2017 and I’m Still Catching Up

While intentions to post were good, I failed to get anything written during the past month and a half. A great deal has happened that while not being earth shaking has been time consuming.

A few of the events in reverse chronological order:

I just purchased a new keyboard, a Motospeed Inflictor CK-104, to deal with perpetual cat hair and crumb problems. Being one of the newer mechanical keyboards with backlighting it has far easier access under the keys for cleaning. Double shot keycaps and nice Outemu blue switches made it a steal at $44 at Amazon.

So far I’ve only gamed on it without any serious typing. Writing this post is its baptism by fire…

Modifications

I find myself in the middle of December of 2016 wondering where the year went. Of course much of the elapsed time was spent being ill, yet there was even more weirdness eating up precious seconds, hours, and days. Included in the strangeness are the subcategories of politics, sports, technology, things breaking down, and celestial events. Just how many super moons can one year have?

This is starting to read like a year end post and I’m not willing to concede 2016 just yet. In the spirit of losing time…

Ragnar Vanished

It is hard to write this post. About 48 hours ago was the last time we saw Ragnar, the almost full grown kitten I rescued back in November. While an avid hunter who loved going outside, he always stayed near the house so he wouldn't miss anything we were doing. Odds are that he was torn apart by coyotes while hunting rabbits.

Rags was an exceptional cat, one of two brilliant little animals I've had the privilege of knowing over the span of nearly five decades. Fiercely loving, he had to be involved in everything we did. If we hiked up to the mailbox, he's accompany us. If there was any labor around the house, Rags would be there to either check it out or try to "help", if help meant playing with the tools involved.

I've lost more than a pet, Ragnar was a buddy, a friend. In the short amount of time, he brought such light and life to a beaten down household. With his death, my heart has died as well. One too many wounds to the soul in a very bad life had turned it into scar tissue. It truly is the last straw.

No more pets, I can't go through this again. Ironic, I was planning to take pictures of him this week and write about what an incredible cat he was. Now all I have is memories.

So I Was Driving Along a County Road…

And I saw what looked like a dead cat with a kitten nestled up to it near an intersection. A half mile or so further down the road I turned around when I saw nothing moving in the rearview mirror. Stopping the car and getting out revealed no dead cat, but three kittens huddled together for warmth right at the edge of the road. They were completely lost and crying for their mother.

Concerned for their safety, I managed to corral two and carry them across the road to the farm where I suspected they belonged. The third eventually followed me to the safety of familiar territory while one jumped off me when the dog residing there started barking. However, one was just fine with me carrying it and was comfortable nestled in my arm.

Talking to the surprised owner of the property it turned out their barn cat mother had taken them hunting. His surprise was my carrying them, since he had tried wooing them and never been able to lay a finger on the critters.

Looking at the purring kitten looking back up at me, I realized that another four legged denizen was going to be added to our household.

Not the best picture, but I had the wrong settings on the camera again. He’s a pretty little cat with a face like a bobcat and quite a bit bigger than his siblings. Fairly sure he’s a he, since it is the old semicolon ; rather than colon : formation in back.