Oh, I’m getting so tired of drama!

I told y’all a couple of days ago that my cat had gone AWOL. I seriously believed she was dead, eaten by coyotes, and I have been weeping and carrying on like a lunatic. I haven’t been able to think or do my work. My neighbors hate me, because I’ve been walking the streets at 2:00 in the morning calling for the cat.

If Momma cain’t sleep, ain’t nobody gonna sleep.

Then, my husband stepped into the garage and saw a flash of gray streak past him! Houdini was still in the garage! That didn’t mean that all was well. If you think it did, you have obviously never seen our garage.

I told you this cat only hunkers down when she is frightened. In my garage, there is a lot of junk behind and under which to hunker! We couldn’t coax her out; and half the time couldn’t even locate her. We weren’t even sure it was Houdini (could have been a rat or an opossum). We put a live trap in the garage, with food inside, but she wouldn’t even come out of hiding for food!

This could have gone on forever!

BUT, I had a brilliant idea. I got Eric to use the leaf blower in the garage hoping to frighten her toward the door to the house. It worked! When she finally dashed across the garage to hide under another workbench, we used flattened boxes to wall off the rest of the garage. Finally, we were able to trap her, and oh my word she was trembling.

Now, she is safe and sound, and enjoying having The Big Guy brush her.

Many thanks to ALL of you who expressed your kind concern!

Now, it hasn’t just been the drama of the cat and the plumbing that has gotten me going crazy lately. I have a grant proposal that has to be postmarked on the 31st. It’s for the Texas Commission on the Arts (because I’m on the Touring Artist Roster). I have been on the roster since 1997, but every two years we have to jump through hoops.

I had a dvd of a performance that I thought I would be able to edit on my computer (there are about 10 of us performing on this, and I didn’t want to show everyone else!). I’ve been pulling my hair out. Finally, I called Marc Herbst at the Panhandle House. It’s a wonderful recording studio here in Denton. I’ve used them before to record some stories. I told him, “I know that poor planning on my part does not constitute an emergency on yours, but could you help me, pretty please?” Oh, the man is magic! Thank you Marc!

It’s not the best video in the world, but he managed to clip it and make it look much better. Now, if we could just remove that crying baby from the video…

But, the grant is ready, and I can breathe again.

Only now I have to drive to Beaumont tomorrow to work! Did any of you read about how exciting business travel is? I told y’all about the motel where I will be staying.

Drama.

Oh, well. It’s bloggable. Is that a word?

When I was a teenager, we had a Great Dane. She was a regal looking fawn colored dog, but she didn’t know she was a dog. She was my constant companion, sleeping on my feet at night. She loved to accompany me as I walked through the woods each weekend. My family went to Paw Paw Creek on Lake Texoma for weekend getaways, and during the fall and winter my main occupation was hiking.

Hullabaloo never let me leave the house without her. I can see her now in my mind’s eye, with her tongue hanging out galloping through the trees and across fields. We had a good time together, that dog and I.

But one, day she went waltzing across the trailer camp by herself. When she passed the neighbor’s house, their yappy chihuahua came charging out at Hullabaloo. That dang chihuahua was always annoying, and I guess Lu had just about had enough. She picked up the chihuahua in her mouth and spat it back out. I don’t think she intended to hurt the little dog, but the skin of it’s back caught on Lu’s eye tooth and almost ripped the chihuahua’s back off. The little rat survived after hundreds of stitches, but it’s owner was apoplectic and insisted that we get rid of Lu.

My Mom and Dad agreed to it. Cousin Jerry had always loved her, so my Daddy decided to give Hullabaloo to him. Though the decision was made, and I darned well knew it, my Momma asked me how I felt about it.

I was a teenager. I had to be “macha.” So, I stuck out my chin and said, “I don’t care. I don’t like the dog anyway.”

It was a lie. My heart ached. But, I refused to let anyone see me cry. On the day my cousin came to get the dog, I refused to leave my room to tell her goodbye. I only saw her one more time.

My heart still aches when I think about that dog. I wish I hadn’t been so “macha.” I don’t know what I was thinking.

Tonight I caught myself being “macha” again. It didn’t last long.

I have a wonderful little cat named “Houdini.” She is aptly named, because she loves to hide and ignore us when we want her. Call her all you want; she won’t show her face. She is skittish and shy. Houdini isn’t much of a “people” cat. She doesn’t like to be held, but if she’s in the right mood she loves to be petted. If I have the cat brush, I can’t get her out of my face. She’ll actually get in my lap if I will comb her silky fur. At night, she loves to curl up on my feet to keep me warm.

Tonight we can’t find her.

She didn’t come out to eat when I opened the can for them this evening. Then, I realized that I hadn’t seen her that morning when I fed the cats their can of food. Last night she didn’t sleep at my feet. This morning, the other cats woke me at an ungodly hour, but I thought they had just decided they were hungry. Now, I realize it was a different kind of yowling.

It’s true, we have a rather large house with lots of hiding places, but we’ve looked in them all three times over. We’ve checked all the closets and under the stairs. There is no Houdini.

Early yesterday morning, I had found the door from the house into the garage open. The cats had gone out there (though the garage scares them to pieces if you try to force them into it). I remember shooing them back inside…but I don’t remember how many came back. Houdini hides so much during the day, that it isn’t unusual not to see her. I have no physical memory of seeing her after that time.

If Houdini was in the garage, she might have escaped outside when I opened the garage door to get to my car. If she got outside, we will never get her back. She won’t come when she is called; she will only hunker down and hide better, especially if she is afraid. Being an indoor cat, I can bet she would be afraid.

If she got outside, the coyotes that roam my yard each night have already found her.

My first instinct, being that “macha” type of gal, was to stick out my chin and say, “One less litter box to clean.” But, I don’t mean it.

I hope that in an hour or two Houdini comes waltzing into the kitchen with a quizzical expression on her face yawning, “What’s all the fuss?”

I don’t think it’s gonna happen. I’m sitting here holding a cat brush, and my macha has just melted into tears.

We had a dreary day this weekend, and I wanted to curl up under my electric blanket. Unfortunately, the cats didn’t want to share the bed! That’s alright. Since I couldn’t sleep, I got some of my work done. Imagine for a moment trying to actually sleep at night with those five cats on the bed and my spousal unit sprawled out beside me!

I want a king sized bed!

But, the cats will still curl up right on top of me! The good side is that they are warm (so I don’t have to use the electric blanket as much) and they are loving to me. Yes, I’m intelligent enough to know that “cat love” is conditional. If I feed them, and they feel like it, they will be loving to me.

Now, I want you to look at this picture and see Only The Good. If you are a cat hater, I know that might be difficult. I don’t want you to fuss about the cat hair and allergies (I already know about those). Find something good in this picture! If you can look at a picture and see good, you might be able to look around yourself and see your world with a less cynical eye. It really does work, and I decided that now is a good time to practice. I’m having a rough time seeing all of the good right now; it’ll get better, but life is a roller coaster ride at my house at the moment. I could tell you the good that I see in this picture, but I want your thoughts.

Marcia, at Tumbled Words, had the idea to practice seeing the good in things by looking at pictures and not seeing the negative. Nancy J. Bond took that idea and ran with it. She created a website just for this exercise, called Only The Good. You can find other people practicing this at Soliloquy, Inside Mo’s Mind, Life in Westcliffe, Lives Less Ordinary, and Miscellaneous Matters. All of them are worth the read any day of the week.

She’s baaaack!
Well, almost.
She has been talking here at the house for several days, trying to get up the oomph to visit.

The Dear Abby writing contest is going to happen this week! Last time, I asked you to write a humorous letter to Dear Abby in fifty words or less. I’m going to give you 75 words this time, so you can strut your stuff. Watch later in the week for more details. And, start thinking about what you might write. If you are a blogger, I will ask you to write a post with your entry. If you are NOT a blogger, you will be able to write your letter on the comment section of the Dear Abby post. I have some Lush-ous prizes. Remember that the readers will be the judge!

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