Boy, would my old friends in Breckenridge be surprised. While I used to be known for my enjoyment of the night life, it was because I was a restaurant manager and bartender, and involved a totally different kind of night life than what I am now experiencing.
Since the closing of the Palisade Tribune in March, I have been working as an assistant manager in the circulation department of The Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction. The most noticeable change has been the schedule; I now go to work from 3 a.m. till 10:30 a.m. Although I have always been an early riser, I now need to wake up by 2 a.m., more like my old bedtime. So, with three cell phones set as alarm clocks, I manage to get up and dressed and stagger around the house for a few minutes to feel awake. I never realized how lucky I was to always wake up without an alarm clock; you’re hardly ever groggy when you wake up naturally, since your body has done it on its own schedule.
The first couple of months passed in a kind of a blur, besides being in some kind of shock and withdrawal and suffering from ‘no-Tribune-itis,’ I couldn’t seem to stay awake anywhere or anytime, I felt like I might even fall asleep while I was talking to someone. Just when I thought I would never get the hang of it, my body suddenly adjusted. What a relief!
The problem now is trying to make myself go to bed by about 9 p.m., harder than it sounds. For one thing, the sun is still out! Okay, a slight exaggeration, but it’s definitely still light. I expect it will be easier on cold, dark winter nights.
I was driving along E Road the other day, over by 32 Road, when I saw this little body darting all over the road, fast as it could go. I saw all kinds of traffic coming and pictured the worst for the little squirrel, when I suddenly realized it wasn’t a squirrel, it was a filthy little kitten.
I pulled off the road and chased the kitten to one side, but unfortunately, she immediately fell into an irrigation ditch. She surfaced and managed to pull herself out of the water a few feet downstream, and collapsed under an evergreen bush. I slowly went over and was able to pick her up. She was exhausted, wet and dirty and very small, so I took her back to the car.
As soon as I set the nearly motionless body on the floor of the passenger side, she came to life, immediately running up under the dashboard! I caught her two back legs just in time, otherwise, I’m sure she’d still be in there somewhere. I pulled her back down and realized she had a little bit more energy than I gave credit for. I found a cloth grocery bag that had the silver reflective lining and a zipper top. I filled the bottom of the bag with paper towels and Kitten went to sleep till I got off work.
We stopped to see our vet on the way home and had her tested for all the contagious cat stuff, since we have another cat as well. Kitty was clear of viruses, so the vet wormed her and got her shots started. I guess Kitty has found a home. (I can hear my mother now!) No name yet, and the dogs are mystified by something so small and yet, so NOISY and SHARP, but she has a home.
I can see why kitten videos are so popular on the Internet. It’s been a long time since I had a kitten in the house, it’s almost like having a baby around. There are so many things that can hurt her, including us human clods, not used to looking where our feet are going. We have to be careful not to close her in a door, since she follows so closely sometimes, and not to let the dogs get at her yet.
She’s very brave, she goes right up to the dog gate with Striker, a big male collie like Lassie, barking and whining on the other side. I think she needs a little bit more volume to her before they actually meet face to face, and I’m not sure she needs to meet the other two dogs for months! I’m afraid she would just be an appetizer at this point.
Now if we could just think of a name…
