The Troll

 People are interesting, aren't they? I have opinions. I will admit to having strong opinions. I know that many readers of this blog believe differently, and that's their right. Some of them have blogs of their own, and they are quick to give their own opinions, opinions that, while they are as strong as my own, are diametrically opposed to my own. 

And that's okay.

But I believe that you need to be able to cite your sources, if challenged. 

Yesterday's blog post introduced me to a troll. Well. We have 'met' before. She's not unknown. She is right. Always right, and as usual, when she is being rude, she cowers behind 'anonymous'. 

I should have copied her comment before deleting it. She vented her spleen a bit (yawn) and finished it off with her thoughts that I should give "the Elon Musk thing a rest". (She is quite fond of him.) She then claimed that Obama and Biden both gave Nazi salutes while they were in office, which is pure bullshit. If she would have posted under her name, I could have challenged her to cite her sources, to put her money where her mouth is. 

I deleted the comment, and I will continue to delete her anonymous comments. She is welcome to spew her 'truth' on her own blog, but she's not going to do that here, and if she doesn't like it, she is free not to read. 

That's enough of that. 

Today was cold. Last night it got to -14F. I woke up in the night and needed an aspirin. Our bedroom was freezing. I am not sure what it was last night, but today, in the single digits, the bedroom was 51 degrees, so I expect it was chillier than that last night. It is not something that you notice snug under the covers, with two bodies generating heat, but once out of bed, you notice immediately. I padded down the hall to the kitchen, got my aspirin, and padded back down the hall to bed, and I could not get warm again to save my soul. It took forever to fall asleep. 

We have the wood stove going in the library, and the gas heaters going in the kitchen and the office which concentrates the heat where we need it and reduces the need for running the big furnace. We don't have a heater in the bedroom because we like a cool bedroom, but last night was extreme. 

We worked on the new house yesterday, and before we left, I walked down to feed the cats. Strangely, they did not come. I heard some scrabbling around on the second floor, but they didn't come down, not even when I popped the lids on 3 cans of cat food, a sound that usually brings them all running. They do roam now. We can see that now that there is snow on the ground, and they range pretty far, so I figured maybe they were mostly out hunting. Maybe Minnie the antisocial was not brave enough to come out on her own.

I fed my invisible cats and headed out the door. As I walked back to the house, some tracks caught my eye. I stopped and looked carefully, and I could see very plainly claws, something that you do not see with cat prints. 

When I got to the car, Tim said, "What did you see?" and I said, "Well...I think they are coyote tracks. Maybe a fox. I don't know, but you can see the claws," and he said, "Let me take a look..." and off he went. 

We discussed it on the way home. I said, "Surely a coyote can't get into the garage, right?" He said, "No..." but mused, "I'm not sure about a fox though." We discussed whether a fox would run up a ladder (it's a wooden one at a steep angle. The kittens learned to climb it right away). Tim didn't think a fox could, so he felt quite sure that the cats were safe on the second floor. I said, "Well...I will start

 putting their food upstairs for them then."

By the time we got home a second thought occurred to us. The temperature was supposed to fall well below zero. We should have taken their insulated cat houses upstairs so that they would be warm enough on the cold night. Tim said, "The heat rises and that corner of the upstairs will be warm enough. I think." 

I made our supper but before I could pop it into the oven, Tim said, "We need to go back up there before it gets dark." 

I was a bit surprised because I hadn't said anything, but that's what we did. I gathered up some extra old blankets and rugs, and we loaded up the car. 

I'm not sure what has happened. The cats did not come downstairs at all. We put the coolers upstairs, and made an insulated corner cave for them.We put their food pans upstairs. I could hear furtive scrabbling on the other side of the garage, but they did not show their faces. 

Tim set up his game camera to keep an eye on things, and we left the garage light on for them. 

I had an appointment today, and so Tim went to the house alone to work on the bathroom. For the second day, the cats did not come when they were called. Something has frightened them, and for the first time, I'm beginning to think that I need to start grabbing them whether they like it or not and bring them indoors. 

Tim is getting steady pictures of them on the game camera though.