Monday, July 26, 2010

Baby is Gone!

Baby used to lie in the bird bath by this fallen tree when she was very young. I always looked out the back door, and there she was. This picture shows she was very blessed.





I would like to think of her this way rather than the sick little kitty she had become in the last few weeks. She was very happy and very much loved.
I am very sad, and will not be writing for a little while. I will be back within a few days. I just need time to get used to her being gone, and I need to tend to Noodles. He was the one who yelled and ran into the room where I was. I knew he was letting me know what had happened. I had to call him into the house after our little funeral. He will be looking for her for a coupla days. He did not do real well when Sissy died, and it took him a few days to get over that.
Blessings to my little kitty angel.


Saturday, July 24, 2010

Sigh! That's All I Can Do!

Baby is still with us. Somehow she is still hanging on. One day I am ready to dig her grave, and the next day she is out and about. Thursday I took one look at her and decided that that was THE DAY! I cried and moped around and acted awful all day. I ate junk food or anything I could get my hands on. Just emotional eating.

I got dressed and went to the knit group. I ordered a batch of Hugo's macho nachos, and shared them with Colleen. After about an hour and a half, I had to go home.

When I walked in the door, Baby was out from under the bed and waiting in the kitchen. She meowed. I tried to feed her some things, but she just turned up her nose. I finally drained as much juice as I could from one of the cans of cat food, and she ate about a tsp or so of that.

Friday morning she is outside sitting in the flower bed. About 9 am I decided it was just too hot for her to be out in the sun. I fixed her another batch of juice from the can, and she ate that. I couldn't get her to drink any water, so I opened a can of tuna fish and drained the water from that. She drank about a tsp of that, so some fluids anyway.

She stayed under the bed all day, and was really wobbly when she tried to walk. I am thinking, How is she managing all this? She would not eat a thing after the morning round.

This morning she was sitting under her favorite tree and watched Patty and me walk around the yard. I came into the kitchen and decided to try the juice from the can thing, and I turn around and there she is standing in the kitchen doorway meowing!

Today she is eating a lot. I have gone through two cans of food draining the juice out. A while ago she actually ate some of the food. Not much, but a little bit. I squirted two ccs of water into her mouth this morning after she ate the first time. I ate a grilled cheese sandwich on raisin bread for lunch. She actually ate some of the melted cheese. Cheese is her favorite people food, but she hasn't eaten any of that for over a week.

So today I have been listening to podcasts and finishing the second single ply of the bison/alpaca blend. I finally gave up trying to make a pretty yarn. The bison is so nubbly. It just makes these little pill-y things, and I can't make a smooth, pretty yarn. Once I gave up on that, it has been so much easier to complete. Tomorrow I will get right onto plying the two singles and be done with that mess.

Then I think I want to spin something pretty and fun and just joyful. Something that will not be a chore to do like this one has been.

I knit some more on the linen stitch scarf. I finished a pair of itty-bitty socks for someone's baby. I don't know who's baby, but they are cute. I am really close to being done with the granny square crocheted afghan. Once I decided to quit when it is big enough for a baby, it became a do-able project. Our minds are a wonderful thing-aren't they? I need to get busy with some dyeing, but it is so blasted hot.

A while ago when I walked out to the mailbox and let Patty out for a little walk, I think it became clear there are two times of year that are not pleasant to be outside. One is in dead winter and it is really cold and windy and gray. And it doesn't ever warm up during the daytime.

The other time is now, when it is really, really hot, and the heat index is hovering around 110 degrees. The humidity actually makes it hard to breathe. I can't enjoy gardening, or mowing, or doing anything outside.

So my time right now has been hovering around poor little Baby, trying to make sure she is cared for, and going through some grieving time. I felt super guilty yesterday when I ran to the store to get more cat food. The clerk was telling me her youngest son starts school in two weeks! I just couldn't believe that kids have to go to school in this heat and so early. She was showing me the list of school supplies they have to have, and it is so amazing to me! She has been trying to find sales and places to get this stuff at the best price, because she just doesn't have the money. It puts my grieving and carrying on in a different perspective, and I felt so guilty driving home.

So have a safe rest of the weekend. Stay cool and keep on knitting. Christmas is around the corner.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

WeHow Long Until 2012?

Okay, I am going to go out on a limb and sound really weird. This is one strange summer. We have had over 8 inches of rain in July! This is July, the month when we have drought! We usually get around 5 inches in a month in April, the beginning of our rainy season.

Have you looked at the map lately and noticed the heat in on in Podunk, South Dakota! I don't think people in the far north or in the northeast have a/c. It is now the season of looking at the heat index. Again, living in the middle South means we count humidity as heat producing. I don't have to tell everyone it is just plain hot. I have to do any yardwork in stages and try not to overheat.

Baby has been back to the doctor again for a follow-up. I really thought she was getting better. She eats and drinks fine, she potties fine, and she has been outside more in the last few days. She is communicating more. She has not gained any weight back, and is still pretty bony.

Her bloodwork was not good. She has lost more ground on the platelets and her hematocrit. Her hemoglobin is fine now. The doctor and I had a very serious discussion about what I want to do. I think what hurts me is not knowing what else to do. I have to have some hope, and I have to be a "mommy" and try to keep her eating and comfortable and happy.

Dinner is almost done. I am going to close now. Be well, and be cool-wherever you live. I hope you have a/c.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Yes-It's Still Raining!

We almost had a brief day of summer for two days. It was humid and sticky and very warm. Not as hot as normal, but hot enough.

Today we are raining again. My girlfriend told me that there is more rain totals in Kansas than here, so I guess I won't complain. My yard looks like a jungle, and it is out of control now. I try to mow in between the rain, but I missed it by one day this week.

I spent all day on Saturday with my friend CJE just putzing around. We went to the grand opening of our friend JE's yarn shop. We bought some pin roving and I bought some more sock yarn to dye. We ate lunch. We went to a farmer's market, and to one antique mall. Just putzing around.

Yesterday I woke up with a stomach bug, and I just didn't feel well at all. So I cleaned the front room and hallway floors, and swept out the kitchen. I got all hungry for something, but my crackers were yucky. They smelled awful. So soup and toast worked. Later in the afternoon I baked a pound cake and put some peaches on that. That was good. I woke up this morning at 4 am with a stabbing pain in my stomach. So I sat in the recliner and slept until almost 8:30am.

We had the most interesting light display last night about 11 pm. I was trying to find a comfy place in between cats and dog and trying to settle my stomach down. That's when I saw the light show outside. Imagine the old fashion kind of cameras that had a shutter lens. It would be a nanosecond of that, and then normal light. Then another change of light. I finally decided it had to be some kind of weird lightening. It didn't flash like lightening does, but just changed the light in the sky.

I am almost finished with the granny square addiction afghan. It will be for a baby-somebody's baby-and I am stopping at around 36 inches square. I think that is adequate size. I am spinning the buffalo/alpaca blend that I had carded some time ago. I am almost finished with the waist decreases on the handspun sweater, and soon to start the increases. I started another pair of baby socks. And I am using the linen stitch scarf as my carry around project. It is easy, and quite calming. I find it almost mesmerizing when I get into the rhythm of the pattern. Not anything else new.

Happy Monday! Have a good week!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

It's Tuesday-I Think!

To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. - Barbara Bush

I have written a few times about my "family" that is my chosen family. I have been in this family a short 20 years, but most of the "family" have known each other a whole lot longer. Last week one of our family members died suddenly of a heart attack. As with blood families, our family gathered to be with C. Last night we had a final potluck and get-together at AE's and CJE's house. When she arrived with another woman friend, we were gathered in the kitchen. She said she was finally going home and it would be the first time she had been alone since B. died. It was then she would allow herself to "fall apart" and do all her crying. She has not allowed herself to do that yet, and it was a little bit sad.

C brought a bottle of wine that B had made, and everyone did toast his memory. And CJE added, "And to his good taste in women."

It was another peaceful, wonderful dinner of roasted chicken, beans, salad, deviled eggs, my cranberry/orange relish, roasted veggies, and various other goodies. We sat on the deck until almost 10pm.

On the way home I followed TK and VK in their van. We stopped about a mile down the road, and it was for a pair of fledgling owlets. They were adamant that they were not going to move until VK got out to take pictures. She was standing right next to them and they finally flew off to the side.

Today I decided to mow the yard before another rain came. It actually has only spit little droplets a coupla times, but the yard is mowed. I haven't done the trim work, but the big job is done.

CJE had cousins visit over the holiday weekend. I got there a little bit early so we could talk and knit a little bit. She mentioned that it is really difficult-what do you talk about with family members that only see each other occasionally?

I thought of that last night as we were sitting on the deck. I really don't have a lot in common with some of our "family". Yet we always seem to enjoy being with each other and we always care about each other.

Baby is still sick. I am really worried about her. She seemed to be getting better, but today she has been laying around and acting really lethargic again. It's like two steps forward, one step back. Noodles has been sitting really close to me all day. If I am in the chair, he sits on the arm of the chair. Right now I am sitting on the chaise lounge and he is lying next to me.

We still have beetles, although the stupid things are decreasing. I walked out on the porch to sweep the front walk after mowing. Grasshoppers were hopping everywhere. Great! More bugs!

I have had quite a number of goldfinches, rosy finches, and indigo buntings in the front flower bed eating seeds. They love the sunflowers, but are eating all seeds. If only I could convince them they need to eat grasshoppers.

Well, I have started yawning. I need to get up and get moving around some. I better take Patty out to pee before too long. I am trying to get her on a schedule, but she seems to have her own ideas about things. There won't be too many pictures of her for a while. The haircut I gave her was pretty pathetic.


Today would have been my mother's 86th birthday had she lived! It is my niece's 28th birthday. I still remember when my brother called Mother and said he had a beautiful birthday present for her. We were voting in our little home town, and Mother had to tell everyone there.

So have a good week. Be safe and stay dry and stay cool. The heat is here to stay for a while.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Finished, Finito, DONE!

The Lifetime Blanket that became the Lifetime Afghan is DONE! I went onto my Ravelry site, and I showed it started on July 4, 2007. Okay-I know what you are thinking! But I did not work on it consistently, as in one monogamous project. It was so tedious I just had to work a while on a section, put it away, then later on pick it up again. It was slow going, but I am DONE! I just want to say I finished the damn thing. It never seemed to get ahead, but some of my friends would look at it and say it was growing. I also finished the two pillowcases that I have had cut out, pinned, and ready to sew. They are some funky kid's fabric that has kitties on it that I bought online. Don't even ask where-who can remember?

I also finished two skeins with the teeswater/cotswold wool that I bought in Taos last Fall. I was really pleased with how it looked when done. It is a tightly twisted, rather rough, but suitable for some outerwear that would be long-lasting.
My little kitty-Baby has been really, really ill. I took her to the doctor, and she has something destroying red blood cells. This is Day 3 of the medicine. There are moments that I see she has more energy, and she is up and about. Then I look for her and she is under the bed again and very lethargic. I hope she will pull out of this. The doctor thought she would be better off at home with me monitoring her rather than to hospitalize her. I agreed. She is less stressed, familiar with smells and things here, and I can watch her closely. I know her hidey places.
My friend SH came by yesterday with a grooming clipper set that she had in her stuff. So today Patty got a bath, and I am going to trim that wiry long hair. I watched the video last night, and I figured out the things I didn't do right with my neighbor's clippers the last time.
So have a good weekend. I know lots of folks going on little trips. Even a long weekend trip is a vacation for most anyone. I am staying home to monitor my kitty. Be safe, and keep happy thoughts for Baby.