Jesse, I am so sorry. I hope one of the facilities is more than suitable.

Me too, man. Thanks, y'all. I know people have worse problems, it's just hard to know what the answer is.

I'm sorry, Jesse. Hoping the answers present themselves with clarity.

After a marathon of a day in which everything went wrong, I added more to my plate for next week. But it's a sweet add. See, a lady on the neighborhood listserv posted looking for recs for cat care as she's rather ill (chronic) and needs to go into the hospital for a couple of days next week for tests and has a special needs kitty that needs to be encouraged to eat at least a couple times a day. I reached out to her offering help if she couldn't find anyone.

After exchanging a couple of emails, I told her if she was comfortable after meeting me, I was definitely good for evenings. So I went over tonight. She's just like me when it comes to her cats. Her special needs kitty is a 17 year old with renal disease. He doesn't look or act 17! I'm not to expect to see the other as she's Devi-like and only likes Pat. Longer story short, I was over there for about an hour when 15 minutes would have been sufficient and volunteered to come over mornings too unless she found someone else. And she hugged me.

She's probably my parents age but is in rough shape- unsteady on her feet and short of breath. She's moved her bedroom down to the front room, and the legion of pill bottles tells me she's been at this a while. I really enjoyed talking to her.

Think I'm gonna adopt her. She mentioned several friends who can't help out with the cats for very practical reasons, so it sounds like she has a community, just not a nearby one. But she is largely housebound due to her health. So once I'm back in town, I think I'll make a point of keeping in contact with her and seeing if she needs me to pick stuff up. I mean, both cats are Ednor Gardens rescues! She's one of my people!

{totally loving on sarameg}

Aw, sara. You're a good egg.

One of the GISHWHES items is to do something nice for someone who does good for your community, so I just baked some cookies to bring to the people who run a Restorative Justice program with prisoners in the prison down the road. (They've got a thrift shop, and I'll drop them off there. One of the head people is usually there.) DebetEsse, meanwhile, is making a wig out of her own hair.

My house started filling with this lovely cooking smell (windows open, fans on, it is gorgeous today!) E&J are grilling pizza on their deck. I've eaten dinner, but OMG, smells so awesome!

Being a helper bean is something that...I dunno. I mean, I don't do it to polish my halo. It's just something that needs to be a part of living my life. It makes me happier. And it hopefully means that Pat and her Troy and Teeka will be happier too. So many of my friends have helped me out (hi lisah!) with my cat care quandaries, I'm glad to share.

Aw, sara. You're a good egg.

It's true.

Jesse, I am sorry to hear that things have gotten to that stress point for your mother. I've been there and I know what it feels like. Fingers crossed that everything works out.

Speaking of stress, today was a hard one. My sis had a bad morning and my son had a bad afternoon. I am whine because no wine. Lucky for me there was a bottle of vodka and a lemon from a neighbor's tree, and now I have a lemon drop.

I wish I had more wine!

That's great, Hil.

Archeologists discover that nerds existed in ancient Sumeria: [link]