Log #0012: The Fits of Spring

Cats!

As I had planned in my last blog, I bought Charlotte Cat a nice little stool to make the trip up and down from the counter a little easier. It's a perfect height, halfway between the counter and the floor, and fits nicely against the side without being in the way much. There's only one problem. She won't use it.

I've even picked her up and set her on it a few times, trying to get her accustomed to it, showing her that it's safe. No go. She won't have anything to do with it, despite the fact that she showed a great deal of interest in it when I first brought it home.

I've left it in place for the time being. Cats will often shun an object for awhile before suddenly deciding it's interesting after all; I've gone down that road before with toys and towers. We'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

* * *

We're in a warm period again and the snows have resumed melting. Springtime in Montana is fairly schizoid. One day will be sunny and warm, the next will be grey and snowy. It takes a few weeks for the season to make up its mind. I know in some places there are spring flowers peeping out from the earth, but here I still have a good foot of snow covering my yard.

Early spring is not lovely. It's mostly grey and brown with a lot of dust, muck and mud. The later part of spring will be green and glorious, but this transition period can be butt-ugly at times.

My yard often has snow and ice long after other places in the valley are dry. There are a lot of trees all around the yard and parts of it never see direct sunshine. That slows down melting quite a bit. Right now most of my driveway is bare with snowbanks on both sides; that's the part in the sun. The parking area up by the house is mostly shaded and is still snowcovered. In fact, the repetition of daytime melting, nighttime refreezing, and compression from the car has turned it into solid ice. It's a real hoot to walk on. I deal with it the same way I deal with slick parking lots all winter - moving in that little-old-man hemorrhoidal-shuffle immortalized by Tim Conway all those years ago. You just don't go fast on ice, unless you want to risk going TOO fast on ice and culminating with an abrupt, painful stop.

I'm hoping I'll be able to start going for walks again soon. Mincing carefully over icy paths doesn't really let one get one's heart rate up, you know? I could use the snowshoes, but I really don't like using them very much. I always have to concentrate on what I'm doing when I wear them so I don't get twisted up and fall on my butt (which I've done more than once). It's hard to really enjoy a walk under those circumstances. I'll have to go check my usual haunts this week and see if they've melted yet.

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