ok enough already...3 straight days of thunder & lightning has driven diva to the very precipice of a nervous breakdown. i have a call into the vet for puppy Prozac, as one more storm will just do her in. it is heartbreaking to see her pant and panic, and Uncle Bill & I try to comfort her, to no avail. we turn up the TV and close the curtains, but she has a sense about things. she's barometrically sensitive. she freaks out long before SkyTracker knows there's a blip in the jet stream. we tried ignoring her panic, thinking she'd see how calm and unconcerned we were about the angels bowling. nothing helps. she's just terrified. and it's cute to watch kitten try to comfort her... as much as diva has given her nothing but growls and rebuffs, kitten stays by her and tries to get her to play. maybe it's comfort, maybe taunting, who knows. but even that isn't working. and then the inevitable morning-after shadowing. she will not leave my side. so i feel so deeply terrible for her. she was never afraid of thunder until she saw Kita melt down with the first boomer. (it was a blessing when his hearing went). i suppose there is a life lesson here about the legacy we leave...the ripple we start...with our thoughts, words, attitudes. i get it, but don't have time to light a candle and breathe in that lesson, as i am too busy carrying around a 25-pound barrel of panting, drooling, quivering mass of flying fur. i am grateful that she had a dental cleaning recently or her breath would have wiped out a generation of humans in this house. this morning's weather map was just plain ugly, so i dragged her out from her hidey spot and down to the park we went before the whole thunder/fear sequence began in earnest. luckily, my neighbors are used to seeing me walk down the street in pj's and a raincoat like an aging derelict. and that act must have caused a neener neener reaction to the storm front blowing towards us, and the rain went elsewhere before it hit. so i'm off to shower and get dressed, then finish what we started at the park. tonight i have the extreme pleasure of collaging with Noma Bliss. great name...huge talent. have been ticking off the hours & minutes for weeks! Uncle Bill will have to take over compassionate duty.