Plays, Knitting & Babies.....Oh My!

One of the major highlights of the San Diego trip was the opportunity to see the videos of 2 plays that Poolie wrote and directed.  They were amazing fun!

One of them was The Wizard of Ahhhhs

 This one was SO funny and had some amazing characters with exceptional people playing the parts!

The other one was Peter Pan

 Another excellent production and had many of the same cast members.  I loved that I could finally see these plays.  The results of something that my dear friend is so passionate about and that clearly shows how very talented she is at creating and pulling together such a magnificent project, just warmed my heart.  I am so proud of her and wish she could pursue this passion of hers more fully.

As for me, my current form  of production is knitting.  My most recent project is a baby blanket for Jin (the gal that works for Chuck).  The baby's due date is April 25th and for what reason I am not sure, the doctor was going to induce her.  Since I leave for Alaska on April 20th, she asked the Dr to induce her on the 18th so that she would have the baby before I leave.  Well........ Murphy decided to 'work' on the baby blanket whilst I was in San Diego.  I had it in a project tote and I really thought it was 'kitty proof', but I was wrong.  She managed to get my 32" circular needles pulled out of this blanket (that was 3/4 finished, btw); she chewed the cable, extensively, ruining a $25 set of needles, AND she chewed on the yarn!  Both on a ball of yarn and also on the edges of the blanket itself.  So on Saturday, I ripped it all out and started over. Of course I was thinking that I had almost a month and that if I worked really hard and put a lot of time in it, I could finish it before little Lilly is born!  Well, yesterday Jin was spotting and having a lot of mucus discharge, along with much pressure.  She saw the Dr and he said she was still well "intact" and to take it easy yesterday and it was okay to return to work today.  Apparently Lilly has other ideas.  Jin called Chuck this AM and told us that she is having contractions, which as we all know, may or may not amount to anything.  Regardless.....I have a feeling that Lilly will be here before her blanket is ready!  I also have a feeling that I need a lock box for my knitting! 

Anyone want a crazy cat???  Free shipping!!!

Spring Cleanup & New Toys!

It was a beautiful sunny day here yesterday and Chuck got lots of yard work done.  Flower beds cleaned up, strawberry bed cleaned up and the garden tilled.  He also got a couple of leaf piles that had accumulated cleaned up so that I wouldn't have to worry about what may be lurking in them.  Copperheads tends to blend in very well with leaves on the ground.......Eeeep!

It IS my favorite time of year here in BF Arkansas.  I got back just in time to see the Dogwoods leaf out and they are starting to bloom.  The woods behind the house are just enchanting when all the Dogwoods are in bloom!

It would have been a perfect day for riding, and oh how I wish I could have hopped on my Susie and gone with him!!  He did have a 'victim' lined up to go riding with him, but he crapped out at the last minute.  It seems his wife had a honey do list that she insisted on being taken care of.  It's hard for Chuck to find 'victims' to go riding with him and that's a damn shame.  I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that I'll never ride again, but some days it's a real downer.

I got all my San Diego photos transferred to Flickr yesterday and actually got them all labeled, too!  I'm not always very good about that, in fact I haven't been very good about uploading my photos to Flickr lately.  I need to stay on top of that!  I didn't take near as many pictures as I intended to whilst in SD because of all of my careful packing, and remembering to pack my chargers for 3 other devices, I forgot my camera charger and extra battery.  Doh!   I will get it packed in one of my bags for my Alaska trip today! 25 days!!  Woo Hoo!!

Poor Gus puppy is depressed this AM.  He had to stay home with me for a trip to the vet.  He hates not going to work with his dear ol' dad!  But his allergies are acting up.  His eyes are running and he's got an itchy bare spot by his tail, so I wanna nip it in the bud early.  He'll snap out of it once he realizes that he will be going with me in the 'Ho and can guard it while I make a couple stops :-)


I was a bad girl yesterday and gave in to my desire for a new toy.  I've been wanting an iPad (or tablet of some sort) for quite some time now, but just couldn't justify spending that much on something that I could live without.  After seeing and playing with Poolie's, the desire to possess one increased tremendously!  And what did I find in my email when I got home, but a notice of a great deal on one at HSN......so.......I ordered this

If I find I'm not totally enchanted with it, I can always send it back......somehow I doubt that will happen.  When Poolie made the comment that since she got that, she never takes her laptop on trips with her anymore, I was 'sold'.  Between the tablet and her iPhone, everything is covered.  And every time I travel, especially by air, I find I want less and less to drag around with me.  I used to carry on all that I could and I just have no desire to do that anymore. 

Why Do I Need a Title???

It's so friggin' hot here. Still. And more triple digits predicted for next week.  We need rain SO bad!  Our lawn and the pasture is so dead and dry that even Gus, our Cocker Spaniel, leaves a little cloud of dust behind him when he trots across the pasture!  You should see the cloud of dust the horses raise!!

In this shot, you can see how badly poor Gus needs a hair cut, and I took this a couple weeks ago, so you can imagine his hairy curly self now.  Also alot less green on the ground than that now, as well.

He does get to go to the groomers tomorrow, now that I can get out and about, so he'll be all sleek and fast and COOLER!

I'm happy to say that my hip is feeling great, most of the time.  It even feels normal.  Sure wish I could act and move like it's normal.  sigh..... It's really hard to keep myself from just 'doing things' when it feels normal.  But I'm not all healed yet and it's not ready to have me do all this normal stuff like bending or sitting comfortably or dancing thru the living room to the Boondock Saints theme song.  Sucks, I tell ya'!  But I try to stay focused and I improvise a LOT.  I just wish I had longer toes so it would be easier to pick up stuff that I drop.  hee hee

We've got 2 birthdays coming up this week.  My 2 baby boys, Tim and Xander!  Tim will be 11 on the 3rd and Xander will be 6 on the 5th!

Here's a great shot Terri got of them yesterday with a couple of Storm Troopers at AlaskaLand.  Pretty awesome huh?

So funny....Terri said to Xander "they look pretty scary....what if Darth Vader is near by".  Xander replied, "Mom, they're just guys in suits."  He's just so damn logical all the time, I told her she mayhaps should have named him "Spock".  LOL

Oh, yeah....an update on our toilet disaster the other day......they are fixed and all is well, however we now need to replace the ceiling in the Living Room.  I am so thankful I am married to a Contractor that has spent his whole life doing such things!  I figure it will only take him 2 or 3 years to get around to it. :-p

Holy Crap!

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last bloggage! And I was doing so well, too, damn it all. I've certainly had a lot of stuff whirling around in my wee little brain to write about. And I've got a lot of new blogs to read, too, and haven't done that!

A couple of the highlights of the past 2 weeks have been a couple of snow storms, one of which we are in the midst of as I write; the switch over from Dish TV to Direct TV, which keeps getting postponed because of the weather; switching over from DSL with our phone company to WildBlue Satellite internet, which barely made installation between storms; my legs pretty much quit working for about a week.....let's see....what else. 3 people I know had babies.....awwwww. My cheap ass router that is 5 years old took a dump, so I got a NICE new one so that if we EVer get Direct TV set up (which will include a DVR...yes, I've been living in a DVR/TIVO-less world) I can watch stuff on my computer whilst HE watches reruns on the Western channel.

I guess the best part of all this stormy weather is that Hubby didn't work for several days and we both survived him wandering aimlessly around the house with his mouth running like a whippoorwill's ass in chokecherry season. There was a day, many years ago {seems like a life time ago} that I would have loved to have been snowed in with him! But....unless you live way out in the bush, Alaskans simply don't get snowed in! In fact the schools are out for weather only when it hits 40 below. The schools are still open, but your kids don't have to go. As for me, I would take Terri to school myself rather than take a chance on the bus breaking down at those temps. Anyway, Chuck has been to work the last couple of days and now he's home....doing that aimless thing again! AGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Or he stands for {what seems like} hours, in front of my computer desk, staring out the window at the horses or whatever. I'm sorry, but it totally messes with my concentration when someone is hovering. How the hell can I write a blog or read anything?! I did just ask him if he was going to stand there all day and he got all huffy, put on his coat and boots and is outside shoveling! Hahahaha. Worked for awhile, as long as he isn't in a pissy mood when he comes back in. Then I'll be sorry I opened my big mouth!

Poolie wanted some pictures of Gus in the snow, so here are a couple I took of him and some others I snapped today of the snow.

Introducing Murphy

Since bringing Murphy home on Friday afternoon, she has spent most of her time on the top bunk of the bunk beds in one of our spare bedrooms.  Saturday AM we could not find her anywhere!  We both searched for a couple of hours and every place you can imagine!  And I mean, EVERY place!  I'm sure she was hiding right in front of us and laughing as we walked by a bazillion times.  About 9:00 Chuck and Gus left for work.  At 10:00 or so, I heard the jingle of her collar and was so pleased to finally see her make an appearance!  We spent about 1/2 an hour playing and having kitty treats and then she needed a nap, of course.

Later in the day, Chuck & I both went up to visit her and give her some treats.  I attempted to take some pictures of her, but I didn't get very good ones.  I will share them here, however, so y'all can get an idea of what this new kitty is all about.

This 1st one I am posting so you can see how long her tail is. I haven't measured it yet, but Chuck figures it's about 16" long, but I'm going for 18"! I have never seen a cat with such a long tail! Hee hee.

This one isn't a great shot, but I'm posting it cuz it shows the cool markings on the top of her pretty leedle head. Chuck was about to give her some treats.

And this last one? Yep....she knocked the treat off the bed and they're both looking for it. It does give you a good look at her pretty colors. From the picture I saw of her online, I thought she was gray, but gray she's not! She is what they call a Tabico color. Combination Tabby and Calico. Whatever it is, she sure is pretty!

Someone along the line thought that she was about 2 years old, but I'm guess that she is about a year old. She had a litter of kittens 2 months ago and since they come into heat their 1st time at 6 months of age, and their gestation period is approximately 65 days....I'm pretty sure she's only about a year old. She's still just a kitten herself! I haven't weighed her yet, but I'm thinking that she's only about 8 or 9 pounds. Very skinny, probably from recently nursing and sharing food at the foster home with several other cats. She has eaten a ton of food since she's been here! {all in secret, of course}

My other Maine Coon cat was about 10 months old when I got him and he certainly kept growing after that! He got up to about 18-20 lbs. Typically they average about 13-15 lbs. She also doesn't have her Maine Coon coat of hair yet. Their coat is shorter towards the front and longer down their backs and rear half. Of course, it is possible that she is mixed with something else and that she won't change much and that works for me, too! So far, she seems to be a keeper!!

Last night while we were watching TV she decided to honor us with her presence and explored every inch, nook and cranny of the living room! She would hop up and visit us during her investigation, but had no time for cuddles. Hopefully that will change once she gets used to this big ol' house. For right now, she is simply way too busy!

Moving On

Yesterday, the vet's office called to tell me that my dear kitty's cremains were back and ready for me to pick up.  It made for a sad start to my day, as I headed to their office, but it was also rewarding in some way.  I took the special little cedar chest with me that contains Max's cremains, so that I could place hers in it with him.  They were such good buddies, it seemed like the natural thing to do.
I miss her terribly, but I also do not have to worry about what she is feeling.  She is free from all that and for that I am grateful.

We have been having some beautiful fall weather and the roses in my new flower bed are regular blooming idiots! 

 There is an orange and yellow one that is about to bloom and a lavender one and the yellow one has a ton of buds.  Soon they will be gone, along with the perfect weather :(.  One person is telling me that I need to cut them back before the first frost and someone else is telling me not to cut them back until spring.  An article I read online, re: roses in Arkansas, said to prune them in February.....WTH???  I think I'll wait til spring, as that advice comes from Victoria and she has been growing beautiful roses in Arkansas for several years.

Farewell My Little Friend

Today was the day. My sweet little Princess Esmeralda and I said our farewells and she passed over, in my arms, with a little help from my favorite vet.

The past few days were rough....for all of us. She was deteriorating rapidly and I could see that she had become very uncomfortable. I needed to help her along before she began to really suffer. My heart really isn't into writing any more tonight, but I'm sure I'll have a lot to tell you about my girl in the days to come.

Tough Little Girl

I need to update on my sweet little Puss Puss. She is still failing by the day.

I last weighed her On Wednesday AM and she is down to 4.2 lbs. It is beginning to show in her teeny little flat Persian face. I can see what little flesh was on her face is gone and she is showing signs of what I believe to be dehydration. She makes many trips to the water fountain that she and Gus share, but just bobs her little head, sniffing and does not drink. I tend to follow her around to where ever she is currently curled up and napping, to place tiny bowls of water near her so she will have a fresh drink, if and when she wants it. Occasionally, she drinks a bit, but not enough.

She still hadn't eaten anything, or taken in any more of the Nutr-Cal since my last post. But when I got home Wednesday, after getting my hair done, Chuck had already arrived home and while waiting for me he decided to try force feeding her. He used one of the syringes that the vet had given me and managed to get some chicken baby food into her wee little mouth and she actually swallowed it. I think he said he got about 4 mouthfuls down her, and then put some of the Nutri-Cal in the syringe, but THAT she did spit out.

As much as Chuck loves our little Puss Girl, his manner of being "gentle" is pretty rough on such a fragile little thing and the ordeal seemed to really take it's toll on her. She did come to me to cuddle, after dinner, which is her habit these past weeks, but she looked terrible and seemed so tired out that she didn't stay long and very soon, she ambled upstairs to her spot on our bedroom and stayed there for the rest of the night.

She was a bit perkier yesterday AM and I took the opportunity to wash her little face with a warm wash cloth. She hasn't been grooming herself at all and Dear Old Dad made a bit of a mess with the baby food. Plus, Persian cats have runny eyes and I usually wipe them with a tissue, but the wash cloth worked much better on all of it. That was when I got a really good close look at her poor little face and could see the changes. Yesterday she would drink no water or milk all day, but when Chuck got home, we did the baby food thing again and she ate 3 mouthfuls before she had clearly had enough. It went much better with me holding her with her head over my shoulder, but when she had had enough, and spewed the 4th mouthful out onto my shirt, she got down and went into hiding again, until after dinner.

We can see her weakness when she walks and she no longer even attempts to jump up to my chair or the kitchen stool, instead 'asking' to be picked up and placed there. And I began to realize yesterday, that it is beginning to uncomfortable for her to have me pet her very much. As I said, she has been wanting a lot of cuddle time lately, which is usually me holding her over my shoulder. She burrows her head into my hair as I stroke her, often for an hour or two at a time, but yesterday she would stop purring and start moving around a bit as I was petting her, so I stopped and she snuggled back in and went back to purring. This is her 1st sign of any discomfort since all this began and it's tearing me up. I'm afraid of what will be next and pray that she not suffer at all before the end comes. I'm pretty sure that if she doesn't go quietly in her sleep by Monday or so, I will have to decide the best way to help her.

Think Positive

Allll righty then........this AM I shall write a more positive post, because I really can't expect you to come here and read negative stuff, time after time after time.........How dreary of me of to only post about the bad shit.  I must dig deeper and pull some more upbeat shit out of my ass hat!

My rose garden is going {growing} great!  They survived the transplant and are thriving and blooming.  All 9 plants have lots of new growth and they all are in bloom and/or loaded with buds!  I'm pretty sure I owe it all to Martha Stewart and her Epsom Salts tip.  Plus I've been watering, spraying and fertilizing right on schedule, like a good little rose gardener.

Here's a yellow one that Chuck picked for me this AM



Isn't my vase cute?? I collect Wymsiclay Cats for my mantle and have a couple of vases that are like the kitties. Too cute!

Chuck is getting ready to go riding with a friend. ARG!! I wanna go SOOOOO bad. It's a beautiful sunny 61 degrees. Perfect for most anything, but particularly for riding my Sweet Susie. Fall riding is the best and I am so tempted to try, but that would be a huge mistake. I might not be real smart, but I am smarter than that. It's already been over 2 years. I guess another 6 months won't kill me.

In Puss Puss news, she finally took some more Nutri-Cal this AM {actually, Chuck forced a finger full into her wee little mouth} and shortly there-after she drank some milk. Awhile later, I found her IN the kitchen sink drinking water out of a rinsed out bowl I had set in there. Very strange, but all good. I weighed her yesterday and she is down to 4.8 lbs, from 5.4 eight days ago. She has been a steady 8 lbs all of her adult life, so you can imagine what a little skeleton kitty she is under all that hair. And this is a lousy picture, but it is her in her 'new favorite spot'.

She used to like to lay on my printer tray, which is beside me and between me and a window. That way she could keep tabs on everything. LOL I just gotta keep lovin' her while I can and keep her purring and comfortable.

Brave Little Kitty

Well, things are not going so well for my kitty.  She still won't eat much at all and I have tried almost everything I can think of.  She ate some cat food Monday PM, but nothing at all Tuesday or Wednesday.  Thursday AM I went and spoke to the vet and she gave me a couple of more suggestions.  One was to give me a syringe to try force feeding her some baby food. She also told me to try doubling the Valium. The other idea was chicken broth, since she is a least drinking water.  The vet felt that if I didn't get her to eat by Friday afternoon, I would have to make a decision.

She has refused the chicken broth.  My friend Deb asked me Thursday PM if she liked milk.  I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of that!  I poured her a tiny bowl of milk and she went for it, big time!  Well....I say big time....she probably drank about 3 Tablespoons, but we were excited!  Deb also told me about a product called Nutri-Cal.  It's a gel like substance that is concentrated nutrition and often reported to help stimulate a pet's appetite.  I picked some of that up yesterday  and she loved it!  Gave her the allotted amount about noon, but sadly she wouldn't take any more last evening.  Not that, or milk or any form of cat food or people food.  Tonight Chuck and I will try the force feeding with some chicken baby food.

If this doesn't work, then we have to decide if we want to take her in to the vet and have her put on IVs.  For nourishment as well as her Kidney failure.  At this point, having gone this long without eating and without starting the meds she is quickly deteriorating.  I hate to talk money in regards to something like this, but I have had a wretched week over this and am, at this moment, fairly 'stable' enough to talk about it.  It will cost approximately $100 a day to put her on IVs, with only minimal hope that it will help her and no way of knowing how long she will have to be on them.....IF it helps.  The vet very honestly told me that she has seen many instances of people spending 2 or 3 thousand dollars and sometimes it works and it helps their cats and sometimes (most times) it really doesn't.  And even if it does, we are only 'buying' a few months.  This disease can not be stopped or corrected.  The damage is done and all we can do is to slow the progression.

Chuck is willing to indulge me if I choose to go the IV route.  He loves her as much as I do.  I have decided I will not put her, or us through that.  But I also can't sit by and let her starve to death.  So far, she is still happy, but then I'm sure the Valium twice a day helps with that.  She still wants to go outside and wander the yard and sit in the sun watching me water my flowers.  She still comes for cuddles and her purr box is going non stop.  But every time I pick her up, it breaks my heart to feel her little boniness under all that hair, as she wastes away.

I don't want to euthanize her.  I wish for her to curl up and fall asleep in one of her favorite spots and simply not wake up.

Sad Sick Kitties

My poor little kitty is not doing so well these days.  I hadn't wanted to post about it earlier, until I knew what her problem was.  I didn't want Riley to read it and have her and the other kids be upset about their fuzzy little buddy.  They kept her at the Vet Clinic for 3 days before they were finally able to determine that she is in the early stages of Kidney failure.  It wasn't showing up in the initial tests they did.....in fact, nothing showed up.  The Doctor was afraid that perhaps she had cancer of some sort.  I was pretty upset.

She still isn't eating, which was the initial problem.  She hadn't been quite herself for a few days before we left to go camping for a long weekend and we got home to find that she hadn't eaten a bite of food!  When I picked her up, I could feel every bone in her teeny body.  She'd really a petite little Persian and barely hit 8 lbs even with all that hair of hers.  I weighed her on Monday and she was 5.7.  By the time I could get her to the vet Wednesday AM at 7, she was 5.4.  She's been a little quieter and more subdued than usual, but other than that she seemed fine.  And she continued to be that way while at the vet clinic.  She was showing no other symptoms, other than the lack of appetite.  Her blood work all came back good, so then they had to wait for a urine sample to do more tests and when they finally got that, they then found the indication of kidney failure.  Apparently, at certain levels, it won't show up in the blood work.

Anyway, there is medicine she can take but she can't start on that until she starts eating again.  Then it will be daily meds and a special diet.  I have been giving her every sort of cat food under the sun, trying to get her to eat.  They gave me teeny tiny doses of Valium to give her twice a day, as that is supposed to be a super appetite stimulant for cats.  Mostly, she staggers around with dilated pupils, meowing and purring a lot.  She did finally take a couple bites of food this AM and just now she ate a bit more, but not enough.  Sigh....

They want to start this medicine as soon as possible, before her condition deteriorates.  I can't seem to make her understand that she MUST EAT!! She is functioning at about 70%.....if it drops any more, she's in trouble.  Years back that happened to the cat of some friends of ours and they went through a long and difficult year of IV's and all sorts of awful things.  I will not put the Princess through all that.  Not her.  Not us. 

She has been our little companion for almost 12 years.  She traveled with us on the dash of our motor home for many years, navigating our travels.  From Alaska to Key West to New York to Texas.  You name it.  And she raised several dogs while she was at it!  Max and Nugget, Lily and now Gus.  Gus wouldn't miss her much.  They don't interact a lot.  I think by the time he came along, she had had her fill of pups.  But her and Max were great buddies for years and one of these days her little remains will share Max's little cedar chest.

  I just hope it's not for a long while yet........

A Video and Some Photos~Horse Stuff, Of Course!

Dixie Drinking Video
Originally uploaded by YankeeChick
Dixie just loves drinking from the hose {following a good shower from it, of course!}. Here's a short little video I took with my phone :)

She also is an "itchy" girl and you can find her scratching various body parts on the fence or tree or whatever else is handy.  I REALLY need to get one of her scratching her butt on the fence.  It's hysterical!


And I wouldn't wanna leave Puss Puss out (AKA Princess Esmerelda)She seldom gets published!