It's been a long, and very cold, and did I say LONG, winter.
I think most of us are very much over it.
The fuel bills have been outrageous, I am way over my budget, and the heat is still on.
With the WAR in Iran, the prediction is that OIL will go even higher. I am trying to
figure out how that will be possible for me next winter. I have gone over the options
available to me.
None of which are easy, or good.
Anyway. Do you all remember Goldie? He has been my resident outside cat since
2017.
I have taken many photos of him. He appeared out of nowhere, and has never left.
I have tried to keep him happy, with heated water bowls, full food dish every morning,
a solar house for sunny days, and a heated little house on the porch, when it's not.
Every day, I would sit on the porch and give him some TLC, which he ate up.
At times, in winter, when it was really frigid, I would bring him inside. At first I had to trick
him to get him in, and later when he got more used to me, I would just pick him up and bring him in. I kept him in the studio with food, water, and a litter box, and the doors shut
so he didn't have to deal with the dogs.
And to be honest, I didn't know how that would go.
Every time, he was inconsolable, yowling all night and just miserable. Then when I would let him out, he wouldn't come near me for days, once it was a couple of weeks.
Fast forward to this winter. The forecast was for a bitter week of below zero nights. He is getting older, he was getting thin. I made the decision, he is coming in. He is staying in until this tundra weather is over.
For the first week, he stayed in the studio, no dogs allowed.
After a few nights, he stopped with the screaming.
The second week, I let the dogs into the studio, for 20 minutes here and there.
No one died.
The third week, I just opened the damn doors, and told them to all figure it out.
That was in January.
Now he goes out, and stays out a while, and comes right back in. If it's too cold, he turns
around at the door, and stays in.
He sleeps in the dog bed. On the sewing table. In the cupboard in the LR. In every chair in the house. On the dining room table.
Goldie has become a spoiled, and FAT inside/outside cat who is so content now, that I struggle to not cry every time I see him curled up somewhere while the snow whips around outside.
And the group?????
Well, as you can see, they have figured it out.
Willie still has his moments. He doesn't like Goldie in his dish, and at no time EVER, is Goldie allowed on the sofa.
The sofa is where Willie has me to himself, as Naya never stays up there for long.
Naya has had a tough winter. Her legs are failing her, and I have to lift her up most of the time to get her going.
I wasn't sure she was going to make it through the winter, but she's a tough little girl.
She's also pretty confused at times.
We're just doing the best we can do, and we are trying not to think about what's
coming down the road. The vet says she is a lot older than we thought, but that rescues
often lie about a dog's age.
So there's that..
I'm going to try to do better here, assuming that someone is still listening.
Somehow, I just know you are.
