Sunday, September 22, 2019

Cats, part 1




“Big” Cat

 






Some of you may remember I've been a "Dog" person most of my life until I moved to Ventura. My first four years here were at a very small place and they didn't allow pets. We did get a Gerbel (Moondoggy - but that's another story). When we moved to the "House by the Tracks" we were allowed a single cat. This is where it all began, my metamorphosis to "Guy Crazy Cat Lady". 


Over 14 years ago, we finally got the approval to get a pet in the house we rented. No Dogs allowed, just one cat. Damn. I grew up with dogs, had ‘em all my life. There always seemed to be a cat, too, but they were secondary. Dogs were “Where it’s at”. But we were only allowed a cat. Everywhere in Southern California, it’s “Spay or Neuter” Country. Free Kittens are almost nonexistent. We checked ads and grocery store bulletin boards. Someone on a “free stuff” website gave me the phone number of a farm near Camarillo that had free kittens so I called, got directions and drove there. A huge produce farm with the farmhouse rented to someone not connected to the farm operations – just renting the house. The place had a big barn, fading red paint. Reminded me of a typical Morrow County barn. Just no “Mail Pouch” ad on the side. It was filled with machinery used on the produce farm, no longer housing animals.

I knocked on the door and a jolly old lady answered and showed me into the kitchen. She said she’d call the kittens and I could take my pick. She grabbed a small cat food can from the counter, held it up in the air and popped the top with the ring tab. It makes a certain sound that all cats hear. It says, Food! Within moments, 6 kittens came galloping in and strutted back and forth at her feet. I picked a female Tabby.


After I got her home, it was “Naming Time”. Charlene came up with “Tiger Lily” or “Tiger” for short. All my life, dogs come when you call them, cats do not. I thought it was dumb to give a cat a name. I mean, they’re going to ignore it so why waste a name on a cat. So I just called her “Cat”. Damn if she didn’t learn it and come to it. So, Cat it was. Since there was no dog influence happening, I paid attention to Cat. Learned a lot about cats from her. They like to eat, play a little, use the litter box and then sleep for hours and hours. Wake up, repeat. That’s the life of a cat. Well, that and teaching us how to spoil her. She did allow me to teach her to come when I whistled, like I was whistling for a dog to come. That was pretty amazing. She pretty much would come when I called her name and whistled. Unless she was resting comfortably numb on the couch. She’d raise her head and give me one of those “Fuck You!” looks and put her head back down.


Cat loved to be pulled on a towel or small rug. You’d grab one end, she’d jump on the other and you could pull her everywhere through the house. If she fell off, she’d run to catch up and jump back on. It was hilarious. Other times, she would tear through the entire house, bouncing off doors, walls and furniture. Just a blur for minutes at a time. Then, curl up and sleep for hours. She was very entertaining. She was very beautiful, too. Most of all, she was very loving and loved being spoiled. The original “Lap Cat”. She didn’t care if you had a book, a plate or a laptop on your legs, she just jumped up and laid down, expecting you to drop everything else and pet her for an hour. Then, eat some kibbles, use the litter box and curl up somewhere else and sleep for hours. What a life our cats lead. So stressful…. not!


The only stress in her life was when we got Scout and Moose. Kittens it seems, love to play rough with their new big cat friends but the friends don’t want to and run off or fight back. Too many times we’d see Cat just sitting on the floor with Scout approaching. Scout would come face to face and sit, several inches away. She’d put her ears back, cock her head and slowly reach up with a front paw to touch Cat’s head. Instantly, Cat would lunge forward, knocking Scout on her back and stand over her, staring at her face. Then she’d back off and sit where she started. Scout would slowly get up, sit in the same spot and start the same routine again. With the identical results. You’d think after half a dozen tries, you’d try something else but Scout just kept getting up and getting knocked down again. That’s when I realized little kittens sure are dumb. This kind of stuff went on for months with Scout always the loser. Scout did minor ‘attacks’ on Cat for years until we got Moose.  At that point, Cat said enough is enough and set Moose straight the first month and Moose left her alone. But Moose attacked Scout, who ran and rarely fought back.


We enjoyed Cat’s love for years, even giving her and Scout access to our back patio. She loved the morning sunshine by the front door and the afternoon sunshine on the back patio. She’d sleep for hours past sunset on a patio chair. She loved sneaking through the flowers, chasing lizards and sniffing everything. Charlene works night shift and when she’d come home in the morning, Cat was always waiting at the front door. “I love you, I missed you, Gimme cat treats”…….


A few weeks before last Christmas, we had to “put down” Cat. In the month previous, she started getting big in the middle – not fat overall, rather like she swallowed a football sideways. And her hind hip bones were starting to show. We took her to the Animal Doctor (that’s their name) and they ran initial tests, said it was fluids and couldn’t find anything else. Charlene and I had felt for lumps and we couldn’t find anything either. So they did an Ultrasound and found an advanced Liver Cancer tumor. There was fluid in the upper chest and fluid in her lower abdomen. Cancer had spread to lymph nodes. Surgery, chemo, radiation stuff wasn’t an option. Draining fluids would be a major surgery thing and it would just fill up again quickly. It was more of a “when would you like to euthanize her” type of discussion with our Vet, Dr. K. She was very kind, very understanding, very sympathetic. She let us know what to expect as things went downhill and when it would be time for the ‘medical procedure’.


So we took Cat home. For the next 2 weeks, we spoiled her rotten. We tried to give her pain meds and anti-nausea meds but after the first day, she refused. The Animal Doctor would call every couple of days and check up on her. I remember one of Charlene’s e-mails to the vet stating the things Cat ate that day: “a little cat food, bacon, Caviar on White Castles– heck, we’d give her a shot of Vodka if she wanted it”. Yes, I did give her Caviar on a White Castle hamburger. I told you we were spoiling her rotten.

Doctor K had told us the telltale signs to watch for, how to tell when Cat was suffering. About two weeks later we knew it was time. We arranged for Dr. P, an in-home Hospice Vet to come to us. She was marvelous. I think she is part animal therapist, part people psychologist and a 100% great Vet. She did post-grad work in Animal-Human Relationships. She even gave us a book she had written on how to deal with the loss of a loving pet. She spent half-an-hour explaining the steps she would take and what we would experience as Cat was put to sleep. When the time came, Cat was under the Christmas tree and it was going to be a struggle to get her out as her head was into the tree ‘trunk’ and her butt was facing us.

 Cat loved sleeping under the Christmas tree. She would be there for hours every day we had the tree up, every Christmas. We had to arrange the presents under the tree to accommodate her. One of the telltale signs that the end was near was Cat started hiding. She would face a wall and sleep there, her body sticking out. Now she was ‘hiding’ under the tree, her head against the trunk and her butt facing outward.
 
Dr. P got down under the tree and gave Cat a sedative so we didn’t have to traumatize her pulling her out from under the tree. We waited till she was in ‘sleepy land’, picked her up and put her on Charlene’s lap. I sat next to Charlene. Over the next half hour, Dr. P administered the meds to release Cat from suffering.


 When it was over, Dr. P took Cat’s body to The Animal Doctor who arranged for cremation. The next morning, the doorbell rang. It was a special delivery of a single red rose and a sympathy card from Dr. P. She even called to see how we were doing. She’s such a caring person.


A week later, I picked up Cat’s ashes from The Animal Doctor. A beautiful Cedar Chest with brass hardware including a lock. On top, a big metal plate with her real name, “Tiger Lilly”. We think about her daily.
 
She taught me all about cats. She was a patient teacher and I love her so much for that. Because of her, I became the Guy Crazy Cat Lady. We all miss and love you, Cat.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Well, there's another Christmas to Remember......

Well, there's another Christmas to Remember.....

We had a great Christmas and I hope you did, too..  I took the 24th off as a vacation day and was up early as usual.  I let Charlene sleep in until 9 am.  As I gently awakened her, she went into a frenzy:  "It's Nine! OMG, I've got to get to the store and get a roast and get it prepared and I've got to get........" this went on for a minute and then she ask the time again as if I was just kidding the first time. "Actually, its 9:15", I said.  Then back to the "I've gotta get up and get going right now", but she got up and got going, right then and there.  After doing the bathroom thing, getting even more beautiful and eating a quick breakfast, she sets off for the Christmas Eve Dinner fixings.  I start cleaning stuff up for the dinner and present opening later.  Whenever you see a photo, click on it to see the bigger size, then close that window to return here.
     


Charlene returns and as she is prepping the Ribeye roast, we both finish the cleaning.  For the next several hours, I incessantly ask, "Can we open presents now", to which she constantly replys, "No."  Like the Simpson kids.   Travis wants to be a Chef and starts Culinary College at Oxnard College next month so he's always in the kitchen cooking or assisting.  Here he is checking the roast.  Notice the pyrex cake pan that Charlene cooked the roast in...........

We were just minutes from serving dinner, the table beautifully set by Charlene......



So, the roast is done, gotta make gravy.  Charlene usually just uses the pan the meat/poultry was cooked in and sets it on the top of the stove, turns on a burner. First time for doing that in a pyrex pan.  Last time, too.

The next 4 pictures are what I call "The CSI Scene.  Twice in the last 14 years, Charlene has had a Pyrex glass pan shatter into a million pieces, once by setting hot dish on the counter, the other by setting the hot dish on the stove grates.  This is a new way to shatter glass....Whoa!  As she was stirring the gravy, Trav was just to her left side fixing potatoes  when it went.  Charlene was fine, Trav caught a big piece of glass in in lower leg.  Not a bad cut, just an artery.  Blood went everywhere.  She made him lay on t he couch, leg elevated and used a compress to stop the bleeding.  I went in to clean up the CSI Scene........here's the stovetop


Here's the floor after a quick sweep......


....and here's the corner of the stove where Trav was standing......

















I got the mess cleaned up and we had a delicious dinner (without gravy) and then proceeded to open presents........

     After dinner, we opened presents.  Big Cat enjoys the festivities, Scout high-tales it outside till the 'opening' is complete.  Here's Cat enjoying a bow.......


















Here's
Scout, saying" I'm out of here, open the door!"


So we had fun opening presents, including Charlene's new guitar and my new camera.....


























































And Trav?  He's fine.  Here's a pic of him opening presents with his new "Red Badge of Courage" (without the red).



So, hope your Christmas was merry and less red than ours.....
            Kelly, Charlene, Nicolas, Travis, Cat and Scout.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

My Daughter's Blog

I started my blog over 4 years ago because I was bored.  I was off work for a month due to back surgery and thought, hell, I'll do a blog.  So I did.  The first few really sucked, and a lot since kinda suck.  My best, the one I love, took months to write.  I wanted it to be the best I could and I think it still is.  You can see it at:  http://crazykellyofcowlifornia.blogspot.com/2011/05/project-moonwatch.html  .  Most of what I write is silly, sometimes serious.  I was one of the more faithful bloggers, writing and posting regularly.  Others I know had blogs or starting blogging but have dropped off the planet.  I kinda went lax myself.  A friend of mine in Florida kick-started me recently and I wrote about my knee operation.  I like to include photos sometimes, other times, not.  I think of things to write almost everyday but when I get in front of the computer, I blank.  I've tried taking notes beforehand but it just doesn't come out right so I give up.  One of those things where the words got to flow by themselves.

My daughter, Shelley had a blog going and she, too, dropped off the planet.  In the last few days, she's opted for Mission Impossible and writes a blog almost every day.  I can't do that.  She, on the other hand is an excellent writer, very smart, very funny.  I am so proud of her talents (and a little jealous, too).  I would like to share the blogs she has posted in the last few days.  I'm sure you'll agree with me that this lady has talent.  Here's the latest blogs she has written, in order.  Post comments on them if you wish.

The Posts That Never Were ---------------

 http://deliciasez.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-posts-that-never-were.html

First Date--------------------

 http://deliciasez.blogspot.com/2013/11/first-date.html

 Someone To Watch Over You---------------

http://deliciasez.blogspot.com/2013/11/someone-to-watch-over-you.html

Regarding Morning Things-------------------

 http://deliciasez.blogspot.com/2013/11/regarding-morning-things.html

Today, she is sick as a dog but still managed a 'disclaimer' post

Nothing To See Here----------------

 http://deliciasez.blogspot.com/2013/11/nothing-to-see-here.html

Sunday, September 22, 2013

And What became of the knee?

September 22, 2013
How's your knee?  I get that a lot in the last few weeks.  Friends and relatives (and work) are texting, e-mailing and calling to find out how my Total Knee Replacement surgery went. Thought I'd give you the full unvarnished story behind my ultra new, porous titanium steel replacement knee.  Porous is the new style that allows bone to grow into it and glue is no longer used.  Lasts a lifetime, or so they say.

Years ago, it was 3rd or 4th grade, I used to jump out of playground swings.  You know, where you pump as high as you can and then 'jump' at the top of the forward arc.  Was a lot of fun until I came down on my right knee locked.  Ouch!  I crawled home 3 blocks from Clinton Elemtary School that day.  Ouch, again.  That was the initial thing that started all this....well, that and 43 years of copier repair.  "Copier Knees" as we in the trade call it. Those 43 years of crawling, bending, kneeling, etc made it worse and eventually very arthritic.  For the last 20 years or so, it's gotten worse, locking up, buckling, swelling, paining.  Last year I had it 'cleaned' out as the surgeon explained.  the following x-ray was taken just before that 'cleaning out the gravel' surgery about 18 months ago.



You can see some of the debris in the joint.  That's the stuff he cleaned out last year. Should have stayed 'clean' for three or more years.  Not! It came back with a vengeance plus more this year.

Sister Pat and Cuz'n Kent were here during the 4th of July week.  Charlene and I took that week off as a vacation and we were all having fun, doing things, playing around.  We went to a restaurant on Tuesday evening and later that evening, in the  middle of the night I got a bad case of shivers.  So bad that my entire body was racked with shivers, slight fever, and a quick case of sick-to-my-stomach.  Took a hot shower to warm up and went back to bed.  Woke up the next morning with terrific pain in my right knee and in my lower back where I had back surgery 3 years earlier.  The knee swelled to about twice normal size and my back pain was almost as bad as it was before that surgery.  Went to Family doctor who gave me some pain pills, ordered blood tests.  Went back to see Family doctor on Monday and he immediately sent me to the ER.  After 10 hours in the ER, I was admitted to the hospital.  I spent 5 days there, had a million tests, got sloshed with bags and bags of antibiotics.  They never did figure out what was wrong or what caused it. Never was any infection. After I ws release from the hospital, I saw Doctor Knee Surgeon.  He said that whatever it was had come and gone, maybe viral but my knee didn't have an infection, just inflammation.  He showed me how my knee joint had gone bad beyond repair.  He had me sit in a chair, pulled up both pant legs and straightened my legs. My left leg was straight, the right one was bent out about 10 degrees from the knee to the foot.  Knee joint beyond repair he said.  He gave my knee a shot of steroids/pain killer and it was much better the next day.  Doctor Knee set up an MRI (had gobs of x-rays from my stay at the hospital. so no more of those needed.  The MRI showed what we both knew-- time for a total knee replacement....bionic man in the making.  I took a few weeks to think about it and my knee just got worse so I opted for the surgery.  

Total Knee Replacement recovery is slow and painful.  Lots of physical therapy stuff that brings tears if you do it right.  Much worse than hip replacement.  There's a small window of opportunity to get the surgery to heal correctly and permanently. If you don't do the therapy correctly and promptly, it heals wrong for the rest of your life.  Yuch!  Everyone I talked to said it was worth the pain and suffering of therapy to walk normal again - something that would take 4-6 months.  Worse yet, I had been walking 'funny' with my leg bent and on my tippy-toes to offset the pain and walking bent over, making my back worse.  Both of which made the recovery worse.  Ahh!  Superman Syndrome.  All us guys suffer from that.

Friday, Surgery Day. 
Charlene and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning, filled out the forms and played with the pencils on the Group W bench.  I changed into 'Naked Man' hospital gown and they wheeled me off at 7:30 for surgery.  I really don't remember mcuh of that, uh, actually none of the surgery, thank God.  Charlene had told me how it goes in this operation and the less I knew, the better.  I awoke as I arrived at my room.  It was a single room, no screaming, moaning bed buddy.  Charlene had arranged it all during my surgery.  Great room, great view of the hill side with Two Trees on top.  Beautiful at night, too with all the hill side city lights.  From what all the nurses and doctors said, it was the best room on the floor.  Here's a view out my giant window:



 Three days prior to surgery, I put myself on a clear liquid diet (juice and jello) so I wouldn't need a bed pan for a few days after surgery.  Works great.  Lunch was being served as I arrived in the room and being starved for 3 days, I chowed down.  For the most part, the food is great.  Here's a couple of photos of what they served me:



The evening of the surgery, they had me walk, assisted of course, up to the nursing station and back.  That kind of astounded me.  I mean, they cut my leg in half, fixed it back together, sew it up and have me walking 12 hours later.  One very cool invention that makes this possible in a Femoral Nerve Block gizmo.  It's a balloon filled with pain killer and it's sealed inside a plastic capsule.  It's about the size of a pack of cigarettes.  The thing is a tiny IV that has a tube inserted in my groin, fed down to my knee so the knee is totally numb for a few days.  Makes this operation possible for the patient.  Regular narcotic pain pills don't touch this kind of pain. 

Here's a pic of me in my naked man hospital gown.

The blue and gray wrap thing on my left leg is a massager to keep blood clots from forming in my good leg. Twice a day, the physical torture, uh, physical therapy lady would come and give me exercises to do, walk me around the hospital floor and cheer me on.  They also hooked my operated leg to a mechanical 'exerciser' machine that slowly straightens/bends my leg.  I had control of the amount of 'bend'.  If you are sitting in a chair, leg straight down to the floor, that's a 90 degree bend.  I would be hooked up on this for 2 hours, twice a day, before the PT lady would come. Think I started with a 40 degree bend the first day and eventually worked my way up to a 100 degree bend. I learned to take two pain killers before the machine and therapy.  It was the beginning of the weeks of PT I will endure.

I had brought a couple of Jack Reacher novels to read and Charlene had brought me a couple of joke books to read.  Here's a picture of one of them:

Don't you just love these things - full of so much bullshit that they are actually funny.  

On the 4th day at Club Hospital, I was walking with a walker around the hospital unaided.  On the 5th day, I was released to go home.  The surgeon had arranged for a 'stretching machine" (actually called a CPM) to be delivered to our house for 3 weeks.  Also had home PT set up for 3 days a week for the next 2 weeks.  Oh, joy....

When all this stuff started in July, Charlene got me several walkers from the thrift stores.  The first one is one of those two wheels on the front, rubber balls on the back.  But she customized it with 'skids' on the rear, making it easier to move.  Even got a cup holder.  Here's a picture of "Tennessee", my walker:



She also got me the 4 wheeled kind, complete with hand brakes.  Here's a picture of "Clint" my 4 wheeled walker complete with seat.  Wow!
About the only problem I had after getting home was that I almost killed myself on pain meds.  First day, I'm up early, take my two pain meds and get on the CPM thing.  Within an hour, my blood pressure went disastrously low.    Seems the pain meds in the hospital were a 5 mg. dose and my home stuff was 10 mg.  Ooops!  By afternoon, we had figured it out and I was better then.  I've got an electronic blood pressure gizmo that straps on my wrist and for the next two days, I checked it around the clock.

If you can stand it, here's a pic of my knee after I got home:
 

I went to see Doctor Knee on Thursday and he gave me the following grades:
Healing    A+
Flex (bending) A-
Straight out leg lock B+ (I'm only at 178 degrees instead of 180).

I'm set up for out patient PT 3 times a week and see Doctor Knee in 6 weeks.  I do my CPM three times a day for 2 hours each, followed by my tear dripping PT.  Me and Clint go for slow walks to the Buddist Temple and back as well.  Slow but sure. I mean even the Mummy is faster than me.

Doctor Knee gave me a x-ray of my new knee:
 

There you go, you are up to date on "What became of the knee"

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Helpers



It’s Christmas time, a time for presents, fun, family.  Kind of sad that some idiot in Connecticut ruined it temporarily for friends and family of Sandy Hook as well as the rest of the Nation.  We watched CBS Sunday Morning today and there were nice tributes of love and Christmas Spirit shown.  Heck, Charles Osgood even played the piano and sang the “I’ll be home for Christmas” song.  He’s very good at that, something I hadn’t realized in all the years I’ve watched/listened to him.  I came away with a happy/sad feeling after the show.  Then, I stumbled upon a “Mr. Rogers” quote today and pasted it on Facebook.  Advice to parents about what to say to your kids when a “Sandy Hook” happens.  Here’s the quote:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world.” — Mister Rogers.

My heart goes out to the family, friends and especially the responders of the tragedy.  Lots of talk of gun control, laws to be passed, things to be done.  For me, I just want to be a helper.  For those of you who have experienced sadness, a loss this year, that first Christmas can be rough.  For my friend, John and others like him, I wish for you the strength to get through what should be a joyous time and let you know if you need to talk, I’ll be your helper……..

             Kelly