The situation at my home in Colorado is at a point where flood recovery things are happening around me, but it will be some time before my specific problems can be addressed. I've done everything I can to reach that point, and it is nice to get away from it all for a break: away from conserving fuel all the time, and worrying about whether my driveway is going to collapse into the river if there is too much snow, and looking at the destroyed yards that I can do nothing about right now.

A couple of weeks ago, I sent a greeting card to my husband: "Even though you don't get to do all you want for Thanksgiving, Think of those people who can't even be with their family." Open it up and it says "Lucky Bastards."

We don't really mean this, but we do. Oh, don't get me wrong, I glad to spend the holiday with him, and we don't mind including my cousin Betsy, who would otherwise be alone. She always has a great time, and remembers from one year to the next what we do for her. But if we were near enough to his family that we'd have to go over there, I wouldn't be happy.

It is nice to be here with my cats. Eloise is the one you know the most about. She came here after the flood, and stayed while I went back to Colorado. She misses me when I'm gone, and it took awhile for her to accept me again, but now we're pals again.



Chitty, the neighborhood cat was a little spooked to have me show up, but he got over it. Eloise doesn't like him in the house, but they are able to co-exist most of the time. She is much less upset about it when I am here.



Chitty's fur is short, fine, and soft, like a rabbit. He is a neighborhood cat with no known home. He comes and goes a lot, waking up Mr. Troutbend in the middle of the night to go out.