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      Sunday, January 01, 2006

otherstuff 11:32 AM - 01/01/2006 The topic: Well, darn ---------------------------------------------- I just spent the past ten or so waking hours trying to get WordPress to look the way I wanted it to. I'd get close, but just can't get it. So, I'm gonna delete that one and try another software. This one looks pretty nice and I can use smilies! *lol* I'm such a child. | Permalink

      Saturday, January 07, 2006

otherstuff 04:42 PM - 01/07/2006 The topic: If my washing machine were alive ---------------------------------------------- I’d kill it.  I swear to God, I’d put a serious hurt on it. I only got four hours of sleep last night obsessing over the POS.  I did a light load yesterday morning, followed by a heavier load of darks.  And they still weren’t done this morning.  Because that POS washing machine kept giving me the fricking “SUD” message.  I put those pretty damp clothes in the drier and all day today I’ve been running an empty washing machine, trying to get rid of the suds.  And they just keep showing up.  It’s almost as if there’s a suds maker in the bottom of the damned thing.  I’m dreading laundry piling up.  I almost slugged Brian this morning when I realized he was getting clean towels out of the linen closet. That meant he’d dumped the other ones in the laundry basket in the laundry room.  This is so very irritating. | Permalink

catstuff 05:23 PM - 01/07/2006 The topic: DeeJay’s crashing ---------------------------------------------- He’s gotten worse since I found out about Annie’s problems.  I did cut back on his fluids, thinking maybe it was a mistake to give them so often, but I’m thinking now that wasn’t such a good idea.  I’ve upped them again. On top of that, he has another bladder infection and a cold.  So, that could be what’s making him feel puny, too.  Everytime he crashes, he comes back a little less strong.  I gave serious thought to his end today.  I tell myself it’s time, then he does something like follow me into the bathroom and screams to be fed.  Like he did earlier this afternoon. *sigh* | Permalink

      Sunday, January 08, 2006

catstuff 09:05 AM - 01/08/2006 The topic: Fluids are a wonderful thing ---------------------------------------------- DeeJay hadn’t pooped in two days and this morning, he finally went.  Little dry turds, even though he’s been eating mostly wet food.  And he’s acting better, much more alert than the past few days.  I was actually thrilled this morning when he was hanging out in the kitchen, wanting more food. He’s been peeing right inside the door of the master bathroom and it’s looking almost normal.  Hardly any pinkish tinge to it at all. | Permalink

catstuff 09:30 AM - 01/08/2006 The topic: A cry for help ---------------------------------------------- Brian called me from the bathroom yesterday morning. Usually this is to remove a cat from his back without injury. Sometimes, when he’s sitting down, a kitty-cat decides this is the perfect time for a little human interaction. I’ve often wished I could take a picture during these episodes, but it would be too embarrassing. Well, yesterday I got a chance. Good thing he was fully dressed, that could have been mighty uncomfortable with all those kitties on his lap. Sammy, Opie and Richie (brothers) cuddled up together on his lap for some daddy attention. ------------------------------------- Be sure to check out today's Carnival of the Cats hosted at Pages Turned. | Permalink

      Monday, January 09, 2006

catstuff 10:05 AM - 01/09/2006 The topic: Annie goes in for retest today ---------------------------------------------- Poor little girl.  She’s still not eating much.  I know he wants me to give her the kidney diet, but if she doesn’t eat, she’ll die for sure.  So, I’m going to pick up some other little cans of cat food today.  I think it’s Nutro who makes the veal pate and I don’t think I’ve ever met a cat who doesn’t like that, not a well cat, anyway. She nibbled on some Fancy Feast tuna this morning, actually wanted more a little later.  I had to move the water bowl from it’s position next to her this morning, because when I gave her her morning meds, the right side of her face and head was soaking wet.  She liked to rest her head on the edge of the bowl. I also got rid of the bowls of dry food up here because Wally was just driving me nuts.  (Always up here looking for food.  Wally has become a real tub.  Brian doesn’t agree and last night I was holding Wally and asked Brian to find Wally’s ribs for me.  He declined.)  I honestly think the fewer cats up here hanging around will be less stressful for Annie (and me).  So, think a good thought that the meds and fluids are working for her.   She is sleeping a lot more than she had been before I took her in, so that’s a good thing.  She purred for me this morning when I rubbed her face.  That’s always nice to hear. | Permalink

otherstuff 10:16 AM - 01/09/2006 The topic: Damn washer. Damn, damn washer. ---------------------------------------------- All day Saturday I ran empty loads.  All day.  I let it rest Saturday night, with clean cold water in it.  I ran it yesterday morning, four or five empty loads with no SUD message.  I thought to myself “woohoo!  I can do laundry” and I put in what needed to be done most,  a load of jeans. Guess what?  Two hours later, I was still having problems.  I put a fairly wet load of jeans into the dryer and let the SOB, POS washer do some more resting.  This morning, I let it rest with quite a bit of vinegar (thanks for the input on that, Brian had mentioned it last week, too, so I thought about it and figured it couldn’t make things worse).  It was something to hear all of the bubbles breaking on the inside.  I let it rest with the vinegar for about an hour, then drained it.  Went smoothly. When I spoke with the repairman a couple of weeks ago, he said to run some loads without detergent.  So, this morning, after the vinegar water had drained out, I figured I’d run a load of sheets that I’d washed a couple of weeks ago, had just never gotten around to putting them away.  (That’s one of the problems with having a room that doesn’t get regular use, it’s too easy to just pile stuff in it.)  Well, yesterday I straightened out said room and put all of the laundry that I’d not folded on the bed.  And didn’t get to it right away.  One of the cats did, though. The sheets were the only thing hit and I took them back to the laundry room.  And this morning, I put them into the washer.  And right now? There’s a SUD warning on the control panel. Thursday can’t get here too soon, as far as I’m concerned.  I’ve become so obsessed with that damned machine, that it’s affecting my mental well-being.  Sad, but true.  It’s in the back of my mind almost constantly.  Saturday, I was supposed to have mailed out brochures to one of Brian’s customers.  He asked me this morning if I did.  (No.)  He said he’d just have to take them over himself.   I apologized and told him it was the washer, I just wasn’t thinking right.  He agreed, said I’d been out of it for the past couple of weeks. Right now, it’s very hard for me to remember how much I liked this machine for so many years.  I’m already thinking about what I’ll have to do before the repairman gets here.  I’ll move all of the laundry baskets out onto the patio (hopefully out of view of the patiocam), as well as the table and all of it’s contents, the litterbox, trash can and litter locker.  Then I have to clean the floor.  The cats pee against the laundry baskets and even though I try to keep on top of it, sometimes it can be pretty bad, depending on the number of cats who feel like spraying. And when they call on Wednesday to confirm the appointment, I’m going to stress that I want it fixed Thursday, I don’t want to have to wait a couple of more weeks for a part to come in.  And I want the control panel tested, too.  I’m thinking there might be a problem there, too, since the damned thing just shut off in the middle of a cycle a couple of times this past weekend. I’m armed.  I’ve had a lot of time to think about this.   Too much time.  My mom said this morning that this is probably what they do with warranty people.  If I’d been paying for the call, then they probably would have been out sooner.  Well, screw that, I did pay for the call when I paid for the five year warranty.  Gonna go check to see if the sheets are still setting on SUD. (POS) | Permalink

catstuff 02:02 PM - 01/09/2006 The topic: Annie has lost 12 ounces ---------------------------------------------- Crap.  Crap, crap, crap, crap.   I know she needs fluids, today is one of her twice weekly days.  But she’s just not eating.  Her eyes look okay, she just doesn’t want to eat.  I hope her tests don’t show a major deteriorization.  I hope we can get her through this. Later today I’m going to the petstore and get a supply of yummy cat food. She showed interest in the beef baby food, but that was in.  She kind of licked at it and then turned her head, letting me know she was done. Of course, it doesn’t help that DeeJay does his Handsome imitation and is all over me and the spoon and the jar.   He’s eaten more than a jar of baby food today, not that I have a problem with it, he needs food, too.  But he pushes her out of the way.  I’m seriously thinking about setting her up in the bathroom so she can have a little piece.  Maybe I’ll do that now.  And I’ll be able to gauge how much she’s eating, if she’s eating at all.   | Permalink

catstuff 06:16 PM - 01/09/2006 The topic: The vet just called ---------------------------------------------- About Annie’s test results.  He said the good thing is she isn’t getting worse.  All but of her numbers was a little better, her RBC was much better, which means the anemia is resolving.  And her thyroid was doing quite a bit better, too. He said that I’m doing all for her that can be done.  She is going to start getting fluids every other day, to help her keep her kidneys flushed. He asked about the balance problem and it’s pretty much gone.  He was concerned about the weight loss, but said it’s possible she had to get worse before her body would start healing.  (This afternoon, I hit Petco and bought some Nutro Complete Care food packets and a few cans of the Nutro veal pate, to help perk her appetite a bit.)  I told him that she has been sleeping more every day (today, she slept a lot) and I think that maybe this is also helping to unstress her body. I also set up the bathroom for her.  She didn’t much care for it at first (I’m not keeping her in there…yet), but I think she’ll come to appreciate having a nice quiet place to eat in peace.  When she was finished, I let DeeJay go in there and he ate some of the food and then went into the carrier, where he laid down and is sleeping right now. I thought about him this morning and I told Brian today that if Annie was so sick, or if she doesn’t get better (the vet said tonight that she’s held together with bailing wire and string) and we have to put her to sleep, that we’ll do DeeJay at the same time (if he’s not gone already).  I told this to the vet when he called and I said “they came into the world together, they can leave together”.   The past few weeks DeeJay has been spending the majority of his time in here with Annie.  (I’m watching her sleep right now and she looks so peaceful.)  Anyway, that’s the good news.   | Permalink

otherstuff 06:44 PM - 01/09/2006 The topic: That load of sheets ---------------------------------------------- The load of sheets I put in this morning finally finished at 4:41 this afternoon.   I had let the machine rest when I went to the petstore (then to a little health food store for green onions for the potato soup I’ll be making tomorrow).  So, the suds had time to break down.  The load finished without a problem.  No SUD message, no F 02 message.  Just a well spun, finished load of laundry.  So, I put in the towels that Brian took out of his bathroom Saturday.  Once again, I didn’t use any detergent.  This load went off without a hitch.  The first load I did today took almost eight hours, the second took under an hour.  Promising. So, I just put in a load of whites, with the specially formulated HE Tide detergent (they also carry it at Costco, which is nice and cost efficient).  It will be interesting to see what happens now.  Even if it works the way it should, I’m not going to cancel the appointment.  This shouldn’t have happened. | Permalink

      Tuesday, January 10, 2006

otherstuff 01:34 AM - 01/10/2006 The topic: Testing the time stamp ---------------------------------------------- Something has gone wacky with my host’s time stamp.  So, I’m testing the difference in the time I post this and the time that shows. It’s 7:12 PM January 9th right now (and so far, the laundry hasn’t stopped). | Permalink

catstuff 08:04 AM - 01/10/2006 The topic: Well, well… ---------------------------------------------- DeeJay is still in the bathroom.  He really likes it in there.  And, much to our amazement, he’s using the litterbox in the bathroom.  I don’t know the last time he used a littlerbox. Anyway, Annie wasn’t real keen on eating this morning, she did eat a couple of bites of soft food.  After Brian left for work, I came back here to the office and found a good sized hairball in front of my computer.  I think it was from Annie.  The color was too dark for Mystie or Ciara and it had no red it it, so it most likely wasn’t Lisa’s.  The color was perfect for something Annie might have puked up.  She also did a little poop in the litterbox (she did it while I was in here), so fingers crossed that she starts getting better.  I know that some things don’t regenerate, but I’m hoping major supportive care can give her a while longer. | Permalink

otherstuff 08:26 AM - 01/10/2006 The topic: Tired of reading about the washer yet? ---------------------------------------------- Then pass this one on by. So, last I left off, I had put a third load in, this time with detergent.   Everything went fine until the last rinse/spin.  The “time left” showed 1 minute.  Forty-five minutes later, I turned the machine off to let it rest.  I let it rest overnight.  This morning I set it to drain and spin and it was done in the proper amount of time, eleven minutes. So now, ever a glutton for punishment, I’ve got a load of the cat towels in.  Let’s see how this load goes. I wish it was Thursday. I did sleep better last night because the machine is running a little bit better.  Getting two loads done in one day is better than none in three, even though the washer is continuously running. | Permalink

otherstuff 09:28 AM - 01/10/2006 The topic: My mom’s birthday ---------------------------------------------- is today.  She’s, um, let’s see….born in 1932, so 2006 - 1932 = 74.   Anyway, I asked her last week what she wanted for her birthday and she said “nothing”.  So, I didn’t get her anything.  At least, that’s what I told her.  Sometime today, she’ll be getting a very nice birthday arrangement from Proflowers.com, with a glass vase, some Ghiradelli chocolates, a birthday balloon and a teddy bear. When I spoke with her this morning, after singing the birthday song to her, she asked “what did you get me?”  I said “nothing”.  She said “good, that’s what I wanted”.  Heh heh heh…. See, some moms are big on bragging about their kids.  So, any little thing I do, is a huge brag for her.  To be honest, some things I wish she’d leave unmentioned, but knowing how she is, there are other things I do, just to give her something to boast about.  It makes her feel good.  She’s having company this weekend, some friends that used to live down from her but moved to the Palm Springs area (where the living is cheaper).  She hasn’t seen them in a while and they’ll be staying with her overnight and there’s going to be a party at her place.  Other people are bringing the eats.  I was thinking about having a cake made for her at CostCo, but I dunno, it might be too much.  The phone rang a little bit ago and I thought it would be her, but it was some guy from the City of San Diego looking for someone who gave them the wrong number (either intentionally or unintentionally).   I bet she’s just going to be tickled pink when FedEx shows up at her door. | Permalink

otherstuff 09:43 AM - 01/10/2006 The topic: One of the reasons I cleaned ---------------------------------------------- the exercise room this past weekend is because I ordered a new exercise bike.  I got it from Sears, a hundred bucks off.  See, I’ve never really liked the one that’s in there now.  The handles actually move back and forth, like a ski machine.  Well, this made it hard to read a book while riding.  They could be set to not move, but Brian thought that I really should work my arms as well as my legs, etc.  Me, I’d rather read.  It’s much less boring. And, I couldn’t adjust the tension.  If I could, I never figured out how.  So, as my ass spreads a little more each day, I decided to look for something different.  I found a bike at Sears that actually has different programs for different levels of workouts.  And it’s “iFit” compatible, which means it’s interactive (something I’ll most likely be checking into). It’s supposed to be in today (Brian will be picking it up).  Of course, there’s the question of what to do with the old one, but I told him “hey, I’ll tell my mom, I’m sure someone in the park will take it”.  And she found someone. Two someones actually and now there’s a little argumentation about who’s going to get it.  Ah, well, not my problem.  And this new one actually has a fan built in.  Whew, that will be wonderful.  That will be really nice. | Permalink

otherstuff 04:58 PM - 01/10/2006 The topic: The washing machine ---------------------------------------------- Update: But wait! I'm not done yet! I've got more to say! | Permalink

      Wednesday, January 11, 2006

otherstuff 07:00 AM - 01/11/2006 The topic: My lovely, lovely appliance ---------------------------------------------- I finally decided, after trying to get that load of cat towels to do the final spin, that I’d make use of the delay option.  I cancelled the cycle that was in progress (wash and rinse had long since been finished, it’s that final spin that kept stopping) and picked the drain/spin cycle to start in an hour.  It did. But apparantly, the lovely, lovely appliance was still too tired to finish, so I let it rest another three hours, using the delay option (by doing this, I felt I wouldn’t be so pulled into the laundry room and try to get the machine to work when it was still resting from it’s grueling schedule).  And that time came, the machine drained, the machine spun and my cat towels were ready for the dryer.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow.  He’ll be here tomorrow, tomorrow is far away…...... | Permalink

otherstuff 07:40 AM - 01/11/2006 The topic: Oh, my goodness…. ---------------------------------------------- If you annoy me online, you'd better not do it anonymously... Heh. They've outlawed internet trolls. | Permalink

otherstuff 12:55 PM - 01/11/2006 The topic: Projects ---------------------------------------------- I was given a recipe for making my own laundry soap today.   It looks fairly easy to do.  Will I do it?  I’m not sure.  My project track record is not good.  It’s not good at all.  Let’s see what projects I have waiting at this point. One king size afghan, started when Maggie was just a kitten Crocheted sofa, loveseat and recliner covers Pin on buttons, 1.25" and 2.25" size Learn how to use my cameras Use my camera Disney vacation DVD Transfer VHS tapes to DVD Transfer digital tapes to DVD Jewelry making stuff Many, many books to read And how much have I done?  Nada.  I’m back here dorking around with my websites.   And it doesn’t help when my host moves my sites to another server (which needed to be done, I think that timestamp thing was an indication that the old server was dying).  And they’re still tweaking the settings, because my email is sporadic right now.  And I’m getting notices that portions of my website aren’t working properly.  *sigh* Oh, well. | Permalink

      Thursday, January 12, 2006

otherstuff 10:57 AM - 01/12/2006 The topic: Have I ever mentioned my washing machine? ---------------------------------------------- Grrr… Repairman came.  Ran it through some (empty) short cycles.  Suds were made.  Many suds.  He intstructed me on the care and use of detergent.  He asked what I used.  I showed him the bottle of Tide HE.  He said how much do you use?  I showed him the measuring cup that came with the bottle of detergent.  He shook his head.  He put his fingers apart about a half of an inch.  “You only need this much” he said. I I asked why it made such a difference between a normal toploader and this machine and he pointed out a big “duh” point….the toploader uses a lot more water.  My machine only uses three gallons.  The measuring cup, at its lowest level, is at least ten times as much as he indicated.  I asked why the measuring cup has so much.  “To sell more detergent.”  Makes sense.  I also learned that using bleach and detergent together isn’t a good thing, since the bleach counteracts the cleaning capabilities of the detergent.  I also found out the the CostCo detergent I’ve been using all of these years is not a good detergent.  He said it doesn’t dissolve in cold water.  And by the way, don’t use cold water, it doesn’t get clothes as clean.  And it does adhere to pretty much all that it touches inside the machine, the pipes, the tub, the pump….. (I found out just how hard it is to get rid of this past weekend when I took the detergent/bleach/softener dispenser out and tried to get all of the old stuff out.  I ended up using a small flathead screwdriver to chip away at it, it was like cement.) He checked out the innards of the machine and he is going to replace the pump. When it comes in.  We scheduled an appointment for the 24th 24th. That’s forever from now.  He said that there’s no reason I can’t run the machine, as the current pump works.  “What about the suds?” I ask, since that’s what’s stopping me from doing laundry.  He said the system has to be flushed.  And how do I do that?  Run the machine.  Run it and run it and run it.  Preferably hot loads since the hot water will dissolve the old built up detergent.  He didn’t know how long this will take me, but figure I’ve got years of build up.  *sigh* He laughed when I told him I had no life, that if running load after load in hot water will get the damned thing cleaned out, then that’s what I’ll do.  And every once in a while, I’ll do a real load of laundry. So, I’m stuck until the 24th. And even then, if it’s just a buildup of detergent, a new pump won’t be any help. But it will be quieter. Oh, I almost forgot…the repairman is allergic to kitty-cats. | Permalink

      Friday, January 13, 2006

catstuff 07:18 AM - 01/13/2006 The topic: This is so hard ---------------------------------------------- I'm going to make the phone call for DeeJay today. Since Annie was diagnosed, DeeJay has taken a nosedive. He's just not doing well at all and I can't put him through this any longer. *sigh* *tears* | Permalink

catstuff 10:30 AM - 01/13/2006 The topic: And then there were 34 ---------------------------------------------- He’s gone.  This morning at about 9:25, DeeJay drew his last breath. *tears* I waited for a while in the examining room.  When the vet came in, he had the syringes in his hand.  Before he did anything, though, he checked Deej out.  He asked what the problem was, before he injected DeeJay with the fluids that would end his life.  I told him that DeeJay was constipated.  He felt DeeJay’s bowel and said “no, he’s not constipated, there’s nothing there”.  He asked if DeeJay had been eating (yes, up until this morning).  Had DeeJay been vomiting (only after trying to push out one of those great turds).  I told him about how large in diameter and how hard and dry the feces was that he was pushing out this week.  He said that was good, since a cat which had had the surgery that DeeJay had (back in December, 1999, he had a sub total colectomy, where a large portion of the colon was removed, due to megacolon) usually had pretty loose stools.  Maybe, but it wasn’t right.  It just wasn’t right, there was something terribly wrong, I thought to myself.  Somewhere inside of him, something wasn’t drawing the moisture into the feces. I’m no doctor nor am I one on television, but I just knew those hard dry turds were not a good sign.  I told him that Deej also had another bladder infection, that there was blood in his urine (I started him on orbax last week for this).  The doctor started reading DeeJay’s history.  “Man, he had that surgery a long time ago, I’ve never had a cat live this long after that.”  Then he said the same thing about the CRF, that three years is a long time (that he knows of) for someone to be able to keep that kidney disease at bay.  He told me that I’ve done an excellent job. The vet checked different parts of DeeJay and ran his hands over his back.  He told me that I was pretty good at giving fluids, because there was no scar tissue on DeeJay’s back.  He said “let’s see if there’s anything we can do for him”.  (God forgive me, but my heart sank.  It’s taken me years to get to this point and if I’m wrong and DeeJay is well enough for me to keep this going, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to make the decision again in my life.  I’ll never be able to work up the courage.) Anyway, we discussed DeeJay’s history here at home, how everytime something happened, DeeJay would bounce right back from it.  (The vet mentioned the fact that DeeJay must have been a fighter, that he didn’t want to go, because everything that’s had happened to him should have shortened his life considerably.)  But this time, he didn’t bounce.  And how this time it started when Annie got sick.  And how it’s just gotten a little worse each day.  I told him that I’ve been telling DeeJay for years that when he’s ready to go, to not eat.  That’s the only sign I’ll know.  And that this morning, DeeJay turned his nose up at food.  That the fight has left him, he’s tired.  Then DeeJay did some twitching.  Something that just started this morning.  I remarked on that.  The vet then looked into DeeJay’s mouth and smelled DeeJay’s breath.  Then he looked at me.  “You’re doing the right thing” he said.  He continued that DeeJay had ulcers by his back teeth, his breath was bad (like Rusty’s) and that he’d seen the twitching before in cats who’s kidneys had quit working, that the toxins that the kidneys weren’t cleaning out were going to the kitty’s brain.  The hard stools could also be an indication of kidney failure.  He said the time was right, that letting it go any longer would make it miserable for DeeJay.  Then he injected DeeJay with the sedative, we waiting as DeeJay fell asleep.  The vet said “just a little bit longer, let him get a little deeper into sleep”.  Then he injected Deej with the fluid that ended his life.  The vet listened for a heartbeat, heard none.  Then he closed Deejay’s eyes all the way.  “He’s gone. You did the right thing.  You’ve given him a good life, you’ve done everything you could.  Every day since that surgery back in ‘99 has been a gift.” I think DeeJay said goodbye to us last night.  I really do.  We were both here in the office, Brian on his computer, me on mine, when DeeJay got up from sleeping next to Annie.  He came over to me and wanted up on my shoulder.  I held him there for a little bit, he purred for me and put his head against mine.  We stayed like that for a few minutes, then he got off of me and went over to Brian.  He stood in front of Brian and pawed out at him.  He wanted up.  He got on Brian’s shoulder and laid down for a few minutes, doing the same thing to Brian that he did to me.  Then he got off of Brian and went back to his spot by Annie. Good bye, DeeJay.  We’ll miss you.  We’ll miss you a lot.  I’ll miss your grouchiness.  I’ll miss you begging for food in the kitchen.  I’ll miss you begging at night by the dinner table.  I’ll miss you here in the office.  But I will be seeing you.  Know that.  And know that I’ll never forget you.  Never. God speed. | Permalink

      Saturday, January 14, 2006

otherstuff 07:57 AM - 01/14/2006 The topic: I’m back up! ---------------------------------------------- This past week my website host has been moving websites to a new server.  As you may have noticed, there have been some problems accessing this site.  Imagine my surprise this morning when I couldn’t access this site, or lisaviolet.net, where my photos are.  I could get into catler.org, where Benny’s Forums are.  I put in a support ticket and it turned out my sites were overloading the mail server.  Hmm.  I don’t use lisaviolet.net at all as a mail address and I rarely used lisaviolet.com.  The only thing I can think of is spam that’s bouncing all over the place.  I asked if they could just kill my email.  And they could. Walla, my sites are back up!  Yay!  Now I have to go set up some new gmail accounts for the mail form. Goobye spammer. | Permalink

catstuff 08:30 AM - 01/14/2006 The topic: Annie ---------------------------------------------- She’s eaten almost a jar of veal baby food this morning.  That’s good.  Sadly, it does help when DeeJay isn’t sticking his nose into the spoon, pushing her away.  I gave her a half of a periactin yesterday and it had one of those opposite effect type deals going on.  Where it should have made her hungry and drowsy, she did get a little bit hungry, but she was also wired.  So, I’m sure some of the calories she took in were quickly expended by her raised (albeit small)  increased energy level. She still has a slight head tilt, too.  I did a search on periactin last night (Google is my friend) and found out that one of the side effects is dizziness.  Great.  Just what she needs.  To be more dizzy than she already is. Poor little girl.  She does eat more when I hold the spoon to her mouth.  I don’t know if it’s because she doesn’t have to drop her head to eat or what.  I’d be less worried if that head tilt would just leave.  The “brain tumor” remark of the vet keeps reverberating in my brain. | Permalink

catstuff 08:51 AM - 01/14/2006 The topic: A little photo retrospective ---------------------------------------------- I went through the photos in my gallery and found some of DeeJay that I'd like to share. As you might know by now, DeeJay passed away on Friday, the 13th of January. His kidneys finally quit working. But wait! I'm not done yet! I've got more to say! | Permalink

      Monday, January 16, 2006

catstuff 07:39 AM - 01/16/2006 I'm watching KUSI morning news The topic: Who will be king? ---------------------------------------------- DeeJay was the head of the clowder.  He was the boss.  No one (except kittens), messed with Deej.  He kept all the other cats in line with a look or a growl.  All of the cats deferred to the him. Now that he’s gone, it’s going to be interesting to see the changes in the cat dynamics.  Bart is now the oldest boy, but he’s too much of a softie.  We can’t see him in the position that DeeJay left.   Maybe Mickey.  Maybe George.  Brian doesn’t think George because he’s afraid of Ciara. But, like Brian said, that could change.  Maybe one of the girls. Mystie is pretty bossy, but I don’t think the other cats respect her.  They respected DeeJay, you could just tell.  No one was afraid of him, they didn’t run when he came into the room.  There’s a series of three photos over on the family album of the way DeeJay worked.  Lisa was laying on the pad in front of the office window (where the officecam is pointing).  DeeJay wanted to lay there.  Without a meow, he was able to get her to move.  Just by looking at her.  (You can see the first picture here, then go back to see the other two (316, 315).  After she was awake, she left that nice cozy spot and DeeJay took it over.) I don’t know of any of the other cats who can do that.  Which is why the next month is going to be very interesting. | Permalink

catstuff 08:06 AM - 01/16/2006 I'm listening to Guitar Greats: The Best of New Flamenco The topic: Ch-ch-changes ---------------------------------------------- Angel came into the house for the first time in months and months last night. She usually sleeps in the garage, but last night, she crept in through the cat door. She slunk through the house, cautiously looking this way and that. She went into the living room and up into a cat bed and lay down next to one of her red brothers, Richie or Opie.  A little later she came back into the family room and got on the steps of one of the cat condo/trees that’s in there.   Katie was sleeping in the bed and the presence of another kitty-cat woke her up. She started showing interest in her niece, Angel, more than we were comfortable with, so I found a Katie toy and threw it down the hallway. She gave chase and while we were playing, Angel climbed up to the bed. Where she fell asleep. Before I went to bed, I went over to her and I petted her a little bit and she purred for me. I hope this is a sign that she’s going to start living in the house again. | Permalink

otherstuff 08:56 AM - 01/16/2006 The topic: I fell on my ass ---------------------------------------------- Saturday afternoon.  We had gone shopping and I was putting away the paper towels.  We buy them by the case at CostCo and store them in the laundry room in one of the cupboards.  I was standing on my little stool and shoving the towels into place when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the broom start to fall over. Well, one of the cats was on the floor directly in its path. So, I reach out and grab for the broom and when I did this, I lost my balance.  My backwards descent was in slow motion.  I fell on my amply padded ass, twisted my ankle trying to get it out from between the steps on the stool.  Somehow, I also rejammed my right thumb.  Oh, and I pulled something on my torso under my left arm. Brian saw the entire thing.  He wasn’t close enough to do anything when I fell.  He came in and asked if I was alright and I just laid on the floor looking up at him.  I was still breathing so I guess I was alright.  I was pretty stiff yesterday and my ankle hurts like hell, but other than that, I’m okay.  Well, my left leg kind of hurts. I am glad we already had a chiropractor appointment for this evening. And the kitty-cat was okay.  As a matter of fact, I think that kitty-cat got out of Dodge when he saw me falling. | Permalink

      Tuesday, January 17, 2006

otherstuff 09:20 AM - 01/17/2006 I'm watching Excaliber The topic: Sucky tech morning ---------------------------------------------- I come on this morning to find out the three sites that had been moved were down all night (I checked my tracker and the times the sites are accessed are listed). After a few hours, I was able to access lisaviolet.com. Then I check my mail, there's another response to my ticket from last Saturday. "I regret to inform you that we once again had to remove the DNS zone for lisaviolet.net. It appears the spammer was directing mail at this one TLD (i.e. not .com). lisaviolet.com's DNS zone is currently still active. Despite us removing the mail entries for the DNS zone, the mail is still being routed to the server. It was necessary to remove the DNS zone to reduce the strain on the server. " They’ve shut down lisaviolet.net, the site with my photo gallery.  Lovely.  Because of email spammers.  The host turned off my email and the spammer was still able to use the server or something.  This is all beyond my comprehension, I have no idea what this all means or how someone is accessing their server to send mail.  I’m not getting any bounces as I did when a spammer once used one of my domains as a return address.  I got thousands of bounced mail that time. The really strange this is I can still access the photo gallery.  I wish they could fix the problem once and for all.  It’s getting annoying.  Very annoying. I did download the entire site this morning, just in case it gets lost.  This is no fun at all.   | Permalink

catstuff 09:40 AM - 01/17/2006 The topic: The clowder ---------------------------------------------- I said something to Brian this morning about maybe there being something that the cats are coming down with, because they’re all being so quiet.   When I made his lunch, there were two or three kitties around.  Handsome being one, but he wasn’t being very verbal, just sat on the floor watching me. He said “maybe they’re sad”.  Yeah, that could be it. | Permalink

catstuff 04:43 PM - 01/17/2006 I'm watching Everybody Loves Raymond The topic: Damn it ---------------------------------------------- Well, there is something going on with the cats.  Lonee had some of the most noxious diarrhea early this afternoon, then it looks like she did a little puking later on.  Her stool looked okay this morning. Handsome finally is acting more like Handsome.  I did start him on the stuff the vet prescribed for him last year.  I’m not really happy with Annie’s progress.  She is getting easier to give fluids to and she did get up on the officecam table earlier today and she sat there with eyes closed, drinking in the sun and fresh air.  Almost fell over a couple of time, because she kept falling asleep.  She did show quite a bit of interest in the Natural Choice Complete Care kibble I have as treats for the rest of the cats.  I gave her probably about fifty pieces of food and she ate it down, then I gave her some more.  Eating is always good.  Oliver is being treated for a bladder infection.  We thought it was DeeJay, but the puddle of pink urine on the master bath floor Saturday morning indicated otherwise.  There hasn’t been a puddle since (maybe it was a DeeJay farewell).  I did start Oliver on amoxicillan Saturday morning. Potter has signs of having had some sort of loose stool.  The signs are on his tail. I’m hoping that Lonee and Potter’s problem can be narrowed down to the treats I was giving them.  I found some old dry cat food and thought maybe it would be okay as a treat.  I only tossed it out twice, but that might have been more than enough. I threw it out this afternoon.  Neither of them are showing heavy signs of illness, just a little lethargic.  I’ll keep a close eye on them, but with any luck, whatever it is will have resolved in a couple of days. | Permalink

      Wednesday, January 18, 2006

otherstuff 09:17 AM - 01/18/2006 I'm shaken up The topic: Drama starts the day ---------------------------------------------- I usually call my mom on weekdays as close to 8:10 as possible.  We chit chat about the previous day’s/weekend’s events.  But mostly I call to make sure she’s okay. This morning, she didn’t answer.  I called for fifteen minutes and she didn’t answer.  I called the manager of the mobile home park where she lives, then I did a search through my caller ID and found the number of her neighbor from last September or October.  I called her.  She said she’d go up there and then call me back. She did.  Mom wasn’t answering the door.  Mom’s car was there and mom wasn’t answering the door.  I told her I’d be right over.  I found the keys to mom’s house, called Brian (if it was something horribly awful, I didn’t want to be alone), then went over.  When I got there the manager and mom’s neighbor were in the driveway, waiting for me.  I unlocked the door and we all went in.  Calling for my mom.  I was so afraid of how I’d find her, so very afraid.  The first place I went was into her bedroom.  She wasn’t there.  I checked the other bedroom and then the bathroom.  The other ladies checked the rest of the house.  My mom was nowhere inside.  And the house didn’t look like someone left in a hurry, everything was in it’s place, neat and tidy, as always.  And the cats weren’t inside.  Hmmm….. Then we checked the yard, maybe she’d fallen and hit her head and couldn’t respond.  We checked all over. It was scary.  My mom wasn’t around, anywhere.  I asked Thelma, mom’s neighbor if she knew Joan’s phone number.  Joan is another good friend of mom’s.  She didn’t, but she looked over in Joan’s driveway.  Joan’s car was gone.  Then it started to dawn on me.  I looked at Thelma.  “Did my mom have a doctor’s appointment this morning?  Like maybe a pap smear?”  I remember mom telling me that one of her neighbors would be taking her this time.  I usually do.   Thelma looked at me.  “Yes, she did mention the pap smear”... So, we figure my mom went to the doctor and Joan took her.  Our phone conversation yesterday was short, due to website problems (more on that later).  She didn’t remind me that she wouldn’t be there when I called.  And I didn’t write down the date of her appointment.  When I take her, I make a note of the date.  But since I wasn’t taking her, I didn’t make that note. So, I’m thankful that she’s alive.  And I’m going to ask her to call me on mornings like these, before she leaves.  Since I’m up before six, it shouldn’t be a problem. | Permalink

catstuff 10:43 AM - 01/18/2006 The topic: Hahahahaha! ---------------------------------------------- Guess what I was? Click here. But wait! I'm not done yet! I've got more to say! | Permalink

catstuff 10:57 AM - 01/18/2006 The topic: Annie ---------------------------------------------- I’m not very optimistic about her right now.  Although her eyes look clear, she’s not getting visibly better.   I started force feeding her this morning.  She needs to eat.  She does eat a little dry food, but she’s not enough of that to sustain herself.  Right now she’s giving herself a little bath.  That’s a good sign.   Keep a postitive thought for her. | Permalink

catstuff 11:04 AM - 01/18/2006 The topic: Missing DeeJay ---------------------------------------------- So, it’s been five days now. And I don’t seem to miss him a lot. I did look for him last night when I walked into the family room and Brian was watching television. I looked next to Brian to see Deej and he wasn’t there. I no longer hear him at my feet in the office. I don’t feel him rubbing on my legs. I don’t hear him climbing up on the chair next to the bed at night. My cat towel usage has gone way down, there hasn’t been one puddle of pee in the laundry room since he left. (Yes, there’s poop, Lonee quit using a litterbox for some reason, but that’s pretty easy to clean up, unless she has the runs like yesterday and today.) And since Oliver has started on the amoxicillan, there has been no pee in the bathroom.  It’s safe to go in there at night without turning on the light. I guess maybe it was because I had resolved myself to the fact, for all these years, that he wouldn’t be one of those cats who lived to see his twenties. Every month, I wondered if he’d be here next month. So, I guess that helped me with his passing and his absence. I think I’m more melancholy than sad. I think that’s a better description of how I feel. | Permalink

otherstuff 11:20 AM - 01/18/2006 The topic: The Washing Machine ---------------------------------------------- I haven’t made an entry recently because my attention has been on some of the website problems that have been happening since the migration.  Now that those are taken care of, I can once again turn my eyes to my much maligned washing machine. Last week, I stood in front of it with my camera and took a couple of pictures to show exactly what I see when it quits working.  When it begins its first rest, this is what I see: When the machine has waited what it considers a sufficient amount of time, it restarts where it left off.  And when the problem continues, it starts up this most annoying chirp or beep, that does not stop until I hit the damned thing with a big hammer…no, wait, that’s just what I do in my head, in reality, I push the button below readout area.  This is supposed to stop the machine.  Most of the time, it does.  It then resumes its cycle.  But it can go on this way for hours and hours. What I started doing yesterday, for the trial/clean out laundries is I run the sanitary cycle, where the water is hot, hot, hot (this machine actually has a heater to superheat the water).  When it’s finished the wash cycle, I stop the cycle altogether, run the drain/spin cycle, then restart it with the sanitary cycle.  I’m hoping repeated attacks of hot water where the detergent has built up over the years, will help clear it out faster. Yesterday, I actually considered pointing the occasional cam at the washer. Wouldn’t that be fun? | Permalink

otherstuff 11:50 AM - 01/18/2006 I'm listening to Leo Kottke The topic: So, how’s your ego? ---------------------------------------------- Last week, I found this fun little thing over at isfullofcrap.com. It kind of tests your web presence. Kind of. I guess. Anyway, I tried it. I don't know if this is something I should be proud of, though.   Check yourself out! | Permalink

otherstuff 12:56 PM - 01/18/2006 The topic: The website problems ---------------------------------------------- As I said in a previous entry, it was an email problem. And I think what happened is some spammer was using one of my domain names as a return address.  So, all the bounced mail came back to me, except I never saw any of it, so I didn’t know there was a problem.  Anyway, we killed both the lisaviolet.com and lisaviolet.net email.  I set up lisaviolet.com elsewhere, since I don’t really use it all that much.  lisaviolet.net mail is gone. Kaput.  Non-existant.  Damned spammers.  They’re worse than dogs. | Permalink

      Thursday, January 19, 2006

catstuff 11:55 AM - 01/19/2006 I'm watching Law & Order on TNT The topic: Sick kitties ---------------------------------------------- I’ve got good Lonee news.  She didn’t poop during the night, but mid morning she went in the laundry room (her favorite spot) and it was no longer really runny and yellow brown.  It’s firming up and not nearly so loose.  And part of it actually had a form to it. Annie still isn’t showing signs of an appetite.  I started force feeding her yesterday.  I figure if I can give her drugs to perk up her appetite (which really made her nervous), then force feeding her can’t be all that bad. She doesn’t fight me and she doesn’t spit out the food, she swallows it okay.  I’m wondering if there’s still some problem with her balance and the fact that maybe she’s kind of dizzy is making it hard for her to eat and drink.  She did a nice sized poop in the litter box here in the office, so it would appear all of her intestines are functioning as they’re supposed to. I just wish she’d sleep (and if you’ve got a cat who won’t sleep, you know there’s a problem).  I think a couple of good long naps would do here a world of good.  I don’t think I can do this for months and months.  With DeeJay, he got daily fluids and that was it.  He’d go outside, he’d sleep on a chair on the patio, he’d find different places around the house to snooze, he had a life.  He was stick thin, but he was second only to Handsome for begging for food.  He had some quality of life.  But if Annie doesn’t show any signs of getting better, I’m not going to drag this out.  I watch her closely for every little sign.  She gets up to greet me when I enter the room in the morning.  She looks towards the area where I keep the food, even though she barely touches it (which makes me wonder how hungry she is).  She cleans herself after I feed her, washing her paws and washing her face, cleaning the food spots on her coat she can reach.  When I take her in for a retest on Monday, we’ll see if she’s making progress.  If she’s not, I have some serious thinking to do.  Because this is no life at all.  If she’s making progress, I’m willing to do as much as I have to, that’s a given.  I love this little girl and I’m not ready to say goodbye. But sometimes, goodbye is the best we can do. | Permalink

catstuff 02:11 PM - 01/19/2006 The topic: She’s sleeping! ---------------------------------------------- Woohoo!  I gave her a quarter of a Pepcid A/C, thinking that her tummy was upset.  And I moved one of the heating pads to the under her.  It was a heating pad from one of the cat beds I got last year, one that only comes on when there’s pressure on it. I had a heating pad over there when DeeJay was alive, but I didn’t think she liked it, because she was always scootched off of it.  But I guess with him gone, she’s lost her heat source.  So, maybe with the combination of fluids, food, heat and tummy soother, she’s finally feeling good enough to sleep.  And with sleep, hopefully will come better health. God, it’s good to see her looking relaxed. | Permalink

      Friday, January 20, 2006

catstuff 10:26 AM - 01/20/2006 I'm watching Lifetime Movie Network The topic: Annie ---------------------------------------------- I wish I could be more optimistic.  But like Brian reminded me this morning, she is as old as DeeJay was.  I did watch her drink quite a bit of water this morning, that was good. It was more than I’ve seen her drink at one time.  I’m going to spend a lot of time with her, giving her attention and back rubs and ear rubs and smurgles.  When I take her in Monday for the retest, I will mention the fact that her head still bothers her.  Not like it did, but it’s not 100%.  She did respond happily to Annie smacks this morning (quick little pats down by her tail).  But I just don’t have a good feeling about how she’s doing.  *sigh*  Anyway, I’ve been taking pictures of her this past week. Taken the 14th Taken the 15th, Mystie keeps Annie company. Taken the 16th Taken the 19th It might be wishful thinking, but she does seem to look a little better in the picture taken the 19th.   I love her and I won’t make her suffer.   UPDATE Well, late this morning, Annie started having problems peeing.  Amazingly, she’s been more active today than since I took her in three weeks ago. *sigh*  I called the vet to see what I could do.  I’ve got orbax, amoxicillan and amitrityline on hand.  He said to go with the amoxi, so I’ve started her on that.   Poor baby. | Permalink

      Sunday, January 22, 2006

catstuff 09:38 AM - 01/22/2006 The topic: Angel in the house ----------------------------------------------   I took this Friday night. She's coming almost every night now, early enough that we know she's there. Brian reminds her of when she used to spend hours in his lap in the evening. He misses that. I wonder if she'll ever relax enough to come back to our laps.   | Permalink

catstuff 10:33 AM - 01/22/2006 The topic: Annie getting better? ---------------------------------------------- Maybe just a little bit? She’s drinking.  Not just playing with the water, but full on drinking.  She’s also eating more.  Not a lot more, but more is better than less.  Like the vet said about the blood tests two weeks ago, she’s not doing worse, but the values were a little bit better.  Not heaps and mountains, but a little bit better is better than a little bit worse or no change at all. She’s sleeping a lot better.  She’s much more relaxed. She’s actually resting her head now, not trying to hold it up.  There were a few days when she didn’t appear to be sleeping at all.  She reminded me of when I was doing crystal meth (back when I was a hot thang).  Always awake and wide eyed.  She’d try to sleep, but couldn’t.  I’d walk into the room and she’d be looking at me.  Didn’t matter what time of the day I’d look in on her.  She just wasn’t resting at all. You know how cats are, when they’re really tired and in a deep sleep, they won’t wake up if you walk into the room.  That wasn’t happening with Annie. I’m wondering if maybe she had some sort of infection besides the bladder infection.  And maybe it wasn’t bad enough the first round of blood tests she got, where they checked for everything.  And that they didn’t check for on the most recent tests she got.  And that maybe the antibiotics I’m giving her for the bladder infection are helping something else besides the bladder infection. The antibiotics take three days to start showing that they work, but I think they’re working a little more quickly for her.  I hope so.  And I’m hoping the blood tests she gets this week show she’s still progressing. Annie this morning, Wally in the background, looks up from drinking her water Potter and Annie sleeping   One of the surprising things is how the other kitties are helping. I don't think I've seen her alone much for the past day or so. There's always some kitty sleeping next to her. Yesterday, it was Mystie and Ciara. This morning, she got some headbutts from Mystie and now Potter is sleeping next to her. Kitties I've never seen next to her are there, with her. She's not alone. Do they feel her grieving for her brother? Do they pick up on the fact that she's not feeling well? I don't know. I do know she's not objecting to their company. I hope she pulls through this. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Be sure to check out this week's Carnival of the Cats, which this week will be hosted by the incomparable Meryl Yourish. | Permalink

otherstuff 11:06 AM - 01/22/2006 The topic: The washer ---------------------------------------------- Something the repairguy didn’t tell me was that the parts would be delivered directly to the house.  There have been two deliveries.  Both are in the pedestal below the washer right now. Yesterday I started doing sanitary loads, with nothing in them.  I’d let the wash cycle finish, then drain it and restart.   I added vinegar to the water.   A couple of times, I let the machine rest and the vinegar work on the build up.  After all of this, there’s still a ton of suds.  It’s just amazing. I did manage to get a load of levis done yesterday.  They got to rest overnight.  Right now I’m in the process of washing Brian’s long sleeved shirts.  We’re in a “rest” cycle.  I set one of the kitchen timers for an hour and I’ll restart the washer when the hour is up. I can hardly wait until this doesn’t happen any longer. | Permalink

      Monday, January 23, 2006

otherstuff 08:52 AM - 01/23/2006 The topic: Hehe..the washer ---------------------------------------------- It did a full cycle this morning!  I washed a comforter (didn’t add any detergent, that sucker still bubbles up plenty without).  Last night I had a load of sweat clothes in and it had to rest overnight.  I hit the button last night and restarted that cycle this morning.  Ran like a dream. Then I figured I might as well try something else, so I put in the comforter from the bed. It finished with no resting at all!  Isn’t that nice?  Tomorrow, the repairman comes.  And maybe Wednesday, my life, such as it is, will be back to normal. | Permalink

      Tuesday, January 24, 2006

catstuff 02:46 PM - 01/24/2006 The topic: According to the vet ---------------------------------------------- Annie is getting better!  He said her RBC is creeping up, so that’s good for her anemia.  Her BUN and creatinine are better, her phosphorus shows little change. She lost more weight, but it was only .08 of a pound.  He was truly amazed at her progress.  And, honestly, so am I. This morning, before I took her in for her test, I called Brian and told him I wasn’t going to do it, I thought maybe it would just be best to say goodbye.  He was alarmed, asked “why?” because she’d been doing a little better yesterday.  I guess it was because she just didn’t look good this morning and she didn’t want anything to eat.  I said “okay, I’ll take her in and if there’s no change or she’s worse, I won’t be surprised and I’ll make arrangements”.  But she’s still getting better, so I guess she’s not ready.  The vet did say that the only reason she’s doing well is because of what I’ve been doing.  And he wants her to come back at the end of February, beginning of March for another blood test.  So, from what he said it looks like he’s pretty sure she’ll be with us for at least another month.  Maybe more. | Permalink

otherstuff 03:39 PM - 01/24/2006 The topic: I’m doing a load of laundry ---------------------------------------------- The repairman showed up this afternoon.  I spent the morning cleaning up the house; First I cleaned my bathroom, then I did the dusting and vacuuming.  I did all the floors and the cat trees (not the bedroom, though).  It’s a pretty nice day and I had all of the doors and windows open, so the house smelled fresh.  It’s been very windy here today. Anyway, he came in, I told him where the parts were and he took off the cover, replaced the pump, put the machine back together.  Then he started up a cycle and it sounded way better.  Much, much better.  When he had uninstalled the old pump, I picked it up and looked inside.  I asked if he had to take it with him, because I really wanted Brian to see what was inside of it.  He said he had to, so I took a picture of the crud inside: This stuff is like cement.  It does not just rub off.  It’s like the stuff that was in the dispenser, the stuff I was chiseling out with a screwdriver (I still haven’t gotten it all).  And apparantly what was happening is a piece would break off and block the pump from working properly (you can kind of see a piece at the back of the image).   I think the fact that we’ve got hard water added to the problem. So, no more powder detergent.  And I’m real excited to be doing laundry again. The first thing?  The sofa cover that hasn’t been washed in a month.  It’s nasty.  Really, really nasty.  But I had to leave it on because I didn’t have anything else to protect the sofa.  Ah, clean stuff.  I’m so looking forward to clean stuff. With this and the Annie news, it’s been a great day. | Permalink

otherstuff 07:07 PM - 01/24/2006 I'm watching Scrubs The topic: Laundry…. ---------------------------------------------- I’m on my third load!  Woohoo!  I have about a hundred more to go.   Cat blankets.  Cat pads.   Towels.  (Brian said “hey, that means I can put my week overdue towels in there!”)  Pillows.  Cat beds.  Socks.  Shirts.  Levis.  I’m so excited!  Life is back on track.  My universe is back in sync.  | Permalink

      Wednesday, January 25, 2006

otherstuff 05:57 AM - 01/25/2006 The topic: I didn’t sleep well last night ---------------------------------------------- Because I was so excited about the tons of laundry I can now take care of! Bwahahahahahaha! | Permalink

otherstuff 06:43 AM - 01/25/2006 The music in my head is I'm a Kitty Cat The topic: One of the cool things ---------------------------------------------- About this new (to me) blogging software, is the capability to input fields and to have them automatically show up if I put something in the box for them when I make my journal entry.  I made special fields for music, mood, weather, tv and earworm.   If I don’t fill them in, they don’t show up.  With GreyMatter (my old software) I could only do two and no matter what I did, I could never get the third option to work properly.  I can also make the special field entry a link.  So that if I really want to share what I’m watching or listening to, you, the reader, can click on the link and see what I’m referring to.  It will usually be a link to music or a DVD.   Check out today’s earworm link.  And then you’ll know what’s bouncing around in my head.  Over and over again. “Cat. I’m a kitty-cat.  And I dance dance dance and I dance dance dance….” Arggg!!!! | Permalink

otherstuff 07:14 PM - 01/25/2006 I'm watching Criminal Minds The topic: Another one of those silly personality tests ---------------------------------------------- I'm a Chevrolet Corvette! You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do. You can take it here. What are you? | Permalink

      Thursday, January 26, 2006

otherstuff 09:35 AM - 01/26/2006 The topic: Feeling good ---------------------------------------------- Well, I’ve gotten back on track.  Did about a thousand loads of laundry yesterday, mostly cat stuff.  Towels, beds, pads.  Machine was off by eight last night.  Laundry all dried and put away.  It’s so nice.  I’m not checking the thing every ten minutes, I’m not worried about letting it rest.  I turn it on, add the liquid detergent and fabric softener and it does the rest.  Well, I still check it, just, you know, to make sure it’s working.  *lol*  That habit seems too new to have become so old so quickly, but there you go.  Maybe by the end of next week, I’ll have quit checking.  Just, you know, to make sure. And because the washer was working, I was in the perfect frame of mind to get some paperwork done. I started on personal stuff Tuesday afternoon when the repairman left and finished that up yesterday.  Bills paid, two months of bank reconciliation taken care of, and all paperwork filed.  My inbox is almost empty right now, which is really nice.  When I finished up the personal stuff, I started on the business paperwork and I’m happy to report I got all the payroll forms filled out and in the mail, as well as paying bills that are due next Tuesday.  Then I got a caught up with last year’s filing (just a couple of months, took about a half of an hour).  So, the company inbox is pretty empty, too.  It’s a nice feeling to be caught up. Today I’m going to CostCo for milk and stuff, then I have go to Albertsons for grocery things they don’t have at CostCo, or the stuff they carry at CostCo is just way too big for our needs (a gallon jar of pickle relish?).  I also have to hit the pet store and get another bulb for the fish tank, the one I’ve got is flickering something awful.  Very annoying for me, I can’t imagine the fish like it too much, so I’ve not been turning on the light. And then, I’m done.  I can work on some of the projects I started.  On Tuesday, when I was doing the personal paperwork, I actually did some multi-tasking.  I copied the video from the mini-disks to full sized DVDs and put them in my disk carousel.  I also found that I didn’t have very many blank DVDs that weren’t the print-on kind.  And for some reason, it just seems wrong to use print on DVDs if I’m not going to print on them.  *lol*  So, I ordered some blank DVD+R (the +R work on our old DVD machine) from supermediastore.com, where I get most of my recording media.  They should be here today. Since I can’t pass up a deal on blanks and this week, the CostCo coupon book has a coupon for TDK print on DVD media, 100 to a spindle,  two for one.  So, I’ll buy one of +R and one of -R.  When added to my current stack of blank print on DVDs, they should last me long past death.   *grin* | Permalink

catstuff 09:44 AM - 01/26/2006 The topic: The new king? ---------------------------------------------- Georgie’s working on it.  And pissing me off in the process. Yesterday, Annie wanted to go outside, so I opened the office door for her.  She was just sitting in the sun, face to the light, eyes shut, enjoying the sun’s heat on her and the fresh air (it was nippy).  I hear the beginnings of a cat fight, look out and there was Georgie, standing over her, all puffed up and she was just cowering.  I told Brian about it last night and he said “did you smack him?”  I said “no, I just chased him away” and poor little Annie came back inside.  I did give George a big yelly lecture, though, with a lot of finger shaking in his face. And shortly thereafter, I caught him doing the same thing to Chandler that he’d been doing to Annie.  Geez, George, if you want to be king, why not go after one of the bigger, tougher, kitties, say one like Oliver?  I guess because a cat like Oliver would kick the crap out of you, if need be.  No, it’s best for your health to bully one of the submissive cats.  George, did I ever tell you what a jerk you could be?  You most certainly were NOT my favorite cat yesterday. | Permalink

catstuff 04:15 PM - 01/26/2006 The topic: Kitty colds/allergies ---------------------------------------------- I think we have something going through the clowder.  Quite a few of the cats seem to be a little off.  More sneezing, lots more time spent inside sleeping.  Not normal.  Lonee doesn’t have the runs anymore, but I noticed this morning one of her eyes was runny and her fur looks ungroomed.  Brian, while holding Richie, told me that Richie is being too clingy, the same way he was when his mouth was hurting (remember the “blood breath”?).  They do seem to be eating okay, but they just seem more tired or run down.  Like their bodies are fighting something off. So, I do what I do best.  Watch and wait.  | Permalink

otherstuff 04:52 PM - 01/26/2006 The topic: Ish ---------------------------------------------- Bob the Enzyte guy creeps me out. He just gives me the willies. That smile...shudder....   | Permalink

catstuff 05:16 PM - 01/26/2006 The topic: DeeJay’s home ---------------------------------------------- I had to go pick up more meds for Annie and when I was there, I asked if DeeJay was back.  Nope.  Then Liz came from the back and said “DeeJay’s back”.  And now he’s home.  This is the first time I’ve actually seen the box the ashes are in.  All of the others are still in the cardboard boxes the crematorium sent them to the vet’s in.  We’ve never opened any of them.  I believe they all are in little wooden boxes. When we move to Ranchita, we’ll be making a little memorial garden where we’ll bury them all. | Permalink

      Tuesday, January 31, 2006

mailstuff 06:34 AM - 01/31/2006 The topic: In my email this morning ---------------------------------------------- This cheery little message was in my declaw stories email this morning. My response to this person was they didn't have the mindset to own a cat, they'd be better off with a dog. I can't help with the rehoming, but maybe someone here could. I hate that people adopt animals and treat them like so much trash when they're tired of them. I really, really hate it.   email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) photo: no thestory: Hi, I’m writing because I cannot stand my crazy cats anymore. I found your site by looking for No Kill shelters in California (I’m willing to travel almost anywhere in the state to get a good home for my cats). Do you know of any, or perhaps could you point me to a site where there is a no kill shelter listing? I’ve looked everywhere, and my friends and family are incapable of taking my cats… or they simply do not want too. . I guess I’ll just take them to the regular pound. I can’t deal with this crazyiness anymore. But I’m afraid a normal shelter may just kill Ivan the day I bring him in (because he likes to bite), but I think at least Vlad will have a chance. I got them from a shelter in the first place so I figure that I’ve extended their life by four months, anyway. Your site is very helpful, but I would suggest enhancing and adding a part about fostering animals because when I’m more financially secure I want to start adopting more from the shelter. But these cats aren’t really what I was looking for. Again, Ivan likes to bite and I hope to someday find a cat I can truely love. One that will love me as much as I love animals. These just ignore me when I come home. Hey, I have one more question. What is a perfect time to adopt a kitten? (For the future, of course). I think that Ivan and Vlad there three months old when I adopted them, and that might have been part of the problem. Do you suggest five weeks? Six weeks? Eight weeks? Thanks for your time! | Permalink

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lisaviolet is seventy something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities. In her spare time, she makes pretty things to sell in her store.

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