[ Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a black harness, stands next to the trunk of a huge cottonwood tree; he’s sniffing curiously at something in the bark. ]
Having (mostly) dried off from my creek adventures & wrangled Loiosh back into the van, I consulted Jasper for his opinions of how to spend the rest of the day. Turns out he hadn’t slept well on the train (as who WOULD have) so I drove us to Fountain Creek Park, near the fishing ponds, & parked there for the rest of the afternoon.
Mostly there was napping, but Tom was a wigglebutt & had a lot of fun wandering.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, stands on a rock, facing away from the camera and towards a stretch of rocks with trees in the background. His tail is caught mid-lash. ]
I spent last week in Colorado! I went up for a bunch of reasons, but the biggest one involved alpacas. Before that happened, though, I visited a favourite old haunt, Fountain Creek.
(confidential to Dragonsspine: I know, I know, but I didn’t know I was gonna be there ahead of time)
The day’s FIRST task involved driving to the absolute center of Denver to pick up Jasper from the train station, which, having nowhere to drop off Tyrava (nor time to do so), I accomplished with Tyrava in tow. It wasn’t FUN but I didn’t hit anything or get arrested, so I feel like I did okay.
Having managed that … well, I needed a break. & thus, Fountain Creek.
Loiosh immediately recognized our old stomping grounds.
[ A deer is standing right out in the open, probably thirty feet from the camera, looking on curiously, ears perked forward. They’re really big ears. ]
Sometimes when you’re on the road, especially with cats, you need to find a place to spend the afternoon, cos it’s gonna be too hot in the van to just hang out there until the sun goes down.
Fortunately, Alamosa has a disc golf course. Slightly to my surprise, the disc golf course has deer.
[ Tyrava’s back doorknob, a fancy black lever, is fastened to a heavy-duty handle next to the door by a bungee cord. ]
Not long after setting out — in fact, before I’d actually left the driveway — I realized that Tyrava was having a problem, which was that her back door wasn’t staying shut.
Since she was carrying approximately half of what I own at the time, this was KIND OF A PROBLEM.
The immediate solution was obvious …
… but the actual fix was gonna hafta wait til I’d had a chance to stop at a hardware store.
[ A close view of one of the heavy-duty hinges holding Tyrava’s back door on. The screws that should hold it in place are visibly pulling out of the door. ]
Given that the screws were only an inch long & set into the particle-board interior of the original door, yeah, they were gonna pull out eventually. Fortunately it was an easy fix. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought any clamps big enough, so I hadda buy another one.
… oh well, not like you can have too many clamps.
[ A quick-release clamp that’s a good eighteen inches long sits on the seat of my comfy folding chair, along with a package of more heavy-duty door hinges and a baggie of LONG screws. ]
I’m glad I thought to GET the clamp, otherwise I’d’ve been trying to hold the door in place with one hand & probably my knee while trying to get screws in with the other, & that never goes well. But this made it easy.
[ The door’s all the way open, and clamped into place; one of the screws formerly holding the hinge to the door is partway out, the rest waiting their turn. ]
The new screws are four inches long. THAT oughta last a while.
[ Four new screws holding the hinge in place. Everything looks properly lined up and sturdy. ]
& then I added a third hinge, on the theory that overkill is rarely a BAD idea.
[ There’s now a third heavy-duty hinge between the two that were holding Tyrava’s back door in place. It’s closer to the top one than to the bottom, because I just slapped it on there. ]
Success! The door is held firmly in place! It still closes & opens correctly! It’s not going anywhere!
… it still flaps open if I drive Tyrava over anything bumpy, I DO NOT KNOW WHY & IT IS VERY FRUSTRATING, but at least the door is staying on the hinges now.
originally posted on Patreon; support me over there to see posts a week early!
[ Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a purple harness, stands in the doorway of the van, looking off to the side. ]
Couple weeks back I packed Tyrava full of Stuff, shoved the boys in the van, & drove north to Colorado to look for land! I decided to go over Wolf Creek Pass because I love it & also am, occasionally, pretty foolish.
Tyrava, loaded as she was, made it over the pass fine, & even refrained from overheating as long as I didn’t try to go over 25 mph or so. & at the top, snow.
Tom was extremely skeptical.
… Loiosh didn’t even bother to get up. Well, not until a couple people came by to say hi, but that was later.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby, is flopped on the van bed, both forepaws kind of hanging over the edge. He looks extremely underwhelmed. ]
I saw a friend while taking pics of the snow!
[ A broad, snow-covered meadow, with tall conifers rising behind and around it. The sky is deep blue. A black bird can be seen flying across the meadow, stark against the snow. ]
Friend!
[ A raven stands perched on the peak of the ‘Wolf Creek Pass’ sign. ]
& then we went back down the other side, & I even didn’t overheat my brakes!
originally posted on Patreon; support me over there to see posts a week early!
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, is laying at his ease on a concrete patio. His leash, also green, is draped decoratively around him, and his eyes are mostly squinted shut. ]
Friday the weather was decent & Loiosh was a WIGGLEBUTT, so I took him along to Gallup for a wander. We didn’t run into a lot of people, alas, but he did get some pets, & I got a bunch of pictures of Gallup.
[ Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a black harness, is standing on the van’s front passenger seat, looking out the window. Loiosh, an orange tabby, is meatloafed on the seat, and Tom is almost standing on Loiosh’s head. ]
They look so eager!
Well. Tom looks eager. Loiosh looks like Tom could maybe not stand on his face.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, is seen from behind, where he’s standing on a rock overlooking the highway. There’s a semi with a red cab going past. Loiosh’s tail is waving gently. ]
Loiosh: “Mom, when can we get on the road again?”
Me: *sobbing*
CAN’T COME SOON ENOUGH but in the meantime, at least I can take the boys wandering.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, walks across a rough dirt parking lot. Behind him are tall radio antennae & a small green maintenance building. ]
After we got down from the lookout tower (or at least the paved area around it) I headed back to the van but the boys wanted to explore more. I really didn’t think they’d be interested in the big antennae — even I can hear/feel the hum — but they wanted to walk over there & check things out, so we did.
[ The view up a steep slope. There are a few evergreens in the background, but most of the trees are leafless aspens, with tall, straight white trunks. ]
Last Friday, in a fit of being entirely incapable of dealing with the world, I stuffed the boys in the van & drove up Mount Taylor.
That’s the white people name — to the Diné it’s Tsoodzil, Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain, the southern boundary of the Diné homeland, one of the four sacred mountains.
The road is terrible, but it goes by a lot of aspens, which is nice — I’m used to seeing those in Colorado, not here! The boys were NOT pleased about the rough ride & frankly neither was I; if I’d been up there before I probably would’ve turned around, but the lure of going somewhere entirely new is strong & I persevered despite the shouting coming from the back of the van.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, walks through green grass, under a deep blue sky. ]
The last time me & the boys were in Edgewood, Venus Park was closed for the plague, so we went up the hill into the Sandias instead. Nothing wrong with that, but Venus Park is really close to both my doctor & the boys’ vet, so when we’re in town for either (or both) of those, we nearly always go.
[ Bright yellow many-petalled flowers on tall green stalks ]
Venus Park, if you take a quick look at it from the road, is a large, rectangular area of green grass that’s obvious watered on the regular, surrounded by brown, scrubby land that’s pretty typical of New Mexico.
[ Loiosh, an orange tabby wearing a green harness, is giving one of the tires of my van a VERY thorough sniffing. ]
I had to take a trip to Albuquerque earlier this week, & I was staying overnight, so of course the boys came along. We tucked ourselves up in a truck stop in Moriarty, & the next morning I took a little time to let the boys explore.
I want to repeat that EVERYONE IS OKAY & I’m not gonna go into detail but note: if your cat is not eating & your vet in more interested in doing lots of tests instead of GETTING FOOD INTO YOUR CAT, get a new vet. AND GET SOME FOOD INTO YOUR CAT.
ANYWAY what with one thing & another I picked Loiosh up from the vet in Milan, used the squirty-syringe to get some A/D into his face, & then set out for Edgewood while dialing my old vet. Driving an hour anna half to make sure my boy is getting the RIGHT care? oh HELL yeah
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