Three More Days.......

........ and Christmas will be here. If I didn't believe it before, all I needed was one look at the traffic going and coming to the local mall this afternoon........ bumper to bumper all the way....... the roads had the same look today as they did during Hurricane Rita when we were all evacuating north and west along the roadways.

We took care of some errands today....... returned the electric blanket that I had bought a couple of weeks ago at Target. I bought it for the cats, to keep them warm on the porch. Trouble was, the blanket didn't work, and the instructions said "for indoor use only," plus it wasn't to be used by anyone who couldn't manage the controls. Back it went.

Then we went to PetCo and PetsMart........ in search of heated pads or pet-beds. Which we found, for $85 each, and we would've had to buy four of them-- one for each cat, if they were all to sleep on the screen-porch. That's a lot of money for four little heated beds.... and who's to say if they would even use them. Plus, I wasn't too keen on leaving four heated beds plugged into the electrical outlet. Burn the house down? Well, then the cats would really be warm, wouldn't they?

I didn't want to take a chance. We found very plush cat pillows, which fit into their pet carriers, and a larger one to fit into the little wicker house that's on the porch for them. They were more reasonable, at $15 each. When we got home (after back-tracking and going the long way to avoid all the mall traffic).... I set the new pillows into their crates and the little house. Then I moved them all together to form a shelter against the wind (should there be any wind)....... and then I covered everything with a yard-sale chenille blanket that I've had for years and never used on the bed.

The whole contraption looks like a tent out of the Arabian nights. If I were a cat, I'd be getting under that chenille tent and exploring all the little crates and the wicker house. So far, Mickey Kitty and AngelBoy have ventured in..... poking their heads into all the little sleeping spots, and Mickey even found his way on top of the little house while still being covered with the blanket. (He looked like Snoopy on top of the doghouse.... the little wicker house has the same shape.)

It isn't freezing outside....... it's just very cool. And these Texas-born cats are just used to nice warm temperatures. And I'm used to knowing that my cats are cozy-warm, not shivering. But I'm also used to getting a full night's sleep, instead of waking up every three hours because there are three cats in our bedroom and one of them (usually Mickey) doesn't want the other two in "his" room.

So we'll see what happens tonight. I plan to let Mickey Kitty, AngelBoy, and ShadowBaby sleep on the porch, while Rusty sleeps on the deck. Not to worry--- Rusty has plush furniture on the covered deck, and his own little pet-carrier which is covered with a blanket and cushioned inside with a pillow. These cats are more comfortable on our porch and our deck than most homeless people are in the shelters, I swear.

And speaking of two more days till Christmas........ I just got back from walking Gracie. When I got back in, I told my husband that "Christmas has officially begun on our cul de sac."

"Let me guess," said he......... and he thought for a moment and said: "S has thrown her string of Christmas lights on her lawn, correct?" Absolutely correct, said I.

Our neighbor at the corner of our street has given in to the Grinch in her heart. Every Christmas since we've lived on this street, she has taken one strand of multi-colored holiday lights and tossed them out on her front lawn. It's her own little way of taking her own road to the Promised Land. Ours is a street of white lights, with just a few red ones tossed into the mix. About twelve years ago, all the neighbors got together and decided that our little street would look very pretty with just white lights. About five years ago, my husband and HW got together and decided that every front yard should have a white lighted reindeer. HW doesn't live on the street anymore, but we keep her memory here with the white reindeer.

Mostly all of the houses have white lights. Every year, more white reindeer are added to the front lawns. All except for S at the corner. Her house remains dark, except for that one small strand of multi-colored lights that dress up one tiny patch of her front lawn.

Merry Christmas, one and all..... and that includes the Grinch at the corner.