Well, a few new things going on, some good, some not so much…

I just got word my valves are ready and should be shipping tomorrow, or if worst case some time next week. Last time they told me something would go out ‘the next day’, it went out 7 days later.  So, they are fixed and paid for and now its just a waiting game to see when they arrive…but we are on the ‘good side’ of this procedure.  Now I just have to hope that this solves the problem….

(an example of the new kitten. All pics we’ve taken are crap, so this is kinda what she looks like)

Brian cleaned Petco on Tuesday night and while there a customer brought in a small buff calico kitten that was found out in the street.  And can you guess where she is now? Ding! She’s got three little mates to play with.  She’s pretty scared, and will let us pick her up but runs from us when she sees us.  I haven’t seen her eat, but she’s not starving yet, so I’m hoping that she’s eating when I’m not in there.  We have an appt for the vet’s office next Tues and we’ll know more about everyone’s health at that point.  She cries out looking for her mom and siblings and I’m hoping these other little ones will help her learn to play and be a happy kitten. It’ll take time, but it’s certainly possible. I’ve had mixed litters here before to take care of. They had their mom with them, tho and that really helps…

(an example of what the black duck looked like)

And the worst of the day – my neighbor’s duck was just attacked by a dog in front of my house.  I had to pick up the duck and carry him over to his home while he was gasping for breath. It was very sad.  Its not the first animal she’s lost, I’ve seen dogs take out some of her free-range chickens before.  But its such a drag and we always enjoy seeing her birds wander the neighborhood. She said she relocated her giant geese to another farm that has lots of wandering room, so they’re gone. Last year one of her ducks laid a dozen eggs right in front of our house and we did what we could to keep them from getting busted. I think she finally came and took them away, which was for the best.  I can tell you – when you move to the country you better be able to handle death cause you see more of it out here than you do in the city.  I don’t freak out about it, but I do feel really badly whether its one of my animals or a wild animal. Its always hard. One of the reasons we don’t have chickens yet is cause I know the loss rate is high from predators. And we know there are raccoons, possums and rat snakes all of which we’ve seen in our yard.  Our chicken coop will have to be fortified like Fort Knox and even then I’ll worry. I think I’m going to have to REALLY think about whether I can handle chickens….I woulda never survived on a farm in the 1880′s, that much I know…

Its been a really hectic and wild weekend.  Brian has been in Dallas since Thursday, so its been up to me to handle multi animals, medications, chores, double Petco days, classes, trips to Austin, garage sale attendance (and contributions), and flat tires.  As if all that wasn’t enough, toss three little 4 week old kittens in the mix, and it has been a complete zoo.  I am not sure what I need to do next, I keep making lists, double checking them, running errands, and I’m kinda ready to collapse…

Friday starts out  good, I’m heading to Austin (early even!) for a meeting and not too far out of town I get a flat tire.  I’m on a back road, so it takes awhile for the tow truck to arrive, but they do and they are wonderful and I get home, no problem.  They can’t put the spare on for me, as they don’t have the tools with them. So I call my insurance provider to send someone out with the tools, get cutoff on the phone and never hear back from them.  I take my Miata into Austin for a class later that evening, which turned out really great (pics of that project to come), and get home at 11:30.  I spied something weird in the road, but it was dark, I was tired and on dirt roads lots of things look like other things. I left my sewing machine in the car and went to bed…

Saturday morning I had to attend the garage sale our rescue group was having to raise money. I had hauled stuff over to someone’s house on Thursday (before the truck tire blew) and I said I’d help out.  As I’m driving down the dirt road, I spy something ‘odd’ in the road.  Turns out it was three black kittens huddling in the road.  Thankfully our road is very rarely traveled, and thankfully I was going slowly. I jumped out and scooped up all three and brought them home.  Brian’s office went a whole 5 days without a cat being fostered in it.  So now, I have three kittens, 4 weeks old that I have to take care of along with all the other stuff I’m doing.  No pressure.  I have nothing on hand for orphaned kittens. The last litter we had still had Momcat to take care of them. Thankfully these are old enough to eat soft food (they do have teeth) and so I cleaned them up, got a heating pad in a box w/ stuffed animals, a tiny litter box (one of them walked into it and figured out how to use it all on their own).

These little guys are really cute, and really little. I forget how tiny kittens can be at 4 weeks.  They are doing well for being orphans and my hope is they check out fine at the vets and we can get them to Petco soon.  They’ll be adopted quicker when they are still little and cute.  Black cats tend to take a bit longer to adopt, but thankfully we’ve had luck adopting all our black cats so far.

Oh, and I brought home a new tarantula last night.

I love days like today. Its overcast, dark and looks like it might rain, but even if it doesn’t, its a great quiet day.  With all the sun and blistering heat we get every year, its nice to have these kinds of days scattered about. I’m sure the folks in Portland would like some sun, but I’m grateful for these grey days down here….

I asked Brian to setup our Wii last night. I haven’t been on it in ages, and I feel like its time to get back to it. I’m out of shape and stiff. I jumped on this morning, played some of the games I enjoy, and basically started over.  All my ‘advanced’ and ‘expert’ levels have been turned back to ‘beginner’ because frankly I don’t remember how some of these games work.  My memory needs refreshing.  I also did some of the yoga that I really enjoy and helps loosen me up a bit.  The last time I was doing the Wii exercises I looked at them as pests and just something I had to do but didn’t really want to do.  This time around, I am much more enthusiastic about the games, like visiting an old friend. I think its because I know how much better I feel when I do them, and after all this time of not doing them, I can compare the difference between feeling good and feeling stiff.  Exercising has never been my favorite thing to do, I’ve always just walked, rode my bike, swum, danced, did gymnastics and ran around as a kid because it was fun, but if we had to do jumping jacks or toe-touches, it was a drag.  Exercise by proxy is way more fun…

Brian delivered the kitten “Sapphire” to her new home last night. A really nice family with an 8 yr old girl who likes the name.  Apparently the kitten just marched right out of the carrier and strutted around the place like she owned it. I like when they are happy, engaged and brave instead of being scared or hissy.  She will be well-loved, I’m sure.  And she was only at Petco for a week or so.  She had been with her foster for two months, maybe longer. She was well taken care of, but I love how fast they can be adopted once at Petco.

Most of my time of late has been taking care of our two older/grumpy cats.  Clementine had an eye issue that I’ve been giving her three different drops twice a night, but it is clearing up very nicely.  And Pearl who wasn’t eating a few weeks back went in for a checkup and she hasn’t gained weight, but we are trying some new pain meds to see if maybe she’ll respond. She’s up and eating, but not a whole lot. I hope these pain meds help her, and I will say she has been up and eating. But she gets an oral steroid 2x a day and now these oral pain meds 2x a day – so when she sees me, she scurries away as fast as she can.  Its always something…

This tickled me. I dunno if its for sale anywhere, but I’d buy this set…Brian May’s hair alone is worth the price.

President Obama is about 10 miles from us today in the town of Manor…If you watch King of the Hill, he’s in the town they call “McManorberry”, which always tickled me. There’s a high school there that specializes in technology and he’s visiting it, talking to the kids and apparently kicking off a tour of cities or states about job growth.  Seems the country is getting back on its feet only 5 years after it was so brilliantly exploded.  Five years seems like forever, and like only yesterday.  Its amazing.  The Dow is hitting numbers over 15,000 for the first time ever.  Texas has never felt the crash as hard as other states, cause we didn’t have the same growth spurt and out of control investments in real estate like some other parts of the country. Still, things slowed here like they did everywhere. We are just poised to get back up and going than other parts of the country.  And folks are moving here like we are the last city with running water.  Our friends who had a house near ours in Austin have had to sell because the property taxes finally caught up to them and they couldn’t afford to stay.

I just shipped my valves back to the manufacturer, they should arrive next week and we’ll see how long before they are cleaned/repaired and returned. I don’t expect too long, except my contact is leaving for Germany for three weeks.  i just hope whoever takes on the task is able to get to them sooner rather than later…

I just got word that the local gym we joined last year is having to close. Apparently the local competitor ‘chain’ gym has a deal with some insurance companies who will cover their monthly dues if they join that gym instead of this little locally owned gym. I’m sorry that he’s having to close, I really liked him, the proximity of the gym to our house (walking distance) and the small-town feel to it.  I don’t have plans to join a gym where they make you sign two year contracts, especially when insurance companies can flake and decide not to cover expenses on a whim.  I guess its time to just go for a walk every morning, and pull out the Wii and get back to doing yoga.  I did enjoy doing yoga each morning.

“I live in a cabin in the woods now with my new brother and groovy people”

We delivered little Greta Garbo to her new home yesterday.  She stayed with us this last week while her new adopters were on vacation.  Her new people are really great and her new home is fantastic. Its a really cool log cabin that’s set deep into the woods where wildlife runs rampant.  She has a very large orange cat who will be her buddy, and we couldn’t be happier for her.  Just a little kitten walking through our back yard, getting a great chance at a great life now.  And her new name is “Abigail”.  Cute…!

“I’m Sapphire with my blue eyes….and I’ve got funny schmutz on my face…”

In a little while we are picking up a really pretty kitty from our neighbor down the street and taking her to Petco.  The owner tried finding her a home, and we’ve already checked her out and she’s a sweet little kitten.  The neighbor has the same problem we have – overrun with wandering stray cats.  I appreciate the folks who take care of these cats and adopt them from Petco too.  I’m really glad we have this outlet to get them adopted, otherwise I cannot tell you how many we’d have at our house, due to no fault of our own. We aren’t seeking these guys out, they literally show up in our yard.  And sure, we could take them to the shelter, but by volunteering we are attempting to reduce the number at the shelter.  A couple of weeks ago one of the major Austin rescue groups came through our smaller local shelter and took all the adoptable cats with them- which left maybe 3 or 5 behind.  And we picked up 2 of those and the older 14 year old cat was adopted in 2 days.  We do what we can and thankfully there are others out there who are interested in adopting…

“Howdy, I’m Jax. I’m 14 and thought the shelter was a stupid place to be.  Some nice dude saw me at Petco and took me home after being there for only 2 days…now I have a really groovy home and can hang out like a normal cat again.”

I successfully removed the valves from my generators yesterday after a bit of a fight getting the screws loosened and pulling the air hoses out of the sockets. But they are now packaged up and will be shipped back to the manufacturer tomorrow.  I hope to have them returned good as new, install them and have them fix the problem of poor O2 output.  My fear is that they aren’t the problem and there is something else causing the issue.  But, I’ll worry about that later, right now I’m banking on these being the solution…