Saturday, November 30, 2002 Boy, was it wet last night. Around 4:30, the storm came in. Thunder, lightning, rain, it was the real deal. Unfortunately, the rain gauge on the roof once again wasn’t working, but fortunately, Brian had emptied out the rain gauge that’s on the fence. We got seven tenths of an inch, which I manually added to the weather station information.
I brought Junior in, because the thunder terrified him. Then, because I didn’t want to be outside looking for the cats when the rain got really bad, I called the cats in early. I yelled for them to come in and set the cat door to in only, then put the gate up so that the stinkers who can open the door, couldn’t. After the rain had started, I checked for cats and didn’t see Sammy. I checked all over the house and in the rafters with no sign of him. I grabbed the flashlight and barefoot, I went outside in search of him. I found him under the pool pump. I had to lay on my stomach on the wet platform to look. I wanted him in the house, not under the pool pump and the only way I could get him from under there was the hose. I ran it over the top and some of the water went down and he ran from under there, over to the side of the shop. I had hoped he had run into the office, but he hadn’t. I went back out, starting to get pretty wet. I found him under the polycarbonate stack and chased him from under it. Once again, I checked in the office and in the house to see if he’d come in, but he still wasn’t in. I found him in the cathouse on the bank and when I tried to get him out, he ran to the four story cathouse. Boy, this was a bunch of fun! I got him out of that and he ran back behind the shop and I finally found him in the cathouse on the bank, on the top floor. This time I was able to get to him and I cuddled him against me, taking him into the office. I shut the sliding door and opened the office door. He didn’t leave. It took a little coaxing to get him from his hiding spot in the office and when I did, he promptly ran into the family room and under the sofa. Good place for him.
Anyway, I finally relaxed when it dawned on me, I hadn’t seen Georgie. Meanwhile, the thunder and lightning were giving the full show. Those thoughts started going through my head. When had I seen him last? I was pretty sure he’d been on the back of the loveseat earlier in the day, but where was he now? Had I seen him on the loveseat? For that matter, had I seen him on the counter eating chicken that morning? I was pretty sure I’d seen him on the bed when I got up. Had I? I hate this stuff. Anyway, I ended up going back outside with the flashlight, looking all over when George didn’t respond to my calling him in the house. And I’d looked everywhere inside, in the rafters, under the plastic tarp that covers the tile in the garage, under the sofa and loveseat (I saw Sammy under the sofa), in the bedroom closet, in the exercise room, in all of the cat condos, I just couldn’t find him inside. With flashlight in hand, I walked around the pool, looking in the tall grass. I checked the bank, I checked the doghouses, I couldn’t imagine not having seen him when I was looking for Sammy earlier, but he had to be somewhere. I finally went back inside, dripping wet at this time and looked under the sofa and loveseat again. And there he was, under the sofa. The reason I hadn’t seen him earlier is that he was behind Sammy. I think the combination of electrical storm and dog in the house spooked him.
Junior was very good while inside, but when the storm had passed and I opened the door for him to go out, I could tell he was happy to be back outside. He checked out the yard to make sure it was still there, then finished his dinner (he wouldn’t finish it inside) and peed. Later on, Georgie wanted out and I let him, since he gets so wound up. And Junior was in his doghouse, nice and warm and cozy, not having to fight the cats for his spot.
And there might be more rain on the way.
My plans for the rest of the day are to finally catch on up my correspondence (the letters do Disney) and work on the website. I have a couple of things to add to the declaw menu (by the way, Dr. Jean Hofve has joined the EDA forum), I’ve got some globes by Fran to add to the ecards, and I think I’d like to update my sunset area. I haven’t done anything there in years, but I have many more sky pictures to add.
Oh, if you’re curious about the bugs in the flour, here’s the link to the movie (it’s 2.2K and you’ll need the QuickTime player: show me the bugs movie! The flour was tossed out right after I took that little picture and the container washed in the dishwasher. Luckily I had more flour in the freezer in the garage.
Well, off to work. Maybe I’ll be able to have something other than this journal updated. Finally.
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