March 31 through April 6

[chochiyo_sama]

Thursday, March 31

Today, I caught up with my DW entries, called in a grocery order to Lerbergs, and placed an on-line order to Schwan’s.  Today was the day the vet neutered Sawyer and William.  They will go back to their birth home for a couple of days so Gracie and the boys can have a little more time with them then they will bring them to me on Sunday.  They need to have meds for a couple of days after their surgery, so it will be easier for those young and spry folks to catch them and give them their meds.  I also think that it will be less scary for the kitties to get their meds from people they know rather than a complete stranger whom they do not know. 

I had tomatoes on toast for lunch today.  They were hot house tomatoes, so not as good as garden fresh, but still pretty good. 

I spoke to one of my former students, Paul, on FaceBook messenger the other day.  He and his wife/true love (don’t know if they are actually married or not) were looking for boxes as they are moving very soon.  I offered him all these boxes I have been saving for Lily.  She doesn’t think she can afford to rent an apartment in the senior living center and has 8 million reasons why it’s just “impossible” for her to do it.  Sigh.  Even if she does decide to move into  that place, it will take her ten years to go through all her stuff and pack it up.  She has had all winter to pack up the stuff in her trailer, and she has just frittered away her time whining about how she just doesn’t know what to do, doesn’t think she can do it by herself, doesn’t believe anyone will help her if she asks, doesn’t think everything will fit in her car, just CAN’T get rid of this, that, or the other thing…it goes on and on. 

Meanwhile, all these damned boxes are piled up in my living room.  So, if Paul wants these boxes, he can have them.  It won’t take long for me to save a bunch more from my grocery deliveries. He said he would come on Sunday night when he gets off work.  He is a cop. 

 

Friday, April 1

April Fool’s Day—but I have not done any ingenious tricks on anyone. 

I got my Schwan’s and my Lerberg’s deliveries today and got all those things put away.  I worked on piling up all those card board boxes on the north side of the living room, close as I could get to the breezeway door.  I can hardly wait to get them OUT of my house! 

I had 3-4 boxes of Sheba cat food pods, so I opened them up and put the pods in a shopping bag to drag into the bedroom where I keep Peaches’ soft food.  Then I broke down the boxes the pods came in (the small boxes that held the pods), collapsed them, and packed them in a box that was not as sturdy as the others.  My recycling bin is too full to fit them in, but when it gets taken next week, I will throw those in.

I got a bag of red licorice with my groceries today, so I ate a couple strands of that.  It was really fresh and good.  Peaches was just determined that she needed to eat a piece.  I gave her a little hunk and she licked and licked and licked that little chunk.  She is also a little chunk.

 

Saturday, April 2

I had a pretty quiet day.  I ate one of the Schwan’s chicken burrito bowls for supper.  They are kind of unique.  I like them.  There are chunks of white meat chicken along with white rice, black beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes, and something spicy.  I usually throw in a chunk of butter too. 

I ordered some more patterns for my LeeAnn dolls online.  I have been feeling in the mood to sew, but I haven’t been because the house is such a cluttered mess.  Of course, I do not invest my time in cleaning because my body feels like shit.  I do a little each day, but I never get it fully cleaned.

 

Sunday, April 3

I worked pretty hard today.  Last night I texted DeAnn and cancelled our Zoom.  It worked out well as she also wanted to cancel as she has a big, fancy wedding to go to on the east coast (near Martha’s Vineyard) and she needed to look for shoes.  There is a dress code for this wedding.  All attendees must dress in semi-formal cocktail attire.

I worked most of the day on cleaning up the living room and breezeway.  I took some old food out of the fridge and took the kitchen garbage out to the bin.  I took out more recycling.  I restocked the two small fridges with pop and iced tea and opened and emptied the Chewy boxes.  One held two boxes of cat litter, a box of Sheba moist food, and a plastic container of Temptations cat treats.  I put that stuff away and stacked that box up with the others. 

I roasted the two ribeye steaks and the New York Strip steak with fresh mushrooms and onions.  I put the other New York strip steak and the two pork loin chops into the freezer.  I love fresh mushrooms and onions.

Amy and Gracie brought the kittens at about 6 pm, and Paul was supposed to come and get the boxes at about the same time. I was hoping he would have been here and taken them first, but he didn’t come.  The kittens immediately scoured every inch of the house.  They both came to me for petting but were skittish about being held by me. Amy, Gracie, and Caleb brought the kittens in.  They are much bigger than I anticipated.  I suspect they have some cougar blood in them.  They are very long, and their legs and tails are extremely long.  They are wiry and very athletic.  They have been on top of every tall object in the house. 

I left the breezeway door open until 8:30 pm.  Paul never showed up.  Later I checked with him on Messenger, and he said that he had to stay later at work and there were issues with people not knowing how to behave like “good girls and boys.”  He was exhausted and just wanted to get home and relax.  He apologized for not calling to tell me he decided not to come.  I hope he will come soon and get all this crap.  I want it out of my house.

 

Monday, April 4

This morning I filled my pill caddy and called in refill orders for my test strips and lancets  for my glucose monitor.  They will not mail those things as they say the temperature changes will render the test strips ineffective.  Sigh.  I asked my brother if he’d be able to pick them up for me, and he said he’d probably be going in on Saturday.  That works for me.  I sorted and started my laundry.

Sawyer and William are adjusting well.  Peaches does not like them.  She hisses and growls at them every time they get close to here. William has hissed at her a couple of times, but I don’t think Sawyer has hissed or growled at all.  Sawyer is pretty mellow, but William is a wild man.  They have discovered the box of toys, especially the fish skeleton that Mary crocheted for Peaches and Stewie, and they have been killing those toys to death.  They chase them all over the living room and scrabble with each other for possession of the toy.  They are fun to watch, but they are hell on wheels.  They have been like twin tornadoes, knocking over everything they see.  They knocked the little box of Christmas ornaments I had on the coffee table over and broke the adorable rooster ornament I had bought.  It was really pretty but made out of very thin, fragile colored glass. 

Joni was admitted to St. Mary’s today.  They said they were going to keep her for a week and try to figure out what is wrong with her and build up her strength a bit.  It’s about fucking time!  She has become so thin and fragile that I am very afraid that she will be dead before the fourth of July if something isn’t done to strengthen her.

Sawyer and I had a very long snuggle today—he laid in my lap for about 5 hours.  I did have to get up a couple of times to pee, but he leapt right back in my lap the second I sat down again.  I cannot spend every day holding that little beastie, but he is sweet, and I do love him.

Tonight I had a bowl of chicken and wild rice soup from Schwans and two pieces of toast with melted Swiss cheese on them. All of it was very good.

 

Tuesday, April 5

 Peaches finally has forgiven me enough to snuggle with me.  Sawyer also wants to snuggle with me every second of the day when he is not fighting with his brother, killing his toys, or sleeping.  Peaches has stayed at the foot of my bed, guarding me from Sawyer and William, all night.  They climbed up into the high shelf in my closet and knocked a bunch of my totes full of doll stuff off.  I don’t know how they got up there.  Or why they found it necessary to knock those things off the shelf. High spirits, I suspect.

I had English muffins with butter and raspberry jam for lunch.  Delicious. 

I found two puddles of cat puke that I had to clean up.  Fortunately it was still wet, so clean up was easy.  I hate when I don’t find it until it is dry. Then it is a pain in the ass to clean up.

Cora got home today.  I will devote a separate entry JUST to her adventure.  It will tell better that way.

 

Wednesday, April 6

Peaches seems to be less upset about the boys today.  There has been very little hissing and growling today.  She even seems to be enjoying the spectacle of them killing the toys.  She even cuddled with me in bed this morning for a while instead of being ever vigilant to keep the boys away.

I talked to Joni’s husband Jeff today.  My cousin Kari (Janka) Hoerle had called to get the skinny on Joni and whether there was anything she could do to help.  I told her Joni was in the hospital, hopefully getting some actual help this time and about the deaths of Paris and her torti kitten.  She offered to take the two orphans and bottle feed them until Joni got home from the hospital.  I called Jeff to pass that information on, but he said he was doing the feedings and that the kitties were doing well.  I hope so.  They are so tiny.  I hope they can survive. 

When I spoke to him, Jeff was on his way to the hospital to see Joni.  Apparently, they told him that she might be allowed to go home today if she was able to walk on her own.  I think that is insane.  They should keep her in there until she is much stronger and has put on some weight.

I did another load of laundry today and ate one of the ribeyes with mushrooms and onions and the rest of the fresh strawberries.  Some of the strawberries were a little green, but most of them were really good.

Comments

[the_godiva]

The first of April, like Valentine's Day, is just another day to me. I can't say I've ever played tricks on anyone. But I did enjoy some of the spoof articles REI used to post on their blog on that day.

Be careful with licorice and other candies you let the cats lick. If it has Xylitol in it, it is poisonous to cats and dogs. I wouldn't even trust a little lick.

I've got a bag of garbage that needs to go out but I'm not putting it out until tomorrow because of the heat. The heat wave will break tonight but today it will peak at 96 around 2pm, then start to fall. It will be in the 80s by 7pm and the 70s by 8pm. 60s by midnight and the low will be 58 by 6am. That is a 40 degree drop in 24 hours. Actually a 40 degree rise and then fall within 24 hours as the low was 56 early this morning. And thus ends the heat wave. Saturday the high will be 76. It will be 69 on Sunday and was have a 30% chance of rain on Tuesday. It will stay in the mid to low 70s for the following 10 days. Then I expect the process will start all over again. I must say I am getting tired of this back and forth swing in the weather.

I think Sawyer's excessive clinginess is due to the change in habitat. I'm sure he will always be very affectionate, but hopefully as he becomes accustomed to the house and the routine, he will relax a bit and not have to be in your lap constantly. As for William, the same holds true only he will likely become a bit more affectionate as he relaxes to the stability of the house and inhabitants. Thankfully they have each other. They are extremely lucky they were allowed to be together and not split apart. Of course, they have no idea, so you must constantly remind them of how lucky they are to be together and they could have had it much, much worse. These reminders are likely more effective right after they have been naughty and had to be reminded to improve their behavior. But they're cats so your mileage may vary.

You may have to clear a space on the shelf in your closet for cat napping. Same for the living room. These boys seem to be climbers and like to relax as high as they can and observe. If you don't make them a place, they'll make one for themselves and you may not like their choices. If you don't have a really tall cat tree, you may want to get one. That might save some of the knickknacks.

I'm hoping that when you find puke, it is Peaches. Here's hoping the boys aren't puking machines.

The hospital wants to get Joni out before the insurance kicks in because then they get paid less. A lot less if it is Medicare. I think the minimum is three days now so they want to get them out in 48 hours. JONI HAS A RIGHT TO REFUSE TO BE RELEASED! Remember? We went over this when you were in the hospital and they were trying to boot you out in a showstorm or some shit. You have a right to refuse to be released and if there is trouble you call for the patient advocate. When you did they backed off. Well, Joni needs to do the same. Call for the advocate and tell them she fears if she is released she is going to die because they still don't know what is wrong with her. They need to diagnose her correctly, CORRECTLY, and then treat her, and the determine the treatment is actually working. Then when it is SAFE for her to go home, she will consent to release. Otherwise no. She has a RIGHT to refuse to be released. And in her condition, that is supported not only legally but medically.