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      Saturday, May 07, 2011

otherstuff 04:30 PM - 05/07/2011 The topic: Frakkin’ insurance ---------------------------------------------- Just sent this off to our state insurance department. I just received a notice of an increase to our monthly premium. We have Aetna. In September 2010, we were paying $271.00. In October 2010, the rate was increased to $345.00, In January 2011, our rate was increased to $376.00. Now, they want to raise it again, an additional $54.00 a month $427.00, effective August 2011. That's an increase of $156.00 in ten months' time. This seems excessive to me. Should I file a complaint? If so, where would I do this? Thank you. Oh, yeah, we could sign up for different policies.  And you can bet I’m going to call on them because the one we could sign up for that’s $339.00 a month looks like the one we’re supposed to have now. And in looking over what’s covered, I’ve got another question. Why are they only paying my doctor $4.44 on a $188.00 invoice?  According to what their website says, visits 1-3 have no copay.  Which should be fifty bucks.  But we pay all of what’s left over after the insurance pays their portion. Not happy. Rat bastards. | Permalink

      Monday, May 09, 2011

catstuff 10:58 AM - 05/09/2011 The topic: Could you send some positive vibes Ronnie’s way? ---------------------------------------------- He's at the vet's office. This was the note I sent with him. Ronnie was doing fine Friday, he'd even caught a lizard. Saturday, he was a little tired. Sunday morning we woke up to him puking. Just foam. He didn't eat and he didn't drink any water. He slept all day. Late yesterday afternoon, I did the lifting the skin for the hydration test and he was pretty dehydrated. He went into the litterbox, peed a good amount, then had a nasty stool. A lot of mucus in it (he's never had good stool). I gave him 60cc of lactated ringers around 7:30 pm and by 10:00, he was in pretty bad shape. In all of the years I've been giving fluids, I've never seen this reaction. He was in a lot of pain, centered around where he'd gotten the fluids. His breathing was labored. I checked on him throughout the night and as the fluids were absorbed, the pain subsided. He seems to have recovered from that this morning, but there's definitely something wrong with him. He had a bad fight with Charlie (dickwad) last week, Charlie is fine. Ronnie was the aggressor. He seems to have been more aggressive since we lost Oliver, don't know if it's maybe a hierarchy thing. Since he's been throwing up and not eating, I'm afraid to give him amoxi and I'm really afraid to give him fluids, in case there's an underlying problem.   So, now I sit and wait.  He cried on the way over there, I was really sad, but he needs more help than I can give him right now. If the problem is dehydration, he needs fluids. And after what happened last night, I’m not the one to do it. *sigh* Poor little Ronnie. click for a larger pic | Permalink

catstuff 03:07 PM - 05/09/2011 The topic: $300.00 later…. ---------------------------------------------- “I can’t find anything wrong with this cat.” Well, there are the bad teeth and the loss of fur on one side, allergies maybe?  Blood work is good, nothing on the x-ray. So, he’s home. He did get a Depo-Medrol shot for the possible allergies and I’m supposed to start him on amoxicillan, just in case he’s got some sort of infection going on from the cat fight. And that might help his teeth. Oh, well, peace of mind…. | Permalink

      Tuesday, May 10, 2011

catstuff 11:37 AM - 05/10/2011 The topic: Ronnie is doing a tiny bit better ---------------------------------------------- He slept on the bed last night, then at some point went out to the living room, where he ended up on the big pillow on top of the cat sleep center. I opened the sliding door a little after four and he stayed put until after we’d gotten out of bed.  You know how it is with a sick cat, you run all over looking for said cat to make sure s/he is alright.  I found him outside, peeing. Then he sat at the bottom of a cat tree, then went over to the bank. It was cool and damp this morning and I think the coolness helped ease any fever he’s feeling.  After our walk and breakfast, I went outside to hang with him, climbed up on the bank and held him for a while, then set him back down.  He walked to the side of the shop, let me stroke him, enjoying it, then he went around the shop and ended up sitting in the sun on the fence around the pool pump. Eventually, I brought him back inside, I needed to get a pill into him.  He took it, not really happy and right now he’s back in the living room, stretched out in one of the tubes.  Nice, semi-dark, quiet and warm, out of the way of foot traffic.  He is more alert when I hold my hand to his face, that’s a good thing.  I’ll feel a lot better when I see him eating or drinking something.  He may be drinking, I just haven’t seen it. | Permalink

otherstuff 11:43 AM - 05/10/2011 The topic: When we got home from our walk this morning ---------------------------------------------- Brian noticed something wrong with the car cover. Big hole in it, by the bumper. Someone started it on fire.  Brian said it must have been last night, because he would have noticed it yesterday.  Why would someone do that?  The car is okay, the cover is messed up, but it still works. Brian said he thinks that’s when Bobby was growling at the window last night.  I never heard a thing, otherwise I’d have gone outside (I know, bad move, but when it wakes me up, I’m not thinking straight).  I wonder if anyone else around here had problems.  I know of two driveways right off the top of my head who have cars covered.  | Permalink

      Wednesday, May 11, 2011

otherstuff 08:08 AM - 05/11/2011 The topic: Update on the burned car cover ---------------------------------------------- Not vandalism.  Brian got to thinking about it and it turns out he did it with the yard vacuum, the muffler was hot.  He didn’t realize he’d done it.. Well, at least it wasn't some low life scumbag making our lives miserable. | Permalink

      Friday, May 13, 2011

otherstuff 10:22 AM - 05/13/2011 We found two pennies on our walk this morning The topic: Ponderance ---------------------------------------------- What’s up with the bangs hanging in the face? I’m letting my bangs grow out and they annoy me to no end.  The minute they touched my eyelashes, that was it. They’re clipped back and this time, they’ve annoyed me so much that I doubt I’ll ever let them grow out again. We saw a girl on our morning walk that had bangs in the eyes. She kept shoving them out of her face. I don’t understand something that bothers you so much being a fashion statement. I just don’t get it. | Permalink

      Wednesday, May 18, 2011

otherstuff 09:02 AM - 05/18/2011 The topic: Well, this wasn’t on today’s agenda ---------------------------------------------- The computer that runs the backyard, office, occasional and patio cameras won’t stayed booted up.  It will boot up in safe mode, but not safe mode with networking.  I think my network card died.  Second one.  So, I ordered another one from Newegg and as soon as it gets here, I’ll get it installed and the catcams will be back up and running. | Permalink

      Thursday, May 19, 2011

otherstuff 08:21 AM - 05/19/2011 The topic: “Accused”? ---------------------------------------------- Man Accused of Wife's Downtown Shooting Death Pleads in Court Accused?  He’s “accused” of shooting her?  There were witnesses!  It happened in broad daylight! And he’s pleading “not guilty”?  WTF? | Permalink

otherstuff 08:31 AM - 05/19/2011 The topic: Brian’s working today ---------------------------------------------- And he worked one day last week.  Well, he does some sort of work every day, but I mean the work where he goes to peoples’ homes and works and actually makes money. Last week, he asked if I’d make his lunch.  He said “just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich will be fine”.  So, I made him a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. He checked his pail before he left.  “Hey, there’s just a sandwich in here, nothing else!”  Huh?  Isn’t that what you asked for?  He grumbled and added an apple. So, this morning, as I made his lunch, I thought back to a story my mom told me about when she’d make my dad’s lunch.  Mom worked, too, so she made both of their lunches. Dad worked at University Hospital as an X-ray technician in San Diego. He ate the lunch he brought in the cafeteria.  Where you could also buy stuff.  They had forks, knives, condiments and napkins. Anyway, one day he comes home and complains to mom that she didn’t put enough napkins in his lunch.  Noted.  (She wondered why he just didn’t use the cafeteria napkins.) The next day, she made his lunch as usual. It was the last lunch she ever made for him.  He started making his own. Because she did put in more napkins.  Between the two pieces of bread. | Permalink

      Friday, May 20, 2011

catstuff 06:38 AM - 05/20/2011 The topic: When I turned on the light in the garage this morning ---------------------------------------------- Little Bit fell out of the rafters onto the cement floor. She ran into the house, not noticeably limping.  I can’t check her out since I can’t touch her.  She’s back in her sleepy spot in the house and seems to be okay. Then I went into the kitchen and started yelling at Brian because I’ve been after him for years now to PLEASE block off access to the rafters.  He’s done a little here and there, but they still get up there. It took about fifteen minutes before my heart got back to normal. | Permalink

      Saturday, May 21, 2011

otherstuff 09:05 AM - 05/21/2011 The topic: It’s looking like the cameras ---------------------------------------------- will be up and running today.  Not like me, who will be fast asleep on the sofa. I started yesterday, late morning.  I had this brilliant idea to swap out a working internet card from an extra computer.  The one I ordered still hasn’t gotten here. It wasn’t the card.  I tried setting up the extra computer, but it was too noisy and annoyed me.  So, then I got the computer that Brian had at his old shop.  He brought it home months before he moved his stuff home because “it runs really slow”.  I hadn’t looked at it until yesterday and slow?  The issue wasn’t slow at all, the issue was malware. “Windows Protection Suite” to be exact. Nasty, nasty piece of work.  It had infected everything.  It absolutely would not let me connect to ANY search engine.  This is what happens when someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing, and doesn’t check with the IT department (me), downloads something because he gets a warning (bogus, but he didn’t know that) and all hell breaks loose.  After working on that for five or six hours, I figured the best thing to do at that point was to format the hard drive and reinstall windows.  While that was working, I was messing around with the other computer, the catcam computer, which I had set up in the extra room.  I ended up reinstalling windows files. That took a bit of time to figure out, I didn’t format because I’m pretty sure there’s no malware or viruses on that computer.  At one point I was able to set up a wireless connection to the internet, which helped with the windows updates (the reinstall just overwrote files already there, so I had to go through all the Windows updates).  Well, after installing SP2, I lost the wireless connection. I tried until two this morning to get it back and just had no luck at all.  I figured I was done for the night.  Right before I shut down, though, I moved the shop computer back into the extra room and brought the catcam computer back into the office and hooked it up.  Couldn’t access the internet via a browser, but I could get into my website directories with FTP, so I did have a connection.  I turned everything off around 2:20am and went to bed. Up again this morning at six, started the computer up, it’s three hours later and updates are still being installed on the catcam computer.  The reason I lost the wireless connection was somehow the drivers for the USB hubs needed to be reinstalled.  Once that happened, I saw the camera connections were working again. So, as soon as I quit getting update messages, I’ll start the cameras.  Yay! I have such a headache….. | Permalink

      Sunday, May 22, 2011

otherstuff 06:59 AM - 05/22/2011 The topic: Well, we’re still here ---------------------------------------------- and there’s nothing on this morning’s news about an earthquake in the Pacific.  I was kind of wondering what it would be like to live close to the beach. Guess I won’t find out this week. | Permalink

      Monday, May 23, 2011

disneystuff 08:50 AM - 05/23/2011 The topic: Getting ready to leave ---------------------------------------------- We got the “invite” to be in on the preview week of the refurbished Star Tours, now in 3D.  Our hours are from nine until one. Brian’s upset, he wanted to be out of here by now, but he’s doing some necessary paperwork. I messed up my lower back yesterday straightening up the extra room and wasn’t sure I’d be able to go, but as long as I don’t keep putting on shoes and socks, tying the shoes, putting on jeans, sitting down or standing up, I should be fine.  *lol*  I’m ok once I’m actually sitting or standing. Anyway, the longest part of the day will be the drive.  Maybe once we’re there, we’ll go on a couple of rides and get something to eat, but we won’t be up there late.  Too much to do here at home. Wish you could be there! | Permalink

      Tuesday, May 31, 2011

catstuff 08:23 AM - 05/31/2011 The topic: You may recall ---------------------------------------------- the ongoing loose stool problem of Jackie’s.  So bad that even the petsitter remarked on it the first year she was here.  That was back in 2009.  Well, it’s not gotten any better.  I’ve seen him eat the Kirkland kibble, which are just little pieces of food, but I thought maybe he just didn’t like the Felidae.  I’ve also seen him eat what other cats puked up.  Thinking back to Lonee, I boiled up some chicken breasts last week and gave him some. He loved it.  But on the third day, he was having a tough time eating them.  Then it dawned on me. His teeth.  He’s not been eating because of his teeth.  He badly needs a dental, but he also needs to be neutered and shaved.  I can’t imagine that his blood values are all that good, so the vet probably wouldn’t do anything at this time.  Antibiotics would probably help, but I’m not going to risk my eyesight or face.  So, I got a ceramic bowl, put some Felidae dry in it and added water.  As the kibble softened, he ate.   It’s been four days now and even though his stool is still soft, it is firming up.  Last week I could hear him outside, passing gas when he pooped his splat (was like runny gravy).  I’d go looking for it and just shake my head.  He did this several times a day.  On the runners in the office, on the cover over the printer, and the last straw was on the bed.  (That’s when I tried the chicken.) I wasn’t sure I found his poo yesterday, it had some soft stuff and some nice looking, normal stuff.  This morning, I saw him going.  When he was done, I checked it out.  It’s way better than it was. So, all this time it wasn’t his intestines, it was his teeth. I’m hoping he starts putting on some weight and taking better care of himself. | Permalink

disneystuff 08:50 AM - 05/31/2011 The topic: You know we went to Disneyland last week ---------------------------------------------- Rode Star Tours 3D (glad we did, no way is it worth an hour’s wait or longer).  It was a passholder preview. Well, Ariel’s Adventure Under the Sea opens to the public on Friday, June 3rd. We got emails last week letting us know that today and tomorrow, if you’re an annual passholder, all you need is your pass, you don’t need anything else to check it out. So, we’re going tomorrow.  *lol* Last year, the year I rolled the car, Brian had wanted to go up at least once a month. Didn’t happen. Wanted to do that again this year, but we missed out on March and April.  Not sure why, work?  Me not feeling good? Whatev. Anyway, we’re back on track. With our choice being May 31 or June 1, we went with June, giving us that month to put on our fun resumes. I’ll take pictures. | 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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