Rest in peace, perfect Winnie--the best hamster ever!

I'm sneaking in a quick blog entry, as we watch our family movie, Puss in Boots. I'm also trying to guard the popcorn from Jasper, the popcorn-thief cat.

This weekend has been mostly rough, but with a couple of high points. I met the most beautiful, special, stray cat on Friday. I spent several hours with her outside, most of them in the rain with a temp of 48 degrees. We kept each other warm. She has no tail and has seen some rough times, but she's a gorgeous long-haired torti. She also has kittens stashed somewhere. She's a smart girl, because two days of trying to follow her, searching, asking everyone in the neighborhood, and we still haven't found the kittens. There were five of us searching today--Les, Allegrea, myself, Luciana and Hunter, and we still couldn't find them. With the temp dropping into the 20's tonight and the horrible flea infestation, I would be surprised if the kittens make it. They are only a few days old. They could succumb to the cold or the fleas, which is an all too common occurence with stray kittens. They loose too much blood to the fleas and die from them. This will probably be the third night that I don't sleep. I really feel like I've failed them all.

We had another horrible blow this morning. Luciana went into the bird room to get Winnie (the hamster) out for his play time. She found him dead, in his favorite hiding spot. He was absolutely fine yesterday, eating, drinking, and playing as usual. That's the bitch of small animals--particularly the rodent family. They are great at hiding illness and just aren't robust. It's heartbreaking for all of us, but especially L. She cried for a couple of hours, and I tried to cheer her up by watching some of the Pink Panther cartoons on Netflix that she loves so much. It did stop her from crying, but she's still sad. Winnie leaves a big hole in our household, as he was already an important and very loved member of our family.

Now for the bright spots. I had a couple of women come to the door yesterday as Obama volunteers. We had a wonderful time chatting. I really enjoyed talking with them and hope to see them when we volunteer next weekend. (My intent is to volunteer next weekend, but my pain is ramping up and will continue to do so this week, so I'll see what my body allows.) They also left me a sign for my yard. Our very favorite neighbors have a matching sign in their yard, too. It improves the whole block! :D I do feel it important to point out though, that while I do not agree with Obama on everything--I disagree on many issues, as a matter of fact. Given the two choices, however, it is not even close. So, given the constraints of the two-party system, I will support Obama 100% to my fullest capacity. Even though my first preference in an ideal world would be, for example, a nice hot meal, when given the choice between a sandwich and a plate of steaming, runny shit, well, I will eat that sandwich with all the relish and appreciation in me, as it's worlds better than the shit. So having said that, I proudly support Obama with my sign, my time, and anything else I can think of.

Last night, we spent what would have been our date night with my parents and Luciana. Mark got tickets for all of us to go see Dallas Brass. We try to see them whenever they come to the area. They were fantastic as always. It was a great show, and they are so extremely talented and entertaining. It doesn't hurt that one of the trumpet players is quite yummy, too. L. was really happy to hear that they played the Pink Panther song. I've always loved that song, and now she does too. My Grandma, for whom L. was named, loved that song, and I learned to play it on the piano for her, when I was much younger. She died when I was 15, so that was quite some time ago. We enjoyed the show immensely though. The tuba player was new to the group. He reminded us of our friend, Mike M., in both looks and mannerisms. He made me kind of miss Mike, whom I haven't seen for a while. He was young, fun, and played a number that he wrote. It was very modern and funky--kind of techno sounding. He used multiphonics and some other techniques to make the sousaphone sound like several different intstruments, including mixing and scratching (like they have in rap). It was really impressive. He's clearly a talented guy who enjoys his music.

I enjoyed the evening very much, except the constant niggling concern about mommy cat and the kits. We also saw some friends there that I haven't seen for entirely too long. It was great to see them, and we are planning to get together and catch up.

After today's failed cat search we all came back in to warm up. We had some delicious hot chocolate--first of the season, and enjoyed a nice visit. Since Les & Allegrea are two of the people I love and enjoy the most (outside my immediate family of course), I always feel happier and recharged after spending time with them. We have some exciting new changes in the works for our animal rights group (formerly WAEN), and can't wait until we get everything finalized and can make the announcement. Very good things are coming our way!