perspicacious.org

I'm so tired this week. I've been filling in for the director at camp, working my shift plus hers. That makes for 10 1/2 hour days, of which I'm getting paid for 9. One lousy hour of overtime. I'll be glad when she's back. And I'll be glad for the 3 day weekend. Happy Independence, and all that jazz.

The kids and I have settled into a pretty good routine in the classroom. They are good kids, funny and sweet and fairly helpful, overall. That doesn't mean I'm not going to be completely exhausted with them by the end of the summer, or that I'm not a little bit tired of them already. At least I don't have to take them home at night.

That cat is much better. He can get around on the cast, and we're not locking him up in the kennel anymore at night. He does have some, how shall I put it, issues with going to the bathroom. He's stinky right now. He gets a bandage change tomorrow; hopefully that will help. Until then, he's going to have to stay off of our bed. Can I spray him with Febreze? It might help.

Cat update: He managed to pull the splint off while we were asleep on Thursday night, making our late night emergency vet visit completely unnecessary. R took him to our vet yesterday, who set the leg, took new x-rays, and kept him overnight. Now he's got a new splint, an e-collar (lampshade thingy to keep him from eating it) and tranquilizers. We borrowed a big dog kennel from a friend and will keep him in it (doped up) when we're not home. He's already figured out how to walk and climb things with it on, so he should do OK. Poor little thing.

(See photostream for more photos.)

Tonight the cat broke his leg. We're not really sure how– we just heard a crash and a yowl, and then he was on the floor hissing at us. The lovely and very expensive after hours veterinary clinic x-rayed him and gave him this getup to hold the leg in traction. Right now he's trying to figure out how to walk with it. He'll try to stand, and then yowl and tip over. Then he lies defeated for a minute before trying again. Poor baby.

On Saturday I bought a lovely muffin and coffee before going to the Farmers Market. The different kinds of muffins weren't labeled, but I thought I'd be safe with a nice bran muffin with a dab of butter on top. Then I bit into it and realized that it was banana. I don't know about the rest of you, but in my opinion banana flavored foods are pretty atrocious. However, I thought I could handle this one– until I got to the center. There was no dab of butter– only a heaping spoonful of banana cream. Blurgh. I'll stick to bagels, thank you.

Today's the day I left Albuquerque for my journey northward, two years ago now. My life has changed immeasurably since then, so much that memories of that time just before I came here feel as distant as elementary school. If given the chance, I would do it all again, in just the same way. Life is just a big jigsaw puzzle. There's a place somewhere where you fit, too. Don't give up until you've found it.