I posted some video of the cats (well Sonny) playing with the red light. Ruby has no interest what-so-ever and doesn't get what the fuss is about. The other two, seem to enjoy playing. Sonny especially. We got the laser light in hopes that we could help Ziggy become more active. He is getting older, he will be 10 this year. And he is overweight. The vet had said not to worry too much about his weight as long as he seemed active, happy, etc. However I know that with cats, as with people, carrying too much weight is not a good thing. And we have noticed that he is starting to have trouble jumping on the bed. So, in order to help him, we have put the cats on a diet. We were using self-feeders, which is very convenient - for us, and for "piggy" to eat as much as he wanted. Ziggy is the one that has a problem with over-eating. Ruby is if anything underweight. Sonny is very close to ideal weight for his size. He also likes to eat a lot, so he could end up with a problem if he doesn't get enough exercise.
So how do you put 3 cats on a diet? Well, I researched on the internet (google is my friend), and decided we would get food that is for overweight adult cats, and mix in with their regular food. It isn't good to suddenly switch foods without allowing a period for their systems to get used to it. We moved the food upstairs to the kitchen where the water bowl is. Instead of leaving the self feeders out all day, we are now monitoring how much they are eating. And we are limitting the treats.
Exercise is also important. So I bought several toys to try to see if I could get them motivated to play and run around. The laser light is a big hit! Both Ziggy and Sonny will run around and chase it - especially if the room is dark so the light shows up that much more. The light is motorized so you can turn it on and set it down and it will flash the light around the room, but they seem to like it more if we move the light. It becomes more interactive that way. Sonny really loves it. M thinks that maybe he is still young enough to need something like this to help him come out of his shell. Plus there are times that we hear him going around the house crying looking for someone to play with him. Ziggy plays with him, but then gets tired out before Sonny does. So I think the light is helping Sonny as much as Ziggy, even though the original intent was to get it for Ziggy. Ziggy will run around like crazy chasing the light for a few min, then we can tell he gets worn out and flops down, and then just watches. M says it is age and the extra weight. Ok, so I can relate.
Ziggy is my buddy. If playing games with him and putting him on a diet will extend his life and make it more enjoyable then it is more than worth it.
Showing posts with label Fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fun. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Sonny playing RED light
Video of Sonny playing with the red light. This is our cats new exercise program.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Cats Cats Cats... for the Cat lovers out there...
This post is dedicated to my cats... I'll add photos later.
We originally had 4 cats, 1 dog. Now we just have 3 cats.
Coot, may he RIP, was the alpha. Neurotic, slightly psychotic, but lovable Coot. Coot was a silky (very silky soft fur) black cat with a white chest and paws & whiskers. He was our tuxedo cat, all dressed up, no place to go. Coot was a worrier. He worried about everything and everyone. If the cat's food container (self-feeder) was low, he would cry and let you know. If the Dog's water dish (the cats shared Hunters large water cooler/watering dish). was low, he cried about that. If coot was crying, something was wrong. You would ask him what's the matter, and he would lead you to the problem. Stand by to make sure you fixed it, then he would leave. It wasn't that he wanted the food or the water, he just was afraid it was going to run out. He even did that when Hunter's dry food would get low. If Coot was crying, it meant something wasn't right. He wouldn't stop until you went with him to fix it. He would cry if someone got trapped in the laundry room. Even Ruby - his nemesis. He was the old man. A year older than Ruby. When M & I moved in together my daughter J & I brought Coot & Ziggy. M brought Ruby & Hunter. And then J felt sorry for this scraggly flea ridden kitten and paid the adoption fee and we ended adding Sonny. J & I had gotten Coot as a kitten, when some friends found the bedraggled wet kitten that would fit in the palm of your hand out in the rain outside a convenience store. Our friend already had 2 cats, and couldn't take on another, so we took him. Coot had grown up around dogs, when he was a kitten my partner at the time had 2 labs, and Coot was unafraid. As a tiny kitten you might find him up under the chin of the big yellow lab trying to get to the gravy in the dog's bowl. Luckily all the dogs Coot (and the others) have been around were all gentle giants. Besides being a worrier, Coot was nervous. Besides crying to let us know when things weren't right, if he got too upset, he would get dandruff really bad. Which with his black silky fur was very noticeable. Coot was a sweet kitty, I miss Coot. For that matter, I miss that old yellow lab too. I was there and watched both (at different times obviously) take their last breath. I was alone with my partner's old yellow lab, she couldn't deal, so I was there for the big guy. For Coot, we were all there - me, M & J. All crying and reminiscing about happier times & happier memories.
If Coot was the old man, that makes Ruby the old lady. Ruby is a calico tabby cat. Dark rusty/brown color, some stripes on her tail, otherwise mottled. White chest, paws & face. Sort of dainty but tough as nails. Don't mess with Ruby. That goes for human or animal. One minute she can be purring and demanding you pet her, next she'll swat you to let you know you should have stopped that - didn't you get the secret signal she'd had enough? Ruby and Coot had some sort of love/hate relationship going. They would hiss and fight. For some reason, Ruby would get behind the bedroom door, swatting at Coot out through the crack at the hinges. He would sit and box back at her. They also like to fight for who got to be on the bed. Coot was declawed, so he had no front claws. The rest of the cat's have claws. So Ruby had the advantage. But Coot would still wop at Ruby with his paw. He packed a mean punch. Normally Coot would end up chasing Ruby off the bed, then he would lay up there. He was getting older, and while he would sometimes exhibit signs of acting like a kitten again, he normally didn't want to play with the younger ones - Ziggy & Sonny. Ruby doesn't like any of the boys. We aren't sure that she likes anyone. Normally while Coot was alive, he was the only one that really fought with Ruby, on a couple rare occasions, Ziggy joined in, Sonny was a bit clueless. As I've mentioned before, something is wrong with Ruby's meow. She can get loud when she really wants to, as we have heard her when she got trapped in the laundry room. Most of the time tho, the best she comes up with is a faint "meep" sound. Otherwise you can watch her mouth open and shut but no meow comes out. Like she has permanent laryngitis. Although when Coot was still around and Ruby would get shut in the laundry room, Coot would be sitting outside the door crying, Ruby would be quiet. If didn't hear Coot, he'd come looking for us and lead us to her. Timmy's in the well... you need to come help NOW. Told you it was a love/hate thing. Is Ruby the alpha female? she's the only female. I'm not sure I'd call her alpha. More likely crotchety.
The cats love to follow us in the laundry room and will sometimes hide and get shut in there when we shut the door. All cats seem to have a door alarm. Even if they are in another part of the house, they know if you go in a room (bathroom?) and shut the door, and will immediately appear outside said door and cry and stick their paws under the door trying to signal to you that they are there and that help is on the way, soon as they figure out how to get that damn door open... Cabinets, now cabinets they can open. Just so you know, they can open all the cabinets, weave in and out and around all the pots and pans and anything else you have in there. Normally they don't, but they can. Just in case, we always rinse off the pots/pans. But the doors, can't quite get those door knobs to turn. That proved a problem once. M & I had left on a week long vacation and taken Hunter with us. J was stopping by the house off and on checking on the cats. With plenty of water and self feeders out, and clean litter boxes, they are usually good for a couple days on their own. Sometime between when we left on Friday and J showing up on Sunday, however, all 4 cats somehow shut themselves in our bedroom. This was odd, in that Coot & Ruby had managed to get the door shut before while boxing with each other, but normally Coot is outside the door when this happens. But this time all 4 were in the bedroom. This could have been really bad. Or well, worse than it was, I guess being stuck in a bedroom for possibly 2 days without food or easy access to water isn't a good thing. Our bedroom has a full bath attached, so they could drink out of the toilet if necessary, and the cats used our walk in shower as their bathroom, and left a few presents. As I say, could have been a lot worse. The shower was much easier to clean up than if they peed/pooped in the bedroom. We aren't sure how they came up with the idea, but could tell they'd all used it. After that incident we started blocking the bedroom door so nothing similar could happen again. That was really the only room that it was an issue, and that was because of how/where the door is.
Hunter was the next oldest. He was a large sweet dog. Rarely barked. Was a very good dog. Definitely a gentle giant. His mother was golden retriever, not sure about the rest. It was claimed the father of the puppies was a Rottweiler, but he didn't have Rottweiler in him, they are stocky. He was almost as large as a Great Dane, had a running dog's build, and loved to stretch those legs. He was fast. The vet said he might be part Irish Setter. He had short reddish hair. He looked a little like a very large Vizsla. He got along well with the cats. He and Coot became very good buds, Coot would walk in and around Hunter rubbing all over him. Hunter wanted to play so bad with the cats that sometimes he would try to put his paw on them, coot especially and he would yelp, and we'd have to fuss at Hunter to leave the cat alone, then there would be Coot right back over there beside Hunter rubbing all over him. Sonny also was a big pal. We think Sonny thought he might be a big dog too. When Hunter would get a treat or table scraps, like a piece of steak, Sonny was right there wanting a piece too. Course we had to give Sonny a much much smaller piece, but he seemed to always want whatever the big guy got. Sonny also tries to make a sound like a woof.... more like mouf... Hunter always had dry food sitting out, and also got one can of wet food a day. He especially liked the kind with gravy. Problem is that the cats also really liked the gravy. Many times, we would put out Hunter's food, and he would come to us and lean against us whining, and the cats (especially Coot) would be on their hind legs licking the gravy off the food in Hunter's bowl. Hunter could have gone over and growled or barked or scared the cats off, but no, he would come whine to us like he was saying "the cats are eating my food again.... cant you do something?" To solve the problem we got a second bowl, and would pour a little of the gravy off into the "cats" bowl, then put the rest of the can in Hunter's dish. Made everyone happy. And whatever the cats didn't finish up, Hunter would later.
The cats have a pecking order when it comes to eating. However, they take turns. When Coot was around, he was often first. Then either Ruby or Ziggy and Sonny. Now that Coot is gone, sometime Ruby gets there first and Ziggy will wait until she is done, or Ziggy will be first and Ruby will wait. No real rhyme or reason. Sonny, our special needs kitty, he eats when he wants. The others will let him. They seem to all know he is special. Ruby will fuss a little bit, but let him go out of turn. Ziggy will just share the bowl with him. Same with the water dish. Now when they used to share Hunter's water bowl, they never shared at the same time with the dog. but because the bowl was large, it was easy for more than one of them to drink at the same time. Now they have a smaller "cat sized" bowl which is really too small for more than 1 but sometimes we will still see both Sonny & Ziggy trying to drink at the same time. Another difference now they no longer have the large water bowl is that the floor doesn't stay as wet. There were two reasons for the wet kitchen floor. First was Hunter, he would slosh water, and leave a trail after taking several gulps of water. So you had to watch out for the patches of dog slime. The 2nd reason was Ziggy. He likes to drink from his paw, and will sometimes splash water, we sometimes wondered if he was doing it for fun, or trying to skim the dog slobber off the top of the water before he drank. We think mostly he just wanted to play, because we would catch him slinging water at Sonny or at Hunter. For some time Hunter was blamed for all the wet floor issues until Ziggy was caught in the act.
Ziggy is our little grey tiger. Ok, he's not so little. Over weight actually, although the vet did say as long as he is active, jumping and playing not to worry too much. He can jump and he plays. So for now, we haven't changed the means of feeding the cats. To put Ziggy on a diet would mean they all get put on a diet and we would have to take away the self-feeders and make sure they all got their dinner. As for Ziggy's jumping ability, not long after we moved into this house, we found him on top of the top kitchen cabinets (up over top of the refrigerator by about a foot 1/2. We guess that he got up there by jumping on the counter top and from there to the top of the fridge and from there to the top of the cabinets - unless he went from the counter to the top of the cabinet directly. That's really the only time we found him up there.... he just wanted to see what the view was and whether there was anything worth checking out. Ziggy is a lover boy and loves to snuggle and is very social. He's best pals with Sonny. J and I got him as a small kitty and he bonded instantly to me. He is my boy. He will be social with anyone but he is definitely attached to me. He is very playful and has a mischievous streak. He is very gentle when he plays, and rarely puts his claws out. Even the vet has commented on it. We believe he learned to play keeping his claws in because of Coot, who was declawed. After all using claws wouldn't be fair when Coot couldn't. Only rarely if you are playing with Ziggy will he barely put his claws out sort of as a warning.... but not enough to really do any damage. He does the same thing when you are petting him and he doesn't like something you are doing, or he might "fake bite" you, put his mouth on you, without actually biting down. Just long enough so you get the idea. Ziggy was always Coot's pal. Whenever we needed to take Coot to the vet, we often would end up taking both Ziggy & Coot (in the same cat carrier) because it would help make Coot feel better and less worried. Later, as Coot got older he didn't want to play as much and Ziggy bonded more with Sonny and took Sonny under his wing. Ziggy is also our attack cat. Early warning alarm system. If strange people show up (as in complete strangers, repair men, UPS drivers, etc), or if strange vehicles pull into the drive (or we have discovered lately he reacts even if a delivery truck pulls into the neighbors drive), then he growls. Yes, he growls. I first told M about it after we moved in together to let her know, if she heard Ziggy growling that it meant we probably had someone pulling in the drive or something wasn't right. She responded with a yeah right, cats don't growl. Now Hunter would bark if a strange dog, or rather a strange big dog (he seemed to think little dogs were maybe cats) was around. He would bark if you left him outside too long. And if someone strange was outside in the middle of the night sort of thing. Otherwise he didn't bark. He didn't bark if we had repairmen coming to fix things... He would scare the repairmen because he was big, and he would be straining against whoever was trying to hold him back... because he thought all visitors to the house were there to see and pet him. But even if Hunter didn't always bark or growl, well Ziggy would. First time M heard him, she told me (surprised) Ziggy does growl... yes. really. ferocious little tiger he is. Course I'm not sure what he would really do if there was danger or the danger came in the house, maybe run to the treat cabinet and hope the thief was breaking in to give the cats treats? no, but seriously I do think Ziggy maybe would do what he could to protect us. Especially me. Not sure what he could/would do, but he'd try, least that is what I believe.
Sonny, is a long haired, part Maine Coon cat. Yellow. His fur is yellow/orange with faint stripes, and he has a white chest and white paws. And he is Yellow. A big scaredy cat. Did I mention big? He has enormous paws, he is much bigger than the other cats. He isn't fat, just big. Apparently Main Coon's get big, and he isn't as big as some of them I found on the Internet. He's also a big coward. Afraid of noise, his shadow, sudden movement... As I mentioned, J picked out Sonny when we first moved into our house. He was still a kitten but several months old. With long gangly legs, and scrawny. Very awkward. J says she saw him and was afraid no one would adopt him and that she felt the need to do so to make sure he had a good home. Nothing like bringing a 4th cat into a household that has just blended 2 families. A dog & cat, plus two cats, plus sonny. Poor Sonny was odd man out. First thing we had to do was isolate him in one of the bathrooms until we could flea dip him and make sure the fleas were gone. We did not want to have a flea infested household! We took him to the vet to make sure he was up on his shots. The vet told us he was a short hair domestic cat. Yeah, ok. In the beginning, none of the animals wanted anything to do with him. He wanted to play. He was able to pal around some with Hunter, but the cats didn't want him around. In fact, the other cats would torment him. As he grew, we discovered he is not short haired. He has soo much hair, he has tufts of hair growing out between the pads of his feet. His pads never actually touch the ground. Which makes him slide easily on the linoleum. The other cats figured this out. Our house makes a circle where you can go from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen, out the other side of the kitchen back in the living room, completing the circuit. The house is carpeted except for the kitchen, the landing (we have a split level) and the downstairs hallway and the bathrooms all have linoleum. The other cats discovered they could play chase with Sonny and lead him through the kitchen from the dining room and they could turn and run out the doorway to the living room, and Sonny couldn't make the corner and would slide into the kitchen table and chairs, BAM. Perhaps that is one reason Sonny is a special needs kid - too many BAMs. But really Sonny isn't so dumb. He learned to skid into the turn. Looking much like a little kid on a skate board, he knows just when to slide and lean and make the corner and can now fly through the kitchen and out the door no trouble at all. He does the same thing running down the stairs making the corner on the landing and down the rest of the stairs and around to the cat room. After we had Sonny for a few months, he started filling out some and growing into those gangly legs. He is still awkward (probably always will be), he has huge paws, and is a bit of a klutz. As he filled out his hair grew. Besides the tufts growing out the pads of his feet, he has tuffs coming out his ears, and has what looks like a lion mane, a fluffy feather duster like tail, and so much fur that M says he always looks like he is running with his pants falling down. We don't have any proof that he is Maine Coon cat, but we are sure he is NOT a domestic short hair. I did some Internet searching and found out that he has all the indicators of being a Main Coon after a friend suggested he might be one. It wasn't long after we all started to get settled in the new house, and all the animals started getting used to each other that Ziggy & Sonny started palling around. Ziggy took the kitty under his wing, and would snuggle with him, groom him, etc. Animals are funny though. We took Sonny to the vet and he stayed overnight when it was time to have him fixed. When he came home he smelled different and Ziggy wanted nothing to do with him. Would just hiss and spit at him. After a day or so, he realized it really was Sonny and all was ok again. Sonny is fine around the other animals, and can even be brave when it comes to taking what he wants - like food etc. but when it comes to people, that's when he is really a scaredy cat. Strangers, loud noises, etc. Sonny runs like a yellow blur down the stairs to the cat room. Sonny has so much fur that we started taking him to the groomer to have him shaved. If not, his fur will get so matted that it isn't healthy for him, and he won't hardly let us brush him or help him take care of it. So J will come by every 3-4 months and help grab him and put him in one of the cat carriers and take him to the groomers. They give him a "lion cut" which leaves his mane and a fluff on the end of his tail, and makes him look that much more like a little lion. The groomer say he is very sweet. They wanted to know if he was nervous (you think? Mr. cowardly lion, nervous?) - apparently they said he chews his nails. Which is much like in humans. We knew Coot was nervous, he had dandruff that would flare up when he was upset. Sonny, he jumps when you make sudden moves, or if he hears loud noises, or if strange people come in the house. Or for that matter if any of us open the front door. Think he associates the front door with strange people coming in the house since we all mostly use the garage.
Our "cat room" is a storage room at the bottom of the stairs that has a cat door cut in the bottom of the door. Besides being used for storage it is where the litter boxes and cat food is kept. Main purpose was to keep it out of Hunters reach. Unfortunately dogs think cat poo is a form of delicacy... we will leave that thought at that.
After Coot was gone, the cats had an adjustment period where they all figured out their place in cat society. Well except for Sonny, who appears to be exempt. If you watch them, you can tell they (all the animals) just make allowances for him. Ziggy became a bully. It appears he feels it is his place in life to make Ruby's life miserable. To follow Coots footsteps and keep Ruby off the bed. Ruby is not having any of it. Normally Ziggy snuggles with us at bed time. Often wants under the covers and snuggles in. Otherwise he snuggles with Sonny at the foot of the bed. Ruby likes to sleep by M, or up on her pillows at the top of the bed. It is a king, so there is plenty of room for all the cats and us. Ziggy will chase Ruby off then sit at the bottom scowling and guarding the bed so that she can't get back on. Sort of an example of cutting his nose off to spite his face because he can't get any attention down there, doesn't get to snuggle in, but guess he's happy because he is keeping Ruby away.
Another thing that has changed since Coot & Hunter have gone is Ziggy's behavior after I leave and come back. Before if I had to travel for work. He would be so upset and pissed at me when I would get back that he wouldn't have anything to do with me for several days. He would make sure he was in the same room noticeably ignoring me. Not come when called, and not want me to pet him, etc. Now, if I leave, then when I get back he won't let me out of his site, and wants to be glued to me like a furry tumor. It takes a few days before he relaxes and goes back to normal.
So.... that's our furry family members. We wouldn't take any thing for any of them. And most definitely miss the ones that are gone.
We originally had 4 cats, 1 dog. Now we just have 3 cats.
Coot, may he RIP, was the alpha. Neurotic, slightly psychotic, but lovable Coot. Coot was a silky (very silky soft fur) black cat with a white chest and paws & whiskers. He was our tuxedo cat, all dressed up, no place to go. Coot was a worrier. He worried about everything and everyone. If the cat's food container (self-feeder) was low, he would cry and let you know. If the Dog's water dish (the cats shared Hunters large water cooler/watering dish). was low, he cried about that. If coot was crying, something was wrong. You would ask him what's the matter, and he would lead you to the problem. Stand by to make sure you fixed it, then he would leave. It wasn't that he wanted the food or the water, he just was afraid it was going to run out. He even did that when Hunter's dry food would get low. If Coot was crying, it meant something wasn't right. He wouldn't stop until you went with him to fix it. He would cry if someone got trapped in the laundry room. Even Ruby - his nemesis. He was the old man. A year older than Ruby. When M & I moved in together my daughter J & I brought Coot & Ziggy. M brought Ruby & Hunter. And then J felt sorry for this scraggly flea ridden kitten and paid the adoption fee and we ended adding Sonny. J & I had gotten Coot as a kitten, when some friends found the bedraggled wet kitten that would fit in the palm of your hand out in the rain outside a convenience store. Our friend already had 2 cats, and couldn't take on another, so we took him. Coot had grown up around dogs, when he was a kitten my partner at the time had 2 labs, and Coot was unafraid. As a tiny kitten you might find him up under the chin of the big yellow lab trying to get to the gravy in the dog's bowl. Luckily all the dogs Coot (and the others) have been around were all gentle giants. Besides being a worrier, Coot was nervous. Besides crying to let us know when things weren't right, if he got too upset, he would get dandruff really bad. Which with his black silky fur was very noticeable. Coot was a sweet kitty, I miss Coot. For that matter, I miss that old yellow lab too. I was there and watched both (at different times obviously) take their last breath. I was alone with my partner's old yellow lab, she couldn't deal, so I was there for the big guy. For Coot, we were all there - me, M & J. All crying and reminiscing about happier times & happier memories.
If Coot was the old man, that makes Ruby the old lady. Ruby is a calico tabby cat. Dark rusty/brown color, some stripes on her tail, otherwise mottled. White chest, paws & face. Sort of dainty but tough as nails. Don't mess with Ruby. That goes for human or animal. One minute she can be purring and demanding you pet her, next she'll swat you to let you know you should have stopped that - didn't you get the secret signal she'd had enough? Ruby and Coot had some sort of love/hate relationship going. They would hiss and fight. For some reason, Ruby would get behind the bedroom door, swatting at Coot out through the crack at the hinges. He would sit and box back at her. They also like to fight for who got to be on the bed. Coot was declawed, so he had no front claws. The rest of the cat's have claws. So Ruby had the advantage. But Coot would still wop at Ruby with his paw. He packed a mean punch. Normally Coot would end up chasing Ruby off the bed, then he would lay up there. He was getting older, and while he would sometimes exhibit signs of acting like a kitten again, he normally didn't want to play with the younger ones - Ziggy & Sonny. Ruby doesn't like any of the boys. We aren't sure that she likes anyone. Normally while Coot was alive, he was the only one that really fought with Ruby, on a couple rare occasions, Ziggy joined in, Sonny was a bit clueless. As I've mentioned before, something is wrong with Ruby's meow. She can get loud when she really wants to, as we have heard her when she got trapped in the laundry room. Most of the time tho, the best she comes up with is a faint "meep" sound. Otherwise you can watch her mouth open and shut but no meow comes out. Like she has permanent laryngitis. Although when Coot was still around and Ruby would get shut in the laundry room, Coot would be sitting outside the door crying, Ruby would be quiet. If didn't hear Coot, he'd come looking for us and lead us to her. Timmy's in the well... you need to come help NOW. Told you it was a love/hate thing. Is Ruby the alpha female? she's the only female. I'm not sure I'd call her alpha. More likely crotchety.
The cats love to follow us in the laundry room and will sometimes hide and get shut in there when we shut the door. All cats seem to have a door alarm. Even if they are in another part of the house, they know if you go in a room (bathroom?) and shut the door, and will immediately appear outside said door and cry and stick their paws under the door trying to signal to you that they are there and that help is on the way, soon as they figure out how to get that damn door open... Cabinets, now cabinets they can open. Just so you know, they can open all the cabinets, weave in and out and around all the pots and pans and anything else you have in there. Normally they don't, but they can. Just in case, we always rinse off the pots/pans. But the doors, can't quite get those door knobs to turn. That proved a problem once. M & I had left on a week long vacation and taken Hunter with us. J was stopping by the house off and on checking on the cats. With plenty of water and self feeders out, and clean litter boxes, they are usually good for a couple days on their own. Sometime between when we left on Friday and J showing up on Sunday, however, all 4 cats somehow shut themselves in our bedroom. This was odd, in that Coot & Ruby had managed to get the door shut before while boxing with each other, but normally Coot is outside the door when this happens. But this time all 4 were in the bedroom. This could have been really bad. Or well, worse than it was, I guess being stuck in a bedroom for possibly 2 days without food or easy access to water isn't a good thing. Our bedroom has a full bath attached, so they could drink out of the toilet if necessary, and the cats used our walk in shower as their bathroom, and left a few presents. As I say, could have been a lot worse. The shower was much easier to clean up than if they peed/pooped in the bedroom. We aren't sure how they came up with the idea, but could tell they'd all used it. After that incident we started blocking the bedroom door so nothing similar could happen again. That was really the only room that it was an issue, and that was because of how/where the door is.
Hunter was the next oldest. He was a large sweet dog. Rarely barked. Was a very good dog. Definitely a gentle giant. His mother was golden retriever, not sure about the rest. It was claimed the father of the puppies was a Rottweiler, but he didn't have Rottweiler in him, they are stocky. He was almost as large as a Great Dane, had a running dog's build, and loved to stretch those legs. He was fast. The vet said he might be part Irish Setter. He had short reddish hair. He looked a little like a very large Vizsla. He got along well with the cats. He and Coot became very good buds, Coot would walk in and around Hunter rubbing all over him. Hunter wanted to play so bad with the cats that sometimes he would try to put his paw on them, coot especially and he would yelp, and we'd have to fuss at Hunter to leave the cat alone, then there would be Coot right back over there beside Hunter rubbing all over him. Sonny also was a big pal. We think Sonny thought he might be a big dog too. When Hunter would get a treat or table scraps, like a piece of steak, Sonny was right there wanting a piece too. Course we had to give Sonny a much much smaller piece, but he seemed to always want whatever the big guy got. Sonny also tries to make a sound like a woof.... more like mouf... Hunter always had dry food sitting out, and also got one can of wet food a day. He especially liked the kind with gravy. Problem is that the cats also really liked the gravy. Many times, we would put out Hunter's food, and he would come to us and lean against us whining, and the cats (especially Coot) would be on their hind legs licking the gravy off the food in Hunter's bowl. Hunter could have gone over and growled or barked or scared the cats off, but no, he would come whine to us like he was saying "the cats are eating my food again.... cant you do something?" To solve the problem we got a second bowl, and would pour a little of the gravy off into the "cats" bowl, then put the rest of the can in Hunter's dish. Made everyone happy. And whatever the cats didn't finish up, Hunter would later.
The cats have a pecking order when it comes to eating. However, they take turns. When Coot was around, he was often first. Then either Ruby or Ziggy and Sonny. Now that Coot is gone, sometime Ruby gets there first and Ziggy will wait until she is done, or Ziggy will be first and Ruby will wait. No real rhyme or reason. Sonny, our special needs kitty, he eats when he wants. The others will let him. They seem to all know he is special. Ruby will fuss a little bit, but let him go out of turn. Ziggy will just share the bowl with him. Same with the water dish. Now when they used to share Hunter's water bowl, they never shared at the same time with the dog. but because the bowl was large, it was easy for more than one of them to drink at the same time. Now they have a smaller "cat sized" bowl which is really too small for more than 1 but sometimes we will still see both Sonny & Ziggy trying to drink at the same time. Another difference now they no longer have the large water bowl is that the floor doesn't stay as wet. There were two reasons for the wet kitchen floor. First was Hunter, he would slosh water, and leave a trail after taking several gulps of water. So you had to watch out for the patches of dog slime. The 2nd reason was Ziggy. He likes to drink from his paw, and will sometimes splash water, we sometimes wondered if he was doing it for fun, or trying to skim the dog slobber off the top of the water before he drank. We think mostly he just wanted to play, because we would catch him slinging water at Sonny or at Hunter. For some time Hunter was blamed for all the wet floor issues until Ziggy was caught in the act.
Ziggy is our little grey tiger. Ok, he's not so little. Over weight actually, although the vet did say as long as he is active, jumping and playing not to worry too much. He can jump and he plays. So for now, we haven't changed the means of feeding the cats. To put Ziggy on a diet would mean they all get put on a diet and we would have to take away the self-feeders and make sure they all got their dinner. As for Ziggy's jumping ability, not long after we moved into this house, we found him on top of the top kitchen cabinets (up over top of the refrigerator by about a foot 1/2. We guess that he got up there by jumping on the counter top and from there to the top of the fridge and from there to the top of the cabinets - unless he went from the counter to the top of the cabinet directly. That's really the only time we found him up there.... he just wanted to see what the view was and whether there was anything worth checking out. Ziggy is a lover boy and loves to snuggle and is very social. He's best pals with Sonny. J and I got him as a small kitty and he bonded instantly to me. He is my boy. He will be social with anyone but he is definitely attached to me. He is very playful and has a mischievous streak. He is very gentle when he plays, and rarely puts his claws out. Even the vet has commented on it. We believe he learned to play keeping his claws in because of Coot, who was declawed. After all using claws wouldn't be fair when Coot couldn't. Only rarely if you are playing with Ziggy will he barely put his claws out sort of as a warning.... but not enough to really do any damage. He does the same thing when you are petting him and he doesn't like something you are doing, or he might "fake bite" you, put his mouth on you, without actually biting down. Just long enough so you get the idea. Ziggy was always Coot's pal. Whenever we needed to take Coot to the vet, we often would end up taking both Ziggy & Coot (in the same cat carrier) because it would help make Coot feel better and less worried. Later, as Coot got older he didn't want to play as much and Ziggy bonded more with Sonny and took Sonny under his wing. Ziggy is also our attack cat. Early warning alarm system. If strange people show up (as in complete strangers, repair men, UPS drivers, etc), or if strange vehicles pull into the drive (or we have discovered lately he reacts even if a delivery truck pulls into the neighbors drive), then he growls. Yes, he growls. I first told M about it after we moved in together to let her know, if she heard Ziggy growling that it meant we probably had someone pulling in the drive or something wasn't right. She responded with a yeah right, cats don't growl. Now Hunter would bark if a strange dog, or rather a strange big dog (he seemed to think little dogs were maybe cats) was around. He would bark if you left him outside too long. And if someone strange was outside in the middle of the night sort of thing. Otherwise he didn't bark. He didn't bark if we had repairmen coming to fix things... He would scare the repairmen because he was big, and he would be straining against whoever was trying to hold him back... because he thought all visitors to the house were there to see and pet him. But even if Hunter didn't always bark or growl, well Ziggy would. First time M heard him, she told me (surprised) Ziggy does growl... yes. really. ferocious little tiger he is. Course I'm not sure what he would really do if there was danger or the danger came in the house, maybe run to the treat cabinet and hope the thief was breaking in to give the cats treats? no, but seriously I do think Ziggy maybe would do what he could to protect us. Especially me. Not sure what he could/would do, but he'd try, least that is what I believe.
Sonny, is a long haired, part Maine Coon cat. Yellow. His fur is yellow/orange with faint stripes, and he has a white chest and white paws. And he is Yellow. A big scaredy cat. Did I mention big? He has enormous paws, he is much bigger than the other cats. He isn't fat, just big. Apparently Main Coon's get big, and he isn't as big as some of them I found on the Internet. He's also a big coward. Afraid of noise, his shadow, sudden movement... As I mentioned, J picked out Sonny when we first moved into our house. He was still a kitten but several months old. With long gangly legs, and scrawny. Very awkward. J says she saw him and was afraid no one would adopt him and that she felt the need to do so to make sure he had a good home. Nothing like bringing a 4th cat into a household that has just blended 2 families. A dog & cat, plus two cats, plus sonny. Poor Sonny was odd man out. First thing we had to do was isolate him in one of the bathrooms until we could flea dip him and make sure the fleas were gone. We did not want to have a flea infested household! We took him to the vet to make sure he was up on his shots. The vet told us he was a short hair domestic cat. Yeah, ok. In the beginning, none of the animals wanted anything to do with him. He wanted to play. He was able to pal around some with Hunter, but the cats didn't want him around. In fact, the other cats would torment him. As he grew, we discovered he is not short haired. He has soo much hair, he has tufts of hair growing out between the pads of his feet. His pads never actually touch the ground. Which makes him slide easily on the linoleum. The other cats figured this out. Our house makes a circle where you can go from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen, out the other side of the kitchen back in the living room, completing the circuit. The house is carpeted except for the kitchen, the landing (we have a split level) and the downstairs hallway and the bathrooms all have linoleum. The other cats discovered they could play chase with Sonny and lead him through the kitchen from the dining room and they could turn and run out the doorway to the living room, and Sonny couldn't make the corner and would slide into the kitchen table and chairs, BAM. Perhaps that is one reason Sonny is a special needs kid - too many BAMs. But really Sonny isn't so dumb. He learned to skid into the turn. Looking much like a little kid on a skate board, he knows just when to slide and lean and make the corner and can now fly through the kitchen and out the door no trouble at all. He does the same thing running down the stairs making the corner on the landing and down the rest of the stairs and around to the cat room. After we had Sonny for a few months, he started filling out some and growing into those gangly legs. He is still awkward (probably always will be), he has huge paws, and is a bit of a klutz. As he filled out his hair grew. Besides the tufts growing out the pads of his feet, he has tuffs coming out his ears, and has what looks like a lion mane, a fluffy feather duster like tail, and so much fur that M says he always looks like he is running with his pants falling down. We don't have any proof that he is Maine Coon cat, but we are sure he is NOT a domestic short hair. I did some Internet searching and found out that he has all the indicators of being a Main Coon after a friend suggested he might be one. It wasn't long after we all started to get settled in the new house, and all the animals started getting used to each other that Ziggy & Sonny started palling around. Ziggy took the kitty under his wing, and would snuggle with him, groom him, etc. Animals are funny though. We took Sonny to the vet and he stayed overnight when it was time to have him fixed. When he came home he smelled different and Ziggy wanted nothing to do with him. Would just hiss and spit at him. After a day or so, he realized it really was Sonny and all was ok again. Sonny is fine around the other animals, and can even be brave when it comes to taking what he wants - like food etc. but when it comes to people, that's when he is really a scaredy cat. Strangers, loud noises, etc. Sonny runs like a yellow blur down the stairs to the cat room. Sonny has so much fur that we started taking him to the groomer to have him shaved. If not, his fur will get so matted that it isn't healthy for him, and he won't hardly let us brush him or help him take care of it. So J will come by every 3-4 months and help grab him and put him in one of the cat carriers and take him to the groomers. They give him a "lion cut" which leaves his mane and a fluff on the end of his tail, and makes him look that much more like a little lion. The groomer say he is very sweet. They wanted to know if he was nervous (you think? Mr. cowardly lion, nervous?) - apparently they said he chews his nails. Which is much like in humans. We knew Coot was nervous, he had dandruff that would flare up when he was upset. Sonny, he jumps when you make sudden moves, or if he hears loud noises, or if strange people come in the house. Or for that matter if any of us open the front door. Think he associates the front door with strange people coming in the house since we all mostly use the garage.
Our "cat room" is a storage room at the bottom of the stairs that has a cat door cut in the bottom of the door. Besides being used for storage it is where the litter boxes and cat food is kept. Main purpose was to keep it out of Hunters reach. Unfortunately dogs think cat poo is a form of delicacy... we will leave that thought at that.
After Coot was gone, the cats had an adjustment period where they all figured out their place in cat society. Well except for Sonny, who appears to be exempt. If you watch them, you can tell they (all the animals) just make allowances for him. Ziggy became a bully. It appears he feels it is his place in life to make Ruby's life miserable. To follow Coots footsteps and keep Ruby off the bed. Ruby is not having any of it. Normally Ziggy snuggles with us at bed time. Often wants under the covers and snuggles in. Otherwise he snuggles with Sonny at the foot of the bed. Ruby likes to sleep by M, or up on her pillows at the top of the bed. It is a king, so there is plenty of room for all the cats and us. Ziggy will chase Ruby off then sit at the bottom scowling and guarding the bed so that she can't get back on. Sort of an example of cutting his nose off to spite his face because he can't get any attention down there, doesn't get to snuggle in, but guess he's happy because he is keeping Ruby away.
Another thing that has changed since Coot & Hunter have gone is Ziggy's behavior after I leave and come back. Before if I had to travel for work. He would be so upset and pissed at me when I would get back that he wouldn't have anything to do with me for several days. He would make sure he was in the same room noticeably ignoring me. Not come when called, and not want me to pet him, etc. Now, if I leave, then when I get back he won't let me out of his site, and wants to be glued to me like a furry tumor. It takes a few days before he relaxes and goes back to normal.
So.... that's our furry family members. We wouldn't take any thing for any of them. And most definitely miss the ones that are gone.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
HO HO HO and Bah Humbug
Its really hard to accept that this week is Xmas already. Blink once and it was summer, blink again and it was fall, and now its the end of the year. We are having an unseasonably cold winter and even fall. Setting records down in the low twenties, or single digits for this time of year. I don't like the cold. I am ok if it is cold but dry. Meaning no sleet rain mix, or no wet snow. Powdery snow isn't so bad. I could do without the bitter wind though. And to be quiet honest I'd just as soon stay inside when it is cold. I like fall. I like it better when the weather is in the 40's - 70's. 80's aren't bad. I was saying the other day how I don't like the cold, and M was telling me that I don't like hot weather more. Hmmm.... I didn't agree. She insists that I am miserable when it is hot. Perhaps she is right. I used to like hot weather. Hot weather when I was young meant summer break. And if it got too hot, well, then jump in a pool, or the lake, or whatever is nearby. I love the water.
But I know that sometimes I still think of myself as I was when I was younger. When I could jump up and run across the room, when I could play ball, could hop skip jump if I wanted to. Now those things aren't an option. Yes I can jump on my bike and ride. Sometimes I ride better than I walk. M was talking about how happy a friend of hers was about something a while back and mentioned that she was so happy she was skipping across the floor. Somehow the subject changed to whether or not I could do that. Skip. I used to be able to. My brain says it still knows how. My body thinks it can. But alas. It isn't the same body it used to be. As it thinks it still is. So ok. I can't. Most of the time I accept what I can't do. Other times, I think it is unfair. Where has the time gone? Blink and my daughter is now 25. WTH. That can't be right. In a week I'll be 48. Pushing 50 as M's sister calls it. Whatever. I don't really care how old I am. Or whether anyone knows or not. Some people can't seem to believe that I am old enough to have a 25 yr old daughter. I think that is sort of like saying oh but you don't look sick.... I sometime feel oh so much older.
Earlier in this post I abbreviated Christmas as Xmas. or xmas. I do that quite often. The other day I saw someones post on facebook complaining about how people need to put the "Christ" back in christmas, and how it was somehow "blasphemous" to use "xmas" - whatever. I mean I'm sorry if someone is offended. But sometimes I think I'm offended by the extremes some people go to with religion. It's a holiday. The same people that fuss about it seem to be fine with the idea that it is also a day where we celebrate looking for some big fat hairy man with a big belly and beard that wears funny clothes wants little kids to sit on his lap and give them candy canes. Really? How confusing is that for parents to one minute tell their kids to stay away from strangers, and not to take candy from strangers etc to then say go on sit on the fat mans lap.
I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog. I started it as a place to keep track of my thoughts. Which is ok. Sometimes I do want to express things and this is as good a place as any. I sign on and get swept away reading other peoples blogs. I'd much rather be a voyuer I think. Reading about other peoples lives. They do a better job as story tellers anyway. Plus I feel I get to know them. They become my friends. Much more interesting than my boring entries. Dear Diary. It snowed yesterday. Then it melted. LOL
I had my Thyroid surgery. Recovery was really no big deal. Still look a little like someone took a knife and slit my throat and I have the scar to show for it. That should fade in time. Other than that it was a non-event. Luckily the nodules in the half of thyroid they took out were benign. There was incidental traces of cancer cells in the thyroid itself. But not significant. Whatever that means. At this point it is wait and see. I had my thyroid levels checked after 5 weeks and they are normal. Before the surgery they were high normal (or low normal, meaning low number but thyroid was over productive on the edge of normal) now it is mid normal but he wants to check again after 3 months to see if something changes. Then watch the nodules in the right side to make sure they stay stable.
M had her elbow surgery. Tennis elbow. Don't think she has played tennis in her life. But has had various jobs with repetitive motion. That and some heavy lifting. In any case, the surgery went well. Dr had said it would be 2-3 month recovery before back to 100%. She has close to 95% of range of motion back. Is still restricted on how much she can lift (no more than 25lb). And on light duty at work for another month. She's the type to have trouble sitting still and not doing. So having to take it easy has not been easy for her. Also, because of her being on light duty, I've had to pick up the slack on some things. Like carrying 40lb bags of wood pellets in from the garage to put in the pellet stove. So I've had to work harder. Some things I can do no problem. I don't carry things up stairs well. Need one hand free for balance mainly. My problem is as much my knees - especially the left one, as anything. The last synvisc wore off after about 4 months. I'm not due for one until January. The past week or two have been pretty bad. It wants to give out, and it grinds. Most painful is when it is bent and I go to straighten it. It isn't painful while it is bent, just the straightening it up. and the putting weight on it. Trying to decide when to plan to have surgery to just replace it. Right now think I'm going to wait until October. Then I can enjoy riding my bike this year. Course might be sorry if the knee causes more problems.
Like I started to say, M seems to think I sit on my butt all day. I am a network engineer. Work on a computer all day. I do get up and walk around, sometimes move equipment around. but it is a very sedentary job. However, it can be stressful. And it can be tiring. My old job I used to travel periodically. This one not really. 2-3 times a year or less. I pull a lot of on-call. 2 weeks on, 4 weeks off. That gets old. On the plus side, if I get called, I can remote in from almost anywhere. My old job I could work from home. This one office politics won't allow it.
Within a week, my daughter and I will be flying off to visit my mom for xmas. We go twice a year. At memorial weekend, or the anniversary of my Dad's death, and sometime near xmas. Mom isn't doing so well. She's 84. Has congestive heart failure - but she looks so good. To look at her she does look very healthy. But walk with her, you see she can't cross the room without getting out of breath. She has a huge in-operable anuerysm wrapped around her heart along her aorta. Part of the congestive heart failure, her feet swell up really bad, and she retains fluid. She takes meds to take the water off, and ends up in the hospital every month or two to have fluid taken off, but they have to be careful because her kidney function isn't the best either. Too much of the meds could shut them down and she could go into kidney failure. She gets so worn out, and can sound so weak. The latest thing is that she has something that causes her problems swallowing. Her throat is sore but not like with a cold/sore throat. When she eats everything tastes bitter. She says she is still eating. But the swallowing is difficult and that she will eat something that she really likes and hopes it will taste good but it doesn't. I worry about her. Also that she is so far away. 1000 miles. To drive takes 2 days. Flying is an almost all day thing too. No non-stop flights. Unless I want to drive 2 hrs to an airport, fly to another and drive 2 1/2 hrs to her place. Add the time to fly, and get there early enough to through security and it is a long process. This trip we are leaving from an airport only 15 minutes away. Have one layover then fly into another small airport that is only 1 hr from Mom. Good news is that she can drive up and get us. She still drives. I trust her to ride with her. She won't drive after dark, and doesn't like to drive in strange places or big cities. My brother lives about 5 - 5.5 hrs away. He is able to get down there to visit fairly often - least once a month. He worries about her too. Has talked about getting her to move closer to him. She will have nothing of it. As much as I worry about her being so far away, and there by herself, I see her point. In the little sleepy little town that she lives in, she has a lot of friends. People that care about her. Things are different in that little town than they are in other places. That can be good or bad. For her it is good. People know their neighbors. Look out for each other. People gossip, but sometimes in a good way. She has a church family. She isn't alone. If she were to move to where my brother is, she would be in a big city filled with strangers. Other than my brother and his wife, no one would really care. She says she would be bored, feel isolated and alone. Would hate to be a burden to my brother. Wouldn't feel safe driving herself. And would become a shut in. I think it would be the beginning of the end. But that doesn't mean I don't worry about her. And don't feel oh so far away sometimes.
But I know that sometimes I still think of myself as I was when I was younger. When I could jump up and run across the room, when I could play ball, could hop skip jump if I wanted to. Now those things aren't an option. Yes I can jump on my bike and ride. Sometimes I ride better than I walk. M was talking about how happy a friend of hers was about something a while back and mentioned that she was so happy she was skipping across the floor. Somehow the subject changed to whether or not I could do that. Skip. I used to be able to. My brain says it still knows how. My body thinks it can. But alas. It isn't the same body it used to be. As it thinks it still is. So ok. I can't. Most of the time I accept what I can't do. Other times, I think it is unfair. Where has the time gone? Blink and my daughter is now 25. WTH. That can't be right. In a week I'll be 48. Pushing 50 as M's sister calls it. Whatever. I don't really care how old I am. Or whether anyone knows or not. Some people can't seem to believe that I am old enough to have a 25 yr old daughter. I think that is sort of like saying oh but you don't look sick.... I sometime feel oh so much older.
Earlier in this post I abbreviated Christmas as Xmas. or xmas. I do that quite often. The other day I saw someones post on facebook complaining about how people need to put the "Christ" back in christmas, and how it was somehow "blasphemous" to use "xmas" - whatever. I mean I'm sorry if someone is offended. But sometimes I think I'm offended by the extremes some people go to with religion. It's a holiday. The same people that fuss about it seem to be fine with the idea that it is also a day where we celebrate looking for some big fat hairy man with a big belly and beard that wears funny clothes wants little kids to sit on his lap and give them candy canes. Really? How confusing is that for parents to one minute tell their kids to stay away from strangers, and not to take candy from strangers etc to then say go on sit on the fat mans lap.
I'm terrible at keeping up with this blog. I started it as a place to keep track of my thoughts. Which is ok. Sometimes I do want to express things and this is as good a place as any. I sign on and get swept away reading other peoples blogs. I'd much rather be a voyuer I think. Reading about other peoples lives. They do a better job as story tellers anyway. Plus I feel I get to know them. They become my friends. Much more interesting than my boring entries. Dear Diary. It snowed yesterday. Then it melted. LOL
I had my Thyroid surgery. Recovery was really no big deal. Still look a little like someone took a knife and slit my throat and I have the scar to show for it. That should fade in time. Other than that it was a non-event. Luckily the nodules in the half of thyroid they took out were benign. There was incidental traces of cancer cells in the thyroid itself. But not significant. Whatever that means. At this point it is wait and see. I had my thyroid levels checked after 5 weeks and they are normal. Before the surgery they were high normal (or low normal, meaning low number but thyroid was over productive on the edge of normal) now it is mid normal but he wants to check again after 3 months to see if something changes. Then watch the nodules in the right side to make sure they stay stable.
M had her elbow surgery. Tennis elbow. Don't think she has played tennis in her life. But has had various jobs with repetitive motion. That and some heavy lifting. In any case, the surgery went well. Dr had said it would be 2-3 month recovery before back to 100%. She has close to 95% of range of motion back. Is still restricted on how much she can lift (no more than 25lb). And on light duty at work for another month. She's the type to have trouble sitting still and not doing. So having to take it easy has not been easy for her. Also, because of her being on light duty, I've had to pick up the slack on some things. Like carrying 40lb bags of wood pellets in from the garage to put in the pellet stove. So I've had to work harder. Some things I can do no problem. I don't carry things up stairs well. Need one hand free for balance mainly. My problem is as much my knees - especially the left one, as anything. The last synvisc wore off after about 4 months. I'm not due for one until January. The past week or two have been pretty bad. It wants to give out, and it grinds. Most painful is when it is bent and I go to straighten it. It isn't painful while it is bent, just the straightening it up. and the putting weight on it. Trying to decide when to plan to have surgery to just replace it. Right now think I'm going to wait until October. Then I can enjoy riding my bike this year. Course might be sorry if the knee causes more problems.
Like I started to say, M seems to think I sit on my butt all day. I am a network engineer. Work on a computer all day. I do get up and walk around, sometimes move equipment around. but it is a very sedentary job. However, it can be stressful. And it can be tiring. My old job I used to travel periodically. This one not really. 2-3 times a year or less. I pull a lot of on-call. 2 weeks on, 4 weeks off. That gets old. On the plus side, if I get called, I can remote in from almost anywhere. My old job I could work from home. This one office politics won't allow it.
Within a week, my daughter and I will be flying off to visit my mom for xmas. We go twice a year. At memorial weekend, or the anniversary of my Dad's death, and sometime near xmas. Mom isn't doing so well. She's 84. Has congestive heart failure - but she looks so good. To look at her she does look very healthy. But walk with her, you see she can't cross the room without getting out of breath. She has a huge in-operable anuerysm wrapped around her heart along her aorta. Part of the congestive heart failure, her feet swell up really bad, and she retains fluid. She takes meds to take the water off, and ends up in the hospital every month or two to have fluid taken off, but they have to be careful because her kidney function isn't the best either. Too much of the meds could shut them down and she could go into kidney failure. She gets so worn out, and can sound so weak. The latest thing is that she has something that causes her problems swallowing. Her throat is sore but not like with a cold/sore throat. When she eats everything tastes bitter. She says she is still eating. But the swallowing is difficult and that she will eat something that she really likes and hopes it will taste good but it doesn't. I worry about her. Also that she is so far away. 1000 miles. To drive takes 2 days. Flying is an almost all day thing too. No non-stop flights. Unless I want to drive 2 hrs to an airport, fly to another and drive 2 1/2 hrs to her place. Add the time to fly, and get there early enough to through security and it is a long process. This trip we are leaving from an airport only 15 minutes away. Have one layover then fly into another small airport that is only 1 hr from Mom. Good news is that she can drive up and get us. She still drives. I trust her to ride with her. She won't drive after dark, and doesn't like to drive in strange places or big cities. My brother lives about 5 - 5.5 hrs away. He is able to get down there to visit fairly often - least once a month. He worries about her too. Has talked about getting her to move closer to him. She will have nothing of it. As much as I worry about her being so far away, and there by herself, I see her point. In the little sleepy little town that she lives in, she has a lot of friends. People that care about her. Things are different in that little town than they are in other places. That can be good or bad. For her it is good. People know their neighbors. Look out for each other. People gossip, but sometimes in a good way. She has a church family. She isn't alone. If she were to move to where my brother is, she would be in a big city filled with strangers. Other than my brother and his wife, no one would really care. She says she would be bored, feel isolated and alone. Would hate to be a burden to my brother. Wouldn't feel safe driving herself. And would become a shut in. I think it would be the beginning of the end. But that doesn't mean I don't worry about her. And don't feel oh so far away sometimes.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
whitewater rafting, biking on vacation, and getting ready for the msbike ride
ok... it has been over a month since I posted. Life is flying by. Next week is the MS Bike Ride, we are planning to ride on Saturday. M has said she has decided to stick with me and make sure I finish, that I am ok, and that I have plenty of water/gaterade. She is worried about the heat. It is going to be hot. It has been hot. Why do they plan a MS bike ride for the hottest part of the summer? I suppose most of the participant riders don't actually have MS? who knows.
We just got back from our vacation at Ohiopyle. great place. known for whitewater rafting and bicycle riding. M & W and I rented a log cabin at a local camp ground. Not exactly camping - but that was ok (great actually) we were there 5 days. The cabin slept like 6 or 8, and had 2 bedrooms, one for me & M, and one for W. Double-beds in each. Also bunk beds but we didn't have anyone else along for this trip. The cabin had AC which was great. We ate all our meals at the cabin. it had a kitchen, plus we brought a grill. We got there on Monday 7/5. Tuesday we went for a bike ride, and mistaking the instructions from the girl from checking in at the campground we turned right on the trail instead of left and travelled about 11miles downhill (2% grade) toward Connesville when we thought we were going uphill toward Confluence. Easy ride, until we turned around. we stopped for lunch figured out what went wrong and started making our way back. That 2% grade was constant, and while it really wasn't enough to notice when we headed downhill, it made a difference going uphill. I was struggling, so I let M & W head on and I was going to take my time and snap some pictures. I was about 4.5 mi away from the car on the way back and had stopped to shoot some photo's of some rafters going down the rapids, when I heard a pfft and hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, yep, I looked over at my bike, and the back tire was flatter than a pancake. it was now riding on the rim. no way I could ride it that way. I started walking it back, and realized after about 1/2 mi that I was now only travelling about 2 mph. Which meant with 4 mi left it would take me 2 hrs to get back to car. I called M to warn her I was walking. Sweet woman that she is, she pedalled back with a pump to try to pump my tire back up, but we found there was hole in tube and no stem showing. So she walked my bike and let me pedal out on hers. Saying she could walk it out faster than I could limp. Very true.
I'm doing pretty good on the bike now. It feels good to be back to riding. I really need to focus on excersising and getting my strength back. After doing the almost 22 miles last week on the vacation, I feel confident I will make the 25 miles next weekend for the MS Ride, just need to take plenty of water/gaterade. My walking isn't so good. Sometimes better than others. My left leg is definitely weaker than the right. Stairs are a problem. For a change it is now harder going down stairs than climbing up. Think that is the ankle. I'm at the point that I am thinking seriously about planning to have a knee replacement next year. I think it will help with quality of life. Also, I'm thinking I want to have it done now while I can enjoy it, and be active before I might get hit with more mobility issues from the MS and maybe won't be able to do that much anyway.
The vacation was great. On thursday we did a pedal and paddle, we rode bikes 9 miles up river, then rafted the 9 miles back down over some small rapids. it was lots of work but also fun. The water was low this time of year so we struggled a few times getting stuck on some rocks. But we made it. I felt sorry for M, she was stuck with most of the work travelling along with her 70 yr old dad, and gimp of a gf. but we all did our best and we made it.
We had some sadness in the family right before we left for our trip. M's dog was diagnosed with Lympoma a week prior, and we were hoping he would hang in there and make it the 4-8 months the vet predicted. Hunter went downhill fast though. We realized he wouldn't make it til we got back from our vacation. M made the decision to put him down before we left. We will all miss him. The house is much quieter without him. Even the cats all know something isn't right and I think they wonder where the big guy is.
M has been really taking it hard. Hunter was her baby. He was 11 and she raised him from a pup. It is never easy losing someone close to you. Even the animals who become such a part of our lives leave a big hole when they go. I miss him too. I also try to be understanding. Sometimes that is easier said than done. If you take two pre-menapausal (or menapausal - the pre may be debatable), emotional situations, it sometimes isn't pretty. Most of the time I have a lot of patience. Most of the time I can be very understanding. but there are times when you can step on my last nerve and I can't handle any more. Let's just say some days have been rough. M is the type though to sleep and wake up and it is a new day and yesterday is forgotten. I have trouble with that. Because I know a lot of it is because of Hunter I try to let it go. Also because of the various health conditions I have that are all exerbated by stress I try to let it go.
Focus on the good and let the bad slip away.
RIP Hunter Wood 1999-2010 - you will be missed.
We just got back from our vacation at Ohiopyle. great place. known for whitewater rafting and bicycle riding. M & W and I rented a log cabin at a local camp ground. Not exactly camping - but that was ok (great actually) we were there 5 days. The cabin slept like 6 or 8, and had 2 bedrooms, one for me & M, and one for W. Double-beds in each. Also bunk beds but we didn't have anyone else along for this trip. The cabin had AC which was great. We ate all our meals at the cabin. it had a kitchen, plus we brought a grill. We got there on Monday 7/5. Tuesday we went for a bike ride, and mistaking the instructions from the girl from checking in at the campground we turned right on the trail instead of left and travelled about 11miles downhill (2% grade) toward Connesville when we thought we were going uphill toward Confluence. Easy ride, until we turned around. we stopped for lunch figured out what went wrong and started making our way back. That 2% grade was constant, and while it really wasn't enough to notice when we headed downhill, it made a difference going uphill. I was struggling, so I let M & W head on and I was going to take my time and snap some pictures. I was about 4.5 mi away from the car on the way back and had stopped to shoot some photo's of some rafters going down the rapids, when I heard a pfft and hssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, yep, I looked over at my bike, and the back tire was flatter than a pancake. it was now riding on the rim. no way I could ride it that way. I started walking it back, and realized after about 1/2 mi that I was now only travelling about 2 mph. Which meant with 4 mi left it would take me 2 hrs to get back to car. I called M to warn her I was walking. Sweet woman that she is, she pedalled back with a pump to try to pump my tire back up, but we found there was hole in tube and no stem showing. So she walked my bike and let me pedal out on hers. Saying she could walk it out faster than I could limp. Very true.
I'm doing pretty good on the bike now. It feels good to be back to riding. I really need to focus on excersising and getting my strength back. After doing the almost 22 miles last week on the vacation, I feel confident I will make the 25 miles next weekend for the MS Ride, just need to take plenty of water/gaterade. My walking isn't so good. Sometimes better than others. My left leg is definitely weaker than the right. Stairs are a problem. For a change it is now harder going down stairs than climbing up. Think that is the ankle. I'm at the point that I am thinking seriously about planning to have a knee replacement next year. I think it will help with quality of life. Also, I'm thinking I want to have it done now while I can enjoy it, and be active before I might get hit with more mobility issues from the MS and maybe won't be able to do that much anyway.
The vacation was great. On thursday we did a pedal and paddle, we rode bikes 9 miles up river, then rafted the 9 miles back down over some small rapids. it was lots of work but also fun. The water was low this time of year so we struggled a few times getting stuck on some rocks. But we made it. I felt sorry for M, she was stuck with most of the work travelling along with her 70 yr old dad, and gimp of a gf. but we all did our best and we made it.
We had some sadness in the family right before we left for our trip. M's dog was diagnosed with Lympoma a week prior, and we were hoping he would hang in there and make it the 4-8 months the vet predicted. Hunter went downhill fast though. We realized he wouldn't make it til we got back from our vacation. M made the decision to put him down before we left. We will all miss him. The house is much quieter without him. Even the cats all know something isn't right and I think they wonder where the big guy is.
M has been really taking it hard. Hunter was her baby. He was 11 and she raised him from a pup. It is never easy losing someone close to you. Even the animals who become such a part of our lives leave a big hole when they go. I miss him too. I also try to be understanding. Sometimes that is easier said than done. If you take two pre-menapausal (or menapausal - the pre may be debatable), emotional situations, it sometimes isn't pretty. Most of the time I have a lot of patience. Most of the time I can be very understanding. but there are times when you can step on my last nerve and I can't handle any more. Let's just say some days have been rough. M is the type though to sleep and wake up and it is a new day and yesterday is forgotten. I have trouble with that. Because I know a lot of it is because of Hunter I try to let it go. Also because of the various health conditions I have that are all exerbated by stress I try to let it go.
Focus on the good and let the bad slip away.
RIP Hunter Wood 1999-2010 - you will be missed.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Saturday Bike Ride
This past Saturday the weather cleared enough in the morning for us to a short bike ride. W is in Colorado so he missed it, but I went with M and her sister and a friend of her sisters to ride back at City Island. I did promise M that I would walk my bike up the steep ramps along front street (just in case - after all this was the site of where I broke my ankle the last time I was on my bike back in January.) The weather was nice, although the wind was strong toward the end. I did 7.9 miles, actually closer to 8, since the odometer rolled over while I moved my bike around before putting it back on the rack to head home. So I think I did pretty good.
M & the rest did a lot more than I did. There was a crowd at City Island so they opted to take the regular bridge (with the cars) instead of the walking bridge. I wanted to take it easy while I got over the fear of falling off my bike so I decided to just ride around the Island a bit and by the time I did that the walking bridge traffic cleared so I went across that. I met back up with the others briefly but found I had trouble keeping up. So let them go on without me and took my time. I met back up with them later. I know the last 3 miles or so were tough. My muscles really felt it. And my left knee. In spite of getting another injection last week. M was concerned and hung back to make sure I made it back to across the walking bridge because she figured I had to be tired. I am very lucky to have someone like M in my life. I'm sure I don't tell her that enough.
Riding felt good. I had a little trouble starting off - feeling a bit wobbly (ok a lot wobbly). I had a couple moments of panic trying to push off and or stop when I didn't have the strength in my left leg to get the bike going and was wobbling along with the voices in my head saying "don't fall... don't fall... you going to break something again if you fall..." So getting past the fear was kind of a big thing. I hate being afraid. I don't like being afraid of anything. Sometimes I look back and think what happened to the younger me. The one that wasn't afraid, and the one whose body hadn't yet started to betray her. I could run, jump, climb, even crawl. I played sports, and didn't have to think ahead as to where I was walking, watch my balance (I wobble walking sometimes too - not just on a bike). I can't squat down, my knees can't deal with it. I have trouble kneeling and/or crawling on my knees for the same reason. Run? forget it! And now since falling off the bike a couple times and breaking my ankle the last time, a part of me knows that fear is something real, not just in my head. I do need to watch out, and think ahead and be careful, and try not to fall. So the fear is there, and it has grown. Bah!
M & I are planning a trip in July to Ohiopyle. We will take W with us, JJ is going to house/dog/cat sit for us. We are taking the bikes, and will ride some of the rail trails in the area. I'm excited about the trip. I'm hoping I'll be up to do the trails and will be able to keep up. I am a little nervous about the surgery this Thursday and how quickly I'll be able to recover. Mainly I'm worried that my weaker left will be able to handle doing all the work for a few days - going up/down stairs when I get home from the surgery, etc. I'll just have to tough it out I guess. M also wants to go white water rafting while we are at Ohiopyle. I went once years ago (over 30 yrs I think). I think it will be fun, but I'm nervous about that too. She wants to do the upper yough which is the toughest. I am being nervous Nelly and think of all that could go wrong. I miss the me that was adventurous and unafraid. And most of all strong and pain free.
M & the rest did a lot more than I did. There was a crowd at City Island so they opted to take the regular bridge (with the cars) instead of the walking bridge. I wanted to take it easy while I got over the fear of falling off my bike so I decided to just ride around the Island a bit and by the time I did that the walking bridge traffic cleared so I went across that. I met back up with the others briefly but found I had trouble keeping up. So let them go on without me and took my time. I met back up with them later. I know the last 3 miles or so were tough. My muscles really felt it. And my left knee. In spite of getting another injection last week. M was concerned and hung back to make sure I made it back to across the walking bridge because she figured I had to be tired. I am very lucky to have someone like M in my life. I'm sure I don't tell her that enough.
Riding felt good. I had a little trouble starting off - feeling a bit wobbly (ok a lot wobbly). I had a couple moments of panic trying to push off and or stop when I didn't have the strength in my left leg to get the bike going and was wobbling along with the voices in my head saying "don't fall... don't fall... you going to break something again if you fall..." So getting past the fear was kind of a big thing. I hate being afraid. I don't like being afraid of anything. Sometimes I look back and think what happened to the younger me. The one that wasn't afraid, and the one whose body hadn't yet started to betray her. I could run, jump, climb, even crawl. I played sports, and didn't have to think ahead as to where I was walking, watch my balance (I wobble walking sometimes too - not just on a bike). I can't squat down, my knees can't deal with it. I have trouble kneeling and/or crawling on my knees for the same reason. Run? forget it! And now since falling off the bike a couple times and breaking my ankle the last time, a part of me knows that fear is something real, not just in my head. I do need to watch out, and think ahead and be careful, and try not to fall. So the fear is there, and it has grown. Bah!
M & I are planning a trip in July to Ohiopyle. We will take W with us, JJ is going to house/dog/cat sit for us. We are taking the bikes, and will ride some of the rail trails in the area. I'm excited about the trip. I'm hoping I'll be up to do the trails and will be able to keep up. I am a little nervous about the surgery this Thursday and how quickly I'll be able to recover. Mainly I'm worried that my weaker left will be able to handle doing all the work for a few days - going up/down stairs when I get home from the surgery, etc. I'll just have to tough it out I guess. M also wants to go white water rafting while we are at Ohiopyle. I went once years ago (over 30 yrs I think). I think it will be fun, but I'm nervous about that too. She wants to do the upper yough which is the toughest. I am being nervous Nelly and think of all that could go wrong. I miss the me that was adventurous and unafraid. And most of all strong and pain free.
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