Wordy Wednesday

You know I’m NEVER wordless. It has been a rough few days, even though I had great plans to start off Monday and try to get something posted every day this week, that wasn’t to be. I have been down with bronchitis and  laryngitis that comes and goes at will. I can be talking clearly one moment and the next minute either nothing or a sound so scratchy it’s hard to decipher. I think I’ve been  trying to “catch” this for a few weeks now and it finally slowed down and let me. Of course, the fact that it has rained every day for the last34 might have something to do with it, along with one temperature last month where I actually didn't need to wear a jacket, okay, maybe it was two days…..and now tonight we are under a frost warning. Hello? Mother Nature???? It’s MAY!!! From the Accuweather site I have gathered that we won’t be getting anywhere near a May daytime temperature until about mid-month. They are warning people who have already planted gardens to scurry on out and cover the plants with sheets. I thought I’d have my tomatoes and peppers in by now, fortunately I haven’t, so nothing to cover. I’ll wait until we “soar” into the high 60’s before I do something so frivolous. I’m sure there are plenty of plants available unless there are people who like to watch their gardens float.

I turned 68 years young Monday May 2nd and celebrated by staying in bed all day. See above regarding bronchitis…..tonight a group of friends and myself were going to go out for dinner and to listen to some good music. I bowed out at noon. I just simply could see no point in wasting a perfectly good culinary adventure when I have no functional taste buds, am hacking up pieces of lung, and just generally feel like shit miserable.

My friend Nancy went to the library for me this morning, while she was out picking up prescriptions and I have Betty White’s “If You Ask Me (and I’m Sure you Wont)”. also Miles To Go in the Richard Paul Evans series which began with The Walk. I plan to be finished with both by Saturday because when I don’t feel well, other than sleeping, all I want to do is read. Which requires almost no physical movement.

What else was I thinking about? Oh I get away from Blogger for a few days and all hell breaks loose, I have lost blogs, I have been deleted from other bloggers sites, maybe I didn’t comment enough or something. I knew Mitzi (who designed this blog at her dentists office during a root canal! not really, but it sounded good) had changed some things, her title for one, but it isn’t only her, it is people I have known for at least a couple of years, and sort of thought I was friends with…so all I can figure is Blogger must have lost its mind in the past week. So when I feel like sitting here for hours and weeding through everything I guess all I can do is Follow them again. Then if I disappear again from their list, I’ll know they really intended to be rid of me!

Oh, Saturday afternoon, late I was walking toward the front porch of the hospital to unlock the door for the boarding people, they leave about 3PM on Saturday afternoon and take a two hour break and then return and feed and walk the dogs and then leave again around 8 or 9PM, depending on how many they have. As I made my approach I saw movement…on….the…porch………..where there shouldn’t have been any movement…at all! And there huddled up against the brick wall were two little kitty girls. Scared to death….I’m sure they were cold, because the wind was whipping at about 40 mph when it gusted. I must have looked like a Giant to them, and when I swooped down and picked them up and put them inside the front of my jacket, they were struggling to get free. So I got the idea they must not have been around too many people recently or if they had been the people may not have been very nice. They are about 6-7 weeks old, both tabbies, the one I call Star has orange markings through her coat and the other named Jazzy, has white eyeliner. But, I was furious, I am on a major 4 lane highway here, what IDIOT would just drop these kittens off, with no box or carrier or anything and just drive away? Did it not occur to them if the kittens wandered down to the street they would be killed instantly? 50mph zone…but they must have been too frightened to leave the porch, I have no idea  how long they were out there. My windows face the hospital but my work area doesn’t so I don’t spend all my work time staring out the window, my back is to it 99% of the time. Anyway, to make a long story even longer, I checked them for fleas, clean as a whistle, no flea dirt, no fleas, nothing….got them settled in a large cage with a cardboard box in it, that I cut a door into and turned upside down, brought in the food, nom-nom-nom-nom, like they hadn’t eaten all day, but they had to have been getting fed regularly, they were not thin at all and their coats are just so shiny and clean. I’ve been going next door ( until today) at least 3 times during the daylight hours and just toting them around with me and then again at night when I am doing my night time duties that don’t require hand-eye coordination, I tote them around and sing to them. Then I tote Chewy and Chloe, the two little grays around too, then I tote Rachel and Roxy ( whose name was changed to Trixie because she resembles one certain tuxedo cat that was formerly Tuxie at Chrystal’s and became Trixie at Amy’s) because the last time I named a cat after a CB cat, namely Grayce of the Katnip Lounge, she was adopted the day her owner came to pick up her elderly cat’s ashes. His name was Buddy Gray, Grayce was always Grace, but I added the Y, the lady walked in, looked at the Grayce cat, went to pick up her urn with Buddy Gray’s ashes and said, I want to adopt the little gray girl by the door, with that name Buddy is telling me to take her. What a lucky little girl she is too, very wealthy family, no expense spared when it comes to their pets, very doting and caring. I told Trish that story not long ago, I had been meaning to tell her and kept forgetting and then one night I remembered and told her how she was the catalyst that got Grayce a great home and she was very happy to have been part of that. So that’s me, the name-pilferer! hey if it gets a great cat a great home, I have no shame!

The rescue continues with Nancy and I taking care of the cats downstairs. She does day shift, I do nights, but she has pulled my weight also this week. I have felt fortunate to get my own cats fed, watered, medicated ( long story, I think Eddie may be going to the Bridge soon, please say a little prayer for him), and my litter boxes cleaned. She even came and got my cat bedding yesterday and did two loads of wash, brought it back all fresh and folded, we’re good in that dept. for a few days. Leona,still can’t drive so she is taking calls on her cell at home and then getting her messages from the phone here several times a day and responding. However, she is looking for her own replacement, says it is too much to do and she has to find a full time job and when she does she won’t have time to put in here.

A Light in Remembrance

  

Joining with other bloggers remembering those affected by the tornadoes in the south and our furry friends who have gone on to the Bridge this past year, my own darlin’ Ebby, Sweet Praline, Annie, Mickey, Nimbus, Shell and too many others. I hope to return next week in a happier mood, but this week has been a sad one.

RIP Phoebe Snow

I’m sure her beloved daughter Valerie was there with open arms to welcome her mom to heaven. Thanks for the beautiful music Phoebe!

Run Free Sweet Praline

it is with heavy heart I post that darling Sweet Praline has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. I want to thank all of the people and kitties who have prayed and purred for Sweet Praline the past months. It was through Sweet Praline’s blog that I found the Cat Blogosphere and so many great kitties and their moms and dads, I took one look into those eyes and I was hooked! Paula is her mom but she generously shared Praline with the rest of us with her delightful stories and photos. Thank you, Paula for giving us this gift and now, we grieve with you and send you healing prayers. I imagine the welcoming committee at the Bridge would have been a sight to see, she was one of the most beloved kitties on the CB and will forever be remembered with love. Run free little one……

Monday, Monday

Sorry but this will be short and sweet, even though I have been typing for 45 minutes, I just accidentally hit the Delete instead of Backspace, and there went 4 paragraphs of words. I have gotten some private emails and just want everyone who has been concerned that I am well, just have been very busy with taking care of my 16 animals plus the 12 downstairs, and we have been under thunderstorm and tornado watches and warnings since last Sunday night, accumulating in 10 inches of rain so far for the month. Way above normal for the year and has broken an all time record. Our power has been off more than on at night, so that's why  I have not been here. I will hopefully get caught up later today but right now it has begun storming again and I am going to shut down the computer. Blessings to everyone, especially thinking of Paula and Sweet Praline. Hope to be back later this morning.

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3:05AM

Okay the storm seems to have waned so let me try this again. It never seems to have the impact when you are repeating, even to yourself does it? First of all, I owe LP a huge apology even though she knows nothing about this blog. Seems she actually did have a problem with her back and actually is having micro-surgery for two herniated discs this morning, or is that disks? Now I feel like a heel for doubting her. But, it just seemed to me that every time it came to actual physical work, she was not available.  That made me doubtful of her, but she did have pain, so forgive me one and all. I said it, I own it, as Dr, Phil would say. And I was wrong.

So I have spent everyday for nearly two weeks now, taking care of the cats and kittens downstairs along with mine, which is a lot of scooping, cleaning as in sweeping and mopping, doing laundry, since they need fresh bedding at least every other day, or I think so, making sure they all have fresh water and food and cleaning out said food and water dishes. I will be 68 a week from today, my face tells me that, my mind tells me that, my body tells me that too, but I am stubborn and continue to work as if I am 35! Then after the work is done since I’m not a napper, I try to sit quietly for an hour or so and read. I had a young girl who does volunteer work occasionally offer to help on Wednesday last week, which was welcomed, until I went down after she left only to find she is one who scoops out the large particles from the litter box and kind of stirs the wet part around. NOT!!!!! You may be able to do that with scoopable but we use clay and it doesn’t work for that, you just end up with a stinky litter box that no one wants to use. Or have you ever seen a cat perch with all four paws on the edges of a litter box because they don’t want to put their feet in it?  I have. Its artistic (acrobatic?) looking but I feel sorry for an animal who has to do that to relieve themselves. I didn’t say anything but if she comes back I’ll have to take her through Litter Box cleaning 101. If she doesn’t like it, then I’ll just not be able to use her again.

Last week from Sunday evening on, we were perpetually in either thunderstorm warnings, tornado watches or warnings and pouring rain. April in this area has been extremely wet, we have had 10 inches of rain, as of Saturday morning and broken all historical records for April rainfall. I have lost power at night more times than I can even count, one reason why I haven’t posted much, twice during the daylight hours. We are supposed to have thunderstorms all week, even though the temperatures are going to go up, not much chance of enjoying it when there is a downpour going on.

Then toward the end of the week, I got en email that someone had posted on my Facebook page. I was coerced by a younger friend to join FB years ago, I rarely go there, usually only WHEN I get an email saying someone posted on my wall. Social networks never have done anything for me, not Twitter, My Space, Facebook none of it. I once had a group on MSN back when they had groups and prior to that communities but those were different somehow, people wrote longer posts and you really got to know them personally, plus there were others who made graphics and they would share them, then MSN in its infinite wisdom closed them down. I came to Blogger and got interested in some blogs with cats as the focus and then eventually started my own and this is my interest now. Those others are fine for people who enjoy them but they just don’t do a thing for me.   Anyway, back to the point, someone posted a message on my Home page on Facebook and I went to answer it, then as is my norm, I sort of scrolled down the page to see what else was on there and if there was anything I wanted to respond to. BIG MISTAKE. There was a You Tube video, I glanced at what it said at the top in large print, that they were trying to get this removed from You Tube and I clicked and became a victim to watching the most horrific instance of animal abuse I had ever seen. I won’t go into detail, it was just simply horrific!!! I watched because I had no idea what was coming and was hoping this was going to end with a happy ending, it didn’t and I have not been able to get those images out of my mind. It made me violently, physically ill…..to the point of running to the bathroom, ill. I know, TMI! I couldn’t go near the computer for a day afterward. But it reinforced something I have known about myself innately for all my life, and that is, if I EVER came across an animal being abused I would kill over it, or I would cause someone so much harm they would wish they were dead. I would not feel badly about it afterward, I would have no regrets, it would be just second nature to me. To me any “thing” and these were things that did this to this animal, they weren’t human, they were vile, wicked, evil, depraved, inhuman, reprehensible monsters really and I wish them all a horrible lingering death! There I said it, I mean it. By the way, if it means anything the title was written in an indistinguishable foreign language. I mean that for all animal abusers, like the Michael Vicks of the world and the owner of Patrick the Pit Bull, whose story is known around the world by now. They don’t deserve to live, they have no redeeming features. They are trash. I even think anyone who raises their voice to an animal in anger has a mental problem of some kind. They don’t think like we do, they don’t know that the water in the vase with the daffodils is supposed to stay in the vase, all they know is it’s water, let’s stick a paw in it. or let’s see what this yellow flower is and drag it onto the table, oops, water all over. So what? Get a cloth and a mop and take care of it, they weren’t thinking “Let’s see what can I do to ruin this  humans day? I know I’ll knock the water over and make a mess”. I stopped communicating with an online friend over a year ago when she told me she had smacked her cat on the behind for running out into the garage when she went to start her car. Because my response was “And what? you think the cat knew it was being punished for doing something, all you taught it was to be afraid of you” to which she replied, but it never goes near the garage door now, guess not, I guess if I got my A$$ hit for going near the garage door by something that outweighed me by 140 pounds I wouldn’t go near the garage door again either. So I knew I was talking to a brick wall and went on my way. Hitting an animal teaches it nothing but fear and I don’t ever want any animal to fear me. People have asked  me how I break up fights when my cats get into it with each other, for one thing it doesn’t happen often, but I simply say in a stern but calm voice “No fighting” and spray my small water bottle into the air and the sound it makes sounds like a hiss, like a mama cat would do to a kitten that was misbehaving, and that ends the altercation.

Saturday I was invited out for dinner to celebrate a friends 45th birthday. We went to Outback Steakhouse, had never been there before, so it was an experience ( to say the least ). First off it was packed when we arrived at 8:30PM, so we had a 30 minute wait for a table, there were 7 of us so we had to wait for a large booth. We ordered drinks, that wasn’t too bad, they came within 10 minutes, I just had iced tea but the others were drinking alcoholic beverages. I wasn’t driving so I could have drank but I just wasn’t in the mood. Never have been much of a drinker and having been married to 3 alcoholics turned me off of it a lot. Anyway, we placed our orders, someone ordered a salmon appetizer, someone ordered a Bloomin’ Onion and we sat and sat and sat, finally the manager came over and apologized for the appetizers not being there yet but they had a HUGE run on them in the kitchen and that was why they were held up. My guess is they didn’t have as many cut and ready as were ordered so that meant some had to be prepped because they ran out. Now I have worked in the restaurant business in the past, and when we would have a table of 6, where 2 people ordered appetizers and 4 people ordered salads, the salads were served when the appetizers were. Not at Outback, the appetizers came and then we sat and sat and sat some more. Then finally the salads came, finally out comes the food, my steak was overcooked but by that time I was so hungry I ate it anyway, Michelle had ordered her steak medium also but she sent it back, it was well  done also. And these were filets. One of the hamburgers was almost raw, ordered medium. I have eaten enough food that was kept warm under a heat lamp to be able to know it and this food was not hot, the fries I had were limp as dishrags, it was just ridiculous and bad enough when you are out to enjoy a celebration, so when the manager returned when the checks came, to ask how everything was and everyone else sort of muttered, fine, I said, no it really wasn’t fine, the food was extremely slow coming out of the kitchen, both steaks was overcooked and Michelle had to wait while everyone else was served for hers to be prepared properly, the burger was served raw and by the fact that everyone was getting containers to take their food home ( to give to their dogs by the way) should be proof that everything was much less than fine. He took the checks and one that was $49 went down to $27, Michelle and I were on one  he deducted one of the filet dinners  and Beth got her strip steak for $4.94, I forget now but something was wrong with her food as well. I told them, sometimes it pays to be “older” because you learn to speak your mind ( because you don’t care what anyone thinks of you, really ) and you don’t settle for less than what you should get. I would never go back there again, truly. I have never in my entire life been in a restaurant that long. With the 30 minute wait to be seated and all the mess with the meal and waiting we were there for over 3 hours. Not socializing and chatting and whiling away the time, just trying to get served and eat! But, other than the crappy food and service it was fun being with friends going out for an evening, I just don’t do it very often, I like being home, I enjoy being with my animals and just reading or watching TV or listening to music. I think I got sick of being out when I worked in music and the bar business, where you are always “on” having to entertain and keep people happy and I still get that feeling now when I am out if conversation lags I feel like I have to start a new topic or just say something to get the ball rolling again. Like it’s my JOB.

I guess that about brings things up to date here. Going to send this before the next wave of t’storms comes through. Hope everyone has a good week ahead and that I can get online more often.

Soggy Saturday

Hi all, thought I would make a last post prior to going into the bathroom, pulling out my hair in large wads and going to bed for a year!!! I have been downstairs for almost 3 hours, cleaning for our Grand Re-Opening tomorrow…..all………by…….myself. Why is that you ask? Because the hospital decided to have a Doggy Easter Egg Hunt fundraiser to help us bring some money in hopefully and my partner in crime…we will call her LP……..decided when she discovered this….it would require a lot of physical work so……… her………….. back……………. went out…………. 3 days ago. Which means yours truly has been taking care of all the cats. ALONE! Plus my own brood. I pretty much take care of the cats alone anyway, I mean, I live above them. my personal washer and dryer are downstairs because there really is no water hook up here other than the bathroom and it is already so crowded in there you can’t turn around easily. And I guess it would be more than the doctor wants to spend to have a plumber come and make water hookups in the front of the apt. I used to ask him to do it and he never really answered me……….so I stopped asking.

But back to LP, she is not a cat person…..though she has one cat, a young one she adopted from here a few months ago and then promptly had declawed so her furniture didn’t get scratched. See, I really don’t think people who are concerned about furniture should have cats, because this tells me they don’t have the patience to train a cat to use a scratching post! She does have good traits, she is good with dogs….I like dogs, I have two dogs, but I am REALLY a cat person. So I handle the cats and she does the dogs and she is good at it as far as placing them in good homes. She is also very outgoing……a talker and doesn’t know a stranger, where I am more guarded. I click with some people, others I have to know awhile and get a feel for. before I let my guard now and let them into my life. LP is one who makes my guard stand up.

SO, when the hospital said they were going to have this Easter Egg hunt this weekend and she heard about it, her back started to hurt. She walked with her hand on her hip like she was in acute pain. Maybe she is…I just don’t believe it. Then I found out, because she wanted to be in charge of the volunteers, you know? the people who come everyday and clean litter boxes, mop and feed? She has ONE person….who comes on Monday. The rest of the week she is supposed to be doing it, because she doesn’t work, she is 49 and I work 9.5 or 11.5 hours a night 6 nights a week and I am 68, or will be in a couple of weeks. Long story short, I have been downstairs in my off hours since Thursday, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, making sure all the cats have clean food and water, litter boxes, plus doing my own plus taking care of the two cuties. But, this morning I took them next door to stay until they are big enough to come to the nursery downstairs because I was starting to get that feeling…..you know that feeling you get? I really love these kittens and I really really pray they get good homes but I hate to give them up! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Help me!!! Have enough on my plate and I can see them every day and still cuddle and pet and hold them but I need another cat or two like another hole in my head! I have my own 14 and then downstairs I have 10 including the other older two kittens, Rachel and Roxie which means I am responsible for 24 lives and the two kittens makes 26.

The Grand Re-Opening was to be today but then when the Easter Egg Hunt got thrown into the mix we had to cancel since it has been pouring rain since Thursday and yesterday and the night before we had storms with 50-70 mph winds, made the ground a little soggy. Supposed to be dry tomorrow but I doubt the ground will be dry especially since it’s raining right now and it is 11:11PM oh well, wonder if LP will be able to drag herself out of her convalescence and come in to give the grand tour, because I am not doing it.

And now here they are as per your requests, Chloe and Chewy the baby kittens, tho they look bigger than they are because I had the camera on close up to get their faces:

Chloe on left and Chewy on right

Chewy

Chloe

Chewy looks like he has eyeliner on and is a little darker grey and Chloe is lighter and has white around her eyes….I think they look sad but it’s probably because I feel guilty.

And here is Tiger nomming some of Margaret’s tuna!