december 3, 1997 A new month. The year is almost gone. Boy, they sure go quicker as you get older.

Kirby is doing better so far. Still keeping an eye on him.

Some of the cats seem to be under the weather. I don't know if it's because it's colder or the rain we had, or what. They just don't seem up to speed. I haven't noticed any sneezing or coughing, though.

The new windows are in and a big hit with the cats. They like laying in the bay windows. The first couple of mornings, I had the cat pee to contend with, but it seems to have tapered off.

So far, this month has been slow. I hope it stays that way. Knock on wood.

december 4, 1997 Well, I spoke too soon. There is something wrong with Georgie. It's his right eye. The conjuctiva is really red. *sigh* So, I have him on Neo-Predel that soothes the eye and terramycin for treatment of infections. I also am giving him Baytril, in case its due to a URI. If he doesn's show any improvement by tomorrow, to the vet we go. I just noticed this last night, he was fine yesteday.

Red slept in the living room all night. Yay!! Thinking back to last year when he was living in the rafters, it's sure nice to have him down and in. He will let me cuddle with him if I lay down next to him, but if I sit next to him, he runs off. He isn't comfortable with me being taller than him. He has to have easy access to my head and face.

I had to give Sandy a pill yesterday. *I* could hear the heavy equipment.

DeeJay has started sleeping in the bedroom during the night, not just during the day. He use to do this a long time ago and just recently came back in. He seems grouchier than normal, too. I wouldn't doubt that it has something to do with his kittenhood leg injury. It probably pains him now that he is getting older. Heck, he will be 10 next year.

december 6, 1997 The rain finally started this morning. Could it be? Finally? El Niño? I doubt it.

The sound of the rain on the roof wakened me at 3:45 this morning. I noticed that my husband wasn't next to me. I got out of bed in search of him. He was on the couch, I asked why. He said that when we went to bed that he couldn't get to sleep. And then because of both Boney and me snoring.....hmmph. I went back to bed, leaving hubby on the couch.

DeeJay came in this morning at 6 to get me out of bed to open the backdoor and let him out. It was pouring down rain at the time and as usual, he gets mad at me. He runs in. He runs out. Back in. Yowing all the time. He went to another door to be let out. He ran out, still wet. He was one annoyed cat.

I opened the catdoor and Benny went out. He ran alongside the house, back to the patio and back in the sliding door. He didn't care for all of that wetness, either.

I took Georgie to the vet yesterday afternoon for his eyes. Turns out he has a bad case of chlamydia, which is what I had been treating him for. The vet says it can take a while to show any improvement. He looks fine this morning, but I'm going to give him the full course of treatment. He really is feeling better, he was running down the hall, chasing another cat.

I gave somebody (in Canada) on the internet information about what had been done with Benny and Kirby for their urinary problems. Her vet called my vet, her vet started her kitty on Elavil and she wrote yesterday saying that her cat seemed to be feeling better. I hope he's okay.

december 7, 1997 We went to get petfood yesterday and on the way, I said, hey, let's go to Disneyland today. It's supposed to be raining!! So, after getting food and bringing it home, we did.

All the way up, we kept wondering when we would see the rain. Dark clouds all around us, but that ray of sunshine just followed us all the way up. Darn it. The weather was the reason we took the truck.

We arrived around 1:30pm and the weather was great, crisp, clean, a little on the cool side. When we walked in, you could hear the Christmas music. It was so nice. Our first stop was where the old Carnation food place use to be. We got a couple of cookies and I got a gingerbread snowman. And we got a large coffee. We walked up to town square and sat on a bench to eat our goodies. Having read in Mickey Secrets about the bottomless cup of coffee, Brian decided to carry the coffee cup with him until we were ready for some more coffee. Free. See, once you buy coffee there, your cup is refillable anywhere. Next stop, Indiana Jones.

Brian brought his camera for the express purpose of getting shots of all of the heiroglyphs. I am going to put them up on my Disney site. Something fun to do while we are deciding when to go. We rode Indy, then just kicked around the rest of the day. A pretty easy day. On the train, before we reached the ToonTown station, the conductor mentioned a rainbow over ToonTown. Brian got a pic of it. I hope it turns out. He was a shooting fool, that's for sure. On the monorail, he got a pic of our truck in the parking lot, I bought a new umbrella and he took a pic of me standing in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle, holding the umbrella open. It has Mickey Mouse ears on it.

We checked out the newly renovated Small World. Oh, my, what a wonderful job of Christmas decorating they have done. They redid the dolls so that they don't clack anymore. And having them sing Christmas carols, as well as the Small World song. Absolutely wonderful. It was still light when we got off and we walked around some more. About five oclock, we were in Fantasyland, waiting for Casey Junior. And the rain started. My umbrella was a very nice thing to have. They were only running one train and the line was long. Brian and I only had on sweatshirts, having left our coats in the truck. While on Casey Junior (Brian snapping those pics) we decided to go to the truck, Brian would wear my extra sweatshirt, cause his was soaking wet, and his jacket. I just put my raincoat on over my wet sweatshirt, no big deal. We figured that the Monorail cafe would be the best bet for dinner. The water at the curb was about three/four inches deep and I couldn't jump over it. So, I went in it. I only got a small amount of water in my boot, nice. Then we ate, went back to Disneyland, took pictures of the lights at Small World, since it was dark, and then came on home.

The rain that we missed on the way up, we found on our way home. Oh, boy, did it rain. We made it home in a little under two hours, walking in the door a little before nine. The cats were glad to see us and I think they had been sleeping all day, because they were very wound up. They did settle down before too long. And we watched some tv and went to bed.

I bet Brian got some great pictures. I hope he did.

december 11, 1997 It's cold!!! Brrrr..... and windy. Yesterday morning it was below 30, but there wasn't any wind. Today, it's not quite as cold, but that wind cuts right through ya. Maybe eating that icecream drumstick wasn't such a bright idea. The cats don't seem to like this weather, but the dogs like it. Shoot, when it was raining Sandy and Junior were laying out in the rain. One of our cats likes bad weather. Benny just loves to be out in the drizzle and he loves the wind blowing in his face. He will sit on the rock out back and face into it. Goofball. Buddy is laying in the sun right now. Next to the food dish. He does so much better when we force him into the shop at night. At least we know he will be warm.

I went to the postoffice yesterday to get a box to send a couple of cat toys out. These are leftover from when we tried to sell cathouses at catshows. I took it to get the right length box. The lady behind me really liked it. She bought it. That was kind of funny. I also got stamps and sent my rpcc Kissamouse Cards out. New Zealand, Australia, Canada and England as well as the U.S. I haven't sent out cards in years.

Georgie is doing much better. He is running and jumping and playing. He ran outside and up the big cat tree, hung his head back and looked at me as if to say "Hi, Mom!!". He's so cute.

Lisa is turning into a bullygirl. I called her that this weekend, and of course, Brian says, "why do you say that? she didn't do anything wrong". I just raised my eyebrows at him. "Oh, yeah? Think so?" So, last night, she is laying in the cat tree tube that faces the garage door. Benny started to walk in and she flew out of the tube and attacked him. Poor Benny, he ran back into the garage and into the rafters. This morning, I heard hubby calling Lisa, "bullygirl".

When I came into my Geo editor to type this, this morning, I noticed that I had 18M. Wow!! So, I checked it out. Regular GeoPlus is now 15M. Maybe the additional 3M is for being a featured page. Which I have been since last February. I know that regular featured pages got more space. This is great!!

december 15, 1997 It's the middle of the month and we are so broke. What's the old saying? So broke we can't even pay attention?

One of the cats is peeing blood. I noticed a small amount on the kitchen counter Saturday morning, Georgie had sprayed in front of me a couple of times the day before, which is what he does when he is getting sick. So, I started him on the ammonil/amoxicillan combination. There was a greater quantity of bloody urine on the same spot this morning. So, the volume is there, which is good. It's still bloody, which is bad. I just hope I'm treating the right cat.

Couldn't find Red last night, and it was pretty nippy in the garage (I have double sheets over the door to keep alot of the cool air from coming into the house.) I looked all over, finally looked in the cathouse with the deck that's in the living room. He was curled up all nice and snug on the blanket that's in it. I petted him and he purred. What a good cat he is.

Rusty, I think, would be surgically attached to me if it were possible. He has been very needy lately, following me around, sleeping on my head (trying to, anyway). He's also been losing weight. He does that every year. He puts on weight during the winter, loses it during the summer. But he seems thinner than usual. His appetite is good, though. I am giving him Nutrical supplement. He likes it.

I think we may have a URI going through the house. Alot of kitty sneezes and sniffles. I need to get more Baytril from the vet.

We haven't decorated at all for Christmas. Brian was going to try to get the new window in the bedroom, so we could put up our animated Mickey and Minnie. He hasn't had a chance, and we don't think it will be done in time for Christmas. Oh, well. I don't feel all that Christmassy anyway.

Brian has resigned himself to the fact that we won't be moving for a while, if ever. This is good news to me. He isn't happy about it, though. But, he is excited about taking care of our current home, now that the dreams of a new home have been put on indefinate hold. We really need a new roof, our roof is the old wood shake which is not up to the building code anymore, so we have to replace it with something else, eventually. He has always hated the look of asphalt shingles, but what he wants is way out of our price league. He has been anxious to paint the house and kept bringing pages and pages of paint samples home. I finally chose a blue theme. Dark blue one the wood, medium blue for the stucco, and a white for the trim, since our new windows are trimmed in white. I told him, now we can get asphalt roofing. There is the most adorable house with the same paint scheme and it has differing colors of grey asphalt shingles on the roof. I think its a sharp looking house. He already bought the paint, it's back in our shop. It's nice not to think about moving.

december 17, 1997 Lonee is being so sweet. It's been months (since she found the backyard) since she has let me cuddle with her. Yesterday, she was laying up in the bay window in the dining room and I went over and started petting her. She actually stretched out towards me and snuggled onto my arm. I petted her and scratched her for a good long time. She gave me headbutts and was cheek rubbing my arm. It was very nice. She let me do it again this morning.

Buddy got into the catfood in the shop. He didn't get very much, but now his stool is very loose and unformed. Darn it. I will have to watch him closely, because of the pancreatitus he had a couple of years ago. I don't want him getting sick again.

I haven't found any bloody urine on the counter in two days. Looks like Georgie was the problem kitty. *sigh* These poor little guys. I feel so badly for them. Last week he had the ointment, now the pills.

Looks like Red is becoming well established as a house kitty.

The piece of plexiglas we put up in the opening to the hall to keep Bobby from wandering around the house at night got broken somehow. So, Brian put up a piece of wood. It's short, but Bob can't get over it and the other cats find it really easy to negotiate. And now they can see it. The other night, Pepper ran full speed into the plastic. Poor thing. It's really irritating when Bobby gets lost in the house at night. He has plenty of food, water and warmth in the tv room and he can go into the garage to potty. He can't climb into the catboxes, so he just goes in front of them. I don't care for that in the hallway. Then he starts that yowing, like where am I? We don't have the problem at all as long as he stays in the tv room.

Somebody sent me this prayer in my email yesterday. I like it:

Dear God, so far today, I've done all right.
I haven't gossiped, and I haven't lost my temper.
I haven't been grumpy, nasty, or selfish, and I'm really glad of that!

But in a few minutes, God,
I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on,
I'm probably going to need a lot of help.

THANK YOU!!

Last night, we heard a noise in the other side of the house while we were watching tv. I investigated. Checked the bedroom, bathroom, popped into the office, took a quick look around and didn't see anything. I did another round, came back into the office and there was my keyboard laying on the floor, keys laying around. Seems little Benny, who likes to lay above it, stretched and kicked it off. No damage and the keys popped right back in. Whew.

december 19, 1997 Wednesday we went shopping and didn't get the cats in before we left. When we got home, just about everybody was in. Benny was still outside, up on the bank. Watching him, he ran up the hill, onto the fence and back down, under one of the trees. I went over to get him and he had a tree rat or something big. This rodent was on it's back screeching at Ben. And Ben kept smacking it and trying to bite it. Then the rodent would get away and run under the pine needles where Benny would find it. I was finally able to grab Ben and brought him in the house, and the rat got away. Ben sat by the door all night, he wanted his *toy*.

I was thinking about Red and Lonee this year as opposed to last year at this time. They both have the option to go outside this year, they are much more comfortable here. Last year, Red was still living in the rafters and this year he is spending most of his time in the living room. He likes the cathouse with the deck that's in there. I have a blanket in it and he sleeps inside. Lonee, who really likes hanging out in the backyard, has been spending her days indoors, also, since the weather has cooled off. It makes me feel good to know these cats that spent so much of their lives on the street are now choosing to be inside, dry and warm.

Red is the only cat that purrs at dinnertime. I have fourteen cats crying for dinner and Red purrs. He is a very considerate cat. :-) He's the only one that ever says "thank you".

december 23, 1997 They put Brian's father in the hospital Saturday. He hadn't eaten for a couple of days and he wasn't drinking any liquids either. They ran tests on him and he has pneumonia.

It's been cold here. brrrrrr.... Cats have all been staying indoors, even Benny. I woke up at one am, couldn't get back to sleep. Usually, when I can't sleep, I will read a book, but last night, we were sleeping in the tv room. I stripped the bed yesterday and didn't get the mattress turned until late, then I was busy making dinner and never did get the bed made. So, I came back here and surfed the internet. Didn't get back to sleep til well after four. When I finally did lay back down, I was so cold, my feet were like blocks of ice. I am definately making the bed after I take a nap. :)

We went Christmas shopping Sunday. Brian finally decided this weekend that we would buy gifts for others. How nice. We spent a gazillion dollars in a few hours time. He had planned on putting our new bay window in the front on Saturday and he was really excited about decorating the window. But then the thing with his dad happened, so no decorations this year.

I started a new club. For members only. It isn't very extensive now, but it is exclusive. (haha)

I made a quick trip to the vet this morning. Benny's ears were burning up, he was breathing hard and he turned up his little grey nose at tuna. Scary, especially knowing that the vet's will be closed for the holidays. I called, they said bring him in. They took his temperature and he had a slight fever. The doc did a thorough checkup and couldn't find anything wrong with Benny, so he thinks that maybe Benny is getting a cold. Ben got sub q fluids and a shot to bring down his fever. I am to give him amoxicillan for a week. The doc said that he will be around Friday if anything happens.

I also bought some of that new stuff named "feliway". It's supposed keep cats from spraying. It was really expensive, $35 for a small bottle (Merry Christmas, I guess). Hopefully the manufacturer will find a cheaper way to make it. According to the paper that came with it, this stuff mimics feline facial pheromones and cats supposedly don't spray where the faces rub. We'll see. If it works, it will be worth not listening to hubby complain about it.

It was really hard for me to leave the vet's office today. Elana brought the new clinic kitten into the examining room and he climbed onto my arm. They have had him since 3 days old, his name is Hugh. He is so tiny and he is a very light orange and white. He walked up my arm and started sniffing my face and put his little mouth on my eyelashes. Awww, he reminds me of Rusty when he was a baby. He checked out my face with his little warm nose and then settled into the crook of my arm. When I was paying the bill, he started getting playful and I had him on his back kissing his belly and he was nibbling at my face and trying to catch me with his paws. I wondered out loud if anybody would miss him if I just happened to put him in Benny's carrier. Or maybe put him down my sweatshirt, I told him he would have to be still, though. I'm telling you, I fell in love this morning. The doc said that he hardly ever sees this little guy so mellow with a client. He likes me!! Hugh likes me!!! I just love kittens so much, I would love to have two more. Hubby always says that it wouldn't be fair to our current kitties, well, maybe not, but is it fair to leave a kitten running along the side of the road? Or some of the other situations we have encountered? I guess we'll cross that bridge if we ever come to it. I do know that I hated leaving that baby this morning. I didn't want to put him down so Sherri took him and put him in her jacket. He started playing with her long hair. *sigh* Then Benny and I came home, I let him out of the carrier and the little mutt ran over and ate some hard food.
Cats. Gotta love em.

december 26, 1997 Christmas is over, but now Brian's brother is in town. I guess hubby will be gone visiting for the next week. *sigh* I thought maybe he could do some small house repairs.

Georgie was really in a fighting mood last night. He was after everybody. I caught him in the garage going after Kirby after he had already tangled with Maggie and big time with Lisa. I held him and talked soothingly to him and petted him. Kept telling him to calm down, chill out. This morning I pulled a claw sheath from under his eye. I wonder why he gets like that. It drives me nuts.

Benny is okay. That's a relief.

lisaviolet is fifty something, married with no kids, takes care of lots of cats, likes taking photographs, loves Southern California weather and spends altogether too much time avoiding her responsibilities.

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