Short Cuts

I thought I would do a miscellaneous post as there are a few short items in our life worth mentioning.

- We took Agnes to the vet, which was something we'd been meaning to do for about 3 years now. Agnes was the stray who used to be fed by our neighbor who moved away and abandonded her. Several months ago, you'll remember, we brought her into our home, gave her worm medicine, tried to clean her ears, and generally gave her a happier, safer, warmer life than she'd probably ever had before. But her ears continued to bother her and she wheezes so we took her to the vet.
She had stuff (pus, earmites, etc.) in her ears so bad they had to put her under to clean it. Even then they couldn't completely clean her left ear. She has had a respiratory infection for probably about as long as we've known her. She's on antibiotics (the good news is that she seems to love the flavor of the medicine. That makes our job a lot easier.)
The most striking thing is that it's like having a new cat. In spite of the cost, there is no doubt in my mind that we did the right thing. She has such a visible sense of peace in her expression that she's never had before. She's not nearly as timid anymore and will come up seeking attention. She's playing. This afternoon she even jumped up in my lap for the first time completely unbidden (although not in the least unwelcome.)

- So, there was the noise of an evil, hell beast living underneath our bathtub. At night we would hear it clawing, breathing, sometimes growling. All of our pets were beside themselves when this noise would start up. So, we rented a trap. My assumption was that it was a possum and we would trap it and release it somewhere far from our home. But after almost 2 weeks, we only managed to trap our outdoor cats a few times. Finally we assumed it was a large rat and went to buy poison.
There's a panel in Tony's bedroom closet which opens on the plumbing of the bathroom which is the next room over from his. It's clear that his room and that bathroom were later add-ons. It's also clear that this place was a rental for decades and there wasn't a lot of love put into the place. Hence, there's a panel you can open and look at the pipes coming out of the bathtub.
We opened it to put the poison down there and found a big possum looking back at us. We closed the panel, freaked out for a few minutes, then called Animal Control. They told us 1) it's illegal to trap and relocate possums (in which case I don't really understand why the feed store even rents them, but that's not really any of my business I guess) and 2) we would have to call the county trapper (yes, that is a real job that someone holds) and the trapper would, for a fee, come and kill the possum in our wall.
Hours passed and I walked into the kitchen, and this is the part of the story where a lot of people might think we're crazy, but I saw our cats on the counter eating their food and thought "you know, that possum isn't going to eat our wiring or anything. The only real difference between that thing and our cats is aesthetics, really. And how messed up is to to kill something just because you think it's ugly."
I told all of this to Laurie and we decided that we would throw some mothballs and ammonia down there some night while the possum is out to encourage it to find another place to live and be done with it.

- Last week I had an interview with what will probably be the most serious job I've ever had in my life. I am fully convinced of my capability to do it. I have no idea how the interview went, although one of the interviewers did tell me that I did "very, very well" on the test. I should know at least if I've made it to the next round by the end of this week. I'll write more on this then.

- Laurie and I watched My Dinner with Andre (one of my favorite movies), the Spalding Gray monologues (which is what I wanted to do for a living about 10 years ago. My own monologues, of course) and then almost got whiplash going to a silent film, City Lights (which competes in my brain with The Third Man for the position of "my favorite film ever.")
Synapses seem to be popping and I seem to be moving in a spiritual/well being direction I'm not entirely sure of yet. Some people who have known me for a long time probably know about the spark that went out of my eyes a few years ago, the peace and joy that went away. Well, I've had a few moments like the "we're going to need a bigger boat" scene from Jaws lately. More on this soon as well. Laurie and I have been talking a lot and she's been helping me tremendously in my walk and keep my internal reactions focused in the right direction.

-The dining room is almost finished and then we paint the front room. Also, Schubert and I have lost a little weight. I'm trying to walk him at least five times a week as both Schubert and I could use to drop a size or two.
So things are good. More soon.

Oh, and we're almost at enough questions to warrant another Bull Roaring post, so if you have a question, any question, you would like to ask me, I can't guarantee a right answer, but I can guarantee a response. Personal, recommendations, advice, anything. Send them here: http://www.formspring.com/forms/?805682-tVpvj8P8KQ