howl

not a tremendous amount of words to say. actually started up writing an old friend with paper and stamp. pen pal style. i forgot how much fun that was. we do so much with email and blogs that good old fashioned letters and post cards have gone by the wayside. i have a hermit in tucson who "checked out" a few years back. cat even owns a dial telephone. patagonia said "live simply" and this dude took it personal and very much to heart. i got a letter in the mail from him. nice break from the bills, junk mail and mail order catalogs. something to that.

snowing as i type this. big flakes. my running gear is thawing out on the drying rack. headlamps really light up the flakes and make it seem like your world is only 3 feet deep. i stumbled and slid through the night run tonight. i started huntin, eugene style, solo. miss the group i used to hunt with. things are different up here, for sure. that dynamic is only one of them.


(nights of huntin's past. hoodie run or a convening of the competition committee?)

kitten and a coke machine

it started with a screaming kitten behind a coke machine.

i think we found each other at the right time. her, wet and shivering. 3 weeks old with a case of pneumonia. me, 23 and very much outside of myself and concerned with the external first and foremost. her first week was spent at the vets. i felt like even as something so young, she deserved a chance. so every day i signed a form and watched my summer savings account melt away until she was finally healthy enough to come home. home was a small space and a roommate. i never intended upon keeping her. i guess somewhere between bottle feedings, trips to class in my backpack and nights spent sleeping under the covers close i became responsible for someone other than myself. i was trying not to get attached and only called her kitty, because naming her would meant showing everyone around me that i cared. i had been intent on finding her a home; but realized on the day the ad was answered after 14 weeks with me, that i had found her a home when i scooped her up from behind the coke machine. the decision was finalized with a misunderstood look from her as the potential adopter stood in the doorway. "sorry, there's been a mistake. she's not available." and with just like that, kitty became Tee Tee and my greatest friendship began.