Pet Epilogue....or the fun continues!

O.K. This IS fun. Now I get to bathe TWO cats, since I discovered Squeaker has a bit of ringworm too. Oh well, at least I caught hers early. She was actually rather good during her bath and didn't even mind when I inspected her all over. She is usually a spitfire, so this was unusual behavior. She likes being a patient I guess.

Arlo on the other hand, is NOT a good patient. I've turned Anya's room into his hospital and he's been hiding under the sheets (which is actually a good thing, since it makes it easier to capture him). (Don't worry, Anya, I removed your bedding and replaced it with pet bedding!). Getting two doses of liquid medicine down him twice a day is rapidly becoming an ordeal. I may need to invest in bandaids! I try to go in to visit him a few times a day without doing anything to him so he won't hate me. Sure hope I can keep this up for the next 3 weeks without having permanent scars !

As soon as I finish varnishing the new door we are working on for our bedroom (the workroom is Josh's room), I'm going to clear out Josh's room for Arlo since there are fewer places for him to hide! Just a couple more coats of varnish and we will have a lovely new door!

Pets, Cars and Furnaces

Poor Arlo. He's one sick cat, so was George's car and our furnace! I feel terrible that I didn't notice sooner that Arlo once again acquired a massive case of ringworm! He is a terrible patient....Are you ready for a good laugh? After teaching lab all day, yesterday, I rushed home after gulping an Imitrex to ward off the beginnings of a migraine to round up the cat to rush him to the vet before they closed for the evening. Of course, he wasn't very cooperative and played hide and seek before I finally managed to catch him and pop him into the cat carrier. I was making good time as I pulled into the parking lot and thought we'd only be about 5 minutes late for his 5:00 appointment, when I smelled an unwelcome aroma and Arlo was busy trying to bury the evidence in the towel on the bottom of the carrier. I didn't want to carry him in like that so I thought I could remove him, and clean up the carrier before he got it all over. Bad plan. He'd already stepped in it! I discovered this as I finished clearing out the soiled towel and looked down at my lap as the struggling Arlo climbed into the back seat. I had cat shit all over my coat, skirt, slip and now the back of the car! Wonderful! I think I kind of went into shock as I did my best to clean myself up and what I could reach of the back seat. I decided to abandon my coat and slip in the car and crawled into the back of the van to try to recapture my smelly cat. I made it in to the vet at Petsmart only 20 minutes late and apologized for our lingering fragrance. The poor cat has ringworm all over his face, under his chin, under his tail and on his back feet. I didn't realize it had spread so far. Nearly 2 hours later I finally made it home to begin the fun of bathing the cat, medicating him, creating a solitaire room just for him, and washing down all the common pet surfaces in the whole house as well as washing all my clothes! I didn't get anything to eat until 10:00 pm that night. George called on his way home from teaching to say that his window wouldn't got up on his car! At least it wasn't snowing, but it sure is cold! We get to talk to furnace salesman for the next several days so we can figure out which new furnace to install. Such fun and excitement!

Happy New Year ! ! !

George and I went to a lovely dinner party at our friends' house who raise Main Coon cats, the Ruffs. The Evans were also there who raise Maine Coons too, plus alpacas. The food and wine and company were wonderful. We stayed overnight. Every time we opened our bedroom door 4 - 7 cats were waiting to try to pour into our room! Once in, they would play hide and seek as we tried to round them up to evict them!
Once we got home in the morning we drove to Conneaut to see my parents and visit with Bruce, Susan and Gavin. Anya brought Steven and her friend Silvia. The roads weren't very good on the way there and they were HORRIBLE on the way back. My oldest son, Adam, had driven his girlfriend to the Pittsburgh airport in George's car and encountered some really nasty weather trying to make it back to Conneaut. He finally made it safely and we all decided that we needed to head back home shortly after 4:00. I figured Adam had probably had his fill of driving in the blizzard so I drove the van back (filled with all the kids) and George drove his car home. My brother and his family followed us in their car (they live in Chardon) as we crept home on Route 90 at about an average of 35 mph all the way home. We counted 12 cars spun out just on Route 90. In Chardon it was snowing so hard I could barely see! I was remarkably calm. We made it home safely but it took more than an hour longer than usual. We dropped Steven off in Newbury. He'll have to pick up his car later. We are keeping Silvia overnight since the roads are so bad. The kids complimented me on my driving (cool, calm and competent!). Wonders never cease!

Make it a good YEAR!