6/27/2020

It’s been a really long time since I last wrote. I’ve been so involved with irl things, that I’ve not been letting my imagination play with the written word. I’m in the process of moving to a much larger place where I’m hoping to have more than enough room to set out all of my things. I’m planning on setting up a corner specifically for writing where I can set up a small piece of heaven and relax.

Some say writing is angst and sorrow. I believe writing is finding that moment where things are silent, soft, and fluffy. It’s a glow, a calling, a singular ringing of a prayer bell, the song of a bird in joy. I’m hoping that I can find that space once more so I can fluff out some of my stories and scenes, maybe write out some more poetry.

Until that day.

Journal of Thoughts 2/4/19

It’s been a long time since I put anything here. I’ve been living a roller coaster of emotion, exertion, and health for the last few years. I’ve made and lost friends, lost loved ones, and had several realizations. I’ve had a couple of Come to Jesus meetings with myself about what is acceptable in a friend and if I ever want a relationship with anyone ever again. I don’t think I find anyone. I realize that what I’ve lived through has caused my bar of expectations to be so high, what I will accept is so high, that there might not be a single person who will truly meet my needs in a relationship.

I’ve done a lot of reading, some good, some not worthy of toilet tissue status. Some of the more passed around memes about relationships I kinda consider old fashioned “hog wash”.  But for good, bad, or worse, I decided to put down my thoughts where I can pull them out and look at them every now and again, maybe adjust them, maybe not.

So, here they are:

I want someone who is a partner. Not someone who does all the same things I do, that would be boring, but someone who is there to do things with me, share his or her experiences, and love making new ones.

I need someone who is loyal. I need someone who places me above their friends, who values family, family time, and all the things that incurs. For once I need to be first in someone’s life. I need someone to love only me. I am not polyamorous. I am territorial and possessive, but not jealous. Once eyes stray or the wrong phrase is said too many times to someone else, well, you know where the door is.

I want someone who can make me laugh and who understands when I’m trying to be funny or silly. I don’t always catch when someone is teasing me or is telling a joke. I don’t find most forms of humor funny, so I need a special person who understands that and doesn’t find fault with me because of it. On the other hand, my humor is not always typical or mainstream. I tend to make connections that few see the way I do. As a result, I might find something funny because it crosses into multiple things that I know about.

I want someone who won’t shy away from working both at a job and in and around the home. I want to be able to build a relationship and a home that both of us enjoy, want, and cherish. I don’t want to be the one making all of the decisions. I want someone who can see that something needs to be done and does it, not someone who sees it then waits for me to fix or clean it.

I demand honesty and transparency. I’ve been hurt and slighted too much from dishonesty in relationships. Lack of honesty and transparency is not acceptable. If someone is in my life, I need to be able to trust that person.

I need to be able to have faith in that person. I need to know that if I try something or face a challenge that my partner will be there to back me up, to support me and help me as needed. I need to have unshakeable faith in their ability to be there.

I need someone with an open mind. I do not tolerate any forms of racism or prejudice even in the games I play. Any form of either is completely unacceptable. If either are used for humor, well, the door is THAT WAY.

I need someone who is strong enough to be his or her own person, strong enough to fight with me, argue with me.  Arguing does not mean you dislike each other, it simply means you disagree with something. Allow the disagreements, they are healty.

These aren’t all that I’m looking for, but they are the immutable ones.  My list of needs for a person to have. What will I bring to the relationship? All that I require in a person in return.

Across the Rainbow Bridge

On Monday I had to put my dog to sleep. He was a wonderful, old lab mix that the vets never could agree about. Some said he was part mastiff, others part Dane, but all agreed that it was part BIG. He was a sweetheart, a lover, a comforter, and a protector. He was there when we needed him every time, there to scare off anyone from coming inside that he didn’t personally agree with. He took care of us.

When we got kittens, he became their guardian. He understood that the babies were his new ones to be his to protect. He let them climb on him. He wagged his tail so they would play with it. They, in turn, treated him as their protector and de facto nanny. He didn’t even chase after the cats when one of them scented his nose.

Buddy was a silent protector who needed to know where everyone was at all points in time. He had to lie down in the best place to see all of the people in his home. So he, in essence, was a road block 99% of the time. After all, it is never easy stepping over a 112 pound dog whenever he blocked a door especially when he would unexpectedly raise his head or try to stand up while you are mid-step.

The decision to let my dog go over the Rainbow Bridge was not made easily. I waited and put it off as long as I could. I just couldn’t let him go until he started whimpering in pain each night. It became difficult for him to walk, to stand, and to remain standing even during his walks. I finally had to accept that his quality of life was not worth the struggle of the day to day. I talked with his vet and she agreed that it was time. We cried. We held onto him and let the tears flow. We hugged him and petted him and it seemed that he understood in the end. The vet came in and he placed his big, blocky head into her hand and looked into her eyes. Acceptance and love were there for all to see.

He died as he came to us, a big lover, protector, and a huge part of my family.

I love and miss you, Buddy. One day we will meet again, across the Rainbow Bridge.

 

Kitten wars: Babies finding homes

About 7 weeks ago, the feral mama kitty that I’ve been feeding, decided to introduce me to her babies. They were precious balls of fluff whose eyes were not even open. Over the next couple of weeks, I slowly introduced my son and myself into their lives. There was Shadow, the solid black with black stripes, Precious Cream Puff, a Siamese bobtail, Tony the Tigger cat of the ultra soft paws, and Miss Hiss the dark calico. Tony was the first one I touched because he literally rolled into the parking lot. Then I met Precious Cream Puff who fell 12 feet off the platform where Mama Kitty left them and didn’t get hurt. My son raced down to rescue him. Shadow was curious about these overly large hairless cats so he came over to inspect us. Last there was Miss Hiss. She earned her name because she was literally a tiny ball of runty hissing. We overruled her hissing to pick her up and love on her. She fell in love with my son and would fall asleep in his arms. He had never been around an entire litter of kittens before and fell in love.

Precious Boy was the first one to start purring followed quickly by Shadow. After a few days, they would race out purring to greet us whenever we would go to see them. Mama kitty kept her distance, watching us, but didn’t move them. After a couple of weeks, she decided to take them for a walk through the parking lot. That was when we intervened. I just couldn’t  have them walking through the busy apartment parking lot. So, we took the kittens inside, but Mama Kitty refused to join us even though she demanded to be fed each morning.

We put the kittens in my son’s walk-in closet to keep them safe and fed them with kitten wean, kitten chow, and all good things kitten. Now these precious babies are going out to good homes. Shadow and Precious Cream Puff will go out this week. We are keeping Miss Hiss. I don’t think that my son will ever part with her. Their bond is solid. I’m hoping to find Tony the Tigger a good home soon. He is the sweetest of the bunch with his very soft paws.

 

Kitten Wars: Sister’s Babies are Here!

The wild kitty outside had kittens in my bush, just like her momma before her. Now I have 3 rambunctious 4 week old kitties running around my porch, tumbling over each other in their joy of life. It makes you appreciate life again watching something that little be that fearless and curious about everything. These babies are precious, adorable balls of fluff. Two are tail-less like their daddy. Only the dark calico female has a tail. She is, by far, the most fearless of the bunch. She tackles the others, leaps through the air pouncing on them all with her arms spread wide. While they play on my porch, my cats watch through the glass windowed door and try to play with them.

I plan on trying to tame those little ones to see if I can find them a new home. Momma kitty is my cat’s sister. She knows where Cleo is, but when I tamed Cleo, she refused to come near. Now she keeps watching me through my glass door to see what I plan on doing. She comes to the door to tell me that I need to feed them, training her kittens to do the same. She is slowly coming closer to me each day, but I’m not gonna hold my breath about taming her.

So life continues and the circle goes on, one kitten at a time.

Kitten Wars: To set my alarm or not?

Jeager, Hunter kitty, has an impeccable sense of time. No matter the day of the week, if the birds are chirping or even thinking about it, he wakes me up. 90% of the time, it is 6:30 AM or really close to it. So, do I really need to set an alarm? Truly, he even wakes me up on the weekends by walking on me, rubbing up against any body part he can, or nibbling on whatever part of me is convenient or inconvenient.

The question of setting an alarm became a mute point the other day when I forgot to set it. I had been having several days of  long days and shorter nights to the point that I literally put my head down and passed out without thinking about the alarm. In what I thought was a couple of seconds, there was Jeager loving me awake, claiming me for the world to know that I was his human. Just as I was about to push the aggressively loving kitty off of me once more, I glanced at the alarm clock. Sure enough, it was 6:30 AM, time to get up and my alarm was silent. Instead of pushing him away, I hugged him close and told him what a good kitty he was.

I know that come summertime, I’ll wish his habit of early rising would go away, but for now, it is welcome.

Kitten Wars: How to blow the mind of your cat

Step one Alter your routine. (There is only one step.)

How to blow the minds of your cats:

This morning started an hour and a half earlier than usual. I couldn’t sleep so decided to go for a walk instead of fighting the stare at the ceiling game and losing. (Yes, the ceiling is still there. It always wins that one.) When I came inside, both kitties were waiting for me at the door to tell me exactly why I shouldn’t go out into the cold before daylight. For starters, well, its COLD out there and DARK. And don’t you know that you do not go WALKING first!

They were quite forthright with much “paws out” and tails swishing making constant eye contact while they told me off for emphasis. As a unit, they decided to help me get back on my morning routine. While Cleo led the way to the shower, Jeager escorted me, herding me along to ensure that I got where I should have gone first.

Just to make sure that I stayed where they put me, both cats checked up on me a few times. They parted the curtain, stuck their heads inside, “You still with the Water Beast? Yes? GOOD!”

Teens and what they believe

A conversation between teenagers:
Boy enters the room 15 minutes until the bell.
Girl: Where’ve ya been?
Boy: Just got my physical. I’m gonna play soccer in the spring and football in the fall!”
Girl: Noooo! You can’t play football! You’ll get lots of injuries and STD’s from the injuries! Then you’ll get Alzheimer’s!
Me: Um, do you mean concussions?
Girl: Concussions, STD’s they’re all the same thing!

Strawberry Lemonade Slushy

1 20 oz blender bottle
juice and zest of one lemon
8 roughly diced strawberries
10-12 ice cubes
2-4 tsp sweetener (to your taste. I usually go 3 tsp of Apriva or a mix of Apriva and sugar.)
water

Fill bottle with the lemon juice, zest, strawberries, ice, and sweetener.

Add about 3-4 inches of water.

Blend.

Shake it up a couple times and blend again.

You may need to add more water to make it more of a drink.

This is a thick, fruity icee..

Of Demons and Holy Water

Frequently, I have very strange, vivid dreams, but I usually don’t remember them long enough to write them down. Usually, I dream of places I have never been, people I do not know, and in great James Bondian style of intrigue, mysterious happenings, and great feats. I am rarely  in danger per se, but am the one saving the world, rescuing the lost, well, you get the idea. Keep in mind that my dreams are all technicolor extravaganza style full onset smells even.

Last night was different. I was visiting my mother, who sabotaged me at every step of the way once I turned about 11 in real life. I was racing around her house, grabbing table cloths and long kitchen knives so I could hide from my uncle who was going to murder me. My mother came to my hiding place, where I lay beneath the window of the door he was going to come through, and told me to move, taking all 6 knives away from me. I raced to hide under the bar stools in the only dark area, hidden beneath my table cloth. I begged her to give me back my knives, and she returned 2 of them. I was found immediately because she told my uncle where I was when he came through the kitchen door. He pulled me out of my hiding place and started to strangle me. At that point I knifed him, except my nice long kitchen knives were now regular butter knives. Somehow I pierced one through his eye and into his brain while the other I forced into his chest. My mother just stood back and watched. She was not pleased that I had kept myself safe. After all I had just thwarted her plans for me.

I raced out of her house and found myself a bit in the future in a town I have not been to, or maybe I have and don’t remember it. My friends and I were walking from a shopping district into a housing area similar to the ones in New Orleans. We went through the curved, wooden gate into the back courtyard of one of the homes, when a teenage boy with copper colored hair joined us. He closed and latched the gate behind him as we walked to the other side of the pool. Looking across the rectangle of water, I watched as he shimmered and the overlay of teenager dimmed long enough for me to see the demon he was. He seemed to stretch out into a large, muscular, winged demon before my eyes, yet his boy shape never changed. I was still able to see the overlay of human that he was enforcing, the illusion that he was casting. He looked directly at me and told me that he was here to collect us, to dispose of us, to dine upon us. Then he grinned.

Without thinking about what I was doing, I stepped forward and found myself in the middle of the pool. I looked to the demon, then I, who haven’t been to church in literally years, crossed myself and said, “In the name of the father, and the son, and the holy ghost, I bless this water!” The water began to glisten, then to glow softly.

The demon’s eyes grew wide as he replied, “You cannot live in a pool forever.” Then he smirked at me and began stalking over to my friends who had neither moved nor spoken since he entered the gate.

“Your friends will be my snack. You, I shall feast upon after you have had your … bath.”

Then I did as anyone who has ever played in a pool knows to do. I cupped my hands and splashed him with the holy water that I was standing in. The water swelled up, rising in a great swoosh of sparkling wonder, and coated that demon sizzling everywhere it touched. He steamed, then disappeared before my eyes.

Previous Older Entries