[wolf]

I am pet sitting for a friend, solarhippie (she has a Prius and put solar panels on the house last year). She wanted to go camping, I couldn't go on the trip because I had some other pre-scheduled events already this weekend, and so, here I am, watching two dogs and two cats.

They are all pretty easy to deal with. Cats, after all, are furniture, not pets. They feel all comfy and they make you happy and all, but the sofa doesn't come when you call it either.

The dogs are pretty good ... a beagle mix (who is old and deaf) and a Husky mix. Their human has arranged the house to their benefit, and actually, you can just let them out in the yard and they're good ... there's lots of water bowls out there (I've counted 5 outside and at least three inside), and they have access to a screened in porch in case it rains or is chillier than they like, not that we're having a lot of chilly lately!

So, what could be challenging about this?

One of the cats is an indoor-outdoor cat. He wanders around the neighborhood, kills birds, and eats their hearts, leaving the rest behind.

He has some issues.

I have to give him Prozac every morning.

He does not like being given Prozac, but apparently if he doesn't get it, he pees on mommy's bed. And couch. And pillows. And in all the corners.

So, he gets his Prozac Saturday morning and gives me really evil look, and demands egress. I figure he's earned it. A semi-stranger just grabbed him by the scruff, shoved a tube down his throat, and blew a small, hard object down his throat.

Out he goes. Last I saw of him. Frequently go to the door, call his name, hope he'll show up, check the doghouse and the screenporch in case he's out there waiting to come in, no go. solarhippie was pretty calm about it ... "did you see his body on the street outside the house? No? Well, he's probably okay then, and if not he's had a good life."

Wow. I wouldn't be so calm about that. Maybe she's gone through a lot of cats?

The second cat tries to go outside too, but she's the indoor cat.

Each time I chase her outside and follow her around the yard until I can grab her and bring her back inside. I explained to her I've already lost one cat, so I have to keep good track of the remaining one.

Actually, he did show up, finally, this morning. He got his Prozac and is confined to quarters. Solarhippie's orders. Fireworks tonight will freak him out. He's hissed at me a couple of times already about this.

Okay, so that's like not enough, right?

Just before this whole thing started, solarhippie bought a new window air conditioner for the room where I am sleeping. The house has central air, but it doesn't do a whole lot to cool the upstairs of the house.

The new unit is lovely.

I helped to put it in.

I have no skills in this regard. I have lived in apartments for most of my life. Maintenance and installations are things that other people do on my behalf.

The unit has somehow managed to vibrate itself forward ... into the room. Jumped the lip on the sill that's supposed to hold it in place. So, if it falls, it should fall in rather than out to the back yard. Solarhippie is informed of this. She figures it can be dealt with after she gets back tomorrow.

So, like that isn't enough ...

I'm sitting here in the kitchen, having some coffee, surfing the web a bit and this ungodly sound starts up.

WTF? Reminds me of an air-raid siren. Or the tornado warning sirens from when I was a kid ... why would they have something like that ...

OH FUCK. I AM LESS THAN TWO MILES AWAY FROM A FUCKING NUCLEAR PLANT THIS CAN'T BE GOOD. IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY, GREAT DAY FOR A JIHAD. I AM SO SCREWED. WHAT DIRECTION IS THE WIND COMING FROM?

Nothing on the news, no emergency broadcast system break-through, nothing on my pager or on the county alert system ...

Oh. Monthly test on the first Monday. okay. hopefully the heart rate will come down soon.

solarhippie will be back tomorrow night.