WINDING DOWN WITH SHADOW

POST # 50


Yikes!!!!! It's late, almost 11am and I have only now just begun to write a few words for this week's entry. Usually on "blog day" I am up early and for the most part I have had at least a seed of an idea or two to get my writing started. But this morning I seem to have drawn a blank. I can think of a reason why, as my mind lately is on other things, but be that as it may, I have committed to writing this blog four times per month, so let's get on with it shall we?

The truth is, I did wake up early today, and I had every intention of getting out of bed, and then before I knew it, Shadow the cat had jumped up to join me and he was purring up a storm, so what else is the housesitter to do, but stay there and do his job, petting the cat and enjoying his company for a while.

Of course I knew why he was there, and it wasn't to wake me up to let me know that it was "blog day." Shadow has two missions in life, the morning feed and the evening feed, and he was trying desperately to tell me that it was time for the former. "OK, I know you're hungry, furball, but hey, it's only 6:30am and wouldn't you rather stay here and cuddle for a short while?"

I guess I must have done a good sell job on him, because after I lifted up the covers slightly, he crawled under them, did his little cat turn and settled down on my right arm, purring loudly, and that's the last thing I remember until I woke up again around 9:30am. My arm at that point felt detached from the rest of my body, as Shadow had been lying on it, and had managed to do a pretty good job of cutting off the blood circulation to it. So I began my day today with a wonky right leg and wonky right arm.

Needless to say, Shadow beat me down the stairs to the main floor. Even if I had two perfectly functioning legs, I would be no match for this cat. He literally runs down the staircase, and in a second or two is standing in front of the special door in the kitchen, where the cat food is housed. Because we had such a late start to our day, he is totally focused on the task at hand, which is to have his morning meal. It takes only a moment or two to accomplish this and then I am free to continue on with my day at least until tonight when once again, Shadow and I will be doing the sacred food dance in the kitchen. But for now, my time is my own.

Over the couple of weeks that I have been here at this housesit, I have become quite attached to this long fanged, long haired, long, cat. It happens every time for me with each new animal that has been placed in my care. I guess that is partly why I like to do this house/pet sitting business. And if the pets are happy, then the owners are happy, and everything is as it should be.

Speaking of the owners. They return late tomorrow, from their holiday in Mexico, so I have only two more days including today, to spend with Shadow, so I will try to make the best of it. My guess is, that we will have one more sleep in together tomorrow. But who knows? Shadow might have other ideas about that.

Starting tomorrow, I will have a three day "vacation" prior to my next housesit here in Vancouver with my old dog buddies Jackson and Peach. Now I know, I know, most people who know me think that I am now on permanent vacation because I don't have a regular job to go to, but a vacation for me these days, is living without the responsibility of caring for an animal or animals. So I look forward to this short break, and I know I will have a wonderfully relaxed and enjoyable time prior to my upcoming housesit.


I happened to look back on my blog entry from a year ago, and I was surprised to see that there had already been snow here in Vancouver at that time. No snow yet, but lots and lots of rain. Welcome to the new normal.

Shadow is downstairs now with me, stretched out on top of the pool table, having a nap. What a life. I'll finish these last few words and then it's time to get some food into the petsitter's mouth, and then make a plan for how to spend the rest of the day. Perhaps I will finally get over to the restaurant on Victoria Ave. that makes the Roti Chanai that I talked about in my last blog. Or maybe I'll just hang out with Shadow.


Happy trails,


Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer