Mid-semester

Next week is mid-semester break at both Earlham College and Broad Ripple High School, so I get almost two whole days off!I got the tent, sleeping bag, and ground mat that I ordered and have already played with them and set up the tent in the back yard, anticipating my solo hiking/camping trip at the end of the week. However, the weather report has gotten a little worse since I first planned the trip. I really don't want to chicken out but if it's pouring rain all day, I may need to rethink things. Right now the forecast says "showers" and a 40% chance. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.Yesterday, Stephan and I spent much of the day in Brown County State Park hiking and enjoying the fall leaves.The kittens continue to be adorable. Narvi has tried to make friends with Athena by dropping his favorite toy, a little chicken with feathers on its tail, in front of her. Both Narvi and Freya love to carry the chicken around in their mouths and growl at it. Athena growls and hisses at the kittens most of the time they get too close, but today she let them play with her tail for a little bit before she lost her patience, and yesterday they all slept in bed only about three feet away from each other. This is progress, I suppose.The kittens have discovered the floor-to-ceiling cat tree in the kitchen and have had great fun climbing it. Freya is better at this than Narvi. She could have a career as a telephone linecat. Narvi is a little slower and when he gets to the top, whines because he's afraid to come down. I've shown him a couple times how he can get onto the next lower platform, but last time apparently (Stephan witnessed this) he took a flying leap onto the couch instead.Athena is taking pepcid in liquid form which we're hoping will help make her stomach feel better and get over some of her eating problems. Her blood work all checks out fine, so really she's doing pretty well for a 17-year-old cat, but getting her to eat enough and keep it down can be a problem. She's been on the medicine for a few days now and it seems to be helping.Today I was lying on the bed reading "Sixty Days and Counting" by Kim Stanley Robinson, and all three cats helped me read. Athena was beside me, and at one point Freya and Narvi climbed inside my baggy fleece dress and positioned themselves around my waist, one little lump on each side. One of them was right up against Athena, and she pretended not to notice, though she had to realize that the little lump squirming under my dress was not part of me. Sometimes she chooses to ignore the kittens rather than get annoyed with them. When I first came upstairs, she was lying back to back with one kitten (I forget which). Being warm is, I suppose, a higher priority than being kitten-free.