Quick Friday Post on a Chilly Day

 Well, yes it did get down to 29 degrees early this morning here in north central Florida.  It's currently 54 at 2:00 p.m., and bright and sunny. 

My current view

There was frost everywhere this morning...That's the top of our car as seen through the window early this  morning.  I didn't take anymore pictures of the frost outside, because that would've require going outside, and I didn't want to do that!

However, I do have a story to tell you.  You remember that I showed you this lovely "tent" HERE the other day...  and I had such high hopes that it would be a good solution for a place to bring Blackie indoors and out of the freezing cold and safe from being able to roam freely throughout the house while we were sleeping since he's not yet a trained house cat...

This is the "pet playpen", which I purchased at Walmart.  It really looked like a great solution.

However, first of all, Blackie didn't want to go inside it last evening when we were getting ready to go to bed.  He would explore it, but run back out as soon as I tried to zip him in there.  Finally I decided to just let him go back outside and sleep in his nice warm chair with a blanket draped over it and his self-warming cushion underneath his body, which does keep him quite warm. There he is right now, but this picture was taken through the window and it's not real clear. He's kind of half under the glass table on the porch, and cozied up in the chair and sound asleep.

I decided last night that I would wait until the temperature really started dropping and then I would go out and get him off the porch and put him in the tent inside until morning.  And that's what I did. Around 2:30 in the morning I looked at the weather app on my phone and it said the temperature was down to 32, which is freezing. So I bundled myself up (no pictures of me with my hoodie  and sweatpants over my nightgown), and when I opened up the back door Blackie got down out of his chair and ran right to me. So I scooped him up and brought him inside and placed him in the tent and before he could object I had the door zipped up tight.  He kind of paced back and forth for a minute, but he didn't meow a word.  I reassured him he would be nice and safe and warm in there and I told him he should just lay down and go back to sleep. And then I headed back to bed myself and prayed that he would do just that.  

I did finally get a couple of hours of sleep, but at 5:00 a.m. I thought I'd better tiptoe out there and check on him. As soon as I opened our bedroom door I could hear him meowing rather plaintively, so I rushed to see what was the matter.  I didn't have my camera with me, but I wouldn't have had time to take a picture anyway. The poor kitty was crying because the stupid 'pop up tent" decided to collapse in on top of him (thankfully it is very lightweight), and he was trapped inside with no way to escape. The tent came in that box shown above, all wound up tightly and "spring loaded", so that when you open the box and undo the tie on the tent, it springs open into that full size tent. Well, I wondered how the sides would keep from springing back down because there was no way to secure them. And apparently when Blackie leaned against one of the sides, it triggered the spring system and it just all came down on top of him.  Of course the zippered door ended up underneath him, so I had to roll him around inside of that thing until I could get to the zipper to open the door and let him out. You can imagine how he bolted out of there like a cat out of....well, you know what I mean. The poor kitty was so scared. Thankfully he allowed me to pick him back up and comfort him, but he was one frightened kitty.

So, thankfully I still have my receipt and the tent is not damaged (and no, he did not "dirty it up" one bit, which is miraculous under the circumstances!), but I can't get it back into that box, so I will take it back to Walmart as is and let THEM figure it out.  Word to the wise, don't go buying one of those things, okay?  

I fed him his breakfast and let him go outside for a while to do whatever cats do, (and I did actually set up a litter box for him, but he wasn't interested in that and wanted to go out) but then I brought him back inside and just held him for long time. He was purring so loudly. 

And yes, I do have other clothes besides that red flannel shirt, but that is what I grab to put on when I am chilled and I don't want Blackie to snag or get hairs or fleas on something good. Thankfully I think the flea treatment has helped him, but still, I'm not taking too many chances.

Oh, hubby wanted me to take a picture of him wearing his "Blackie" suit...a nice fleecy blanket that is black on one side and has a design on the other, but he was a bit jealous of all the attention Blackie was getting so he thought he'd try to look like Blackie. LOL.  Yes, we are a little crazy here, especially so early in the morning and after not having much sleep...

Not sure what we will do about Blackie tonight.  It's not going to be quite as cold, but I'm out of other options for tonight, so he will probably just have to stay on the porch in his nice cozy chair.  It really is warm with that warming mat underneath him.  We'll see what develops.

On another note, yesterday I did have the dental appointment for the rest of the deep cleaning and then the root canal and temporary crown. I was there for three hours. Thankfully things went pretty smoothly and I was impressed with the skill of not only the young dentist, but his dental assistant, and all of the very modern technology they have now to do their work.  It really was almost completely "pain free", and I didn't have any really bad after effects after the numbness wore off. I am very THANKFUL! I still have to go back in a couple of weeks for the permanent crown, but that shouldn't be all that big of a deal. 

So, thank you all for your kind words the past few days regarding all of these things before they happened. 

Here's some words of hope and encouragment for today:

Matthew 21:21-22 NKJV

21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Matthew 19:26 NKJV

26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

What things do YOU need to believe that God can do for you today?  ...All things are possible with God!