Plus I dislike shopping at the best of times, and these are not the best of times. I know I sound ungrateful, given the fact that my insurance makes this possible, and there are so many of my fellow refugees who had no insurance and will not be doing any shopping for anything. But shopping remains an onerous task to me, my limited good fortune notwithstanding.
My un-American distaste for buying the usual things makes it necessary for my brother to co-sign the apartment lease for me. I have no credit history. I buy things other than basic necessities rarely, and those mostly small things, and I have never borrowed to buy them. If I don't have cash for something, I do without. The landlord was horrified. Apparently he thinks people who pile on debt are more likely to pay their rent that are people who have remained debt-free all their lives. Such is the weirdness of our consumption-oriented culture.
The rain today was moderate and intermittent, and is currently not falling at all, but it is expected to resume well before midnight. It could be rainy tomorrow morning, but the heaviest rain is expected Sunday, along with lots of wind. The remainder of the week will be cloudy and cool but probably dry. There is a channel not far from here that by this time of year usually has a good-sized stream in it, and sometimes had a raging torrent, but this year it is still nothing but sand and rocks. Sand and rocks with a threat of flooding is a good description of how my brain feels right now.
Still no news on any of the cats. They will soon be closing the emergency shelters, and by January 4 all the remaining unclaimed animals will be distributed to smaller shelters throughout the region. That's already happened, to some extent. I did see one photo of a cat who looks very much like Portia, though I've seen so many cat pictures lately that the details of my own cats' faces is starting to blur. That cat is at a shelter way the hell up in Anderson, a town some eighty miles north of here. Times like this I wish I had reliable transportation. I even come close to wishing I had my own car and a driving license. That's extreme.