Morning all:

Quote Of The Week:

“The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser — in case you thought optimism was dead.” Robert Brault

The normal rhythm of life has settled in again, including the early arrival of holiday generated bills, including ones for purchases I’d forgotten about—ouch. In any case, sitting in my own chair sipping away on my Tim Hortons coffee from a familiar mug lends an air of comfort and normalcy.

Is that really part of everyone’s striving, this appreciation of normalcy, or is it just a part of getting old?

Marin has his own email address and occasionally I drop him a cartoon or a few words. This week I received what I am taking to be a 4-yearold’s attempt at a “hello” or a “thank you” note. To stay within the style of his writing, my reply will be something like this: “ireallythinkitgreatthatireceivedyournotennadwithoutgoingoverboardiammorethan…..”

While we were out of town a neighbor’s daughter took care of our two cats. Twice a day these critters got food, attention, and a bit of love.

One of our cats is Siamese and among the more noticeable differences of the breed is their constant “talking”, done very throatily, the other being their very blue eyes.

Upon our midnight return from vacation, Morgan, the ginger house cat, newly sleeked up through constant medication for her feline-hyperthyroidism, happily tried to trip us up by creating figure eights between our legs.

After a bit, Vinnie the Siamese slinked down the staircase. I think I was the first to notice the difference. What had been a bright blue left eye only a week before was now a white void; just an eerie white space on an otherwise normal and undamaged head.

Since he did not appear in distress our panic was only minimal. Building on my huge success of properly diagnosing the feline-hyperthyroidism through the simple use of Google I climbed on my computer.

Many images of cats displaying a white missing eye were readily found. On the other hand, the reasons for this state were all over the board; cancer, trauma, and herpesvirus being among possible causes.

By eleven am the next morning Marcia and a quickly cleaned cat carrier containing Vinnie were sitting in the Veterinarian’s waiting room. Marcia says it did not take long for her to get used to the stares and finger pointing, including an “oh my God” from one of the little, school aged, intake clerks.

The tests started, Xrays were taken, Vinnie cooperated to a degree. The end results were that everything was fine, except for the white void he used to see with. She was then advised that this sometimes happens for no apparent reason and in these cases the cat’s third eyelid just closes and stays closed.

The bill was $274.00

On the way out the little “oh my God” clerk mentioned to Marcia that another customer had Siamese kittens and would she be interested? I think Marcia went into what can best be described as a ‘huff’.

Last evening I got home and settled in to review the day’s mail. Vinnie jumped on my lap to do the standard three turns, point his backside at my face, and sit down routine. Doing so, he blinked—with both eyes. I think he was smiling. Sort of a “gotcha” smile. Probably a way of expressing appreciation for having the run of an empty house for a full week.

Make it a great week. Not to give you two quotes at one sitting, but this from Carl Sandburg: “time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” I thought this appropriate now that we’ve started a new year, so, make it a great year!

And, Happy Birthday Marcia! Without disclosing her newly enhanced age, let it be said that collectively the two of us are well exceeding the 100 year mark. Impressive huh? Tonight it will be a festive dinner at her favorite Kentucky restaurant-The Oriental Wok

Cheers,

Dirk

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