Things Speeding Up?

I'm behind on this blog, and the strange thing is that I don't remember February. Pretty sure I was here, but it flew by in a haze. The world itself seemed to be 'major eventing' everywhere, from political news to weather to gas concerns. Since February seems long-gone already, I'll just try to catch up to March.

It's been a heck of start so far, hmm? Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, riots and Wisconsin. I had a feeling of unease coming into this month, thought I was just being irrational. But before the 1st, I received notice from the census bureau to try to run cases hard by March 5th in case the budget wasn't extended in D.C. ... So I hit the roads hard & long in a massive rush. Then we were told the "two week extension" would give us some buffer.

Luckily... my 2nd Acura didn't spew its timing belt while out on the back roads, and chose instead to collapse Monday evening in Towne. Terry was with me on a way to drop off posters with the peace coalition, ended up riding in the tow truck home. Talking to the driver, he said their shop has had 4 times as many calls in a month than usual (January) and it wasn't letting up - he was pushing a 14-hour day and couldn't wait to dump us off and head for home.

Val ended February by getting her leg brace off just in time to fall on the steps and jar it again, missing a few days of school, before surrendering to the flu. Some of her friends started to think she'd moved because of her absence. She did share The Bug with Sera, who was on-call for dog-sitting at Christine's in the cities. Me, I planned on not being sick until after the 5th due to census, and then figured out I still didn't have time for it. Sometimes I think my physical defenses are due to nettle tea (home-dried, good for you) and possibly a caffeine/tobacco habit creating an unfriendly Bug environment.

Sunday, to make sure it wasn't getting too complacent around here, Val leaned a little too hard on the kitchen cabinet doors. It'd been pulling loose some, but this added to it. Luckily, it didn't fall down completely. I put a brace under it for the duration and we unloaded the food into baskets.

Terry came over as planned on Monday; I'd volunteered to make dinner with some ham he provided. Par for the course, I got it in the oven late so it wasn't finished by the time we left for Towne. Before we had dinner, the car had died.

Tuesday Terry fixed the cabinets while I went over the website for Lynne with Pete before we got on with trouble-shooting the car. Wednesday we went hunting for an affordable car - the Acura may be repairable, but it's not the season to crawling about in the snow and mud trying to do a major fix. 'Affordable' in my world was a cheap runner that wasn't bad on gas and wouldn't eat my entire tax refund that was slated for bill- and loan- catch-up.

Sigh, there seriously aren't any of these cars? The only thing we found in a day of searching (thanks to borrowing Sera's car while she was at work) was 1993 Dodge Shadow for $1500, 100,000 miles on it. Not a terrible price, but it put me back in debt to friend Bill, and the emotional roller coaster of financial punch put me in tears. I wasn't too stable anyway, not feeling great possibly to the last week's bug, and this put me over the edge.

On a sadder note, Jake-dog had a seizure Monday evening. Usually he snapped back from these, but he grew worse all week. The vet could see him Friday afternoon, and I planned on driving him there myself. But... I couldn't get him in the car. He was too heavy, and his stomach seemed bloated so I didn't want to try lifting him around his belly; I couldn't get him back on his feet even. Sera came home and drove him up with me. There wasn't anything much the vet could do but put him down gently.

This was an absolutely horrible ordeal. He was down on the cold pavement in a puddle and all I could do was cover him with a blanket and wait for help. He's been my furry companion for almost 4 years, the one that slept in my room and shared meals with me - you know how this is.

In hindsight, I wonder if Jake didn't get into raisins when the cupboard was unloaded. The food was stacked on a table, and he'd eat about anything given half a chance. The cats could have knocked a baggie out or he could have snuck one while we weren't home. They are toxic to dogs and it doesn't take a huge amount to poison them. I don't know what else could have taken a lively dog on Monday to a critically ill one on Friday, though it could have been an intestinal or heart thing that finally gave out.

He just seriously was the gentlest dog I've ever had, big old teddy-bear scared of shadows, mice in the walls, loud noises, and even the refractions off prisms. I'm glad he found us?

So that week winds down around here. The world in general is in massive crisis mode, and it's hard to find a region that isn't under severe stress. Yet I'd add a little quiet wisdom about the value of good friends. Human or furry, this is what will get us through no matter what happens, and this may be the key to surviving 2011.

I have a feeling it's not gonna get better real soon and we're all in a state of change. For everyone absorbing their own shifts in Life, I wish you the best - you know who you are.