Can We Please Have a Boring Week Now?

As far as my brood is concerned, it's bad enough that we wake them up early so that we can abandon them and go to work every day.  But do we have to throw earthquakes and hurricanes into the mix?  Of course, when Tuesday's quake hit, Di was home, and both of us were home during the hurricane, but that doesn't matter.  Both of them were obviously our fault and (in a properly run universe) would not have inconvenienced them so. 

Diane's description of the quake included the information that when they first heard the rumbling, all of them glared at her, then bushed out their tails and vanished to their favorite hiding places (mostly under beds, but Mittens prefers inside the love seat).  Finn came out a while later, but he heard the newscaster mention the possibility of aftershocks and went straight back under the daybed.  Mittens didn't come out of hiding until I got home four and a half hours later.  We think Wabble felt one of the aftershocks Tuesday night because he launched himself off the climber onto my stomach and into a nutsoid rampage around the bedroom in the middle of the night for no apparent reason.

Just when they'd all calmed down from the quake, the storm warnings started coming out and Diane was suddenly taking detours on the way home during the week to get our usual weekend shopping done so we wouldn't have to slog it in from the car in the rain on Saturday.  And she brought in extra batteries and bottled water (which we don't normally use).  None of our current group was with us for Isabelle, although Fred and Romana are both old enough to remember it, but it was clear that something else was about to disrupt their world.  In the event, we didn't lose power, and the storm didn't produce thunder or lightning or bring down any trees where we were, but the balcony was all disarranged as I took down the bird feeders and brought the plants in close to the wall where the brickwork would shield them just in case.  Not to mention the fact that our (and therefore the cats') weekend schedule was completely disrupted.  How's a cat supposed to get a proper nap, when he has to supervise our watching the storm coverage all day Saturday?

This morning, Puff stared at me in amazement when she realized I was actually going to swan off to work instead of staying home with her to help her get over the trauma she's been through.  She then went off to sulk for the rest of the morning.

In the past year, we've had a blizzard (Snowmageddon) that meant I wasn't home on time to feed them; a tornado going through the woods behind the building (and incidentally driving rain so far through the window in the middle of the night that Freddie got wet); an earthquake; and a hurricane.  What's next, a volcano?

We're all ready for a nice, normal, boring week now.

Here There Be Dragon(flie)s

I have finally seen a flying bug too formidable even for Wabble.  Weekday mornings when Diane goes off to work at 5:45, Wabble and Toogs go out into the hall to chase down any moths or other flying critters that get in through the outer doors.  This morning, we heard a tremendous buzzing as soon as we stepped into the hall.  It was an enormous dragonfly that had got in and was unable to find its way out.  It kept flying into the wall at the end of the hall.  Toogie went right back inside, but Wabble sat down to watch, trying to figure out what it was (still keeping his distance).  Diane and I decided we didn't want Wabble to take it on, as he has a tendency to eat his kills and we'd rather the dragonfly remain alive to eat the mosquitos we get every summer, so we chased it back out through the door.  By the time we were done, none of them had any taste for hunting this morning, so Diane went off to work and the rest of us went back inside.  It was a pity, though, since there were a number of nice big moths in the hall this morning, and Wabble is partial to moths.  Maybe they'll still be there tomorrow...