The Mentally Ill (and a Migraine)

I had a terrible migraine yesterday - it started Thursday evening, with a feeling that the back of my skull was being crushed into tiny fragments; then the pain moved to my left eye and sat down to do it's evil job. I had to cancel walking the dogs yesterday, and I had to get Kathy and Jim to take care of Ooch for me. Other than going to the bathroom, I spent 36 hours in bed, either asleep or wishing the pain would abate. Luckily, Lovey and Nedi were quiet and behaved well most of the time, and just snuggled lovingly. - By Thursday evening, thanks to the Chinook, more than half of our snow was gone. This morning, other than areas of deep shade and shelter, and where the plows piled the snow more than 3 feet deep, most areas are clear of snow and ice. I can see grass and leaves in the back yard, and both Lovey and Nedi are leaving muddy tracks all over the place. It was in the lower 50s yesterday afternoon, and a lot of locals were on the Pearl Street Mall in shirt-sleeves. Ahhhh, Colorado weather! While I am told that the sun shone all day yesterday, it's grey and overcast today, and at 10:40 it's 40 degrees outside.
I haven't written anything about the shooting tragedy in Tucson, Arizona on last Saturday for several reasons. My Senators and Representatives also schedule meetings at supermarkets and grocery stores to meet with their constituents, as did Rep. Giffords. I am speechless and appalled by the attack upon a member of Congress, her escort, and her constituents. I, myself, am living with mental illness - but I know right from wrong, and would never think to attack another human being. I am ashamed and upset that that the man accused of making this heinous attack is being labeled "mentally ill." I realize that there are many different types of mental illness, (luckily with medication, therapy, and a great reduction of stress, I can have a useful life, caring for other people's animals) but I have the feeling that this young man should be classified as "insane" and not just plunked in a "mentally ill" category. - Ooopppsss.... I just read in an encyclopedia that being "mentally ill" is the same as being "insane." Oh, well.... The general public have been found to hold a strong stereotype of dangerousness and desire for social distance from individuals described as mentally ill. A US national survey found that a higher percentage of people rate individuals described as displaying the characteristics of a mental disorder as "likely to do something violent to others", compared to the percentage of people who are rating individuals described as being "troubled." - Maybe I should make a T-shirt for myself that says, "Eye, 2, am mentally ill!"

Warmth - and New Neighbors

We are expecting record-breaking high temperatures today through Wednesday... records that were set between 90 and 125 years ago. Can I really blame this on Global Warming? I think not. While we are basking in unusual warmth and worrying about high winds and possible wildfires, both the northeast and the southeast parts of the country are dealing with heavy snow and cold weather... Sunrise was spectacular this morning - oranges, reds, pinks, and pearlescent blues and purples ; these colors were then reflected back by the cloud cover over the mountains. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

I had a migraine headache yesterday afternoon, the first in a while. I read a good article about migraines that describes the pain very well (if you're interested, it's at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29418328/ ), but unlike the writer, Imitrex didn't help me either. I still just lay and suffer and wish I could remove the parts of my head that hurt...

During the headache, new neighbors moved in... I had the curtains drawn, so I didn't see them - but Lovey and Banichi were in the window, keeping an eye on things; and the new neighbors and/or their friends kept coming out into the backyard and commenting on my kits. "Oh, look at all the cats next door!", "They look exactly alike! Maybe they're clones!", "They're probably from the same litter.", "They don't seem to be very friendly."
From hearing these comments, I could tell that these folks are not cat people, are not used to cats, and they didn't look closely at the kits - they just saw two grey cats. Lovey is much smaller and much darker than Banichi - the middle two inches of fur along her spine looks black, her ears and nose have brown fur, she has a triangular face and head, and her tiger stripes are very pronounced. Banichi is much larger and much lighter than Lovey - he is silver to blue-grey in color, and his tiger stripes are extremely faint; his nose and ear fur is almost the color of pewter, and he has a large round "apple" head.
Later in the evening, when I was up and about again, I let the kits run outside for a short time. They both came running back in with their tails brushed. After I shut the patio door I heard a small dog yap in the apartment next door....