It’s soft and velvety. I guarantee you want to rub this tummy, yet there are risks embedded in each paw, The key word is “embedded” and those suckers hurt, hurt, hurt as they are sharp and curved in! Maybe we can forget about rubbing the tummy for now.

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There was a goodly amount of melting yesterday. The heaped piles of snow are sinking faster than I thought they would. At the current rate, maybe only the biggest piles will melt by the weekend…I hope! The snowpack where I have to park is a pain, one that requires me to mount a small hill on one side and to slam into another one to stop. I worry about sliding into my neighbor’s Jeep doing the parking maneuver. She should worry about me, too, and make sure she doesn’t squeeze me too far south by parking her Jeep too far south because there’s just so far south I can go before I have to climb Mount Everest. The more piled snow I have to back into, the more power I have to apply to the effort; the more power I have to apply to the effort, the more my car careens around, slipping and sliding under little control! My little VW Golf SportWagen handles well on bad roads, but really! The parking spot is too compressed for fancy driving!

If my neighbor parks her Jeep pretty much where it is in this photo taken the day after the blizzard, we’ll be OK.

You can see here, though, the inevitable drift on the south side of my car makes it IMPOSSIBLE to park any farther south. Once I leave the parking spot, the drift usually collapses a bit where I park. Further, the piled-up snow that results from plowing the lane blocks my parking spot enough that it takes bit of horsepower to breech it to drive out or to return to park. All I can say is at least I don’t live in Buffalo, New York!

I think the kitty is about to snooze!

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Must be in the air. I, too, am about to snooze! Neither Andy nor I did much today, so being tired is a paradox. Perhaps the answer will come in our sleep. I’ll ask Andy about it when we both wake up!

Andy can sleep…

…almost…

…anywhere!

He’s…

…my little angel!

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The day after Christmas is a poor time to decide you want to get breakfast at the local fast-food joint. I tried. There were two lines waiting to get their orders in and a parking lot full of cars.

After waiting nearly forty minutes in one line that moved exactly one car, I noticed the time. In a bit more than hour, another restaurant would be open – maybe! – and I could enjoy a sit-down lunch. Breakfast at the fast-food place was becoming more like brunch.

I backed out of the line and took off for a drive in the country I timed to be just long enough to spend till the regular restaurants opened.

When I got back to town, I saw one I hadn’t been to for a while was open. I went in, ordered the house specialty. In the booth next to mine, there were four young children, kids of one of the wait staff. They were cuties but when the little boy tumbled against the bench back at their booth, the bench, which was double sided, with the other side on my side, pushed the table I was at closer to me. Frankly, it got tedious in short order. I like kids, but please put them where they don’t interfere with paying guests if they are going to be unsupervised!

The meal was average, a bit disappointing. I ate it, finished it, not particularly savoring it in its mediocre, barely warm state. I waited and waited for the bill or some suggestion the wait person who waited on me remembered to check up on me to see if I wanted dessert or my check or just a hint of a smile from her for helping her make a living.

No one came for a solid half hour.

I finally just got up and went to the counter to pay and get out of there. The mother of the children finally stopped long enough to tell me they’d get to me shortly. She went back to filling drink glasses. My wait person was doing the same. I wondered what happened to her.

I note that standing for any length of time is problematic for me, that I have been known to pass out or come close to it when just standing long spells with a cane. Having to stand while the people behind the counter took care of anything and anyone but me, it was only because I could hang onto the counter that they didn’t have a medical situation!

Finally, “Mom” came back, processed my credit card, handed me the receipt to sign – with a pen that didn’t work – I hope the credit card people accept a receipt with pen impressions for a signature! Where it said tip, I left a blank, the first time ever for me.

I noticed that there were signed receipts strewn about the countertop, receipts people didn’t want, food orders, little trays with peoples’ orders and pricing. It was a mess, one that could cause the restaurant to lose control and money.

I think this place could use a visit from Restaurant: Impossible! if it still were in production.

“A mouse?”

“…”

“I think not!”

Andy was fascinated by my mouse.

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Yes, Andy left the end table shortly after the photos were taken. He came back a few minutes later to contemplate the mouse again. I suspect he will do his doctorate on this phenomenal mouse. 

My friend Deborah sent this photo of her cat Tashi dressed for Christmas! You may remember Deborah wrote about bringing Tashi Norbu home from Canada last November. If not, here is a link to the post telling about that trip:

15Nov22: Deborah brings Tashi home!

https://photofinlandrantasalot.wordpress.com/

Finlandish cats sleep like cats everywhere. I had to share this photo of the handsome Finlandish tuxedo kitty Kosmo:

My Christmas wish is Andy’s proud tail regrows its loveliness soon! While his groomer did her usual excellent job, I truly, completely hate the lion cut. What made me agree to it when she said she was going to do it this time I don’t know. The usual cut for Andy is the teddy bear cut. True, the teddy bear cut is meant for small, cute, yappy doggies, but it works well on Andy…and it spares his famous, familiar, fabulous tail. 

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I’m listening to the Harnoncourt version of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” while I type. It is a Christmas tradition for me for several years. It puts me in the mood for the season most years. This year…perhaps not. It is lovely, joyous, both as a proclamation of the arrival of Christ the baby and as foreshadowing of the Cross. My Easter habit is to listen to Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion”, which pretty well says it all.

The cold front has passed on to the Eastern US, bless their hearts! While the electric heaters in my apartment barely maintained 61 degrees F/ 16 degrees C the other day, the same setting yielded 79 degrees F/ 26 degrees C this morning! It’s a Caribbean 11 degrees F/ -12 degrees F outside as I type at 23:23, just minutes before Christmas Day! Sure beats the nighttime temperatures of the past week!

Andy and I would like to wish you all a Blessed Christmas and a great New Year! 

Andy stopped by to sharpen his claws.

He let me know…

…he had…

…kitty business in the guest bedroom and rushed to make a grand exit from the front room.

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Still miserable here in Western Nebraska when I put this post together 23 December. It’s only 64 degrees F/ 17,8 degrees C inside, thanks to a system of heating using electric wall heaters in each room that spew heat onto the ceiling but neglect to do much, in my opinion based of years living here, to warm the cat and the human living here.

Incidentally, rising from bed to find the kitchen faucet water frozen was alarming, though discovering water fully available in the north bathroom allayed some concerns. A nice piping hot coffee seems to do that, even made from water carried in a pot from the bathroom.

I hope to start my car later in the day when it’s predicted to be 3 degrees F/ -10 degrees C as the daily high. Tomorow’s high (which is today in Blog Posting Land) is predicted to be 28 degrees F/ 16 degrees C, a virtual tropical day for winter in the High Plains in winter! If the “horse” doesn’t start in that weather, I guess it will have to be “euthanized”. LOL!

(A friend’s brother came over and jump started my car yesterday afternoon. I turned right over. I took it out on the highway and took an hour and a half “trip” on perfectly cleared roads that still had “Highway xxx closed” signs that stopped no one and advertised no hazard that I could see. I hope that was sufficient to recharge the battery. I’ll find out later this morning when I get in it to go to dialysis. It is supposed to be warmer, relatively, today.)

Andy seems to be handling the cooler apartment without problems, though he, like I, has been hanging out where the heat is noticeable. my bedroom, for example, is smallish so the electric heater does a great job of turning the room topical if I close the door. That and tons of blankets on the bed gave me a great night’s rest, something not possible before I turned the heat up in the early part of this cold front and relied only on bedding for comfort.

I bought a Turkish terry cloth robe several years ago. It is so heavy and hot I rarely wore it where I used to live. Now, it is just right! At least if you come for a visit now, you won’t find me in a polo shirt and undershorts. LOL! The robe is quite cozy.

As of 11 AM yesterday, I’d still not found that stupid television remote. I am totally deaf in my right ear. I can hear sounds fine with the left ear but can’t pinpoint where they come from because that skill require stereo two-ear hearing. That said, I heard the remote hit something but which direction the sound came from is a mystery. I’ve looked all over the front room for it and suspect it’s hiding behind something…or in plain view!

The cold front’s supposed to pass by the weekend. I hope so. My car wouldn’t start Thursday. Water is frozen so can’t make a warm drink. I may “harvest” some snow and melt and boil it for safety’s sake. On top of it, Thursday morning I managed to really, really, really lose the remote to my television when I tossed the blankets off my lap. I heard it hit something but couldn’t locate it. Ugh! I’ve had enough of winter. Bah humbug!

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The water in the bathroom still works so I filled some things with water so I can use if for cooking and drinking. I put clothes in the washing machine so I can have some clean clothes at least. What next? Electricity goes out? That’d top the tday.

Andy let me know he wants his supper…NOW! 

Scratching his displeasure done, Andy hurries to the kitchen.

To heck with presentation…

…Andy wants his kitty food NOW, don’t you remember?

Andy scarfs his kitty food down in no time, then runs into the warm guest bedroom where he likes to lounge under an electric wall heater. Good move, kitty! The weather for tonight is scary cold.

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Here’s last night’s forecast and what to expect for today. Ugh! 

Tonight: A 10 percent chance of snow showers before 7pm. Widespread blowing snow, mainly after 2am. Patchy fog between 7pm and 8pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around -29. Wind chill values between -55 and -65. Windy, with a northwest wind 20 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph.

Thursday: Widespread blowing snow. Sunny and cold, with a high near -14. Wind chill values between -55 and -65. Windy, with a northwest wind 25 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph.

Thursday Night: Areas of blowing snow before 2am. Mostly clear, with a low around -22. Wind chill values between -40 and -45. Blustery, with a west northwest wind 20 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.