October 28 through 31

Thursday, October 28

Tammy took Mom to the clinic in Albert Lea to have her leg looked at this afternoon.  They did not find any blood clots or other bad things.  They did set her up for an appointment to have an infusion of antibodies to fight the Covid infection.  They told her that most people felt significantly better within a few days of having the infusion.  So, Tammy will be taking her back again tomorrow for that procedure.  It was too late in the day for her to have the infusion today.  Tammy will stay with her the rest of the week.  Kim will come Friday night and stay with her through the weekend, then Tammy will come back on Sunday night to stay with her for a few more days.

Currently, the plan is that Tammy will take Mom back with her to stay until she feels up to being on her own again. I am staying away from her until she is negative because I have at least four comorbidities that would make Covid infection more dangerous for me—at least according to the CDC.  I called her old minister and her new minister and told them about her sickness, and some of the uninfected people from her church have been bringing her food.  That’s a helper.  No one brought me food when I was recovering from the open wounds from the burst appendix and all of the infection that had to be repeatedly scraped out—well, except Lily who always brought me the leftovers from her dinner parties.  She kept me alive.

I ordered a few groceries from Lerbergs—not too many as I didn’t need much.  I did order a medium roast beef as the one I bought before got forgotten and bad before I could cook it.  This one is going to get cooked right away.  I ordered a few frozen things from Schwan’s yesterday, so I will have a lot of food that I can cook quickly and easily in the microwave or oven.  I bought several single serve meals for those days when I just do not have the energy to make real food. 

Oliver puked today.  It was just watery stuff except for one long leaf from my spider plant.  Cats love to eat spider plants.  He puked it right up again, though.  Hopefully he will stay away from it now.  Of course he had to puke about five little juicy piles.  Yuck.  It could have been worse—it could have been the moist, stinky cat food he eats.  This was just like wiping up a puddle of water.

I ended up washing the loads of clothes that LeeLee peed on 4-5 times before they did not smell any more of pee.  There is a litter box in the laundry room now, so I hope he is done with my dirty clothes and towels now. 

I got another box from Target today.  I had bought all for of the I Love You Forever dolls.  They are based on little girls who are fans of Disney princesses.  They are the same size as American Girl dolls, and they are extremely cute.  The last thing I need are four more larger scale dolls.  But I have been feeling rather low, and dolls always raise my spirits.  I am actually considering getting rid of some of those that just don’t bring me the joy other ones do.

I need to get my basement set up for my dolls and put in one of those stair lift chairs so the basement is accessible to me.  I am going to be calling for someone to come and make me an estimate once I get the siding/deck/gutters paid off.

Everything in my life will be much better when I can move some of my dolls/crafts/clutter/fabric to the basement.

It rained today.  Oliver crawled into my neck and snuggled with me for about 2 hours.  We had a nice long nap this afternoon.  He is such a lovable little monkey.

 

Friday, October 29

I got deliveries from the Schwan’s man, Lerberg’s, and the blood pressure cuff for Lily from Target.  Lily came over to get her cuff, stopping to get my mail on her way.  I had quite a bundle—mostly junk mail and catalogs.  I gave her some of the catalogs.  I didn’t even look at them as I did not want to be tempted to buy anything else I do not need.  I have been saving boxes for Lily as she is once again considering moving to the Senior Living Center and selling her house in Ellendale.  I have given up the notion of buying it as she wants to sell it for $200,000.  She might get that price.  She has a lot of land to go with the house.  She has about 2 ½ lots, an enormous flower garden, a vegetable garden plot that hasn’t been used for a couple of years, a more than double garage, and a very large deck.  She has been going through all her possessions and is planning on packing up stuff for a garage sale next summer. 

I have decided to be content with my own home.  Especially now that I have been making improvements on it.  I have more improvements in my plans for the future.

It almost killed me, but I got my huge, heavy bag of kitchen garbage into the bin outside as well as the lighter bag from the bedroom/bathroom/living room.  I cleaned the litter boxes and tossed the scoopings out there too.  I ran the pee-smelling clothes through the washer a couple more times.  It takes a lot to get that smell out.  I will be looking into buying some of that deodorizing enzyme stuff for the future.

I unboxed the new dolls from their shipping boxes—they came in two boxes, two dolls in each box—as well as the box of cat food from Chewy.com and some chocolate that I had ordered from Target the same time as I bought the blood pressure cuff for Lily.  They sent that in a separate box. 

Tammy called me this morning before I got out of bed.  The former owner of Oliver and LeeLee was informed that I have the cats and she is demanding them back.  A mean-spirited woman at the barn, angry that she was kept out of the loop regarding the cats, overheard some of the other women talking about Ollie and sharing the pictures I had sent to Tammy of him and me cuddling and discussing how happy he was in his new home.  So, Tammy told me she was going back home tomorrow and she would be taking Ollie and LeeLee with her.  My heart aches at the thought of letting Ollie go.  He is so happy here.  I hate the thought of sending him back to a 22 year old college girl.  Who knows if she will tire of them and dump them back in a barn or at a high kill shelter?  Apparently she has moved away from her parents who rented places where they could not have any pets.  She has moved in with her boyfriend in an apartment where pets are allowed. 

I held and loved Oliver as much as I could all day.  It broke my heart every time I looked into his trusting and loving little face.  I gave serious thought to refusing to surrender him, but Tammy said that the girl really misses her pets and wants them back.  Her parents did this to the animals against her will, and she has been heart broken about it.

I guess I will just try to be thankful for the days of sweetness and love that Oliver brought to my life while he was here and make sure that this girl knows that if it ever becomes necessary for her to give them up, they are welcome back in my home, be it permanently or temporarily.

In other news, Mom got her infusion of antibodies, and her body tolerated the infusion well.  Apparently some people get sick from it, but she was fine.  The doctors told her she should feel better within a day or two.  I hope so.

 

Saturday, October 30

I tried to spend extra time this morning cuddling Oliver, but he was a wild man this morning with a serious case of the zoomies.  There was no patience for loving in him.  He started the day by pouncing on my head from the headboard on my bed. 

Tammy and my sister in law Kari came over to help me catch the cats.  Ollie was easy.  He pranced right up to them.  He spent almost an hour in the travel cage while we tried unsuccessfully to catch LeeLee.  That cat can vanish like a fart in a breeze.  We looked for him for at least two hours and saw no sign of him at all.  I figured he was in the laundry room which is where he prefers to hang out, and they tore the place apart.  No luck. 

Finally, they had to give up.  Kari had tickets to some 3D movie, and Tammy had a two hour drive to the Cities and a specific time to drop Ollie off to his new owner.  More details about her—she had found Ollie as a tiny unweaned kitten in an abandoned shed and bottle raised him. That explains why he is so human-friendly and loving.  Apparently her parents had kept her in the dark and dumped the cats in the barn before she knew anything about it.  She has been working ever since to get a place where they could live with her.  Also, LeeLee is not 15 as we thought he was.  (Also, he is a boy, not a girl cat).  LeeLee is 18 years old!  He belongs with his little pack of humans and other animals at this stage of his life.  He cannot have more than a couple of years left—especially after all the stress he has suffered being dragged around to strange places.  Poor little guy.

So, Tammy left with Oliver and his big tote of supplies and the bag of Fancy Feast and Sheba wet foods that I sent home with him since he loves them so much.  I started crying as Tammy took him out the door and cried most of the rest of the day.  I miss the little monster so much already.  Every time I went to the bathroom, I cried more because he loved to jump into the shower and leap at me from the other side of the shower curtain.  When he was not cuddling with me, he slept in the chair across the room from the recliner or sat on my vintage table watching the birds and squirrels on the deck.  Every time I looked up and saw them empty, my heart ached and I cried more.

Towards evening, Tammy texted me a picture of Ollie in his original owners arms, snuggled up as tight as possible and her with the most radiant smile on her face.  I guess that he leapt into her arms and buried his face in her hair the second Tammy pulled him out of the carrier.  I felt better when I saw how glad he was to be back with her.  I didn’t cry any more after that.  I felt that I had done the right thing for him to return him to his young momma.  I will still miss him for a very long, long time.

I put some peanuts in the shell and unshelled sunflower seeds on the deck railing and watched the squirrels and various birds (mostly blue jays) eat them.  They really enjoy them.  It was a lovely fall day except for the empty, lost feeling in my heart. 

I began to wonder if LeeLee had found a hidey-hole and died in it.  But later in the evening, he came sauntering out of the bedroom big as you please.  So at least I know he is still alive. 

I worked on my DW journal today, but could not bring myself to write about the fresh wound of losing Ollie.  I know it was the right thing to give him back to his original owner, but it still hurts to lose his sweetness.

 

Sunday, October 31

I woke up at about 8:30 and did a little tidying up in the bedroom and filled my pill caddy.  Then I sat in my recliner and reviewed Chapter 8 in The Artist’s Way, which is the chapter DeAnn and I are supposed to discuss today.

DeAnn and I had another lovely Zoom meeting.  Those meetings are just like really effective therapy sessions.  We had a nice long meeting, and then she had to go take all of Josh’s friends home. 

I folded my dark clothes and put them away and then threw the last load into the dryer. 

 

I had bought some Halloween candy, but I never turned my light on, so I never got any trick or treaters.  In fact, I turned off my lights and sat in the dark, watching Cowboy shows on the INSP network.  I never saw or heard any kids outside, so I don’t know if there was any Halloween activity or not.  I know there are Halloween parties every Halloween at the Assembly of God Church (they call it “Harvest Fest” since most of them think Halloween is EEEeeeevil) and the Lutheran Church, and the Methodist Church has what they call “Trunk or Treat” where people bring their candy to to the church parking lot and fill kids’ bags out of their trunks.

I ate some of the candy I had bought, but I didn’t enjoy it as it was mostly candy I don’t care for—that was supposed to keep me from snacking on it!  Mostly Snickers, Milky Ways, and Twixt.  I don’t like my chocolate adulterated with other crap.

I went to bed fairly early as I was sad from missing my little Oliver.  He made me feel so loved.he church parking lot and fill kids’ bags out of their trunks.

I ate some of the candy I had bought, but I didn’t enjoy it as it was mostly candy I don’t care for—that was supposed to keep me from snacking on it!  Mostly Snickers, Milky Ways, and Twixt.  I don’t like my chocolate adulterated with other crap.

I went to bed fairly early as I was sad from missing my little Oliver.  He made me feel so loved.