21 April -- It is snowing.

It's Winter with a Touch of Spring...

Now doesn't that headline sound like some marketing garble. Well, it's true. Winter forced his way back on to my life by dumping 3 inches of snow on my front lawn on Saturday night. Never mind that it is mostly melted. And the weather report says we are to get more on Wednesday. I think the Wednesday stuff must be part of the blizzard happening in North Dakota.

The good thing is that the air feels warm. I know that that sounds weird. It is 34 degrees. But it feels and smells warmer than February did.

I tried to get into the sewing room this weekend, but gave up. I shampooed the carpets in my bedroom and the hall instead. I know that isn't a creative thing to do, but it is something that needed to be done. I did shampoo about 2 foot into the sewing room. Does that count?

My goal for the month of April to clean up the sewing room. It has become a dumping ground. I would like to get in there and do some sewing. I have a very neat jacket pattern that will be perfect for when the weather is warmer. I also have the parson stool to finish reupholstering, a quilt that needs me to order the stitching pattern for the borders, and a pile of mending.

I think I need to establish the 15 minute rule again. You spend 15 minutes a night working at the project. You'd be surprised how much you get done.

Preparations for the holidays

Cards and two packages are in the mail. Four packages to go. The tree is up with some struggles. (We got the pieces stack and forgot to put the screws in the base. I went to turn to tree and it collapsed. Cats fled!) The new little LED colored light are perfect, but two strings aren't enough and one of the two strings is bad.

Work becomes an encumbrance at this time of year. I should just take a couple of days off and get it all done. I have one more gift to get-something Hannah Montana for Gary's granddaughter.

Tonight my goal is to get the presents, requiring shipping, wrapped and packed.

We have a major snow event tomorrow. The weather people can't agree how much some say six to eight. I have heard one say a total of fifteen. Maybe my day at home will be tomorrow!

CoCo and snow

My friend, John, adopted a new cat, Bernie. Kitten fever had been building for the last couple of months, but it really set in when Bernie arrived on the scene. Sooo... Gary and I talked to a rescue organization that specializes in purebred cats, Speciality Purebred Cat Rescue. We now have a new baby in our house, CoCo.

CoCo is a Sabel Tonkinese, about one year old, and has the curiosity level and activity level of a ferret. She is in to everything. She also has one of the longest tails I have seen on such a little cat.

Unlike John's experience, I would be hesitant to refer anyone to the agency where we got her. When we arrived at the home where several animals were kept in a small, clean (but a pretty strong cat pan smell) in a basement room. We had already seen CoCo on the web and figured that she was the one for us.

When Gary sat down in the chair, CoCo immediately got up on the table behind him and put her front paws on his shoulder and leaned around to give him a rub on his cheek. Needless to say, that kiss sold him immediately. (Men are so easy.)

When I get around that many cats, I tend to tune out the humans and didn't hear that that the woman had a cat in another part of the house that had a virus (cold like). Gary did. Unfortunately, I didn't get that information until Sunday.

CoCo was sneezing and coughing by 5 pm on Sunday. Fortunately, she was cloistered in guest bed room, but, unfortunately, I hadn't been as fastidious with my hand washing and I certainly hadn't changed my clothes. My first concern was Percy, our big, old (16+), grey tabby. His last set of boosters was two years ago and I had no information on the duration of the vaccine. (Vaccines, including rabies, can be one, two, or three years.) CoCo had hers at the beginning of November. I called the woman and she confirmed that there was a virus in the house and it seemed to be a mild upper respiratory infection that lasted for four or five days.

I do know that there is no medicine for a virus, but by 7 pm I had worked myself into a snit. Gary knows me well enough that when I get like this that you just let me go. I piled the cat in the car and went to the emergency clinic. (CoCo, BTW, does not like driving in the car.) So with the cat yelling, we arrive at the vet. The vet examines the cat and says she is very good health, but really can't hear her breathe as she is purring too loudly. But in those short, minuscule points between purrs, the lungs sound OK. She does feel that this cough is one of these short viruses and tells me what I already know--unless any mucus is cloudy or colored, she won't give any meds. And that Percy will probably get it. Wonderful!

CoCo seemed relieved to be back in her room by 10 pm. Three car trips in a little more than twenty-four hours were way too much excitement. I too was very glad to get my shower and flop into bed.

My whole reason for telling this story is to tell how angry I am at this service for sending a cat home with someone who has another cat, when they know that the cat has been exposed to a virus. I would have been disappointed not to take her home on Saturday, but I would have gladly paid my fee to hold her and come back to get her in two weeks.

This morning I woke to a wonderland of snow. Mother Nature successfully blanketed my ire. Snow is still new enough to me that I still am mesmerized by its beauty. The transformation of the landscape is amazing. While the ground is cold enough to hold the snow for awhile, the ambient temperatures will be in the high 30's today so the roads will be clear.