Another Trip Around the Sun

Time has no meaning during the pandemic.  One day trails into another seamlessly.  The same morning coffee, check e-mail and electoral-vote.com, pill Paddy, eyedrops for Henry Cat, the litter box, make the bed, vacuum.  Then lunch and a nap.  

The excitement is palpable when there is a change to the routine:  maybe a botany webinar, the bonsai club virtual workshops, InstaCart grocery delivery, a trip to Kelly's to restock the wine supply, an afternoon labeling plants in the Botanic Garden.  Wednesdays Baldo comes over to tidy up the yard.  Friday evenings are game nights via Discord or Roll20.  Zoom political meetings occasionally pop up as do Zoom cooking events.  

But today is different... it's my Circumsolar Orbit Celebration.  Already the well-wishes are coming in on Facebook.  

The morning should be relaxing, but starting at around 11:00 I have to prep Henry Cat for a trip to the vet.  Gabapentin is the drug of choice to get him calmed down for the exam by Dr. Bouchet.  It's just an annual, but it's an annual for an old cat.  Anything could turn up.  

Right now Henry Cat is sitting on my lap, no doubt thinking I'll get him some more food.  Which is a sure thing.  He's got me figured out pretty well.  

My earliest photographs of him are November 2005 and he was more than a kitten then, so I presume he was born in mid-2005.  That makes him about 15½ years old.  Somehow he seems older than that.  Probably because of his diminished vision and his slow and careful movements, he appears venerable. 

Well, now Henry has had his second midnight snack and wandered off to a cushy chair in the sunroom.  I peaked out the back window and see that tonight's storm has arrived:  the patio is wet but the cold surfaces are lightly covered with snow.  I'd guess 1/8" is on the junipers, the bamboo, and the garden walls.  I might have to shovel the drive (it faces north and doesn't get any winter sun) before we head up to Aztec around 2:00.