December, hmm

I haven't written a regular blog post in three weeks, practically a record. No special reason, just that Rocket Boy was here and it was Thanksgiving and then we adopted two cats and had stuff to do. I usually blog on Sunday afternoons, and my Sunday afternoons were busy. On weekdays the kids had online school and RB was teleworking, so I tried to stay off the internet as much as possible.

Now he's on an airplane, presumably wearing a mask and sitting as far away from other people as possible, headed back for St. Louis (actually, he just called, so he made it back). And I'm allowing myself a little of that letdown feeling. It's exacerbated by the fact that Christmas is in less than three weeks and I'm not sure he's coming back for that. Have a holly jolly whatever.

We made Thanksgiving work by bringing him out a week before (his plane was only 1/3 full) and sending him back more than a week after. But he reports that his flight today was more than 2/3 full, with some people even sitting in the middle seats. And it's hard to fly anywhere close to Christmas without encountering a lot of other people. If his office closes down again, he might consider driving here, but I just don't know. Probably the right thing would be for him to stay in St. Louis, but I worry about his living situation there: he shares a house with two other people, both of whom have partial custody of their many children. He would be safer in Boulder. If only his job were here.

The coronavirus is raging, of course. The last time I posted, on November 15th, there had been 245,777 deaths in this country from the virus. Today, the total is 281,878. That's an average of 1719 deaths per day over the past three weeks, which is a huge number. There were 2190 deaths reported yesterday. Three weeks ago I said something about how if the current rate increases a little we could have 300,000 dead by the end of the year. Now it looks we'll have 300,000 dead by the end of Hanukkah.

We had a nice Thanksgiving, against all odds. Rocket Boy was here not only for the holiday but also to get some medical and dental stuff done. He arrived Friday, worked on house projects all day Saturday, and then on Sunday I took him to get a covid test (which was negative). Monday he went to the dentist to have a crown put on, and that afternoon he started his bowel prep. Tuesday morning he got up at 4:30 am to finish the bowel prep, and then I drove him to the hospital for an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. He had a stricture in his esophagus (the reason for doing the procedure at this time), which they stretched out. He and I were both basket cases for the rest of the day, and we both also rested a lot on Wednesday. 

Thursday I got up feeling good and proceeded to make all our Thanksgiving dishes: sweet potatoes, spinach, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and a pumpkin pie. Rocket Boy made mashed potatoes and gravy, and we baked some Pillsbury crescent rolls. It all turned out well, accompanied by sparkling cider and a discussion of what we were thankful for. I can't quite make Thanksgiving dinner in my sleep, but almost. Of course, it's easier not having a turkey to worry about.

The day after Thanksgiving we decided it was time to think seriously about getting a new cat. Chester died two months ago and we all miss having a furry someone around the house. I called the Longmont Humane Society and they had one appointment left that day, at 4:15. So we drove to Longmont and met a sweet cat called Priscilla, a brown tabby who looked a little like my old cat Edward. She is a special needs cat, with an "abnormal gait," and her tail looks like it was attached in the wrong place. I immediately felt the need to rescue her. We couldn't quite decide if she was the right cat for our family, though, and they were getting ready to close, so we said we'd come back.

Saturday (this is November 28th now), we visited the Denver Zoo, which seemed like a place where one could do some serious social distancing. It wasn't as much fun as we'd hoped, though. They've created a path through the zoo that you have to follow, and it DOES NOT INCLUDE LEMURS. Probably they're mostly inside this time of year, but still. Kid B and I were VERY disappointed. Also, the path you have to follow means you end up getting a little closer to other people than I was really comfortable with. My other favorite thing at the zoo, the reptile house, had an enormous line of people waiting to get in, so we skipped that and headed for home. 

Sunday we went back to the Humane Society and met another cat, called December. He was a little orange and white tabby, very pale, with big blue eyes. I think he may be what they call a flame point, which would mean he is part Siamese. We'll have to ask the vet. After hanging out with December for a while we decided that we would adopt both Priscilla and December, because it seemed as though they might be able to become friends -- and with two young-ish cats, there might be "enough hound to go all around." Or, rather, enough cat. (And by this I do NOT mean that any reproduction will be taking place. Just that for a family of four, it's nice to have more than one companion animal.) December needed to be neutered (see? no reproduction), so we couldn't pick him up for a couple of days, but we got Priscilla right then and there. We took her home and sequestered her in the office, but after a couple days we let her have the run of the house.

On Wednesday I went back to get December, and we moved him into the office and renamed him Merlin -- because how can you call a cat December? Merlin is a problematic name for him, though. It doesn't seem to fit. Another name we considered was Jasper, which I think would have been better. But the name I call him most often (unintentionally) is Gandalf, which is also the name of a neighborhood cat who sometimes comes in our yard. I don't think we should call our cat Gandalf, due to confusion with the other cat (even though our cat will not be allowed outside without supervision). But I just can't seem to make Merlin work for me. Kid B is doing pretty well with it. Kid A calls him December. We'll see how it goes.

Merlin was absolutely terrified when I brought him home, and he spent all day Thursday hiding under a little rolltop desk (that I didn't actually think a cat would fit under). But by Thursday night he had decided we were not dangerous and became very frisky. Since then, we've been gradually trying to socialize the cats to each other -- first with sounds and smells, and more recently with looking at each other through a screen. Priscilla, unfortunately, seems to be afraid of Merlin, and hisses at him. Merlin doesn't mind her at all, and I think would like to play. He is only a year old -- just had his first birthday -- and he's very kitten-like. Also very small. Priscilla, who is 3, is small too, but the boy cat is smaller. We're used to gigantic, hulking monsters like Chester and Pie Bear, so it's quite a change.

This afternoon, after getting back from the airport and spending some time vegging out, I took the boys to their middle school and they ran around the track twice. They were supposed to run four laps, i.e., a mile, but it was all I could do to get them to do two laps. They're rather out of shape, with no real PE since last March (except for a few badminton games on the four days they went to in-person school this fall). There was a low-key soccer game going on in the middle of the field, and Kid A kept saying, "Embarrassment. Embarrassment. Here with mom, game going on, have to run. Embarrassment." I of course thought it was very funny. It's so great to be the mom and not the embarrassed preteen.

Well, I should stop here, it's long enough, and I need to go to the grocery store. I don't know what's going to happen with Christmas. On the plus side, we sent out almost all our cards this weekend -- we did 46, plus Rocket Boy will finish up the ones that go to Germany, so about 50 total. I like doing cards. I suspect we won't get many in return, but I'm hoping our cards will cheer other people up for a moment or two. Perhaps that is too much to ask.

Now we need to decorate the tree, which Rocket Boy set up last night for us. And then I'll do some holiday baking and shopping. My book group meets tomorrow night via Zoom and I have my parent support group Tuesday night via Zoom. Then comes Hanukkah. And before we know it, December 25th will be here, and then it will be over, and we'll survive. Maybe we'll even have a good time. I think the key is to enjoy what you can and let go of the rest. We'll try for that.