Headlights, Litter Trials, Ants and Birds

That night was one of the most stressful of nights.  The chaos started when after all day of driving, my muscles were screaming at me to stop.  I needed to take some medicine for my pain, but since it was pitch black out, I could barely see the side of the road to stop at.  I pulled into the first stop I found and paused at the stop sign at the end of the ramp.  My choices were: nothing to left, nothing to the right, or go straight ahead and get back on the highway… So I just stopped there hoping nobody would come up from behind. 

Well, someone did just that.  A big vehicle, judging by the 4 lights that were leering at me, ruining my plans.  I continued straight ahead… So did they… Were they following me??  I think they must have thought I was headed for the next rest stop, too.  It was so dark outside with no street lights, I was trailing behind some cars to steal some of the light they were projecting out onto the road.  When I reached the rest stop 20 miles further down the road, that 4 head-lighted truck showed up, too.  To my relief, it was just a van full of friendly travelers.  Phew! 

I decided that this would be a good place for some quality slumber.  But getting to that point sure was a hassle.   I moved my stuff around to make space for me to sleep, and set the litter box to the side.   The problem was, it was raining so I couldn't put the box outside in the mud.  The kitties hadn’t used it in a while, so when I saw them sniffing around I opened the protective garbage bag to allow for some feline relief before bed.  After 2 days, Darcy was finally ready to venture into the box...

Darcy is my man cat and he’s a clumsy one.  He jumped into the litter and tipped the box over, spilling litter all over the foot of my little bed.  And then he ran away, startled by his lack of grace.  I had to bribe him with a treat to come out of hiding so we could try again.  It worked!  I got him safely back in the box and the poor guy had a hard time…. doing his business.  (sorry if this TMI, but I didn’t know that cats would grunt in similar fashion to humans when they have a stubborn poo).  Fact of the day… or another horrific thing to discover in my brand new car??  

Once that was over and I cleaned up the mess, it was time to sleep.  The rain was going strong, but I needed some freaking fresh air!  I opened the window and stuck my umbrella out, securing the end tightly to a pillowcase. 

Sleep was not happening.

The rain stopped and whatever junk was in the tree above, fell abruptly on the car roof, startling me awake... again...  The box will now spend the rest of the night outside with the ants.

Oh the ants… the rain had washed them out of their holes to swarm all over the dirt around my car.  And these were no friendly California ants...  these were giant desert ants, 2 cm long and multicoloured… and they were all over the ground!  So when I had to get out of the car, I had to do little ant dances so as to avoid having them doing the cha-cha up my legs…

Once I was actually able to lay down again, I struggled to relax.  The cats were too excited to have stopped moving and they were transfixed on the little birds that were flittering outside all night.  Apparently, it was mating season for these little buzzards…

I guess eventually I got some sleep, though because I found myself waking the next morning- ready for a new (and better day)…