The First Smell-O-Vision of Spring

I’m sitting in front of the space heater in my office because it’s the coldest room in the house. Colder than the basement, somehow.

But it is 61 degrees outside so Kitten Thunder is enjoying some smell-o-vision upstairs on the cat shelf.

 

The expected high temperature tomorrow is 33 degrees.  Ah, springtime in the Rockies.

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And Then It Snowed.

We were expecting a huge amount of snow overnight. We only got four inches, not anything to talk about in Wyoming in April. When we were still anticipating, my boss (me) decided we would wear jeans today even if we still had meetings to go to today.

This morning, The Boy not only had to go to work but had to go early. No snow day for us. Oliver, though, decided we should have a delayed start.

And then it snowed.

As I was finishing up my coffee, I received a call about getting counters installed. I threw on some clothes and went out to shovel our walks for the counter guy. Jeff, from Jeff Channel fame, was also shoveling. The Boy and I are going to Croatia this spring and Lori isn’t available for kitteh sitting the whole time (has to go to Yellowstone for “work”). I asked Jeff if he would be willing to make a celebrity appearance.

He agreed.

And then it snowed.

The counter guy arrived and had to shovel again before bringing stuff in.

There is more to do tomorrow and Thursday, but then we’ll have a kitchen again! I have never realized how much I love my kitchen sink. It is wrong to use water from the bathroom to cook.

The kittens helped by inspecting the sink.

And then it snowed.

While the counters were being installed, I worked on jewelry for my friend Angie. She sent me a bunch of rocks to work with. Here’s Obi helping with my photography efforts.

And then I rammed my pliers into my hand and bled. A lot. And then it snowed. A lot.

One of my clients closed early so I didn’t have to go in.

And then it snowed.

My hair stylist called and cancelled our appointment.

And then it snowed.

The City closed its offices and The Boy came home.

And then it snowed.

The striations are kind of cool. By counting the rings we can see that this storm is 12 snow years old.

And still it snows.

The Return of Smell-o-Vision

Ah, springtime in the Rockies. Today we enjoyed sixty degree temperatures, sun and no wind. Tonight the cold weather will return with snow through the end of Wednesday.

I decided to take advantage of today and opened up some windows. New air poured into the house. It was glorious.

"Whose tail is that?"

Obi didn’t notice the open windows at first. He was walking across the room when he heard the birds. Were they in the house? No. I grabbed the brown kitten and set him on the dining room bookcase. The sun warmed his face; his eyes closed. A breeze wafted in; his nose lifted to catch it. The twitter of birds sounded; his ears swiveled.

Glorious.

Oliver was already laying in a sunbeam in the office condo. When I opened the window he only had to turn around to take in the smells and sound.

Glorious.

The previous owners of our house had a big husky. When the air gets stale the second floor still smells like dog. I’m looking forward to sleeping in a non-doggy room tonight. It will be…

Glorious.

"There is no better pillow than a sun-warmed brother."

Note: It probably looks like Oliver is getting the good part of this snuggle. But if you look closely you’ll see that Obi’s arms are wrapped around Oliver as well. It’s this type of sweetness that forces me to get out the camera and take their picture again.

The Jeff Channel: Now with Smell-O-Vision!

I volunteered to work the Sunday shift at work today and all I can say is this: are you planning to go in the southern gate of Yellowstone? Because it doesn’t open until May 13. Would you like to talk about alternate routes?

I feel that right away I should tell you that, to the best of my knowledge, Jeff is not particularly stinky or potently scented in any way. That is NOT what I meant by the title of today’s post. What Jeff is, though, is a guy who likes to be outside. And his out is conveniently located just outside the window by our couch.

This weekend featured the first nice weather we’ve had since the first time I posted about Smell-0-vision about forty two hundred years ago. At last, we were able to open windows. And four happier mammals would have been harder to find. Zensai, basking under his 110 degree heat lamp, was indifferent.

For a long while, Obi channel surfed. Oliver spent as much of yesterday as he could laying on my chest and telling how much he missed me while I was gone and could I please never ever ever get off the couch again? But when I was standing, he would check out some OutTV.

At one point Oli, Obi, The Boy and I were all standing perfectly still, watching a squirrel on the front porch. She got her peanut from the feeder. She sat on the rail to eat it. She stopped. Looked around. And, with this eery feeling that eight eyes were upon her, she decided she’d rather eat her nut in the tree on the other side of the yard.

This morning I opened the window upstairs in the reading nook. This particular OutTV comes with an all-day sunbeam and a fleece blanket. I didn’t see Oliver again until I went upstairs at 8 o’clock to call my mother. I found one happy grey kitten stretched on the floor, suffering from over happy.

Obi watched The Jeff Channel all day. Jeff was weeding. And watering. Have I mentioned that Jeff, with whom – luckily – we were already friends, says he is getting really good at doing things with feline supervision? I’m trying to decide if having a cat stare at your backside while you’re weeding is better than having him stare in your window while you do dishes.

It’s late now, and dark. So Kitten Thunder is sharing the blanket upstairs where smell-o-vision has programming of a breeze through the trees and the gentle coo of some nearby doves. It’s been a hard day.

"This blanket has cute kittens all over it. Maybe The Girl needs an intervention."

OutTV – Now with Smell-o-Vision!

It has been many many many many many many MANY months since we’ve had the windows open at our house. Yesterday, at long last, it was warmer outside than it was in. Around the time I started cooking a burger and filling the house with smoke – purely a coincidence, I assure you – I decided to open windows.

Kitten Thunder was so excited! There were smells. So many smells. And, with the help of a 30 mph crosswind, the burger smell was very quickly replaced with those smells.

"Smell-o-vision, brought to you in stereo."

On this particular program of OutTV we had our neighbor in the alley with his dog. They were dragging out large pieces of recreational equipment with big engines. Did I mention that OutTV also has sound again? SOUND! LOTS OF SOUND!?!

Shortly after I took this picture, Obi decided he needed to be in Oliver’s window. Oliver left to check out the other five windows that were open. Shortly after that, Obi decided to leave the window in a rather ungraceful fashion. The Boy called it “falling.” Obi is supervising this post and takes offense. Sometimes you just need to leave a flat surface without propelling yourself away from the wall or putting out your feet to land. We’re humans; what do we know about being cats?

For the rest of the afternoon Kitten Thunder played with The Girl’s head. I was working in my office and every time I looked at the kitty condo there was a different cat in there. I never saw them switch out. Sneaky. Very sneaky.

And today? Four inches of snow. No smell-o-vision. On the bright side? I didn’t cook, either.