Reflections & Future Daydreams
Tuesday, June 25th, 2024 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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79F and overcast this morning, on it's way up to 90F.
We had another thunderstorm this morning around sunrise, which brings the total of spectacular thunderstorms right out the window this year to FIVE!
Back in 21 and 22, when I was unemployed and perfectly positioned to record thunder whenever it came in, that number was ZERO!
For two years straight, we had NO recordable thunder at this house!
But ever since Dad died, and the house got foreclosed on, and especially NOW that my S10 is packed in a box... we get long, rolling, booming, flashing thunderstorms directly over the house twice a week!
Speaking of that, this blog just had it's two year anniversary, on June 14th... back when it was just the companion blog to a SoundCloud featuring crickets and thunder... recorded here on Jackson street.
One year later, June 13th, 2023, was the Drizzly Tuesday where I got the idea to start recording music again with FL Studio.
This year, June 14th was the day of the inspection... critical to selling the house.
I guess June is when spring becomes summer, though, so... I guess that inspires different things into being.
June 2022 was like the doldrums for me... no money and no idea what the future would be.
I got back into field recording because it was a free hobby, but the crickets weren't around yet, and the thunder kept missing us.
I started this journal to talk about all the wonderful field recordings I was sure to make that summer, but in the end, the journal itself became the hobby.
And within a couple months, it became the journal of a prolonged crisis surrounding Dad's death!.. with crazy shit happening both before, and after the event.
I really hope it works out with Prowly in the new apartment.
It'd be nice to look back and say that in the midst of all that chaos, he was the one lasting friend I took away from it.
Him & Snoop showed up right before the action started, in August of 22, but only Prowly's been around for the entire thing!
For Dad, the drama ended in January of 23.
Snoop stuck it out until February of 24, but then dipped.
Yvette was rescued by Terry in May.
But Prowly's in the studio right now, on top of his cat tower!
Mr. Taylor called, right before I left to say a partner will do a walk through on the 2nd at noon.
So thing are still on track for the sale, but I was still worried about ComEd cutting the power on the 3rd... at my stupid request!
So at work I did manage to get on the phone with ComEd, and successfully changed the date to July 25th, when they will stop electrical service to the house... at 5AM.
This was a huge relief!
It means those outside lights will continue to turn on every night, and I can use a few timers to turn lights on inside the house as well.
We'll also have power here while Colleen's in town... and beyond.
So, it's still possible for me to have a sale, because the deal with Taylor's not likely to close until around the 19th or 20th.
Speaking of sale, a guy from IT wants to buy my circular saw, for 60 bucks, and possibly a few wood clamps, for 12 bucks a pop.
Haven't heard any more from Roberto about buying he meiter saw for $400.00, but I hope he does.
Since everybody's giving me cash, I figure I'll deposit it at 5/3rd Bank downtown near the tower!
I got to thinking today that if the union gets us that raise, I'd have enough to buy a GPS tracker for Prowly!
So the idea would be to take him for walks until he's gotten a full understanding of he area, and it's higher traffic, both from vehicles, and pedestrians & cyclists.
And then if I can also get him used to wearing a harness full time... then at some point perhaps I can start letting him roam free again... and keep tabs on him with the tracker!
And if he comes near the building, then I'll go downstairs to greet him, until he learns to trust that I know when he's outside the building.
That then leads to him simply coming to the door of the building when he wants back inside!
Conversely, if I want him home for some reason... I can just go to where he's at, call him out, and hook up the leash!
It would be quite a wild life!.. owning a cat who lives with me on the 11th floor of a high rise, but who also gets to prowl around downtown, and can still get back in by simply going to the door... of the 20 story building!
Basically, what I'd be doing is giving him his own cellular device.
Maybe I could put a QR code on his harness that takes you to a little web page with all his information.
"Prowly Meowly Melody: 9 S. Plot Avenue #1106. 555-123-4567. I am GPS tracked, and my owner knows my location."
It's also possible, if residents of the building became familiar enough with him, that he could get others to let him into the lobby, from where he could simply climb the stairs back up to 11, and meow right at the apartment door!
But it would also be cool just to see where he goes!
Would he stick to the island, or would he venture over the bridges to the areas on either side of the river?
There are small patches of green space here and there in the surrounding area.
Most of the corners downtown have little rain gardens. And asside from the small park just outside the building, there's another one by the GAR museum, and another on Water Street, by the summer stock theater.
This all sounds very far fetched, and a bit like the plot of a Disney movie, but with modern tech, it's pretty doable.
Prowly's young, intelligent, and we'd have years down there to develop this routine.
When I say he's intelligent, I mean, I'd never seen a kitten use a litter box like Prowly did... digging a hole in the sand first... then pooping exactly into it... then burying it perfectly!
And I've seen him do this outside multiple times too!.. he does not leave a trace!
But he also has a penchant for taking frequent dust baths outside.
Basically, whenever he has the chance, he'll roll around in the dirt... which is an incredibly effective way to prevent fleas!
He's also very vigilant about cars, and their danger... which I helped him with... because he's very good at picking up on my cues!
I think he'd appreciate, fairly naturally, that the downtown is just more urban, and what that means, and how to adapt.
Here, two miles east of downtown, it's still urban enough!
Jackson has heavy traffic during the day, and there are little buildings and parking lots and so forth peppered around the neighborhood.
He's probably never seen a river, but I'd assume that just goes to instict.
He'll innately understand that it's a river, and it's dangerous... but I'll still train him about it, and how to properly cross the river over the bridges like a civilized creature.
If he's fixed, he won't be on the prowl for mates.
And even if he still had the urge to mark his territory, it wouldn't be necessary, because there are few to no stray or feral cats downtown.
No dogs either.
I don't really know the wildlife profile of downtown, other than to say what I've never seen, which are squirrels... and what couldn't survive down there, such as coyotes.
Are there mice, rabbits, raccoons, or skunks?.. possibly?
I do actually think there are more deer down there than anybody realizes.
Deer hang out along the river, and every so often one gets spotted in a nearby neighborhood.
I saw a deer on Clark street, less than a mile away from downtown one night.
And when I used to commute along the river back from Elgin at night, I'd occasionally see deer walking right through the middle of smaller downtowns, like Geneva, or Saint Charles.
Even in Aurora, the streets do get pretty quiet down there at night.
So it's possible that some of the more woodland-type creatures wander through the streets in the wee hours.
But cats and dogs tend to hang out in the neighborhoods, where there's more green space, and more humans in houses.
Downtown is a business district, where few humans live.
During the day they're pounding the pavement, very busy to get things done, with little attention or food to spare for anybody but the birds.
At night, they're all gone... except for near the bars, or if there's an event at the Paramount.
I guess before I emancipate Prowly with a cellular device, we will both have to learn the rhythms of the Paramount, which is only a block away, and other nearby bars.
Because the Paramount does draw people downtown in big waves, and there is a little bar/restaurant at the base of the tower where a lot of them will come.
So at certain times of year, on certain days, and until certain times of night... it might be wiser for Prowly to stay up in the flat with me.
But again, through the process of daily & nightly walks over the course of a year or two, we'll figure that out together.
So, I guess the story I'm romantically daydreaming about tonight would be...
There's this old musician, who records albums up in the tower.
And he walks his cat around downtown.
And his cat's harness has a smart device, and a QR code, that allow it to operate independantly outside, but still come in when it wants to.
And the old musician does maintenance at the rich people's high school.
And everybody loves them both!
And everybody asks him, How did you put together this uniquely cool, yet eccentric life for yourself and Prowly?
And he always says it was the junebugs who did it!
He says he went to the junebugs for help, because they're scarab beetles... and gave him Prowly, and tried to get them into a normal life in a house, but the house was so cursed and haunted that it wasn't working out, so they had to get creative!
°¦}
