Animal stories

Not much new to report so I'll regale you with a couple of animal stories.

Last week we had that one really rainy day.  There was a giant cloud mass that was rotating counterclockwise with its center right on Grand Rapids for a change.  Umbrellas were dug out from way in the back of closets.  All the brown lawns were quite happy but havoc was wreaked on the roadways.  A trip to the grocery store was re-routed because of giant flooded areas across broad stretches of major streets. 

I went upstairs in the mid-afternoon to try and grab a nap, due to another early, early wake-up time.  (I had spent a couple hours lounging on the 3-season porch starting about 4:00 am.  The sounds of the rain had been lovely atmosphere for reading. ) So I settled into my bed, which is up on the second floor of our house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement on the tiny, brick-width ledge outside the window.  It was a grey squirrel, lounging and grooming for a nap out of the rain.  He was facing out into the weather with his back against the window.  (I was close enough to ascertain it was a "he".) I watched him up close for a while and got to thinking it would be interesting to see how he would behave, going from a relaxed state to suddenly realizing he was in close proximity to a top-of-the-food-chain predator.

I placed my face inches away from the glass and showed some teeth.  He was completely oblivious, facing the other direction.  He was going to sleep, which is what I really needed to do.  My jaw muscles were starting to feel some fatigue so I finally resorted to a little tap on the window.  The squirrel turned to look.  There was sort of a surprised double take... for both of us.  And then he did something I did not expect.  He began to furiously paw at the window right at my face.  I'm pretty sure he wanted me to just go away.  I eventually got the message and slunk back to bed.  He curled back up and went to sleep.  I eventually did the same.

Story number two:  My friend Lee came over to hang out for a couple of days this past weekend.  He had driven over from his new loft apartment in downtown Milwaukee via the scenic U.P. route, along with his dog, Chui (pronounced "chewy").  Chui is 14 years old and moving pretty slowly these days.  She's a fairly big dog; husky-sized, with lots of fur.  Lee had tied her up on the back deck when he arrived and she seemed fairly content to lie there in the shade.

Mary, Lee and I were having snacks and beverages on the other side of the slider door that is the main egress to the deck where we could easy observe the mellow pooch.  We got to thinking it might be an okay idea to introduce Chui to our cats, Elvis and Luna.  They are strictly indoor felines and we surmised that they would scramble to another corner of the house and maybe gradually come back to investigate on their own time.  So Lee went out, unhooked the leash and brought Chui in to say "hi".

Our generally more skiddish female cat, Luna did the expected thing and high-tailed it for another room.  However Elvis, our male cat, who is much more curious and always present to meet visitors, surprised us.  He immediately reacted in jungle cat fashion and produced a guttural growl and began slinking menacingly directly toward Chui.  The growl turned into a hiss and the hiss turned into fisticuffs the moment he was in proximity.  He flat-out started punching the bewildered dog. "My turf" was the clear message.

Chui was banished back to the deck and Elvis let Lee know that he had no hard feelings by rubbing up against him and jumping into his lap.

So those are my two recent unusual animal stories.

Lee's visit was very nice.  We drove around the city, ate some good food, hooked up with a few old friends from the days when Lee was a Grand Rapidian; 16 years ago.  It was the tail end of my week-long vacation from chemotherapy.  On Monday morning, Lee came with me to the chemo lounge to keep me company for a couple hours before heading back home; the shorter Chicago route this time.  It was a routine infusion with the very professional Nurse Linda.  She scored me a different prescription to combat the Thrush, that has returned to my mouth after a 3-day hiatus from the last cure.  Abby brought in some broccoli soup and fruit salad for "captive" lounge chair lunch and and kept me company until the end of the chemo shift.

Now I'm back to the familiar routine of making the best of feeling lousy.  So far, it seems to be a little bit less lousy this time around.