If You Look Closely

You can see me in his eyes taking his picture.

I keep expecting to see him zoom around the house, feel him give me a head butt, hear his big purr, and smell his warm fur. 

My big Monkeypants Munchkin Moomifer.

Moomin's Last Photos

I lost Moomin today. I can't talk, so here are his last pictures. He was a very brave boy.

I'm going to miss him SO very much.

Damn Calls Scaring the Crapola Out of the Cat Herd

Every time the phone rings you'd think there was a major catastrophe occurring at my house that involves everyone with four feet and whiskers running amok through the house like their frickin' tails were on fire.

Just saying.

So I got home from work today and Moo seemed like he was regressing just a tiny bit, gave him his Lasix early, and decided to read until cat dinner which happens at 5pm or after because if they are fed ANY earlier, they wake my ass up accordingly and I really don't want lofting Doodle across the bedroom on my conscience.

Anyhoo, right about dinnertime Moo decided to go all testosterone on Doodle and I had a major cat fight, slash wrestling death match, slash guerrilla warfare, slash chunks of fur flying (and I do mean that literally) all over the house on my hands. I broke it up and followed the Moo into the dining room and his breathing was off the charts. 

I checked back with him a half hour later and it was still way up there - so I gave him two tabs of Lasix and will be checking him again at around 11pm. He may end up getting another two or one. Right now he's on the two tab track, looks like a repeat of Friday. That damn fluid around his heart can build up at the drop of a hat/blink of an eye and our weather certainly isn't helping. Ah well.

Also this weekend: I went to a book sale and got some book crack (yeah me) along with two tiny little foreign language dictionaries for my brother for his b'day (belated), got crank-called all Saturday night by some little girl who thought she was all that and a bag of chips (wait til her parents see the cell phone records), and weeded Sunday morning (three wheelbarrowsful of them) - was that a buggy adventure and a half: spiders, ants, earwigs, crickets, grasshoppers, grubs, something bright bright green and caterpillary/tomato hornwormy, worms, beetles, Japanese beetles, and some little white tiny flying things that tried their level best to end up in my mouth, up my nose, and in my lungs. But on the bright side with all my Pilates, the two hours of weeding did not result in my back hurting at all. YES!

So For the Moo

Friday was not a good day. Had to call Dr. H again. 

New plan: if Moo is breathing 50 breaths per minute I'm to give him 2 Lasix tabs. If he's breathing at 60 breaths per minute, three tabs is strongly recommended.

I was directed to give him two tabs at 8pm and then again at midnight and Saturday morning the difference was AMAZING. It was a shot in the arm. Moo's breathing hasn't been this "normal" easy and effortless since frickin' the beginning of June.

Of course I'm being cautiously optimistic. But I have a plan and Dr. H has been super, just super for self-confessed and obvious dog person.

Weekend

I'd like to be able to say this weekend is wonderful, full of fun and cool things, places to go, people to see, and all that jazz...

But no.

It's extremely nice not to have work hanging over my head now that I've figured out a system. While the system is fractured, it is working for the most part and leaves me with my weekends work-free, which was the goal.

I'm hovering over the Moo this weekend. Started this Friday, I thought something was a bit off about him but couldn't quite put my finger on it as he ate his breakfast, chomped the other cats, played a little, drank water, and peed. When I left work to go home, I felt the heat/humidity and said "ah hah". Got home and Moo was having trouble breathing. Dosed him early, dosed him again 4 hrs later, and he was still not good this morning so I gave him his usual 6:30am dose, dosed him again with half a pill at 10:30am, again with half a pill at 2:30pm, and at 3:30pm broke down and took Dr. H up on his "call me at home anytime" offer regarding Moo. I apologized for calling him, told him that it's not a crisis coz he's eating/bit Hobbes while I was on the phone/just peed before I called, listed what I had been doing med-wise, and that I am/was very worried because his breathing is not getting better. He said I wasn't being aggressive enough with the Lasix and this weekend's weather is not helping a bit. He told me the max and gave me a plan of action and said to call him early tomorrow morning if Moo's still not better as he will be in the office for a short while (!! wow, a committed Vet). I already see some improvement but I'm not crowing about it yet.

So, while it would be nice to be off gallivanting and funning, I would rather be at home taking care of a small furry cat-person that I love very much because there is this tiny tiny voice in the back of my head that is ticktocking Moo's time with me. Not saying sooner or later, just ticktocking. 

I'm listening because it's the same voice that told me my surgery was not going to be the open/shut in/out easypeasy procedure everyone kept telling me it was going to be. Granted it turned out well but I did have to have a second surgery that was long and complicated for a little ole gall bladder. And required an overnight.

So I'm spending quality time with my Moo and Doo and Hob.

Sam's SuperEasy Summer Salad

Super cold, super crisp, and super easy to make. What more can you ask for a summer dish?

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg of cherry tomatoes (I use the Santa Sweets, you can use yours from the garden if you have one)
• 2 cucumbers (med)
• 1 can of black olives
• 1/2 red pepper
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 1/2 orange pepper
• Rice noodles cooked how you like and however many you want and however fat you want them
• Dressing - I'm experimenting so you'll have to fill in the blank here for your preference

Chop up peppers to the size bites you like.

Chop up cukes into whatever bitesize you like.

Dump tomatoes and olives in bowl with pprs and cukes.

Mix with hands.

Add cooked rice noodles, mix with hands again.

Or if you are sensory-defensive, mix with kitchen implement of choice.

Add dressing to the amount to "just" cover the veggies. Add more if you are dressing fiend.

So far I've tried a Tuscany Italian Dressing, a FatFree Balsamic Vinaigrette, and a Vidalia Onion Dressing (actually mixed the last two together as well). I haven't found quite what I'm looking for but the Balsamic Vinaigrette is close. Just close. I'll know it when I taste it tho it may mean some more close but no cigars. Oh well, at least it makes my work lunches easy to make coz the big bowl lasts a almost a whole week.

FYI, if you want to double the salad, use the whole pprs and add another pkg of cherry tomatoes, two more cukes, and another can of olives and Viola - two big ass bowls of salad!

Bachelor Pad - I DO NOT Watch It

I was channel surfing before turning the TV off to go to bed to read, when I happened upon the new season of Bachelor Pad. I know nothing about the show, don't care to, and given what little I did see I have no desire to.

But I did indulge in some mindless curiosity and watched to see who arrived at the "mansion" - they were divided into past season contestants and Fans, self explanatory right? There was plenty of fakers thinking they were being "real", lots of tight dresses/cleavage on the women and those huge dumb-ass watches like shackles on the men, big talk about how they were there to find love but win the game (like that works), and catty snide remarks about past seasons and contestants. 

The only reason I'm posting is because one of the past season contestants made a truly brainless comment...

She commented in one of those little editing side-bars about a Fan. She said if the Fan's strategy is anything like the way she dresses, she's no competition/she's going home early/she's not winning. FYI, the Fan had on a little red dress that hit just above the knee, real brown hair, and minimal make-up.

I find that interesting coming from someone who resembles a pleather-covered LazyBoy with built-in massagers, air bag lips covered in bear grease, and fake blond hair with extensions.

Only Me or I Know What Everyone Is Going To Say

Moo needed to go to his bloodwork follow-up vet appointment this morning so I packed him up and took him out to the car to get my umbrella as I was going to walk him over, yes, I live that close to my vet.

When I got out my door, I noticed my garage door had stopped halfway up. I figured it was nothing too major (gdoor has had issues in the past) and brought Moo into the garage with me, threw away the cat scoop bags/recycled the cat food cans, and decided to pull the manual door cord so that I could open/shut the garage door and figure out what was wrong with it when I had time, like after Moo's appt.

I pulled the cord and......  SHEBAAAAANG!!!

I had absolutely no time to catch the garage door, it just slammed shut so fast with the biggest bang.

I went over to the door, which was now on manual, thinking "wow, that was exciting but no prob, I'll just open the door and be on my way" and apologizing to Moo for the scary-ass door.

I pulled, nothing happened, I pulled again, nothing, I then started doing the "pull-the-car-off-my-trapped-love-one" move, nothing, tried the Hulk, nothing, frenzied yanking and pulling, nothing, nada, zilch except for three little bitty inches.

Yep, I was trapped in my frickin' garage! At a quarter of 8 in the morning with a heart diseased cat who needed to get to his appt, I needed to go to work, and no one knew I was there.

I started pacing, swearing, and panicking. 

Yeah I know. Why didn't I just go out the other door? Coz there's only one way into my garage and it was currently only opening 3 frickin' inches.

Yeah I know. Why didn't I just get on my cell phone and call someone like my parents, neighbor, best friend, repair man? Coz I don't have a cell phone.

Blasphemy in today's tech age, I know!

So the whole time I'm pacing and panicking, I'm also periodically pulling on the damn door trying to figure out what to do as breaking the framed-in unopenable window is totally the last resort.

Oh, and apologizing profusely to poor Moo who was the absolute last cat to be in this position! I was praying real hard this didn't kill him.

I finally decided the damn door wasn't going anywhere, my garage is set way back away from the street so no one can see it unless they were right at the end of my driveway which wasn't happening and by the time an early morning runner ran by I'd have missed them and they'd probably be wearing earbuds anyway, my left-hand neighbors are elderly and hard of hearing, so I crossed my fingers hoping my right-hand neighbor was home and had her back sliding glass door open, and started screaming my neighbor's name at the top of my lungs at the 3in opening. Then I thought if she did hear me, she wouldn't know where it was coming from so I stood up, screamed her name repeatedly and banged on the gdoor windows. Don't ask me how long I was going to keep that up because I honestly DO NOT know.

I finally, it must have been about 5-6min, I saw her poke her head out the sliding glass door so I banged even harder and yelled "it's Sam and I'm trapped in my garage!!" She came over, still in her nighty, and was amazed. So calm too, she said she thought it was kids so she checked out her front door and didn't see anyone and because she kept hearing the screaming she kept trying to figure out where it was coming from. She said she and her b'friend also heard the gdoor crash-bang but didn't know where it came from so didn't think anything of it until she heard the screaming. She enlisted the assistance of her b'friend who asked me to turn a light on and look at the mechanics of the door while she called the vet for me and the PDQ Door guys.

I found one of the main springs had cracked but the door was still in it's track and there was nothing blocking the tracks so I could not find a reason why the door would only open 3 f'in inches. My neighbor came back and said the vet told me to come in whenever I was free (hah) and the PDQ guys weren't yet open but given the circumstances, they were sending a tech RIGHT over but it would be about 20 min.

My neighbor's b'friend is an architect and he'd gone off but came back with some wood and branches, fashioned a lever while discussing Archimedes, and with me and the neighbor pulling on the door and him manning the lever, we all managed to get the door unstuck from whatever it was, and I and Moo were free!

I rushed Moo to the vet, Dr. H pronounced him no worse for the wear, they took blood, and the PDQ guy was there when I got back talking to my neighbor.

After bundling Moo into the house, I came back out and my neighbor had just finished commenting that the PDQ guys must get calls like this every so often. PDQ Guy said "nope, this was the first human trapped in a garage for them!" Nice.

Only me. 

And PDQ guy was a hottie. Again nice and only me!

Gdoor is fixed, new springs/cables/etc and now works like a charm $200+ and a HI-larious story later.

Cattrio

Moomin Status 2.0

The new med seems to be doing it's job, it's an arterial/vein dilator. I'm going to be cautiously optimistic.

He managed to "crack" the '30s today for his resting respiratory rate - between 32-36. Ideally we want him between 20-30, but I'll take this for now. The new med was increased by 1/4 of a pill this evening - he had three days of 1/4 twice a day and now we have 5-7 days of half a pill twice a day and then some bloodwork to check the kidneys.

The ultrasound shows the back of his heart muscle has thickened so he has heart disease and of course the possibility for all it's attendant risks and side effects. Which we've been experiencing with a vengeance.

Right now, he's still intermittently "clumsy" with his back legs so Dr. H thinks there might be mini clots  cutting off bloodflow to them and this needs to be monitored. I'm thinking it has to go back to when I had to take him to the ER Clinic when he was walking/moving funny, maybe that clot has moved or broke up a little. I'm supposed to see if the clumsiness gets worse or more frequent. But it is the breathing that's key as the more stressed/faster the breathing, the more likely he will "throw a clot".

He's also eating with gusto again - up to a whole small can for bfast and one for dinner. Dr. H mentioned a lot of calories are spent pumping the heart and breathing so it's important to eat. I'm just thrilled he's doing so.

The other two cats are less then thrilled he's back to chomping hindparts. Yes, he's feeling that much better. Doodle is busily being pounced on and bitten every time he's awake.

He's still a very sick kitto, but it's nice to see him not struggling and again wanting to ride my shoulders so he can headbutt me.

Book Sale Signs Happy Story

So I roped Dad into helping me put out the annual library book sale signs - meaning I borrowed him and his pickup truck. He drove and I did all the sweaty manual labor of unloading/putting signs up. It worked great: I had the signs all organized in order in my driveway, when Dad arrived we loaded them up, and then off we went to make a big loop around town to put them out. 

We were down to our last four signs on the homeward stretch, when we were approached by a couple walking their baby (after they spoke to a guy on a motorcycle) who asked us if we'd seen a little dog running loose. Mind you, we were smack in the middle of town (between the industrial-like part and the village-y part) on a hugely busy road. We said we had not and drove off. 

We were right at one of our intersections where we needed to put up another sign and this dude with a German Shepherd on a leash with earbuds was running towards us. Trotting along next to him was a little dog not on a leash. We managed to get the guy's attention as I hopped out of the truck. 

The guy said "is he yours? He just came out of nowhere and started following us". I said he wasn't but there was a couple looking for him. 

While saying this, I got down low and put my hand out making reassuring kissing/good boy noises while the traffic piled up behind my dad. The little dog was of two minds about approaching me but he finally took the bait and I gently snagged him and got him in my arms. He wasn't happy so he wiggled around but I kept talking to him in a reassuring tone telling him we were going to take him to his family. 

We thanked the German Shepherd dude who continued on his manly way, I mean run.

I hopped in the truck, put the dog next to me and held onto his collar and Dad pulled a U-ie.

On our way back to the couple, we passed motorcycle guy and I waved to him while pointing to the dog next to me. Mguy had a big grin on his face and followed us.

As we got the couple in our sights, I started waving out the window and Dad blinked his lights.  We could see the hope just radiating off their faces. We pulled over and the dog KNEW his family!

The couple were so relieved and couldn't thank us enough. When they got him in their arms they immediately hooked his leash back on him and kissed him. The baby was oblivious (as it should be:). I told them he was running with a man and German Shepherd and they asked in astonishment "he was still following them?" So little doggie must of gotten away around the time the couple passed running dog/dude and it sounded like it was rather a distance for a small dogger.

Motorcycle guy was talking to the couple when we pulled around and we all exchanged big smiles, nods of appreciation/thanks, and waves. I told them to take care of him and off we went.

I needed a happy ending story.

Moomin Status

Had a set back last Saturday. Took him to the follow-up ultrasound which is 40min away. Not a happy camper on the way there, panted the entire time. Then tense and stressed during the wait and being sounded, feistier than the first one, and absolutely miserable but not panting on the way back. Resting respiratory rate was 60 breaths per minute and it's supposed to be for cats between 20-30 per minute. So very worried and called the emergency clinic who recommended an additional dosage of Lasix. Gave it and seemed more comfortable but still breathing fast Sunday.

Moo in his fashion forward Ugg boots.

Have been battling the resting respiratory rate all week. Dr. H said it's a dance right now and getting the breathing under control is key as is eating/drinking (which is happening thank goodness). Heart and lungs are working so hard right now that stress and heat/humidity is NOT good. Trying to keep the house cool, calm, and collected. 

New med started tonight, should dilate the arteries/veins and needs close monitoring as could have serious side effects. Was given Dr. H's home phone to call incase anything untoward should occur while new med gets into system. 

Been documenting everything - med times, amount of food, when see drinking/peeing/pooping, and when see something that looks off or is an improvement.

This is very hard.

Super Trooper Moomer and Cat In The Box

Here's Moo and his super hero bracelets.

As you can tell, he's completely "thrilled" with them. I know he's thrilled to be home tho!

And here he is with his buddy Doodle in a box during one of his "outings" into the dining room.

Moomin is Home

It's been a Rollercoaster of Emotional Hell since last Friday night.

Friday night: I finished mowing the lawn and came in to feed the kittos. Both Hobbes and Moomin didn't eat much, like they've done the past couple days. I've noticed they tend to "go off food a bit" when the weather changes to warmer temps so I didn't think anything of it other than to keep my eye on it.

But after my mower shower, I thought I saw Moomin breathing and acting funny, short staccato breaths and going off by himself which is totally not like his usual Mr. GregariousPants temperament. Finally around 9pm I took him to the emergency animal clinic after calling them. We only have two and both of them are 40-45 min away so I chose the one I felt I could get to with less travel-trouble. We showed up, they felt him up, said physically nothing they could feel/see so would need to do blood tests/X-rays and it could be a number of things including allergies stuffing up his nose. So I picked low level treatment to see what would happen - an appetite stimulant. 

Saturday morning he seemed better: dropped his usual toy at the bedroom door sometime in the night, ate about 1/3 of his breakfast, up and about, and while not 100% he seemed better. So I went grocery shopping. I came back and he wasn't better anymore. I called the emergency animal clinic, they said bring him in, I did, he got bloodwork and X-rays. The vet on duty said Moomin had "angry airways", very inflamed, which was making it hard for him to breathe, blood work normal, innards/organs except for lungs looked normal, so I went home with bronchio-dilator and steroid meds.

Sunday no real change, still not eating, I called the emergency clinic, they said could take up to 5 days for meds to take effect, and to watch for distressed breathing. Which in my mind was frickin' scary as 40 minutes in the car with a cat with distressed breathing is NOT cool (major understatement).

Monday no real change, still not eating, still having trouble breathing, I spent the night in the room he was in, cried a lot, I don't think either of us slept. 

Tuesday I called Moo's vet, got in, Dr. H was kind but he was not impressed with Moo's heart, called in a second vet to listen who agreed, Dr. H laid it out and it was NOT GOOD. I cried all morning. Dr. H got Moomin scheduled for a heart ultrasound (has a big medical word, I don't have the energy to find it), EKG, and blood pressure but it was in Portland - 40 minutes away. Moomin does not like traveling in the car so they put him in an oxygen tank and gave him Lasix to start drawing fluid away from his heart/lungs so that I could get him there. I called my mom in tears, she arranged to take the time off work to come with me to the Ultrasound Clinic, we picked him up a little after 11am, drove up, he got examined and diagnosed with common genetic heart disease - again huge word I don't have the energy to go find and type in. The doctor said respiratory issues and heart disease have similar/parallel symptoms so only an ultrasound can determine true issue and while the steroid didn't cause the heart disease, it certainly "highlighted" it. He said that it would take about 3 days for the steroid to get out of Moo's system and then he wanted another ultrasound of Moo's heart to get a more accurate picture of what's going on as the steroid enlarged the heart. I got directions to take him back to his vet for oxygen until the end of the day and was told I'd see improvement with new med regimen/steroid leaving by Friday, and the follow-up ultrasound would determine further treatment. I took him to the vet and came home more optimistic, managed a quick nap until they called me to come get him as he was up and about/feeling better/making a mess (ripping the plastic impromptu oxygen seal). Dr. H wanted me to check his breathing rate during the night, I did three times and the last time (about 7:30pm) he was down to about 44 which was close to Dr. H's 30-40 window.

Tuesday night: I picked Moo up to give him his 10pm medication and he screamed. Then walked around the house funny: like he was walking with a wide barrel between his legs and dragging his feet and his front legs/paws were all flopping and gaumy. And his breathing was not good. So not right and scary. I called the emergency animal clinic he went to over the weekend to find out if Lasix has side effects, they said  they couldn't really tell without seeing him and they were only open nights and while they could possibly stabilize him, they couldn't keep him and didn't have the techy machinery to do anything and they would fax his info to the other Clinic in Scarborough so I called them. The Clinic told me to bring him in because what I was describing could be a number of things, all scary, stroke/he threw a clot/side effects/neurological issues... I packed him up, he screamed again, I drove the 45 minutes trying very hard not to cry because it was dark and I had my glasses on and my night vision already sucks and the lines haven't been painted.

I got there, they were very kind, whisked him off, I heard screaming, the tech came out to tell me they put a catheter in, the vet came out after a long time and said she gave him a short term pain med which he responded to by relaxing and that she was very worried as he was not stable. They put him in oxygen but couldn't do any testing because he wasn't stable enough and the walking funny was worrisome. She said she was leaning towards Moomin throwing a clot or several of them, there is nothing to do once this happens other than wait and see if they go in a bad place (like the brain) or break down in a non-bad place. She asked me a bunch of questions about his day/diagnosis and told me I had a great memory coz I did not have any records/reports on my other than my notes. She asked me to have everyone fax her their stuff  to the Clinic Wed. I said goodbye to Moo. He tried purring for me.

Wednesday: I got home at a quarter to 3am. Went to bed but didn't sleep. Called out at work. Did little mindless projects around the house waiting for an update/call in. Took a nap. Went to the Clinic at 3pm, spoke with the vet who said Moo was doing better, I got to visit with him and he was walking around, let me pick him up, he scrubbed his head on my face, and looked better. The vet said she wanted to keep him another night to keep up the stabilization and run diagnostics during the day Thursday. I agreed. They gave me 15 more minutes with Moo. He was tired by the end of the visit. I kissed him and told him to be good.

Thursday: called for a check in before I  went to a training all day, I had arranged for my co-worker's cell phone to be called incase of issues but no calls, I got to the Clinic at 5:30pm and they said he was doing much better - had eaten, was walking, was completely weaned off the oxygen, they were able to get bloodwork done, and he was ready to go home. I got his two meds - Lasix and baby aspirin, detailed directions, and instructions to monitor his breathing because if it became labored/staccato that means fluid is building up again and he needs to be seen PRONTO. 

I have to call Dr. H/Moo's vet tomorrow morning to update them.

I need to arrange for a cardiologist to see Moo for follow-up and continuing treatment. 

I also have to make the ultrasound follow-up appt.
He's got 5-6 shaved spots on him. Two of them are on his legs so he looks like he got a bad lion-cut or he has superhero bracelets on. He's sleeping hard right now, when he's awake I'll get a pic of them.

Moo's home. That's what counts. He's home.

Moomifer is One Crazy After Dinner Cat

It's like dinner just revs the Moomer right up. He gets all wild-eyed, zoo-y, and FAST. He zooms through the house, jumping over what he sees, running into things he doesn't see, and scaring the general crap out of the other cats. 

Moo playing some after dinner TossNCatch!

Licking his dinnerfied chops.

Time for me to forage in the fridge so I can feed myself.

Cat Pee Portents Confirmed

So as I was scooping the cat boxes as I do every morning, I processed something from last night. 

I figured out what last weekend's two pee clumps meant and just as I figured it out... I scooped what was clearly two confirmation clumps. It was like someone was beside me saying - "yes exactly!"

Last weekends clumps were in the shape of a heart and for the other there is no better way to say it other than male genitalia. There, said it.

I believe the portents were saying someone I love is going to hurt me (dick reference). And so I processed the phone call this morning while scooping and as I did, I put the call and last weekend's cat pee clumps together because a male person I loved did hurt me last night. 

And just as I put the two together,  I scooped a clear L-shape and a heart - the exactly! from the cats.

They must think I'm so slow.

Last night I got two pieces of information (two seems to be a theme). The door is now closed, the hope that I'd been holding on to has been extinguished, rain suits my mood, and I'm wearing grey which is how I'm feeling. And will be feeling for some time to come.

Portents in Cat Pee Clumps

Signs, omens, portents, symbols, beacons, and guideposts are everywhere, especially if you are looking for them.

I just didn't think I'd necessarily find them in clumps of cat urine when I wasn't looking for any messages.

My kittos' pee is typically in just clumps that don't look like anything but lumps of clay. 

But this morning there were two that were in recognizable shapes. And I mean, no question, I scooped and there was no hesitation in thinking "oh, this one looks like this and that one looks like that".

I wonder if they mean anything?

If so, the Universe has a strange sense of humor in putting portents in my cats' pee...

Jam Packed Weekend

(I just want to spend a second to say - I DO NOT LIKE THE NEW BLOGGER SETUP! there.)

Here's what I did in order of activity:

Saturday morning I woke up early, way before the cats had started their furry vulturing for breakfast, got dressed, fed said furry vultures, and bundled myself in my car. And when I say bundled, I mean dressed for friggin' winter again. I zoomed over to one of the town churches' annual Giant Yard Sale held in their parking lot, 100+ tables. Lots to look at. All I managed to find were several bundles of free hangers for one of my clients, an old hardcover of one of my childhood books for 25 cents, and a triple cat pin for a buck. And luckily kept all my fingers from getting frostbitten. Brrrrrr! That wind was vicious!

Had been thinking about Mr. Bagel for 2 weeks so I drove over after the sale and got a pumpernickel bagel with a light schmear of Sundried Tomato/Garlic crm chz. HEAVEN! Got two extra pmprnckl bagels for the rest of the weekend... I needed major reinforcements for yard work!

After delicately woofing down my forbidden delight, I visited a furniture yard sale on the way back home and found to my great excitement, a big-ass wooden rocker! I have always wanted a rocking chair but they've been way too expensive and then I start thinking about where in the hell would I put it. For $20 bucks I most certainly could find a place for it. And it fit in my Fit like it was meant for me which it was. 

Got back home and immediately started working on the puzzle that is my postage stamp-sized living room. I moved three things out of the living room into the basement, moved the elliptical towards the front door so it no longer sticks out, the rocking chair is on the other side of the love seat, and when I want to sit in it I just pull it out into the middle of the room (which is now empty and my living room paradoxically looks bigger, hmmm) and rock to my heart's content. 

All the stuff moved to the basement reminded me of some rearranging down there I wanted to do, so I jigsawed down there for a while. Looks good at the bottom of my stairs now. If I ever get around to it, now I have room for the emergency food stash that my best friend J is trying to get me to put together.

Still had some time so I pulled up a bucketful of dandelions. I only got a day and a half before the second wave popped their little yellow heads up.

Made it on time to walk my parents' dogger, Rileypants, at noon. He was very happy to see me. We did our usual unpaved street which has mucho sniffs and messages and Riley had to leave so many messages in return he was peeing hot air by the halfway point so he had to drink from some of the moving water streamlets on the sides of the road and viola! the message machine was back in action! Back at the parental unit's home, he got to chew on sticks in the sun after I hosed him off, rolled around in the grass (have to remember to video him doing this, bring my digicamera next time!), ate his lunch, got his Kong, and off I went.

Home again, I showered, got warmly dressed, went out to find s'more supplies - I thought the Wal-Mart was going to have everything but they were OUT of everything so I had to back track to the local grocery - got everything finally, and off to a...

Bonfire, a HUGE bonfire, so damn big that you couldn't get within 3-4 feet of it or your eyebrows would singe off, your skin started to crackle, and anything metal on you could not be touched. We had dinner, drinks, and then s'mores! Later after bottle rocks going awry and shots (not me), there were strong indications of some mud-wrestling (the ground around the fire was very mushy/soggy) and I decided to leave at that point as Slambo don't play that.

Woke up Sunday morning to a full day of yard work - planted a buttload of white (so he says) irises that my neighbor gave me, moved a walkway, moved my birdbath, raked the remains of leaves/pine needles, pulled up maple seedlings (strong little f'ers!), pulled up dead stems (my back started hurting so I used the Pilates  Elephant and no more back pain, even today!) from a huge spread that grows about a foot in diameter every year and makes bright yellow flowers, and trimmed the dead stuff off all my roses.

Inside at 3:36pm, checked my messages, had one from Dad saying he was on board for a movie and coming over at 3:45pm to get me. I took the fastest shower I have EVER taken, dried, only moisturized a third, wet hair up in clips, and was 2/3s dressed when Dad called to say he was on his way. 

We saw Safe. Love me some Jason Statham. Yum.

Home for dinner, cats fed, and bedtime reading until the book hit me in the face which at that point was literally lights out for all of us.

This morning I saw a mourning dove sitting on the newly moved bird bath all fluffed up and resting with it's tail feathers in the water. Too cute!

D Day or Dandies, Dead Animals, and Doctor's Appt Day

Driving around for work today, almost every street had a dead animal on it. Someone zigged when they should have zagged and ended up losing the game of life. Zero points. All done. Hope the drivers were suitably upset they hit an animal, but that's being optimistic as I know drivers who try to hit them on purpose or don't friggin' care. Years ago I cried for two hours after I unavoidably hit a squirrel... it dithered itself under my tires when I'd already completed an animal avoidance swerve and would have missed him if he hadn't suddenly changed his little mind.

Dermatologist appointment today. I had two areas of concern on my face looked at. Turns out it was Telangliectasia, otherwise known as spider veins. They can appear on the face in prepubescence and go away or appear during pregnancy and again go away after awhile. Obviously mine was neither as I had the one under my eye since college and it's been slowly increasing in size and the one on my nose just showed up three years ago and I mistakenly thought it was a zit gone horribly horribly wrong. So she ended up zapping them right in the office - what a snappy electric zip of a pain. The one on my nose only got one zap but the one under my eye got about 5. She said to give it a month and if the "legs" of the spider under my eye aren't entirely gone, she can do a touch up. Apparently the middle "feeds" the "legs" and she thinks since she multi-zapped the middle I should be fine but if not, to come on back in. I was worried I had something bad, nice to know it's benign and easily taken care of.

Dandelion cleaning happened after I got home from the doctor's. I like to root out the spring dandies as it's less work and less unsightly for the rest of the spring and summer. Got a wheelbarrowful of them. All done until the next phase raises their little yellow heads...

The Other Side of the Road X 3

I was in meetings all day today. Directly after the first meeting:

1) a squirrel crossed the road to get to the other side. He was very far ahead and super quick so I didn't have to do anything but make sure he didn't suddenly change his mind and dash back, which he didn't.

2) I looked to my left and saw a turkey booking it in the field with definite plans to cross the road to get to the other side. I estimated it's right-angled trajectory to my trajectory would allow it to meet me head-on so I braked a bit. The turkey decided last minute to loft itself and fly over the road but it's good I slowed down as it wasn't too high off the ground.

3) I was heading down a steep curved hill with the river/railings on my right and a jack-ass on my ass when a groundhog decided to zoom out of the railings to get to the other side and this time I had to slam on the brakes, swerve a bit, and heave a big sign when I didn't hit him and the jack-ass didn't hit me.

Things happen in threes. I didn't see hide or hair or fur of another critter trying to cross the road to get to the other side.

Whew. I couldn't take anymore!