december 15, 1998 (continued)
I haven't done one bit of Christmas shopping yet. And Brian told me that it's my job. Well, I know what to get my mom, but I have no clue what to get everybody else. Not like there are all that many. Maybe we'll get gift certificates for a restaurant for Brian's brother and his wife. No idea, whatsoever, of what to get his mom.

We got back from Disneyland yesterday afternoon, a little after two. It was a good ride home, I fell asleep in the car, which is something I don't remember doing since the car accident almost 30 years ago. The sun was shining in on my side and it was warm and cozy.

Disneyland was fun. We got up there Sunday afternoon, checked into the Disneyland Pacific. They were having a special for season passholders and it only cost us $109 for the night. We were also given an ornament and buttons. Our timing was good, because we had missed the warm part of the day, and there was at least one heat record broken in the L.A. area Sunday. We put our stuff in the room and went over to Disneyland, ate dinner at the restaurant in New Orleans Square (I like the cajun chicken) and then, since it was cooling off, went back to the room to get into something warmer. Then back to Disneyland. I brought my camera and took a few pictures of the Christmas decorations, the shutter speed didn't feel right, it felt too quick. We went to an area where I could view the speed and it wasn't set on automatic, it was set at 250. Argh. Now I would have to re-take those pictures. We rode Big Thunder railroad, then walked over to It's A Small World. It was beautiful. Many, many more lights than last year. (I have pictures that were taken last year with Brian's camera. The problem with his camera, is he says you can't turn the flash off, and I think that affected the pictures. Hopefully, I can adjust them with Paint Shop Pro.) So many lights....I also took pictures inside of the ride. It was absolutely beautiful. Partway through the ride, I ran out of film. Brian handed me a fresh roll and I took the old one out, trying to put the new one in, in semi darkness. Not fun. And it wasn't working correctly, but after I fiddled around with it, it seemed to start working correctly again. I sure hope those pictures turn out. It was a wonderful site. Then, we went back to Main Street and I re-took the pictures of the tree and decorations. We went back to the hotel property and decided on having dessert, walked over to the monorail cafe. We each had a banana split. It was really good. We went back to the hotel and I wondered what all of those people were doing, hanging around the door. There must have been 20-30 of them. Oh, look, they all had cigarettes going. It was fun having to walk through them to get inside the hotel. (*cough* *hack* *spit*) (Oh, some news. Remember me telling you about Brian's brother's wife's brother in law that smokes a carton a day? Well, he quit, cold turkey, over three weeks ago. Said he was tired of being broke all of the time. Hasn't had a cigarette since. Wow.) Then back to the room in time for the X-Files. That was really a weird show. Then lights off and to sleep.

When I woke up, the first thing I did, as I usually do when we are away from home, is looked out the window. Wow!! It was wet outside, wet and foggy. This is what we like for Disneyland trips, cool weather. We showered, dressed, packed, loaded up the car, then went over to the park. We each had a pastry from the little shop on Main Street and checked the list of what was open. Indiana Jones wasn't. We walked over to Space Mountain, laughed at the fact that people were already in line for the Rocket Rods, (which wasn't opened yet, why wait an hour now, and not an hour later?) and rode that. Walked right on. From there, we went over to the Matterhorn. They were running the Rocket Rods, warming them up. I mentioned to Brian to look at that one, it's really smoking. He said that it was probably from the water on the track. The next one went by, no smoke. I pointed that out. We had to walke under the track to get to the Matterhorn and I said "smell that?", he said it was the brakes and that he bet they were locked up. That would explain the smoke. We went under the chain to the Matterhorn line and I took a picture of the Matterhorn and a picture of Brian, pretending to climb. I'm going to see if I can have some fun with that. We did alot of people watching, saw a lot of young Asian women, with really tall shoes, one had shoes on that had toes like leprechan shoes, except these were big, bulky black shoes. Ugly shoes. I don't mind the big heels, but those toes were really odd. There was one woman with orange hair. Bright orange. Of course, even the bleached blondes had dark roots. Later on in line, in closer quarters, somebody farted and it was really noxious. I hoped it was a one time thing, but a little further in line, it happened again. Oh, puke, it was gross. We went in on the Fantasyland side and the ride didn't seem so bumpy as on the other side. Then, it was time for the park to open to the public and in came the crowds. And the Rocket Rods ride was shut down. So much for being first in line.

We walked on over to Indiana and I started taking pictures of the heiroglyphs. I was really surprised that there were so few. I had handed the list of translations to Brian and there were only four that weren't on it. And I have pictures of those, just not clear enough to read. Hopefully, I was able to get three of them. The first was right when you walk in the building entrance, up tall and it circles the top part of the walls. After the ride, we just kind of walked around, then got on the train. We rode the train around the park and got off on Main Street. Then we left the park. We rode the tram back to the hotel, got in our car and decided to eat before we left. We had sandwiches at the Monorail Cafe, then started home. We hit the freeway at 12:33 and arrived home at 2:04. Pretty good time.

The cats were happy to see us, and even happier to get that door open and go outside. Of course, the wonderful smell of cat pee hit us when we walked in the door. I really wish there was something we could put on the floor instead of carpeting. Anything besides, though, we can't afford. *sigh* Guess it's time to shampoo again. I should also wash all of the covers and do the hallways again.

Now, I have to brush my teeth and put some other clothes on and go over to my mom's neighbor's house. She has to cancel her current internet account so that she won't be charged for it. Her trial period is up.

I got tired of Maggie always pulling on the phone cord here at my desk. So, I sprayed some Bitter Apple on it. I forgot that I had done it, until she tried taking a bite of the cord. She's tried three different times now. She does not like the Bitter Apple. It worked.

december 17, 1998 Oh, geez, what a mess yesterday started out as. I checked the stats for my sites and guess what? They all said zero. So, I emailed the webmaster to let them know that the site wasn't working. Guess what? They discontinued it. I got an email back saying to read their news. Darnit. So, I spent the day looking for another counter. I found one that four five dollars a month, I can monitor 50 pages. Not enough. The site owner said this morning just to use different ID numbers. What I am going to do is to leave the site that currently has LVDesigns, move it to the place that has the counters, buy his script and count my pages to my heart's content. I don't get a credit for time not used at Icom, but it's not really that much money. And I can always upgrade at the new place. The person that runs it seems really helpful and that means alot to me.

Pepper's tail hasn't gotten any better. Of course, I always worry about stuff like this.

Brian yelled at me from his bathroom this morning, somebody peed in his sink while he was in the shower and it was very bloody. *sigh* We figure it's Georgie. Stress can lead to bouts of cystitis and with Brian being gone so much, the daddy's boy is under a lot of stress. So, I called the vet and explained this to Elena and told her that I had given Georgie a course of amoxicillan last week and that he was fine for a few days. And I mentioned that the other antibiotic that worked was the orbax which Dr. Judy had prescribed for a mycoplasma virus months ago. I told her that the last time Georgie was exhibiting this I gave him leftover orbax and it worked. So, she's going to talk to the vet about it. She will call me back to let me know if I should bring him in or they can just refill the prescription. I want to get it taken care of because, besides the fact that he doesn't feel well, Georgie has a definite attitude problem when he's under the weather. He starts a lot of fights, he got into at least three yesterday, one right after the other. The other cats don't have a clue why he's attacking them. I also asked about Pepper's tail. Elena said that as long as Pepper is eating and acting normally, not to worry too much about it. But if it persists longer than a few more weeks, to call them back.

We had a catfight in the bedroom at five this morning. Then Benny came in...cry...cry...cry...... I tried to ignore them, but at 5:30 I got up and let them out. I went back to bed and got back up a little before six. I did fall asleep on the couch last night before ten, so I'm getting plenty of sleep.

I cleaned the hallway yesterday, washed the walls, the floor and the rugs. I also did my bathroom. So, what does Boney do? He sits on my toilet seat and pukes. *sigh* Drips down the side of the toilet, it's on the seat, it's on my clean floor..thanks, Boney.

I'm also washing the furniture covers today. Maybe the house can smell better for a couple of hours.

I had to type yesterday and I had the sliding door open. Yesterday was absolutely beautiful. I looked down and Junior was laying next to me on the floor. What a little sweetheart. I gave him a kiss on his nose and went on typing.

We went to CostCo last night, Brian wanted to get some tools to replace those stolen in Arizona and we needed some more very important things. Like catfood for the outside cats, paper bowls for feeding, and cat litter. In the aisle for the pet stuff, they had new cat trees. Three levels and there is wood between the carpeted levels. The only stuff unloaded last night was the perishables. Well, this morning, Brian brought in the cat tree and it's a hit. Bart was in it first. I took his picture. Last I saw, Pepper was in it. Merry Christmas, guys.

Well, I have to make out Mark's checks and then go pick Brian up at the transmission shop. Yesterday, I paid the payroll tax and it seemed kind of high. I told Brian about it last night and he asked how could the tax be more than the actual payroll. Hmmm.... So, I came back, checked it out. Spit. I didn't change the numbers in the formula and it picked up the amount I paid for the previous month. I overpaid over $800. Well, it isn't like there isn't more due this year.

december 19, 1998 Well, I didn't have to take Georgie to the vet, I was able to just go over and pick up the medication. And he's doing much, much better. Pepper's tail is also getting better. It isn't so limp anymore and the tip is curling up. I guess she must have bruised it and it hurt to hold up.

But, yesterday morning, Kirby scared the wee out of me. He hadn't been acting too energetic. I saw him outside, squatting and he seemed to be having a hard time. Then he let out this awful cry. Oh, boy, this is exactly what he does when he's on the way to blocking. So, I felt for the bladder and it didn't seem full. Then I rubbed my hand over his bottom. It was damp and there was something else on my hand. I'm thinking it was some sort of plug that was in him and my squeezing him and feeling him loosened it. When it dried out, it fell apart when I rubbed it between my fingers. I started Kirby on amoxi and he's doing better, too. Much more playful. Poor Kirby.

I found a new counter, and I am going to buy it and put it on my Icom site, if it works. The author is being very helpful, he sent a version to try, to see if it will work on Icom before I have to pay him. I think that was really nice. I sure hope it works. If it does, I won't have to worry about counter programs being cancelled, like the last one I had did.

We got the gift certificate for Brian's brother Thursday night and also got my mom a five disk cd changer for her stereo system. I checked out the readouts and got the one that seemed simplest to use as well as being easiest to read. I saw stuff that I want, too, but I will wait til the price drops. It would be nice to make my own CDs. And if I can do that, we'll have to have CD players in the vehicles. So.......that's a ways down the road. They had a huge tv that was $1200 off, still cost $2400. We said we would take three, except we don't have the room for them. LOL!!

It's a cold, drizzly day. Brian had to go to work this morning, but when he comes home, we are going to finish our Christmas shopping. We are out of catfood and don't have anymore bags of dogfood, although the storage container is almost full.

december 20, 1998 Well, it's 1:30 and Brian just left for Phoenix. *sigh* He said the next time he goes, he'll be taking a bill with him for a zillion dollars. I asked him how many zeroes a zillion had and he said four. Sounds more like thousands than zillions to me. Anyway, he's going to be home Wednesday night. His sister in law had been planning on going with them (Brian said his brother is in a much better mood when she's along) but they told Brian yesterday that she wasn't. Well, I can understand it. She's already gone with them once for a week and then they took a vacation that was over a week long. She takes care of her mother and when they are gone, her mother has to go over to one of the other siblings homes and she doesn't like it. Plus, it's the week before Christmas and I'm sure she has much to do.

We got our holiday shopping done yesterday. Now, all we need is the stuff I ordered. We went to the petstore and I got the tv and a couple of cards, one for the vet. I set the tv up in the office and the cats checked it out, seemed to like it. The only drawback is that you can't see in it very well, it's really dark. I'll have to find some way of lighting the inside that won't get too warm. Maybe one of those small fluorescent lights.

Well, the voting has begun for the cathouse cardshoppe. So, go vote already. You can vote once a day until the voting is done. And send a holiday card while you're at it.

Yesterday was cold and drizzly all day. Last night, I looked out and saw one kitty waiting for dinner, it was Blackie. So, I went into the garage and got the food ready (I've started mixing it in the garage, dishing it up outside, so they know it came from me), grabbed two bowls and out the door I went. There were three cats. Blackie, OC and Cleo. And none of them ran off. I'm assuming this was due to the rain, but they waited for me to finish the dishing up. They were all less than ten feet from me. This was a first. I only had two bowls, so I yelled in at Brian to bring me another one. He took forever. He slowly opened the screen door (our cats were at the door, watching, waiting) and handed out the bowl. I squatted down (killed my feet, the pulling on them), placed the bowls a couple of inches from each other, dished out the food, talking gently to the cats as I did. I told them how pretty and handsome they were. I asked them if they wanted to come live inside. They looked at me, watching intently. Cleo is a very pretty girl. It was nice to not have her run at the sight of me. And OC sat quietly outside the gate, out of the rain. The minute I stood up and turned my back, they started to come closer to the food. Once I was inside the house, they all ran up. Soon, they were all eating, each at his or her own bowl. Later, OC was back with Angus. Brian watched them eat, said that Angus was a very hungry kitty. Well, yeah, I imagine, hauling those huevos with him wherever he goes. Then, much later, a small black cat was out front, eating. It was one from behind us. I haven't seen that damn dog chasing them for two days, now. Maybe they are keeping it in because of the nasty weather.

I have a new announcement thingy on the second page of the site. It's the cathouse news. I put it up so that I can be more detailed about the updates, like to the postcard page or to Disney, even link updates.

If you get a second, say a little prayer for Hollywood. She went to the bridge five years ago today.

december 22, 1998 Well, it's darn cold outside. It's really hard to go out back and feed the cats barefoot. I have to do it quickly. (What, put on shoes? At home? Are you nuts? Hey, I live in southern California where shoes aren't required at home!!) I was noticing that Lonee is the only cat that has a noticible winter coat. It's really thick. That's probably why she likes to be in the garage, because the house is warm. But yesterday afternoon, I saw her laying on top of the entertainment center. It will be nice when she starts coming in all of the time, not just occasionally. She has been spending the evenings in the condo by Brian's chair. (Which I should wash this week. The cats seem to think it's a wonderful place to mark.)

Pepper's tail is almost back to normal. I'm glad.

We've figured out that Bobby cries when he needs something. Like to potty or be fed or wants up on the couch. He had used his stairs til a couple of months ago. I think Pepper kept pushing him when he climbed the stairs or he fell off and was afraid to use them. I had thought about moving them, since he didn't use them, but never got around to it. Well, the night before last, I heard him crying, I stayed in bed and just ignored him. When I got up yesterday morning, he was on top of one of the condos next to the couch. Hmmm..... I didn't think anything of it at the time. An hour or so later, he was still there. Curious. I'm sure he would have to have peed by now. I go check the floor in the garage. I see what looks to be a fairly new wet spot (Bobby doesn't use the box, can't negotiate any kind of litter). Just in case, I get him off of the condo and bring him into the garage. "Now, go potty," I tell him. I come back into the office. A little while later, I went to get the channel changer. There's Bobby, back on the condo. Yay!! He's climbing the stairs again. Go Bobby!!!

Sometimes Georgie cries and cries in the evening. I don't know what his problem is, he doesn't want food, he doesn't want to be held, but still, he cries. So, last night, I let him go outside. He was really good about coming in when I called him. So far, Rusty is the only cat I trust out at night (he still comes in before we go to bed). But, Georgie seemed happy, so I guess I'll start letting him out. He doesn't cry like this when Brian's home. Not as much, anyway.

I have to pay bills today. I hope I can get it done quickly. I hate paying bills.

Oh, yeah, don't forget to vote for the Cathouse Cardshoppe.

december 23, 1998 Last night, when I went into the tv room, Kirby was laying on the blanket. I rubbed his tummy, then his lower abdomen. I noticed a wetness around his penis. Dammit. This isn't good. He's leaking. And Georgie peed on a piece of paper, I put a test strip on it and it was loaded with blood. This isn't good, this isn't good at all. So, as soon as the vet's office opened, I called the vet. Made an appointment to get both Kirby and Georgie in. I didn't want to take any chances with the long weekend coming up. They aren't busy and I was one of the first clients in. The appointment was for 9:15. I took a quick shower, got dressed and went in search of cats. Ah, there's Kirby, over the cat entertainment center, too high for me to reach. No problem, I'll just open a can of tuna. I went back into the exercise room and grabbed two carriers. I walked into the living room, set them down, opened them. I saw Georgie in the tv room, he'll be easy. I go into the kitchen, grab a can of tuna, and start up the opener. Ah, success. Here comes Kirby. I grab him before he knows what's going on and push him into one of the carriers, quickly shutting the door. Georgie is next and he knows what's coming. He dashes into the garage, out the cat door. I open the door behind him and follow him. He ran under the swing, crouching under the seat. I reach for him, expecting him to take off. He doesn't. I carry him into the house and put him into the other carrier. He shouts some cat expletives at me. I tell him that it's for his own good, he doesn't believe me. He calls me a liar. Oh, well.

I carry them both out the the truck and put them in the front seat. I start the truck, both cats are being very quiet. It was a quick, uneventful trip to the vet. Once there, I haul both carriers out, lug them into the doctor's office. Surprisingly, there were no clients with animals waiting, only a few people picking up prescriptions. I set both carriers down on the bench, one on top of the other, and one of the tech's cats, Taz, part Maine Coon we think, runs out to see who's here. He climbs on top of the carriers, both of my cats as far to the back of the carrier as possible. I saw Mew and called to him. He ran over to me, I picked him up and kissed him. He kissed my eyelids back. The called me back into the office and I picked up both carriers. I walk into the examining room, set both cats down, again on the bench. Shari is there and looking at both of the cats' charts. She mentions the fact that I haven't had their vaccinations updated. She said that I could administer them myself and it would cost less. I told her that money wasn't the issue, but that I was afraid of site sarcomas. Since our cats don't roam, I don't know why they would need them. She said that they do the vacs differently than they use to. Well, I know when I first talked to the doc about it, he said there were so many problems with muscle soreness when he administered them in the legs, that he went back to putting them in the neck. The reason for putting the vaccinations in the legs is that in case a sarcoma does occur, there is a greater chance of cutting it out in the leg. And if that isn't possible, the leg can be amputated, saving the cat's life. This isn't possible when the sarcoma is in the back. So, I quit getting the cats vaccinated. Shari explained that I really should have them vaccinated for upper respiratory infections, because they can be pretty hard to treat. I agreed, but she said that they wouldn't give any vaccinations today, at least until they found out how the kitties were doing.

Georgie was the first. I explained how I had given Georgie amoxicillan for a week, but it didn't help. I told him about the blood Brian had found in the sink last week. And I told him that the Orbax helped, but didn't get rid of the problem. I said that Georgie wasn't blocking, but that he still had blood in his urine. The vet tried tried to express George, but wasn't successful. He had to do a centesis to get the urine. And lookie, there. It was very, very dark red/yellow. He took it into the back and tested it, came back out and said that the pH was good, right where it should be, there were very few crystals, but lots of blood. So, he prescribed amoxicillan, elavil, and prednisone for the inflammation of the bladder. Great. Five pills a day. Then the doctor asked me about administering subcutaneous fluids. Huh? He asked if I would consider doing this at home. Huh? He said that the additional fluids in the system would help to flush the "sludge" out of the bladder. Huh? I must have lost a little of the color in my face, because he said that it was okay, he just thinks that it would be a great help. Well, I guess, if I have to, I'll do it. I mean, it's my cat, I can't have him suffer because I'm a wimp. He left the room and Shari came in with a little pharmacy of tools. Big 60cc syringes. These things are huge. A bag of fluid. (I'm thinking this isn't such a good idea.) And a handful of needles. (Oh, my.) The doc came back in with a warmed up bag of fluids. He said that it was a good idea to warm them up so that they didn't bother the cat so much when introduced. (Georgie, I would like you to meet your warm bag of sub q fluids. Sub q fluids, this is Georgie, my cat who you are going to help by being shot into his body with a huge syringe and gigundo needle. Be gentle with him, he's my baby.) Then, the doc filled the syringe with the fluid and showed me how to do it. Then he did it again on the other side of the lump, explaining how to do it. He said to administer the SubQs until Georgie quits straining. We were done with Georgie and back into the carrier he went. He wasn't fighting it.

Now, it was Kirby's turn. You might recall that Kirby has had problems in the past. The last time he was at the vet, it was on an emergency visit and when the doc was in to check up on him, Kirby escaped from the cage and wasn't really in the mood to be caught by this stranger who stuck a tube up his penis and left him in a cage all alone. The doc had to sedate him to catch him and Kirby ended up staying an extra day. So, Kirby isn't real fond of the vet's office. Well, Kirby wasn't coming our for Shari. So, I said, well, we can always take the carrier apart. I put it up on the examining table and Dr. Judy reached in, while asking me if Kirby was mean. No. *grins* He was able to pull Kirby out with a problem. I told him about Kirby letting out that awful yowl last week and my finding that creamy, white, gritty thing. He said "that was a plug" and it probably hurt when he passed it, that's why he cried. Then I told him about Kirby leaking last night. He flipped Kirby over and felt his abdomen. I told him that Kirby wasn't blocked, but that I was concerned he might become blocked before too long. He then picked Kirby up and turned Kirby's backside to face me. He showed me how to gently roll Kirby's penis in my fingers, to see if there was a blockage. (Well, if it's anything like what I saw last week, this will help to loosen it, that plug was extremely malleable.) Then, as with Georgie, Kirby wasn't gonna let his bladder be expressed. So, the vet rolled him over onto his back and started feeling around on Kirby's belly, planning on doing a centesis like he had with George. Nope. Kirby wasn't gonna hold still for this. So, Kirby in his arms, he left the room, Shari following. I started talking to Charlene and I hear Shari call her. "Charlene, we need you back here." *sigh* I guess Kirby wasn't cooperating. Then Shari came back with Kirby and the vet came in a few minutes later, a urine filled tube in his had, a much better color that Georgie's was. But it was still a dark yellow. The pH was high and their were many, many crystals. Then Shari said "does he get sub qs, too?" and the doc said yes, to help flush out the sludge. Then Shari says (I coulda smacked her) "Well, I think Dianne should do it for practice." He said that was a good idea. I looked at Shari and lightly rubbed my nose with my middle finger extended. She exclaimed "Dr. Judy, Dr. Judy, she flipped me off!!" I very indignantly said "I did not". And the sub qs were ready to be delivered. He handed me a filled syringe, explaining where to grasp the skin. He said, no, not there, not in the back of the head, lower, behind the shoulders. I pick up a bunch of skin. Yes, there. He said, now put the needle at the base of what you just picked up. I put the needle against the skin. He said not there, lower. So, I move the syringe lower and push against Kirby's back. The needle goes in. Now, I slowly push on the syringe, getting the fluids into Kirby. The doc said very good, filled up the syringe again and said now, do it on the other side. Once again, I put the needle against the skin and gently push. In goes the needle and Kirby is being such a trooper. I finish with the fluids and the doc told me I did a great job, see, that wasn't so tough. I wonder what Brian is gonna do, because he's going to have to help. He will have to hold the cat down. I'm not looking forward to telling him this. And I know that the penis rolling isn't going to make a very good impact, either. Oh, boy. The vet tells me the course of action he wants to take with Kirby. SubQs for three days, and amoxicillan twice a day and ammonil (to reduce the urine acidity), both twice a day for a week. I really hate pilling Kirby, he is the Freddy Krueger of cats. When I catch him. He's pretty quick. But my last bout of pill pushing wasn't as bad as it had previously been, so maybe he's getting better. Or maybe it's the butter.

Well, I hadn't planned on writing here today, but I figured I should while it was fresh in my mind. Since Brian will be home later this evening, I have to get the house cleaned and fold the laundry from Sunday. And I'm tired because I was up late last night. Guess I should get busy.

december 27, 1998 Well, the subQs did not go well at all on Thursday. Brian just couldn't do it. We got Georgie done, then we only got one portion of the fluids into Kirby. I heated up the fluids and we did Georgie first. Brian started yelling at me, telling me I was doing it wrong. "Not there!!" he yelled, "Not there!!" Now, I'm the one that takes the cats to the vet, I'm the one that watches subQs being administered, I'm the one that practiced on Kirby the day before, and my husband, who has never in his life seen subQs given, is telling me how to do it. I mention the fact that he's never seen it done before, reminding him that he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Georgie is finished and I say let's just do Kirby later. But Kirby comes into the kitchen, in search of leftover turkey treats. So, I nab him and tell Brian to hold him down. Brian's afraid. He got the gently down, but not the firmly. Kirby kept squirming. I was lucky to get 60ccs down. And I was holding Kirby at the same time I was pushing the plunger on the syringe. We just let him go. Luckily, the medications are seeming to work. And, for some reason, Kirby isn't fighting as much when I do pill him. Georgie is an angel to pill.

Later, I told Brian that the vet had told me that this is something we should know how to do. Because of the cats' aging and the possibility of kidney failure, that being able to give subQ fluids will extend the life and quality of the cat's life. Brian mumbled something about maybe it would just be the cat's time. I said "what?" I asked what if we had a diabetic cat and a shot a day is all he would need to have a good life. And he repeated what he said. So, I, disgustedly, I admit asked him "You mean to tell me, that just because YOU'RE squeamish, that a cat should lose it's life? Is that fair?" He said "well, people get over being squeamish" and I said "EXACTLY!".

I just told Brian what I had written and he said that he had too seen subQs being given. He saids that anyway, you didn't need to have seen it to know that I was doing it incorrectly. I went over to George, who was laying on the bed and said you find the shoulder blades, pick the skin up and put the needle at the base of the skin. He said "yeah, but you were having a hard time." To which I replied, "yeah, because you were yelling at me." Georgie just layed there and purred.

Well, Thursday I made two pumpkin pies. When I first started trying my hand at pies a long time ago, the crust seemed easier to make. Then, somewhere along the line, making pies became "my job" for all of the family get togethers at Brian's parents house. And my piecrust making ability disappeared. And it was really frustrating to me. Once, I even gave into a tantrum in the kitchen, throwing pie crust all over the kitchen. It was a hot day and the crust just wasn't rolling out properly. Silly, I know, but I felt better. Even when I had to scrape pie crust out of the screen. So, Thursday, I start looking through some of my appliance books. Maybe I can make a pie crust with one of them. Eureka!! The food processor has instructions for making pie crusts. The first one didn't turn out, too dry, but I added water to the next batch. Turned out just fine. Rolled out even better. We took one pie to my mom's and kept the other.

On Christmas day, we went to Brian's parents house. Brian's dad was home from the *home*. He was fine at first, but after dinner he got extremely mean. He yelled at Brian's mom because his walker wasn't right there, talked to her as if she was a servant. It was really awful. She told him to not be so mean to her and he said that she was being mean to him. Then he made this really awful face at her. Scary. Judy, Mark's wife said that he's been like that for a while now, and that's why they don't have alot of company anymore. And I said he's been like that since I've met him. I told her what Brian told me years ago, that once upon a time the chiropractor told Brian's dad not to hold stuff in that made him angry. Well, David (Brian's dad) apparantly took that to mean he could say anything he wanted to anybody, no matter how hurtful it was to the person he was talking to. And he's been mean ever since. Judy was surprised to hear this, but Brian backed me up. Then we opened presents, because David would be going back to the home before too long. When we got up to leave, I heard David telling Brian that it's her fault he isn't at home. He tried to manipulate Brian into feeling sorry for him, but the family is way past that now. If he were to be at home, it would kill Brian's mother. She just isn't able (physically or emotionally) to take care of him. Brian just looked at him, giving him the lizard look (I've talked about that elsewhere in the diary, it isn't a fun look). On our way out the door, Brian's mom was in the kitchen and I went and gave her a big hug. I whispered in her ear "I love you" and she started to cry. I don't think she hears that much from her family and it's too bad, because she needs to hear it. I tried to explain this to Brian on the way home and once we were home. I sure hope he takes time to just give her a hug now and then, just because. Once she's gone, it will be to late.

There was nothing on television last night and Brian let me pick out a movie. I picked out Jeremiah Johnson. Great movie, hadn't seen it in years.

Brian thinks he wants to go for a ride. I asked where and he said downtown San Diego and I said "you can go by yourself".

december 29, 1998 Oh, suck. More grey hairs. Kirby was licking himself repeatedly last night, and this morning he was straining. His bladder isn't full, but these actions aren't an indication that he's feeling better. *sigh* I guess I'll call the vet and take him in again today. Yesterday, I called and explained what was going on and Elena said that I could bring Georgie and Kirby in during their surgery period and one of the techs would give them the subQs. It looks like I'm going to have to take them up on it. And I also think this might bring home to Brian how important this is, that we can do this.

Sunday afternoon, we tried to give them to Georgie, but he wasn't having any of it. He pulled away and the fluids just shot into the air and I was shaking so badly, I just said forget it. If I take them to the vet's, maybe they will let me practice. If I'm more at ease doing it, it won't be so hard with Brian. Other than the straining, Kirby is acting fine. He's running and playing, not all hunched in a corner, like he has done before. I hate this.

Yesterday, I decided to do something about the big aquarium in the living room. I hadn't changed the filter in a long time, so I did yesterday. I have to do much more. That tank stinks. I noticed that the air wasn't coming through the hoses, so I took the pump apart. I need to replace a bunch of stuff in it. I got out the stuff I had to fix the pumps and the rubber pieces were too big. So, I paged Brian and asked if he would please stop by the pet store and get what I needed. I told him the name of the pump. When he came home, he brought two bags of what I needed. Except, it wasn't what I needed. These things were much too big. So, now I have to take this stuff back and get the parts I need. And I'm going to have to change the filters frequently, until the water is cleaned up. Poor fish. I really lost interest in the tanks when we lost Hollywood.

The neighbors had company for the holidays, their daughter being one of them. She had a new chocolate lab pup and it was so cute. I watched Junior run up and down along the fence, trying to get the puppy to run with him. He finally understood and Junior was so happy. Junior needs a puppy.

I just got ahold of the vet's office. I'm taking Kirby in at 11:30 for fluids.

I asked Brian when the pet store opens, he said at 8. It's almost nine now, so I guess I should go get the filter stuff and start putting it back together.

One of the speakers that my mom gave me after dad died hasn't been sounding good. So, I did a web search for speaker repair. Did you know that you can get foam kits to do the repair yourself? If the problem is the foam thing over the speaker. Which it is. And they have tech support. I ordered a kit. I hope I can do it.

december 30, 1998 Well, after I got busy with my *real* life yesterday, I went to the pet store to return the parts that didn't work for the airpump. They no longer have my model of pump, nor were there any replacement parts. The guy in the store tried to sell me parts I already have that are wrong, they are too tall. He said "It makes a difference?" Well, yeah. The taller part doesn't fit. I ended up buying a new pump. With the refund of the money from what Brian had purchased the night before, I paid less than seventeen dollars. And that pump pumps. Fish didn't know what to do.

And, surprisingly, all went well at the vet's. Kirby had no crystals (or blood) in his urine at all. They took him into the back, they took urine from him, tested it, clipped his claws, put him back into his carrier and brought him back out to me. He didn't need any fluids. I was told to continue his meds for another week, so I had to get some more ammonil. But that's all that they charged me for. I just love my vet. And it isn't just him, all of the people there are wonderful. If you are in my area (Lakeside, San Diego county) and are looking for a vet, email me. I'll give you his phone number.

I finally got my new counter working last night. The reason it wasn't working was so stupid. For some reason, when I uploaded all of the files, the exe files didn't get sent. That's why it didn't work. Duh. I had even written to the program author, offering him money to fix it. Good thing I found out before he took me up on it. LOL!! But, it wouldn't be the first time I've paid someone to tell me I'm a dumbass.

After my mention of my pie crust problems, I received a recipe in my email for no fail pie crust. And also a recipe for biscuits and hashbrown casserole. Well, these sounded so yummy, I thought wouldn't it be nice to have a place for people to share their recipes? So, I made a recipe messageboard. Recipes. Check it out. Maybe someone with more kitchen savvy than me (I'm not a kitchen whiz) can help you out. And if you have a good recipe, share it. Yummy. Hey, diet recipes are gonna be big (grins) right now. Send a few my way.

Well, I have much to do. I have well over 400 pages to add code to. What fun!!

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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