Now, I Am Old

Now, I am old.

I walk slowly, and don’t really care to walk at all. I can’t remember the last time I ran. My joints ache and my muscles hurt, and my bones are brittle and weak.

Now, I am old. I don’t have the appetite I once did, and food tastes bland and dull. I shiver too much and the air is too cold. I sleep most of the time, and my dreams are filled with what used to be.

Now, I am old. I watch the youngsters play, and remember making my friends laugh, and strangers smile. I now climb slowly, where I used to leap. I am excited by nothing and enthused by less.

Now, I am old. Some day, relatively soon, I will die. But I will not cease to exist. For I will have loved and will have been loved; I will have experienced joy and contentment, and given joy and contentment to others; I will have touched the world, and been touched in turn. And all those I will have touched, and all those they will touch, will carry a piece of me with them. When they smile, I will smile; when they love, I will love. And when youth yet unborn runs and jumps and feels the sun upon its face, I too will run and jump and feel warmed by the glow of a new day. I will exist in a million lives because I will have lived one, and I will be a part of eternity.

Even though now, I am old.

The K-tel Catty-stacker

Maybe some day I’ll be able to stack all eight of them…

In a related topic, I am having computer issues at home. It may be a matter of power. In any case, I will be able to access the internet and its ramifications only from work, so my responses to blogs or to emails may be delayed. As the recorded messages say - usually while someone in the office is relaxing with a cup of coffee - our staff is working hard to get back to you.

Sable's Progress

Some readers may be wondering how Sable is doing. She is still very shy and wary. However, she has taken to spending more time than previous in the carrier that has been left in her room.

I take this as progress because she had been spending all of her time so far in an enclosed cat-bed which pretty much hid her from sight, and hid the rest of the world from her sight. Now, she can see much more of the room, and see much more of me when I come in. Nor does she dart from the carrier to the enclosed cat-bed when I enter to the cat-room. In other words, I think the carrier provides a less protected feeling for her, and that she is satisfied with it represents a step forward.

Even so, Sabe has many steps still to take. But at least she can take them in safety and comfort, and at her own pace.

Free to Play

I always enjoy seeing the progress cats make in their relations with one another. I have been watching the evolving interaction between Brazil and Valkyrie. Shimmer has always tried to lessen the distance but Valk, being the new and younger feline, has been hesitant, her hisses coming frequently. Now, though, they are rarer. While she still is wary of the larger cat’s presence – Brazil’s relative size is probably a bit intimidating – there is clearly a desire to play, on the kitten’s part.

It’s amusing to see that while both beasts seem to want to have fun with each other, the introduction to play-time – Brazil’s tail – causes its owner a bit of annoyance that he likely did not anticipate. Valkyrie watches the other’s tail, which switches back and forth the more attention it receives, thus intensifying that attention. Nonetheless, there was more enjoyment than warning in the session recorded here, though, as with most early stages of play, the two emotions were combined without paradox.

As a seemingly irrelevant aside – an aside which is, in a way, a part of every blog-entry, I would like to mention Remembrance Day. Today is the day given to recalling and commemorating the sacrifices made by those who fought and fight for our country. Without those sacrifices, my ability to do something so innocuous as to describe the antics of my cats might be severely restricted. The freedom of such communications as what you are reading right now depends on what people in the previous century did. I thank them for it.

Now, Where Was I?

Oh, yes: crazy Valkyrie and a dead computer.

I am pleased to report that things did improve, starting the next day. Friday found Valk less frightened and hostile toward everyone and everything. She began recollecting that Xandria was her friend, and by evening, they were tentatively playing. Saturday saw them playing more confidently, and that night, they were chasing each other and wrestling like the pals they have been. I haven’t been able to capture any images of their matches but rest assured that Xan, despite being half Valkyrie’s size, holds her own, principally by rolling on her back and kicking her foster-sister in the face, chest and stomach. This neither causes a reduction in the action nor a grudge to be formed. Valk retaliates periodically by simply running over the smaller tortoiseshell, and, perhaps, by taunting her with her misunderstanding of how fuzzy cat-beds work.

My computer has been taken to those who know how to repair such things, though there is no guarantee that it can be repaired. If the damage is permanent, I will still likely be able to salvage my files, but the programmes will not be transferrable with the hard-drive. In the meantime, I have a temporary computer with enough programmes and access to the internet to continue my business. If I am behind on visiting blogs, this minor disaster is the reason. (Moxy, the creator of my inconvenience, has expressed no remorse over the incident.)

And Neville received his semi-annual shave Saturday. In keeping with recent events, the clippers did not function properly due to my ineptitude in changing the blades. However, the groomer – who has done such fine work ridding the Nevsky of his hair in the past – overcame all obstacles and turned my oldster into the velveteen cat once more.

Because the autumn has truly arrived now, I have added a heating pad under Nev’s favourite cat-bed, and Brazil is doing his part.

Hopefully, my blog-entries in the future will not appear too different from those in the past. I will be working with a rather more aged version of the programmes until my own computer is returned to normal - if it can be – but these seem to be working quite well. I intend to catch up on events, blog-reading and other current affairs in the next few days, unless the week starts as its predecessor ended, and I am struck and grievously injured by a meteor.