Elmer seems to be settling in very well in his new home. After only 2 weeks, he enjoys walking the hallway with his new owner (M), keeping M company during the workday (M works from home), playing with toys, and even cuddling with M in bed. When he was young he used to cuddle with me sometimes in bed, but it's been a long time since he last did, and he looked more content in one of the recent photos M sent than we've seen him in ages. We're now wondering whether he is a territorial cat who didn't enjoy having other cats around once he reached adulthood. When we made the difficult decision to re-home him, it was primarily for the safety of other cats—both our own and any others he might live with, which is why we looked for a home where he would be an only cat—but we didn't think he actually minded having other cats around. We assumed he just didn't know how to socialize appropriately. But we're now wondering if he might honestly be happier in a home without other kitties to challenge his dominion. In my sea of emotion, I feel a couple grains of sand of jealousy and sadness that he seems happier with M than with us, but the entire rest of the emotional ocean is relief and happiness that he seems so content.

Mango does not seem to be reacting at all to his brother's sudden disappearance from his life. Megara followed me downstairs a couple days ago when I was doing laundry, which was the first time she'd gone downstairs in several months, out of fear of Elmer. She very gingerly explored downstairs a bit, but when she looked into Shannon's office she suddenly took off like a SHOT in a panicked race straight up the stairs. Mango was in there, so I can only assume she saw Mango from a distance and thought he was Elmer. Now that she has followed me down there, though, we're hoping she'll gradually begin to accept that the downstairs is safe for her, too.

Shannon and I got our latest COVID boosters on Tuesday evening, and I had my flu shot at the same time. We had initially wanted to get the vaccinations at Costco, which is where we usually do such things, but they are currently requiring a doctor's prescription for COVID vaccinations! Our state isn't supposed to be requiring prescriptions, so we were pretty offended that Costco is apparently bowing to the current regime's reign of terror. Luckily, Longs Drugs more appropriately gave us our shots without any questions or trouble. I've been very sick, just feeling like I had a bad case of the flu, but this evening I'm finally feeling better, which is a relief, since I'm leaving for my mini-vacation in Honolulu in about 36 hours! I'm still very tired and might go to bed early again, but I'm feeling enough better that I expect I'll be back to normal by morning.