THE ROUTINE

POST # 28 On most days since I began this fulltime house/petsitting gig, I tend to wake up early which seems to me to be rather odd, considering I don't have to head off to anywhere in particular, and since breaking my leg, I really am quite housebound for most of the time. Perhaps it's because I have animals depending on me that I like to get off to an early start. And the two cats here, Tai and Maggie are no exception. Take this morning for instance. I awoke around 6am to find Tai the siamese, curled up on the bed beside me which is exactly where she was when I turned out the light the night before. As soon as she realizes that I am awake, she gets up, stretches and then wanders over and climbs up on top of me, with her purr engine working at full speed. She loves to be patted gently on the top of her back, just in front of her tail and while I do that, she gives me a few licks on the face. Now, normally at this point I would begin the process of getting up, but this morning, I decided that 6 am was a little too early, so I closed my eyes again, and Tai took this as a sign to settle back down, which she proceeded to do on top of my chest. I dozed off for a few minutes more, enjoying the fact that I had a warm, purring furball on top of me. Once I was awake for the second time, Tai moved back over to the other side of the bed, and Maggie, the persian decided to hop up on the bed to get her early morning cuddles. Most mornings, Maggie can be found snoozing beside the bed, as she seems to let Tai be the dominant cat, but every once and a while she gets up the courage to leap up, and she is rewarded with plenty of affection as a result. So this morning I had my hands full, petting Maggie with my right hand and patting Tai on the rear end with my left. Stereo purring and all three of us feeling pretty contented about the whole affair. It would have been very easy to just stay in bed for quite a while longer, but because this is blog day, and because I have an afternoon appointment, I needed to get up and get going. The cats are keen for me to get up as well, as this means that I will be feeding them. So while they head off to the room where their dishes are located, I spend the next few minutes getting myself dressed. Since last Friday I have finally begun to go to bed without any cast on my leg and so the first item on the agenda is to place it back into position, and wrap it to the leg with a couple of tensor bandages and clips. The remainder of my dressing procedure goes pretty smoothly now, as I am getting quite good at balancing on my one good leg. Finally, I put my one sock and one shoe on, grab my crutches and hobble over to the kitchen. First stop is to get the coffee brewing, followed by a trip to the fridge, to grab the can of soft cat food, and while the coffee maker is doing its thing, I head over to the bedroom where I know I will find Tai and Maggie waiting for breakfast. Most of the mornings that I have been here have been sunny, and this room faces east, so when I arrive, Tai is up in the cat tree, lounging in the sunbeam, and Maggie is doing the same thing, but she is curled up on the carpet. The first order of business for me is to get down on the floor. I do this by first sitting in a chair, and then easing myself down to floor level. I have two strategically placednew bags of catlitter on each side of the chair, and I use these as a "step" down for my hands, and from there I ease myself to the floor. From this position I am free to "bum" around the floor and over to the food tray, where I dispense both types of food for the girls. Tai, being the dominant one, is the first to get tucked in to the food, while Maggie seems content to spend a few more minutes basking in the sunbeam until Tai is out of the way. While this is taking place I bum across the room to the litter box, and clean it out which is kind of like a treasure hunt. With all the chores complete, I get back to the chair, lift myself up with my arms balanced on the litter bags, then up onto the chair, grab my crutches, grab the bagwhich now contains the contents from the litter box in one hand, grab the cat food in the other hand and with great caution, so as to not step on top of either cat, I make my way back to the kitchen, first stopping at the top of the stairs to put down the litter bag, and then I continue on to the kitchen, to wash my hands, place the remaining cat food in the fridge, and pour myself a cup of coffee. Fortunately I have a coffee travel mug with a lid which has become a real asset now. I can hook my index finger around the handle, and I still have enough fingers left to hold onto my crutch, and so I walk over to the stairs, place the coffee cup up on the ledge next to the stairs, lean the crutches against the wall, and slowly ease myself down to the floor for the second time in the morning. Next, I slide the crutches down the first 7 stairs to the landing below, grab the coffee cup in one hand and the litter bag in the other, and bum my way down to the landing. Here I make a 180 degree turn, slide the crutches down the last 7 stairs to the floor below, and proceed to the bottom. The litter bag gets deposited in the garbage, and with coffee cup in hand, I continue my journey to the room that houses the computer, and fire it up for the day. With a few minor variations now and again, this is how my days have started here. I've done the commute up and down the stairs so many times now, that it has become second nature. Today is a busier day than normal, as not only do I have this blog to finish, I also have to make a trip to the Saanich Penninsula Hospital, or SaanPenn as the locals call it. This will be my third visit, and the reason is to go to physio for my leg. Last week I had a follow up x-ray and visit with an orthopedic surgeon to see how the bones were mending, and it all looked good, so now it's a matter of getting the ankle joint moving again after all these weeks of inactivity. I have today's physio and then one more appointment tomorrow, and I hope to continue this after I get to Calgary next week. I leave this housesit on Thursday this week, a couple of days earlier than anticipated, but the owners will be arriving home then. It's been a very relaxed time here in Victoria, which I am very grateful for as it has allowed my leg to heal day by day. Come Thursday I will be off on a new adventure with more new sights to see, more people to visit and more thoughts to ponder. I am looking forward to the next phase of this journey That's all for now. Paul The Thoughtful Wanderer PS. I have left this blog unedited due to the fact that for some reason if I try to edit text, the computer eats up the words following where the cursor is placed, and since I don't want to have to re-write this whole thing I have decided to post it, warts and all. So I apologize for any errors.