Still No Stumpy

We still haven't seen Stumpy. But the weather has been bad.

Mae West, Pepperdine, and Berkeley

Today we saw Mae West (limping along), Pepperdine, and Berkeley. Dee fed them. We still haven't seen Stumpy. Hopefully, someone either took him in or he's okay somewhere.

Midday, we went to Columbia - leaving our beloved Moberly. We were full of consternation that the traffic in Columbia is thick and impolite. That is really what we hate the most! I expect that from an actual urban area but this is a town of less than 100,000. It is simply congested (and with the likes of us). But we really like Wendy who cuts and styles our hair so we go to Columbia and then get sucked in to the idea of, "while we're here, we should..." I am beginning to feel like it is more worth it to order from the internet than to waste gas. So next time we are scheduled to see Wendy at 8 a.m. My thought is that if it is a snooty grocery store item such as red curry paste that we seek that we hit the grocery at 7 a.m. before the maddening crowd and then head Rainforest Salon. Ha!

Sleeping

Today I slept until 8:00 a.m. How amazing to sleep. If you sleep well, you possibly do not know the relief of sleep. I have not slept well in years and I certainly DO appreciate it.

I have been sleeping more and deeper since I've stopped taking certain medicines (I wrote about it more on my Fitness and Cooking Blog here) and that has changed everything about resting. I wonder if it's changing my consciousness while awake. I have been enthusiastic to learn new things. I can't remember being able to actually sit down and concentrate very well but now I feel like I can.

I used my camera today to take some pictures of our improved home gym and have set a goal to learn more about my camera.

I saw one cat yesterday. I will continue to look for them and try to get pictures.

The Old Men of Moberly

I believe it's fair to say that Moberly is a town with an aging population. It is of note that in any establishment serving free coffee refills, there are large groups of old men sitting at tables for hours.

They have loud discussions of their opinions, other people's activities, politics, and the weather. Their sons are more successful and their trucks are still more powerful. They know better. I have spent some time trying to find articles on the internet about these guys because I think there may be either comedy or science on the phenomenon. I used "old men", "coffee", "restaurants", "loitering", "hours", and "hanging out". Tried in various combinations, I got limited results.

• "Old men" got me countless references to the movie No Country for Old Men.
• "Restaurants" of course displayed both reviews and discussions about goings on in eateries.
• "Loitering" got me trite but true discussions of teens and groups of teens.
• "Hanging out" even showed me a blog about an old man's privates protruding from his khakis in a Burger King. This one came complete with photo!

So it appears either not spoken of or outside of language of which I know. I can't find the habit of nearly elderly males collectively lollygagging over coffee mentioned as an occurence. Maybe we all see them but they exist for us as annoying cacaphony and puffs of smoke. I have questions, though.

Is there nothing better they can do with their time? I imagine the trinkets available at the dollar store, made by overseas workers, being made by coffee fueled old men sitting at tables chattering away like hens.

For whom do these guys vote? From their vapid conversations, I imagine they vote for the person who they think will either protect their assets or their world views. This worries me because they are far past their gainful years and the "old man vote" might have consquences for those who are truly productive.

Is their plight sad or annoying? I personally am annoyed but also am trying to reflect upon lives that are just lived as blustering table-sitters.

I suppose there are good things about them loitering in restaurants.

• They are forced to buy a small food item most of the time, either by guilt or policy, so they fuel the restaurant economy.
• They keep each other company, freeing their families to pursue their own lives.
• They force me to get a little exercise because they block all the close parking with their vehicles.
• They aren't out on the road driving whilst they bask in their own glory over free coffee refills! I will say no more.

Where have they gone?

I haven't seen any of the outside cats. It is both a concern and a relief. I fear the saddest - they have been rounded up and euthanized. But how am I to know? We also have a hand in this- we have begun feeding them further from our house. They use the front dirt as a litterbox and it stinks to walk onto the front porch. This is not a good thing of course. I don't see them on the dumpster in the alley. There is little evidence of them under the shed. The truth is, there were too many cats. They had hard lives - but we tried to at least feed them and help them brave the elements with a couple of shelters. I'll certainly update on the situation if it unfolds!

Stumpy Looks Both Ways

Stumpy was walking from downtown back to this block this morning. We noticed he looked both ways before crossing the street. I wonder if that is conscious on his part or it was just a fluke. I'm not sure we can plan to see that again to establish a study.

Dee has taken to feeding the cats further away from our front door. We hope that we can encourage them to deficate further away. It is disgusting to approach our house and there is a distinct odor of cat waste.

Anita and I talked about getting Stumpy fixed and getting him his shots. I'm not sure what to do with ol' Stumpy. He's so sweet. He's not exactly feral like Mae West, Berkley, Pepperdine and the new one we haven't named yet. Those cats are not tame at all. This town has a definite problem with feral cats. I've been reading online about programs for spay/neuter and release. I just am shying away from taking that project on. It probably requires forming some sort of legal entity to process money through and then keeping track of things. That doesn't include capturing cats! egad