January 7, 2005

January 7, 2005

C.A.R.E. Centre

DAY 203

 

Today was cold and cloudy again. Late this morning when I drove to a local RV repair and supply business to buy some maintenance parts I needed, it was very foggy.

Last night's "stray" cat "Rain" was nowhere to be seen this morning, so I surmised that my theory was probably correct.

Last night we learned of two disturbing incidents that took place here recently. One of the C.A.R.E. participants with Alzheimer's was recently "mercy killed" by her husband, who then committed suicide. Over at the Rainbow's End side of the park, a "permanent" resident in the deeded lots section killed his wife, daughter, and grandchildren. SHEESH !

At social hour this afternoon, we connected with an old fellow who had just returned today from Houston with his wife. They were at Baylor University Hospital. She had a mastectomy 2 days ago due to breast cancer. He got up to announce their return, and update their friends on her condition. We went over to chat with him afterwards, to provide some moral support. We both remember well what a difficult and terrifying time he and his wife are experiencing at the moment. Now as they deal with the difficult first 2 weeks after surgery, they have to sit on pins and needles waiting for the pathology report that will determine whether or not she will require chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments, etc.. Joanne will pay her a visit in their home on Monday. They are in the permanent resident section of Rainbow's End.

On the way back to C.A.R.E. after social hour, we chatted with a lady from California who was walking her Golden Retriever. Her rig is parked near where we found Rain the cat last night. We asked her if she knew where the tortoise shell cat lived. She said that none of her neighbours have a cat, and Rain seems to be a stray who's been hanging around for a few days. Sure enough, an hour later while I was walking to the laundry room to move some laundry from the washers to the dryers, I came across Rain once again. S/he was sitting under Mary Lou's trailer, meowing hungrily. I called him/her over, sat down on the side of the road, and talked and petted him/her for awhile. After I finished with the laundry, I coaxed him/her to follow me back to our trailer. I brought a large bowl of food out for him/her, and sat in the back of the truck with him/her as s/he ate a huge quantity of dry cat food. Joanne and I drove over to the laundry room to pick up our loads of laundry, with Rain sitting in the truck with us. I sat in the truck and socialized with Rain while Joanne went inside to fold laundry. When we returned to the trailer, I set up a water dish and a towel as a bed in the back of the truck. As I type this, s/he is still sitting on top of the tool chest in the back of the truck. From handling him/her inside the truck while we drove over to the laundry room, Joanne thinks it's a pregnant female. I don't want to spook him/her yet by checking gender. Maybe tomorrow.

DSK