Jacuzzi

I called the vet today...Jacuzzi didn't make it. It's so sad. All of our animals (except Flash) are getting old. We have three outdoor cats left: Bob-B, Peaches and Smokey. I saw Peaches this morning and Bob-B in the garage on Wednesday. I haven't seen Smokey in a while.

The cats have more or less vacated the breezeway since Flash moved in. The breezeway afforded them protection at night. That's probably why Jacuzzi got nailed.

She was a very pretty calico cat and the mother of several kittens.

I see stars

I looked up at the night sky as I was leaving Mom's house last night and almost straight up were the two planets in the news lately: Venus, the bright one, and Jupiter, both in line. I took a picture with my iPhone.

Update on Jacuzzi

The good news is we can stop suspecting Flash for what happened to Jacuzzi. The vet just called and said it was not a dog, it was either a hawk or an owl that attacked Jazuzzi. She was probably too heavy for the bird to lift.

The bad news is we won't know until Monday if she will survive. The vet said he might have to remove a leg if the damage can't be repaired, but I told him she wouldn't survive here with three legs. So Jacuzzi may have to be put to sleep.

Terrible Day

This was an almost completely horrible day. It started to go wrong when Roomba, my vacuum robot, went into the craft room. I heard a crash and investigated with Flash on my heels. Roomba had bumped into a set of drawers on rollers that is a little unstable. The tray of seed beads I was stringing was on top and flipped onto the carpet when Roomba knocked into the drawers.

The seed beads went everywhere and the strung ones wrapped around Roomba's rollers.

This happened when I had 10 minutes before I had to go to the barn for my regular Trail Ride On Thursday. I managed to get it all untangled and cleaned up before grabbing my bag and heading down to the barn. Before I got there, Joanne showed up with Flash wanting me to look at a tick she and Shannon found. I didn't have time but thought he would be okay until I got home.

I went on to the barn and was getting ready when Gary and Homero arrived.  They told me there wasn't any gas in the truck! Gary said Homero would go get gas, but I thought he meant go to the gas station. I thus had a mini melt-down and said just forget it. I was going to be late and I would just cancel the whole thing. I went back to the house and called Joyce to cancel. Then I looked for the tick on Flash so I could pull it out but couldn't find it so I put Advantix on him instead. Then I looked outside and Homero was putting gas in the truck from a gas can we keep on the ranch. I grabbed my bag and went down to the barn. Homero brought out Doc, I loaded him in the trailer, then called Joyce to say I could come after all. 

The good news is it was a wonderful day in Cuyamaca and we had a great time.

But there was more bad news to come. When I got back, I went to the back yard to let Flash in. When I opened the door, the first thing I saw was Flash sitting at the gate and Jacuzzi, the cat, lying down in the middle of the cement patio. It was strange because she usually runs to get away from the dog. I went closer and saw she had urinated all over and was lying in it. I went back in the house and got the cat carrier. I touched her and she didn't move or try to bite me, so I gently picked her up and put her in the carrier. She was very calm and didn't make a sound. VERY unlike her.

I called the vet then took her to the car and off we went. I left her there and came home.

Later, the vet called and said it looked like she had been mauled by a dog...or a coyote. I don't think it was Flash because he came up to sniff at her when I was there; she hissed and he backed away. I think it was more likely a coyote and she got away and made it to the back yard. 

This has been a very stressful day.

Bead Crochet

I finally got the bead caps I ordered so I finished the bead crochet rope necklace. Here it is:

No TV

Yikes. Last night the digital video recorder (DVR) that has all the programs we watch recorded, BROKE. We only had one satellite input working. Usually there are two and I'm able to record two shows at one time. So, last night, I missed half of the programs I usually record, including The Good Wife, my favorite show.

This evening Dennis installed the extra DVR (one we had repaired the last time the DVR broke). The only problem is it takes hours for Directv to download the program guide, so I can't record anything tonight.

We have Apple TV, so I purchased The Good Wife  and we're watching it now. Yea

Snakes!

The vet told me this morning that the rattlesnakes are out. He already had a cat come in with a bite to its head. Shades of Bob-B.

Then my sister told me that Mom said there was a snake on her driveway. Being Mom, an 89-year-old woman, she poked it with her walking stick to ascertain it wasn't a rattler, then flung it into the bushes. My sister and I agree we must not be related to her. If we saw a snake in the driveway, we'd head for the house, lock the door and call 911. We don't like snakes!

The cat is back wearing a hat

I picked up 50-50 this morning. She was eating and drinking and that's good. The vet said no antibiotics for three days because her system is upset. Fine with me.

Back to the vet

Yesterday morning I took 50-50 back to the vet to have him check her eye. She's having a lot of trouble handling the medications I'm having to give her. The antibiotic is causing her to vomit and the eye drops may be irritating the eye instead of healing it. I don't know, but something isn't right, so I took her back and she spent the night there so they could get her stabilized.

This morning I'm taking Flash in for his booster shot; I'll pick up 50-50 then and bring her home.

Bead Crochet

I just started a bead crochet rope. It was difficult learning how to start, but my years of crocheting paid off because I'm zooming along now.

And even more snow

Snow at Sandy Creek Ranch

Poor kitty. We're having cone problems. She really can't see very well because of her eye and the cone just compounds the problem. Her food and water is usually kept on the counter in the laundry room. It's kind of a high jump and I was worried she couldn't make it with the stupid cone on, so I moved her food and water to the craft room. I had to put the food in a flat dish and her water in a small bowl so her cone could fit over it and she could eat and drink. 

Another problem was the dog. Flash went in the craft room (where he rarely goes) and ate the cat food. That would explain why he isn't eating his own food. 

So I had to close the door to the craft room and keep 50-50 inside. Poor kitty. We had couch time during the evening but last night she slept in the craft room. Alone but safe from the dog at least.

Conehead comes home

Angie and I picked up 50-50 from the vet today. Poor kitty. The vet thinks she had a piece of gravel in her eye and an ulcer grew around it. He removed the growth and she should be okay. Right now, though, she has to learn to eat and drink wearing the dreaded cone. Poor kitty.

More Bad News for 50-50

Our cat, 50-50, is in the hospital again. The ulcer on her eye is worse and she will either have to have it cut out or the eye removed. We're not sure what will happen, but the vet assures us it is not life threatening and she will be fine. I hope so.

50-50

Last Thursday I took 50-50 to the vet because her eye was looking infected. Turned out she had an ulcer on her eye plus an infected tooth. The vet wasn't sure if the infection had spread from one to the other. The ulcer turned out to be a melanoma and was removed. We won't know for sure if it was benign until we get the lab report back. We took 50-50 home the same day and have been treating her eye with drops, plus an oral antibiotic. Cross your fingers.

Snow was softly falling in the morning when I got up. There were a few white patches on the ground, not much, but I did see flakes falling and that counts as snow. It was 35 degrees so the snow didn't stay any length of time. By 7 o'clock the sun was out and the snow was no more. I took Flash for his walk on the trail and it started to rain before we got home.

Flash was soaking wet so I put him in his crate while I got a towel to dry him off. He didn't make a fuss at all. I thought he might whine, but he didn't.

Today was horseback riding lesson combined with dog training. We worked with Flash to get him desensitized to horses. You can read about it on his blog: http://flashthebordercollie.blogspot.com.

Dennis comes home tonight from his ski trip. He'll come in late, but Flash will be overjoyed to see him. Tomorrow he can run along with Dennis as he rides his bike to the office.

Garage

Eugenio is working on leveling the earth where the garage is going to go. He also pulled out the tree that was in the way. All we're waiting for are the permits. The County Building Department is so slow and persnickety, I wonder if I'll see this garage built in my lifetime.

Ski Trip

Dennis is off on another ski trip so it's just me, 50-50, and Flash holding down the fort. Poor Flash misses his Daddy. Mom is no fun.

New TV

Our new TV cabinet came Saturday so Dennis and I cruised down to Costco to buy the 60" Samsung HD TV we've been looking at. It also happens to be 3D. Seems like you can't buy a TV without 3D anymore. Then we returned home and Dennis and Gary moved our old wall system to Mom's house. Mom could only use the center piece, so the other two pieces are going to Kristy. We are very good about recycling.

Around 4 p.m. Dennis came back to set up our system. I fixed dinner while he worked. After the dinner break he went back to work, finally finishing at 8 p.m. We watched a couple of programs, then sat in the jacuzzi before going to bed.

It was windy again yesterday and this morning (Sunday) it's still blowng our there. We got up at 4 a.m., probably because the wind woke us. Or we just weren't tired anymore.

Windy

It is so windy today. The wind blew my car around when I went into town and it's still blowing like crazy. I took Flash for a walk this afternoon -- it was freezing! We also went on our usual walk this morning and it was freezing then, too. I don't like it.

Worst Date Ever

Thursday is normally a T.R.O.T day, but because of the recent snow and rain, no horseback riding. That left a clear day for a date with Dennis except that we needed to go to the credit unit and get a loan for the new (used) truck we are buying for the business. Gary (brother-in-law) has been communicating with the seller, who is still waiting for his pink slip, expected Monday. We worked with the loan officer to have the seller fax in a few papers and then come in with the pink slip on Monday and sign off and pick up his check. We explained that to Gary, who, in turn, explained it to the seller. Then the seller said he didn't expect to have to do all that and it was a deal breaker. What?

After that, we took the Prius in to the Toyota dealer because the indicator lights were all on.

We had lunch with Uncle Johnny, who was kind enough to let us borrow his car. Then we took Johnny home and went to the movies while we waited for our car to be fixed. We saw The Artist, winner of this year's Academy Awards. We expected Hugo to win Best Picture and, after watching The Artist, we still think it was the better movie. Oh well.

The car was ready after the movie, so we went to pick it up. Turned out that "rodents" had eaten into the wiring harness. Luckily, there were able to fix the wires affected at a cost of over $300. The service guy did say, however, that if more damage had been done, the entire harness would have to be replaced at a cost of $7,000. Wow.

After that we took Johnny's car back and went to do some grocery shopping for Mom and Angie (who is still sick). WalMart is still a horrible store to shop in, but the prices are better than the grocery store. I do hate that place.

We got home around 5:45 p.m. Poor Flash must have thought we were never coming home. He was very happy to see us.

Although there were some good moments, all-in-all it was not the best date.