The BIG, LOUD in the Middle of the Night

A BIG, LOUD storm woke me, just before 2 a.m., moving in really fast. The thunder and lightning were so fast and constant you couldn't even get to the count of 'one'... And then the sleet and hail started.


Zumi Cat has become storm-phobic in the past year and a half (notably since we moved into this house),  and it's really sad to see him get scared. He sleeps with me, so I knew the instant he was freaked out (the moment of the first thunder). He wanted O-U-T...out, Out, OUT! But I don't know where he thought he would go. It was so incredibly loud on our roof and windows! He didn't want the closet (his normal hideout), and when I offered to let him out of our room, he realized it was louder and scarier out there, and ran right back in. The poor thing was completely panicked!


I finally grabbed him and jumped back into bed, throwing the thick covers over us and curling myself around him. I held and petted and soothed, and the BIG, LOUD storm passed quickly. Zumi finally relaxed and seemed to feel safe under the covers with me, purring a soft, calm purr instead of trembling violently and rumbling with the panic-purr.

Poor big handsome fraidy-cat!

(Not an actual photo of Zumi)

And WHERE is Nom-Nom Kitty now??? She ran out of the bedroom when I offered to let Zumi out, and by the nightlight in the hall I saw her run on away. When Zumi ran right back in the bedroom, I went down the hall to bring her back. It was insanely loud in the rest of the house! I didn't see her right away, and at that moment the hail intensified hitting the windows and that's when I decided to just hunker down under the covers with Zumi. You know, so I could soothe and comfort him. 


After the storm passed, I went out of bedroom to get Nom-Nom and bring her back so she wouldn't have to sleep alone. (Crazy-cat-lady behavior, I know. Don't judge.)  But we (Zumi was on my heels every step now) can't find her ANYWHERE!  What the what, cat???  It's not a big house. And she's a chatty cat - there's a vocalization for every move she makes and every time she hears her name. She is disappeared! I am giving up the search, although I'm more than a little freaked out that I can't find her. I'm hoping that she's just hiding someplace really good, or that the Aliens which have abducted her will return her by morning.

(Not an actual photo of Aliens sucking Nom-Nom out of our house.)

I love a good storm, but Zumi's hysteria, and now the disappearance of Nom-Nom, took all the fun out of that one! I would like to just go back to sleep now...


(Does anyone else have storm-phobic cats? Thankfully none of my dogs have ever really been, but this is my second cat that is. And for that matter, has anyone else had their cat abducted by Aliens? Outer-Space Aliens, I mean; not the illegal ones that might kidnap cats for who-knows-what purpose.)


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8:00 a.m. Update of Situation:
When I got up this morning and left the bedroom with all fuzzy-kids, Nom-Nom was amongst them. The Aliens not only returned her (as I knew they would because she is kind of a nutcase), but they put her back in the bedroom so she wouldn't have to spend the rest of the night alone. The Aliens are crazy-cat-ladies too!


And something woke me up this morning by pressing fingertips between my shoulder blades and gently nudging, repeatedly. Himself was sound asleep, but I woke him up anyway to make sure. Because it was a very definite sensation. So weird. 

Awake'ish...

Bit of a different kind of night around here last night. Our grandbebe is staying with us for a few days. (Cutie Patootie is the 3 yr old son of The Man's daughter.) Last evening we had dinner with his great-grandparents, who enjoy feeding him as much of anything and everything they can in each visit. He complained that his tummy hurt a few times, but he was running around performing for their guests, so it's sometimes hard to really gauge.  He went to bed and seemed normal enough when we got home.  Sure enough, at 1 a.m. I'm awakened by a phone call from my son (19 yr old) - which is just the right degree of nerve-rattling in itself - and he's telling me that Patootie is throwing up and he doesn't know what to do. He's calling me from his own bathroom, which is next door to our bedroom. Don't you love the communication capabilities we have now??

I robe-up and find my two big boys in the bathroom trying to help the little one clean up.  It was such a grossly adorable scene: Noah trying to get him out of icky pajamas, Alex trying to wash his face off, and Patootie crying and telling them to "stop it!"  It was just so heartwarming! Except for the vomit, of course.  The Man gets up, too, and we all set about removing the dirty bedding (I know that child's stomach is not big enough for all the grossness that came out!) from the futon (that will never recover, I'm afraid) and getting the little one back to bed. The big boys then dispersed with apparent relief.  Patootie seemed to still have a tummy ache going on, writhing and moaning every little while, so I sent The Man back to bed and stayed to keep watch.  Sure enough, an hour later, round 2; thankfully mostly-contained by the wastebasket the big boys had thoughtfully placed on the floor next to sleeping bebe.  Poor little soul!  It's been many years since I've sat with a sick little one, and it's still just as pitiful to see them go through it.  And I am still filled with wonder at the capacity in such little bodies!

While changing his clothes and cleaning his face, he suddenly stops crying and says, "I feel better. Can I just go to sleep now?"  And it was like a switch had been flipped. Down he went and right to sleep, with no more moaning or turning. The Man checked on us right after that event, and  I stayed with Patootie another hour before convincing myself that he seemed peaceful enough that I could go to bed.  Then I lay awake for what felt like forever, listening for any sounds from him and feeling a flashback to that guilt that we feel when there isn't any magic wand to wave over them to make them feel better.

Thankfully today is my day off.  I got up relatively early, worrying about checking on him, and thinking I might still make my massage appointment this morning. But I don't think I will.  Patootie is still sleeping peacefully, thank goodness (as is everyone else in the house), and I really hope he will feel better today.  This has been a reminder of how grateful I am that my child-rearing days are behind me!  I adore him, but I am, quite comfortably, way out of practice with the art of middle-of-the-night-nursing/laundry/vigil process!  I consider that to be one of the big perks of accomplishing 'the raising of the cubs'.

(I can also report that other than a few minutes of excitement and an extra trip outside, the dogs were able to quickly go back to sleep without any apparent signs of being traumatized; and the bratty cats couldn't be bothered to even take notice of the event.)

As I mindlessly check in on the virtual world while waiting for the coffee to work it's magic, I'm presented with a video of a news report on the Vatican's position of consideration of the possibility/probability of alien worlds and beings: http://youtu.be/0h5L7IEqBjc   I honestly do not know what my thoughts are on this at the moment.  I'm really open-minded to the possibility and wonder of a lot of things, but aliens have not really been in my radar.  (However, I will admit that I've always had the opinion that vomiting children are associated, in some way, with aliens.)  Anywho, it appears that this really is legitimately newsworthy, and linking with NASA and the government. Who knew?  I, for one, did not.  If feels a little wacky to me, so of course I now feel compelled to hunt around for more stories.  Or just have more coffee.  We'll see.