HURRICANES

Last year it was hurricane Irene. This year, hurricane Sandy is on the way. Last year, I thought often of my friend Irene, who had died of cancer a few years before. This year, I'm reminded of hurricane Gloria and the damage to Long Island. Trees were down everywhere, power outages went on for weeks for some residents, houses and cars were damaged and some were lost. I don't remember the count of lives lost, but I believe it was small.  We lost power for ten days. It was 1985, and the weather was still warm, so although it was challenging, it wasn't too bad. We had fun camping out in the living room during the storm, and going outside in the wonderfully fresh air as the eye of the storm passed over our house. As far as damages, we lost ten trees on our property and in our woods out back, but our house was completely spared. We had plenty of wood for our Pillsbury stove for a long time after that, and we shared some of it with friends. How I wish we still had the wood burner! We took it out when we remodeled the house and moverd to Florida for a year. We thought the house would sell and we'd be Floridians forever. God had other plans for us. But that's a story for another day.

This approaching storm feels like it has the capacity to be another Gloria for Long Island. We've stocked up on essentials and I'm cooking ahead of time for things that I won't be able to make if we lose power for a few days. Cooked meat holds up well in ice chests and makes great sandwiches. I have a gas stove, so I'll have my cooktop, but not the oven as it's electric start. Matches work just fine for lighting burners that are electric start, but are not a possibility for ovens. We have propane for the grill, batteries for the flashlights, candles and oil lamps for lighting. Prayers going up for the storm to downgrade and become smaller; it's four hundred miles wide at this time, and moving at ten miles per hour. Flooding is a serious concern in this storm, as it was in Irene. My family upstate is still in the recovery process from all that they lost last year.

Are you ready? Are you listening? Warnings are all over the different forms of media. For those who can hear Him, God is warning too. Don't get caught short; PREPARE. Don't be afraid, be ready.

Love and peace to you today. I'll check back with you soon.

Cat Tail

The other day, a friend posted a picture of her calico cat. In case you don't  know, calico cats are a mix of black, white and orange patches of fur. They are almost exclusively female; rarely, a male is born with that coloring.
Years ago, when my daughters were little. one such beauty came into our lives. This little cat was showing up at the bus stop every day for about a week, and the kids were all saving bits of food from their lunches and feeding her when they got home in the afternoon. One evening, our neighbor came knocking at the back door, cat in hand, asking me to please take her in as a bad winter storm was expected and she was afraid the cat would freeze to death. She doesn't like cats, but she has a tender heart. As much as I wanted to take the cat in, I said no. We had a dog that HATED cats, and I was afraid she'd kill it. My neighbor persisted, pleading for her life. I really wanted her. Calicos are my favorites when it comes to female cats. I knew it would be trouble, not only with the dog, but with my husband. He was not a fan at all. He didn't grow up with pets, and having a dog was enough in his opinion.
I brought the cat in and shut her in the bathroom. I warned the girls to not open the bathroom door without my help. They were only too happy to comply. They wanted the cat too.
Paul came home and I will not write what his response was to the situation. He finally said, "If you can get the dog to accept it, you can keep it." He was on pretty solid ground for getting rid of it, as we had tried in the past to have kittens, and had to give them up.
So, over the next three weeks, the cat lived in the bathroom. I prayed and asked the Lord to make a way for it to all work out. For the first week, whenever I put the dog outside, I let the cat roam around the house. She would investigate and she'd get in my lap and purr. Then I'd put her back into the bathroom and let the dog back inside. She would go all over the house and smell every place the cat touched, and then spend the rest of the day with her nose to the crack under the door, sniffing and snuffling as hard as she could, and guarding just in case the invader made an appearance on her side of the barrier.
The next week, I would hold onto the dog's collar, and let the cat out of the bathroom. I held on tight and prayed as we followed the cat around the house. The dog would stiffen up and bristle her fur, and follow the cat everywhere. The cat ignored her.
The third week, I decided it was time to let go of the dog and see what would happen. It was absolutely amazing!. I held the dog, let the cat out of the bathroom, and then let go of the dog. She followed the cat with her nose to its tail, all over the house. The cat never even looked at her! I couldn't believe it. If you know anything about cats, you know they are not too inclined to let a strange dog get familiar with them and have nothing to say about it. My husband came home from work and was totally dismayed that he had lost the battle over having another animal in the house.
Alpha, the calico cat, lived to be twenty years old. She was the first cat I had after being married. My husband grew to love her too. The girls adored her.

 We always had cats when I was growing up. But...mine had a pattern of suddenly disappearing. When I was ten years old, I went to visit a cousin. When I came home, my cat and my sister's cat had gone to live at my grandmother's farm. In their place, my parents kept one of their kittens, a black and white male. I named him  Irving. They tried really hard to convince me to name him something else. I wouldn't budge. I later learned that it was my father's middle name, and he hated it. I secretly loved that. I was very angry over losing my friend. She disappeared after being sent to the farm. My sister's cat didn't. Irving got sick a few years later and died. My father told me he had cancer; he was hit by a car shortly thereafter. Dad brought him home and buried him. Years later, after having cats with health issues, I realized that it was an abcess,  probably from fighting over breeding rights. Our cats weren't neutered.( Most people didn't bother with that back then.) My parents  weren't much for vet care. With five kids, they probably couldn't afford it.
My sister's dog died around the same time, and they got her another one. I was told I couldn't have another cat. I couldn't understand that and made a federal case out of it, which was a real stretch for me: you didn't disagree with my father, no matter what. Eventually, a long-haired orange female kitten came into my life, and my heart was happy again.
A few years later, she had some skin and digestive issues, and one day when I was in school, she disappeared. My father got rid of her. They never told me what happened to her, but I think they had her put to sleep. My heart was broken once again. They kept three of her kittens, but it wasn't the same.
Having Alpha the lovely calico for so long brought such healing to my heart. She was mine and nobody took her away from me. When she got very old, and developed a fast growing tumor in her liver, I made the difficult decison to put her to sleep. She had lost her hearing several years before and was losing her eyesight. The tumor was inoperable. She had a hard time getting into a comfortable postion, even to sleep, which she did most of the time. I cried like a baby at the vet and wore my sunglasses to hide it. I brought her home and we buried her in her favorite flower bed in the back yard. I was sad for a long time.
Some time after her death, I had a growing realisation of just how much my heavenly Father loves me. I saw His hand in my life with the cat so clearly. He brought her to my doorstep that freezing winter night, worked things out between her and the dog, and kept her healthy for twenty years. She was a gift to heal the wound in my heart over all the other lost kitties. The anger at my dad over them was released and healed. I forgave him. (But I still laugh over Irving; I can't help it) God stopped by and showed me that He is in the little things that are really big things, and that a daughter's heart is important to Him. He spoke to me and told me so. I learned that He can be trusted to keep my heart safe.
Thank you, Erinn, for posting the picture of your baby. She reminds me so much of mine. I hope you get to enjoy her for twenty years. Thanks friends for stopping by. I appreciate you.