My mom lives with my sister and her husband. She has a lovely little suite downstairs. She spends time down there reading and catching up with her favourite TV shows. My sister and her husband have a gorgeous house on a large piece of property in Fruitvale, along with several pets and horses. This summer they wanted to get away.

I offered to stay in their gorgeous house on their large, quiet piece of property to keep my mom company. However, I learned I would also be required to look after some of their menagerie. They took the lively and mischievous dog with them, but left behind two horses and a diabetic cat. Now, let me just say I may have been a girl who rode and looked after horses once upon a time, but that was a very, very long time ago. And I have never had to look after a diabetic cat. But, I had offered and if they could do it, I could do it, right? Right?

So on Monday morning I got up and drove to Fruitvale. I stopped in Osoyoos to get a tea and a sandwich around noon, visited with an old friend in Midway around 1:30, got gas in Christina Lake and arrived at the house around 5:00. My brother-in-law walked me through the horse feeding routine and my sister showed me how to give the cat his shot of insulin. We had dinner, visited for a while and then everyone headed for bed.

I heard the horses calling out for their breakfast around 6:45 today. My brother-in-law was holding it back waiting for me. I looked out of the bedroom window and could see the horses at the fence waiting. I quickly got dressed and joined him outside. We filled the buckets with oats and got the wheelbarrow full of hay. He showed me how to put the oats in the feeding containers, making sure the dominant horse got hers first. Then he wheeled the hay over to the hay spot, scattered it and returned to the gate. I latched it as he told me about the fly spray that he had made up. If the flies got bad I was to spray it all over their bodies.

Back in the house it was time to give the cat his shot. My sister watched as I loaded the insulin, pulled up the skin on the nape of his neck, stuck the needle in and pushed the plunger. It was fairly easy. She showed me how much to feed him and where he liked to eat (up on the spiral staircase where the lively dog couldn’t get at it). I sat with a cup of tea as they finished packing the camper and then they were off on their adventure, the lively dog tethered the the backseat of their truck.

My first day, today, was quiet. I boiled a couple of eggs and had breakfast. Then I went upstairs and perused the shelves of books. I selected a couple, came back downstairs and made a new pot of tea. After several quiet hours I went down to visit with Mom. I had left the front door open as the cat likes to come and go. My sister said he likes to come in and eat several times a day. However, I didn’t see him all day. Around 5:00 Mom came up to ask when dinner would be. We chatted for a while and then noticed the weather was changing. We decided to feed the horses a little earlier than normal so we wouldn’t have to do it in the rain. As we headed up to the barn the wind picked up and we could hear the thunder starting to roll. I took the oats into the field. The horses came running for their dinner. I gingerly walked to the first feeding container and dropped the oats in. The other horse clearly wanted her oats but my brother-in-law had told me not to get in between them. So I walked way around behind the first horse, with second horse following. I dumped her oats in and walked back to the gate. Mom had the wheelbarrow ready and I took that in and scattered the hay. The horses were still involved with their oats so getting in and out was easy. And with the rain and the wind I got a reprieve on spraying them with the fly spray. You may not know this, but horses are big, even bigger close up and personal. And when you’re not used to being around them, they can be a little intimidating.

When we got back to the house I mentioned to Mom that I hadn’t seen the cat all day. We called for him and he materialized. He followed us into the house and I fed him. Now, I know cats are often lazy and their eyes are often only half opened. But, when the cat in question has diabetes and you are responsible for keeping him alive, you begin to wonder if he’s just being a cat or if he’s going into a diabetic coma. He hung around for a while, sprawled on the floor grooming himself then he went back outside.

Mom came upstairs and we got dinner ready. As we were eating the cat came back in, with a bird in his mouth. If you have read any of my other blogs you know how I feel about birds. Luckily for me, but not so much for the bird, it was dead, so there was no chance of it flying around inside the house. Oh the horror of that thought! Mom shooed the cat away, picked up the bird with some paper towels and took away, outside. We had to keep the cat in so he wouldn’t go outside, find it and bring it back inside. He was not a happy kitty, no bird and no outside.

We finished dinner and cleaned up. Mom went downstairs to have a bath and get ready for bed. Soon it was time to give the cat his shot. It went well. He finished his treats, ate some more food and then hopped up onto one of the kitchen chairs. He purred for a bit as I scratched his head. Then he hopped up and padded downstairs. He’s in for the night now, but I have no idea where he is.

I’m going to head up to the tub now. I survived my first day and so did all those souls under my care. However, I have a feeling my dreams will be full of galloping horses breaking down fences and disappearing into the mists while a thin, orange cat collapses at my feet. Yup, should be a great night.