If Winter Comes...

Winter has hardly arrived.  It's not even 30 days into the season, and I am more than ready for SPRING. While I think snow (freshly fallen) can be very beautiful, it also brings damp, bone-chilling cold. I'm already tired of taking photos of snow and icicles, mostly because I don't know how to keep warm while I'm doing it!

In keeping with my desire for something Spring-y, I offer the following from my archives -- My first photo mosaic, which I tried for the first time today.  All photos are of plants from my garden or that of Gardening Daughter, with the exception of the yellow rose, which is growing in our church garden in memory of my eldest granddaughter who died three years ago, at age 29, in a tragic automobile accident.  We call it "Christie's Rose."

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Yay! It won't be too long before this is an actuality.   I feel better already!

My day was as busy as I had anticipated. However, my year end financial reports were in balance and I got a few more church-related odds and ends finished. That always leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment, something that (unfortunately) doesn't happen every day. 

Sweetie Pie has yet another ear infection. Poor baby!  I do wish I knew what was causing this.  I'm doctoring her as best I know how, with antibiotic ear drops left over from the last time.    If she doesn't improve by tomorrow evening, it's off to the veterinarian -- again!

It's just about time for my nightly dose of Yorkshire humor.  Our local PBS station is running early episodes of Last of the Summer Wine.  These particular ones were filmed in 1973, the first year of the series.  I'm finding them not quite as humorous as the later episodes, but it's interesting to see how the characters have developed.

Tomorrow is also a day.

Update on Sweetie Pie and other Stuff

To those who have inquired, thank you, Sweetie is doing much better. So much so that she is fighting me tooth and claw over every administration of topical and/or oral medication. I will have scars to prove what a dedicated 'mother' I am.

I know she's feeling better since she has been running through the house at full tilt, jumping on the other cats, and batting around everything that she can physically move. (I have a rubber stamp that states "Everything not nailed down is a cat toy." How true!) I am much encouraged by her improvement; she had been quite lethargic.

On other subjects:

Rain -- we're about to mildew, again. My rain gauge shows over 4" since 12:01 am on Wednesday. We needed the moisture, but this liquid sunshine is really putting a crimp in my yardening.

Old Friends -- I had a serendipitous encounter and totally wonderful visit yesterday with Pepper Pepper, a young man (young being relative to my own age) who I first met in 2000 and with whom, over the intervening years, I had spent a goodly amount of time. However, I had lost touch with him and had not seen him at all for almost a year. He is a photographer, poet, and multi-media artist, a very good one, I think, and a world traveler. He has a website showcasing some of his work. If you're interested, you can see it here. I invite you to do so.

Some bittersweet news is that he has purchased a property in Ghivizzano, Tuscany, Italy, and will be moving there at year end. He showed us dozens of photos of the town and surrounding areas, all of which took our breath away. I know there are many beautiful places on earth, but he has selected one that is nearly perfect for the variety of landscapes. And, here I am, with no passport! That situation, of course, can be remedied.

Stamping -- I have over-obligated myself in this area, and it's definitely affecting how much time I spend blogging and reading others' blogs. To wit:

* I am making cards for a stamp club on Saturday of this week.
* On the following Monday, I will be teaching a stamp class for 10 participants.
* My stamping partner and I are hosting a two-session Stamp Camp on Sept. 25 and 26, which calls for a lot of designing, cutting and creating kits, a total of 120.
* She and I will sponsor and donate all materials for an afternoon of stamping for World Card Making Day on October 3, for which I will design 4 cards and prepare materials for 30 of each design. I really don't mind about this one at all, because half of the cards go to the Ronald McDonald House in Little Rock, the other half to Cards for Soldiers.
* As soon as this almost back-to-back flurry of activity is over, we will begin preparations for another Stamp Camp on November 13-14, for which each of us will prepare materials for 480 Christmas cards.

That's about it! Look for me when you see me coming.

Bits and Pieces: Cats

I think of my cat Sweetie Pie as still being a kitten, although she is 7 years old, the youngest and smallest of the three cats who own me. Sweetie Pie has been plagued with ear infections since she was about one year old, the cause of which is unknown; she just gets them. The other cats have had no such problems, at least to date, for which I am am truly thankful, as Sweetie Pie's visit to the vet this past Friday cost almost $100.


Usually, a week to ten days of a topical antibiotic squirted into the ear canal clears up the problem. This time, however, since Sweetie had a similar infection just this past March, the vet has prescribed an oral antibiotic in addition to the stuff in the ear.


For those folks who do not have cats, a note: cats DO NOT like to take pills -- or anything else given to them which is not to their liking! Sweetie Pie doesn't much like having a tube stuck down inside sore ears, either, but performing that task is "a walk in the park" compared to trying to give her a pill.


Gardening Daughter, who is also a cat person, said she would show me how to administer the pill, which is a bit smaller than a standard aspirin. Her process is as follows:


1. Place said cat on the floor and kneel over the cat (Note: one might want to say one's prayers while in this position);
2. Gently but firmly clamp said cat between the knees, cat's head facing outward;
3. Pry said cat's mouth open (all the while trying not to get one's hands ripped to shreds by cat's front claws);
4. Insert fingers, and the pill, between said cat's razor sharp teeth, placing pill as far back in the throat as possible;
5. Immediately remove fingers and clamp said cat's jaws shut;
6. Blow on said cat's nose (this part seems to be the key; for some reason it causes the cat to swallow);
7. Release a very upset cat.


O-K! Like eating a piece of cake, right?


Gardening Daughter demonstrated this intricate procedure for me on Friday evening, was cajoled into coming back here on Saturday to do the same, but was unable to be here yesterday evening when it was time for the pill. What to do? What to do? Sometimes I surprise myself with my foolhardy faux-bravery! Last night was one of those occasions.


My knees being in a somewhat less than desirable condition, I am not able to kneel on the floor (not if I wish to rise again without crawling to a heavy chair and pushing myself up with my arms), so I substituted the top of my higher-than-usual bed, where I could stand and just bend over to do the deed.


I placed said cat on the edge of the bed, rear feet hanging over the side, and gently leaned my body down upon hers to (Hah!) immobilize her -- I can think such foolish thoughts, sometimes! I pried open her jaws and threw the pill in, then clamped her jaws and blew on her nose.


There followed the immediate escape of said cat, with said pill lying nearby on the bedspread -- not even the least bit moist! Said cat was now sitting on the pillow on the other side of the bed sending stares at me that would melt the Polar Ice Cap! "Sweet kitty! Good girl! Come to Mama." Hah!!


After a small runaround, and much sweet-talking, said cat is once more under my control (Hah!, again!) This time I wrapped her body in a crocheted afghan in an attempt to entrap her feet. Once again I pried open her mouth and inserted the pill. I didn't get a chance to clamp her jaws shut before the pill, this time bitten in half and rather moist, was deposited on the bed and she was out of the confines of the afghan and gone.


Did I give up? Pat, the foolhardy? No, sirree!!


Ah! Enlightenment! A bit of information given to me by the vet tech who delivered the pills finally worked its way to my conscious mind. She had told me that the pills were "chewable" and I could break them up and put them in Sweetie's wet cat food. My cats don't eat anything but dry food, so that wasn't an option, or it would have been exercised with the first dose.

Chewable? That means they can be dissolved, right? So... I took the remaining portions of the pill, dissolved them in warm water and sucked them up into a small (needle-less) syringe that I had on hand. (No, I do not now have, nor have I ever had a drug problem. I think the syringe was a leftover from administering liquid medication to a long ago deceased dog. Thank goodness, in this case, that I am a pack-rat. It took me a while to find it, but I did find it!)


Said cat was captured, again; again wrapped in the afghan, jaws pried open, syringe inserted into mouth, and --- with one plunge, the now liquefied medication was administered, and swallowed.


YAY!!!


Since there are seven more doses of this medicine she has to take, guess what system I'm going to use tonight?

Cat Tales

"Missy"

Today was the day set for the cats' annual visit to the veterinarian. Taking all three of them on one day sets my budget back a goodly chunk, but when it's over, it's over. They are well behaved cats when away from home, like most children, and Dr. B. has no troubles with them. He calls them "compliant."


Since I am not physically able to tote all three cats at once, and since I have only one cat carrier, I have to take turns ferrying them between my house and the veterinary clinic, a distance of only a little over one mile. The folks at the clinic are used to this procedure, which I've followed for the past few years.


The first one to go was Sweetie Pie, the youngest (although she's not a kitten; it doesn't seem possible that I've had her for almost 7 years). I learned several years ago that if I don't take her first, she "hides out" when she gets a sniff of vet's office on the one I bring home, and goes into deep hiding, and I had just as well give up trying to get her to come to me voluntarily. Sweetie Pie didn't mind being inside the carrier; it was getting into the car that set off her vocal protestations. Thank goodness I had to listen to this caterwauling for only a mile! Once we got to the clinic, she was as good as gold and offered not another sound. Oddly, she didn't vocalize as much on the way back home.


Sweetie's mother, Missy, was next. She didn't like the carrier -- at all! Plum hardly! She and I both became contortionists before she was safely inside. Unlike her offspring, she did not protest the car trip and, like Sweetie, was a real pussy cat while at the clinic. She was greatly admired by the vet and the assistant for her chinchilla-soft fur and beautiful green eyes.


Squeak, the big boy, was the final one to make the trip. Ususally, he is waiting for my return and I have no trouble getting him into the carrier. Not today!! He went underground while I was gone with Missy and I spent the better part of ten minutes looking in his usual hiding places. I finally found him under my bed in a place that I could not reach from either side. Clever (and wicked) kitty! I went about my business as though I was home to stay, and in about 5 minutes his curiosity got the better of him. I was in the kitchen making a cup of coffee when he came strolling in with a "whatcha doing, Mom?" attitude. I snatched him up quickly and stuffed him into the carrier, and off we went. Whew!


All the cats are in good health, as I expected they would be. I was advised to put all of them on a diet of 'senior' cat food, although none are overweight. Guess middle-aged cats need to watch their diets, too.

Camera Critters - Cat Nap

Out of sight in this photo is a small electric heater directed toward this chair. The heater brings a bit of extra warmth into this room. Sweetie Pie, my youngest cat, is taking advantage of my absence from the chair, the knitted throw, the pillow and the extra heat to take a "cat nap."

Camera Critters is the creation of Misty Dawn. Check out this week's other critters here.

Camera Critters #29 - Post 94

What'cha doing outside, Mom? Huh? Huh? Huh?

From the left: Squeak, Sweetie Pie, and (hiding in the shadows) Missy.

Camera Critters is the creation of Misty Dawn. Check out this week's other critters here.

Camera Critters - Post 63

Hey, Mom! There's a squirrel out there!

Camera Critters is the creation of Misty Dawn. Check out this week's other critters here.