Decompressing

Sorry for the lack of updates as of late.

I've been spending most of my "blogging" energies on my other blog.
Still, even that has suffered, since my job and the whole menagerie here have been punching my time-clock pretty hard.

Normally, I steal some moments on a lunch break or late night when everyone (and everything) is (hopefully) asleep, and I quickly mash some laptop keyboard in a rough approximation of the English language just so I can have something "posted".

There's no time for fancy things like "drafts" or "cohesive thought".
It's just a smash-and-grab of bits of time and synaptic misfires.

Presented as-is to the world in all their "glory".

Good thing I'm keeping (fairly) anonymous in all of these endeavors.
My old English professors (who saw SUCH potential for wonderful writing within me) would be aghast.

Anyway, here's a brief mind-dump of the current status here since the last write-up:

- SPANKY is feelin' fine! He's on his meds as well as Hill's Prescription Diet l/d and he's showing no untoward signs of his liver disorder. The Hill's food is affecting him (positively, I think). So, I need to get a new measure for his lactulose dosage. It all depends on how his poop looks.

Soft and amorphous is OK. Soft and poop-shaped is best. Too hard or too liquidy are the far ends of the "bad" spectrum. He's currently moving from "amorphous" to "poop-shaped", but it's a slow transition, what with the food factor being new and all.

He's still in the bathroom "apartment" during the day.
After his 5 days of recuperation after his neutering surgery, we have been having him in the same bedroom with BUDDY, where I sleep with the two of them and try to keep them from playing too roughly. However, during the day-time, while I am otherwise preoccupied with work, and can't always hear the subtle sounds of cats mauling each other in play, would make it better to have them separate until such time as;
- they get reacquainted and civil with one another
- the full-moon phase is completely passed.

The full moon affects ALL of our "kids" in weird and frightening ways.
The levels of aggression, freneticism (if it isn't a word, I'm coining it now), appetite, sleep patterns and all-around behavior-traits are all ramped up to 'roided-out levels.
Actually affecting them a few days prior, during and just after the moon waxes full, my wife calls them "full-moon kitties" at that point on the lunar calendar.
(I think "luna-kits" is more punny, but then again, I only JUST thought of that.)
Once the phase is fully passed, they "crash" into mellow balls of fluff. As if waking from a lost-weekend bender, it's all they can do to just stay awake and blink their eyes.


- BUDDY is suffering a little from his allergies the past few days, eyes watery and sneezing snortfulls of "shnots" now and again (when agitated).

It's understandable though. The weather can not seem to make up it's mind:
Warm, cool, freezing, snow, rain, sun... all in a week!
Plus there are a TON of fallen leaves out there - adding to the pollen levels. Normally, at this time of year I have the leaves all raked into a giant pile, tat I cover with a tarp and I burn big bushels of it on spare days before the snow falls.
This year I haven't touched a one.
It's just been too crazy.

I will have to blow them into the woods this year.
No time for neat piles or burning. As it is, I usually have a decent sized pile left over after it snows which sits under it's tarp, waiting for spring for me to finish the job.
(Living in the woods, we have a LOT of leaves.)
I'm not doing that this year.

When it STOPS RAINING (it always seems to know when I have out-of-doors work to do and foils my attempts with random acts of precipitation), then I'll get the leaf-blower and send them all into the forest. It's not my preferred method of dealing with the situation, but sadly, it's all I'll have time for this year.


- CISSY (our only girl) hasn't had an asthma attack in a month or so... so she's about due.
We have to stay on heightened alert for the faintest sound of her breathing becoming distressed. I don't have asthma, but I did have a short bout with it last summer.
I couldn't breathe - at. all. A vice-like grip on my chest, my bronchial system being shuttered off, trying desperately to get one. good. breath.
The first time I felt that, it was sobering.
I had to go to the doctor for a quick visit, and an inhaler (thankfully, only needed for those few days), but it was enough to give me the depth of what it is that she (and all asthmatics) go through. Empathy is a strong link to making things better for those around us, and that was all I needed to know that when Cissy starts to wheeze, I'm not taking a "wait and see" attitude.
She quickly gets a regimen of prednisolone (not prednosone) or a depo-shot if the vet is open.

Right now she's watching the outdoors cats play in one of the many homes and shelters we built for them. This one being on the deck under one of the big windows (adjacent to the one that was just replaced).


- ABBOTT is blissfully sleeping. The big, black, beautiful "bear". It's all he wants out of life. A perch or pillow to sleep on, is his primary need. Sure, he likes some affection now and again, the occasional treat and/or play-time and someone to clean out the litter-box (they ALL pitch a fit when the litter boxes are used. Each of them have bathroom-"issues" and can't stand to have anything in the boxes for more than a few moments). But all he really craves is a snuggly place to hibernate.


- My wife ("the pussycat") is putting in crazy amounts of time at her job lately.
After having lost a ton of hours previously, it's a welcome change for the finances, but I'd be lying if I didn't say, that as grateful as I am to have her working, I do miss having her around.
Not just to help take care of these crazed beasts of ours, but just for the company.
I'm a loner by nature, but there's a difference between being ALONE with oneself and one's thoughts, and "alone" with kids or cats-with-children-like-problems.

I 'm getting that "hermit" feeling. Not speaking with adults (or humans for that matter, instead carrying on conversations for both myself AND the cats) is giving me the equivalent of "stay-at-home-mom" syndrome.

Our 2nd car is most likely dead for good this time.
Sadly, I was up for a p/t weekend job, but it was wholly dependent upon my using the "good" car on that day (since the gig would entail a lot of driving in adverse road conditions in all types of weather), and my wife using the 2nd car to drive to work should she have to do so.
But only one car = no 2nd gig for me.
Instead, I'll focus on getting the eBay store up in full gear.

(look for a link to that here soon)

My real job is picking up a lot of steam.
I've been getting more quick turn-around requests and that's fine.
The busier I am the better it is for the job security (or so I'm told).


To that end. My lunch-break over, I gotta get back.

The long Long Island trip. (with 2 updates)

It never ends.

I'm on Long Island (NY) having come here yesterday to get Spanky to our old vet (that we used to use when we lived there - and whom I have been consulting on this whole liver situation) in order to get a Protein-C test (a special blood-test that will determine if it is indeed a liver-shunt) as well as having the poor little guy neutered.
Our local vet didn't want to do it, since the liver is what processes the anesthetic, and even a simple operation like that is now very hazardous - potentially life-threatening.

However, I trust in the abilities of our L.I. vet, and drove Spanky down here to have these things done yesterday.
I, meanwhile, would go into work (my job is located here, but I now work from my home office), make an appearance and put in a day or two in person.
I spent the night at friends' here, and was glad to have the opportunity to do so, if only it wasn't for such circumstances as that which surround us.

Spanky pulled through the surgery very well, and my vet told me that he was pulling in an associate who would come the next day to run the long-sought-after sonogram / ultrasound on Spanky, that would help determine what and where his liver problem might be (and if there might be other things going on in there as well).

That was supposed to have happened by early afternoon on the 2nd day (today).
That would give me enough time to get the test done, pack Spanky up and make the drive back to PA early before the NY rush-hour traffic kicked in.

My wife has to work a late shift tonight, so there's a bit of a time-factor for all of this.
I need to get back home before too long to care for the other 3 little ones and have Spanky and Buddy together long enough before bed-time so that there won't be any rough-housing due to anyone being confined for the day.

Unfortunately... the visiting doctor hasn't arrived yet (and it's now LATE afternoon - nearly 5pm), my wife already left for her work AND to top it all off, she was taking the 2nd car, which (as I'll relate in a future post about all of our vehicular downfalls) is not quite "all that".
She wasn't 5-minutes into her work commute when the "check engine" light illuminated, and she had to pull over.

We JUST had the vehicle serviced - twice in recent months - and are still reeling from the costs of that.
She just called me to let me know that there's no oil in the car - at all, and when was the last time it was checked?

I have no idea.
I hadn't used the car in awhile. Maybe I drove it to the Post Office - a 3 minute trip - a few days back. Otherwise, it's been unused for awhile.

So, I can only hope that it's a matter of lack of upkeep (which is not the norm for us) and NOT a massive oil leak wherein all the oil poured out recently (which WOULD be our throw of the dice).

So, it's now almost time to leave work.
I have NO idea what's going on - with ANYTHING, and will probably face one of two possibilities:

1) a very late drive back to PA at night.
2) another night spent at friend's, while poor Spanky is stuck in a cage at the vet's and my wife has zero sleep having to deal with the menagerie alone tonight.

Either way; it's a losing situation.

----update----
I just called the vet and they are in the middle of the test, but I won't be able to pick up the kitty until at least 7pm (probably closer to 8pm).
Depending on traffic conditions, it's approximately a 3 to 4 hour drive home from here, so I'll be arriving home around the same time as the Mrs. after her late shift.

ugh.

----2nd update----
Well, I was able to pick up Spanky at a little after 6pm, and we made the drive back in about 3 hours. Spanky made himself comfy and slept for a good portion of the drive, only getting rambunctious for the last 15 miles or so.

However, my wife discovered, to our dismay, that the oil situation was serious; all the oil she put in while at work (4 quarts) must have poured out again, because she arrived home (barely) at 11pm with a steaming engine that was bone dry.
We can't afford to even have it LOOKED at now.
I'll have it towed to the mechanic at sometime in the future... and depending on what the situation is, this might be "the end" for that car.

And to top it all off, no one got ANY sleep.
We have to keep Spanky separated from the other cats until he heals (5 days), and this first night was a juggling act of swapping rooms, food (everyone is on different special diets), and litter boxes (Spanky is using "Yesterday's News", a recycled newspaper litter that won't infect the recent surgical area).

I'll have to re-set his "apartment" in the upstairs bathroom.
Lots of boxes to build barricades so he can't get into anything harmful.