This is the FUNNIEST thing I've ever seen on the internet

JB is funny but not like this video

This was on Peggy's facebook - I seriously laughed out loud at this. Not just a 'lol' but, for those who know me, it was a BIG LOL. Too funny. You must watch it more than once to really see the whole thing as you'll be laughing through it the first time:
Click this link: Patty cake with cats

This cat has gotta go!

So, I'm sitting here in the living room, writing another eHow (yes, still at it...) and I hear a 'thud' in the kitchen. Now, I know it's not Mom as she's upstairs taking a nap after her shower so I'm sitting here thinking, 'What dog did that....' No sooner did the thought surface than Killian came flying into the living room to me. If he had a tail, it would have been between his legs. He was all but crying. I laughed out loud as his ears were back, his eyes a bit wild. I think he thought he was about to get it and I believe he was running to tell me he didn't do it (for once).

Anyway, I snuck into the kitchen and found JB on the kitchen counter, in the little bowl I keep there for daily discards. The sucker saw me and flew off the counter, ears back. Rat bastard cat....

I guess I'm not a 'new mother' anymore...

When Mom first came to live with me after Dad died, I panicked at any little thing that she reported as unusual. 'Your elbow hurts? Let me call the doctor.' 'Your knee. Doctor' 'Cardiologist app't today Mom. Yes, I know you feel fine but let's GO.' 'Of course we're going to the doctor - you just sneezed!'

So, she's been nursing an earache for the last 4 days and, since it was dragging on, I did make her go to the Dr yesterday. Nothing really unusual going on except a little fluid and probably a slight sinus infection. She got a very light antibiotic which was fine. The 'sweet oil' I've been heating in the microwave and shoving in her ear with a piece of cotton gauze (left over from Killian's sore foot - no cottonballs in the house....) seems to have actually helped.

Anyway, today, we both ended up in the livingroom at 4 am after having cups of coffee with John. She fell asleep in her chair, I'm on the sofa with a sore back (yes, I'm also aging...). She got up at 7 and walked to the bathroom. On the way back, she looked at me and told me her chest hurts. Now, in days of yore, I would have immediately hit the 'I've fallen and can't get up button', run around securing the dogs while simultaneously dressing myself and packing a hospital bag for her, all while waiting for the ambulance to deliver my precious charge to the local hospital and trained medical personnel. Today though, I looked at her and said 'Well, you're ok. You were sleeping crooked.' I propped her up with fresh pillows, straightened her butterfly clip in her hair (this is our version of 'dressing' her), and covered her and Matee with her blankee. 15 minutes later, I was proven correct. Chest pain is gone. I've survived 2 years of being a new mother. I guess I've graduated. Good thing as my 'baby' will be 93 tomorrow!

Now, I've got a sick cat too. Took poor JB to the vet yesterday as his cough has returned. Since he's got the feline AIDS virus, I'm particularly interested in keeping him healthy so he doesn't roll into full blown AIDS and a much shortened lifespan. The vet drew blood, put him on a twice a day antibiotic (note to self: don't mix up antibiotics!) and did xrays of his chest to see if anything else was going on. The vet and I were shocked and saddened to see a bullet in my cat's chest. The poor thing has been shot sometime in his past, and, the bastard shot him at close range. Luckily, the bullet lodged in soft tissue and didn't implode on a rib or a bone.

Now, this is about the most wonderful cat going (and, this is coming from a dog girl). He's totally trusting, loves his family as much as a cat can, accepts the dogs (mostly) and is quite the amazing creature. How he's managed to survive not only being homeless 5 years but being shot and, God knows what else, is beyond me. Even if he does roll into AIDS, something tells me this cat is a survivor. We'll do what we need to do to ensure his continued health and safety.










John and I spent Saturday on the boat in a pouring rainstorm which was fantastic. Loved it. We had Matee and Rita with us so took a rather damp walk over to Chesapeake Beach on a great boardwalk with the ladies, where Matee found a new best friend, a fox terrier with a tennis ball obsession!

Sunday, we powered over to Tilghman's Island which appears to be our normal path for brunch and then headed back. Gorgeous day on the bay although it was a bit rocky in the mid part. Still, any time on the bay is wondrous.

How to catch a cat in the act

So, you know the tale tell sign that the cat is grooming - the lick, lick, lick, slurp, lick, with a few sighs of content thrown in. I came upon these sounds the other day while JB was in the kitchen. Now I've been fascinated by watching him groom previously; this cat gets into some acrobatic poses that would make the Cirque d'Soliel performers green.

So, the only thing I had handy to document the poses was my phone - good thing it has a camera. I was on picture 4 before he realized something was up. I just love these photos (if he had a middle finger, he would have used it in the last photo):

You want me to do WHAT?!

JB in his favorite pose - my antique chair in the foyer. His exercise routine is stretching out in it 3 times a day. To add insult to injury, he's lying on a pillow that has a picture of the dogs on it....

Cats are supposed to catch mice, right? You'd certainly think so. Having been homeless 5 or so years, I was assured that this cat, in particular, would never let another vermin into my Mansion. I believe the statement Amy (his original rescuer) use when I inquired about his mousie-catching prowless was something to the effect of 'He's a champion mouser.' Liar, liar, her pants are on fire..

I had seen signs of a mouse again last week so, once again, John, Mom and I cleaned out all the cupboards, washed everything and put it in the (now junked up) dining room. I took JB over to the spots where I'd seen mice, patiently explaining that now was the time for him to earn those tasty salmon treats he enjoyed so ($3.99 a micro-ounce), and that fresh cream daily, etc. I explained to him, quite clearly, my expectations, even going as far as putting him in each of the drawers in the hopes that catching the scent of a mouse might wake him up from his perpetual slumber. For the cupboard under the drawers, I put him in the cupboard and was hoping he'd look around. No go. He was only interested in the bologna sandwich on the counter. So, not to be outdone by a cat, I picked him up, returned to the cupboard and shook him so that, at least, his fur would be left behind. He was a bit offput by this behavior and gave me a nice scratch to show his displeasure. Ok, I thought. Maybe he has his own way of dealing with the issue. He, being the cat, must know best.

Imagine my surprise (and what should have been his shame) when I discovered yet another mouse had met his untimely demise at the hand of a tiny guillatine in my (empty) silverware drawer. Yes, that's right....I believe JB was sleeping at the time, or, more likely, licking himself....

John took the mouse right to JB to show him what he SHOULD have been doing during the night. The cat (honest truth), peered at the mouse, looked at John and, if the cat had a middle finger, I believe he would have utilized it - cat turned on his heel and sat with his back to John, me, and, well, the quite dead mouse.

'Maybe the mouse needs to look alive,' I whispered, hopefully. So, John gently turned it to and fro, waved it in front of the cat. This time, the cat looked quite disgusted as he departed the kitchen - even his morning bowl of cream wasn't worth this attrocity. Who did we think he was?! I didn't see one bit of regret, no shame, no embarrassment, no nothing. In fact, if anything, I think I detected a wisp of arrogance as he turned to sharpen his claws on my dining room chair.

Luckily for JB, I (if not the dogs) find it unimaginable to think of life around here without him. He continues to bring us much joy - and vet bills....

As I type this, he's sound asleep on the leather sofa. Killian is quite confused...

Been a LONG time - again!

Our 'dainty' cat, JB in his favorite pose. Give him a beer and a cigar and he's quite comfortable...He's doing quite well acclimating to the house and the dogs and Gert. In fact, a bit too well - he's taken to following me everywhere (yes, even the bathroom). He's more attached to me than Killian is.

So, it's been quite a while since I've updated the blog - a few things have come into play: John rebuilt my computer so my photos are currently not available until I get my double-external hard drives (which back themselves up - no more lost work!!), and I just haven't had time to get to it. But I will do a quick update, at least on Gert, today.

So, I can't sleep the other night, and I've been sitting in the living room since 3 am. Mom tottles down the steps at 5 looking for a cup of coffee and a few oatmeal cookies. I asked her why she wasn't asleep. Her reply:

"Damn knee. It gets up before I do." Made an appointment that day for a trip to the doctor.

So, we went to the doctor appointment last Monday to check on sleeping pills (must have better ones!) and more pain reliever for Gert's knee. Doctor gave her the next step up in the Fentanyl patch and gave me pretty strict instructions to watch her for side effects. So, Tuesday, put on the new heavy duty Fentanyl for the first time and have had many talks with Mom about side effects (getting 'goofy' is what we call it but, then again, if you know my Mom, you know that she never was quite 'right'). So, we're in the living room, she's watching tv. She looks at me and laughs and says 'I just saw a bird fly right in front of my eyes.' Cracked us both up but uh oh! Here it comes...

But, so far, no horrible side effects. We'll phase in the sleeping pill tonight. I've had another cold the last few days and wanted to wait until I felt better to watch her through the night - I'm sort of expecting some confusion and weakness when she needs to get up. So, tonight, I'll sleep in the guestroom (aka 'the dog room') which is right across the hall and will sleep lightly. But, she's doing quite well and is still on top of her game, humorwise.

More later.

On making new friends....

So, with the world rapidly becoming larger due to the ability to connect with others on the internet, I've made some amazing 'friends' (whom I probably will never meet).

This morning, I sat down in the livingroom, sipped a cup of coffee, ruminated on the fact that DC is in the midst of the largest snowstorm this year (and I'm driving tomorrow!). I turned on the PC and headed over to eHow to catch up for the day. I found this wonderful tribute in my inbox - this is from an eHow friend named Susan Golis:

"My mom lived with me, the last year of her life she was 90 when she passed away. I loved her living with me, we would play cards, and watch TV, go shopping, talk, laugh, plan menu's, plant flowers, we were more like friends than mother and daughter. Sometimes I would fall asleep on the sofa next to her, and awake with her asleep too...she would be holding my hand. Treasure the moments that you have with your mom...."

It's quite heartwarming to run across people such as Susan on the internet. I've 'met' other eHowers who also leave me nice messages and share their experiences with their own aging parents. What a surprisingly nice support group - one that I never even considered when I started playing around with writing articles again.

Here's a link to Susan's articles - go up there and peruse some of them - they're quite good:
http://www.ehow.com/members/Susang6-articles.html

And, here's my latest, greatest -
How to Save Money With Vacuum Sealers

Oh, I made a grand total of $14.27 last month (double the previous month). So, I have a total of $22.07 to spend on something for John's new boat - I'm figuring it's a bottle of wine and 2 candy bars....

Snow is falling and it's gorgeous out - we have probably 4-5 inches at the house here. The dogs were running like crazy around the backyard - I swear I can sometimes hear them laughing.

We also have a new occupant here a the OK Corral - 'Jim Beam' (aka 'JB') the cat joined our crew last month. It took me only about 2 weeks to fully acclimate him to the dogs - he's running around the house right now keeping the mice away - haven't seen a mouse since he came in so it's working. He's quite a nice cat and quite BIG, weighing in somewhere around the 20 lb mark. He's got Rita beat by a mile.

JB is FIV positive which equates, sadly, to Feline Aids. He's probably around 5 or so and quite healthy at the moment. I found him when a dear friend of mine (Nan) knew about his situation. Nan is also the one who hooked me up with The Paw Pad where we got dear wee Rita from.

Anyway, JB was being cared for by a wonderful woman (Amy) and her husband down in Fairfax. He was homeless but, thankfully, Amy cared for him with food. Her dogs are cat-agressive so JB hung out mostly on her porch, awaiting any human contact. He's affectionate-hungry and loves to sit in my lap, curl up into a large ball, bury his head under my arm and drift off to sleep. Quite a change for a cat who once was chewed up and spit out by a pit bull. It's amazing to me that, given his background, he adapted so quickly to the dogs. In fact, this cat is much more dog than cat - he follows me everywhere.

Did I mention that JB is LARGE? He loves to eat. Here he is drinking some milk while the dogs scarf up breakfast.

JB will remain an indoor cat as long as we're in this house - I cannot handle the heartbreak of killing yet another cat. At last sight, he doesn't appear to mind a bit - he's curled up on his bed sound asleep, safe, well fed, and warm.

Here's the eHow I wrote about acclimating JB to the dogs - of course, when I wrote this eHow, I had NO clue how to acclimate a cat. I just did what made sense and it seems to have worked. Who knew?!