may 2, 1998 Oh, boy, what a day. Right now I have a huge sinus headache. It feels like little men with hammers are working on the inside of my head around my eyes and nose. I'm sure the stress of this morning had a little bit to do with it.

Brian had to go to Yuma to do some more work. At least he's getting paid this time. The other times, the people said "it was the window guy's job to do it". Well, it wasn't but he's not much for arguing, most of the time it isn't worth it. But, since what he's doing today *wasn't* part of the window job, he will be paid. He tried to get there yesterday, but was just too busy. And if he would have gone yesterday, his brother (his sole employee) would have gone too. And at $20 an hour, the trip being 2.5 hours one way, he would have been paid $100 for just riding along. So, I told hubby this morning, give ME $100 and I'll go with you. He said sure (and I know that yes, he would have given me the money, I would have put it in my purse and given it back to him, twenty dollar bill by twenty dollar bill, as he needed it--it's a running joke here) and he left to get the work truck and gas it up, while I brushed my teeth and put on something more presentable than my jammies.

I grabbed a five pack of film and had every intention of grabbing the camera, because on the way back, there are a bunch of hang gliders and it's a really impressive site. As a matter of fact, I was looking forward to the trip, I love to take pictures. But before I left, I had to check all of the cats. Since we would only be away for about 5-6 hours, it was okay to leave the catdoor open, so the cats could go out. I start to check all kitties, can't find Kirby. Great. Just wonderful.

I finally found him in the rafters. All squatted up in the far corner. Not a good sign. I'm hoping he isn't plugged again. He hasn't exhibited any of the signs of being plugged, but something is definitely wrong with him and I'm not taking any chances. He won't come to me.

I go into the pantry, grab our last can of tuna. Run the can opener. "Kirby, come on, purr kitty, here Kirby." No Kirby. He stays put. But I have eight other cats under my feet, all crying and twining around my legs...toona mom.....gimme toona mom....we smell it...... I step over this living obstacle course and go back into the garage, climb the ladder. Kirby, come here, I say, holding out a piece of tuna. He ignores me. This is not going well. I climb down the ladder, page Brian. He calls back. I tell him that I can't go, that Kirby isn't feeling well. He says, well, I'll come home and try to get him down.

I go out into the garage, into the freezer and grab a bag of catnip, open the garage door, and shake the catnip. Down comes Kirby. I catch him, give him some amoxicillan and put him in the carrier. I called the vet earlier, and I want to be ready when he calls back to take Kirby to his office. I start to wonder if maybe he is blocked and I open the carrier to see if I can feel that little *golf ball* where his bladder is. While I'm feeling around, he escapes. Back into the rafters. Brian came home and we both try to talk Kirby down. Nope. He's not gonna budge. Brian says "his face looks big, maybe he got bit by something". This is getting better by the minute, I think. Brian has to leave and he cautions me. Don't push it. It won't do either of you any good if you try to get him down and end up on the concrete with a cracked head. Makes sense to me. Brian leaves, off to Yuma, Kirby still in the rafters. The vet still hasn't called back. I call the answering service, ask if the vet has picked up his messages. No, they say. Put me on hold and call his home. He should be home shortly, will be calling me then.

I go back into the garage with a squirt bottle this time. Squirt him down. He runs into the house, behind the sofa. I pet him and talk to him. He doesn't run, just sits there, all huddled up in a little ball. I figure, well, he's doing fine there, I'll just let him be. Ten or fifteen minutes later I check on him. He's under the dining room table now, spit on his chin. He threw up the pills. No food in the vomit, just white pieces of partially dissolved pills. I figure that this is not a good sign. Try to get him from under the table. He runs, jumps onto the back of the couch in the tv room. I run around to the other side and am able to get him before he's back into the rafters and I put him in the carrier. I figure if he is going to just sit there hunched up, he can do that in the carrier. There's a nice clean pillow for him to lay on and at least I'll know where he is. It's a little after nine am. The vet calls about ten minutes later. "I'll meet you at the office at about ten." I brought Kirby into the tv room in the carrier and set him next to me on the couch. I turn on the television and time drags.

Finally, it's time to go. Into the truck, off to the vet's we go. The vet wasn't there yet. We wait. Ten minutes later, he pulls in to the parking lot. I grab Kirby and say hi and he unlocks the door and in we go.

The vet goes into the back and checks on the animals that are in cages. He said I'll be right back. He finished what he was doing and said that there was a dog that pooped in the cage and was laying in it. Then I tried to get Kirby out of the carrier, but he spreadeagles against the opening, won't come out. The vet reaches in, grabs Kirby and pulls him out. Kirby is not happy. The vet looks at Kirby's teeth, gums and tongue. Listens to his heart. Feels his legs. Sticks a thermometer in Kirby's butt. Kirby has a fever, almost 105. The vet feels Kirby's bladder. He isn't blocked. Diagnoses? "Fever of unknown origin."

He gives Kirby two doses of sub-q fluids, a shot to help the fluids absorb and a shot to bring down the fever. He said to give Kirby amoxi twice a day. And that Kirby should be feeling better within twenty four hours. And that I can pay the bill next time I'm there. I open the carrier and Kirby is back in. I thank the doctor and Kirby and I came home.

Kirby was trying to open the carrier door as soon as he realized that we were home. I unlocked the front door, opened it, put the carrier down, opened the carrier door and Kirby was out. He ran out the kitty door. Within minutes, he was back in, foaming at the mouth. Oh, my God, he's having a reaction to the medications, is the first thing I think.

I run into the house, call the vet. The phone rings, rings, rings. No answer. I hang up, go back into the garage. Kirby has run back into the rafters. Long streams of saliva are hanging from his mouth. Back down the ladder, back on the phone. She answers this time. I tell her who I am and that I just got back from the vet. As I'm describing what happened, a light bulb went off. I say, maybe he licked himself. She calls the vet, both of his lines are busy. She takes a message, says she will have him call back. I wait. I check on Kirby, the drooling getting lighter. The vet finally calls back. Said that Kirby probably licked himself and got some alcohol in his mouth. I laughed said that Kirby looked like Cujo the Cat. Then we got cut off, I guess he was on a cell phone. No problem, though. Now, it's almost two o'clock and all is well.

Well, not all. Brian called around one thirty, when I was typing here. Hi, honey. I'm broken down outside of El Centro. I called my brother and there's no answer. Could you drive over there and see if they are outside? And have him take the four door truck and tow-bar and come get me?

I got my keys and jumped into my truck and drove to my in-laws, which is less than a quarter of a mile away. There they are, working on Judy's car. I was fortunate that they were home. They had started out on a trip to the mountains, but Judy's car didn't sound right, so they turned around. Judy paged Brian on her cell phone, and Brian called back. He talked to Mark, then to me, asked how Kirby was and told me where the spare set of keys were. I came home, got the keys and drove back to Mark and Judy's. Gave them the keys, came home and finished up my tale of Saturday morning.

The exedrin I took at the beginning of typing this has taken effect, and those little men in my head have gone to sleep. The headache's gone, Kirby is resting comfortably and Brian will be on his way home in no time.

I just love the weekends.

may 5, 1998 Brian got home at seven thirty Saturday night. He said that Kirby saved the day by being sick. *We* wouldn't have been able to get in touch with his brother if I had gone with him. And the truck would have had to be towed back here, well over 100 miles.

And Kirby is doing much better. He's even kind of letting me give him his pills. He's not happy about my finger in his mouth, but he isn't ripping my hand up when it's there.

Fast asleep last night and the smoke alarm went off. Boy, there were cats everywhere. Running scared. It was a false alarm, but it sure would have been nice if it went off during the daytime. Poor kitties.

Well, we are totally out of cat food and will be out of dog food when I fill their bowl this morning.. We *have* to go shopping tonight. I guess I can give the cats a little junk food today, but I won't give them much. And the dogs can always munch on carrots.

I went through my photos again last night. Found some more of the cats and dogs that might make good lake pictures. Think I'll work on that today.

may 7, 1998 DeeJay is not a happy camper. He has a dental appointment today. Last night, I had to take up all of the food. I threw out all of the paper plates for dinner, swept the floor, and put up all of the feeders in the house. He was so mad this morning. I caught him with a small morsel of food and dug it out of his mouth. Then, to add insult to injury, I put him in the carrier. He was very angry and upset. He cried the entire trip to the vet's. When I got there, Sherri asked me if I wanted to see her kitten. Well, yeah. Duh. He was in a little basket/bed and there was the baby bottle with formula next to him. I started to feed him. A wave of memories flooded over me. Hollywood, Lisa, DeeJay and Annie, Georgie and Gracie.....*sigh*. Then Charlene showed me her kitten. Some kids had been *playing* with it in a field. Mostly white with black patches. And the claws....the claws of this kitten are beautiful. Her legs and paws are white. And on each claw is a strip of black. Charlene said that she thought someone had painted this on the kitten, but no, it's natural.

While I was playing with the babies (no older than 3-4 weeks) Sherri was putting DeeJay into a cage. This was the first time I had been back there and it was a neat feeling. Anyway, I heard her say to him, "Why did you hiss at me? Don't you want your teeth to be shiny and white?" Nah, not DeeJay. He wants to eat. She put a towel in the cage for him to hide under and he did. She's going to do him first and try to get him done early so I can bring him home. Poor guy. He weighs over 14 pounds, which surprised me.

So, all of the animals are fed. I even had to put the dogs' food away because DeeJay eats that, too. So, all at home are happy. I still have to give Bart his soft food and fiber medicine. Keeps him going.

may 8, 1998 Well, DeeJay has me a little worried. Besides getting his teeth cleaned, he got his vaccinations. Sherri called me at about 12:30 to let me know he was ready to come home. I drove over there to pick him up and it seems that DeeJay wasn't the best patient in the world. She said that he wouldn't go under, he kept fighting the anesthesia. And that he bit his tongue. There was a little blood around his mouth and Brian found some on his leg last night. He showed no interest in food and ate a tiny bit of tuna. I combed him around his face and neck, because the fur was stiff. He liked that and purred while I did it. He went outside this morning, came back in and jumped up in Brian's chair, where he slept last night. I got out a little junkfood and offered it to him and he came into the garage to eat a little. So, that's good that his appetite is coming back. A cat without an appetite is a dangerous thing for the cat. He also looks more comfortable this morning.

Tuesday night, we went and bought catfood and dogfood. I also put a shedding blade for the dogs (Sandy mostly) in the cart. I had the worst time getting it out of the shrink wrap yesterday, I had to use scissors. Ah, success at last. I went outside and found Sandy and started to comb her with it. She loved it!! It was pulling out loose fur like crazy, there were heaps of fur. Junior decided that he was going to make this difficult and Sandy started rolling over on her back. *sigh* It's hard to brush a dog when the dog isn't co-operating. But she was smiling. Then she and Junior bounded off, barking at each other. I followed them around to the patio, called her over and got some more fur. That was it, her attention span was used up. I gave the dogs biscuits for being so good and off they went.

Later, I saw Rusty rolling in one of the piles of her fur. He was pulling it to his face and just smashing his nose into it. Dumb cat.

may 11, 1998 Well, we had a very uneventful weekend. Except, hubby got on me again about spending so much time online. I don't think it would bother him so much if I kept the housework up. But housework is so boring. And beside, before I was online, I would read a paperback a day. Or watch television. I still didn't get my housework done, but he seems to have forgotten that. So, I was hardly on at all yesterday. But, I did get the bushes in the front of the house trimmed back. And we bought some ladybugs and I spent well over an hour watching them eat the aphids on a small rosebush. Now, there's time well spent. *grins*

Well, I started trying the Feliway again. An online friend can get it for less than $20 a bottle. Now I am doing what the instructions call for on the kitchen counter. There has been no cat pee in three nights. If this works, I will have her send me a bunch more, and start working on the house, section by section. Gee, no cat pee on the walls and furniture. What a pleasant thought.

Brian got his truck back Friday. To the tune of $11,000. (Cough, cough) He's taking it back today. He said it runs well on the freeway, but not good at all on surface streets. AND somebody stole his radiator and put in an old one, while it was being serviced. Nice. He had the new one put in last August (from the same place that fixed it this time, the Ford dealership), I found the invoice last night, made copies this morning. That was over $700. Geez. What a great employee. I wonder how often this type of thing happens and the customer doesn't notice. I know I wouldn't have. Anyway, he wants a new radiator. I don't blame him.

Bart's face is breaking out again and I have him on his pills. Both he and Mickey have seasonal allergies, but they are on different medications.

I'm still waiting on Connectix to call about my camera. It still doesn't work.

may 12, 1998 Lisa has a bladder infection. She was squatting and piddling yesterday. I called the vet and asked what she should be taking. I started her on 10mg of Baytril yesterday. She's doing much better today. Amazing how quickly medications help.

Last night, Lisa was laying on Brian's lap. He was cooing to her, talking softly. Then I heard him say to her "Lisa, don't, honey. Lisa, it hurts when you put your claw in daddy's eye". I started laughing. He said it so gently and sweetly to her.

Brian got a new radiator. The dealership maintains that it was the same radiator. But, they gave him a new one anyway.

The weather has been so crummy this week. They are even calling for snow down to the 4500 foot levels tonight. Sheesh. How am I supposed to get a tan in this weather?

may 13, 1998 Well, I got a call from the Connectix people yesterday. They had a problem with my email. LOL!! She asked what was the address? I said lisaviolet at catlover dot com. She spelled l i s a v i o l e t. yep, that's correct. At catlover....c a t l i v......WHOA!! WHOA!!! Big laugh here!! No, catLOVER!! c a t l o v e r not catliver. I asked what kind of a person did she think I was? *grins* Anyway, they emailed me information on where to send the camera. So, it's getting sent out today. They are in California, up the coast. Way up the coast and their email said they will send a refurbished camera back to me in a week to ten days after they receive the old one. Well, I think they should send a new one, since this is a new one that never worked. Anyway, the mail also said that they are behind in sending out replacement cameras. Great. But if it's a refurbished camera, I think it will have been tested before it's sent out. Cathouse cam by July? I sure hope so.

I had to go get something notarized for hubby yesterday. Well, after my shower, I realized that either my sweatpants had holes in the butt (wore them out from sitting so much) or they were dirty and in the laundry. And every single one of my leggings was in the laundry. So, I dragged out a pair of my size 14 jeans. By laying on the bed and tugging the zipper up, I was able to fit into them. YAY!! Not too long ago, I couldn't even get them up my thighs. It's slow going, but since I didn't put on a gazillion pounds overnight (I have been putting them on for over twelve years, marriage has been fattening for me) I realize that taking them off slowly is going to give me a better chance at keeping them off. Brian was happy to see me in them last night. He's been after me to buy new clothes, which I refused to do. I thought to myself, that would be conceding defeat. And now I'm glad I didn't.

Georgie was spraying yesterday. That's a bad sign. That's one of his symptoms. I put him back on the Orbax (there was more than needed in the last prescription). So, let's see. Lisa is on Baytril, Bart is back on the vetalog for his allergy, I started Boney on amoxicillan and ammonil, since he's been showing signs of an urinary infection....*sigh*

I am trying out a new email program, it's in beta test right now. It blocks mail from anybody not on your list. That's the reverse of my Eudora program. I have to put in keywords to be blocked with that. And if I don't do it correctly, the mail still gets through. With the email monster I won't have to do that. If you are interested in testing, click on the link and download it. After it's done being tested and is released, it will cost about $40.

I also signed up for Net-Trak. It's a great website stats tracking site for a one time charge of five dollars. You can put it on every one of your pages at your site, which is great for me. I can find out where the hits are coming from. A posting on a newsgroup or a bulletin board, or a search engine, or from somebody's site.....and I can find out which of my pages is more popular than others. I really like it. The only thing is that if you want more than one account from Net-Trak, you have to have more than one credit card. You can only get one account per card.

may 16, 1998 Well, DeeJay is back to his normal whineybutt self. This morning, five am, back in the bedroom....yow...yoww...yow...hiss...growl....yow.....Brian finally got up and opened the sliding door for them to go out. Did that work? No. DeeJay wanted his morning fix of junk food. (I give them each a little of the feral cat food in the morning.) He was back. Yow...yow...growl...hiss.....such a grouch he is.

I have five cats on medication now. Mickey and Bart for allergies, Georgie, Lisa and Boney for urinary infections. Fun, fun. But, they all seem better, so that's good. I watched Georgie spray outside this morning. A good strong stream came from that little boy. No blockage problem there. Boney has started yowling in my bathroom for water. He likes to drink from the tub faucett with the water at a drip/dribble. He's so darn vocal.

Bobby climbed into a cat condo yesterday. I was surprised and pleased. He stayed there until time to eat dinner.

I'm pet sitting for the neighbors again.

The camera got to Connectix yesterday. So, hopefully, I will have the replacement in two weeks. I hope it works.

may 18, 1998 Got a new tv for the office this weekend. Yippee!! I've wanted a new one for a while now. Our previous tv has a an actual viewing screen of five inches. Pretty small. The new one is fourteen inches. A big difference. The old one is one that can be plugged into the wall or can run on batteries. It's color, too. We got it to take with us to Chargers football games when we use to go (my last game was the time some bozo behind us sneezed and got snot in my hair, didn't even say excuse me). It's funny. (continued next page)

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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