A Brief Thanksgiving Interlude

Tonight, A Brief Thanksgiving Interlude on Catholic Heart and Mind. The Weekly Series on the Soul will return next week.

+JMJ+ I hope you’ve been having a happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day. And if you’re in a part of the world where this holiday of thankfulness isn’t celebrated, I hope you’ve had a happy and blessed day, anyway.

My day has been quiet. Resting my eyes, thinking, more sleeping than I wish I had done but I needed it. Fed Miss Lucy Dawg, Major Tom Cat, the Opossum family members who have begun to stop by daily for a snack on their way home from wherever they spend their time. It’s a good thing I stocked up on catfood. They seem to enjoy the flavors that he thinks are “meh.” (That’s what he said. Not “meow” but “meh.”) Of course, once I started filling their bowls with the food he didn’t like, he started eating it with relish. (Well, not with relish, I mean, just—Oh, never mind.)

Speaking of thankfulness, I bought that crazy cat a nice little outdoor kitty cat house with two transparent doors, so he could escape if he ever needed to, and it’s got a pet heating pad in the floor of it. Will he even go in there? Nope. I bought him an Armarkat Pet Cat Bed, it’s nice and plush and he’s supposed to curl up inside it and keep warm on chilly nights. It got down into the thirties a few nights back and he wanted in, but Lucy Diva Devil Dawg barked and charged at him and scared him, so now he wants to come in but he won’t stay in. Not the usual cat kind of “I want in, I want out, I want in” kinda stuff. No, he really doesn’t want to tangle with her. Need I remind you that she is (allegedly) a Miniature Dachshund? And he’s a big ol’ Tom Cat? Not old, but big ol’, not the same thing.

That’s not Major Tom Cat in there. Nope, he won’t curl up in the one I got.

So what does he do with the nice plush Armarket Pet Cat Bed? I put it down for him and he looked at me with a look as if to say, What now, hooman? Then he stepped over the opening and curled up on top of it to go to sleep. On TOP of it. So I got him off of it (no, I did not pick him up, I may be crazy but I’m not stupid and I have a finite number of bandages), put some of his favorite treats inside it, to entice him in. What did he do? He went into it, got the treats, ate ‘em, got out and curled up again on top of it. I would have let him stay that way but he barely fit and it’s thick enough that he probably can’t feel the heating pad that’s under it. So, that was a bust.

I should explain that he has a comfy place to sleep and he found it all by himself. I didn’t plan it. I had an old dawg bed mattress insert out there on the deck, intending to throw it away one day. But along came Major Tom late last winter and decided it was his spot. When colder weather came on this time around, I put another mattress insert down to give him more insulation, and a pet heating pad on top of that (not one for a hooman, that would be too hot), and one of Abby’s* pet blankets (a really nice gray plush soft one that isn’t too thin or too thick but just right) on top of that. Apparently he likes that arrangement because he stays on there a good deal of the day and night.

But we have colder weather coming and this week we had a good bit of rain. So I wanted to do something better for him. The deck is covered but he was still getting some drizzle on him, so I took one of the big boxes I’ve tried to get him to use and pulled it over to mostly cover his bed. I really thought he wasn’t going to like it, but, wonder of wonders, he did! He used to go away most of the day and then come back late. But now he stays on the deck in his big box on his big bed and looks so cute and as snug as bug in a rug.

Miss Lucy Diva Dawg is now miffed with me and is demading equal time in the post. Well, she was, she’s snoozing now. I’m going to post this and cook us both something for a late dinner.

I’m grateful to have something to cook, a home where we can live, for my menagerie that seems to be growing, for my family and friends, including my family and friends on Twitter and here on the blog, and for those who have given me encouragement and support. I’m grateful for you all. I’m grateful that we have a country where I can open up and blog and open up my heart and mind and ramble and rant and not be afraid that I will disappear in the night. I’m grateful that I can buy a book if I want to and can afford it, and I can read it and talk about it. I can buy audio and music gear and drive my menagerie crazy with my noise. I can live out here in the boonies with a lake not far away, or I can sell (maybe one day) and move closer to the city (but not right now!) and make my friends in the city happy. I can read about the Church and share what I find, and study what I want to, where I want to, and when I want to, and I can worship the God Who is the Only God, and because He Alone Should Be Worshiped and not some political position, party or person. These are just some of the things I’m grateful for and that make this country a great country.

May the Lord guard us and guide us and keep this nation free and may we become (if we need to) and remain (if we are) devoted to Him, the One Who Loves us more than we will ever know. May He watch over you and bless you and keep you and give you His Peace forever. Amen.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll visit me again. +JMJ+

*Forgot to tell you, in case you’re new to following me or just haven’t seen the posts where I mention my beloved Abby: she was my companion and pal of fifteen years when I lost her back in 2018. We made it through many things together but cancer was the one thing that could and finally did tear us apart. I’ll always be thankful that the Lord let me have those fifteen years with her. She was the best dawg any hooman could ever have. She was and always will be my buddy and my pal. And a very good girl.

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