MORNING B
It's about eleven in the morning when Reyn and I feel motivated enough for housework. As you can imagine Reyn works harder at her chores than I do. What she lacks in strength and stature, she makes up for with relentless determination. And then there's those flashing claws and lightning reflexes.
Her manual dexterity is amazing even without opposing thumbs. With her nimble cat wrists and forearms, she can manipulate pots and pans, even the toaster, with amazing precision. She can carry more than twice her weight with her mouth.
Reyn will jump as high as my shoulder and land with grace on a cluttered dresser or bookshelf, walk about on its surface, select an item, and hop back to the floor, all without disturbing a single figurine or object.
Reyn is more skilled than Nalini or me at picking up after herself and putting her things away, especially socks. And she doesn't mind putting our things away either. The only drawback is that she occasionally leaves tiny holes in our clothes when she folds the laundry.
Less frequently, but more serious is when a piece of her nail breaks from a claw and attaches to the inside of a shirt or pant leg. This can cause a pretty mean scratch when sliding an arm or leg blindly into the sleeve. A minor or moderate scratch and a bit of bleeding is a small price for all of the help and comfort that Reyn brings us.
Reyn would gladly do all of the housework for us on her own. She only lacks the human strength to move large furniture and appliances such as the washer, drier, and refrigerator (but she has tried!). We can only imagine what she will accomplish with robotics and AI.
The other reason Reyn doesn't work on Tuesdays is because that's the day an army of gardeners invades with their jet-powered exhaust blowers and other specially designed extra loud gas-powered tools. On Tuesday you will find Reyn either under the bed sorting socks or taking the day off in her modified Barbie Jeep enjoying a session of Palates and a deep massage.
As she says, "I'm a cat, what else am I going to do when those idiots show up? Bark? My Barbie Jeep will only take me to the Salon and back, and maybe a stop off for some catnip and cream with Top Cat and the gang. Fair enough..."
SANTA FE EXPRESS DELIVERY SYSTEM- Stage One
First Installment of Santa Fe Tales:
(Picking up where we left off…)
… Here now so Nalini can fill a solid position working for the State as a WIC Supervisor.
She's happy and has since earned her full US Citizenship (Yay!). Now we can visit her parents and return home much easier. As for me, I'm retired. When the bars aren't open I settle on the couch and watch T.V. or play Candy Crush most of the time.
That last sentence was in jest. Enduring a major move required many challenges and adjustments. Choosing a third-rate moving company, packing our tiny Matrix with Reyn (our cat) and the bare necessities for a long drive only to wait out the mover's delayed arrival.
It turned out that our new apartment was considerably larger than any we had before, especially our last one, which was tiny. The movers broke my desk and an armoire and crunched some minor pieces of furniture. This created the unexpected hassle of dealing with insurance or accepting a bribe. We've done a lot of shopping to fill the cupboards and the extra square feet. We still rely a lot on TV trays.
I've yet to buy a cowboy hat or lizard-skin boots to match my belt, but we have found time to purchase some not-warm enough clothing. Winter is here and we are working on that. Maybe we will get an oversized pick-up truck this summer. Overall, Catha, we're adjusting well and things are going in a positive direction. I imagine that's all you really wanted to know.
If this post gets a couple of likes, I may begin a series of shorter, infrequent posts and call it Santa Fe Tales (or something). It's kind of different here.
(…and ending just before the start of part two. Don’t bite off all of your fingernails, it won’t be long!)
Love from
Nalini, dalton, and Reyn)
