After The Gold Rush

It’s snowing … the kind of snow that resembles nothing so much as an invasion of small, white, frozen fruit flies. It’s certainly cold enough for this stuff to stick (somewhere in the mid-twenties, last I checked), but the stuff seems more intent on displaying Brownian motion in the air than it seems to be interested in lounging around on the ground. It’s the sort of snow that makes it hard to take snow seriously, though I have to wonder what kind of weather it might be foretelling.

Gift wrapping at the local bookstore for our cat shelter was fairly successful. The two days I was responsible for overseeing brought in over $500 in donations. I haven’t heard how the other days went, but I am optimistic they did the same. This should go far in buying food, litter and veterinary sundries for the fuzzballs. There was only one disappointment (if you can call it that). I was responsible for the final shift – 5:00 to 10:00 Christmas Eve. It turns out that while the store had teh 5-10 slot available for sign up, they closed at 6:00. I only put in one hour on Christmas eve, and didn’t even get to wrap that many books (though we were busy then) because the guy from the last shift wouldn’t go away.

Because it was thought I’d be manning this shift alone, The Mouth (who otherwise has no interest in cats) volunteered to come help me wrap. I didn’t have her home number, so I couldn’t call to warn her not to bother coming. I felt guilty about that, so when she arrived I let her and Mr. Enthusiastic wrap all the books. I did general clean-up, and a few other miscellaneous duties, like tearing wrap to the right size and helping people fill out gift cards while their stuff was being taken care of.

We were situated right by the front window, next to the door, and more than one person made pleading motions for me to let them in after the store locked up at six o’clock. I fear they were pleading up the wrong tree, to mix my metaphors.

Getting out far earlier than expected meant that I could head home far earlier than expected though. I stopped by a nearly closed grocery store to pick up some of my alcohol-free wine for Christmas, and stopped by the video store to pick up a DVD for the evening. The DVD store was one of the few places that wasn’t rolling up the sidewalk before six o’clock (the grocery store closed at seven, ten minutes after I arrived). That made the movie rental place the hottest ticket in town Christmas Eve. Next year I should ask if they’d let a charity wrap for them there … talk about desparate shoppers! I wanted to rent “Shaun of the Dead”, but they were all out, so I grabbed “I, Robot” (a far lesser choice) instead. Actually, in spite of the reviews, “I, Robot” wasn’t all that heinous, and it gave The Socialist and I a few things to talk about afterwards. Any movie that provides for conversation fodder isn’t all bad in my book.

Christmas I slept in, and went to the Elder Sister’s for present opening and dinner. Younger Sister and boyfriend, whom I may well dub “You-can-call-me-Ray” for his heavy-handed comedic style, attended also. Present giving was a bit more restrained this year, thank The Powers That Be. I will note at this juncture though that I was the recipient of a full length purple suede trench coat. The coat itself is lovely, and I will grant you that it is a more understated neutral purple rather than a screaming grape purple. The Elder Sister remembers that I had a fondness for purple three decades ago, and so continues to purchase me apparel in purple each year. I made out better this year than last, when I got a pair of white clam-diggers with a green, light blue and purple floral print on them (they’re comfortable in bed, where nobody can see them). I just mourn that the coat couldn’t have been purchased in a nice tan or black or even moss green.

I also received the first (and only) season of “Crusade” from the Socialist, along with an Orbital CD that I’d wanted. The cats received a motorized mouse from The Sisters, and I gave them a laser pointer. I’m pleased to say the laser pointer is a big hit.

I gave The Socailist a laser pointer too, but he refuses to chase the red dot up and down the stairs like Clueless and LGS do. Warrior Princess takes after her master, and also refuses to chase the red dot. Talk about a couple of party poopers …!

Today I got up early and went to one of the pet stores that we display our adoptable cats in to remove stitches from two of our charges who had been spayed ten days ago. Both are still mistrustful of strangers (and I suppose I qualify under that particular category). I am fortunate in that the volunteer assisting me is a trained vet tech who has a lot more experience than I do with small furry things. The sutures really could have come out a few days ago, and were a bit tough to remove – especially considering that the last sutures removal from a patient I performed was perhaps five years ago. Proper restraint is everything, though, and I was able to perform the removals without making an utter fool of myself. It felt good to do some traditional vetting again, even on this small, amature scale.

I have pictures of Clueless on Santa’s lap taken last Saturday. If I can get my scanner to work, I’ll post them.