I'm house-sitting for my brother. This means that I get to live in his beautiful, ginormous house in northwest Austin for over a week, and I get to be with his beautiful animals. (They tend to run away when I'm not looking, but I'm trying not to hold anger toward them for it.) Right now I'm sitting at the kitchen table facing the windows along the back of the house, which looks out onto a beautiful, green golf course. They don't have privacy fences; they have sturdy, yet minimal, iron fences that allow you to look out and appreciate the view. Between me and the golf course is a swimming pool in the back yard, lined with limestone. I see a deer wandering by alone. They usually come by in groups of five to ten deer.
This also means that I don't see my own cats, and I kind of miss them. My house is much smaller, and far more crowded, but it's home. We lost one of our cats this week, and I wasn't there to be a part of it. She was ancient – like my brother's dog, like most of our cats. It's only a matter of time.
Ancient Dog, Sadie, is outside sniffing the air. She doesn't see so very well any more, and her hearing is not what it once was. But, she manages to get around her area. She knows the back yard and she knows the house. As far as I've seen she doesn't get lost. After the first day of my being here, she stopped eating. She would drink the water that I added to the food, but she didn't eat much, if anything. She tends to go on hunger strikes when her family is out of town. She gets a little depressed. I tried moving her food to the master bedroom, where she spends most of her time. No change. She was sleeping a lot, and she seemed so frail as she hobbled along. I decided to try getting her some canned food and mixing that with her kibble. (I did not ask my brother or his wife about this. I'm Uncle Earnie and I'm allowed to spoil my nieces.)
Bam. She ate everything. She was pushing the bowl around licking the bottom of it. Now she's trotting around the house like a champ and there is no remnant of the fragile creature that I saw before. Either I'm a hero, or I'm in a world of trouble for creating this canned-food monster. Either way, I had to do something. The poor thing was so weak, and she wouldn't eat.
Now it is dark outside and I need to close the blinds for the evening. I took a swim in the twilight with Sadie inspecting the perimeter of the yard. I've spoiled Mister, the cat, as well with extra canned food. He, too, has lost too much weight. (This is the same cat who spent the day in the gutter last year.) I miss my cats, though. I miss my home. I miss Barry. It's nice to miss home. I like being here with my brother's animals, and it reminds me how much I like my own place and my own animals.
Today was supposed to be a day of writing. I wrote some this morning, then went to lunch with some friends. That put me to sleep for the best part of the afternoon. When I woke up I wrote some more on my story, then I started this contemplation. I suppose that technically I am still writing, but it's not getting me closer to finishing my story. Tomorrow is another day.
Now, it's time to turn in for the evening.