Close in on Happy Things in Everyday Ramblings

It is not raining! Really. Oh my, it feels like Christmas to have a break in the ever- present gloom and dark damp. The picture is from last weekend taken with my phone of the giant clump of tangled seaweed on the beach near where we were staying. Here in Portland, what leaves are left on our amazing variety of deciduous trees are yellow. My world is yellow. And now briefly a blissful blue.

Good news on the Saint Joe front. They just promoted him. He wants to stay where he is at least for a few more years. That makes me so happy.

The prospect of training a new person makes my eyes glaze over and my body slump into a tired trance. The hard part for me is that he is getting all the credit for the good things that we have accomplished as a team. He champions my work to our superiors but because my boss is a male chauvinist breast obsessed creep, he doesn’t buy it. I say that last part in the nicest possible way. He is so much better than my previous boss at this job that…

As might be obvious, my work life remains challenging. Not crazy-making insane like before but challenging. How do you say? We are not the best match, my work mates and I. Yesterday after a particularly Twilight Zone sort of morning one of “my” IT people called, he actually wanted to talk to me and made me laugh and I was so darn grateful for the touch of humor and sanity I can’t say.

I’ve talked to a couple of folks at my vet’s office about kitten adoption. They say based on what I am looking for that a slightly older cat might be the way to go, about a year to eighteen months old. I have filled out the paperwork at the one adoption place that is easy to get to. They are so strict you’d think I was applying for a bank loan. And there is a second place not too far south that has lots of cats and a good reputation that Kes has offered to take me if I can’t find someone to love at the first place.

I talked to a woman at my Dante class last night that has had four very successful adoptions there so now it is all about getting where I need to be and going forth. Eek. It is more difficult to take on this responsibility so deliberately. I think that might be why quick decisions in a crisis may be the way many folks adopt their rehomed pets.

We are a big dog town, Portland. And we have dog owners on every possible point of the responsibility spectrum. Last night walking through the PSU campus I saw this couple walking two healthy happy black dogs, a lab and one that looked a bit like a Bulldog Scottie mix, an adorable dog, and they were both on halter leads, had reflective rain sheets on their backs and blinking reflectors on their collars. They were companionable with each other. Their people were talking to each other and the dogs and not on the phone. Now those are responsible owners! Mostly these days I see dogs (if they even are on leads) on those long long retractable ones and their people are out alone talking on the phone.

Can I just say how much as a career pedestrian and cat person and an individual afraid of big scary dogs how much I admire, respect and adore responsible dog people. :) Thank you.

Mr. Finch got his name because he loved finches. At one point before I knew him, he had a couple in his home. If we would go to a pet store that had birds I knew where he would be. He would be so pleased with my feeders these days. I have at least three kinds of finches on them most of the day. They are such a cheerful joy to watch.

I suspect there will be someone (of the feline persuasion) that will soon be mesmerized by bird feeder T.V. as well.

That makes me happy too.

Last updated November 07, 2014