This One’s for TurtleGirl

Time to play some catch-up. Remember when Ivy died in June? Well, during her many vet visits, I had occasion to notice the orange tabby lounging in the Adopt This Cat cage in the waiting area. I noticed he was gregarious, playful, laid-back, and didn’t startle easily. And he did the same shoulder-roll-flop maneuver that Ivy did to get attention.

During an appointment when it was clear that Ivy was declining, I commented on him to Dr. S. “That’s a cool cat,” he said without hesitation. “If I didn’t have 3 cats at home, I’d have taken him already.” Hmmm.

Meet Reggie:

I’ll admit, it took me awhile to bond with him. I felt guilty about “replacing” Ivy so quickly, but I didn’t want Eddy to get used to being an only cat, and he was solace for the kids. Besides that, he’s got the quirkiest personality I’ve ever encountered in a cat. Don’t get me wrong, he’s awesome. But he’s definitely got his own unique vibe. And except for his persistence in jumping on kitchen counters (which drives my mom nuts), he has integrated beautifully with our family. He’s fearless, relaxed, and tolerant — all excellent things when living with small children and big dogs. So, without further ado: picspam!

Playing with catnip…

Christmas Busk 2009

Pokermon just sent this to me:

http://www.metafilter.com/88037/Christmas-Busk-2009

It’s strangely comforting to know that I need never leave my husband for Glen Hansard… because he would come with me.

Happy — yes Happy! — New Year

2010 is going to rock. I haven’t been this excited about an upcoming year in I don’t know when.

We finally sold our house last month. OH YES WE DID. And now we’re starting the hunt for rustic lodging of our very own. Love you Mom, but this Queen is beyond ready for her own Castle.

I’ll do some reviews of last year’s desires and which ones came true soon. In short, life is good. I have good friends, great family, and a rekindled passion for music that has been expanding my horizons in the last few months.

Last year I had Desires, but this year I’m doing the more traditional Resolutions. Improvements in my physical and mental health have given me enough strength to feel Resolve-with-a-capital-R:

1. Be kinder and more patient with my husband and children (especially the children). Over the last few years I’ve finally learned to assert myself, which was a lesson long overdue. Now I’m comfortable enough with the concept (shall we say I Own It?) that I can do so with a gentle hand rather than a baseball bat.

2. Work out regularly. No, really.

3. Get organized. No, REALLY!

4. Quit mumbling and learn to talk like I actually want to be heard. It’s time to accept that I will never be able to communicate telepathically. This one’s for Pokermon.

5. Actually post to my blog once in awhile. Ha ha! Maybe.

Still Around

I know this is old news, but it’s been stuck in my brain all day and makes me happy. So I thought I’d share.

Rejoice and Be Glad!

It’s about damn time!

Sad Kitty Update

Ivy had cancer after all.  She soldiered along in good spirits in between vet visits for about a month, but she declined sharply again this weekend, and I wasn’t at all surprised by the critically low packed cell volume count when the vet did another check yesterday.  Antibiotics hadn’t helped, high-dose steroids hadn’t helped… a bone marrow biopsy would have confirmed it, but what’s the point of going through that pain and expense when there’s nothing to be done?

The clinic staff were very kind, and we had a burial when Pokermon got home.  The kids are handling it really well.

Here’s a picture from back in November of Eddy and Ivy “sharing” the cat tree:

Eddy fills up that whole nest platform by herself these days.  We’ll have to get her another wrasslin’ buddy before she gets too used to being an only cat, or she’ll develop her own gravitational field.  :-p  She’s been very snuggly, and I find it comforting.

How to Be Gorgeous

How is it that I’ve not wallowed in the genius of Stephen Fry ere now?

Viral Whine

I feel pukey and gross. The kids are really being good, but I still wish they had a Pause button so I could go back to bed. And I hate Sid the Science Kid.

Okay, I think that’s everything I need to whine about at this moment. I can always add to it later if necessary.

*jumping tracks*

We live out in the country, so instead of trash pickup we haul our offal to the Solid Waste Collection Center (where’s the center for liquid and gaseous waste, I ask you?). Anyway, there’s a swap table there if you have something that isn’t total trash but you just don’t want it anymore and it’s too much trouble to haul it to Goodwill.

I’m usually the one leaving stuff on the swap table rather than picking things up, but last week I spotted a nice paperback copy of The Queen’s Fool, by the same author as The Other Boleyn Girl. I haven’t read TOBG, but I just saw the movie with Berry last month, so score!!! It’s pretty good. Very fast-paced so far.

I left a box of Pokermon’s old Playboys on the table in its place. Ha ha! Such a deal.

ETA: Oh stomach, have MERCY… *whimper*

Garden of Win

I weeded out a bunch of superfluous HTML when I was setting up picspam, so if you want bigger views of anything, click here.

First, the herbs. We have mint (spearmint, I think), that may well burst the confines of its 4x4s and take over the yard. Which would be cool.

Rosemary and catnip cohabit in a large pot:

Here is the basil. It got zapped in a late frost last month, but it’s finally making a comeback:

Here are some zinnias that Yakko and Wakko planted (there are 4 pots total). If you look carefully, you can see a bud. Looks like 2 months from seed to bloom — we can’t wait to see it open.

Here is purslane, aka moss rose. Our gardening guru tells us that this particular strain is edible and that the leaves are high in omega-3 fatty acids. It’s just starting to bloom with little yellow flowers.

There are asparagus beans (large green beans, not actual asparagus) amongst the purslane, and we have Sugar Daddy peas just beginning to climb the sticks next to them. You can see pepper plants in the background.

Here’s a close-up of a jalepeño plant. If you look closely, you can see blossoms and the beginning of a pepper.

Our Sweet Million tomato is already living up to its name. We have 4 different tomato varieties planted.

Dill, strategically planted next to the cucumbers. We have lofty pickle plans.

Cucumbers! They’ve grown enormously in the last 2 weeks (we’ve fertilized). That blossom has a little proto-cuke behind it. So exciting.

We had some Yukon Gold potatoes in the pantry that were starting to sprout, so we threw them in a big pot with some dirt. Nothing visible happened for about 10 days, then BAM! The stalks have literally grown about 1 inch/day. We need to add more dirt to the pot.

Bush beans, ahoy. We have about 10 plants. You can see little baby beans on either side of the blossom. Those suckers grow FAST.

A tiny New Zealand spinach lurks amongst the beans. We have a few more between the tomato plants, but this one has grown the most. I’m not sure if that’s due to more shade or more water.

This is our giant pumpkin plant. With the brick for scale, you can see it’s not giant yet. But look under the leaves…

Flower buds. Cinderella, your coach should be ready in about 3 months.

Yakko and I filled an old wagon with topsoil and shook one of those mystery flower-seed canisters into it. Time will tell…

And finally, we have a canteloupe patch.

Here’s a long view of the main vegetable garden from west to east (aka, from beans to purslane).

Hurrah for the Garden of Eatin’!

Kitty Vibes, Please

I have friends who are going through absolute hell with medical issues of their human family members, so I feel kind of petty angsting about a cat.  But I can’t help it.  She’s a creature under my care, and she’s not well.

Ivy (those are her eyes in my header) has had a rough week.  I came home last Tuesday night to find her huddled on the kitchen floor, hardly able to lift her head.  Her gums were bone white.  Mom, bless her heart, came with me to the after-hours vet, where they luckily had a “donor cat” on staff, because Ivy’s red blood cell percentage was at 5% (normal is 30-40%), and she needed an emergency blood transfusion.

We’re not 100% sure what’s wrong with her.  The working theory is that she contracted the mycoplasma hemobartonella, which apparently tricks the spleen into thinking that red cells are foreign matter that needs to be filtered out.  Whoopsie!  It’s treated with antibiotics, so since her transfusion she’s been on antibiotics to kill the mycoplasma and prednisone to stimulate new red cell production.

The only thing is, the lab results came back negative for hemobartonella.  The vet says it can be hard to spot, so that doesn’t necessarily disprove the diagnosis.  The PCV (red cell) percentage has not risen as much as we’d hoped in the week since, however.  So the vet sent a blood sample for further analysis to do some sort of reticulated platelet count (I think?) that will say more definitively whether or not she’s regenerating red cells.  We should get those results in tomorrow.  If she’s regenerating, great, a tincture of time (and continued abx) should cure all.

If she’s not regenerating, it’s likely a bone marrow problem.  Which means she’s living on borrowed time.  Fucking cancer.

Meanwhile, she’s been sneezing since Sunday night, and her nose is runny.  I don’t know if she picked up a virus at the vet’s or if it’s an environmental allergen (something is blooming — I’ve been sneezing, and I’m usually pretty impervious to pollen).  She clearly just doesn’t feel good tonight.  Her eyes look… wrong… and she keeps letting her mouth hang open ever so slightly (maybe because of congestion?).  The Bleeding Heart in me wants to take her back to the after-hours vet, but the Pragmatist in me has overruled it — there’s not much you can do for a virus, and if her PCV is dropping again, there’s really no point to another transfusion, even if we could afford it.

Which we can’t.  We’ve already spent $1450.  I finally got a clue and signed up for veterinary insurance yesterday.  Not that it will cover an existing condition, but it can at least protect our meager savings the next time one of our pets pulls something new and bizarre.

I’ll be on the phone to Dr. S first thing in the morning.