Andy Lien

Grendel was metformin hydrochloride 1000 mg not named after the God of Thunder.  He was named after a monster.

And how.

We had “some weather” here on Ramsey Hill tonight.  I’m only going to call it “some weather” because I am an alarmist.

Really.

I hate bad weather.  I always have.  I have feared it.  I have loathed it.

I get skittish.  I worry.  I check to be sure the last insurance payment cleared.

I call people.  I watch their weather.  I relay their warnings.  To them.

When I was younger and lived on Klarysn Street in Cokato, I would call my friend Leah in Dassel to tell her where I could be located after the house had fallen down on top of me due to the approaching tornadoes.  (In the basement under the stairs.)  Or, if the storm were about to hit Dassel, I would call her and tell her to get to the basement.  Fair was only fair.

Weather is uncontrollable.  And I hate it.

I’m trying to work out of it.  I can sit and tell myself that this __________ (house/cabin/apartment building) has been here for ____ (7/55/80) years and hasn’t fallen to bad weather, yet.  Why would it happen now?

Because I am in the house/cabin/apartment building.

Duh.

So, when Spring rolls around, I know that the weather will, too.  It’s inevitable.  Today was one such weather day.  Humidity…gusty winds…then thunderstorm.

Animals sense storms…they’re living, breathing barometers.  Grendel is no exception.

Tonight, he was pacing.  He was whining.  He was hellbent on watching out the windows.  All of them.  At once.

I sent him a “Calm the Heck Down” memo.  He crumpled it up and threw it away.  This was our first storm in the new apartment and he was going to do it up right.  Back in Minnetonka, we lived on the third floor.  In attempts to desensitize us to bad weather, I would leave the balcony door open so we could see and hear the storms.  We’d cuddle together on the couch.  We’d consider calling Leah.

Or, we’d be the only living creatures sitting in our vehicle in the underground garage.

Here, we have a basement, but tonight’s weather didn’t require any such measures.  Tonight’s weather was just annoying.

I only say it was annoying because Grendel was annoying.  Our weather was mostly dark skies, some rain, quite a bit of wind, and apparently some lightning.  I let Grendel keep an eye on it.

I couldn’t have stopped him if I tried.

Okay, I did try.  And believe me, I couldn’t.

What was fun for me, though, was to watch him handle the windows, the furniture, and the hardwood floor.  What was not fun for me was being caught off guard by his 44-pound body landing in my lap a couple of times in the melee.

This went on for an hour.  Front window to side window.  Couch.  Lap.  Dog bed.  Front. Side. Couch. Front. Side. Dog bed. Couch. Lap.  Throw in some less-than-graceful slides across the hardwood floors here and there.  Clicking toenails.  Whining.  Oh, the whining.

I couldn’t help but run for the camera and document some of his antics.

Watch his paws.

Mind the gap.

Then, I was metformin hydrochloride 850 mg having such fun taking pictures of him that I had to get a few of us together.

This never goes well.

But, by the time we tired of the photo shoot (okay, he went to the other window and stayed there…looking at me dully), the storm had passed and the sky was lightening.  Without even knowing it, I had employed a therapy tactic for getting through anxious situations.

Distraction.

And I had Grendel to thank for that.

I guess I didn’t look like was going to cramp his style and kiss him up some more, so he came back to his post at the front window.  All was well with the world.

And the monster became a mouse again.

Then curled up and fell asleep.