A Fine Spring Day

The weather in our part of North Carolina has been excellent the past few days. Mid 80's in the afternoon with dips near fifty in the evening. And so goes the old saying, "Spring has sprung, the grass is riz! I wonder where those flowers is?"

Most of the time I get excited about the change in seasons. Well, I'm always excited about the seasons to be perfectly honest. But this spring is going to be a bit more of a challenge than most. You see, we added seven baby chickens to our menagerie. 

Normally such small animals wouldn't pose much of an issue for a pet friendly household like ours. Dawn and I have raised ducks, kittens, puppies, rats, snakes, mice, spiders and lizards. Throw in the occasional wild caught squirrel and you get a pretty good idea of what we are used to dealing with. So, we thought it would be nice, since we live in a chicken friendly town, to raise a few hens for eggs and bug control in the yard. Little did we know that my desire for a friendly chicken with good egg laying potential would lead to such turmoil. It seems that the leghorn variety of chicken is easily affected by the promise of spring and they are mischievous as heck. Actually, spring fever seems to have affected every animal in the house!

The weather, like I mentioned, has been gorgeous, so I decided to take the chicks outside for a bit of sunshine and scratching. Normally I wait until Dawn is home to take them out but the warm breeze through the living room window was calling my name this morning. So, like any good chicken dad, I took the flock outside. Unfortunately the flock included Jasper and Sampson as well. They bolted out the door just as it was about to close and shot off into the yard with triumphant crooked tails. They are so funny when they escape. Their eyes go wide, ears are pinned back and they do the craziest sideways hop-skip as they come to a stop and survey the world around them. If it weren't so dangerous for them to be outside I'd let them out every day. But we've lost two cats in the past year to life outside and we aren't interested in suffering an additional loss.

So I located a suitable place for the chicks and set them down. Jasper stood a few yards away, watching me get the chicks settled. I figured he would be the easiest to catch since he normally lets us pick him up when he gets loose. I double checked the chicks then started to walk toward Jasper. The closer I got the more he calmed down and finally began rolling in the yard. But just as I was bending down to pick him up, Sampson came speeding across the yard like a small fuzzy panther and hit Jasper broadside. At first I thought it was a neighbor cat attacking but quickly realized that despite the claws, hissing and teeth, they were actually playing. With my plans to capture Jasper foiled all I could do was stand there and watch them race around the yard much like dogs who have been let out after a day in the house. Dawn wasn't home so I figured I'd let them have their fun for a few hours and round them up before she returned.

I shrugged my shoulders and said a little prayer to the cat gods that they would be OK.  Then I turned back toward the house and noticed something rather startling.  All of the chickens were standing on the ground behind me. They should have been safe inside their cage on the porch. Normally I'd think that such a thing was cute as heck but not in this case. I had at least two predators on the loose and seven prey animals chirping at my feet who are just shy enough to stay about a fingers length out of reach at all times. They are mature enough to barely fly and it turns out that the Leghorn variety is a rather flighty chicken. This would not do. Somehow, as I was taking their cage outside I must have dislodged it from its lower part. Sure enough, the cage was sitting cockeyed on the porch. 

My first instinct was to bend over and start snatching up chicks but I stopped myself. Snatching at baby chickens is as about as effective as trying to give a haircut over the phone. What could I do? I scanned the yard and didn't see any cats. I also didn't see any neighbors who could help me either. So, I took a tentative step toward the house thinking that maybe they would follow me. The moment I lifted my foot, seven little yellow balls of fluff scattered in every direction. After a few moments they settled down and returned to form a tiny flock a few feet away from me.

I needed to capitalize on their natural instincts in order to capture them. What do baby chickens do naturally? They eat, they drink, they play, and they hide. Ah ha! I was on to something. If I could scare them into thinking they were in danger maybe they would run to me instead of across the yard. I thought back to my days in Wisconsin with a high school friend, Ray. You see, Ray had the ability to scare the daylights out of prairie dogs at the zoo. He would cup his hands to his mouth and make a soft whistle that sounded exactly like the far away cry of a hawk overhead. We used to stand by the prairie dog enclosure and laugh like fools each time he sent the lot of them dashing for the first available hole. One by one they would peek their heads out of the holes and check to see the coast was clear. After a few minutes of relaxation Ray would whistle and prairie dog alarm calls would fill the air as fuzzy brown bodies scampered off to safety.

Trying to look as much like a mother hen as possible I knelt down on the ground and hunched over creating a little space under my arms and chest. The chicks backed up a few feet. Then I let out the "hawk call".

At this point I bet you are thinking that I'm a complete idiot and if you are thinking that then, well, you are entirely correct. The chicks wanted nothing to do with me. I was the source of the sound and goodness forbid if they were going to go near me. Especially with me looking all hunched over and stupid like I was. All I succeeded in doing was to scare them farther away from me. Each time I whistled the little yellow mass of dark eyes and chirps would scamper a few more feet away. After the third try I gave up. We sat there, the flock and I, surveying the situation.

Then like a bolt out of the blue it hit me. I could prop the front door open and scare them back into the house! All I'd have to do is put the cats who were inside safely in a bedroom so no one else could get loose. I stood up, ran in the house and secured the remaining cats in the Zen room.

Back in the yard I resumed my "hawk" position. Hind sight tells me that it was completely unnecessary to crouch down like an idiot and crawl around whistling in my yard. But I was so focused on my earlier success that the thought of changing part of the equation didn't seem appropriate.

"Screeeeeee"  I called and crawled a few feet closer to the tiny flock.  "Chirp chirp chirp" they sounded their normal alarm and scooted ever closer to the house.  After about eight or ten hawk calls the chicks were finally on the doorstep. All I needed to do was convince them to jump up the little step onto the threshold and close the door behind them. As I prepared for my last 'screee' call I heard a voice from the neighbors yard.

"You OK Mike? Ya need some help?"

"Um...no....I, uh...just a minute." I crawled closer to the house and let out the last call. Just as I had planned, the chicks jumped onto the threshold and I triumphantly dashed toward the house and shut the front door. They were safely inside.

"Ya know ya got animals pouring out yer house right?" the neighbor said.

"Yeah, two of the cats got loose while I was taking the chicks outside. Then the chicks got out of the cage and I had to scare them back into the house." I walked over to his side of the yard and wiped off my hands and knees.

"Well, I don't know bout the ones who got out with the chicks, but man, ya got cats climbing out yer back win-der an yer rabbits been runnin' round the back yard just playin an hoppin round like he owns the place."

My heart sank. Cold sweat washed over me and goosebumps dotted my body from head to toe.

"You mean....wha....seriously? Where?" I closed the distance between us with a screwed up look on my face. I was frantic. If half of what he said was true then I was totally screwed.

He backed up a few steps and held out his hands as I approached him. "Go round back an look. Ya got cats a'climbin out everywhere!" What the heck was he afraid of I wondered?

He wasn't kidding. Somehow Dora, Stanley, Chloe and Bobcat had managed to pull the screen up just enough to sneak out of the Zen room window. Milton the rabbit must have watched them because he either left out the widow with them or snuck out the front door while I wasn't paying attention. There in the back yard, in various states of play or relaxation were most of our cats and the rabbit.

I wasted no time and started rounding up cats. One by one I managed to pick them up and return them to the house. My neighbor was kind enough to stand and watch me clambering around, under and over my back deck herding cats.

"Ya shouldn't let em out like that if they ain't got leashes Mike." he commented when I finally had the last cat in the house.

"Well obviously I didn't let them out. They opened the screen window and let themselves out. Thanks for noticing it! Dawn would have killed me if she knew they all got loose." I wiped a bit of sweat off my brow and smiled.

"Oh, I called Dawn an told her bout it. Well, not Dawn directly but the office lady who answered the phone took a message. I didn't know what you was doin all crawlin an whistlin' in the yard so I figured you needed help. I called and told her people at school that she might wanna come home an git her animals rounded up cuz you didn' look so good."

"YOU WHAT?!" I shouted.

"Well it looked ta me like sumthin was wrong." he replied. "You was all crawlin' an makin' noises. I was worried fer ya!"

"NO NO NO NO! Don't ever call Dawn! I got everything under control here. Oh man. Why would you call her? You have no idea what this means. She's going to think I'm an idiot." I grabbed my head and started pacing. I had to call the school. "You got your phone on you?" I shouted. "Hit redial right quick and let me talk to the school. I have to tell them everything is OK." I jumped off the porch and ran to his yard. He backed up, grabbed his phone, hit redial and handed it to me at arms length. I reached the receptionist and gave a quick explanation of the situation and assured her that everything was perfectly fine.

Or so I thought.

Dawn arrived home a few hours later at her normal time. I was sitting on the porch, the chickens were grazing in the yard safely inside their portable pen and the cats were safely inside the house behind locked windows enjoying the air conditioning.

"Hi Princess!" I called as Dawn opened the car door. "How was school?" I put on my best 'welcome-home-everything-is-fine' smile.

"Where are the cats?" She demanded.

"In the house, why?"

"Where is Milton?" She shot back.

"He's in the house too. Why? What's wrong honey?" I quizzed.

"Milton is in the house? Like right now, he's in the house?" The look on her face told me something was amiss.

"Um, yeah, where else would he be?" I tried my best to sound astonished.

"Well if Milton is in the house then we have a strange white rabbit who looks identical to Milton sitting under the rose bushes not five feet away from you Mike." She pointed.

My heart sank. "Uh...oh yeah, he got loose. Um....yeah....loose." I sounded like the Rain Man and looked at Milton and then at my feet. "He likes outside....yeah....rabbits like outside....got loose....rabbits like outside."

Dawn just shook her head, swung her bag over her shoulder and walked over to Milton, scooped him up like a baby and walked him into the house. I stayed on the porch and stared at my feet. Dawn returned a few moments later. She walked over to her rocking chair and sat quietly watching the chicks. I was glad for the silence.

A long second or two passed without a word between us. Just as I was about to break the silence I saw the neighbor walking toward our place.

He must have been itching for a beating because he commenced to telling Dawn about the days events. I had to sit there as he retold the story of how I was humped over in the yard making screeching noises at chickens and chasing cats for half an hour around the deck. In true neighbor fashion he was sure to go into full animated descriptions complete with sound effects to describe my afternoon adventure. I smiled and quietly plotted his demise while he and Dawn giggled and laughed together. Then, with mission accomplished, he returned to the perceived safety of his own yard. I squinted after him and was going to plot some sort of revenge when Dawns voice caught my attention.

"You realize that our neighbors and my co-workers think you are a little challenged don't you Mike?"

"Well, what the heck was I supposed to do? I had predator and prey animals in proximity to each other and then the whole damn crew got loose out the Zen room window." I retorted. "Don't forget! You said I should work from home and take care of the animals. So that's what I do. I don't give half a damn if people think I'm crazy. Let 'em. And let 'em be jealous of our lifestyle. People would give their eye teeth to work from home and play with their pets all day." I thought I had successfully defended myself and figured I should quit while I was ahead. I nodded in self approval, set my jaw and stared off into the yard.

Dawn must have noticed that I was embarrassed. She stood up, walked over and sat on my lap. She took my face in her soft loving hands and said, "Mike, you did everything perfect. Don't worry about the neighbors. You are right. They must be jealous because they always have something to say about the things you do." She hugged me into her chest and patted me on the back. "Either that or they think you have a few screws loose!" Then she shrieked as I grabbed her in the ribs and tickled. Our laughter rang down the block and I'm sure our nosy neighbors ran to their windows to see what was happening at the Gonzalez house.

"Spring has sprung, the grass is riz. I wonder what's happening at the Gonzalez's?"

The Hougarhide

Hougarhide: (noun) sounds like cougar-hide;

                   A poly-cephalic  heavily built, bipedal, short-legged mammal thought to be of the weasel family. Similar to to the Wolverine or Gulo-Gulo in appearance but stands upright on its hind legs. Because they are elusive and horrifically ill tempered not much is known about the species.  The scant amount of data on the creature has been collected and maintained mostly by grandmothers in Northern Minnesota and passed on via oral tradition to young children who attempt to play near a river or other dangerous location. A vicious and solitary creature, the hougarhide will immediately attack any child who strays too close to its lair and immediately begin chewing on the child's legs and feet with its shiny white chomping teeth.

At least that's what my grandmother told me when I was a boy.

Actually she didn't tell me directly. My cousins and I were "allowed" to overhear a conversation between our grandma Selma and our aunts. It happened after we were scolded and told to go inside the house after fiddling around with an old boat. You see, a few of us had snuck our way toward the edge of Lawrence Lake. A forbidden place! Our fathers were were in a boat fishing on the other side. We could see them from where we were and there is nothing more distressing to a group of cousins than to be stuck on shore while your fathers go fishing. So, like the Borg Collective, we decided to launch grandpa Walts very old, very leaky and very un-seaworthy old rowboat. We thought nothing of it but obviously our mothers were unhappy with the idea of five to ten year old children launching a guaranteed deathtrap into a deep glacial lake. So once we were rounded up and safely inside the house, we overheard the following conversation.

"Mom, do you remember the hougarhide?"

"Oh Violet, don't talk about that thing!" grandma exclaimed. "I had to beat it with a stick to get it off of you."

"Who else did the hougarhide get? Didn't Janet and Weldie get bit too?" my mother chimed in.

Grandma continued, "Oh it really hurt Weldie. His little legs were so torn up. I was lucky that I heard him scream when it got him."

"What did you do?" said a voice.

"Well I grabbed the biggest stick I could find. When I got to Weldie I had to hold on to him and try to pull him away from those chomping teeth and beat it on its heads as hard as I could! But as soon as one head would stop biting his legs then the other one would start! Oh, he screamed and screamed and I was crying. It even bit me a few times. Uff-da! I don't wana talk about it anymore."

"Yup, that's why we never went by the river or the lake when we were little. Does the hougarhide still live there?" aunt Barb asked.

Grandma replied, "Oh I think Norman saw one of its dens not long ago. See, they have to make their dens deeper in the woods because the river floods. Once a it finds a good spot it digs a den then it tears up all the little trees and rips up the ground so everything in front of its den is wrecked."

"Well, I just hope none of the kids get hurt by that thing. Do you think we should tell them about it or do you think they will listen well enough and keep away from where they aren't supposed to go?" aunt Violet asked.

"Oh I don't think we should scare them. They are good kids. They listen pretty well." grandma finished.

We were, all of us cousins, playing in the living room when we heard the conversation. You can just imagine the black hole of silence created by a group of cousins, frozen in place, straining to hear every word in the next room.
Our little minds were racing. Two heads? Hougar-what? Chewing on legs and feet and beating it with clubs? And what in the world could be so bad that it made grandma cry? Adults never cry unless there is a funeral. Did she think Uncle Weldie was gonna die? This was serious and we just had to learn more. The combination of fear and curiosity spurred by the conversation overcame us. All at once we broke free from the spell and for whatever our individual reasons, we had to be near an adult at that very moment. A gaggle of cousins poured into the dinning room where the women were enjoying their coffee.

Once we were located skin tight to our preferred adult a little voice broke the silence.

"Um, what's a Hool-gra, a Hoor-a-guide?"

"Oh no. You kids didn't hear that did you?" aunt Barb exclaimed in shock. Her change in posture and frightened look made each of us feel as if the damn thing was standing right behind us ready to pounce. The younger cousins clamped their eyes shut and buried their faces in a mother or aunt and the older ones, myself included, nearly jumped on the table. You couldn't fit a razor blade in the space between woman and child.

"I think we should tell them about it Joyce." Aunt Janet looked at my mother and continued. "They might as well learn about it so they don't get hurt."

"I'm not telling them. You tell them. If they can't stay away from the places they aren't supposed to go then they'll find out one way or another." my mom replied.

What in the name of all that was good a right was my mother talking about? This was the very same woman who won't let me ride my bike to the end of the driveway. Heck, I can't even take a rope into the woods because I might, "get hung up by your neck!" And now, this very same woman was willing to loose one or more of us to this two headed horror by attrition. My little mind reeled.

Over the next few moments and strategically placed pauses for sips of coffee, the aunts took turns explaining the hougarhide, its habits  and terrifyingly vicious nature. Young cousins whimpered or covered their ears during the scariest parts and I noticed that even the oldest of us had now wrapped both arms securely around our preferred adult.

Those women were brilliant, wicked, and wise. I'm sure they fully enjoyed the hugs and unsolicited cuddles they were getting. Plus the rapt attention and quiet must have been a great bonus.

In time, the conversation turned to things only adults cared about and we began to relax. By then, we started climbing off laps and releasing our death grips and drifted back into various parts of the house. Slowly, the afternoon returned to normal. We chased each other, hid in closets, tried to sneak into the basement or got caught fiddling with the wood stove. It was at that point that we heard the dreaded words, "All right! You kids better get outside right now or there is going to be trouble."

I think I would have preferred an arrow in the knee at that moment. How in the heck did these women expect us to go outside when clearly there was an actual monster at large? What is more, Minnesota is the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes" and that doesn't include rivers. I was old enough to do some simple math and it occurred to me as I stood wiping ashes from the wood stove onto my pants that the entire state was likely crawling with hougarhide's! Everywhere we looked, everywhere we drove, there was a lake or river or swamp or other equally dangerous location. But the women didn't care. One by one we were reluctantly shooed out the door.

Once in the yard the door thumped shut behind us. I turned and looked for my brother. I didn't have to look far, he was holding my hand. "Mark, we better play in the driveway cause its prolly safer then by the woods." I said.

Mark didn't respond but plopped himself down in the grass by the front door. The rest of us followed suit. And from that day on we were the most cautious children north of the equator.

In time, some of us grew up and had nervous episodes each time we got near water but for the most part, we went on to become healthy adults with our own families. And you can bet, that with each new batch of kids, comes another retelling of the story of the hougarhide. 

Ten Days Without Dawn or How I Survived Alone with Our Pets

Dawns mother had surgery recently. So, Dawn, being a good daughter, decided to help her mother during her recovery time. Ten days in Wisconsin while I stayed home and cared for the pets was not something I was looking forward to. What follows is a daily account of my time alone with the animals.

Friday
Took Dawn to the airport. Visited ex-wife and son in Richmond Virginia. Returned home following day. Cats unhappy. Litter boxes relatively clean. Easy job scooping. Rather painless.

Sunday Morning
Noticed that none of the cats slept with me. Strange. Normally they pile on the bed and I have to wrestle around for space to sleep.
Cleaned litter boxes. Much gagging. Someone poops big like a human. Better check what they are eating.

Sunday Afternoon
Cats fighting in the Zen room. Everyone wants to lay on Dawns pillows. Stanley, Dora, and Sampson seem to have won the right to lay there for the time being.
Cleaned litter boxes. Meditated before hand. Useless. Still gagged. Puked in mouth a little bit.

Sunday Evening
Forgot to feed cats. Sampson tried to pull all of the vents out of the floor and Chloe tore a hole in the wall paper by the food dishes.
Fed cats.
Cleaned litter boxes. Chloe joined me for bedtime cuddles.

Monday Morning
Chloe was the only cat who slept in the bed last night. Got up and saw every cat sleeping in the places where Dawn sits. Obviously they miss her.
Bear is screaming up a storm! I thought he might have impaled himself on something. Ran into the hall to find Bear and Bobcat pacing back and forth across the hall. Offered them cat toys and cuddles. They won't go near me.
Tension in air. Something is going to jump off soon. Better be careful.
Cleaned litter boxes. Found tinsel in poop. Where the hell did they get tinsel???

Monday Afternoon
Couldn't find source of tinsel.
Let Milton out. He ran down the hall to the Zen room and slept on Dawn's pillows. Tried to play with him. He buzzed and thumped his hind feet at me and ran away.
Jasper ran out of the house. Picked him up in the yard and he bit me. Damn cat!
Bear paces up and down the hallway screaming. Everyone try's to ignore him.

Monday Evening
Made pork chops, fried potatoes and corn. The cats love that meal. No one joined me. Everyone was M.I.A. the whole time I cooked. Chloe came for a few bites of pork toward the end of supper.
Missing Dawn like crazy.
Don't want to clean litter boxes on a full stomach. I'll leave them till tomorrow.

Early Tuesday Morning 2:00 AM
Severe shrieking and howling in the front room. Bolted out of bed to find all the cats looking out the windows and at the front door. Expected intruders. Turned on outside lights and looked out windows. Nothing. Returned to bed. On way back to bedroom Jasper ran up behind me and bit me in the back of the knee. Damn cat!

Early Tuesday Morning 2:30 AM
Chloe is under the bed growling up a storm. She sounds like a didgeridoo. Got up to see what was going on. Looked under the bed to find Chloe, Sampson, and Stanley in a Mexican Stand-Off. Tried to break it up only to get scratched and hissed at.
Screw 'em. I'm going in the guest bed.

2:45 AM
Screaming under guest room bed. Got up, went in master bedroom and closed door. I'll let them fight it out in the hall.

Tuesday Morning
I will never ever let the cat boxes go overnight without cleaning. It looked like they were trying to make small mud huts in there. Did they save it up just for this occasion? How can such small animals make such incredible structures????
Silver and blue tinsel in litter boxes. They must have a secret stash of tinsel somewhere.

Tuesday Afternoon
Forgot to feed cats this morning. Came out of office to find five sets of eyes staring at me. When I got into the kitchen there was a new hole tore in the wallpaper next to the bowls.
Made lunch. Let Milton out. Got bit in the ankle by Milton. Realized I hadn't refilled his Timothy hay from yesterday. He is spoiled, he gets fresh Timothy hay every day. Far be it from me to miss a day and expect to go 24 hours without being accosted.

Tuesday Evening
Went grocery shopping. Returned home to find a potted plant turned over in the kitchen. Looks like they took turns running and sliding through the dirt. Spent half hour cleaning kitchen. Forgot about groceries on kitchen table. Someone tore into the beef roast and someone else has an odd fascination with onions. Had to squeeze an entire loaf of bread into a Tupperware bowl because someone chewed through the bag. Whole pork chop missing from family pack. Searched entire house. Can't find it.

Wednesday
Spent majority of day at library and coffee shop. Scared to go home.
Finally got up the nerve to go home. Entered front door slowly. Nothing out of place. Air is thick with tension. Something is going to go horribly wrong because whenever I look at a cat they stop moving. Then the next thing I know they are closer to me like the Weeping Angels of Doctor Who fame.

Thursday Night
Woke to the sound of someone wretching. It was worse than the sound of a hairball so I got up to investigate. Found Bear on top of the stereo cabinet making violent heaving gyrations and noises. Suddenly he chucked up a waterfall of liquid directly onto Sampson who was standing below him wondering what was happening. Samson didn't take it well, he bolted into the kitchen and scared Stanley who was probably in there walking on the counters when he isn't supposed to. As quickly as Sampson entered the kitchen Stanley shot out, slipped in the vomit on the floor and puffed up with a Christmas tree tail. Instead of running down the hall toward me he turned and ran up the pile of pillows next to the lamp in the far side of the livingroom. Where he was expecting to go is beyond me. When he reached the top of the pile both the lamp and the pillows came crashing down. This terrified the remaining cats in the living room. Everywhere I looked there was a cat running for its life and they all were puffy with Christmas tree tails.
As quickly as it happened it was over. Complete silence fell across the house. Then softly, like a whisper, the smell of cat vomit met my nose.
Found Sampson and Stanley under the guest bed. Thank God for hardwood floors. Extracted them from under the bed and wiped them off with a warm wash cloth. Sparked up the steam cleaner and cleaned under guest bed. Found 38 cents.
Steam cleaned living room floor. Heard cats fighting in Zen room. Went to investigate. Jasper and Sampson knocked over my coffee cup. Steam cleaned Zen room floor. Found 90 cents. What are the cats saving up for?

Friday Night
Went to corner. Bought twelve pack of beer. Returned home. Locked myself in bedroom. Forgot that I would have to venture back into the main part of the house if I wanted another beer. Screw drinking. I'm safe in here with the door closed.
Scratching at door. Looked to see two sets of paws poking out from under the door. Almost broke down and let cats in. Feel like prisoner in my own house.
Crawled out bedroom window. Had to sneak in back door to get twelve pack out of extra fridge. Couldn't climb back in bedroom window because screen slammed shut and latched. I must look like a complete idiot climbing out of windows and swinging a twelve pack around the yard.
Front door locked. Neighbor saw me. Asks if everything is OK. Tell him "No, I'm hiding from my cats." He looks at me like I've lost my mind. Offer him a beer. He turns and goes back in his house.
Sneak in back door. Tiptoe to bedroom with twelve pack. Bedroom door locked. Overcome with shame. Sit in hall and drink two beers. Cats come for cuddles and pets. I know its just a matter of time before they kill me.

Saturday Morning
I'm still alive. I feel like someone poured death and hot garbage in my stomach. Head spinning.
Never ever ever clean litter boxes with a hang over.
Went back to bed. Woke to the sound of something crashing in the kitchen. Rolled over and wept softly. Cried myself to sleep. Woke to the sound of screeching and howling. Pulled covers over my head.
Woke up to go to the bathroom and shower.
Went back to bed.

Saturday Afternoon.
Took out garbage, cleaned litter boxes, made stew. Only one more day until Dawn comes home.

Sunday Morning
Up early cleaning house. Want everything perfect for Dawn when she gets back. Cats work against me all day long. Knock over cleaning products. Puddles of Mr. Clean on bathroom floor. Knock over Ajax. Green powdered footprints all over kitchen and living room.
Sit down for a break. Bear knocks coffee cup onto laptop. My litany of curses scares cats into parts unknown. Close all bedroom doors. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Now they can stay locked in there until I go to pick up Dawn!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Sunday Night
Pick up Dawn at airport. Had wonderful ride home. Get home. Forgot to let cats out of bedrooms. Push past Dawn to get into house first. Let cats out. Dawn sees me opening the last bedroom door. She says, "Oh, I would have just locked them in the mudroom with the litter boxes and put the food and water in there for them if they were giving you a hard time."
Solitary silver tear wells up in right eye. Slides down cheek. Nerves shot. Glad wife is home.
Dawn sees holes in wallpaper and scolds me. Cleans litter boxes and sees tinsel in poop and scolds me. Finds a dozen empty beer cans in the recycling and scolds me. Finds kitchen plant on back deck half dead and scolds me. Finds sharp bone from missing pork chop under kitchen table and scolds me.

At that point I simply wrapped her in my arms and gave her a great big kiss and a hug. As I stood there holding her I mouthed the words, "Just wait, your day is coming!" to the cats. Then one by one we drifted back toward the bedroom and settled in for the night. And yes, everyone piled on the bed for cuddles.