>^..^< The cats on Boxing Day 2009
Harry Mary Andruschak
attending a Tridentine High Mass at 7:30 AM? Then home to take care of
the cats, do some reading and devotions, then off to TLC for the Noon
AA meeting.
For those who are new to my postings, TLC = Torrance Lomita Alano
Club, a gathering place for alcoholics and addicts, which hosts 4 or
more 12 step meetings per day.The Noon meeting ended at 1:30 PM as
usual, and we quickly reset the meeting room with lots of tables for
our annual Christmas Dinner. As with the Thanksgiving Day dinner, we
had about 250 people in attendence. I had contributed $140 towards
both dinners, and others had also donated generous amounts of money.
And not just for the food.
About 4 PM, with eveyone well fed, it was time Santa to visit the
kids. But not just any Santa. BIKER SANTA! arrived on his Harley,
roared into the meeting room with toys on the back of his cycle. O
yes, we have a Biker meeting every Friday at 6:30 PM. Puttin' Sober.
Their Motto is "Ride Hard, ride free, ride sober". Now of course they
are supposed to park their bikes outside. But for this special day,
one chap was allowed to roar in on his Harley. It is hard to say who
had the most fun. the biker or the children.
Today I opened a couple of presents from my AA sponser. Otherwise, it
was stay at home, read books, listen to classical music, pray the
Divine Office, and other devotions.
Into this golden glow of existence has come one rough patch. I had to
be mean to Pumpkin. I have a scat mat in front of my door, to
discourage the cats from slipping out. But twice this month Pumpkin
has done just that, having found out the shock is not so bad if you
leap again for the outside of the apartment. I was able to rescue
Pumpkin both times, but obviously Stronger Measures were required.
Now the scat mat has 3 settings. Low is for kittens and small cats,
medium is for large cats and small dogs, and high is for large dogs. I
changed the setting from medium to high. The next time that I was
about to leave the apartment, and Pumpkin crept close to the door
looking for his opportunity to slip out, I picked Pumpkin up and
dropped him directly on the mat. That seems to have got the message
across, and he now stays away from the door when I go in and out.