Category: Retirement

animal day journal #7

whbeebe


I have now notched a new “accomplishment” as a senior; I’ve fallen down. I did get back up (after lying on the floor in pain for a few minutes), and after a day of lying about taking pain meds, I’m back to full ambulatory capability. While I joke about falling down, a senior such as myself risks greater injury due to more fragile bones and muscle loss, with the greatest risk being a broken hip.

I fell, at night, heading to bed. I fell because I turned off all the lights and then tripped over one of the cat’s scratch pads. When I fell I hit a wall at our hallway entrance. My wife heard the crash and then the cursing and immediately came out to lend assistance. After about ten minutes of further cursing and slowly wriggling around on the floor to try and stand, I was back up on my feet, with bruises on my left knee, left elbow, and shoulder. And especially my ego. Yes, the same left knee that was fully replaced last July is the one that hit the floor.

While I was on the floor, little Danï came out to see what was happening. Rather than running and hiding, she came up and snuggled next to me, purring the whole time. She was concerned. After I got back up off the floor and finally went to bed with ice packs and a selection of anti-inflammatory medications to handle any swelling, Danï came up and snuggled next to me. During the day she continued in her “charge nurse” role, coming in during the day to lie in my lap and purr at me. Say what you will about “dumb animals,” I have absolutely no doubt that Danï realized I was hurt and wanted to comfort me. The other cats scattered for cover over the noise, but they eventually came by to offer comfort by being near me. But it was Danï that was first, and the fastest to “render aid and comfort” to her person.

As for my knee, and the whole left side of my body, I continue to carefully pay attention to how I physically feel. But it would appear I’ve managed to get through this relatively unscathed. I believe I can attribute this to all the physical exercise I’ve been doing since the knee replacement, as well as, yes, the nurturing power of a little Ginger cat and her purrs.

animal day journal #6

whbeebe


The animals are doing all right. Annie is happy and content to go with me just about everywhere she can. The cats are still being cats, and practicing their cuteness skills, like Beau sitting in my grocery tote above. They all love to sit in that grocery tote, like Zoë does below.

The cats much prefer the tote over a pedestrian cardboard box. If they come across a cardboard box these days, they tend to bite into it and tear it to shreds rather than sit in it. As tiny carnivores I think they like the sound and activity of destroying cardboard.

The Future

My writing and posting are slowing down these days towards an average of one posting/week, instead of driving towards one/day as I’ve tried to in the past. My reasons for this are varied, not the least of which is that my personal time is becoming more precious to me, and I need that personal time for other tasks I consider more important. Another way to look at my posting is that will become more erratic. There were already long periods of inactivity between posts, with a burst of back-to-back posts, followed by another long period of inactivity. It’s the bursty parts that will grow less bursty, if that makes any sense.