Tuesday, January 17

Tuesday, January 17

I was snuggling with Sawyer this morning when the phone rang.  It was 7 am and I wondered  who on earth was calling me at that ungodly hour.  Well, it turned out to be the Clinic.  The caller told me my Doctor had a sick child and had cancelled all her appointments for the rest of the week.  So I rescheduled my appointment for next week Friday.

I texted Lily to call me when she could.  She called me almost immediately.  She is always up at the crack of dawn.  I told her what had happened, and we decided to go to Owatonna anyway since she needed a loaf of French bread to make garlic toast for her friend dinner party tomorrow night.  I needed to go as I have four prescriptions waiting to be picked up at the pharmacy.  Generally I have my prescriptions sent to me on Fed Ex, but this time, I have to pick up my glucose monitor’s test strips.  They cannot be mailed as they are adversely affected by extreme hot or cold weather conditions.

After further talking, we decided to go out for lunch after going shopping and to invite my mother along as the three of us had planned to go out to lunch to celebrate my birthday back in November.  We talked about going to Misuki which is a Japanese restaurant in Owatonna.  We decided to leave for Owatonna at 10 am, and I agreed to call my mother and invite her along.

My mother was delighted to go as she has been wanting to go shopping at Walmart for a long time.  Her biggest fear was tat Misuki only offered sushi, but I assured her that they had many menu options that were NOT sushi.

I took a lovely shower and did my morning routine after feeding my cats.  Lily called me later and told me she had made appointments for Finn and Sawyer at the vet in Blooming Prairie.  Finn needed his claws trimmed, and I have been worrying about Sawyer’s ears for a while now.  Also, he needed to have his claws trimmed.  I didn’t really feel like going there at 4 pm after we had shopped and gone to lunch, but another big winter storm is headed our way which will last the rest of the week, so I wanted to have Sawyer looked at before that hit and paralyzed us for another week or so.

His ears have been driving him crazy.  He has clawed the back of his ear so violently that he has opened up a big bloody sore at the base of his ear.  Whenever he shakes his head, little clear droplets of liquid splatter around him, and the insides of his ears are filled with a black, tarry substance.  I thought he must have an ear infection, probably caused by a bite from his brother.

So, I called my brother to borrow his cat carrier as I know Sawyer would have to be in a carrier or he would be impossible to control in the car.

When Lily arrived, she put my garbage and recycling bins where they belonged on either side of the breezeway steps.  I was talking to Joni on the phone and did not notice her arrival.  I asked Joni if she wanted to meet us for lunch, but she and Jeff were going to look for a “new” car for Jeff as his truck is nickel and diming him to death.  Time to just get a different car and let the truck go.  He asked if I was interested in selling my Buick Enclave to him.  I said NO.  He is untrustworthy and would never pay me for it.  I have been considering getting rid of it for a smaller vehicle that isn’t such a gas guzzler.  I’d really like to have a lime green or bright pink Volkswagon Bug.  But mine works fine and is totally paid for, so I am going to keep it a while longer.

My deck and ramp were a bit slippery, but I made it to Lily’s car without falling.  So.  Victory.

We picked my mother up and we headed north to Owatonna.  It was astonishing how many cars had been in the ditch during the last winter storm.  We could tell because there were huge sections of the barrier between the north and south bound lanes all the way to Owatonna which had been broken where cars had smashed into them and wrecked them. 

We went to Walmart first and were there till noon.  I helped Mom find the stuff she needed as she doesn’t see well enough to locate the things she needs—especially vitamins and other small items.  I looked for a cat carrier of my own, but all they had was gigantic dog carriers.  I picked up some vitamins that I was running low on for myself and four small chunks of fabric with bunny motifs.  I am thinking ahead for Easter outfits for smaller dolls.  Also, I am planning a bunny themed room for three of my little girl dolls (Ideal Pepper dolls whom I have renamed Polly, Peggy, and Penny).  Pepper isn’t a name.  It’s a nickname.

I bought two movies, Thor:  Love and Thunder and the Yellowstone prequel 1883. I bought a garbage can with a lid on it to hold the pods that hold the cats’ soft food as I am finding the stench of them nauseating.  So, now the stench will be trapped in the can.  I bought some other stuff.  Nothing too noteworthy. 

While we were walking by the meat counter, Lily held up a huge ham steak and commented that it looked delicious.  I said it would be good for making scalloped potatoes.  Then she announced that Rhonda, her daughter, was no longer eating pork.  One of the preachers she has been listening to has decreed that eating pork is evil and that no one who eats pork will go to heaven and that “it is in the Bible.”

“In the OLD TESTAMENT,” I said.  “There’s all kinds of stuff in the OLD Testament that’s considered ‘evil’ that we do all the time.”  Then I said, “Doesn’t she remember the vision of Peter about the clean and unclean animals?  Whoever this preacher is, he is wrong.”  Then I asked if Rhonda was turning into some kind of fanatic.  Lily quietly said, “It seems like it.” 

In case you are not familiar with this part of the NEW Testament, here it is: 

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." And the voice came to him again a second time, "What God has made clean, do not call common." This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. (Acts 10:9-16)

Yes.  I looked this up online and copied and pasted it here—just to prove that I really do know what I am talking about.  I may print it out for Lily and tell her to send it to Rhonda.  I am concerned that she is being brainwashed but some fanatical lunatic.  She already fell under the sway of Donald Chump.  Apparently she is gullible as shit and easy prey for any controlling shit head that slithers into her range.  It’s terrifying to me how easy it is for control freaks and kkkultists to suck some of us into their evil webs.  I wonder how much money she has already contributed to this guy’s flawed ministry.

This is why shits like this guy (and Donald Chump) will never be able to brainwash me with their bullshit:  First, I trust NO ONE who gets on a podium somewhere and tells me that He and HE ALONE knows the will of God or the ULTIMATE TRUTH of all things.  Second, they cannot manipulate me by trotting out certain sections of the Bible because I spent my ENTIRE youth and young adulthood reading the Bible and going to Sunday School and Bible Studies.  (I was indoctrinated from Birth to believe that I was evil and destined for Hell, and I was trying to find a way to un-evil myself and become worthy of NOT burning in hell.  Sad.  I know.)  As a result, I KNOW what is in the Bible.  I cannot quote chapter and verse, but I KNOW what’s in there.  And Third, I am smart enough to remember and understand what I read. 

I am continually amazed at how dumb reasonably functional human beings can be.  It’s actually kind of sickening.  

That was probably the most memorable event from shopping in Walmart today.  When we left, we set off for Misuki.

There were no parking spots near Misuki, and the sidewalk was glare ice, so we went to Perkins.  We all ended up getting the same thing—a dinner salad, three breaded, deep fried shrimp, and two deep fried pieces of cod.  It was very good.  I would have loved a piece of French silk pie, but I was too full.

After that, Lily went to her eye doctor’s office to have her glasses adjusted.  Mom and I waited in the car.  It was warm and did not take long.  Then we headed home.  On the way home, of course, Mom had to bring up Kim and “the boys.” She waxed poetic on how much the “boys” LOVE Kim and how they give her such wonderful gifts and HOW HAPPY they all are.  If they were that fucking happy they would not be so filled with hate and nastiness. 

I don’t know what she gets out of CONSTANTLY bringing them up and totally lying about how wonderful they are when EVERYONE knows that they have no goals, no ambition, no work ethic, and no desire to progress past the mental age of 12.

We dropped Mom off at her house then went to Jack’s house to pick up the cat carrier.  Lily helped me get my stuff up to the house.  My package from Target had been delivered so we dragged that into the house.  When Lily left, I put away the groceries I had bought—there were not a lot:  a bag of oranges, a bunch of bananas, a bag of shredded mozzarella, a loaf of French bread, and a loaf of Brown Bread.  I assembled my new wastebasket with the lid, and put away other odds and ends.  About ten minutes before Lily was due back, I fought the battle of getting Sawyer into the cat carrier.  It was hell.  He was livid.  He did NOT want to go in that thing, and when I finally got him zipped in, he went crazy in there.  I cried because I felt so sorry for him.  He was scared to death.

But his ear HAD to be attended to! 

He and Finn growled and hissed at each other from their individual cat carriers.  Finn howled the whole way to Blooming Prairie.  Finn is Siamese, and they tend to be loud and howly. Sawyer only sort of whines softly. 

It was extremely slippery and icy in the Blooming Prairie vet clinic.  Stewie was quiet in the vet office.  He wanted to nudge me with his head through the screening of his carrier.  I think he wanted his momma’s comfort in the strange place. 

There was a huge pitbull in the lounge area.  She was lovely and had very engorged boobies and a plastic tote containing 9 baby pitties—all black with white noses except for ONE little brown guy.  I said, “That’s the one I would want.” And the young man who owned her said, “That’s the one I am keeping.”  You could tell he was a good doggy daddy.  She was a good, friendly, happy dog.  I asked if she was friendly, and he said, “She loves everybody.”  She came up and sniffed me and did a little wiggly butt happy dance when I petted her.  You could tell she had been well socialized, and when I leaned over to look at her puppies she absolutely swelled with pride.

She stuck her nose against the mesh of Sawyer’s carrier and sniffed him.  He went nose to nose with her and sniffed her back.  He does not fear dogs.  Then she left, dancing, with her teenage owner who carried the tub of puppies with the pride of a grandpapa. 

We made a nice connection, the boy, the dog, and me. 

We went into the exam room, Lily, Finn, Sawyer, and me.  They took Finn back first and clipped his toenails.  Then they cleaned Sawyer’s ears.  He didn’t fight it at all.  I think he was overwhelmed by his unfamiliar surroundings.  I thought surely he had an infection, but NOPE.  It was ear mites.  I do not know how he could have got ear mites since he has had NO contact with any other animals. 

They clipped his toe nails, treated his ear mites with a ONE TIME dose of something that they squirted into his ears, and weighed him.  My little orange piglet weighs 23 pounds.  Lily gasped and asked if that was too fat, and the vet said, “Not really.  He’s huge.  Look at him!  He’s tall and long and has a huge head.”  She could not believe he was under a year old. 

She told me that if he had ear mites, the other two will have them too.  So she hooked me up with four more tubes of the anti-ear mite med.  It cost me $99 for about 15 minutes of vet contact.  It will be well worth it if this ends his suffering. 

When I got home, Lily helped me treat the other two cats.  It went pretty easily with her holding them and me squeezing the medicine into their ears and massaging their ears to make sure it got all over the interior ear.

Lily went home.  The  sun went down.  I was exhausted but forced myself to do my written prayers and work on this entry.  I watched a couple episodes of Walker:  Texas Ranger and called Jack to tell him the results of the vet visit.  I fed the cats and now I am eagerly anticipating going to bed as I am exhausted after this eventful day.

At some point tomorrow, the winter storm will arrive and bring us up to 9 inches of snow.  Ugh.