The Downside of the Deal We Make With the Kitties

I have some sad news to impart to longtime readers... my beloved Fred has been diagnosed with a cancerous mass in his belly. It's probably only a matter of days until he shuffles off this mortal coil. See, there I go with my Shakespeare again...

Fred came to us seven years ago, a package deal with his sister Ginger- both of them offspring of a feral cat which was being cared for by a two-legged former co-worker. At first shy around people, three months after his arrival he grew into perhaps the most loyal and devoted cat I have ever met. I fell madly in love with this cat one night after our major Fall fundraiser, when he trotted at my heels as I traversed a half-mile course from one end of the property to the other over the course of an hour, shutting down lights, locking doors, and making sure that everything was ship-shape.

Fred is one of those cats that acts like a dog- he has always been a calm creature, not prone to the jumpiness that characterizes a lot of felines. As I made my inspection tours of the property, he would be on my tail, while his sister would rove around us, checking out everything and occasionally stopping to give her brother a sniff or to get an ear-scratch from me. It grew to be a bit of a joke, I had two orange-and-white shadows which would follow me around the site.

Over the course of the years, Fred matured into a large, strong cat, an accomplished rodent-slayer and defender of storage areas. His was a handsome figure, a perfect representation of feline beauty and power:

He was unfailingly affectionate with those fortunate people that he favored, and he'd often bump my hand in order to elicit a good scratching:

I am sad that Fred, who I believed I'd have years of future fun with, is on his way out at the all-too-young age of seven, but what really has me concerned is the reaction from his sister. The two have always been inseparable:

The two cats have been quite the comedy team, with Fred playing the mellow straight man to the boisterous, mischievous Ginger. Even today, Ginger caused havoc when a school group visited the site- instead of locking their bag lunches in the school bus, the school group brought them onsite, and Ginger got into a bunch of them, eating the Principal's sandwich and necessitating the hasty purchase of pizza by our shop manager. When they were younger, the cats had a knack for squeezing out of a small vent window and roaming the site until I'd put them back inside- typically, I'd put one of them back inside and the other would get out... a revolving door effect that I found more amusing than annoying. I never failed to laugh when I'd see a pair of tiny golden orbs bouncing towards me as one of the cats would bound over to join me.

A week ago Sunday, one of our managers brought Fred to a veterinarian's office when he appeared to be lethargic. We all thought Fred was merely overheated, but a follow-up visit to Fred and Ginger's usual veterinarian revealed that Fred had cancer. The vet prescribed Prednisone to bring Fred out of his torpor, but indicated that the prognosis wasn't good. Fred hasn't much of an appetite, and his activity level is way down. I have made it a point to stop by and give him attention on a regular basis, because I don't know when our last time to be together will be. I took this picture last night, Fred playing a bright spot in a darkened room:

Four years ago, when I posted about the death of another of our storied mousers, the wise Smut Clyde commented: "It's the downside of our deal with the kitties." I knew the day would come when I would lose Fred, but I didn't think it would be coming so soon. Everyone on the job is sad at the prospects of losing our 'good' kitty... I just hope our naughty kitty can cope with the loss.

Cat Brevet

On my principal job site, we have two buildings that require the presence of mousers. As regular readers of mine would know, we recently lost Moses, one of our mousers, to cancer at the age of fifteen. Our two other mousers are siblings Fred and Ginger, who are about four years old. Fred and Ginger were the offspring of a feral cat cared for by a former site director, who took them in and found a job for them handling mousing duties when their predecessor, Mischief, succumbed to a kidney ailment. Fred and Ginger were not kittens when they arrived- they were lanky adolescents. At the beginning of last year, I was actually concerned about Fred, who was looking a bit gaunt, but this proved to be a dramatic growth spurt, and now Fred is about twice the size of his sister.

Since losing Moses, we've had to figure out a solution to our mousing needs until we can get another cat- nobody wants to split up the Fred and Ginger "team" by having them work in separate buildings. Cats being territorial animals, Moses was very jealous of his turf, even though the incorrigible Ginger tried on numerous occasions to impinge on Moses' domain. Sad to say, Moses and Ginger would occasionally squabble, and Ginger would hide atop a radiator above the communal cat water bowl in a "neutral" building and take a swat at Moses when he came to drink... incorrigible.

We hit on a solution of acclimating Fred and Ginger to Moses' former bailiwick, in effect to brevet them to the new position. Ginger overcame a reluctance borne out of shooings out fairly quickly, but Fred needed to be coaxed into the building. When they are both acclimated to the new mousing environment, we'll probably have them alternate between the two buildings. Fred and Ginger both follow me all over the grounds, so it'll be a matter of playing doorman for cats so we have full coverage.

Meeses beware!

Friends of Fred

This evening, three of the contractors who work on our major Fall fundraiser stopped by to bid adieu to Fred. Over the years, these good folks have become friends of mine, and friends of the cats. They have logged many hours in on the site, and they came to love Fred and Ginger. Tomorrow, one of our managers has the unenviable duty of taking Fred to the veterinarian's office for the final time- he has had the task of taking the cats for their quarterly checkups ever since we got them from a former co-worker, and his devotion to Fred is second-to-none. I have been getting the sad news out to former co-workers and seasonal contractors who have become attached to our dear cat.

I came in early to work, and the co-worker I was relieving and I waited for our friends to arrive. My co-worker had to euthanize his 15 year-old pet cat only a month prior, due to kidney problems. My brother Vincenzo is facing a similar situation with his beloved 18-year old marmalade cat, Orange Juice. We are all cat people, so there was a melancholy mood to our sendoff to Fred. Petting Fred, my friend Ali noted that he 'looks fat, but feels skinny'... he's bloated from the medicine as well as the tumor, but his spine stands out. I took one last picture of my beloved sibling feline comedy team:

This picture really catches the essence of the two cats- there's Fred, looking regal and composed as he sits on the ground, while Ginger is a blur of motion. My friends took a few pictures of me with the cat, mementos of our final night together. Our friends stayed with us for a good two-hours, commiserating with me and fussing over Fred. I am fortunate to have such good friends, both two-legged and four. Thank you for the outpouring of sympathy, sharing the sadness makes it more bearable.

Going to Have to Think of Ginger as a Solo Act

I've been a bit behind the news this week, being preoccupied with the final days of my beloved Fred. For the record, I spent a half hour with Fred in the predawn hours this morning, bidding him goodbye. This morning, he sat under the apple trees onsite with his sister and a bunch of two-legged co-workers until it was time. At 10:45AM, my friend and co-worker Rob, the manager who is the cats' primary caretaker, accompanied by our co-worker Iris, took Fred to the veterinarian's office for one final time.

The company e-mail system is full of eulogies for Fred, and pictures of the handsome beast... it has been one long outpouring of love for this cat who has been a part of our lives for the past seven years:

The real weird thing is having to talk about Fred and Ginger in the past tense. The two cats were a package deal and a matching set, though they had widely divergent dispositions- Fred being a mellow beast (sorta like a Labrador retriever trapped in a cat's body) while Ginger is mercurial. They were complementary- their interaction never failed to amuse me. It'll be strange thinking of Ginger as a solo act, without her calm, steady foil:

I saw Rob tonight at shift change and thanked him for taking on the burden of bringing Fred to be euthanized... I've been in that position before, and it's not easy. I haven't checked in on Ginger yet, but I'll be poking my head in on her soon. She was clingy last night, tonight I'll let her cling as much as she needs to.

Now We Are Five

In a quiet moment in this busiest of months, it struck me that my friends and co-workers Fred and Ginger, our Rodent Abatement Team, are five years old. A former co-worker of mine takes care of feral cats and tries to find homes for any kittens born to her charges. Fred and Ginger weren't quite kittens when they arrived, being about six months old. When they arrived on-site, they were shy. I was able to gain their confidence early on, to the extent that Fred followed me from one end of the property to the other, a distance of about half a mile, after a night of our fundraiser. From that night forward, I've referred to Fred as my little dog. I've never known a cat to shadow me in such a fashion. Ginger prefers to bounce hither, tither, and yon- checking out interesting sounds, sights, and smells even as she generally paces me and her brother.

Originally, Fred and Ginger worked in the same building. We had an older cat, Moses, working in another building on site. Sadly, Moses succumbed to cancer last year, and Ginger was promoted to work in his former "Rat Patrol" area. They have plenty of time to socialize with each other during the day, when they have the run of the grounds, and they both have their niches in the lounge/kitchen area for the day shift.

Here's Fred, performing his feline ablutions:

Ginger's found a nice little spot on top of a radiator cover and underneath a counter:

Having two such charming co-workers is a genuine treat for a guy who spends most of his time on the job working solo (as far as other bipeds go). I have had a lot of fun with Fred and Ginger over our five years together. I vividly remember my first encounter with one of them, flitting around the shadowy interior of a rather large building, unsure of the primate who just walked through the door. In those days, even I couldn't tell them apart.

Post title kinda sorta yoinked from A. A. Milne.

Feline Funeral

Today is the day when my the ashes of my co-worker Moses will be interred in a scenic, peaceful spot on the site he moused for fifteen years. I imagine the memorial service will be a lot less sad than the immediate aftermath of his death- fifteen years is a plenty of time to accumulate happy memories. Moses is universally missed. Even though I am working graveyard shifts this week, I plan on returning to the workplace for the memorial service.

Fred and Ginger have been doing double duty, mousing in the building where they originally worked, and in the building in which Moses held court. Ginger, being a mischievous sort, made the transition more easily... when Moses was still around, she'd try to sneak into his territory on a regular basis. Fred, a much more mellow cat, didn't try to move in, and subsequently took a lot more coaxing to enter the building. Fred follows me around the site like a dog, and eventually followed me into the formerly unfamiliar building.

A week ago, I was helping one of my co-workers, who is relatively new to the site after having worked a few years at another of our sites, close up shop for the day. When we wended our way to the main building, the Visitors' Center, Ginger followed us the entire way, and decided to hold court, whereupon she became very popular. My co-worker asked me if she thought that Ginger would "replace" Moses, who also held court in the Visitors' Center... I thought about it for a second and said, "Moses was irreplaceable, but Ginger and Fred will carve out their own niche."

We have had a long and storied line of cats on the site- the sort of cats that have memorial services in their honor.

A Third Cat?

Long time readers of this blog will be familiar with my co-workers and companions Fred and Ginger. This summer hasn't been overly hot, but the cats are shedding to a fare-the-well. Fred, in particular, has some matting in his hair, which necessitated a serious brushing:

That's a fraction of the clouds of hair that came off of that cat- there was enough hair that I could have sculpted a third cat out of it. Fred is a lot more patient than Ginger is, the only way I could get Ginger to stay still (she has ADD) would be to use a cat deactivator on her:





Gotta put in a request for office supplies...

Gotta Watch the Quiet Ones

On the job, we are in the midst of a major renovation/restoration project- a sprawling, multi-year project on the property where I typically work. We've had a contractor on site for the past three weeks, and he and his crew have become a fixture on the property. They typically clear off around 5PM on weekdays, before I am scheduled to work.

Last Wednesday, while conducting my first inspection tour of the night, I was greeted by my dear feline co-worker Fred, who wasn't in the building in which he typically works as a mouser. This was atypical, but I merely let him into the building after finishing my walkabout in his company. The next day, I got the full story... Fred had fallen asleep in the contractor's van, and woke up when the contractor pulled into his yard and was greeted with a meow. He had to return Fred to the site, but couldn't get him into his assigned building.

The general consensus at work is that this never would have happened to Ginger, because she usually demands attention and would have made her presence known as soon as the contractor entered the van. It's the quiet ones you've gotta watch.

He's such a good cat, we're lucky the contractor didn't decide to keep him... I guess he figures he'll be on the job for a good, long time, so he'll enjoy the cats' company for many weeks.

Opening Day

Today was the first day of the year that we were open to the general public. In fact, we have a nice low-key Spring fundraiser which, today, drew about a thousand visitors, mainly families with kids, to my principle jobsite. Tomorrow, the weather is supposed to be even nicer, so our attendance should be even better.

I spent the end of last shift, the wee hours of this morning, unlocking and opening the gates to our parking lots, turning on the outside drinking fountain, and generally making sure that the day shift could hit the ground running as soon as they arrived on the job. It's an 'all hands on deck' weekend, with seasonal workers from all of our sites converging on this place to work the event. Me? I like to think of myself as a guy who helps his co-workers perform their necessary tasks without getting bogged down in the minutiae of mundane tasks best done before the site is open.

I arrived at work an hour early so I could catch up with people I hadn't seen in months. I'm one of the part-time, year-round employees, the bulk of the workforce isn't around during the Winter. It's a nice reunion in a gorgeous spot. I was surprised to see one young woman who used to work for us during summers when she was on Summer vacation. She had gone off to college in the Midwest, but it wasn't a good fit- she didn't like the area, she didn't think the other students were nice, and she didn't think she fit in well with her original academic plan. She figured out that she wasn't where she needed to be, so she put in her time for one semester, then came back East, applied to another university (a prestigious bastion of prestige, even), and will be happily studying her beloved Classics starting next semester. She's also going to be working with us whenever she can. I noted that she was back in her 'comfort zone', and stressed that one crucial component of knowing what you want is knowing what you don't want.

Another one of our young part-timers is back, working longer hours in an expanded capacity- it's nice to know that management has gotten serious about our 'up and comers'. The backbone of our organization is made of employees who have retired after having more traditional careers, who have the option to work on a part-time basis in order to have fun and indulge a passion for their work.

Regarding my four-legged co-workers, (in an echo of two years ago), Ginger, our feline diva, made sure she was underfoot, in the eye of the crowd. Fred, being a more reserved animal, spent most of the day safely ensconced in one of his hiding places, but made presence known late in the day... probably because his normal afternoon feeding time was nigh. He trotted over to me for a good ear-scritching, when I heard a chorus of children sing, "Kitty!" A trio of small girls ran over, and I gave them a brief intro, "Girls, he isn't a pet kitty, he's a working cat, so please be very gentle and very careful when you pet him." My main concern was that Fred would get stressed out and scratch someone, but my beloved cat was very patient as three small, dimpled paws stroked his fur. Good ol' Fred, my mellow, marmalade meower, just sat there and indulged the whims of three very cute preschoolers. I don't take pictures of kids who aren't related to me, you'll have to trust me when I say that it was the 'cuteation'. The girls were very well-behaved, very sweet and gentle.

It's been a great day, our crowd was very lovely, and even the people who wandered by after we closed for the day were nice, friendly people who I hope will visit us again when we're open. I'm happy that the season has started up again, and as it always does, it started on a high note.

Wait Up, Brother!

Today was gorgeous, weather-wise. It's hard to believe that a mere two weeks ago, there was a foot of snow on the ground. It was the first really nice weekend day since the beginning of Daylight Saving Time. Accordingly, I spent a good long time wandering the grounds with Fred and Ginger at the start of the shift. Fred tends to be the more affectionate of the two, but Ginger spends more time underfoot:

She can be needy at times, having a typical 'cat disposition'... alternatively aloof and clingy. Fred is more like a Labrador retriever trapped in a cat's body.

Ain't Never Done No Caturday Before

Hmmm... I know that all the cool kids do this Caturday thing, but I'm not a cool guy anymore. How does this Caturday thing work?

This gorgeous little beastie, sitting in a shelf in the employees' lounge, is my co-worker Ginger, who you must love. I've always been partial to marmalade cats, but I'd describe Ginger more as a Creamsicle cat:





I particularly love this picture, taken in failing light with my 2.0 megapixel phone camera. It's perhaps the best picture I've ever taken with such a limited camera- it captures a particularly sweet moment in time, and the combination of color palette and subject matter is gorgeous:





Ginger's brother, Fred (what were you expecting? I didn't name the cats, personally I would have named them Mog and Mamog), also works with me. While he is a handsome, handsome beast, he's not as photogenic as his sister, because he always "muffs up" the shot:





These two are my constant companions. Fred, in particular, follows me around like a dog. One night, he stayed with me throughout a quarter-mile walk from one end of the site to the other. One of my co-workers, seeing my orange and white shadow, had to comment, "Man, that cat loves you."

Just to prove that I am not passing off one cat twice (with the judicious application of some orange hair dye), here's a picture of Fred and Ginger doing their best impression of The Gates:





Wow, my first Caturday... it was nice, but, somehow, I thought it would be more special.

NOTE: While I had been planning on posting these pictures of my feline friends for a while, the final motivation for posting them today was this awesome local cat story.

Busy Busy Busy, Here's a Quick Portrait

It's been one heck of a day, and by day, I mean I've been up for twenty-four hours straight. I am going to take a two hour nap and then head up to work the overnight shift. I think I'll post about the absolute craziness of the past day, but for now I'll have to post a picture of my beloved Ginger:

Isn't she a pretty cat? She's become quite the diva lately- she loves to be the center of attention when there are visitors onsite, and she manages to look really smug when she poses for her adoring public. I always get a kick out her act.

I always strive to give equal time to Ginger and her brother Fred, but I realized that I have this covered, having posted a solo Fred entry- for the record, Ginger doesn't stay still long enough to give her a proper brushing, while Fred is extremely patient.

The important thing is that I gave them equal time at six o'clock this morning when I fed them. It was a bit dark to take their picture at that time though.

Take a Major to Work Day

Yesterday, Major Kong left this comment at the mothership:


BBBB – I’ll be in your neck of the woods Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week.


For those of you who don't know the good Major, he is a pilot who, after an extensive and fascinating military career, now flies for a major freight carrier. Basically, he's a cross between Race Bannon and Santa Claus. Since he is a commercial pilot, when he says "I’ll be in your neck of the woods Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week" he doesn't mean he'll be in your neck of the woods from Tuesday until Thursday- he means he'll be in your neck of the woods on Tuesday, then he'll be back on Wednesday, and he will return on Thursday. Yeah, even more than myself, he's the sleep-deprivation poster boy.

At any rate, we made plans to meet up today- he flew into the region around six-thirty in the morning and sent me an e-mail telling me that he'd arrived and would probably sleep until about noon. Around eleven o'clock, I started driving upstate, to the greater Fishkill metropolitan area, then I pulled over at the three-quarter way point to check my e-mail for the message that the major was ready to road-trip. Shortly before one o'clock, we rendezvoused at his hotel and drove south to my workplace. I had called the site manager earlier in the day to tell him that I would be bringing a friend to the site, and got the all-clear.

When we arrived, there were quite a few co-workers on site, preparing for a spring fundraiser that is taking place this weekend. I introduced the major to the I.T. guys and a few other members of the day shift. While I was making introductions, I noticed that a pleasant-looking young woman had entered the building. I informed her that the site was closed, but I would point out some of the site's salient features. Next thing you know, her parents arrived, and I learned that the three were Westmeath residents on vacation to New York for a week. Since I immediately took a liking to them, I took them along with the major on a tour of our site. My co-worker **REDACTED**, who had just finished giving a tour to a school group, decided to give us an impromptu tour of the site, including a wonderful demonstration of the onsite **REDACTED**, a piece of machinery which I always watch operating with the raucous glee of an eight-year old.

In the course of our tour, I introduced the Major, who is a cat person, and our new friends from Ireland to Fred and Ginger. Atypically, Fred was not shy around strangers and Ginger did not try to climb up the Major's shirt. We bid a grateful farewell to my co-workers, both two- and four-legged and went together to another nearby tourist destination.

While there, I showed friends old and new the **REDACTED** of **REDACTED**, upon whom the character **REDACTED** of **REDACTED** was modeled. We then took a stroll to the **REDACTED** of **REDACTED**, who starting the whole thing off back in the day. The Major and I then took leave of our friends from overseas, it being time we headed north, the major having to report back to work by 7PM.

We took the scenic route north to Fishkill, including a ride on the "goat path" atop the cliffs on the east bank of the Hudson. I hadn't been that way in a long time so I was glad to play the "at home he's a tourist" game. The scenery along this particular stretch of road is nothing short of breathtaking.

When we finally got back to the greater Fishkill metropolitan area, we had an early dinner at a very pleasant local diner and I dropped the Major off at his hotel with plenty of time to spare.

It was a good afternoon- time spent well with friends old and new, and an opportunity to rekindle my love of the place I spend my workdays. Special thanks go to my co-worker **REDACTED**, who went out of his way to provide us with a fantastic experience.

VaCATion's Over

I got to work tonight and saw this note on my desk:

It's a beastly night, rainy and above freezing, so the entire grounds are a mucky mire. The cats aren't going to go "on the scout" with me on a night like this. Here's Ginger, looking like she's got a serious case of ennui:

Here's Fred... if you squint, you can make out a certain Bastard in the background:

Looks like there's a friendly orb in the picture, welcoming Fred back to the site. I think I'd better call Thunder, he's the resident expert of orb phenomena.

Rock On, On Rock

During the week, I work the overnight shift, but on Saturdays and Sundays, I start work in the late afternoon. It's typically on the weekend when I get decent pictures of my feline co-workers. I typically carry a small bag of kitty treats with me when I walk the site, for bribery purposes. Whenever the cats hear the crackling of a plastic pouch, their attention is immediately drawn. I used this to good effect to line them up on a particularly nice rock:

This picture perfectly encapsulates the dispositions of these two animals- Fred, with his eyes half-closed, is all blissed-out while Ginger, wide-eyed and alert, is looking out for number one... better make it with the treats, hairless ape, so nobody gets hurt. The same dichotomy between these feline siblings is evident in this picture too.

Recently, there's been quite a bit of coyote activity in the area- last Sunday night, I heard a chorus of the critters, and a couple of nights I've caught a quick glance of a fast-moving critter that I am confident is a Northeastern wild canid. The local geese are all on edge as well. I have made sure to limit Fred and Ginger's outdoor time to the daylight hours, and keep them close to me. I typically like to have them tag along when I do the periodic walkabout, but I really have to play things safe for my cat companions.

Opening Day

Today was the first day the site was open for visitation this year. This weekend, we're having our annual family-friendly spring fundraiser, which I posted about last year.

Before the event, I ran into a glitch- I turned on the water to the drinking fountain in front of our visitors' center and noticed that it was leaking water, so I had to turn it off again. I had turned off the water last November, so I don't know what the hell could have happened, but I'll put in a work order... too late for this weekend's crowds.

The best thing about this weekend is that a small army of our season part-time workers descends on the scene. I see a lot of people I haven't seen all winter. I am happy to report that my friend with Huntington's Disease looked a lot better this year than last- her neurologist has hooked her up with some physical and occupational therapists, so she has been able to mitigate a lot of the effects of the disease. She has retired from her "day job" as well, so she has been able to devote a lot more time to her health.

There's usually a bittersweet note to work- this year, I learned that two of the younger part-time staff members will be relocating upstate to work at a similar not-for-profit that will give them more hours. These two are recent college grads, and they are relocating to strike a balance between their love of what they do and their need to earn more money while paying less in living expenses. Luckily, they found an apartment together, as the new job is seasonal as well. I joked with one of them, who I confess I have a bit of a crush on, that she should look for bartending work as well, as a sideline. She studied abroad and tended bar in England, so she knows the business. A few weeks ago, I had a long conversation with the parents of another part-time recent grad (they came to the site to pick up their daughter after she'd gone with a co-worker to a workshop, and I "confronted" them, thinking they were parking so they could make out, which had them laughing, saying, "We're too old for that!"), and I had to ruefully note that their daughter had a "wonderful part-time job", but that she'd need to find a sideline in order to make a better wage. Education is not as valued in our society as hostile takeovers and leveraged buyouts. I'm going to miss my two friends, and I hope my third friend finds a good sideline.

On a happier note, a local cable news station sent a camera crew to the site to film a cute little puff piece pre-event. They interviewed a co-worker of mine who is a Renaissance woman (literally, she belongs to the SCA), a power-nerd who is into martial arts and historical re-enactment, who writes erotica and owns a small catering company. She gave them a great sound bite. The film crew also had some nice footage of Fred and Ginger. My two-legged co-worker told me that Fred had sat perfectly still in a "perfect cat pose, with his tail curled around his body" while the film crew set up for the shoot. As I noted a year ago, he has considerably mellowed- he used to hide when the site got too "exciting" for him.

It was a beautiful day, a great day to welcome everybody back to the site and to catch up on the scuttlebutt and to see my part-time co-workers in their glory. They are a dedicated bunch of people, and it's a pleasure to watch them interacting with the public, imparting their wisdom and expertise. I missed them all winter.

Wonderful Weekend at Work, With One Sad Note

This weekend was great- it being the first weekend that the workplace is open for visitation. The weather was lovely, the wonderful seasonal part-timers who make up the bulk of the organization (most of them retired from other careers, people with several part-time jobs, or people whose spouses are the primary breadwinners) the crowd was nice (I had to yell at a father and teenage son who were wrestling a bit too intensely to "take it down a couple of notches"- it's all fun and games til someone loses and eye... and then it becomes a sport), and the daffodils were in profusion:

With a few dozen staff members and a few hundred visitors on site, Ginger was in her glory, jumping on people's laps and making sure she was the center of attention:

The real story here is that Fred has largely come out of his shell- he would typically run like hell and hide when large crowds descended on the site, but today he plopped himself down in a comfortable spot and gloried in the attention of visitors who wanted to give him friendly ear scritches. Here is an "introspective" looking Fred:

After the crowds left, I ran around for almost an hour locking the place up for the night. Now that everybody's away and the cats are tucked away in their assigned meesing locations, I am enjoying a gorgeous, warm night under an almost-full moon:

There's one bummer to report- one of my co-workers just received a diagnosis of Huntington's Disease over the winter- she is now working out what combination of long-term disability insurance and early retirement benefits (she has twenty years with a department of the New York state government) will suffice to keep her afloat. Her neurologist told her that her high level of activity (she volunteered as an EMT as well as working two jobs) will have an impact in offsetting the neurological deficits she is undergoing. One major goal of Huntington's treatment is fostering plasticity in the brain- gotta keep those neurons connecting. I was hit hard by this revelation because this woman does not have an ounce of meanness in her body- she's one of the most generous spirits I've ever encountered, and I've been lucky to know some fine, fine people all of my life. She's tough, and an optimist, so she's coping as well as anyone I've ever known, but it pains me to see such a skillful person hit with such a debilitation condition.

Ten Years on the Job

Today is a very special anniversary, the tenth year of one of our star employees. No, not myself, my fourteenth anniversary is in August. I'm talking about my beloved Ginger, pictured here in her rookie year:

Ginger was a package deal with her brother Fred, who we lost to cancer three years ago. Here's a picture of the two in happier times:

Fred and Ginger were given to us by a former site manager who takes care of feral cats in her neighborhood. When one of her ferals had a litter of kittens, she knew that the place would be a perfect spot for two cats to live well, and to live usefully as our Rodent Abatement Team. The fact that we are staffed with cat lovers only sweetened the pot.

Ginger is currently on furlough due to the 'rona, she's staying with one of our managers, who has been with her from the start... he was the one who transported them from the home of their original benefactress, and is usually the one to take our cats for their veterinary checkups. I haven't seen the dear girl since March, but get regular updates in how she's doing. Hilariously, she gets put on a leash and taken for walks, which I find hard to believe (here, she has the run of a twenty-five acre property for most of the day, before she works her building all night).

In a few minutes, we are having a Zoom 'conference' to celebrate Ginger's anniversary. I haven't seen most of my coworkers in way too long, due to COVID-19 furloughs, so it's going to be a nice reunion all around, as well as a celebration of a beloved, and valued, coworker.

Beauty and Peril

The Northeastern U.S. is gripped in a deep freeze this weekend, with brutal wind-chills. This afternoon has been gorgeous, the sun is shining brightly and a blanket of pure white snow lays over the ground away from the roadways, which are bordered by sooty gray piles of crap. The high temperature this afternoon was 18F (-2C), but the wind chill factor made it feel like -10 or so. Tonight, it's supposed to get to 0F (-32C), with the wind chill factor making it feel arctic.

I arrived at work this afternoon to see a juvenile bald eagle wrestling with the wind over my workplace. The wind was whipping up crystalline clouds of snow, which were dancing over the ground like the ghosts of summer memories, or like a cold elemental from an unpublished novel in Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East series. It was really quite beautiful out, but the cold is unpleasant, and potentially dangerous. Typically, when I get to work on a Saturday or Sunday, there are a couple of cars parked in the lot, and a handful of people taking pictures of our lovely site. Today, nobody lingered- there were a couple of cars, as usual, but people were quick to hightail it to warmer environs after a brief look.

My initial act of the workday, once I grab the company cell phone out of our department lockbox, is to conduct an inspection tour of the property to make sure that everything is in good order. The typical initial walkthrough takes about forty minutes. I bundled up, wearing five layers (thermal undershirt, T-shirt, fleece, flannel shirt, and hooded sweatshirt), with an initial two layers to put on when it gets really cold. By the time I was done with my tour, the cold was starting to creep through my flannel-lined dungarees. It's gorgeous out, but not necessarily pleasant, and there are reminders that today's winds are no joke, azure sky or no:

It's so cold that even the small, brackish estuary of the Hudson adjacent to the property has frozen over:

This area typically teems with waterfowl as sunset approaches, but the one patch of open water is about as big as a typical kitchen table fit for four diners:

On nights like this I limit my exposure to the elements. I typically do an twenty-to-thirty minute inspection tour every hour and a half, but I typically only do two or three of them on a night like this. Nobody's going to be trespassing on such a dangerous night, and there are all sorts of alarms to warn of any "environmental" emergencies. For long-time readers who are familiar with my feline co-workers, Fred and Ginger are currently guesting with one of our managers for the duration of this wickedly cold spell.


The original post title I was toying with was "Pulchritude and Peril", but I've never heard of "pulchritude" being applied to a non-human object or vista.

UPDATE: It's quarter-to-one in the morning, and the wind chill is -20. NOT FUN!

Who You Calling Clumsy?

The conclusion by a British researcher that cats view their human associates (owners, ha!) as "larger, non-hostile cats" is getting some mileage in the blogosphere, usually with the proviso that the felines view us with pity due to our lack of cat-like grace (ninjas and gymnasts not included in this category).

I've often heard the analogy that cats tend to look at us as mother-substitutes. In the case of my feline associates, I'd best be likened to the cloth mother- the cats have typically been fed by the day shift (plus all the meeses they can get their claws in). I, working the night shift, have always been more of a playmate- the two cats follow me around the site when I do my periodic walkabouts, Fred typically at my heels, like a little dog, and Ginger running back and forth, stalking me.

Last week, during the cold snap, I think the cats looked at me like some sort of librarian or shop clerk, arranging them on shelves, Ginger on the left and Fred on the right:

The "shelf" that they are sitting on is actually a radiator cover... the photo was taken on a night when the mercury hit single digits. Whatever they think of us humans, cats are no dummies when it comes to finding comfortable spots.

Here's a comical picture of Ginger, the more curious of the two, trying to figure out what the shiny object in my hand was:

I hope she's not wondering how I can work such a complicated device while being so clumsy and oafish...