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      Tuesday, October 04, 2005

02:57 PM - 10/04/2005 The topic: I am so stinking ---------------------------------------------- TIRED! I’ve been cleaning since mid September.  I now have one, just one major labor intensive thing to do.  And that’s wash the office floor (if you look at the catcam right now, you’ll see the chair is out of whack).  And once this is done, the big stuff be done. Yeah, I’ll have to vacuum and dust again, but nowhere near what I’ve already done. The linen closets have been straightened out The worst of the kitchen cupboards has been straightened out My bathroom has been cleaned, including the mirror The floors have all been washed, from the laundry room to the office The windows, doors and screens are all clean The ceiling fans are clean I finally got some DVD holders for the DVDs stacked on the entertainment center; they're now nice and neat and in alphabetical order Garage is vacuumed Furniture has been shampooed My cat curio cabinet has been cleaned, glass and mirrors sparkling, as well as all of the kitties that reside within; the crystal looks awesome in the light After I wash the floor in here, I think I’ll take a shower, then a nice long nap.  I deserve it. | Permalink

      Thursday, October 06, 2005

03:49 PM - 10/06/2005 The topic: Old cats ---------------------------------------------- Hey, if you have an old cat who doesn’t get around much, be sure to check his or her claws on a regular basis.  I hadn’t checked Annie’s in a while and imagine my dismay to see that three of them were actually touching the pad of her paw.  I was lucky, I got out the nail trimmer and clipped all three and they just fell off, but sometimes, they actually grow into the pad and surgery becomes necessary. One of her toes was a little more tender than the other two, but she’s doing fine today. By the way, I ordered another Drinkwell brand water fountain for the office.  The one I got from CostCo didn’t hold nearly enough water, it needed to be filled at least once a day.  When I ordered the new one, I saw that they now have 72 ounce reservoirs, so I ordered two more of those.  Now, all fountains are Drinkwells and all have the larger reservoirs.  Much more convenient. And Annie gives it two healthy paws up. | Permalink

      Wednesday, October 12, 2005

09:38 AM - 10/12/2005 The topic: It’s almost time ---------------------------------------------- We’ll be leaving tomorrow.  I’ve been cleaning since the middle of September and the house looks pretty darn good. Today I’ll be doing last minute laundry and last minute shopping, as well as typing up the instruction list. Not that that will take all that long, I just adjust the instructions from the previous year. The sitter came by yesterday with her daughter and we went over things.  Her daughter will be using the AeroBed that I got earlier this year, but have never used.  She’ll be using it in the exercise (extra) room, since that’s the only room that’s cat free. And we’ve found anything on the floor or ground is a target for a cat to mark as territory.  Honestly, I felt much of the stress leave me the longer Becky was here.  I know the cats will be in good hands. My mom will be coming by later today with my birthday prezzie (my actual birthday is Sunday).  Kewl. I also have to go by the bank and cash my Citibank rewards check and the swing by a RadioShack and get new batteries installed in two of my watches.  I’m bringing my fun Disney watches that either play music or light up.  Oh, and one is a Pooh and friends mood watch. *lol*  That should be fun.  The face of the watch changes color to match my mood.  Heh heh heh….. I’ll be taking the laptop and I’ve got it set up so that the camera works.  When I’m in the room, I’ll be pointing it off of the balcony at the hotel.  The URL of the laptop cam is http://www.catcam.us/laptop.  I’ve also installed a little chat, but don’t expect me to be there much.  *lol*  Maybe when we get back I will make it into a pop-up window and will be available for little chats on occasion.  Maybe not.  Ya just never know. Anyway, time to go brush my toofers and put another load in the machine.  If I don’t have a chance to post again, I’ll see you next Monday.  By the way, all of the cameras will be shut down.  I don’t want the sitter to have to mess with them. | Permalink

      Friday, October 14, 2005

07:57 AM - 10/14/2005 The topic: Well, we’re here! ---------------------------------------------- We didn’t leave San Diego until almost 2:30.  Had some last minute stuff to do.  It would have gone quicker, but one of the cats had puked on the clean comforter on Wednesday morning and I left those until yesterday to wash.  Just in case someone puked on them again.  I could have just put clean ones on, God knows we’ve got a million extras, but I didn’t want a big pile of laundry waiting for me when I get home on Monday. It was kind of sad leaving the cats, especially Annie and DeeJay.  Before we left, I took Annie outside and she kind of ran all over the yard, as long as I was by her.  She meowed a little and sniffed the grass, even ate a few blades.  She squatted and I watched her pee and it was good.  I’d had a note for her to get the amitriptyline, but from the volume of her urine output and the fact that it wasn’t bothering her, I scratched that notation from the instructions. I started getting the kitties in when Brian had all of our luggage packed.  I didn’t want them getting upset with all of these suitcases and boxes being taken out the front door (and Handsome has been very vigilant when the front door is open; he jetted out earlier this week when my mom came over to pick up some stuff).  Poor Little Bit was very unhappy, she wanted to go back outside.  Not that she does much when she’s out there, she just stays in one spot for the majority of the day, in the cathouse under the plum tree.  But she likes it there, she’s comfortable and safe.  I had to shut the glass doors because I thought if she couldn’t smell outside, she wouldn’t be so adamant about going there.  She has one of the most pitiful cries I’ve ever heard. We brought so much stuff that the back of the Escape was packed full. The ride up took us a little under two hours, which was good.  The bellboy (what an odd word) filled one of the carts they have with our luggage.  I asked Brian how much he was supposed to get tipped.  I thought he’d told me before it was a dollar a bag. He said yesterday it should be two dollars for big bags.  Then he looked at the pile on the cart, laughed and said “this should probably be fifty”. They “upgraded” our room.  I say “upgraded” because they moved us to a room that is more expensive. But I don’t think it was any better than what we originally reserved.  I really wanted to have a room overlooking Downtown Disney, I thought it would be way cool for the webcam.  As it is, we overlook the roof of Soarin’ Over California, the Monorail and have a straight shot at Tower of Terror.  So far, we can’t see much of the Grizzly Peaks area, which we were told it overlooked.  *sigh* Then when we started to get situated in our room, we realized it hadn’t had much done to it. There was a used towel on the bed, towels in the basket in the bathroom, stuff in the toilet (but I’m starting to think it doesn’t always wash toilet paper down properly) and a lack of handtowels. And the refrigerator wasn’t here. We were running late, just dumped our stuff wherever in the room once it got here and we were off to Granville’s.  I had chicken for dinner, it was pretty good.  The potato stack wasn’t impressive. The size was, the taste wasn’t and it wasn’t hot. After dinner, we came back to the room and I had the damnedest time getting the computer hooked up.  I called down to the front desk, they transferred me to the computer guy who isn’t on site and he told me to call the front desk and get another ethernet cable.  While I was waiting for them to show, I rebooted and VOILA!  High speed internet access. And here I am.  I really need a booster seat because the desk is much higher than my chair and my right arm is starting to get tired from being in the position.  So, I’m going to be ending this entry soon and when it gets lighter (it’s early, Brian’s still asleep as I type this) I’ll resituate it as I can.  The cable only goes so far, so I’m stuck at this desk. I’m going to go make coffee now, then start a little nesting since we’ll be here until Monday and I would rather not be tripping over luggage and boxes and coolers. Oh, and I really need to get a mousepad today.  I find it hard to navigate with the touchpad and my mouse doesn’t work well on the glass surface of the table. | Permalink

      Wednesday, October 19, 2005

03:50 PM - 10/19/2005 The topic: Okay, here’s the thing ---------------------------------------------- I’m sick! We got home Monday afternoon, around four.  Unpacked, washed the floors in the kitchen and laundry room (for some reason, they were very sticky upon our return).  Put clean sheets on the bed. Woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat, a cough, runny nose, a headache and just overall felt like crap.  I spent a lot of yesterday sleeping (but I still managed to get all of the laundry from the trip done).  I feel a little better today, but I think I may be pushing it. So, I’m going to go take a nap soon. Oh, I had a great time at the Disney resort.  A really wonderful time. | Permalink

catstuff 04:30 PM - 10/19/2005 The topic: Happy “Gotcha Day”, Chandler! ---------------------------------------------- You might remember the tale of a kitty cat, found in a San Diego yard, when the heavy rains started in October 2004.  This skinny furry black kitty cat was starving and ate every bit of food I put out, although he ran when he saw me.  After being here for a couple of days, I finally was able to get a hold of him, from under the deck of the doghouse on the bank. And he’s been here ever since.  He’s come a long way from the cat who tried to eat a toy mouse because he thought it was food.  A cat who spent his time in hiding, under a sofa or a bed.  You’d never know how he was back then, if you saw him now.         | Permalink

      Saturday, October 22, 2005

otherstuff 11:23 AM - 10/22/2005 The topic: Me and colds ---------------------------------------------- Colds always, always, always end up hitting me with a bad cough.  The sore throat usually only lasts a day or so.  And the headaches I get are a result of the cough. But the cough just lasts and lasts and lasts.  And it’s much worse at night.  And nothing we’ve got in the house seems to help much.  Triaminic is a joke.  I did find that Robitussin cough and decongestant stuff Brian got for my last cold.  I started taking it last night.  I did more than the recommended dosage.  It’s supposed to last up to four hours.  Ha. Try three hours and forty-five minutes.  Then the coughing starts.  It can be so bad, that my head starts throbbing.  For some reason, it’s not so bad in the daytime, which is good, but it’s rough at night. Brian went to the shop today, he needs to get the tractor stuff finished, done, over with, so he can get started for serious getting the property ready for a new home.  And he took with him a note that I wrote this morning after looking up the Robitussin syrup that has always worked the best for me. Maximum Strength Cough for Adults. Let’s hope I can get more than three hours and forty-five minutes of sleep at a time. | Permalink

catstuff 06:28 PM - 10/22/2005 The topic: Lumps.  They’re scary. ---------------------------------------------- A couple of days ago, I found two lumps on Oliver’s neck.  One a pea sized lump, the other, pretty close to the bigger one, the size of a BB.  Whenever I touch them or squeeze them, he starts scratching at them.  But I can’t find any sign of a scab.  Then, this morning, on Georgie, I found a lump at the bottom of his left ear.  Pea sized. Hard. I made an appointment for Oliver to see the vet on Tuesday.  I’ll have to call and add Georgie to the visit. So many things.  Squamous cell carcinoma, lipoma, mast cell tumors…. I hate this. Could ya start saying a few prayers for them or send healthy thoughts their way? Thanks. | Permalink

      Sunday, October 23, 2005

otherstuff 09:23 AM - 10/23/2005 The topic: *koff*  *koff* ---------------------------------------------- Gah.  I hate this.  Brian was gone all day yesterday, working on the bucket for his tractor.  Today, he’s gone, having gotten new tires for one of the pieces of equipment last week.  They were delivered to some shipping company in Santee and today, he’s hauling them to his bro’s, then he’s going to the property to check for mice. And I sit here hacking and coughing. I made Swiss steak for dinner last night and when he called to tell me he still had a couple of hours of work to do, I meanly didn’t tell him I’d cooked.  Which actually worked out, because he would have left early, to come home to eat and he wouldn’t have gotten to the point he was wanted to reach.  But I made him do the dishes. He did bring me the cough syrup.  I waited until about nine to take my dose.  The directions say not to take more than four doses in a twenty-four hour period.  We watched the movie “After the Sunset” with Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson, then turned in. And once I was laying down, the coughing began.  I finally said “f—- it”, got out of bed, went into the kitchen and got another dose of the Robitussin.  Yeah, you’re not supposed to take more than four doses in a twenty-four hour period, but it doesn’t say you can’t take them all at once.  And if I had to, I had to.  I needed sleep. It worked. I do have to say I’ve got more sympathy for little Ciara’s problem right now.  She’s been sneezing up a storm, strings of green snot flying around her face. Brian and I have both been wiping her little nose and face.  It’s funny, we both have the urge to hold the tissue to her face and say “blow”.  | Permalink

catstuff 09:35 AM - 10/23/2005 The topic: DeeJay, the king of poop ---------------------------------------------- DeeJay eats.  As skinny as he is, he eats.  It’s not thyroid, he’s been getting skinny since his colon was removed back in December 1999. And with his eating, he also had many stools.  And for the most part, they’re healthy looking.  Sometimes, maybe due to his kidney disease, they get a little hard.  Since the NutriCal gave him the runs earlier this year, I figured I’d try giving him a little teeny, tiny bit on the tip of my finger. It worked.  This morning I found a small little turd in the laundry room.  Brian was getting dressed after having taken his shower.  I was back in the office, dorking around with the computer. I got up to go ask Brian a question and stepped in something nasty.  I turned on the hallway light.  Oh, crap!  Crap!  I hopped into my bathroom and stuck my foot in the tub and ran hot water over it and soaped it up well.  Rinsed off, then hobbled out into the office to get some papertowels.  I cleaned up the stool, then got a wipe and cleaned the rest of it off of the floor. The NutriCal worked.  And DeeJay was just as happy as could be.   | Permalink

otherstuff 09:49 AM - 10/23/2005 The topic: To add insult to injury (or cold) ---------------------------------------------- Brian mentioned that these are the kinds of weather days you like to stay home and do nothing.  (Yeah, and cater to your sick wife.)  The cloudy, cool days of late autumn. So why can’t he stay home? I told Brian, as he got ready to walk out the door, the next time he’s sick, I’m going to spend the day at the movies.  He said “but there’s never anything you want to see”.  I said “I don’t care”. And I will.  I hate being sick. | Permalink

      Monday, October 24, 2005

otherstuff 10:17 AM - 10/24/2005 The topic: You’ve heard the saying “I feel like crap”? ---------------------------------------------- Well, I think crap feels better than me. So, I’ve been taking it easy since we got home a week ago.  Do the minimal things.  Laundry, litterboxes, keeping the kitchen clean.  I’ve been resting. Last night, around seven, after dinner, Brian says “you should take the cough medicine now, then another dose right before you go to bed”.  I think this is a good idea.  I take the cough medicine. Then, before we went to bed, I took another dose.  Oh, my God, I was bouncing off of the walls.  I was wired.  I also consider that this stuff has some sort of diuretic in it, as I have to pee every half hour or so.  And my stomach was muy upset. I got up around ten thirty and took an acid reducer.  I laid down on the sofa, waiting for it to take effect.  I finally went back to bed.  Where I laid there with my mind racing.  Then I’d have to pee.  And for some reason, Brian couldn’t get to sleep either.  Both of us were having a problem with being hot, then being cold, then being hot.  The plethora of cats on the bed didn’t help, I’m sure.  At one point, sometime after midnight, I heard Brian in the kitchen.  He took some Excedrin PM.  I was afraid to take anything, because of the weird way I was feeling.  Then around 3:30 this morning, the hacking started again.  I got out of bed and went into the family room, moved a couple of cats off of the loveseat. DeeJay was on the sofa and I did not want to disturb him, because if I did, I know he’d want to lay by my head and stand close enough to pull my hair.  Didn’t matter.  He realized I was in the room and he left the sofa and came over to the loveseat and stood on my pillow, pulling my hair.  This really annoys me.  I got up from the loveseat and moved to the sofa.  I had to displace a cat, I think it was Katie.  I got comfy and DeeJay made his way back to me.  Grrr…..  But this time, he settled down by my feet, which was okay.  I woke up around four thirty and I let the cats out.  Ahh…relief at last.  Most of the cats dashed outside.  I had a pretty bad headache by now and I took three Excedrin extra strength.  I fell back asleep on the sofa (I really didn’t want to go back to bed and disturb Brian, since he has to go to work).  When I woke up, the headache was gone, but I really feel hungover. I don’t want to be sick, I don’t want to be sick, I don’t want to be sick, I don’t want to be sick, I don’t want to be sick. Take this cold and shove it.  Today is day seven and that’s more than enough. | Permalink

      Tuesday, October 25, 2005

catstuff 12:35 PM - 10/25/2005 The topic: Whew!  We’re healthy! ---------------------------------------------- Last night, I rummaged through the kitchen cupboard for some other type of cold remedy.  I found some Thera-Flu, which I absolutely hate the taste.  Icky, gross, lemony tasting.  What we had came in two varieties, regular and non-drowsy.  I went with the regular.  It worked.  I woke up once, around three, coughed a bunch, rolled over and went back to sleep. When I got up this morning, my head was all stuffy and I had a horrendous headache, but I wasn’t coughing and I had slept pretty much through the night. It was good. I had to make out the payroll and Brian’s lunch, then take a shower.  I tried drying my hair somewhat, but didn’t make much progress and time was running short.  I got dressed, got the carriers out, putting them both on the bed.  Oliver was in the window and he purred when I got him down and put him in the carrier.  I found Georgie on one of the one story condos in the living room, under one of the end tables.  I carried him into the bedroom and put him in the carrier.  I went outside and opened the back of the Escape up, then went in and got both carriers and off to the vet’s we went. There wasn’t much of a wait, I guess there’d been one client before me (at least that’s what I was thinking, since I saw the vet in the back taking x-rays of a dog) and I waited about ten minutes after Oliver got weighed.  I ended up letting him back in the carrier because he kept wanting to check out the examining room.  When the vet came in, he looked Ollie over, remarked that he’d gained five pounds since his last visit (“You’d better not let him get any heavier”).  I pointed out where the lumps were and the vet said he went right over them when he first looked Ollie over.  He did a needle aspirate of the lump and it came back a sebaceous cyst.  Good deal, nothing horrible. He remarked on what a nice cat Oliver was.  Oliver rewarded him with a purr. I put Ollie into the carrier and then got Georgie out of his.  Georgie was weighed in and I pointed out where the lump was on Georgie.  The vet felt it and said “interesting”.  He did a needle aspirate of it and said that if this was what he thought it was, it would be very easily taken care of.  And it was.  It was a “mature” sebaceous cyst.  And the vet took care of it.  He deadened the area, Vanessa shaved it and the doc scraped the top of it, then squeezed it.  He said “watch this”. It was horrible.  Think the worst zit you ever squeezed and multiply that by about a thousand.  It wasn’t gooshy stuff that came out, it was dry and dark and icky.  He squeezed for a long time.  Finally, blood came out and he was done.  He did some digging with a special tool and got out the residual gunk, then cleaned it out with a big cotton swab.  He put some sort of ointment on it and the bump was gone. He’ll have a fair sized scab, but it will no longer be a worry. So, good news.  The bumps weren’t bad news.     Georgie   Oliver My boys.  My sweet, sweet boys. The vet asked me who was the most affectionate of all of the cats.  Hard to tell.  I didn’t have an answer.  It just depends on the time of day and the mood of the cat.  So, he asked me who’s the least affectionate.  I could answer that easily.  The ferals.  Little Bit, for sure.  I’ve never touched her. It was a good vet visit. | Permalink

      Friday, October 28, 2005

catstuff 07:09 PM - 10/28/2005 The topic: Oh, I want that! ---------------------------------------------- Do you ever see something you think your kitties would just love?  And you buy it, bring it home, set it up and they ignore it?  And you think “damn it, I should have just brought home an empty box”? Well, last week I was perusing this catalog and I saw a heated pet bed for only $14.99.  And not only was it heated, it only heats up when there’s a kitty cat laying on it.  And it only gets up to 109?.  The sounded like a fine buy to me.  And if they didn’t like it, no big loss. So, I ordered one. It got here yesterday afternoon.  I set it up. And lo and behold, the kitty cats liked it.  And it was almost eerie.  Everytime I checked, there was a different cat in it.  Almost as if they were telling each other what a nice thing it was ‘here, you try it out!’ So, this morning, I thought I’d take a few photos as the day went on.  I know I didn’t get all of the different cats. I saw Katie in it first thing this morning and this afternoon, before I vacuumed, there was one of the younger black cats in it.  Maybe Joey. But I did get a couple of pictures (clicking on a picture will take you to the full sized image).      Opie   Marco   Mickey   Mystie   Ross   Red (with Marco looking on) So, since it’s such a hit with the kitties, I ordered three more.  One to set up elsewhere and two for the future.  Great price, great product and something that will actually get used.  Gotta take advantage of that.  Everything for the kittycats, you know. | Permalink

      Monday, October 31, 2005

otherstuff 08:46 AM - 10/31/2005 The topic: I’m feeling MUCH better ---------------------------------------------- I feel almost human again.  Friday, Brian came home from work early because he’s sick.  But I don’t think he has what I had.  I think he has the flu, I had a cold. He didn’t feel bad enough to stay home, so we went to CostCo and got all of the stuff on our CostCo list (milk, eggs, cheese, you know, things we need) and came home.  I got everything put away and we took it easy for the rest of the night. One of the things we got was a different kind of cold/flu medicine, this was Tylenol brand.  I took the Nighttime version, which was supposed to last six hours.  The first thing it did was to really upset my stomach.  It felt so bad, it was hard to stand up.  I mixed a little baking soda with warm water and drank that down.  I was able to burp a couple of times, which released the gas that was in my intestines.  It was nasty. Then, three and a half hours after taking it, I woke up.  Coughing.  This coughing fit was the worst I’d had since I got this damned cold.  It went on and on and it hurt and my mind was running through the various ways of cutting out that part of my throat that just kept getting irritated.  Saturday morning, I told Brian I’m not taking anything else for this cold.  I’ll take a cough drop, but no more of that crap that is supposed to help me sleep.  The cure was worse than the disease, I swear.  So, nothing Saturday night and nothing last night.  And I’m feeling almost human once again. You know, when we go on our annual long Disney trip, it takes me a couple of weeks to recharge, to get back to a place where I can actually carry on a conversation with another human being, someone I’m not married to.  Now I’m at a place where I can start to recharge.  *sigh*  Two weeks behind schedule. | Permalink

catstuff 10:49 AM - 10/31/2005 The topic: Cat origami ---------------------------------------------- These cats get themselves in the oddest positions and they seem to be comfortable. Wally settled in to the cat condo that’s by the fireplace in the family room.  His leg sticking out made me laugh.  Such a silly boy.     | Permalink

catstuff 03:30 PM - 10/31/2005 The topic: Sick kitty ---------------------------------------------- Well, Handsome is sick again.  He started getting bad on Saturday.  Having a hard time breathing, lots of drool, over all just feeling like crap. Saturday and Sunday night I put him in my bathroom with the vaporizer going.  I put down some towels on the counter and he stayed there all night.  I also gave him some food (there is always a crock full of clean water in there).  Last night, he was worse than Saturday and wouldn’t eat anything at all.  I did get him to lap up some tuna water, but he hasn’t had anything to eat since.  Yesterday I noticed that he was dehydrated, so I tried giving him fluids, but he fought me on the second 60cc.  He only got 60cc total.  Today, he’s not as feisty and I was able to get 120cc into him.  It was in the yard (it’s hot today, right now, it’s 89?) and he just laid there with little resistance. Yesterday I also bought some Little Noses children’s decongestant nose drops and didn’t give him any until today.  I was told it’s easier to drop them in the eyes than the nose.  The woman who told me this said her cat’s ompthamologist explained this to her.  She tried the drops on herself before giving them to her cat and said that they dried her eyes out a little, but it wasn’t too bad.  So far, I’ve given him two doses. He got the fluids about forty-five minutes ago.  I hope they help him.  If he’s not showing any improvement by tomorrow, I’ll most likely take him to the vet.  The Little Noses did help, but he still isn’t eating anything (which could be because of the dehydration; my vet said that being dehydrated makes them feel really bad and they don’t feel like doing anything).  He did drink from one of the fountains outside this morning, cold, cold water. I also think he lost a tooth.  I found one in the condo I’d put him in after giving him the nose (eye) drops.  I checked most of the other kitty cats and they’ve got full smiles.  He doesn’t.  So, it probably was his.  Last Friday, I did a thorough vacuuming of the cat furniture and it wasn’t there then. *sigh* Could ya find a way to send some healing, healthy, get well thoughts his way?  Thanks.  | 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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