Bad News, Good News

Since Tuesday, Little Girl has been sick. She was lying on the printer in the same position for about 36 hours without eating, drinking, or using the litterbox. This morning we took her to the vet. He found that she was dehydrated, has a bad bladder infection, and worst of all, she has diabetes. There’s not much you can do with diabetic animals. I was ready to tell him to put her down, but when he saw that I was very upset, he suggested that we put her on antibiotics for the infection and wait for a week and do another blood test. He also gave her some special food. The good news is he says he as seen cats go into remission with the diabetes after treating the infection. He also gave her liquid by IV. When we can back home, she seemed to be feeling a lot better. She even ate a little.

Right now there is another complication; she is bleeding quite a bit from the IV site. I’ve bandaged it loosely with gauze, but I can’t stem the flow. I’ve changed the bandage several times. I’m not sure what else to do since it’s 9:30 pm and the vet, of course, is closed. I suppose we could put her in the kennel again to take her to the emergency vet 25 miles away, but I’m afraid that she will bleed even more being forced into the kennel. And, believe me, she has to be forced. She got me this morning with her claws in a couple of places.

It breaks my heart to see her sick and to think I could lose her. She has been my companion for 10 years.

Things Are Looking Up

One again we have refrigeration! Yea! Ben, Jason, and Cole brought over a new one that Jason arranged for (he knows someone). It fit through our narrow doorways, and they brought in in with little fuss. The cost to us—$0.00. I have a feeling that maybe the boys supplied payment to Jason’s friend. He claims not, but somehow I don’t know of many people who would give a new appliance to total strangers when it could be sold at a neat little profit. But, I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth. I do feel a little weird about it though.

Aside from the inconvenience and worry, there was another little complication to our problem. For several days, the old fridge was in the middle of the kitchen floor. The dining room tables and chairs were shoved to one side to put three coolers close to the kitchen. We were running in, out, and about. There was major upheaval in a small space. The white cat is like me—he doesn’t like upheaval of any kind. It took major coaxing to get him to come in to eat. It has been a little cold the last few night; I wanted him to stay in—he wanted to stay out. When he was inside he ran and hid at every unusual noise, like the rattle of ice cubes in the near empty  plastic receptacle under the ice-maker. He ran every time I walked toward him. He was such a scaredy-cat.

He’s better today, but it may be a few days before he’s bugging me again. I look forward to it, sorta.
Everything is getting back to normal for a little while anyway. The microwave oven and the electric stove are the next to go. They’re both on their last legs.

Note: Mr. Fixit repaired the old one. He should go thumb his nose at the guy who said it wasn't worth fixing. We are going to put it downstairs for drinks, etc. It will serve as our "Just in Case" one. You never know!

Chaos Again

Okay, so maybe “chaos” is a little strong. Let’s just say we are experiencing another major household breakdown. The refrigerator went kaflooey. We had gone to the grocery the day before, and it was pretty well packed. We filled three coolers with the unfrozen stuff and moved all the frozen stuff to the big freezer downstairs.

We have been chasing for parts all over the whole county for the last two days. Mr. Fixit went into one parts and repair shop and asked for a particular part.When Mr. Fixit explained why he needed that part, the guy said he wouldn’t sell it to him because it would be a “waste of money.” He said it was possible that we would have to buy a new one. He said the repair would cost about $800, and, of course, we could buy a new unit for that. Mr. Fixit decided to continue looking for the part. We found it at another place; the price was $3.24. The man at the first place didn’t want us to “waste” $3.24, but I bet he would have jumped at the chance of repairing it for $800.

Today when we were driving by the first place, Mr. Fixit did something very uncharacteristic of him; he gave the repair shop the finger as we proceeded on our way. It did him a world of good.

We had to hunt for a another part, and Mr. Fixit had to  Mickey Mouse it a little, but, as on now (8:07 pm), we think we may be on the road to cool food and iced drinks once again.

We looked around a bit for new fridges; the prices and the standard sizes blew me away. We are not in a position for big cash outlays right now, but you can’t do without a fridge.  Not only do they cost an arm and a leg, they are huge. The door between the dining room and the kitchen is only 30” wide. The door leading to the deck is 31”. Trying to get one of those behemoths through either door would be a major undertaking, if not totally impossible. My kitchen is very small, too. There’s no way the 36” deep ones would work at all. The salesman said that is “standard” size these days. He also said that refrigerators are built to last only 10 years. Why am I not surprised?

I have been close to losing a few times in the last couple of days, but I hope that Mr. Fixit has worked his magic and all will be right in my world again.

More Scarecrows

I suppose the lady is playing the piano for the dancers who are to her left.

The firefighter and the limbo contest were among many of the displays around the town square.

The arts are represented by a Hobbit character. It’s in front of the Little Theater of Clemson located in Pendleton

Pirates at the City Building

Graduation at local office of the county Board of Education.

(Click on photos for more detail.)

Fall Color

Last Tuesday morning I slept a little later than usual so I was having breakfast quite late. I was finishing a few minutes before 9:00 am when Mr. Fixit came to ask me if I want to take a drive to see if the trees in the mountains had begun to turn.

I finished eating, packed a picnic lunch (home-made vegetable beef soup, sandwiches, a side to eat with the soup and sandwiches, and desert for Mr. Fixit. I changed clothes and was in the car before 10:00 am.

The weather was nice, but the color was lacking. I was disappointed, but the trip to Sylva, NC, was nice.

This morning we tried again.This time we went to Brevard, NC, crossing a mountain on a very curvy road. I didn’t enjoy that part much. I asked Mr. Fixit if we could find another way home. We drove about 30 miles out of our way, but it was a nice wide highway with gentle curves.

The leaves still aren’t at their best, but it was a little more colorful above 2600 feet elevation. These photos were made outside Brevard a few hundred feet lower than the best color.

 

Smacked in the Face Once Again

When the movie arrived from Netflix, I said to Mr. Fixit, “I think this is one of your old westerns.” I didn’t mean it in a snotty way; I just meant that it was probably on of those 1930’s or 1940’s westerns that he likes so much.

When I opened it, I said, “It’s not that old; it was made in 1941.” I did a little quick math in my head—”That was 72 years ago!” I said, “Well, I guess it is old.”

I can remember when 1941 didn’t seem that long ago, even though it is a little older than I am. My older brother was born in 1941. Sometimes when I realize how old I am, I am a little stunned.

Tip of the Day

(An ongoing public service so that you can learn from my mistakes; but, then again, I think very few people make the same bonehead mistakes that I do.)

Be sure that the cap on the buttermilk container is tightly fastened before you shake it. If not, one could find buttermilk erupting from the container all over the kitchen. Please note: Cats do not care for buttermilk which means someone must clean it up--Mr. Fixit, in my case. He's such a sweetheart, sometimes, that is.

Halloween in a Small Southern Town

Pendleton, SC is a small town adjacent to Clemson, SC and our little town. It was created in 1790 and currently has a population of a little less than 3,000 people. It’s a typical little Southern town with a town square.

For the last few years, as part of the Halloween festivities, the town decorated with scarecrows. The merchants, churches, and just plain folks participate. It’s so nice to see the the merchants, the religious community, and the residents come together. This year’s displays are delightful.

(As usual click on photo to enlarge

Welcome to Pendleton

Resident display

Sponsored by local church

Sponsored by a medical group

Sponsored by a bed and breakfast

I will post more later.

One That I Like

Every morning I work the crossword puzzle in the online edition of the Washington Post. Before the puzzle is loaded, there is an ad. I don't really mind because if there were no ads, I would have to subscribe just to do the puzzle. For a while they had a Microsoft tablet ad that drove me a little batty because it was the same thing every day.

The current ad is for Norfolk Southern Railroad. In the first place, I don't think I've ever seen an advertisement for a railroad. Well, maybe I do remember one for Amtrak.  The music is a take-off of "Conjunction Junction" that was part of ABC's "School House Rock" when my boys were young. "Conjunction Junction" is quite a catchy little ditty; the only problem is that it gets stuck in my head playing in "repeat" mode for days at a time.

If I ever need a train to haul freight, I would call Norfolk Southern just because I like their commercial. Have a listen: