The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is TEMPER. This verse-of-sorts is more about grief than temper, but here’s my response. Prompted by… Well, you’ll get the picture.
Temper is a thousand-piece puzzle, frustrating, slow going, now over half done resting nicely on a board on the table – or almost. A few inches stick off but safe enough.
Temper is a suspicious cat wanting to peer out the dining room window for possible adversaries he may need to vanquish.
Temper is a naughty cat — a very naughty cat! — leaping onto the table to reach the sill of the window beside.
Temper is a disgruntled cat stepping on a surface that suddenly tilts and falls away from under his paws. Frantically he retreats.
Temper is a mad dash to see what made that funny crash in the dining room.
Temper is an aggrieved board, one end on a chair, with its thousand-piece puzzle scattered on the floor beneath — while the cat sprawls calmly nearby.
Temper is me, picking up pieces — hours of work undone in a flash! I heave a long sigh.
Again stepping over
the sprawled out cat
exercising his right
to own space wherever
he wishes to flop
and be stepped over.
Seriously overstepping
his role of domestic
animal, rather assuming
the role of potentate.
Big Kahuna. Top dog
I’m expected to pussyfoot,
meekly step over or around,
because why should he
disturb his relaxation
for a domestic like me?
(Who’s tempted to step on his tail!)
Inspired when our black Angus decided to sprawl in front of the dryer the other day. Thankfully he did move — because somehow a wad of tissues got left in a pocket – and shredded. You know the story. Snowing in the hallway… 😦
Anyway, happy “Hump Day” as some call Wednesday. We’re having beautiful spring weather! Our lawn is dragging itself out of the deep snow banks and my large flowerpots are appearing through the heaps shovelled beside our door. Last Saturday a friend saw a large flock of bluebirds perched out along a fence; Sunday I was surprised to see a mourning dove light under our feeder pole. Early for them, I thought.
tiger cat detects
a toe in the blanket jungle
big game hunter
fiercely curious
fluffed-up kitten
pats a sleepy toad
ripe for the killing
almighty cat attacks
an escaped olive
On June 27th I mentioned in a text to my daughter that “I still have a sore throat.” Well, I STILL have a sore throat. It has waxed and waned, but persists in paining me, especially in the mornings. In fact when I got up this morning the node on the right side was so swollen I could hardly swallow, so I knew it was time to see a doctor.
This started the morning after I did a jigsaw puzzle from Value Village. The puzzle must have been stored and had a bit of mustiness in it, and I’m VERY sensitive to the faintest trace of must or mould. Though I couldn’t smell anything, I woke up the next morning with a really sore throat. In fact I could barely swallow. Drank a lot of chicken broth, took decongestants and the problem almost cleared up. However, a week later I began working with some fabrics someone had stored away, then donated to charity. I cut squares for a blanket top one day and that night already my throat was raw. If only I’d remember to wear my dust mask for any of these activities I could avoid this!
A seemingly unavoidable woe this summer is that I’m allergic to the bite of mites — mainly bird mites such as the cats bring home. Practically invisible, the bite of these pests produces in me a hive-like reaction that’s gotten so much worse over time. Mosquito bites give me dime-size red bumps, but some mite bites can swell up to about the diameter of a mandarin orange in my sensitive flesh. They itch like crazy for a few days, then slowly subside. A week later there’ll be a red scar about an inch in diameter. Our cats pick up mites from lying around where birds or infested stray cats sit, or when they catch a bird. I even got a few bites one day from refilling the bird feeder.
A few mornings back I brushed against a shrub in passing and later felt something on my face. I brushed off a small blossom or leaf, but it must have hosted a mite because an hour later the characteristic blister showed up on the right side of my cheek close to my ear. It’s grown into a huge hard bump, pink with a reddish center, and it’s blocking my ear canal and swelling the node in my neck underneath. This is why I could barely swallow when I woke up this morning. I’ve a smaller bite on my arm now too, which is really itchy and I showed the doctor all the healing ones on my legs. She has given me prednisone and told me to keep taking my antihistamine as well.
Now I have an over-the-phone visit with my Oncologist on Monday. Had a blood test Thursday in preparation, so I’m eager to hear what those results are. Also, I wonder what that doctor will say about all my swollen lymph nodes. How much is due to allergy and how much to the lymphocytic leukemia that’s starting to show up again this year?
We’re in a mini heat wave here in Sask. Not the 100-108 degree (38 to 42 Celsius) July weeks I recall from back in my teen years, but today it was 34 C (94-95 F) and that’s hot enough for us old fogys. Our cats are outside lying in any shady spot they can find — maybe collecting a few mites? 😦 Need to dose them with anti-parasitic stuff again.
I like to stay upbeat, but sometimes reality hits hard. My energy level is low lately. Forecast is for some cooler days ahead, like 28 C, which may not please seriously devoted heat lovers, but we’re looking forward to the slight drop. Hard to believe July is over half gone! Things outdoors, crops, etc, are looking great right now; the woods are filled with bird songs; harried parent birds are being trailed by open-mouthed offspring. Lovely time of year if it weren’t for bug bites!
Good morning everyone. It’s going to be a nice day here, with an unseasonably mild high of -9 C –16 F– if the forecast is right. And this is our FIRST DAY of the solar year, you might say: we had our shortest day yesterday so we can look forward to a few more minutes of daylight every day.
I seem to have a set amount of sleep time in my old age: more-or-less five hours. I went to bed early last night — about 11:30, that is — and woke up at 4:10 this morning. With a bit of a headache, so I decided to get up and feed the cats, have a cup of coffee, check the Ragtag Daily Prompt. Now I’m going through my Word Perfect Docs file and decided to post a few previously unpublished verses.
Here’s something that happens regularly at this office:
cat sprawls out in the warm desk chair writer’s coffee break
And if we want our chair back, we’ve found it’s most effective if we rustle the bag of cat treats.
Christine's Collection 