The boys have rediscovered their favorite toy. It’s a Kitty Tease ®, a small, fishing pole-type device that has a string on it with a piece of denim on the end of the string. They chase it like maniacs and jump high in the air.
The dumb thing is that I actually paid money for it. I’ve had it since Fletcher and Kitty Al were born in the late 80’s. Cowboy Joe is the most maniacal. He chases it, jumps high in the air doing some pretty impressive gymnastics with it.
Since the new master bedroom is pretty large, there is room for the three to run and chase it, while I control the motions. Even Big Frank gets into the action. And, this is one time where Matthew doesn’t run the other two off. The three play together.
Ever since Joe was a kitten, he’d play until he panted. Panting is not normal in a cat. Open-mouth breathing is a sign of trouble, which is why I was concerned about him as Jeff and I drove into Texas, and Jeff held him in his lap the rest of the way to Cowboy Joe’s new home. As shoemaker’s children go without shoes, of course I’ve never had it worked up. He is a perfectly healthy, happy cat otherwise.
On a more worrisome note, one of my favorite (equine surgery) professors, Dr. Simon Turner, was in a terrible bicycle v. car accident at the end of last month. This is much worse than the accident he had in 1986 when I was a junior veterinary student. He and his wife, Dr. Ann Wagner, were headed the next day to Australia, of which Simon is a native. His bike helmet was packed. Out riding without a helmet on a road bike in the days before mountain bikes, he hit a rock and went over the handlebars landing headfirst. He had some major damage to his brain, but recovered enough to win a prestigious honor is osteoporosis research in sheep that benefits humans.
This time, a car was rounding a corner, I think into the sun, may have clipped the corner, and hit Simon. He has been at the Medical Center of the Rockies ever since, and will go straight to Craig Hospital in Denver hopefully soon. To lessen the hundreds of emails, the family has set up a blog. Thoughts and prayers go out to Simon and Ann.