore paw, at least they will be able to tell me what the problem is.
That's all for now from lovely Orcas island.

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer