[ Home | All Archives ]

      Tuesday, May 06, 2003



11:22 AM - 05/06/2003

The topic: I need a break
----------------------------------------------

Tuesday, May 6, 2003 I need a break.  From my life.  From cats.  From laundry.  From cat pee. From kidney disease.  From ear polyps.  From worry.  I need a break. 

I had a bad scare Saturday with Lucky.  I thought we were losing her.  She couldn’t keep her balance.  I kept thinking back to Rusty.  Even though it wasn’t the full 48 hours, I gave her fluids in the afternoon.  That evening, I tried the Animax ear ointment that I had left over from the month before, for the infection in her ears.  Amazingly, Sunday morning she was doing great.  So typically cat.  You think their time is almost up and they bounce right back.  Right now, I’m thinking it was the ear ointment that helped so much.  It’s quite possible that her infection was so bad that we only knocked it down, we didn’t knock it out.  I got more Animax yesterday, but I’d like some imput from the vet (who wasn’t in the office yesterday).  She may need more antibiotics.  I’ve got a call in to the vet, I should hear back this morning.

This morning when I came into the office to turn on the computers, nothing worked.  There was no electricity.  This couldn’t be good.  Brian was up and I told him, he got dressed and went outside and the breaker was off.  He turned it on and we got power to the office.  I got everything up and running and was sitting here, reading my email and catching up on some of the forums I frequent.  I kept hearing this faint crackling noise.  It was coming from the other side of the room.  I narrowed it down to Brian’s side of the desk.  Sure enough, it was coming from the outlet under his side.  I quickly unplugged the cords and went into the bathroom where Brian was taking a shower.  I asked him which breaker it was, told him what I’d found.  I powered down (turned off) the computers and went outside and threw the breaker.  When Brian was dressed, he went out to the shop and grabbed a new outlet.  I had put towels down on the floor to keep him from getting dirty (the litter box had been there).

The screw in the outlet cover was so rusted out, he had a very difficult time getting it out of the wall.  He was not a happy camper.  He swore.  He swore a lot.  But he got it fixed and it didn’t take him too long.  While he was working, I fed Junior.  When he was finished, I went outside and turned the power back on to the office, got the computers up again.  We gave Junior his shot and I told Brian he should probably take another shower.  Not that he smelled bad to me, but I know it would bother him all day long.  Now, I have to cover the outlet with tape to keep more urine from getting into it.

Last Wednesday afternoon, we went to the chiropractor.  Sometime after I got home, I did something to my left leg.  I pulled a muscle in my calf.  We didn’t go walking the rest of the week so that I could rest my leg.  I didn’t get any housework done at all.  Saturday, it had finally started to feel better, but that night, I was watching Lucky and she was trying to jump up onto the stove.  Because of her balance problem, I was scared that she’d miss, so I started to run into the kitchen.  *POP*  I felt my calf muscle give out.  It still hurts, but not as badly as it did.  Brian was so sweet Saturday night.  He rubbed my calf with castor oil for almost an hour.  Put me to sleep.  Yesterday, I started to catch up on the laundry.  I want to finish it today.  I also have to wash the windows.  He put new glass in the windows in the family room and dining room yesterday.  It’s a lot lighter than what we had in.  He said it has some sort of gas in it to reflect the heat.  It’s supposed to be more energy efficient.  Well, the glass has been at his shop for almost a year and it needs to be cleaned really good.  Brian also ran a bead of silicone at the bottom of the glass so that the cat pee can’t soak in.  That will be a big help in keeping them clean.

Oliver had a great visit with the vet last week.  He’s doing so much better.  The vet took pictures of Oliver with the acupuncture needles in his back and leg to use at presentations.  I thought that was pretty neat.  I was telling Becky about it at the vet’s office yesterday (when I picked up the ear ointment for Lucky) and she said “that mean cat?”.  Oliver isn’t mean, he’s just misunderstood.  He bites for attention, not to be mean.  He did chase Mystie yesterday, though and I think he scratched her eye.  I put ointment in it and it’s doing better this morning.

The outfronts are doing well.  They are spending more time over here.  Even during the day.  It’s really nice.  SpotTee is getting better.  He’s walking much better and is holding his tail better than he had been.  We had to have little discussions with Repete, telling him to not pick on SpotTee, to not fight, that there’s no reason for it.  Brian had the conversation with him Saturday night and Repete obviously listened.  I do like seeing them here.  I know they are safer here than across the street.  Not much can get to them if they’re in the entry way.

Well, that’s about all for now.  I’ve got to take the first load from the washer and get it in the dryer.  Then go out and wash windows.

Have a great day.

      Friday, May 09, 2003



07:17 PM - 05/09/2003

The topic: The sun finally came out
----------------------------------------------

Friday, May 9, 2003  The sun finally came out today.  It seems like it’s been weeks since I’ve seen it.  It’s on the cool side, but it’s still very nice.  And with the sun, the gloom that’s been hanging around my head lifted.

Lucky is doing better.  It’s slow, but it’s happening.  I called the vet’s again Tuesday afternoon when I hadn’t heard back.  Elena talked to the vet and told me they’d have some more medicine ready for Lucky, just give them a few minutes.  I went down and was given Clavamox liquid and more Animax.  I’m to finish both tubes of the ointment and empty the bottle of Clavamox.  It usually does take about three days before you start to see any improvement, so today would be right for her.  She’s cruising around the house more today and I’ve seen her outside, too.  This is good.  She’s also wanted to be fed in the bathroom.

I weighed DeeJay Tuesday night after I gave him his fluids.  I know the fluids added to it, but he weighed a little over eight pounds.  This is great!  He hasn’t weighed this much in well over a year.  It does seem that when Oliver moved in, DeeJay started to live again.  For so long, he’d mostly just slept, but now, he’s walking around more and being more energetic.  Not a lot, but enough that it’s making a difference.  I do see him at the food bowl more often.

The ointment I was putting in Mystie’s eye wasn’t working very well.  I remembered the stuff I’d gotten when we first got Oliver and found it in my pet medicine drawer.  I wasn’t sure it was the right stuff, so I called the vet’s office and was told as long as it didn’t have steroids or another ingredient, it would be okay to use.  So, I did.  It did the job and her eye is almost back to normal.  She was sleeping in the office yesterday and I took this picture of her (she was on the office cam chair).

 



She looks like such an angel when she’s sleeping.

Oliver was a trooper at the chiropractor’s.  He actually rubbed against the doctor and tried to headbutt him.  I still can’t understand why I was told he “hates men”.  So far as I’ve seen, he doesn’t have a problem with males.

We didn’t walk at all this week because I thought it would be best for my leg.  So, I wasn’t too optimistic about my weight loss for the week.  As a matter of fact, I thought I’d probably gained a pound or two. Well, guess what?  I lost a pound.  I’ve lost a total of fifteen now.  Yay me!

The Bronco is up and running.  That’s so kewl.  Brian says it runs a lot better, too.  After he had the motor in, there was still a hitch in the getalong, so he took it to a mechanic to check it out.  Turns out there were a couple of sensors that were bad.  It was gone for two days and we got it back yesterday.  And he took it today to get gas in it.  He just got home and let me know the passenger window doesn’t work.  It will roll down (they’re power), but it won’t go back up.  He just left to go to Ford and pick up a new part.  He said he’d see me in about four hours.  Four hours!  Why?  Because he’s going to fix it tonight.  Because he’s “going to the property” tomorrow.  What!  Why?  I thought he was going to stay home this weekend.  Nope.  He’s not going to spend the night this weekend because we’re taking our moms out to breakfast Sunday.  *sigh*  Doodoo.

I ordered some more scent this week.  I got lilac, orange and sage.  The sage doesn’t smell at all like the other sage I bought.  I still haven’t heard anything from Susie’s Scents.  Like I really think I will.  I don’t think I’ll hear from her until she finds out I’ve made complaints against her.  Even so, every time UPS shows up, I have a little gleam of hope that maybe, just maybe, they’re bringing my candles.  I really wish I hadn’t liked her product so much.  Well, with Brian gone tomorrow, maybe I’ll make a candle or two using the new sage scent. 

I haven’t seen OC all day.  That happens every once in a while.  It’s not that he doesn’t show up, I just don’t see him when he’s here.  Little Bit is staying over here now for the most part. And she’s getting familiar enough with me that I can go out through the gate and she doesn’t jump down from her spot.  It’s really nice to see both her and KittyMeeze curled up together in the daytime.  Repete spends a lot of time on this side of the street, too.  I wish OC would.  Sometimes he does stay here, but not nearly as much as the other guys.  I’d feel better if he did stay here.

I’m almost caught up with the laundry.  I vacuumed today, with my cool new little Shark machine I got at Sears on sale.  That thing is wonderful.  It’s lightweight and does a good job of sucking up cat hair and cat litter.  The only thing is the cord is too short.  I should use the one I use with my big machine.  And I’m also almost caught up with paperwork.  I have to make copies, then I’ll be done.  That shouldn’t take too long and I’m going to start right now.

      Friday, May 16, 2003



06:28 PM - 05/16/2003

The topic: I smell funky
----------------------------------------------

Friday, May 16, 2003  I smell pretty funky right now.  I’ve been working in the yard.  By the pool, actually.  We only walked on Monday because Brian left early for work the rest of the week.  Well, not this morning.  Nothing was keeping me from walking alone, I just didn’t want to.  So, I figured I’d work in the yard.  I pulled weeds Monday and today, I started pulling grass.  Of course, I have help.  The young cats hang out while I’m digging in the dirt.  When little clods of dirt go flying, they do run off a little ways.  Chickens.

I’ve not been true to my life change (diet…*grin*) the past couple of weeks, but I’m still losing.  I lost a pound last week and I’ve lost a pound this week.  For a total of sixteen pounds lost.  If I’d been more active, I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the urge to nibble and I’d have burned more calories, resulting in more pounds taken off.  I have lost over 25% of what I want to lose, so that’s good.  I have another forty five to go.  But that’s not going to happen at a pound a week.  I have to get more active.  And getting more active will result in less time spent online.  It’s not like that would be a big deal.  It might be if I were doing things on my website, but I really haven’t done much to speak of there in quite a while.  I started actually turning off my surfing computer earlier this week.  I read a book, pulled those weeds, puttered around the house.  And I find I’m not really missing all that much by not being online.  It’s really kind of nice.  The computer with the cameras is still running, though.  But it’s a really suck computer for surfing.  All sorts of problems with images.  Most of them are x’d out the longer I’m surf.  It’s a real PIA, so I don’t use the Gateway for surfing much.

After I’d pulled the weeds Monday, I put my gloves out to dry (I’d watered before pulling and they got wet from the leaves).  They are a lavendar color and from the house, the color looked really nice against the weathered cedar fence.  I decided that I’d plant some flowers along the fence, for some brightness in the yard.  When I went to Wal-Mart yesterday, I got two dahlias, two giant daisys and a delphinius.  They’re very nice and I’m looking forward to getting far enough in my weeding to plant them.  You might see me down there working if you go to the backyard cam on the weather page.  Brian had planned on going to the Sticks this weekend, but the plans changed.  I didn’t realize this and started telling him what I was doing by the pool and what he got to do (there are some patches of grass that I won’t do because of spiders).  He said “well, I guess we can do that tomorrow.  I kind of thought maybe we’d go to Disneyland, but….”  I said “I’d rather get this done. ” And besides, I don’t think Disneyland would be a great idea right now because I pulled the nail all the way back on my little toe and it most likely would cause problems if I was walking on it too much.

Oliver had his last chiro/acupuncture yesterday and I left the office bloodied and bitten.  The vet put the first pins in Ollie’s legs, then Ollie’s back.  And he must have hit pay dirt, because Oliver went nuts.  I tried to calm him and he lashed out at me trying to get to his back.  He swiped at my face, getting my neck directly under my chin.  It kind of hurts today.  He also got my arm.  He ended up pulling out five of the six needles.  I was trying to calm him down after the vet left the office (the needles have to set for twenty minutes) and he bit my arm.  The bites and scratches on my arm don’t hurt, but the ones on my neck do.  *sigh*  I’m glad it was the last visit.  Oliver was pretty wound up the rest of the day.  He’s almost back to normal now, though.  Good thing.

Annie seems to be having another one of her episodes.  She was squatting lots this morning and I did find a little spot of urine that when I wiped it up, had some sort of icky red thing in it.  *sigh*  And at least twice today, I’ve had to run back into the office to get her out of a predicament with another cat.  Once, though, I didn’t see any other cat around, just Annie.  I started her back up on amitriptyline.  She’s pretty mellow right now.

We haven’t seen Angus around in a while.  KittyMeeze and Little Bit are staying over here more than they are across the street.  Truth be told, I haven’t seen them both across the street since the beginning of the week.  Repete hangs out in the yard where Munchkin used to live, but he does spend a little time over here.  I have seen OC, Repete and SpotTee coming down from the bank in the afternoon.  It’s possible they stay up there during the day.  I dunno.

Lucky is holding steady.  She does seem to be getting better, little by little.  She’s so darned skinny.  But she does eat and she’s got fair sized poops. 

What else…..you’d think in almost a week’s time, more would have happened.

I’m waiting for the weather to warm up so that we can get Benny his summer cut.  His mats are horrible and he absolutely refuses to let me either comb them out or cut them a little shorter.  I use a tiny manicure scissors and he’s having none of it.  He starts grabbing at my arm and biting or scratching.  That’s not acceptable.

Angel seems to be loosening up a bit.  Spending more time inside than in the garage.  I know that Lonee went through this and she’s at a point now where I can pet her most anywhere in the house she is. 

Richie and Opie still do the occasional bully thing and I think that’s one of Annie’s problems.  They like to tease her.  I get really frustrated with them.  Mystie can be pretty horrible about it, too. 

I think the tile floors are going to be a big hit this summer.  Even though it’s not as warm as it usually is by this time of the year, yesterday and today saw the temperature rise a bit.  I’m curious to see how many cats stay inside during the hot weather.  And I’m curious to see if our utility bill drops.  Right now, the house is staying cooler than it is outside.  There were days when it was warm, almost too warm while standing in the sun, but in the shade it was cool enough to have on long sleeves.  Being in the house was like being in the shade. 

I guess that’s it for now.  I really do smell bad, so I’m going to go take a shower.  The sweat felt good, though.  I hope I’m not too sore this coming weekend.  Oh, well, a great excuse to do nothing but read, I guess.

      Sunday, May 25, 2003



10:33 AM - 05/25/2003

The topic: Wow!
----------------------------------------------

Sunday, May 25, 2003 Wow!  What a lot I can get done when I’m not sitting in front of the computer, surfing the internet.

I got most of the grass pulled at the side of the pool, for one thing.  A week ago Saturday, Brian went down to the shop to change the oil in a couple of the trucks and while he was gone, I pulled weeds.  When he got home, we went shopping.  I’d gotten dahlias and snapdragons and another couple of plants that grow well in the sun (I know their name, I just can’t remember it right now) the previous week and we decided that I needed to plant more than the ones I already had.  Off to Home Depot and Wal-Mart in Santee.  I didn’t see any plants I liked at either place, so off we went to the Wal-Mart in El Cajon, off of highway 8.  They have a much bigger selection of garden stuff there.  We got six more fair sized plants. 

Then Sunday, he went to Ranchita and I went back to work in the yard pulling that infernal grass.  The day was warm and I had on a tank top and I got majorly sunburned.  Even the part in my hair got too much sun.  But I made a lot of headway on the grass.  Finally, by Monday evening, I’d gotten most of the grass pulled and the plants put down.  But I still had quite a bit of empty space left.  I needed more plants. 

Tuesday, I had an appointment for one of my bi-yearly teeth cleanings.  I figured after I left the dentist’s office, I’d go down to Rite-Aid and check out the Whiskas food they had (we got a flyer in the mail, 4 cans for .88).  At the dentist’s I had a great checkup.  Nothing new, my gums are even getting better.  Since there’s no sign of worsening gum disease (when I was single, I didn’t go to doctors very often and when I finally went after we got married, it had been 23 years since my last dentist visit and I had a few cavities, but some pretty scary gum disease; all four quadrants were planed which wasn’t pleasant, but my gums have only gotten better with proper care and checkups) and the x-rays didn’t show any problems (these were the first full mouth x-rays taken since 1994) I was free to go.  And off to Rite-Aid I went.

Well, the cat food wasn’t anything to write home about, pretty disappointing to be honest.  I figured I’d walk down to Albertson’s and see what they had available.  But in front of Rite-Aid, they had flowers.  Flats and flats of small flowers.  All sorts of flowers.  And they were four for five dollars.  Not a bad price at all.  I got twenty of them.  My plan was to put them down around the larger plants and hope that they would all spread so there would be a lot of color along the fence.  A lot of color.  Reds and blues and purples and pinks and fuschias and yellows and oranges and whites.  And green.  Of course, green.  When I was inside the store, I saw that they also had garden statuary on sale.  Yeah, I know, how hokey, but come on.  It’s fun!  I got a toad on a piece of wood, a bunny and a squirrel holding a nut.  I also picked up two little Dutch windmill pinwheels.  I packed the back of the Bronco and went down to Albertson’s where I found the Whiskas (you can’t believe the amount of different foods I’ve gotten with the hope that Lucky would eat a little more) three cans for a buck.  I got eightteen of them.

Then I came home and unloaded the Bronco.  Little Ciara has gotten wise to the side gate and she almost slipped out while I was carrying the flats of flowers in.  Grrr…...

 


before


I talked to my mom Wednesday morning and told her about the flowers I’d gotten.  She said “you know, there are six plants in each of those packages.  You’ve got a hundred and twenty plants to put down; that’s a lot.”  No, I didn’t realize that.  Whoa!  Anyway, by Wednesday night, I had all the flowers down.

 


after



In the second photograph, you can see the drain that Brian put in when he did the pool so many years ago.  I have to say that getting it cleaned out was one of the more frustrating things I did.  I tried hosing it out, but the concrete had cracks in it where the ground had settled and water kept pooling up in front of the fantail palm.  This was nasty dirty water and the cats kept drinking it.  For the most part, I don’t think that would have been much of a problem, but Sammy and DeeJay have very sensitive digestive systems and it didn’t set well with either of them.  It took some doing and I was finally able to get it cleaned out and the water runs fairly smoothly under the fence into the yard behind us.  (That’s the only water their yard will see this summer, you can count on that.  Such a nice property, too.  It’s really a shame they don’t keep up with it better.  For a while, there was a running joke here in the house that you can tell when they’re getting ready to have a party; they water the lawn the week before.  Yeah, that should green it right up.  Not.)

Like I said, by Wednesday night, I had all 130 plants in the ground (one of the six packs of alyssum only had five plants).  I had to move three that I’d gotten from Wal-Mart.  They said that they were for full sun, but the full sun just beat them down.  I moved them to the corner by the fantail palm, where they’d get more shade than sun.  I’m hoping I don’t lose them.  Brian and I were out looking at them Thursday night and I mentioned that I hoped the plants would all make it.  He said that he figured I’d be lucky if twenty-five percent didn’t die.  Twenty-five percent!  I responded that I hoped none would die.  He said that if none died, that wouldn’t be luck, that would be work.  Well, no duh.  I still have to water them this morning.  What’s kind of nice is since I got them all planted, the weather has cooled off considerably.  Last weekend we were in the high eighties, this weekend it hasn’t been much over seventy and the marine layer isn’t burning off until mid afternoon.

So, without further ado, here are some photos of my hard work.

 



 



 



 



 



 


Sammy checks out one of the flowers



 


The cats also like the new look



Of course, the snails and slugs have joined us.  I ordered some “Sluggo” slug and snail killer yesterday.  It’s biodegradable and even more important, pet friendly.  I can also use it on the catnip garden and vegetable plants.

I thought it would be very nice to have the weekend off, no planting, no cleaning, no laundry.

Thursday afternoon, I vacuumed and washed some of the walls in the family room, and used the Floormate in the bedroom, family room, my bathroom and the hallways.  I had washed the runners for the bedroom previously and I put those down.  The bedding was fresh, the bedroom was dusted and it was a nice room.  We still had been having the problem with one of the cats peeing on the pillows.  I still wasn’t sure which cat was doing it.  I liberally sprayed the No-Pee stuff and I thought I’d be safe.  Not so.  After nine Thursday night, I saw that some cat had peed on Brian’s pillow.  I was so frustrated at this point that I started yelling and I ripped all of the clean bedding from the bed.  There was a serious spot of urine on the mattress pad.  I went into the garage and got the Little Green Clean machine, heated water and filled the reservoir.  I washed the mattress and put down the clean mattress pad (I’m really glad we’ve got two and I’m really glad that was one of the first things I washed Thursday morning; I’d had to change it Wednesday, due to cat urine on the pillows).  I was so angry.  For some reason, DeeJay kept jumping up on the bed and I kept putting him back on the floor.  His timing was incredibly bad.  Brian helped me make the bed, but I was irritated and he couldn’t move fast enough for me.  I was in a mood and it wasn’t a good time to be in the same room with me, believe it or not.  I was so frustrated that I actually declared the bedroom a cat free zone when we weren’t in there.  That lasted until the morning. 

Ah, the morning.  One thing I made sure I’d washed were all of the covers on the sofas in the family room.  And what did I see, so early Friday morning?  Well, I found cat puke.  That completely went from the middle of the sofa, onto the arm and all over the pillow.  At 5:45, Friday morning, I started my first load of laundry.  I did laundry all day long.  The only time the washer wasn’t running was when I was either loading or unloading and the twenty minutes I spent in the shower. Nine or ten loads.  That’s quite a bit for a house with no children. I have a habit of filling the laundry basket and just putting it in the exercise room if I’m not in the mood to fold laundry.  I had three loads there to fold, along with all of the stuff I was in the process of laundering.  Brian had mentioned getting a big piece of plastic and just covering the bed with it.  I found an old vinyl tablecloth and used that over the pillows on the bed.  So far, so good.  No cat has peed on them since Thursday night.  And I think I figured out who the culprit is.  Through the process of elimination, I came up with Mickey.  I had thought maybe it was Oliver, but he was outside on the most recent assault.  Then I thought maybe it was George, but it wasn’t.  He sprays to mark, he doesn’t flat out urinate on stuff.  I started Mickey on amoxicillan Friday, in case he’s got a bladder infection.  He’s definitely not having a problem going, though.

We’ve not seen Angus in weeks now.  Sometimes the food is eaten way down, but more often, there’s leftovers in the morning.  I know this has happened before, but I still worry.  I hope he’s still alive and well.  Little Bit and KittyMeeze are still spending a lot of time here during the day.  And I think Little Bit is starting to think “safe place” about our property when she’s frightened.  I saw her in Old Yeller’s yard this morning and something scared her, she ran up their driveway to the street, up the curb and into our yard, under one of the vehicles.  I don’t know where they are right now, though.  I saw the Little Man out washing one of the boats yesterday.  I think the cats at one point were living in one of the boats so I’m sure it wasn’t a fun job.  I surely wish they’d just live here, ya know?

Yesterday, we went out to an early breakfast.  When we got home, I got some more stuff in the washer (I can’t even believe that I can’t catch up on it), sheets this time.  After they were done, I got one of the slip covers in the living room in the machine and used my Little Green Clean machine to wash some of the bad spots on the loveseat.  I also cleaned the side and back of Brian’s recliner in the family room.  Places that the cats like to mark.  Then I finished a book I’d started earlier in the week.  I didn’t do much else the rest of the day.  I’d kind of wanted to lay by the pool, but as I mentioned, it was a little on the cool side.  So, I stayed inside and read.  I started and finished Stephen King’s “From a Buick 8” that I got last year.  I read three books last week, even after all of that housework and yardwork I did.  Amazing how much I can do if I get off of the internet, isn’t it? 

I lost another two pounds, too!  That’s a total of eighteen now.  I’ve really had the munchies bad, though and that’s not good.  We did go out to dinner Friday night, to Boll Weevil.  I had fish and chips.  I gave Brian probably a quarter of my “chips”.  And we went to breakfast yesterday morning, where I’ve gotten really good at eating only half of my food.  I was hoping that two ‘good’ meals would help alleviate this wanting to continuously eat, but it hasn’t.  It’s a good thing we don’t have a bunch of crap in the house to eat, otherwise I’d be eating it.

I guess that’s about it for now.  The cats are all doing well, for the most part.  Sammy had the runs, but I think that’s from the water in the little drain.  There have been a few spats, nothing major that I can think of right now.  DeeJay is a little puny, but I think that also has to do with the dirt water.  He’s got a pretty good appetite, fought me last night getting fluids, the bum.  Kirby has been a little feisty, I don’t know what that’s about, I hope it passes soon.  Mickey has been a little more vocal than usual, but maybe that has something to do with the urinary thing.  Ciara has been more affectionate than usual, rubbing against my hands and demanding to be held and loved.  Lonee is spending lots more time in the living room now.  Angel is venturing out more often.  Jackson has pulled off most of his mats (I fleetingly thought of putting them up for auction as “kitty toupees” but threw them out instead) and he’s looking odd.  I made an appointment for Benny for this coming Tuesday to get his summer lion cut.  Richie, Opie, and Daniece are spending lots of time down by the pool now.  Rolling in the dirt, coming into the house and sleeping on the clean sofa covers.  Pete is letting me pick him up more often.  He doesn’t mind being in my arms and having his back and head stroked.  Of course, he’s always able to jump down at any point, which I think makes him more comfortable.  Autumn has gone into a hide mode.  I have to actively look for her at least twice a day, once in the morning and once at night.  Sometimes I’m lucky and she’ll peer down from the rafters when she hears her name being called or she’ll be doing her meatloaf imitation on one of the runners next to the bed.  (I’ve noticed she likes to look at herself in the wardrobe mirror door.)  Katie still looks scared when I put my hand out to pet her (she’s really strange sometimes) but is amenable at times to being held.  She’ll purr and do the biscuit thing on my arm. 

Well, off to water the flowers.  Have a great weekend!

      Friday, May 30, 2003



03:53 PM - 05/30/2003

The topic: Summer is getting closer
----------------------------------------------

Friday, May 30, 2003  I can tell because there are more warm days than cool.  I laid out one day this week, was going to do the other side the next day, but the weather went cool.  *sigh*  I want to tan up this year.  Of course, once I get it going, I will supplement with some tan in a bottle. 

Four of the plants didn’t make it.  Three were the big daisies.  They didn’t do well in the sun at all.  I tried replanting them, but they just weren’t strong enough.  And one of the smaller plants I’d gotten died, too.  I was having a problem with snails and slugs, like I mentioned in my last entry, but I couldn’t wait for delivery of the killer.  So, I called around town and found that Home Depot carried an animal friendly killer.  This stuff takes a couple of days to work, but work it does.  The cats thought it was a treat and tried munching on it.  Yeah, I know it said “pet friendly” but I sure didn’t want to push my luck.  But nobody got hurt and the snails got dead and the plants can live happily ever after.

I lost another two pounds this week, bringing my total to twenty pounds.  That’s pretty nice.  I’ve gone down a size in pants.  Good thing that I saved my old ones.

I finally got Droncit for Oliver. The other afternoon he was on Brian’s desk and I saw a worm coming out of his butt.  I called the vet’s office and picked up the meds the next day.  Gave them to him that night.

Benny got his fur cut Tuesday and he’s so much happier.  He so happy he kneads when he walks.  *lol*  Becky, who did the cut, told me that some of the mats were so tight that they were really hurting him.  So, she lightly masked him down (sedated him) so that he wouldn’t be in so much pain.  I guess next year I won’t wait so long.  I’ll have him done as soon as the mats start appearing.  It would be so much easier if he’d just let me comb him.  Maybe if I start now, while his fur is short, he’ll get used to it.

Looking back, this has been a really quiet week.  I made arrangements to take the car in and have the CD player removed, which was supposed to be done today, but I got it to work, so I didn’t have to go. 

Ah, Little Bit is back in heat.  I think it’s winding down because there’s not so much caterwauling.  She found that she’s safer in one of the cathouses out front.  The boys can’t get around her to do their thing.  Of course, the boys are guarding the cathouse, just in case she tries to get out.  I dropped some dry food in for her, I hope she eats it.  I hope she isn’t already preggers, but I’m sure she probably is.  We have to renew our efforts to get her trapped.  I could probably do it now, while she’s in the cathouse.  Leave the trap by the cathouse door and when she comes out, it would be set.  I’ll have to see what Brian thinks.

And we still haven’t seen Angus in quite a while.  The other day it came to me where he might be.  Around the corner from the Little Man there were some people who recently moved.  It’s possible that Angus was their cat and they took him with them.  One of the people who lived there did come by before they left and asked if I’d seen another of their cats (I hadn’t).  I’m keeping my eye out for him and I have her phone number.  But I’m thinking it’s very possible that Angus belonged to them.

Well, that’s it for now.  Really nothing to speak of going on here.

All Archives


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.

May 2003
S M T W T F S
        1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31



website design by

©lisaviolet 1996-2024
Photographic images are the property of the photographer,and may not be copied, printed, or otherwise reproduced on any other site or used in any other publishing medium without the written permission of each individual photographer and kennel/cattery owner. Cathouse privacy policy.