lisaviolet's diary

Monday, March 15, 2010

catstuff
09:33 AM - 03/15/2010
The topic: So, last night
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I keep looking out the little side window and shining the flashlight on the food. I can’t help myself. I have to see if any critter has been here to eat.

The second time I opened the window, I heard something hit the gate. Hmmm.

I unlocked the door and went outside to see what it might be. I shined the flashlight under the vehicles. I shined it next to the dumpster. Then I shined it out into the street.

Frakkin’ raccoon. It ran into the yard in one of the houses across the street. It wasn’t even late, before daylight savings, it would have only been about six thirty. No wonder Meeze was going into hiding early. And now I’m 85% sure that’s what got Gilly.

On a more pleasant note, Kitty came out for breakfast this morning. Earliest he’s been out since the middle of last week. It was nice to see him and nice to see him eating.

I guess we’ll start pulling up the food again at night. Like we did before when the raccoons started crapping in the fountain. Nasty, that was so nasty.

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

catstuff
11:28 AM - 03/14/2010
The topic: Thoughts on the outfronts
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I haven’t seen Gilligan since Wednesday.

I was able to get a better look at him that day. And it looked like something had munched his face. Or had tried to. That’s the only way I can describe it. This went beyond a simple URI. And it came on too quickly for me to think “cancer”. I think back to Pepper and what happened with her. Just too quick.

The last time I saw him, it was out front of our house. I went outside to bring food and Sagwa slipped out the door. He ran over to where Gilly was crouched, Gilly ran (walked) off and Sagwa realized he wasn’t where he thought he should be, ran back to the front door and cried to get in. (He’s done this one more time, since, I don’t like this. We’ll have to be really careful until he gets over it.)

Then there’s KittyMeeze. He’s sticking around, but he’s not feeling well. He came for breakfast yesterday morning, ate half a can of Friskies. I watched him walk. He’s limping. Didn’t eat anything else the rest of the day. He didn’t come for dinner. He spent the day on the bank. And right at sunset, he went invisible. Crawled under the juniper or the Bird of Paradise. And as far as I can tell he didn’t come out all night.

He finally came out about an hour ago. Came down for water. I hadn’t put soft food out, as soon as I saw him I got some fixed, added water and heated it up, but by the time I was outside with it, he was back on the bank. And then, he went invisible again.

I wonder if he’s up there alone or if Gilly is with him under the bushes. I don’t dare go search because that will for sure scare any cat under there away. I don’t want to do that. KittyMeeze has always been very protective of a friend cat who was injured or ill. All the times Kitty went missing and we’d eventually see him down at the corner house, because that’s where Gilligan stayed.

I wonder what happened to Gilly. I thought at first maybe it was a dog. Assholes around here let their dogs run at night. I don’t think it was a coyote, a coyote wouldn’t let the cat walk away. Dogs just maim and kill. Coyotes want food. Then I started thinking maybe it was a raccoon. I’ve posted before of the raccoons that come to eat and drink at night. Maybe it was a raccoon. They can be mean sons of bitches. I think they ate Little Bit’s first litter.

I’ll never know for sure.

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

catstuff
05:09 PM - 03/09/2010
The topic: I haz a sad…
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Gilly hasn’t been around much. He’s here now. He looks awful. I don’t know if it’s a really bad URI or something even worse.

I can’t do anything about it. That’s what really sucks. I can talk to him through the door, but if I go outside, he runs off. He won’t go into a trap.

I mixed some A/D with water and l-lysine powder and took it outside. The food from this morning had blood in it. *sigh* I pulled that up and put down the A/D. When I went out, Gilly ran to in front of the house. KittyMeeze came in and ate some of the fresh food.

Ten minutes later I looked out and Gilly was back. This time on the outside of the gate. He’s in the meatloaf position. I called Brian and told him to let me know when he’s close to home and I’ll unlock the gate and he can come in via the side of the house and not bother Gilligan.

This is one of the worst parts of taking care of ferals.

Not being able to do anything.

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Monday, March 08, 2010

otherstuff
01:10 PM - 03/08/2010
The topic: You know in the movie
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“The Princess Bride” where Wesley has taken the pill to bring him out of mostly dead status and he’s still pretty weak? Where Inigo Montoya (“my name is Inigo Montoya; you killed my father; prepare to die”) and the giant are carrying him? Because Wesley’s legs can’t hold him? And how he can’t lift his head?

That’s how my head feels. My neck can’t hold it up for very long because it hurts.

Sometimes it feels like it’s getting better (like when I first get up in the morning), then it feels lots worse.

Somebody really needs to come fish for me and read to me. *lol*

Maybe I’ll set up the laptop next to the sofa and just reach out and fish there. And figure something out with my book. Damn thing is so heavy.

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otherstuff
08:36 AM - 03/08/2010
The topic: Seatbelts save lives…
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Person killed in crash on Wildcat Canyon Road near Lakeside
By Debbi Baker, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 5:42 p.m.

EAST COUNTY — A passenger in a minivan was killed Sunday afternoon in a crash north of Lakeside on Wildcat Canyon Road.

The wreck, which involved a 2004 Ford F-150 and a 1994 Plymouth Voyager, was reported about 12:30 p.m. just south of Muth Valley Road not far from the Barona Casino, officials with the California Highway Patrol said.

Witnesses said the Ford’s driver was speeding on the wet road about 12:20 p.m. when he lost control, veered into oncoming traffic and collided head on with the Plymouth, the CHP said.

The Ford’s driver and his son, who were wearing their seat belts, were not hurt. The driver of the minivan was taken to the hospital to be treated for moderate injuries. Her passenger, 62, died, the CHP said. Officers believe the passenger, whose identity was not made public, was not wearing a seat belt.

Wildcat Canyon Road was closed in both directions as officers investigated the crash and cleared the road.

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Sunday, March 07, 2010

otherstuff
06:14 PM - 03/07/2010
The topic: I’m beat
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We went car shopping today. Not really shopping, more like looking at what was available. I’m beat. We went to two dealerships, a Lincoln/Mercury dealership and a Ford dealership.

The Mariners are nice, but the white stitching on the black leather seats had me looking for a black Sharpie. Seriously. I was impressed with the audio system. The back seat passenger seat was much smooshier (and more comfy, in my opinion) than the front seats. And the back of the driver’s seat, when I put my body back, my head was pushed forward. Does that make any sense? I don’t think it was designed for short people. I really did like the audio system, six CD capability as well as a jack for an MP3 player.

Brian had already looked at the new Escapes and wasn’t happy with the leather that it came with. But since the leather in the Mariner wasn’t all that much to write home about, he figured maybe we could go look at Escapes and I could give my opinion on those.

We stopped at a Ford dealership on the way home and I liked the Escapes. The salesman tried to steer us over to the Edge. We have no idea why, we weren’t shopping for just any car, we were looking at Escapes. But no harm in looking. Gotta say I didn’t really care for it. My first thought was “geez, it’s short” when I was in the driver’s seat and looked at the headroom. Brian’s hat was hitting the roof on the passenger’s side. And I flashed on rolling over. Nope. I want more headroom. Besides, I think the car was ugly. Not very stylish. Brian said later ‘it’s trendy’. I’ve never considered myself trendy. I want a car that has classic styling, not trendy.

So, we came home and we’ll most likely be going with a new Escape.

Now, just how to pay for it. There’s supposed to be discussion with the insurance next week. Brian will take care of that.

But for the couple of hours we were out walking around, I can’t believe how bad I feel. By the time we got to the car after looking at the Escapes (I had to sit down inside the showroom while the salesman went to look for brochures) I could barely hold my head up my neck was hurting so much.

I fell asleep on the sofa last night for a couple of hours, watched the last hour and a half of Mean Girls, then went to bed and slept until after seven this morning. This is unheard of. I rarely sleep past seven.

I’m hating this. I hate being achy. I miss my little car, too. I was sad looking at the new ones. Very sad.

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