K'need I Say It?

Too Hot to Ride

The oppressive heat continues. For two nights now, I have left the fans on in the barn.  The air has been still, hot and humid, even after midnight.  Of course, I am getting supersensitive to the heat, so that doesn't help.

The knee is still painful, although Tylenol helps.  I can get around, but it is painful.  I swam the other day and by the time I was done with my laps, it actually felt better.  But yesterday, I didn't go for a swim because it didn't feel good enough.  It's not necessarily the swim that does me in, but Wednesday, it was the walk from the parking lot.  I got to the pool around 6 PM and the lot was packed!! I did find a "not a mile away" spot, but it was still a hike and once you get in the main gate, the lap pool is at the far end of the place--nearly where I'd parked the car.  So I was making a big circle.  Yesterday, I just wasn't up for it.

The County Fair is going on too and I really want to go for a while.  I figure I'll pull out the crutches and use them just to take some weight off the knee.  When I went to the supermarket yesterday, just being able to lean some of my weight on the cart made a huge difference, so that's the solution for now.

Since there is no real horse news except that the Boys are fine, I do have a cat report.  It looks as if Patches really doesn't mind being inside at all.  With just a little coaxing, he came out from under the sofa and cuddled with me, purring like a buzz saw.  When I went to bed, he started meowing at the door so I opened it to let him, eventually have the run of the house.  He was very curious and quite an adventurer.

On the negative side, there has been a bit of hissing and growling from the other boys.  I am a bit surprised, mostly because they are a very sweet lot of cats.  The bulk of the noise has come from DJ and Church, although I think I heard Scooter hiss too.  Reggie hasn't seemed too bothered yet, but we'll see.  Fortunately, there has been no physical contact and Patches appears to be handling it well.  Basically, he just kind of walks on by the "hisser" keeping one eye on him, but not at all challenging the issue. He doesn't seem afraid, or even intimidated, but quietly continues on his way, almost as if the other cat's not there.

I'll have to observe his tail language a bit more closely, but he's keeping it up in the air, so he is not cowering and is pretty confident.  I can, to some degree, understand the other boys' uncertainty the last cat I brought in was very aggressive--he had been declawed and then either lost or thrown out by someone. Declawed cats feel very helpless and often become biters as an alternate means of protection.  Buddy was a problem that way and never did manage to socialize.  I'm hoping Patches will be a different story.

At any rate, so far, so good.  He may make the house cat grade yet.