Be Back Soon...?

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That was the temperature in my kitchen this morning, which means it was basically the same in every room in my house this morning (save my bedroom which, thanks to the power of the electric heater, it was probably 3 degrees). Granted, that's Celsius we're talking, which translates to a whopping 33.8 degrees, which is way colder than anyone's kitchen should be. Or any other room, for that matter.

I'll apologize now, but briefly, for my long hiatus. The truth of the matter is, I've been sad. I know, I know, my posts are always so bright and cheery, you may have been thinking I'm never down. But the last couple weeks I have been.

The long story shortened is this: my two kitties, whom I love very much (if you're not a cat owner or lover, you might not get it) and have had since they were babies and I was fresh out of college, were lost by the supposed "animal lover" who was taking care of them while I'm in Japan. They had only been with him since mid-October, and he managed to lose them by November or so. I don't really know, because he didn't bother to tell anyone they'd gotten out. And I can only imagine the minimal effort he put in to finding them.

The only reason any of us knew they were gone was that an angel found my Ricky, crying and unable to walk, behind some bushes on a busy street. He was starving - had lost 8 of his 18 pounds - and had some head trauma, perhaps from being hit by a car. She had the good sense to take him to an animal hospital where they scanned him just in case he had a microchip, which he fortunately did, and they were able to get in touch with my family and Carlos'.

A couple thousand dollars later, Ricky is on the mend and is now convalescing nicely in the home of one of my mom's coworkers.

Patty, on the other hand, my little mama, is still missing, and I can only hope that she has been smart enough not to starve like little Ricky did, or has been able to find someplace to keep herself warm in the downstate NY winter. To put it simply, I have just been sick over this the last couple of weeks. The only hope we have for Patty is that someone finds her and takes her to a vet or a shelter where they will scan her and contact my family so we can get her back.

Many people have been so helpful in this whole ordeal, and I am ever so indebted to their generous offering of time, energy, expertise, general goodwill and home.