july 1, 1998 OC is still in hiding. I got him some cat treats yesterday. He didn't eat them while I was in the room, but he ate them last night. His stools are small, but he is using the litter box. When I look at him now, he growls at me.

Red is becoming more at ease around Brian. But, I think Brian is trying a little harder to become friends with him. I hear him talking to Red more often than before. He calls Red into the kitchen for catsip and Red will go in there. Food is the way to their little hearts.

We might take the Mustang in today to get it fixed. There is some electrical problem and the battery keeps going dead. I would like to drive it up to Disneyland when we go later this month. Since there will be seven of us, we will need to take two vehicles. Last year, we took my mother-in-law's van, and left her the Mustang, but Brian doesn't want to do that this year. He is afraid that the Mustang will get damaged. I guess his mom's driving isn't what it used to be.

My music wasn't working this morning when I got on. So, I tried a CD. No sound. But the speakers were working because the Windows logon music came up. Sheesh. So, I fiddled around with the lines, got out the software that came with my soundcard and called my computer guy. Was stumped as to why the music didn't work. I checked the Crescendo box. The sound was turned off. Turned it on. Hey, listen, there's the Forrest Gump theme. Went to the volume controls for the player. Clicked on a box, wow, sound. It had been set to mute. I never had to do this before. I wonder what happened that I had to do it today? Of course I called the computer guy and left a nevermind message.

Brian told me to clean out the crate today and he would take it back to his brother's. I told him it was dirty when we got it. He said it didn't matter, you return things in better condition than when you got them. *spit* That thing is so big.

Lonee looks like she had a little blood from her bum this morning after she pooped. Hard stools, probably. I wonder if I can get her to take some of Bart's medicine if I put it in food for her. To soften her stool. It can't hurt.

july 3, 1998 Brian saw the coyote yesterday morning when he left for work. He said that one of its back legs was messed up, didn't move at all. He walked on three legs. The thing was walking down the middle of the street and stopped at the top of the hill. Brian yelled at it and it went trotting up a cul-de-sac. He said it looked healthy, except for the leg. Yeah, look at its food supply. All these roaming cats.

I busted OC yesterday. I left the office (door was open) and went into the laundry room to check on the wash. Came back into the office and OC had been in the litterbox, which is on the opposite side of the room from where he hides. Boy, did he runrunrun!!! One of the things I do, so as not to startle him, is I knock on the door before I come into the office in the morning. Caught him off guard when I opened the door. Saw him running again. Could it be he's starting to feel relaxed?

We have to do another catfood run today. I filled up the catfood container in the tv room, it holds about eight pounds of food. It came apart when I was carrying it back into the tv room from filling it. Catfood all over the floor. I just sat on the floor, cleaning it up, laughing. Then, I came back into the office and dumped an almost full bag of sunflower seeds all over my desk, accidentally of course. I wonder what else I'm going to do clumsy today?

We got the car back. Ford says nothing wrong with the car, must be a bad battery. Great.

I think Red and OC are brothers.

Bobby climbed up into a different kitty condo this morning. He just keeps surprising me. He's not getting older, he's getting better.

july 5, 1998 Well, I came into the office to check on OC this morning and I can't find him. And there is a hole in the screen door. That leads into the backyard. Hopefully, he's hiding out there somewhere. I sure hope he wasn't able to get over the fence (which has been done before). I don't think this is going to be a good day. I'm hoping that if he's in the yard, one of our cats will sniff him out. If he did get out, I don't think I'll try to catch him again. And if he did get out, I hope he went back, not forward. Back is much safer than forward.

We have a couple of cats with really gross poop. They are acting fine other than the ugly, stinky, small, runny piles they leave. It might be just hairballs, or maybe something they ate. So, no more junk food for any of them. (Except Bob, its the only thing he will eat and I don't think the added fiber hurts him, as he has a tendency to have hard dry stools.)

I just went outside and loved Lonee Gail. That makes me feel a little better, that I can go up to her now, without her running off. She even gives me headbutts. Maybe I'll just concentrate on the guys we have. I wish OC hadn't gotten out. *tears*

later There has still been no sign of OC. I haven't seen him out front nor have I seen ANY sign of him out back. I looked behind everything in the office, places where he couldn't possibly fit. Brian thinks he's gone. He said how he has seen cats that don't belong in our yard before seem to fly over the fence (where was I?). I'm losing faith that he's still in the yard. I'll watch tonight, after we get the cats in. I'll be watching from the living room and looking towards the back of the yard where the woodpile is.

I trimmed one of the trees today. It needed it. I made a new sign for Ben's den and also built a cabinet for the games. The only link to the games is now through ben's room. Not that anybody is playing them anyway.

Catching OC was so easy, it was like he was meant to be here, it was fate. And now this. I am so confused about the whole thing. I just wish I knew where he was. In the yard? In the yard behind us? Back across the street? The not knowing is the worst.

july 6, 1998 No sign of OC. I left the door to the office open last night and put fresh food out for him. It was untouched this morning. I noticed outside of the screen, where he had ripped it, blood from a sore on his paw that he got trying to get out of the trap. The dogs were sniffing around the woodpile... Maybe he's in there, too scared to come out. Junior was barking back there last night, but I think he was barking at the cats in the other yard. I was up at 5:30 this morning, out front looking across the street to see if he was there, then to the backyard. I sure hope he is okay where ever he is.

Well, since I cut back on the cats' type of food, they aren't using the litter box so much. The stools are getting better. Not so many unformed ones. The cats aren't acting sick at all, just have that weird poop. I still might take them to the vet's, though. Just to be sure they are okay.

july 7, 1998 No sign of OC. I put food in the woodpile last night, thinking if he was in it, he would come out to eat. The food hadn't been touched this morning. I wonder which way he went. I wish I would see him, either out back or out front.

Sandy isn't feeling good at all. She seems to have trouble putting her head down to eat and she's walking like it hurts. And she keeps her tail between her legs. The only time she shows any energy is after I brush her. The last time I took her to the vet, I mentioned her stiffness, but he couldn't find anything wrong with her during a light exam. So, I'm making an appointment today for her. I want her checked out thoroughly, even with X-rays if need be. Its entirely possible that she slipped on the rocks by the pool or climbing somewhere.

The runs that the cats have seems to be slowing down. DeeJay had one little firm stool last night. His poor bottom is raw, though. I'm sure its hurting him to go. All of the cats aren't acting sick, so I don't think its anything major. I started giving some of them plain yogurt last night. That's supposed to help balance out the bacteria in the intestines to the proper ratio of good to bad and this should help. I know how bad a raw bottom feels.

I'm working on having my domain name registered with Simplenet and having them host it. Boy, are things messed up right now. And I'm sure a lot of the problem is because of the name forwarding I have. Hopefully, this will all be a thing of the past by the end of this week. At least with Simplenet I have my own error message, so people can let me know when there is a problem.

8:30am I saw OC across the street not more than a half hour ago!!! He's okay!!! *sigh of relief* I can't begin to describe all of the horrible thoughts that have been running through my head. Now, the plan. (I can't give up, I just don't have that type of a personality, but I can be very patient.) I am going to start feeding him over here again. I will put the food out in the evening. Then bring it in before I go to bed. Get him eating out front, like he use to. Then, do the same thing to him we did to Red. Trick him into the rafters. I know that this will all take time, probably months. But I can do it. Now, can he?

Sandy has a vet appointment Thursday at 5 pm. I need help getting her in and out of the truck, so I had to make it late in the day.

july 8, 1998 I ended up calling the vet about the cats' runs. I talked to Jennifer, I like Jennifer, to be honest, I like everybody there except Gwen. Gwen's nice enough, but she isn't familiar with me and treats me like I'm a moron. Sheesh. I'm no moron. She was the one I talked to about Sandy when I made her appointment. When I called to ask about the cats, I actually thought to myself, if Gwen answers I'm hanging up. I'm not talking to her. Anyway, Jennifer took my information and called me back and said that Dr. Judy said to use Flagill for the cats. She got the pills ready, we figured enough for ten cats for seven days. Got the stuff, its the same thing we have for Maggie. And the cats hate it. I tried putting it in Fancy Feast, smashing the pills first. Nope, puke, I'm not touching that. Then I tried sardines. Oh, yum, these are good, what's this bitter hard thing, spit, I'm not going to eat that. Sardines gone, pill still there. *sigh* So, I tried smashing up a bunch of pills and put them into last night's *dinner mush". Well, it went a little better. And wouldn't you know it? Bobby got the runs, too. And its really bad with him because he can't stand up to poop. So, he kinda has to sit in it. But his stool was looking MUCH better this morning. I still don't know what caused it. Lisa and Georgie have fine looking stools and they are the only ones that don't eat the *dinner mush*. Maybe it was one of the cans of food. Well, everybody is acting okay, DeeJay is just as grouchy as ever, begging for food. Almost back to normal.

I saw OC a couple of times yesterday. Everytime, I said to him, "I'm gonna get you, OC, you're gonna live here" and he would quickly run and hide. *BEG* (Big Evil Grin) Bwa-hahahahahaha!!!! (Evil laugh)

july 10, 1998 Well, the medicine is working on the cats. For Red and Lonee, who I can't pill, I am giving them yogurt. Hopefully that will work. Dummy me, though, I put the bowl in front of Bobby so that he could have some, forgot about it and he licked it clean. So, he's pooping again this morning. Poor guy.

Took Sandy to the vet yesterday and she's doing fine. I described everything that I have noticed about her and the part about her not lifting her tail was the one that the vet was able to diagnose. He said that she possibly has arthritis (that's what I thought the last time I brought her in). And she has put on ten pounds. Well, that would make all the sense in the world to me. It hurts her to walk, so she doesn't move, eats the same amount, puts on weight, which makes it hurt when she walks. He also asked if any of the other dogs bothered her and we said Yes, Junior, and he said Junior.....that dog is like a monkey with a razor blade. Poor Junior, he gets such a bad rap. He also checked Sandy's ears and I mentioned that I put the Flys Off stuff on her ears, the pink goop and he asked if that worked and I said it did. The flies leave her poor ears alone. Those things will bite her until she bleeds. So, he prescribed Rymadyl. I haven't given her any, because she seems to be doing much better now than she was. I'll just have to keep watching her.

july 11, 1998 Haven't seen OC for a couple of days. I hope he's alright.

Most of the cats are pooping the way they are supposed to. I haven't noticed so many runny piles in the litter. Lola still has runny stuff, so I'll give her some more medicine.

I petted Red outside this morning. That's a first.

I tried to put up a new bulletin board, in MIVA htmlscript, but man, I had an awful time. So, I gave up for now.

I also found out yesterday that by having Simplenet host my domain name, that I won't be able to have email sent to @lisaviolet.com unless I pay $5 for the first name and $2 for each additional name per month. Oh, well. Maybe I can find some free forwarding and do it that way.

I redid the message board for the cats. It's the regular htmlscript that's available, not the MIVA. The other message board lost the messages after 30 days and I would just like to have them up for always. Or as long as I have my site.

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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