Another Friend Lost

Mother Cat 2001(?)- 2013
We have been trying for two weeks to get Mother Cat to the vet because she had some sort of mouth problem.  The last few days must have been hellish for her. She couldn’t eat, and the drooled constantly. I think she had something more serious that a mouth infection. She was getting so skinny, and her winter fluff wasn’t growing.

I called the vet this morning to see if he could put her down today. Thank goodness he was in the office. It took us two hours to get her in the carrier. She was so scared, and I was so stressed. I had a mini-breakdown after I got her into the box. I think the stress and knowing that she was so scared pushed me over the edge. I was sobbing in relief I think. Mr. Fixit probably thought I was losing my mind. Surprisingly she calmed down inside the carrier. She was like a whirling dervish just seconds before.

The vet said she went easy; I hope so. I wonder is animals feel betrayal. One part of me feels relieved that she is no longer in pain; another part of me feels so guilty that her last morning was so stressful and scary for her.

It makes me sad, too, to think that she could have had a better, safer life if she had just trusted us more.
 
Big Boy, her last surviving son, is the only one we have left, and he is having mouth problems, too. We have to get him to the vet next week. Maybe it won’t be too late for him.

Tip of the Day

Heed the message “Not for baking or frying” on the lite name-brand stick margarine. And I would like to add another “Not for”—melting in a microwave oven.

I accidentally brought home the lite version of this product. My first clue that this was not my usual stuff was a batch of scones that flowed together on the baking sheet making one giant scone that didn’t rise very well. That’s when I noticed the “Not’s.” I put the margarine aside in the fridge.

Several days later I when I was making biscuits I put a blob of margarine in the microwave for 20 seconds to melt. I usually brush the tops of the unbaked biscuits with margarine. Perhaps I should have known that my mental acuity is not at its zenith at 7:00 am. Five seconds into the cycle there was a loud pop. I opened the oven door and there were unmelted globs of margarine all over the inside of the oven. I swear that little blob had more than doubled in size in five seconds. What a mess! And not a nice way to start the day.

(Two little blobs equal one glob in my own personal chart of measurements.)

One other thought regarding butter/margarine. Margarine is faux butter; the heart smart spreads that Mr. Fixit and I both eat in the interest of better health is faux margarine. Does this make ithe heart smart stuff twice removed from butter? I think of it as faux-faux butter.

Gee, after proofing this post, I think I must not be too well today. Sometimes I get on these ramblin’ conversational jaunts, and this must be one of those days. Mr. Fixit will be glad that I said nothing controversial, not even mentioning the name of the offending faux-faux butter, but I'll give you a clue. Think of a colorful pioneer woman's hat.

It’s Official!

Mr. Fixit is a Plugger!

It’s Not News to Me

Every morning I start reading the news on my homepage—my ISP/Yahoo! Something strange has been happening lately. The same thing is happening on the local newspaper website and the website for our local television stations. I read the online versions of several newspapers in large metropolitan areas. It happens in those papers, too.

Today is November 19, 2012. These were the top  five stories in the US news section on the Yahoo! site:

Tornado in the Midwest – Published 11-17-13

Pilot announces, “We’re going down!” – Published 11-14-2013

Donate to the typhoon relief – Published 11-11-13

White candidate pretends to be black – Published 11-10-13

Newtown 911 tapes – Published 11-10-13

It must be a slow news year day. They post the same stories for days and days sometimes. The weird thing is that the Entertainment section of the news seldom has old stories featured. TMZ updates old stories, but I’ve never seen the same story carried for days (Let’s not talk about my knowledge of TMZ, okay?)

There must be important stuff happening in the world every day. So why do they need to repeat the old news? It’s a mystery to me, but it’s not news anymore.

Mr. Fixit Does It Again

I have a problem using my Nook Color for reading. Most of my reading is done in bed, and the Nook is hard to handle while lying down. It’s too darned heavy and has to be held carefully because the touch thingy is so sensitive. I have to hold it at the bottom or the pages flip whenever they choose, not when I choose. If I have a particularly wakeful night, I often develop cramps in my fingers.

Mr. Fixit loves to order what he considers handy gadgets; I consider his handy gadgets a bit of a waste of time and resources. As a result of his little mail order hobby, he is now on the mailing list of every mail order house in the US.

When I was browsing through one, I found this ad:

 

Eureka! Just what I need! Then I looked at the price. I didn’t need it at a price $17.00 plus shipping and handling. I asked Mr. Fixit, “Can you make this for me for less than $17.00 plus shipping?” I had no doubt that he could. He made a little trip to Lowe’s for Velcro. The Velcro we had at home was too narrow to support the Nook.

Ten minutes later—the result:

Back View

Front View

Dangling

After one modification (it needed another strip so I could hold it in my right hand also), it works like a charm! And it didn’t cost $17.00 plus shipping and handling. It amounted to a couple of dollars and about ten minutes labor. He also has enough Velcro left over for any other little job I may come up with for him to do.

He’s pretty handy to have around.

(To give credit where credit is due, the idea is quite clever—just a little too pricey for me.)

Memories

In a few weeks, I will be entering my tenth year as a blogger. My first post was November 30, 2004. I began blogging to share the musings of my younger brother who died a few years ago. He was so clever and weirdly funny. My first blog, “Observations of an Ordinary Person,” ran until July, 2007, when technical problems forced me to start this one.

Jason and his wife gave me a wonderful gift. They found a company that printed that first blog as a bound, hardcover book. All my posts, comments, and pictures were included. There are 241 pages. (See post of 9/26/10 to see photo of book.)

A few months ago, I wanted to check something that I was sure I had mentioned on the blog. I looked in the place where I thought I had put the book; it wasn’t there. I looked several other places, but it was nowhere to be found. Since then I have looked everywhere I could think it might be, and today while looking for something else, I found it! Yea!!!

As I glanced through it, I found my brother again. There were pictures of a newborn Levi, and Cole and Bella as young children. Cole is now a college student and Bella is in middle school. There is a picture of Noah in his Nacho Libre costume and one of both he and Owen dressed as Harry Potter. There are pictures of my cat friends, now mostly departed.

I’ve found my memories!

Dudley Do-right Is Now Dudley Do-Wrong

Mr. Fixit is a by-the-book kind of guy. In fact, he's a bit more than a by-the-book kind of guy. He walks on the stripes of the zebra crossings at Wal-Mart.  There have been many times when he has discovered that he has left his wallet with his license at home and turned around to go back and get it even though we maybe going less than a mile.  Me? I’m a little bit more of a rebel, I suppose. I deliberately avoid the zebra crossings, and if I’m just going to the corner store, I don’t take the time to return home if I forget my license. To be honest, I like to get his goat just a bit by ignoring his “book.”

Sometime in September, I noticed that our licenses were to expire on our birthdays in October; I mentioned it to him. We both forgot all about it; we’re old. Our birthdays came and went and we failed to take care of the renewal.

Last night  I was lying in bed about 2:30 am with dark thoughts that come to me in the middle of the night. For some reason, I realized that we both had been driving for two weeks with invalid licenses. During that time, we had made a couple of day trips and just doing the usual travel for errands.
My first thought was “He’s going to FREAK!!!” When he came down for breakfast, I broke the news to him. He had been breaking the rules! I hastened to add that I had a plan to remedy the situation without our being arrested and taken to the pokey. The plan was for him to get his renewal at one DMV office and I would get mine at another. I knew he wouldn’t want to run the risk of someone asking us if we drove ourselves to get the licenses. We stayed with the plan and drove about 30 miles between DMV offices. Well, it was a nice day for a drive, and there was nothing pressing at home.

We are both legal again, and Mr. Fixit is once again  Dudley Do-Right and  I get my little kicks avoiding the zebra crossings and coloring outside the lines.

Little Girl

2003 to 2013

My Sweet, Furry Friend and Companion