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!