lisaviolet's diary

Sunday, February 28, 2010

otherstuff
07:09 PM - 02/28/2010

The topic: Short trip to Disneyland…
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I pulled out of the driveway this afternoon. The time on the clock was 1:08. At 1:27, less than twenty minutes after I left the house, I called home. Brian answered. I said, repeatedly, “the car is totalled”.

By this time I was obviously out of the car. There were three or four CHPs around. They were taking statements from me and the guy who caused this to happen. I was shaking like a leaf.

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You can see the skidmarks on the road. I can’t thank God enough that there was little traffic this afternoon and the freeway wasn’t busy at all.

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You can see from the skidmarks that my car was going sideways when it hit the side of the road. Then I went for a couple of rollovers. Very interesting, rollovers. Both front passenger windows were blown out. Brian said both tires on the passenger side popped loose on the rim. It landed with the driver’s side up. All the side airbags deployed, the steering wheel airbag did not. My head was never near the front of the car. I remember reaching to turn the key in the ignition when I realized the car was still running. I think the CD player might have been working, too. It was a stretch, but I turned the key. I couldn’t get it out. I couldn’t get the seatbelt undone. I was yelling “hey! hey! Help! Get me out of here!” and I remember reaching up with my hand and waving it. A man came down and was yelling “are you okay? are you okay!” and I said “yes, get me out of here!”

He said “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you”. I wasn’t really paying all that much attention to what he was saying at that point, I was hanging from the seat by my seatbelt. He had to climb on top of the car and reach in and unbuckle me, then I had to maneuver out the driver’s side window. I was actually a little worried about stepping on the seats. But when I got out of the car and on land, I didn’t have any glass or anything on me. I seemed to be unscathed. Shaken, but in one piece.

When the police were asking me what happened, I told them that I was just driving and I noticed the truck in the lane to my left (the fast lane) pulling into my lane. I turned the wheel to the right and I guess I went just a little too hard because I lost control of the car. The CHP officer asked me if the other driver turned on his signal. I told him I didn’t know, I couldn’t see it. He said “oh, he was right next to you?” and I said “yes”. I was in his blind spot (a good reason to not rely 100% on mirrors). He asked me how fast I was going and I said “I had it on cruise control, 68 MPH”. (Three miles over the speed limit.)

The police had taken both of our statements and the driver of the truck left after giving his insurance information to the CHP. Then Brian showed up and he surveyed the damage. The tow truck showed up and it took a couple of hours to get the car out. Brian had emptied it of everything and that was in his truck.

Sadly, the donuts that we got for Jolene ended up inedible. Brian just tossed them for the animals.

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You can see the turned up dirt in this picture, where the car was in a sideways roll. I know I went over a couple of times, but I have no idea how I ended up facing the opposite direction.

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I also took out some of the U.S. Navy’s fence.

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I’m lucky. I know that. This ain’t the purtiest picture I’ve ever taken, but it’s one of the best. Because I’m alive!

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Brian’s looking up stuff on new cars now. He’s bummed because of the value of my car. It was low mileage and it excellent condition, yet it’s not worth much on blue book, I guess. It’s totalled, we need to get a new car.

I told him to not get real upset just yet, not until we’ve spoken to the insurance company. After all, the other driver was also insured and he’s the one who caused the accident.

I just thank God I’m okay. I thank God it was a light traffic day. This could have turned out so much worse than it did.

I’m alive. I’m starting to get sore, though. And tomorrow I’ll be visiting the chiropractor. But I’m pretty sure there’s no extra damage done. Not 100% sure, but pretty sure.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

catstuff
08:41 AM - 02/25/2010

The topic: So, I’m sitting at my computer the other night
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And Spot jumps up on the desk. I give him a few chin scratches and he goes over to Brian’s side of the desk and pees on Brian’s computer. Right in front of me. I yelled at him, told him to get down and cleaned the mess up.

Last night, I was in the bathroom (weak bladder, when we’re at Disney in a group, the tease me about calling the restroom “the Dianne ride”) and he came in and sprayed the cupboard doors. Right in front of me. And guess what?

The urine wasn’t yellow, the urine was pink. *sigh* He has a bladder infection.

I showed Brian the papertowels I used to clean it up. This isn’t a good time since I’ll be gone for a few days. Poor Brian will be stuck pilling him. I tested him this morning with a pill pocket and he ate the pill down. Good.

Later that night, I picked up the crock with water, since it was dirty (there are a couple of cats who put their paws in the water, don’t ask me why). It needed to be washed. Anyway, next to that was a spray mark on the side of the tub and bright red urine on the floor.

Probably Spot. At least he has a strong flow, that’s good, he’s not in danger of blocking. He should be feeling a little better by the time I leave, the antibiotics usually take three days before there’s any improvement.

I was wondering why he was fighting with the other cats. That’s just not like him. Now, I know.

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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

catstuff
11:00 AM - 02/23/2010

The topic: I try so hard to get rid of the smell
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I even have a stack of those white shop towels I use for cleaning the floors and counters where the cats have peed. I use a couple every day or so, more if the situation calls for it. I use Nature’s Miracle. I keep on top of the litterboxes.

Yet, sometimes when we walk into the house, the smell is overpowering (to me, anyway) and I just get so discouraged.

Yesterday I cleaned. Washed the sofa and futon covers and the towels I have draped over the front of the armrests. I cleaned the floors of urine, pulled out the cedar chest and washed under that (seems I’m doing that a couple of times a day now, since I realized that the pee was going under it). I thought I’d done a good job.

We went to dinner with Brian’s family last night and when we got home and walked into the house, I almost wanted to cry. It smelled. All the work I’d done and it smelled. I walked into the laundry room and it hit my like a ton of bricks.

You know those white shop towels I use for cleaning the cat urine? When I’m done with them, I put them in a laundry basket in the laundry room. And sometimes, they’re still damp.

Guess where the smell was coming from? Yep. My cleaning towels. Damn. I just don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m not going to wash them until I’ve got enough to make it worth running the washing machine. I’m thinking about a different storage idea. I put them in the wash last night (there were only about eight of them). Before we went on our walk this morning, I put those clean towels in the dryer and put the micro-fiber wash towels in the washer and got those started.

And when we walked in the door from our walk? No smell. None.

*sigh*

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Monday, February 22, 2010

otherstuff
12:56 PM - 02/22/2010

The topic: Turtle update
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Animal control called from the house and asked where was the animal and I told her. I explained the situation, talked about how dirty the water was. She wasn’t sure if she could just take it at this point or they’d have to contact the owner.

A little while later, she called me again and here’s the situation. The people who moved out are having the people next door take care of it until the people who moved out move into their new home (they’re buying a home). With all of the rain we’ve been getting, that’s put them behind. But the new place has a pond where the turtle will live, instead of in an aquarium. The turtle should be gone by the end of the weekend.

The AC officer told me to feel free to call next week if the turtle is still there. She expressed her concern over the condition of the water to the woman who is feeding the turtle, pretty much telling her that that amount of algae doesn’t happen in a short period of time.

So, we’ll see what happens next week.

I’m happy the turtle might have a new home, but I loathe his living conditions right now.

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