Massively Overdid It Yesterday
I had to work late yesterday to make up time from my (weekly) therapy appointment on Tuesday. I also wasn't able to take my lunch walk, because I had to use it for my (quarterly) psychiatrist appointment. It sucks that everything lined up like this, and that I can't simply take time off to care for my health, but that's the USA for you.
I told my spouse I was thinking of taking my walk after work instead, and she had planned to join me, but she wasn't feeling well and had to take a rain check. We had planned to get something to eat, so I offered to pick something up for her, and she asked if I could pick up a prescription that was ready. It doesn't sound like a lot, but after a 10 hour day at work, having to walk around 7:00 traffic instead of 5:00, having to wait in line at both places, and just barely missing the 20h00 bus and having to wait for the 21h00, I didn't get home until nearly 22h00 and I was ready to collapse. My step counter said I still got just over 10k, but these were hard, anxious steps, nothing like my leisurely lunch walk. I'm not sorry I did stuff for my spouse, but I over-estimated how much I could do. I should start bringing my anxiety meds to work with me just in case.
The night wasn't over yet, though: when I came home, Sunny was lying on our front stoop. There were a couple other cats there. As I approached, Sunny jumped up, hissed at one of the other cats and swatted at it. Sunny has never been even the least bit violent—she gives us playful bites from time to time, but I've never seen her act with hostility. Every vet who's seen her has commented on how calm and trusting she is. So seeing her act so out of character freaked me out a little.
I opened the door, and she came inside. Izzy hadn't mentioned going outside, so I figured Sunny got brave enough to try to jump down from the shelf. My suspicions were soon confirmed. She seemed no worse for the wear, and got in my lap and let me let her for a bit, but soon jumped off and was back in the window again. When she didn't come in, I checked, and she was outside again. This time she seemed more reluctant to come back in. I had to pick her up, and she didn't like it, but she accepted it.
I closed her in my studio for a bit while we figured out what to do. Izzy's sister was planning to come over today and help with some stuff anyway, and she had a drill, so we're going to borrow it long enough to secure the accordion flaps to the window frame. We would've taken the AC out of the window, but it was in the 70s all night1 and we wouldn't have been able to sleep.2 So I cut up a cardboard box, folded a couple big pieces in half, and wedged them between the flaps and the window openings. It's been pretty windy, so for good measure I also secured them to the wall with packing tape. It looks super grotty, but I figured it would do for now.
We let Sunny out of the studio, and she immediately went for the window again. She spent several minutes investigating and approaching the window from every possible angle, she scratched at the cardboard and tape, but it seemed secure enough. She gave up for about a nanosecond, but kept going back to the window. If things were different I'd be proud of her persistence.
She started not just scratching but digging into the cardboard with her claws. I don't know if she's actually capable of creating a hole big enough to get through, but at this point I wouldn't put anything past her. If we're not careful she might simply persuade us to let her out, like we're a couple rationalists and she's an advanced AI.3 We worried that, if left unattended, she might be persistent enough to succeed, and we also worried that we wouldn't be able to sleep, so we closed her in the studio for the night. We hated doing it, we've gotten so used to her cuddling up with us when we fall asleep that it felt wrong not to have her there, and we didn't want her to be lonely. But her food, water and litter box are all in there for now, and we left the other AC on,4 so we knew she'd be okay. Izzy was woken up in the middle of the night and let Sunny out, because she figured she wouldn't try to get out in the middle of a thunderstorm. She was right. Sunny jumped into bed right away and woke me up, but I was happy to see her. She slept peacefully with us and was still asleep when I left for work this morning.
So, the million dollar question: was she outside long enough to once again become blessed with 4-6 buns in the oven? We have to assume the answer is yes. I researched, and it looks like pregnant cats can still be spayed if it's early enough in the pregnancy. Her appointment is in mid-April, so we're going to bring it up with the vet to make sure, but I think we're in the clear. I feel bad that it's taken us this long. I didn't know how hard it would be on her. I always thought it was just toms that went bonkers if you don't get them fixed, but apparently being in heat can drive female cats to equal levels of depravity.
Regardless, I think her shelf privileges are going to be revoked indefinitely. Even once she's fixed, she knows she can safely get down and might want to do so out of boredom or curiosity. We're doing as much as we can to keep her from getting bored, we got her a bunch of toys and play with her every day, but we don't know how strong the call of the wild will be. Even if she can't get pregnant again, there's a lot of trouble she can get into on her own. Hopefully she takes to her harness and can enjoy the outdoors with us that way.
Anyway, my hopes of collapsing into bed at 22h00 were dashed and I didn't get to sleep until around 01h00. And Sunny woke me up. I'm glad I got to give her apology/forgiveness pets, but I also feel like death today. Tonight is supposed to be the semimonthly board game meetup and I missed the last one so I'd really like to see everyone, but I also feel like spending a day or two in a sensory deprivation tank. I don't have one of those (yet?) so I'm gonna try to push through it. If anyone was planning to award me a medal of bravery, now would be a good time to present it. I will also accept a plaque, statuette or a star on whatever walk of fame is applicable to this situation 🦝
That's about 294-299° kelvin↩
Under normal circumstances, it'd be a perfect night to leave the window open with the screen and have the fan on, but we have no control over the heat in our apartment, and the management leaves it on from October-May no matter what temperature it is outside. I fucking hate it here.↩
I kid, of course. AGI isn't real, and Sunny is much smarter than any computer (or rationalist) so she'd have an actual chance.↩
The window in that room is much smaller, so the air conditioner takes up its full width.↩