Wednesday, January 25, 2006, 19:45
Cock-a-doodle-doooo!
I had to go into town yesterday to the Wal-Mart pharmacy to get thyroid medicine for one of my kitty cats. She has had a thyroid condition for more than three years, and periodically, I have to get her prescription refilled.
It's the same medicine that people take for a hyperthyroid condition. I used to get her medicine at the pharmacy in my hometown, but I grew tired of listening to the pharmacist: "This is for a cat? Is any cat worth this?" You would think he would know better. The pharmacy procures a ton of business from the vet clinic down the street.
The pharmacists at Wal-Mart are very nice about the whole thing, and other than one of them insisting that I had to sign off on the privacy statement on Winifred's behalf -- I've never had a problem. When it came to the part about checking off "parent, guardian or other" he told me to check "other." "Well," I said. "I really am like a parent. I raised her from a two-week old kitten." The pharmacist looked at me steadily for quite a long moment. "Just check 'other,'" he said. So I did.
Anyway, while I was at Wal-Mart, I decided to look for some material that I could use as a tablecloth when I go to craft sales. Before this, I used one of the tablecloths my mother had embroidered (for those of you who have read my books, you know that she used spend quite a lot of her time embroidering), but I have since decided maybe it's not such a good idea to put the tablecloths under so much stress. After all, it's not like I can replace them. My mother passed away 20 years ago.
For my new tablecloth, I wanted something with a "farm" scene, and when I spied the red cloth with black roosters and hens and a strip along the bottom of a barn scene and roosters and chickens and sunflowers and what-not, I thought it would work very well. There was only a little bit left on the bolt, and I was afraid that if I didn't buy it right then and there, it would be gone the next time I looked for it.
You would think it would be a simple matter of putting the cloth on the little folding table that I use for craft sales so I could see what it looks like, wouldn't you?
I brought the table upstairs this afternoon, unfolded it, put the cloth on the table and went to get the digital camera.
When I came back -- you guessed it -- the tablecloth was on the floor.
And Sophie and her friend, Guinevere, were on the table.
I might have known it would not be quite so easy to see what my tablecloth is going to look like.
After several attempts, I finally was able to get a picture of the tablecloth.
And I think it's going to work out quite well.
LeAnn R. Ralph
Tuesday, January 24, 2006, 18:39
How Windy Is It?
It is so windy today that I am having trouble standing up outside -- especially where it is snowy and icy, which is just about everywhere.
It is so windy that my little kitty cats (Juliette and Bobby Cat) are having trouble standing up outside, too. They will go to the door, meowing -- "I want to go outside. I want to go outside."
So I open the door for them. As soon as they step outside, the 40 mph wind almost knocks them off their feet. Then they turn around -- "I want to come inside. I want to come inside."
Two minutes later, they are at the door again.
"It's still windy outside," I tell them.
They insist they want to go outside.
As soon as they are outside, they insist they want to come back inside right away.
It is going to be a very long day, I think.
It is also so windy that there is no good place to put Isabelle's hay. Consequently, she is chasing it around the pasture, trying to eat it before it blows away from her again.
I put Kajun's hay in the barn, so he's not having that problem. Not unless he pushes his hay out the door, and if he does and the wind grabs it, he's on his own.
The cardinals and chickadees and juncoes are having trouble, too. They fly to the feeder, are blown past and then must circle around again to try to land on the platform feeder once more. If they do successfully land on the feeder, they have to try to maintain their equilibrium while at the same time picking up some bird seed.
Interestingly enough, the dogs don't seem too bothered by the wind. They are heavier than the kitties, and they don't have to try to eat hay. They are also lower to the ground than I am, so maybe the wind does not hit them with as much force.
The sun is peeking through now and again, and the sky is filled with puffy white clouds that are moving rapidly ahead of the wind. And it is warm, with a temperature in the 30s. Yesterday morning it was only 4 degrees above zero. This morning it was 30 degrees above zero. Quite a difference in only 24 hours.
The weather forecast says the wind is supposed to die down later this afternoon. When it is windy, the wind often dies down at sunset.
Today, I am thinking, would be a good day to fly kites.
Well, maybe not such a good day to fly kites, because I'm sure I would have difficulty hanging onto the kite. I suppose I am only thinking about flying kites because I am writing about kites in my next book, Where the Green Grass Grows.
LeAnn R. Ralph
