North Texas takes cold weather seriously. The news this morning was a three-hour special on the "arctic blast" that brought our temperatures into the low 20s and is supposed to get us down to 13 tonight. The news does give us good traffic warnings, etc, but it makes such a big deal of the temperature that it becomes worse, in your mind, than it really is. I feel as I did in Breckenridge--trapped by this monster outside. Actually, like Colorado, this has been a fairly dry cold spell.. It feels cold but not as bone-chilling as some of our wet weather in the 30s. I stayed in today, doing odds and ends, but plan to go to the office for a bit and the grocery tomorrow. My big worry is leaving my dog out--he doesn't do well in the house alone (a mild understatement), although tonight I left him in his bed for two-and-a-half hours, and he was anxious to go out when I got home but fine. This morning when I kept him in he was antsy, not used to being cofined during the day and had energy to run off. I let him out about eleven and when I went to look for him after lunch, he was snoozing in the warm sun. Now he's at my feet, quiet and glad to be in.
Tonight Betty, Jeannie, and I had our belated Christmas dinner at Betty's house. She fixed a feast--appetizers of bacon-wrapped marinated artichokes, a wonderful salad with craizins and a blue cheese dressing, pork tenderloin on polenta, asparagus, and a chocolate trifle with blueberries for dessert. We ate in front of the fire and had a good visit--as Jeannie says, with just the three of us we're free to gossip and talk about anything we want, and we did.
Last April, Betty and her husband, Don, had to put down their aged cat, Maggie, whom both adored. Just when Betty was sunk in despair over that, a mama cat and her kittens appeared in the back yard. They're feral, but Betty and Don have adopted them. They have two houses for them, close together, with the space between covered by a tarp (an old shower curtain). The kittens, now nearly cats, come inside to eat but won't stay long, won't let anyone touch them--although one of the males did one day rub on Betty's leg. Tonight was the first time I've seen them--they're part Siamese and really beautiful. And they seem to love their digs. Betty certainly arranges her life around them, getting up to feed them at 6 a.m. The ways of feral cats are so different from the domesticated animals I know that these cats make a fascinating study in wild life. Trusting, but only to a point. I think there must be a parallel with the homeless people of our world. But this particular family of cats has lucked into the best deal ever--and they have healed Betty. Tonight, with the temperature to go down to 13, they are cozy and comfortable.
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