Thoughts

Sunday with a Red Admiral

redadmiral
Taken *last* Sunday at our community garden, perched on the flowers of a cabbage, Vanessa atalanta the red admiral butterfly

+This week…this week….whew, I am glad it is done. I ended up in the field for a few days, honestly thinking it was going to be two days max, but then it looked like it was going to bleed into the weekend. Chris is in the field full-time right now but the project I was on was nearby so luckily I was able to stay in his hotel with him. When I realized I needed to run home to check on the cats, mostly because I wasn’t sure if I’d left them with enough food—had put more water out but wasn’t sure on the food—we ran home Thursday evening to check on them and spend the night there. Leo, one of our cats, was acting a little strange but in the hustle and bustle of getting things done and ready for bed we didn’t think too much of it.

Then the next morning we were up at 4 a.m. to leave and head back to be in the field by 7 and I noticed he jumped off the futon strangely. I picked him up and put him on our bed to pet him and talk to him (Samson was on the bed all bleary eyed, wondering why we were up), when I petted his tail. It felt weird and when I picked it up he was not flicking it back at me like normal. When I let it go he dropped automatically. I tried it a few more times and got no response. Then I felt his tailbone and he looked at me weird and jumped down. He headed straight for the litter box and proceeded to try to use it but to no avail. Chris was in the shower so I went in and told him I thought Leo’s tail was broken. It was chaotic after that. Leo was scared and it was pretty clear I was going to have to go back to get my car (we’d only brought one back home) and then come back that morning and take him to the vet.

The vet ran some tests, having to sedate him because Leo is a monster at the vet. Nothing conclusive came back. His tail is functioning but not like normal, he is still skittish and seems to avoid our bedroom. He gets all cautious when he tries to peer under our bed and I had to trick him with treats to initially get him into our bedroom. I hadn’t seen him jump at all until this morning, when I was getting his medicine ready to squish in some soft treats, when he jumped up onto our breakfast bar and quickly got down. He’s also started using the litter box again. I have no idea what happened but it scared him and he was hurt for some reason. I don’t know if it is internal or some sort of freak accident, but he has a follow up appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Freaking cats. I know children are 100x worse.

+Aside from the cat, things are good here. Spring is arriving!

+I went around some Farm to Market roads (FM) near my house scouting wildflowers. It was a sunny and bright morning and I heard rumors that the bluebonnets were up in San Antonio so I wanted to scope them out here. No bluebonnets but I found Indian paintbrushes & blankets, a variety of yellow asters, sunflowers, alliums and crow poison (they look similar) and just took my time driving down the roads and stopping when I felt like it. It was nice to see some places I hadn’t seen yet and I found some ranches and homes that I wanted!

+Tomorrow check back here early as I’ve got a new writing adventure waiting!

+If you are a gardener you might be interested in what seeds are owned by Monsanto. This is why I like heirlooms!

+Found an awesome backyard chicken book at Barnes & Noble the other day but I didn’t write down the name of it. I guess I’ll have to go back. Chris doesn’t have much optimism for me and my chicken idea (he wants bees), but I do. I’m not going to eat them, they will definitely be pets who give me eggs, but I’d like a few when we get our own house.

+I had more but I’ve got some things to do around here, writing to get done and some cooking to do.

Hope your weekend was great!

2 Comments

  • Mom

    As usual I am behind on reading. Oh yes the chickens would be pets that give you eggs! You couldn’t eat them. 🙁
    I love the butterfly! That butterfly exhibit is at the Botanical Garden again. I would love to go again. But probably have to go by myself. I guess I am going to have to start doing a lot of stuff by my self if I want to do it. I just haven’t figured out how to do some things alone yet.

  • Patrice

    And your mom thought SHE was behind … I’m way behind. Catching up tonight! Poor Leo!! I hope to read a newer post in a few minutes and find that he is okay!!!

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