Planning and Emergency Interventions.

THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010


Planning and Emergency Interventions.

Not one to go back on promises I am spending a little time today thinking about yesterday. As little as possible.

Yesterday was a good day as days go. There was nothing too special about it except that it was. There was little planning for or about it.

I did many things I normally do every day including walking DakotaDawg. She was constantly in the moment while I was slipping in and out of the present. I made every effort trying to stay grounded. I did not find it quite as easy as DakotaDawg.

I even had to spend a little of that past planning for some of its future. DakotaDawg got her second walk a little prematurely because I was nervous it was going to rain yesterday afternoon. It did. It was not a real gully washer. It disappointed neither DakotaDawg nor the ants that it did not include any heavy rainfall. For DakotaDawg heavy rainfall usually means thunder or lightening. For the ants it means a flood.

After DakotaDawg’s early afternoon circuit I guessed there was still time to get something done. The renovation was one I had spent a lot of time thinking about in the past trying to organize how I would accomplish it, gathering and organizing tools and materials. It managed to start drizzling as I wrapped up the imperative part. It took more time planning to do the job than doing it. I removed some rotten wood and fully intended to paint what I had replaced. The rain kept me from fully completing my task. Maybe I will finalize it over the weekend when the wood has sufficiently dried to let the paint do its job properly. Planning may again take more time than the undertaking.

As I sit watching a women’s semi-final at Wimbledon I remember how one of the contestants has always been called an also ran. Previously, she had failed to be in the moment. She seemed to drift off when victory was within her grasp. I think she was planning instead of doing. She seemed to do that in the first set but managed to keep it together in the final two. Pammy Shriver, one of the match announcers said it was an “Extremely mature performance…” almost as if she or her old partner Martina were wielding the racquet. I am not too sure about that but the young woman did a fabulous job for someone that looks so much like a teenager even if she is 26.


It must be great to have so much of your life in front of you. I can’t lament the fact that I am in the last third of my life instead of the first. The first two thirds overall was pretty good. All things considered. I was never a Wimbledon finalist. I was quite good at fishing.

Since I am considering yesterday more today than the last two thirds of my life I will try to snap out of it. Plausibly, that may not be feasible.

Yesterday was pretty good, considering. I spent some time on the interwebs checking out what my imaginary friends were up to. I visited a couple of real friends. That was as great as they are. I drove around some. I looked for and applied for jobs. I visited my friendly clerk at the Post Office. I gave him all the contents of my Post Office Box since none of the mail in it was for me. The good news: there are no new bills.

Another interviewer just spent some time asking the now finalist questions. He made every effort to take her away from the joy she was experiencing in her moment. For someone so young she gave an “Extremely mature performance” during the interview too. She kept returning to what she was experiencing then instead of what she had or had not done in the past or what she might or might not have to do in the future. He kept trying to interrogate her about her planning for the Championship Match against an opponent still to be decided in the other semi-final match not yet played.


I think that would be a noble goal for me too. Maybe I should not try to contemplate too much what it was like yesterday being in the moment or trying to be. Or, to try to plan for things I don’t yet know what they might be. The rest of the day I will attempt to spend trying to keep my interviewer on task, experiencing today today.

Today, like yesterday, it is raining again. Rain means that the ground will get wet. I will have to wear my rain coat… wear a baseball hat to keep the drops off of my bifocals. Now I have something to talk about. Mom had that thing infects that almost all old people. She constantly talked about the weather. I was very poor and always broke back then. I tried not to call home collect. This was before the days of Friends and Family or free nites and weekends minutes. I at long last told Rosie that I called her to talk to her about what was going on, not so much with the weather and what it was or might be. I think she was a little hurt at first but she got the message. Most of our phone calls after that were far more interesting. I must remember that.

DakotaDawg is lying at my feet. I wonder if she knows that a thunder storm is on its way. She has an uncanny knack for being able to predict the weather… almost like when the ants start building up the hill around the front door to their nest. When someone wants to know if it is going to rain all that is required is to keep a close watch on an ant hill. If most of the ants are coming and going toting food then it will be a pretty day. If all of the ants seem to be coming from inside the nest dragging grains of sand and the ant hill is growing in size; it is going to rain soon. No computer or radar is needed. Just start watching the ant hills. The taller the hill, the more rain is coming. Grasshoppers don’t bother with this folly. They can hop to a higher perch so they are not washed away. This is planning by not doing anything but relying on what resources are readily available.


Planning is looking into the future, making provisions for it. Fish in my pond appear to do little of it. Instead they take advantage of every opportunity if and when there is one. They are ready to hide if the Great Blue Heron makes a visit as much as they are ready to eat if I go outside with the Kitty Kibbles. They don’t do much of anything else except swim around in circles. As far as I can tell they are ready for what ever happens, like the grasshopper.

Intervention is usually what happens when there is no plan or an inadequate one. Successful intervention can be nearly as satisfying as adequate planning provided the failure to plan does not lead to an inadequate intervention. Competent planning usually obviates the necessity for stressful intercessions. That is why it is called planning.

Of all the animals I have come in contact with in my life, the Big Gray Atticus is the best at looking for possible traumatic situations and finding a way to avert them. If the food bowl might get close to being one third full or less within the next day or two he will warn me of this impending disaster. It is one of the few times he will talk. He comes to get me. Like Lassie, he wants me to follow him into the kitchen. He walks back and forth in front of his bowl giving a diminutive mew to get me to dip out more kibbles. He gets very chatty.

The Purrfect Kitty, Cassie leaves food bowl supervision to Atticus. She never sweats the small stuff and the only thing she seems to plan for is how to get petted more. When DakotaDawg is guarding a doorway Cassie keeps backing into the room until she is successful. This usually takes several attempts before she clears the big brown roadblock. This is successful intervention without planning. Sometimes that requires more than one try.

The Not So Cute Little Orange Talking Kitty is always planning, scheming and intervening. He gauges when DakotaDawg may take up station in a doorway preventing his access to a warm lap or computer keyboard, his water or food bowl or worse the kitty box. He lets everyone know of this possibility including DakotaDawg. The House Humans make DakotaDawg move before she gets settled in.

I used to have a sign on my desk at the sign shop. It said: “Your lack of planning does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part.” It is good when others responsible for their own planning or intervention do. I am happier when I do not have to make an emergency intervention.


I am even happier when I don’t have to spend any time worrying if I need to do planning for emergencies. By the way, isn’t it hurricane season?


As DakotaDawg takes up station in the Kitty Control Area and I check my computer I can tell that we are going to have more rain today. I will make her get in her bed. I am prepared for a little pet planning but no interventions today. I am not planning on thinking about yesterday any more today. I am not planning on dealing with emergencies.


I am planning on a nap. These resources are readily available if I can get all the kitties off the couch.
© 07.01.2010 steven d philbrick SR+ DakotaDawg


POSTED BY SRPLUS AT 10:28 AM