Snow - Yeah Right!

Well - it's another Seattle Winter Storm!! Yeah - I woke up this morning hearing that the Issaquah Schools were closed - in fact almost all the school districts are closed - I climbed out of bed - looked out the window to see the winter wonderland - I saw pavement! No snow - Not snowing - looked like a regular morning. Why are the schools closed? I turned to the TV and watched as they listed the schools again - Issaquah Closed - due to the possibility of heavy snow this afternoon and concern for the safety of their students and staff. You're kidding! They never closed schools for that when I was in school - and I went to Issaquah High School! I can remember having to walk to the fire station on Tiger Mountain Road because that was where the bus would pick everyone up - they would not drive through Mirrormont. Back in my day we would hike through 3 feet of snow to the fire station - up hill both ways - just to go to school!!!!! OK - maybe not that bad but we would have to go to school. I drove to the park and ride and rode the bus in to work. I will keep an eye on the weather and keep looking at traffic cameras in Issaquah to check on any snow accumulation. If it starts looking like it might get bad I will just go catch a bus and head home.

Niki went to the Vet yesterday and had her pain patch removed. She seems OK - still not eating - the doc gave me some pain meds to give her to see if that helps her to eat - nope this was not included in the previous payments so I had to fork out another $30. I let her stay out with everyone last night and when I woke up this morning I had 3 animals curled up tight next to me trying to stay warm! Even Muppet - who is not a snuggler when she sleeps - was curled up tight under my arm. I kinda wished it had snowed a lot last night so I could just stay in bed with them.

Well - I'm gonna get started on my work so that if it really starts snowing I can get outta here. Here are some pics of little Niki and Muppet. De

Ice - Cold - Pennies

Well - the first "icy" drive of the winter wasn't too bad for me. There really weren't that many icy patches between here and the park and ride. I had an appointment after work today but decided I would rather deal with trying to get a bus home at the right time than to try driving in to work. I got to the park and ride after 624 so I figured I had missed that bus. There were a lot of people in line - come to find out, the 624 bus was late so I didn't miss it after all. On the ride in I watched Fred Claus on my iPod - I rented the movie from iTunes. It was actually a pretty cute movie. I finished watching it on the bus ride home. Tomorrow I have to make it to an appointment in Kirkland after work with Niki - so I have to get home - grab her - head back out - get to her 430 appointment. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to drive in to work or take the bus again. That will be a decision for the morning. One thing I know I'm going to do - wear more clothes!! It was dang cold out there this morning. It's been awhile since I've walked around outside when the temperature is in the teens. Definitely need to layer it up. It was so cold that BJ and I didn't walk to our regular Starbucks - which is a couple blocks form work - we went across the street and went to the one in that building.

L just called me a few minutes ago - she said she was still in Tukwilla because the roads were icy and wanted to know if she could stay here tonight because the roads up at Bama and Bepas were pretty icy. My first statement was - i guess you didn't go to work today - Nope. I told her that she could come here but that she needed to be here by 900 because that was when I was heading to bed and that she would need to get up and leave at the same time as me in the morning and I have been leaving at 600. She was all - hmmmmmm ohhhhhh hmmmmm - I guess I'll call you tomorrow. Guess that means she isn't staying here with me tonight. After I got off the phone with her a couple of things came to mind - why didn't she drive back out this way while it was daylight and driving on the side streets wouldn't be as bad - what does she plan on doing if the snow that is predicted to come no Wednesday and Thursday actually happens. The house rules are going to be the same - be here by 900 and leave with me in the morning. I am sure she hasn't thought that far ahead - planning is not exactly part of her vocabulary.

Oh - Tony you are a very funny guy!!! I got home tonight to find a package on my doorstep from Texas. I picked it up and it made quite a lot of noise - many things rattling around. I opened it to find the payment for the Apple Cup bet - which was $5 - but instead of a nice crisp bill I got a plastic bank filled with pennies!!! That's just great!! I guess I'll be taking a trip to CoinStar and turning it in for a gift card - if you choose a gift card instead of cash you don't have to pay a fee. So I guess I got a $5 iTunes card!! The funny thing - it cost him more to send the pennies than the actual amount of the bet!! That's a Husky for you - not real good in the math department!

De

First Snow

I woke up this morning to the first snow of the season. It snowed a couple of inches during the night - it stuck mostly to the grass and cars but because of how cold it was the stuff that melted on the road actually turned in to ice. It's going to be below freezing most of the week so there's not much hope for the ice to go away anytime soon. When I took Muppet out this morning she took a corner a little too fast and her feet went sliding out from underneath her - it was like watching a Charlie Brown cartoon when Snoopy goes sliding across the frozen pond. I wish I'd had a camera!! It is getting colder tonight and L's room was always the coldest room in the house so I have moved Niki to my bathroom for the night. She spent most of the day out by the fireplace but I caught her sneaking in to the other bathroom to try and eat some of the dry food that is out for Buffy. It just made my tailbone twitch thinking of eating something hard and crunchy after having had all my teeth pulled out!

De

Just Another Saturday

Niki is doing fine - she spent most of the day laying in front of the fireplace - definitely her favorite spot. she has been eating canned food and hopefully is on the mend. The poor thing is having trouble keeping her tongue in her mouth - no teeth to hold it in and with the stitches in her tongue I think she has trouble controlling it a bit. Update: No call or text from L checking on how Niki is doing.

Today Muppet went and got her first picture taken with Santa!! She wore her Christmas Coat that she got from Colleen last year - looked very cute. As soon as I figure out how to use the scanner I will scan it and post it.

Not much else to write about - some interesting things going on down in Texas today - I need to check with my family down there though before I blog about it. Not my drama to share.

De

De's Animal Clinic

Niki was able to come home this morning. I called around 7 and they said she could be picked up at anytime. I got down there a bit before 8 but didn't get to take her until after 9. As I was paying the rest of her bill - yes I had to pay even more because I didn't come get her after she had been there for 12 hours so they charged me for another 12 hour block! So - as I was paying the bill 2 young men came rushing in with their cat in a box - saying they didn't know what happened - one of the boys was crying and he put the box down saying please don't have died on our way here - he was gently shaking Milo and calling his name. They took him and his friend into a room - Milo had passed on. It was heart wrenching to watch. These boys didn't look like the emotional type let alone the cat types. They had long hair, gaged ears, piercings - - looks can definitely be deceiving. They left to go sit in their car for a bit while the doctor's were going to try and figure out what happened. It just broke my heart. I know how they felt - my baby Joie passed on rather suddenly 2 years ago -you never get over something like that.

Niki seems to be doing ok - she's pretty stoned right now! I put her up in L's for awhile - gave her some canned food with her anti-biotics mixed in - she lapped it all up! I set up her own little kitty box in there too which she used so I know she can do it all. I had put a bed in there for her put it was up too high so she is now using Muppets bed - I will have to figure out what to do with Muppet on Monday. I brought Niki out in to the living room to be with the family for awhile - she really likes to sit in front of the fireplace so I put her bed there and she has just been resting. Buffy is standing guard right by her. I just caught Buffy trying to clean Niki and had to stop her - don't want her to dislodge the pain patch or any of the stitches. I will have to move Niki back to L's room at bed time so that Buffy stays away from her.

I need to go play nurse maid - Niki needs her mouth wiped.

De

PS - When I posted about decorating I made a comment about having to make sure the cats didn't knock over the Christmas Tree! Well - Buffy got very interested and when I got home from work this is what I found.

Niki - Update

It has been a very long day today. I got Niki to the dentist at 800 and Dr Matson examined her to decide what all needed to be done. I have to say - he is the first Vet I have met that has a really good bedside manner. He walked in to the room and started talking to Niki right away and petting her and making sure she was comfortable with him - then he introduced himself to me. Niki seemed to like him and started purring up a storm. She was purring so loudly that he couldn't hear her heart beat - did you know that when you take a cat in to a dark room they stop purring? He took her in to the bathroom and it worked - he was able to listen to her heart. Then came the looking in the mouth part. Niki was not happy - you could really tell it was hurting her a lot. He did make a comment about the nasty odor coming from her mouth! That should be gone not that there isn't anywhere for the bacteria to hide - yup - they had to extract all of her teeth.

I left her with the vet dentist and headed in to work - got there at 9 which wasn't too bad - that's what time most of the department gets there anyways. I tried to concentrate on work but I did find myself constantly checking my cell phone to see if I had missed a call. At around 200 I called the vet to check up on her and was told they were just finishing up with her and Dr Matson would call me when it was done. At 245 I decided to run across the street to get a sandwich - yup - as soon as I wasn't watching the phone they called - I must have been on the elevator because it went straight to voicemail. Niki was still very groggy - enjoying the drugs Dr Matson said! When he got in to her mouth he discovered a thick mass under her tongue - so he had to cut that out and suture her tongue back together. When I went in to pick her up he showed me pictures of what her mouth looks like so I won't be tempted to open her mouth and look in. When she comes home she is going to have to be separated from the rest of the animals for 2 weeks so that Buffy doesn't lick her and make the stitches come out - makes my tailbone twitch!!

Niki wasn't doing real well coming out of the drugs so he said she needed to stay at a 24 hour care facility over night - so I paid my bill with Dr Matson (1890) and headed to Alpine Hospital in Issaquah to drop Niki there and pay another bill (deposit of 176). This cat has become the most expensive pet in the family!

Dr Matson and the staff at Eastside Veterinary Dentistry are wonderful. They took such care with Niki and kept me informed on everything that was going on. Dr Matson called Alpine Hospital to set it up there for Niki to spend the night and told me that he will call there tonight to check on her. On the take home papers they gave me his cell phone is listed in case I have any questions or concerns once Niki is back home. You can tell that they all love the animals there and that this isn't just a job. Thank You Dr Matson for taking care of Niki and assuring me that I was doing the right thing.

De

Niki

Over the past couple of days I have had to do some soul searching. I love animals - my pets have always been a part of the family - I have always said I would do whatever it took to keep them happy and healthy as if they were my own children.

Niki is L's cat - she picked her out 2 years ago when she came home from Montana - she was a rescue cat from Petco - poor thing had been there for 6 months without anyone choosing her and L fell in love with her so we adopted Niki. Like most everything L has adopted - once the newness wore off after a few months and the tediousness of having to feed, water, and clean up after her got to be too annoying for her she just stopped taking care of her. Niki has an issue - she seems to be allergic to the bacteria in her mouth - the back of her mouth swells up and she can't swallow very well so she drools on everything - cortisone shots were working for awhile but their effectiveness has worn off. Now it is time to go to the next step which is to have her back teeth pulled so that the bacteria doesn't have any place to hide. Of course you have to take them to a specialist for this - did you know there is such a thing as a Veterinary Dentist? I didn't. So - I called the specialist on Tuesday and they had a cancellation for this Thursday when they could check her out and do the procedure all in one day. I won't get the actual price quote until this morning but the receptionist said to expect it to be at least $1K.

Now came the soul searching part. I know that if it were Muppet or Buffy that needed to have something done I wouldn't even be giving it a second thought - they would be in there and I would figure out a way to pay for it. For some reason I haven't been that way with Niki. In fact - I seem to be more angry than anything else about this. I talked to someone on Tuesday who helped me put it in to perspective. Niki is L's cat - I didn't pick her out - she wasn't my cat she was L's. Once again L has gotten something and abandoned it and I am left to clean it up and take care of it and I resent having to do that. It really kind of pisses me off that I am having to use money that I don't really have to take care of a cat that isn't really mine. Then my compassion for animals comes out - it's not Niki's fault that her human Mom left her and doesn't seem to care about her - side note I did let L know that Niki was having to go in and have this done and invited her over to spend some time with her and she said she would but then never showed up. So this morning I am taking Niki in to hopefully get better. It is like she went from the cage at Petco to being adopted by someone who wasn't really prepared to give her what she needed to now being adopted/rescued again by me. So - I am choosing her this time. After today she will be my cat - she will be part of my family - and she will be loved and cared for.

I will update this post tonight to let you know how she is doing.

De