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      Tuesday, November 02, 2010

otherstuff 12:19 PM - 11/02/2010 The topic: Damn you, Costco! ---------------------------------------------- Okay, so I buy meat and split it up, right? The last round steak I got is a major disappointment.  I’m used to nice thick pieces of meat, pieces that I can cut up into serving size portions for Swiss steak or cube for stroganoff or stew.  This last stuff is sliced thin, more like something you’d find on a sandwich!  Boo!  I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with it. Then they don’t have the twelve ounce paper bowls.  Just twenty ounce.  Twenty ounce is too big for serving the royal highnesses who live here.  Brian’s checking a different Costco today than the one in Santee, hopefully they’ll have the smaller bowls. They have them on their website for business delivery, but there’s a twenty dollar delivery charge. I’m hoping it’s just a matter of them running out of the smaller ones and that they’ll get them back in stock before too long. As for the meat?  I’m gonna put a suggestion in their suggestion box.  *sigh* Don’t I have the suckiest life of anyone you know?   | Permalink

catstuff 12:24 PM - 11/02/2010 The topic: I gave Mickey ---------------------------------------------- a Pepcid this morning.  His breath was pretty funky, I was thinking his tummy was bothering him. I think it helped, he’s been sleeping ever since. He’s feeling a lot more comfortable. I do wish he wouldn’t walk away when I’m giving him fluids, I hate getting them all over me. | Permalink

      Wednesday, November 03, 2010

otherstuff 03:54 PM - 11/03/2010 The topic: Pant, pant… ---------------------------------------------- It’s 97° in the shade, down by the pool in the semi-shade, it’s 117°.  This is just so wrong. | Permalink

      Sunday, November 07, 2010

otherstuff 12:47 PM - 11/07/2010 The topic: But you still haven’t answered our question! ---------------------------------------------- Last week, we had Arby’s.  We had gotten one of those coupon sheets in the mail.  We got four regular Arby’s sandwiches at $1.99 each.  Brian is a fan of walking in.  He’ll walk in instead of driving through.  After he placed the order, he heard the cook ask “is he using a coupon?” Well, he told me about it and we were both wondering if there’s a difference in the sandwich for the customer who pays full price vs the coupon.  And I went to the Arby’s website and asked via their form. This was the reply I got: Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the problem you encountered with your recent visit to one of our restaurants. We share your concern and frustration with the incident you encountered, and sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please be assured that, at Arby's, quality and consumer satisfaction are our highest priorities. Thanks to consumers like you and the information you provide, we are better able to trace the source of a problem and take any actions that may be necessary to resolve it. Your comments have been shared with both the Area Supervisor and the Director of Operations for the Lakeside Avenue Arby's. They are addressing this incident with the restaurant's management and staff to ensure that excellent customer service is being extended to our guests. I am going to mail you 2 VIP cards (each valid for a free combo meal) to invite you back to our restaurant. Once again, our apologies for your inconvenience and I hope we can continue to consider you a valued customer. Sincerely, Arby's Customer Relations So, someone is getting their hands slapped. But is it because there should be no difference or if the question was overheard by the customer?  Is there any difference?  We do not know. But one day, we shall go into Arby’s seperately.  And we’ll order the same thing.  And one of us will use a coupon, the other will not and one of us will take a picture.  :D | Permalink

catstuff 12:59 PM - 11/07/2010 The topic: The latest on Mickey ---------------------------------------------- He’s showing progress.  Not as quickly as I’d like, but he’s doing Mickey stuff again. Like biting Rory in bed the other morning.  And putting his paws on my arm and proceding to lick my arm. And last night, I saw him grooming himself.  He’s got an appetite, doesn’t eat much at a time, but each time, he eats a little more than the last. And when I dish up the soft food for the other cats, he’s right there under my feet. I’ll probably take him in for his followup bloodwork next week. | Permalink

      Saturday, November 13, 2010

catstuff 07:06 AM - 11/13/2010 The topic: We’re losing KittyMeeze ---------------------------------------------- He’s gotten progressively weaker these past few weeks.  He’s eating less and less and it’s harder for him to get around.  His eyes are really runny, his nose is snotty. I’ve given him different types of food, even using the hand blender to puree it.  I warm it up and usually in the morning, he’ll lap some up.  He’s not at all interested this morning.  He’s skin and bones. A couple of weeks ago he started sleeping on the towel on the wood in the entry to the house.  This past week, I added more towels to the sides, making a divot where he can lay and rest his back against something warm. We also put down one of those heating pads from the cat beds I got a while back, the ones that heat up when there is pressure on them.  He’s been sleeping on those all week long.  He usually comes in around nine, two days ago he was in there by six-thirty.  Last night it was late and this morning, instead of still being there when we got up, he was out on the bank in front.  It’s under fifty degrees out there. I heated up some A/D for him this morning, took it to him where he was laying.  He just got up and slowly moved to a different area. I’ll be surprised if he lasts the week.  But I’m thankful he’s here, where we can take care of him in death where he wouldn’t let us in life. He’ll be cremated and will be buried with the other cremains we have. I could probably catch him and take him in and have him euthanized, but I don’t feel that would be right. Having him poked and prodded, in a carrier, for a car ride.  I’d rather he go the way he chooses.  In his sleep, on his bank. I’m sure going to miss having him around. | Permalink

      Sunday, November 14, 2010

otherstuff 10:31 AM - 11/14/2010 The topic: The tree hating neighbor ---------------------------------------------- She dumped a bunch of pine needles on our bank this morning, now she’s on her roof with the dust blower. I’ll probably burn in hell for a few minutes for this, but every time I hear that machine, I think of having it put in her butt and blowing her way up like a parade float, then pulling it out and watching her zoom around as the air leaves her body.  Like in a cartoon. Every time. | Permalink

catstuff 06:23 PM - 11/14/2010 The topic: KittyMeeze is invisible again ---------------------------------------------- But now I know exactly how he goes invisible.  I was concerned he was leaving the yard, but I watched him climb into his local hidey spot under the juniper late this afternoon. I boiled up a chicken breast this morning and gave him some this afternoon and he really liked it. He’s eaten a fair amount of that today. He did a huge poop sometime today (I stepped in it, not even realizing he’s been pooping in that area). That might have been a small part of his problem, he was a little backed up, but it’s so much more than that. We didn’t bring in the food last night, we think the raccoons moved to another area for the time being (since we’ve been pulling the food up).  This morning, all the kibble was gone, but the wet was still there.  I’m thinking Meeze ate the kibble (he likes it, more than he likes cold wet food) and all the wet food was still there. I did see him run this afternoon. Since Brian moved his shop home, there are trucks parked all over.  Today, one of his trucks was on the lawn and Meeze was laying in front of it. He spied something towards the back of the truck and took off in a run to snatch it up.  This just amazed me.  There wasn’t anything to be chased, the sun was shining through the trees, it was breezy and there were lots of shadows in that area.  He may have caught sight of a shadow, but still, he saw something that needed catching and he gave chase. I don’t know if it’s a positive sign that he’s in his familiar place or a not so positive sign.  I do know that he’s got a pretty bad URI right now.  When he was eating the chicken, he kind of choked on one of the first pieces he ate (they were very small pieces so they’d be easier for him to eat), but he swallowed it down.  If a cat’s cold is anything like a human’s, his throat might be a little sore. Right now, we’ve got the porch light on (if we had a porch, it would be the porch light), so that he’ll have an easier time coming into this little safe area we’ve got.  The weather is mild right now, it’s six thirty and it’s 65.3° outside. No telling when he’ll make his way in.  But the pad’s waiting for him when he’s ready.  It will keep him cozy warm.  I bet that feels good on old bones. | Permalink

otherstuff 06:34 PM - 11/14/2010 The topic: Murphy’s Law hit hard today ---------------------------------------------- At least it did Brian.  I made a list for him of things I’d like him to do around the house today.  Three things. Put up the new LED twinkle lights we got at Wal Mart last week. Change out the bed cover for the air bed.  The seam around the bottom zipper came loose and I ordered a new top two weeks ago.  It got here last week. Change out the water filter on the filter system for the water here in the house. He did the bed first.  They sent the wrong part.  We need to send it back ($173 and change, you send it back). The lights?  They would have been great, the guy at WalMart said you can link over twenty of them! Except the plug for linking?  Is on the plug that goes into the wall. If you plugged in twenty of them, they wouldn’t be end to end, they’d be like a twenty legged octopus and the plug that goes into the wall would be a foot long.  He didn’t even want to try the water filter, he said “we’d probably end up without any water in the house”. I’ve had some stuff go wrong, I stripped the bed this morning and am washing all of the bedclothes and pillows. The pillows are fairly new and I saw that one of them, the seam ripped out.  So, I sewed it up and when it was its turn, it hit the washer. I guess I didn’t get it all the way in and the corner of it ripped.  The corner I sewed up.  But nothing was really bad, just more annoyances than anything.  All these things to do and didn’t get a darned one done. Wasted Sunday. | Permalink

      Monday, November 15, 2010

catstuff 10:01 AM - 11/15/2010 The topic: KittyMeeze refused food this morning ---------------------------------------------- He drank water, but he wanted nothing to eat.  | Permalink

      Tuesday, November 16, 2010

catstuff 08:37 AM - 11/16/2010 The topic: I don’t think it will be much longer now ---------------------------------------------- He’s having a really hard time getting around, I was able to stroke him a little this morning, but once he realized what was going on, he stumbled up to his hidey spot. He drank quite a bit of water yesterday, I tried three different food flavors, each one got the turn of the head.  I didn’t throw them out, though, I just set them down where we usually place the food for consumption.  Last night, I told Brian he should probably pull up the food, it was around 8:30.  He came back in “he’s eating!”  Whoa. I looked out the side window and he was.  So, we didn’t pull the food up. Mistake. Damned raccoons.  Rat bastard raccoons.  I looked out at two this morning and all was well. When I got up at four to let the cats out, I checked and the frakking raccoons made a royal mess of everything.  They’d moved the stool I had for Meeze to get up on his bed, they’d dumped all of his water over and ate every last bit of food. And Meeze was all hunched up on the bark, not on his warmed blanket.  Grrrr…. So, I put out a new can of food, just in case, washed out his water bowl and gave him fresh water. I saw him lapping a little before I went back to bed. This morning, he was still in that spot on the bark.  I let him sniff the wet food, he walked (I use the term loosely) to outside of the gate and just laid down behind the bushes.  Then he eventually went up to the bank and was stretched out, breathing was a little labored.  A bit later, he was on his side and that’s when I went out and gently stroked him, barely enough that he could feel it.  He finally realized something odd was happening and he went up the bank, under the juniper. Where he still is.  It won’t be long now. | Permalink

catstuff 01:08 PM - 11/16/2010 The topic: He’s gone ---------------------------------------------- About an hour and a half ago, I saw him outside of his hidey spot.  He looked like he was able to crawl out of it and that was it.  He looked to be sleeping.  I went back in the house and then checked on him fifteen minutes later. He had moved, his head downhill on the bank.  I went up to him, and started to pet him. I met with little resistance. He tried to lift his head and he let out a little hiss. I petted him, realized that I wouldn’t have a problem picking him up.  I ran down the bank and into the house and called the vet’s office.  They said I could bring him in. I got the carrier, I got a towel, I unlocked the car and I went up and picked him up and held him to my shoulder.  I wrapped the towel around him and carefully walked down the bank and put him into the carrier. We went to the vet. His third and last time in a car.  This is the time of day when the doctor does surgeries, and it wasn’t convenient for him to euthanize Meeze.  I guess when I called, I wasn’t clear about the situation, they thought it was just some stray feral. But when they found out it was a cat who had been in our yard for over twelve years, one we’d been taking care of, the situation changed.  I took him out of the carrier in the waiting room and just held him close to me.  I whispered into his neck how much he meant to us, that I wish things had been different. When Alicia came to take him, I handed him over and she said “he’s not going to do anything is he?” and I just kind of laughed and said “he’s beyond that”.  She took him into the back, then asked if I wanted to be with him.  I said yes, I did.  Once in the examing room, Charlene gave Meeze the sedation and they were going to keep him in the back until the doctor could do the actual euthanization.  Charlene asked if I’d like to be there when he passed away and I said “if I could, I never got to do anything with him while he was alive, I don’t want him to die alone”.  By this time Meezer was deeply sedated, so when the doc came in, it didn’t take long for Kitty to pass.  He said that from the twitching that he saw KittyMeeze’s body doing, it was obvious he was in kidney failure.  He told me that I haven’t seen this with the inside cats, because we’ve caught them before they got this bad. So, he’s gone.  I told him that he would see all of his friends, OC, Gilligan, NotWally, all of the kitties he’d been friends with. I hope he knows how much we loved him. It’s going to be weird not worrying about him anymore. Not looking for him when I go outside, not watching for him when I pull into or out of the driveway. No more ferals. KittyMeeze was the last.  He’ll be having a private cremation and we’ll bury his remains with the rest when we move. I already miss him. | Permalink

otherstuff 04:24 PM - 11/16/2010 The topic: When Brian got home ---------------------------------------------- I was in the process of bringing stuff in from out front.  I’d pulled up the water bowl, brought the food in that I put out at four this morning that was never touched (had some very happy kitty cats), disconnected the heating pad and brought that in. The blankets and towels are in the laundry, waiting to be laundered. Brian brought the feeding station into the backyard and put it down by the pool.  I’m sure the kitties will find it handy, a nice place to be outside, but out of the sun.  And when I asked about the cathouse on the bank a little later, he said he’d already brought that back, it’s up by the doghouse on the bank (you can see it on the backyard cam). So, the cleanup is done.  Now that there are no more critters to worry about, he’s going to bring the backhoe down from Ranchita and pull out the junipers and the huge bird of paradise that’s on the bank. It will be nice to have that stuff gone. *sigh* And the raccoons can go eat somewhere else. | Permalink

      Thursday, November 18, 2010

otherstuff 07:14 AM - 11/18/2010 The topic: We still haven’t settled with the insurance ---------------------------------------------- for the injury part of my accident.  Today, I’m going to file a complaint with the California Department of Insurance.  Not because I want a lot of money, I’m happy to not need money because my injuries really weren’t that all that bad (although my lower back is hurting right now, it does that every once in a while), but I don’t think they did a very good job of investigating. They look at a chart and say “soft tissue injury” equals this much time to get over it, this much money to fix.  Client is X amount at fault, reduce the award by that much and Voila! We have an amount. They’ve NEVER contacted my doctor.  They’ve NEVER looked at x-rays. My first x-rays showed that my lower spine has a kink in it.  It bends.  The doctor said this was probably because of the seatbelt keeping most of me in place, but a part of me twisted. Therapy has straightened it out somewhat, but not all the way, at least not the last time he took the images. I was fifty-six at the time of the accident, a fifty-six year old, overweight woman does not recuperate in the same amount of time as a twenty-six year old.  And I still maintain that under the law, avoiding an accident was the right thing to do. So, I’m filing a complaint.  The insurance company keeps sending me letters. They’ve quit calling. I won’t talk to them and Brian just never gets around to it. *lol* I can do the complaint online, it’s pretty straightforward. I’ll keep you posted. | Permalink

catstuff 02:06 PM - 11/18/2010 The topic: Moving on ---------------------------------------------- So, it’s been about forty-eight hours since we said goodbye to KittyMeeze.  Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning we both woke up around two, were awake for at least an hour.  We talked about Meeze, what a cool cat he was.  Brian remembered him bringing gophers and leaving them on the driveway on a regular basis.  I remembered how he was just a great cat to have around.  He used to babysit for mama cats when they’d go off, to hunt or just get away from sharp razor kitten teeth.  I remembered how I’d worry when I hadn’t seen him for days, then how we’d celebrate. I know I’ve mentioned this in the past, but what he did was he took care of other cats who were sick.  Like Gilligan or Angus, any number of the other cats around here. They’d stay hidden under the juniper down at the corner house and KittyMeeze would stay with them. I remembered the time he caught the crow.  That bird was bigger than him and he was running in the yard carrying this big black bird that was flapping its wings, trying to get away (eventually, it did). But I’m not checking outside of the front door everytime I walk by now.  I’m not going outside looking for him.  I don’t scan the bank, looking for him laying in the sun. I’m glad that he’s out of pain. I’m glad that his spirit is free.  And I’m surprised to realize how much stress I was under.  I had no idea, you know?  Now that it’s gone, I’m resting better (great night’s sleep last night). I think when we go on our rare trips out of town, I won’t be nearly as worried as I had been.  There’s some amount of control keeping the captured cats inside while we were gone, but nothing we could do about KittyMeeze.  Did he have food?  Did the raccoons eat it all?  Did they dirty his drinking water?  Is he warm?  Is he dry?  Is he safe? I know that I’ll rest easier now when Brian stays up at the property.  Brian was the one who heard the bad stuff going on out front, the coyotes, the dogs, the running, I never did. But Brian did and he’d race out of the house and give chase to whatever had been in our yard, after Kitty.  Now there is nothing for them in the yard to give chase to. Well, the raccoons. And the raccoons have not been here since Monday night.  I’m glad for that. | Permalink

      Monday, November 22, 2010

catstuff 04:33 PM - 11/22/2010 The topic: Something is going on with Sebastian ---------------------------------------------- And it’s not good.  Last week, he quit coming into the garage for dry food in the morning or to lick the cans.  So, I started giving him food on the sofa, guarding him from the other four footed furry vultures.  Sunday morning around 3:30, he had a seizure.  Scary thing to see, a seizure, there’s nothing you can do about it. Rusty used to have them.  I figured he might be a little tired yesterday, but he didn’t seem to sleep much. And today, he’s been twitching a lot. I gave him 60cc of sub-q fluids this morning and another 60 a little bit ago.  If I use a little food processor to puree his food (as well as adding water to it), he’ll lap, but then he starts doing this weird thing with his mouth. I don’t know if he hurt it during the seizure or if this is a symptom of something else. It’s almost like with Mickey (who is doing a lot better, by the way). So, I called the vet’s office and made an appointment for tomorrow.  4:45. In my mind, I knew that when the cats all started to reach a certain age, health problems would probably start. I went through this the year we lost eight cats (not all were old).  I pray this isn’t going to be a repeat. | Permalink

      Tuesday, November 23, 2010

catstuff 05:17 PM - 11/23/2010 The topic: Sebastian is gone ---------------------------------------------- He’s on his way to kitty heaven.  He was in kidney failure, it was pretty bad. I knew when we went there was this possibility. He’d lost fifty percent of his weight and the vet showed us a very bad mouth ulcer. The vet said that we were doing the right thing.  I agree.  Sebby hasn’t been feeling well for the past few weeks and the vet said he was very dehydrated, which could bring on the seizures. *sigh* I’m sad. Again. But Sebby is out of pain. | Permalink

      Wednesday, November 24, 2010

catstuff 08:28 AM - 11/24/2010 The topic: Reflection ---------------------------------------------- So, now I’m feeling the guilt.  Because why didn’t I see that Sebastian was so bad?  Why didn’t I catch it in time to do something about it? And I’ve come to the conclusion because Sebastian hadn’t been here long enough for me to gauge his progress. The first month was spent in hiding in the garage. Then there were a couple of months that he stayed in the garage next to Miss Elizabeth.  And then he started to stay in the house.  He’s only been here since July.  When Brian and I were talking about it this morning, we think he was already on the downhill side of his life when he came here.  He’s always smelled odd. Well, that came from his saliva when he’d clean himself.  And he had very bad breath.  From the day he arrived. We knew his immune system was compromised because of the herpes in his eye. When he quit eating kibble in the garage a week or so ago, I thought that was a little strange.  I still would carry him into the bathroom for some private soft food, where he could eat without the four footed furry vultures that show up when they smell soft food.  Last week, he didn’t even want to do that so I started giving him food on the sofa and I’d sit with him, pushing the vultures away so he could eat as much as he wanted. Saturday, he was outside and eating grass down by the pool.  I just didn’t see it coming. One of the things he’d do when he was feeling better, was if he was on the back of the sofa or loveseat and one of us sat down in front of him, he’d start biting our heads.  One of the ways he showed affection.  I wish he’d been here longer, I wish I’d been able to do more for him.  I felt so badly for him when his owner left him behind. We loved him and treated him like he’d always been ours.  He was a pretty neat cat. | 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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