Update on George

I just thought it was a good time to give everyone another update on George. George has been sick and had to have surgery. Yes, it's true. George was evidently bitten on his neck. I felt the scabs and everything was fine. He was healing nicely, or so I thought. The wound developed a huge 5cm abcess on the side of his neck. He was feeling a little listless. I was keeping an eye on it. Day by day, this thing was growing. Sue and I decided to soak it. First we washed it with some hydrogen peroxide. George, of course, was loving this, yeah, right. After the washing, he was having no part of soaking this thing in warm water. Nope, that was too much like a bath.

Well, George was a little upset that night that he could not go out to go eat as his favorite restaurant, Sylvia's. It's a little place just down the sidewalk. A nice homey place, in a basement, but the food is great. There is only one waitress, so service might be a little slow and occasionally a fight will breakout over who should be served. Barring that, it's a nice place.

George settled in for a long night of whatever cats do when they can't go out. He slept for awhile in the chair in the bedroom. Had some milk from my "go to bed" snack of cereal. I save George the milk. We all settled in for a nice night of sleeping or so I thought.

Sue has been having a hard time sleeping past 1am or 2am so she gets up and does some work around the house or plays games on the computer. At 3:30 am she woke me up with the words "San, get up...there are maggots coming out of George's neck". If this doesn't get you up and moving FAST, nothing will. I muttered, "well, at least, the maggots are eating the infection." Spoken like a true nurse. Hey, you can't scare me, I'm a nurse!

It turns out that it wasn't maggots, thank the higher powers that be. It was bloody drainage oozing from his neck. This could be good or this could be bad. We decided not to take a chance. George went to the vet. He got a 2 week antibiotic injection (I was NOT messing with pills and a cat), his rabies vaccination, his neck was shaved and we were told he was going to need surgery. The vet kept him overnight and he had surgery the next day. We got to bring him home after 5pm the day of surgery. He looked so pathetic. He had a tube sticking out of his neck for a drain which would be removed in a week and the stitches would be removed in 2 weeks.

The drain was removed yesterday. He is doing well. He is quarantined for 6 months because it is a bite of unknown origin and his rabies had expired. So the moral of this story is....keep up with your animals vaccinations. George is not going to be happy when he finds out about this 6 month thing.

Now we are watch and waiting for Sylvia to accuse George of eating her cat's food and we can tell her he has been in the house!!!!! I will keep you posted.

WOW... I guess it has been awhile...sorry!

Hello All,

I didn't realize it had been so long since the last post. I do apologize but now you know where my girls get it from....that is if you follow their blogs. Runs in the family and the apples don't fall far from the tree and all that kinds of stuff.

I hate to jinx myself but I have nothing new to report in the animal arena. Tank, Dani, George, Shania and Ashley are all doing well as are Paco and Wolfie. There, you have now been updated.

I have to tell you that I planted a small garden with Steph's and Sue's help. It is very small but I am very proud of it. Steph gave me most of the plants, zucchini, cukes, 2 kinds of peppers. I have 2 tomato plants and I also planted a small herb garden. In there I have chive, thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage and tarragon. They smell so nice. I have plans for them this winter and the only herb that I will have to replant next year, hopefully, is the basil. Everything else should winter over.

There is nothing like putting fresh chive on the sour cream on your baked potato, YYUMMMY. Of course, I don't do that since the heart attack...I eat the potatoes plain...yeah, right. Sorry Dr. Gage. I will be good in other areas of my health. Leave my food alone! Anyway, fresh herbs are wonderful, one just needs to remember that one must use so much more that dried as they are not as strong. Still worth it.

I got a huge zucchini, 4 pounds 2 ounces, at the beginning of the season. It was like carrying a baby. The it was hiding under one of the big leaves in the zucchini patch. That's if you can call one plant a patch. I stuffed it and it was good according to Sue. I don't like cooked zucchini. Now I check every few days for new produce and we have gotten a few more squash and there are more blossoms coming. Also, we have eaten fresh cukes and peppers and the tomatoes are starting to ripen. Love it, love it, love it.

Sue bought me a canning pressure cooker and I want to try my hand at canning. My mother did it every year and we would live off it all winter. It was wonderful. She canned tomatoes, and fruits. She made jams and jellies. Her bread and butter pickles were the bomb and some kind of chili sauce for hot dogs. Ohhh, it was so good. I am so sorry I didn't learn from her while I had the chance. Her recipes are gone now and I don't think I can ever duplicate the pickles or the chili but I guess I can try. I do remember what they tasted like. The garden won't produce enough produce for me to can but I am going to buy tomatoes and do it. I want to try to jar my spaghetti sauce. There is so much and so little time but so worth the time and effort.

Well, that's all for now. Mayhaps, perbe, there will be another post tomorrow. Until then, remember...Everything happens for a reason!

Update on George

Now you have to know that George is a persistent cat who just lives to be outdoors. And evidently, his favorite snack bar is Sylvia's house and Vixen's food.

Last week on Thursday, I come home from work and there, tucked into the mailbox is a note, typewritten, from Sylvia. Now you know that it is nestled away in some folder on her computer just waiting for the day when she has to take action against this defenseless cat. What the letter said mostly was that she would be away for 4 days and the previous night George was in her basement, eating Vixen's food, and fighting with Vixen and it was keeping her tenants awake. Now, she could not have this and could we please do "whatever it takes to clear up this "nuisence". Perhaps, she should learn to close the window and keep Vixen in the basement at night to keep her safe from the vicious George.

Sylvia admitted to us, when George first started to go there, that whoever he belonged to she wished they would move back out. Sylvie may get her wish sooner than she thinks.

George is getting more comfortable with staying in with us most of the time. But he still longs for the great outdoors. Sue walked him on the leash the other night in the backyard. He was good. No alligator death rolls. Sometimes, we let him sneak out and we leave the window open so he can get back in. HE LOVES IT!!!!!!

Update on Tank

In the original blog, I forgot to mention that John told Sue that if I want to own a dirtbag like that I should live on Congress Avenue with the rest of my kind. Well if the rest of my kind own dirtbags like Tank then they, the people, must be alright.

Poor Tank....every time he sees John he wags his tail, gets gooey ears and want to go see him for a pet. Tank is such an attention whore. He really means no harm, he just defends himself. Who knows what kind of life he had before we got him. He has so many scars on his legs that the vet seems to think he might have been used in the pit as a bait dog. All I know is that he is a love who loves to cuddle. I don't think he is a pit. I think he is a lab/shepherd mix. I will have to get a picture in here for all to see. All I know is I will protect him to my death. He is almost as good a dog as Okemo and that is saying something for him. Okemo was the best!!!!!!

The other thing Tank loves besides being petted is......A GOOD RIDE IN THE CAR!!!!! He doesn't care where you are going....he wants to go. He becomes your ass magnet until you take him. He has my morning schedule down to a science. He wakes up ( Tank likes to sleep in) as soon as he hears the hair dryer turn off or he hears me put on my uniform pants. That's when he attaches himself to Sue's ass. He gets so excited. Many days he accompanies Sue on her appointed rounds to where ever. He just loves to ride. He makes no demands....just take him in the car. When Sue goes next door to the garage where she stores her car....Tank goes with her and just lays in the car on the front seat. It's hysterical. You have to see it to believe it. Amazing. But he is so good. But on the mornings he can't come to take me to work, trying to get out of here is almost impossible. Tank is just great.

The Saga of George

I don't think the city of New Haven likes me. I have been having a lot of problems with the police dept of late. So far this incident has not involved the police but I am getting a bit gun shy. No pun intended.

Our George, our black cat. If you have ever had the pleasure of owning a black cat you will know they are special. They have a personality that no other cat has. They get into more trouble than most other cats and they have more than 9 lives!!!! They need more than 9 lives.

Geoge is an outside cat. He just loves being outdoors. Somehow, he even manages to stay dry when it is pouring out. It seems that our dear George is not loved by all the neighbors as he is loved by us. The lady, Sylvia, down the street approached us one day and asked if we owned a black cat. We told her yes. Well, she went on....that she had a feral cat that never leaves her backyard and goes in and out of the basement for it's food so she leaves the basement window open. It seems that George has been helping himself to 'Vixen's' food and spraying her basement. Now you have to understand that there are 3 or 4 other black cats in the neighborhood but she is sure it is our George. Also, George has been fighting with her cat and it has been keeping her tenants awake. So we have been trying to keep George in at night and trying to be good neighbors but everyday it was a new problem with George. She even took a picture of George, or a facsimile, in a tree asttempting to catch a bird. She is always so nice when she approaches us and says things like: the lady next door likes to feed the birds and look where I found George today. I am so sick of it. Be nasty I can deal with that better.

Anyway, Sue went online and found out that cats can not roam. So we have been putting George on a leash and walking him. I can take no credit for this, Sue did it. It took her an hour and a half to walk George around the block one night. I give her a lot of credit, I really do. George to say the least is NOT happy. He is spraying in here. And to say the least, I am NOT happy with this. This morning I let him out. He needs to run and play and spray. He was back in 2 hours and came when he called. We keep him in all night and he sleeps on our bed. If our neighbor can't deal with this...too bad.

George has already had his ear torn and his leg has been hurt and we don't know how. But if I find out that Sylvia is doing something to him I will call the police on her and press charges.

Between Sylvia and John (Tank), I want to pack up and go where no one knows my name and my pets can be free.

Any yet again I say. Everything happens for a reason!!! Maybe I am suppose to be a lawyer for animal rights.

The Saga of Tank

Where to start. I guess at the beginning would be a good place.

Stephanie decided that she needed a dog after Tyson left for North Carolina. So somehow she got Joey involved and got him to adopt a dog from the pound. Now Joey decides he is joining the army and Stephanie is moving in with Chris and they can't have a dog. Now, what do they do with Tank???? MOM will take him. Okemo had just died and we had room and the lease said we could have 2 dogs. And the big thing...Dani and Tank got along well.

Now we really don't know Tank's heritage but we think there is some lab, ?basset hound, pit bull, ridgeback, and heaven knows what else. He is a love. He just wants someone to love him. He has issues with his knees and we don't know how old he is so it is porbably arthritis. The vets says he is a good dog. Not too old, not too young.

Sue has him outside one day on a retractable leash (never use them). A woman strolling with her baby and Noofie ask if Tank is friendly and when Sue said no, she dropped the leash and the dog charged at Tank. Tank defended himself and had to be beaten on the head to release the Noofie's lip. With that the woman screams and takes her dog to the vet and wants us to pay the bill. Not going to happen, she let go of the leash. Tank also went to the vet and was put on antibiotics. This woman was not going to take no for an answer until we got the dog warden and our vet involved. They all said...not out fault.

Life is good for a while. Tank is charged by another dog and another altercation occurs. Okay, something is wrong here. We talk to our vet and he seems to think that Tank might possibly have been used as a bait dog in the pit. Poor Tank. He loves people but not charging dogs.

I was letting George, the cat, out the back door one cold night in February. Evidently. Tank had to go badly and the back screen door doesn't latch tight. While my back was turned let himself out the door to relieve himself. I was coming out the door when I noticed him glancing to the back of the yard and I realized that Someone was out there with Nicki, the dog next door. Sure enough, John was out there with Nicki, who was also off lead. I yelled to John to warn him that Tank was loose. At this point, before I could get to Tank, Tank started to go around the garage away from Nicki. He stopped to pee in our yard and then ran to John to be pet. I yelled to Tank and he turned to look at me. Just as Tank turned to look at me, John swung his leash at Tank and yelled at him to get out of here. This caused Nicki to lunge at Tank and of course, Tank had to defend himself. Now I am running across the yard. John took his leash and looped it around Tank's neck pulling him away. I grabbed Nicki's collar, twisted it (she was trying to slip out of it) and pulled her away from Tank. Tank had Nicki's neck and Nicki had Tank's head. During this John's girlfriend, Laura, had come out of the house because she heard the yelling. I told her to get a stick to hit the dogs with and to get Sue to help us. She got a half-inch pipe, about 18 inches long. John and I managed to pull the dogs apart without the help of the pipe and we both fell on the ground with each other's dogs. At this point I had my legs wrapped around Nicki's body because she was growling and trying to get to Tank. Both dogs were bleeding but not badly, thank goodness. Laura took Nicki in the house. John got up and picked up the pipe, threw it in anger and stated "If I had my gun, I would shoot that dog. He's no damn good.". Sue and I bring Tank in the house to look at his wounds when John burst into the kitchen (he did knock but didn't wait for us to open the door) yelling that we were going to pay the vet bill, etc. He left and Sue went to their house to check on Nicki. Nicki had some cuts on her neck but nothing life threatening. Laura asked John if they were going to take Nicki to the vet and John said "Not tonight. They won't do anything for her and I am not going to State Street. We will take her in the morning." John then said to Sue referring to me, "If she is going to own a dirty bag like that she should live on Congress Avenue with the rest of her kind.".

The police were called at 9:30 that night but didn't come until 1 in the morning. I had to go to work the next morning. Anyway, the police would not come into our home until we had locked up both dogs. I wanted them to see Tank's wounds but they wanted him locked up. Of course, they had looked at Nicki's wounds. The police talked to us and that was it. No tickets, just statements.

The next morning Sue went to talk to Laura and ask about Nicki and what we had to pay the vet. Laura said there was no bill, Nicki was fine and that she had gotten her shots which she needed. Laura said John was so angry because he couldn't control his precious baby. No problem, all was over. YEAH, RIGHT!!!!!!

About a week later, I am walking Tank on the sidewalk in front of John's house. John yells to me asking me if Sue and I were going to be home the next evening. He wanted to come over to talk to us. Okay, I'll bite....."Talk about what". About getting rid of that dog. That's all I needed to hear. John I am NOT gettin rid of my dog, end of conversation. Laura is telling John to Shut up, now is not the time. Now I am livid and when I get livid my disgusting mouth starts. And I couldn't control it. And I did not apologize for it. Now it was my turn to call the police for harassment. The police came and issued both of us tickets for not licensing our dogs. Ticket paid, dogs licensed.

Now, I get a letter, actually, I got 2 letters, one certified-return receipt requested and one by regular mail. They were from John's attorney!!!! I called my attorney and asked her to please get him to stop harassing me. She did that and sent me a copy of the letter.

Four days later, I have a heart attack. Do I think this altercation caused it? I don't know but I do think it was a contributing factor.

Thank you for listening and reading. I will definitely keep you posted on this saga. I will not get rid of Tank nor have him euthanized as the letter from the attorney stated. Tank has not bitten a human and dogs have issues with other dogs.

Our Garden

The garden has been planted. Sue dug me a little area next to the neighbors garage, with their permission of course. I planted some herbs...rosemary, basil, thyme, sage, oregano, parsley and chive. The chive I planted last year and it is just getting bigger and bigger. I have also planted 2 tomato plants, 2 cucumber plants, 8 peppers (2 varieties), zucchini and Steph's asparagus.

There is something gratifying in planting a garden and watching it grow. I check it every day. I haven't had to water it because we have had so much rain but I still check to make sure the rain didn't destroy my babies.

So now, I have my indoor and my outdoor plants.

I am also going to plant so morning glory seeds today along the fence so they can climb it and make it look pretty. And some shasta daisy seeds, just because I love them. Daisies are my favorite flower of all time. And maybe some nastursiums will be planted.

So there you have it. My garden!

Quilling

I have discovered a new craft. Well, new for me. Quilling. Have you ever seen those pictures or accents around pictures made of thin strips of paper that are curled? That's quilling. Iit is very easy to do and you need very little in the tool department. You can do it with a hat pin in necessary.

Quilling was started by the nuns in Europe centuries ago and it is now making a comeback. The nuns would tear of the gold edges on the pages of the bible to make these beautiful designs. Jewelery can even be made with this process. If you have an imagination, you can do it.

There are many web sited devoted to quilling. Anyone can do it, even young children. Paper is just twirled around a needle, like a hat pin, and then allowed to open to whatever side you need. Glue is applied to the edge once the size of the circle you need is reached. You the pinch these circles into different shapes. Flowers, leaves, baby footprints, trees, punpkins. All these and more can be made by gluing many shapes together. Snowflakes are beautiful. A great web site that I follow for quilling is www.quilledcreations.com . Take a look and I am sure you will better understand my meager explanations.

Until next time.

Have a great day.

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a very nice Mother's day. I know I did. I heard from everyone whether it was a card, phone call or posting. I knew where all the chicks were.

It certainly was a beautiful sunny day but the wind was brutal. I don't care, there was no snow. I am really beginning to hate snow. But I hate extreme heat too. Thank god for AC. I would rather be cold than hot. You can always put layers on but you can get arrested if you take too many layers off.

This posting is going to be short because, guess what, I am exhausted and I slept good last night.

I will be back and soon.

Bye

These things only happen to me!!!

Everyone, you are NOT going to believe this....This is incredible. And, it could only happen to me.

Yesterday I decided to start a new blog site. Read previous post. First I had trouble posting it. Some of the items, in the blog, I didn't understand so I decided to save it and post it later when I had some answers to my questions. I figured out my problem but then couldn't get the body of othe blog to post. I wrote Sheryl who has been blogging for years and I read her blog religiously. She said to go to edit and then I could probably post it from there. Good thinking, I say. I do just that.....no go. posted it. Said it was successfully posted. Not so. Title was there but no body. I thought I could see a shadow of printing but I couldn't read it. Then, it dawns on me. Isn't the suspense killing you? I go back into settings and change the color of the print from pink to maroon and voila.....there is the body!!!!

I told you...this could only happen to me.

Why the new blog site

I decided yesterday to start blogging again. I know everyone is shocked but it is true. I want to blog again. So this morning because I was up nice and early (4AM), thanks to the dogs!!!! I decided to find my blog. Can't find it. What a surprise. Anyone who knows me, knows I have no sense of direction. Evidently, this applies to the computer also. Everyone I know can sign on to the computer, do their thing or do many things, all without a hitch. Not ME!!! So, unable to find my original blog and not wanting to get worked up about it (zoloft is a wonderful drug), I decided to creat a new one. Maybe I will be able to find this one more often. I hope you all enjoy this blog. I promise to write more often.



Okay, for instance, and maybe someone can answer this for me. At the top of this page, there is a space marked: Title....now is this the title of my blog site or the title of the the blog I am writing. I ask this because at the bottom of this page is an area marked: labels for this post:e.g. scooters, vacation, fall. So my question is this: Where do I put what????? Sheryl, come to my rescue, please. Do you see the difficulties???? This computer fights me. I have conquered ordering online. That used to be an all day affair just for one item. I think the computer senses the lack of computer confidence. I will master this and facebook and twitter. These things just come flying at me. I have to conquer them slowly. But conquer them I will.