Sunday Night

Cold, gray and snowy outside - warm and snug inside.  Was going to take a walk up the hill but the day ran away from me.  The whole weekend got away from me.  It was just so wonderfully relaxing to be home and not have to get in the truck once.  Sure I work all weekend, but working at home doesn't seem to be work to me, especially if I can do it in my jammies.   Aside from spending some quality time with my animals I got a bit done.  Lavender and Peppermint soap, a couple of skeins plied (needed to free up my bobbins) more fiber dyed and dried, four totes cut out.  Was hoping to do some sewing but didn't get to it.  One of my favorite cats, Lydia, is not well.  Don't know how old she is but she's old as the hills.  I found her on Coffeetown Road in Riegelsville, on the Delaware River, where I lived before I came here.  I was driving home from work when I went around a sharp turn in the road, about a mile away from my house.  There were five little kittens sitting on the side of the road, lined up like they were waiting for a bus.  I put on the brakes to look at the little group and marveled at the way they stayed on the side.  How did they manage to avoid the traffic and stay alive?  Who did they belong to?  They were in front of an empty house.  I was to find out the details of the house later.   I pulled over just in time to see a large calico cat bounding across the yard across the road from where the kittens were waiting.  The kittens got excited when they saw her, and they all ran into the bushes.  I worried about the family of cats, and saw them again on the side of the road.  I decided to capture them and managed to get the kittens.  Can't remember if I got Mom at the same time, as my memory is getting rusty about more than a few things, but I know I got them all home.  The kittens were thriving, but I couldn't keep Lydia in the house.  She escaped and I was devastated as I had become attached to the whole group and taken responsibility for them.  The kittens didn't need to nurse any more, but I still wanted Lydia.  It was several weeks before I found her again, near where she lived in the bushes with the kittens.  I was driving home and saw a woman holding something in her hand, like she was offering it to something on the ground.  I stopped and asked her if she saw a calico cat with a black mask and she pointed to the shrubs.  Sure enough there was Lydia.  I scooped her up and brought her home again.  I got her fixed so there would be no more kittens to worry about.  Shortly thereafter we moved to the farm.  Lydia loves the farm.  It's just the right amount of wildness for her. She has the entire tractor shed to herself.  Sometimes I don't see her for days.  Other times she's waiting for us on the enclosed stoop where I keep boxes of wool for the kitties to keep warm in the winter.  Lately Lydia has been trying to come inside, and I let her.  She's been sitting in a box on a blanket for three days, not moving much at alll.  When I realized she was not eating I gave her mashed up salmon cat food mixed with water - a slurry as my vet calls it - squirting it in her mouth with a big syringe barrel, not allowing her to spit it out. I wormed her and gave her a shot of penecillin.  When I touch her she arches her back and purrs, very encouraging.  I hope this is not the end for the brave courageous cat mother who gave me Petunia, Lizzie, Pounder and the others.  I have no idea how old she was when I picked her up seven years ago.  I have plenty of cats, but there are some very special kities who will loom large in my collective memory - and Lydia is one of them.