back to kansas

Monday morning I'm heading back to Kansas.  Sis called, they are stopping the chemo because it's not working and the tumor is growing.  She has an appointment next Wednesday for the hospice group to come out and get that arranged.  Hopefully we can get all the financial and legal details tied up while she is still able.  

Damn It!

Sister Suzy has taken a shine to a kitten a friend's family has found.  We may end up with it.  I've explained about the deposit and the increase in rent.  So we will see what happens.  (I expect when I get back to have another cat.  I hope it isn't as mental as the last one!)

I think I have the Blogger problems straightened out so maybe I can get on and post.  I won't know until I get to Wichita.

Catch y'all later.

Judy

my solution

This is what happens when you have several hundred miles of flapping, shredding tarp and rope beating on your fake leather recliner.

The more you touched the arms the worse it got.  It had gotten to the point if you sat down in the chair you had little flaky bits all over you.  So this is my solution, cover the arms.

I had a raggedy pair jeans that couldn't be rescued.  So I cut the inseams, center front and back seams out.  I did some fancy pinning, trimming and sewing.  And viol`a!  Arm covers that look like they are going to stay on and not slide around like the kind our mothers had on the arms of their sofas.

I haven't figured out what to do with the back of the recliner yet.  Right now a folded afghan covers it.

Next up, is to finish packing because I'm heading back to my sister's in Wichita probably for the summer and maybe part of the fall.  Or at least until the doctors can get her pain under control, so she can figure out what she wants to do.

Hope everybody is having a good day!

Judy

well that was annoying

For some reason when I went to connect to the USB port of my camera to the USP port of computer for down-loading the pictures I had taken, the computer wouldn't complete the connection.  Sister Suzy wants to use my camera (She has misplaced hers) so she took the cable and camera to her computer and down-loaded all the pictures to a jump-drive.  She brought the jump-drive in and stuck it in one of the USB ports on my computer.  The computer read it as a removable drive like its suppose to.  I can now load the pictures into my computer.  What The Hell!  So I guess I can now show you what I was up to over the last 5 months.

Stay Tuned

Judy

still here

I finally got back into blogger/google.  What A Pain!

I've been at my sister since the middle of November.  Got back to Phoenix yesterday, will be here for a little while and then will return to Wichita.  Her cancer has flared back up and I've been shuffling her back-n-forth from doctor appointments and chemo treatments.  However, I needed to come home to take care of taxes, lease on the apartment, and supply Sister Suzy with moral support.

I finished a bunch of projects at my sister's but because of blogger/google not letting me into my account I couldn't do any posting.  So while I'm taking care of business here I will post pictures about what I have finished.

Later,

Judy

coming home from my sister's

Coming home from my sister's at the end of May, Sister Suzy wanted to take a different route home than the ones we have taken in the past, to see something new.  After consulting the Trucker's/Motor Carrier's Road Atlas, I decided that a route across Southern Colorado might work.  If we stayed on US-160, it would dump us at Tuba City, AZ. Then you take US-89 into Flagstaff catch I-17 to Phoenix.  Or we could head south out of Cortez, CO or Durango, CO and head down to I-40 and across.

I really wanted to head to Globe, AZ and spend the night.  Then head over to Roosevelt Lake and down the Apache Trail but Sister Suzy and my sister weren't feeling well after spending 2 nights in Durango, Co. So, we stayed on US-160 as we left Durango, came across the Navajo Nation, into Flag and on into Phoenix.

I think it was the altitude, because after a night here at the apartment they were both raring to go, again.  We went up the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flats to the souvenir shop, had Prickly Pear Ice Cream while we were there shopping for trinkets for my sister to take back with her to Wichita.  I ask my sister if she wanted to go the rest of the way up to Roosevelt Lake.  She said she had seen enough of the Apache Trail and wasn't interested in the windy-ass dirt road above Tortilla Flats. Wuss! We did stop on the way back to the apartment at The Fry Bread House for Navajo tacos.  Yum!

Since my battery charger for the camera was acting up, I only got a few pictures of our ride on the Durango to Silverton steam train.

Some of the curves are tight enough that you can see the engine from where you sit.  We choose to sit in one of the refurbished passenger cars because we weren't sure how cold it would be.  Come to find out, if you sit in one of the gondola cars (open air) you will be covered in smoke-n-soot and could be hit with sparks. We were very glad we were in an enclosed car!

 This is the train after they have turned it around and we are ready to go back down to Durango.  Interesting fact: the conductor told us it takes 5 tons of coal to make the climb from Durango to Silverton and only a half-ton for the trip back down.  We stopped going up and coming back down for day-hikers and people rafting the Animas River.  My sister and I want to ride the train up to the drop off point for hikers.  Wonder off a ways, whip out our folding chairs, sit in nature for a few hours, then get back on the train and ride back to Durango.

It was interesting to look at the valley that Silverton sets in.  We were huffing and puffing at that elevation (9300').  If we had had a vehicle, we could have been a lot higher (13,500').

I would recommend if you want to go across Southern Colorado the week-end before or around Memorial Day to make any room reservation well in advance. The desk clerks told us that everybody graduates that weekend, which explains why there were very few (if any) rooms available at the inn.

I hope everyone is having a lovely day.

Judy

cameras and battery chargers

I had planned on posting some pictures of the quilts I finished over the last couple of weeks out of my 'I screwed-up; I don't know or have the will to fix it' bin.  But, I can't get the battery charger to charge the camera battery.

It looks like the flux capacitor (a circuit board) on my battery charger has died.  The battery charger gives me a green light although the camera says the battery is low.  I dismantled the battery charger.  I used a screwdriver to test for current at each junction.  When I get to the last set of contacts all I get is the green light, so I need to get a new charger and while I'm at it a new battery, too.

Hope your day is going better than mine is.

Judy

Edit:  WaHoo!  I took the battery charger apart again, wiggled around some wires and the red light came on!  We are charging the battery, I think, hope, pray.  Won't know until the green light comes back on and try it out.  Jude

Alright! the battery is charged expect a blog post with pictures tomorrow.

puzzles

I like putting puzzles together but I don't want boxes of them setting around.  You put the puzzle together once and I'm ready to move on to the next one.  I wonder if they have puzzle exchanges.  You know, like, game exchanges where you take in your x-box/PlayStation games you are tired of and exchange them for something different.  In a city, the size of Phoenix you would think so.  I guess I need to do an Internet search out of curiosity.

So, while I was stuck sitting in my chair because moving set the back muscles to spasming, I found a puzzle site out on the web.  The site is called Jigidi and at a price, I can afford.  Free!  I'm having a lot of fun zoning out and putting the puzzles together.  My favorites are landscapes and doors, of all things.

This puzzle was created by jayelldolls and the link to the puzzle is http://www.jigidi.com/puzzle.php?id=614Y0VWL.  I have noticed it takes me about twice as long as the slowest time shown.  I don't know if I'm slowing up in my old age, have trouble with shape and color placement, or I'm taking the time to really enjoy putting them together.

Well, I have some more puzzles bookmarked, so I'm going to dive back in and avoid the housekeeping for a while longer. 

Y'all have a good day, hear!

Judy

a public service announcement

When one is drinking a cup of tea at your computer, DO NOT try to kill a bug you let in.  If you want a new keyboard and mouse, just go get one.

This ends this public service announcement.

Have a good day!

Judy

EDIT:  I discovered I get to purchase 2 new lamp shades, also.  One is for the lamp shade that now has a tear in it and the second one is so I continue to have matching  lamp shades.  Sigh!

that was interesting

That was interesting!  I was bringing up a heavy load of groceries and coughed at the same time.  I threw out a rib on the right side.  Holy-moly! I couldn't breathe, couldn't sleep, couldn't raise my arms, stoop, walk, type...nothing.

After several trips to the Chiropractor I can now breathe...function.  I'm hooked up to my TENS unit so when the muscles feel like they are tightening up I can zap the nerves and keep the spasms from pulling the rib back out of place.  I'm still not back a 100% but being able to take a deep breath is so wonderful.  This has brought home the point quite forcefully, again, that breathing is optional not a given.

It is interesting that the lower back and neck are considered easy to get back into place and stay in place.  While the thoracic area isn't because of the complexity of the ribs, muscles and shoulder blades and their supporting muscles.  So, basically, I'm waiting for the muscles to give up or be retrained to leave the ribs where they belong.  And I am ready!

Which brings me to...my Muse came to visit before all this started and I was so excited to be able to play and create with her.  Why is your Muse always feminine?  Could there be a masculine Muse?

Did you know that using a rotary cutter, ironing and sitting at a sewing machine all use muscles in your thoracic area?  I finally got the top together and I hope I get it quilted in the next week or two to show to you.

Got some other thing I want to show you too; so until I get some photos taken I hope everyone is having a good day.

Judy

belle's wedding quilt

I finished Belle's quilt right before Sister Suzy and I left for a trip back to Kansas after she finished her first quarter of school.  I started this quilt over a year ago.  It spent several months setting after I started it because I just didn't feel like finishing it.  It was one of three; I started and lost interest in over the last year.

This is a tossed nine-patch, believe-it-or-not.  When I saw it out on the web in this size I was surprised at how different it looked from the one I had seen on a quiltinaday you-tube video and made for Sister Suzy one Christmas.

I just realized I made one for both Belle and Sister Suzy!  Kewl! The connection between Belle and Sister Suzy is they have been friends since third grade.  Sister Suzy was the Maid of Honor for Belle in October when Sister Suzy flew back to Kansas for the wedding.

Side Note: Flying in and out of Mesa to Wichita is a lot easier than Sky Harbor to KCI or Ok City.  Mesa and Wichita are smaller airports with only one building and you can get direct flights at a reasonable price.  Then getting from KC, MO or OK City to Wichita is an additional hassle.

I used the Crazy Short-cut Quilt-as-you-go Method to set the quilt together with.

I know I keep talking about this method of setting a quilt together.  But...man...it beats the hell out of wresting a king-size quilt's worth of materials in a home sewing machine!  And you end up with a nice looking quilt.

I spent a lot of time thinking, as I quilt and set it together, on what kind of border I was going to use.  The plans for this quilt is on my computer with the dead motherboard and I couldn't for-the-life-of-me remember what I had decided for a border.  So, this is what I decided on.

Belle was using fall colors for her wedding and I just happen to have some fabric that fit the bill.  Yeah, for a closet of fabric!  I decided to offset the borders instead of using cornerstones or the standard horizontal set of the border.  I think it gave the quilt the right pizzazz.  I chose a solid green for the binding and outside frame.

On the back, I used solids for the backing, setting the blocks with gingham.  Yeah, more gingham out of the stash!

I really like how the back turned out.  As you can see, I played around with different ways to quilt each block.  I was trying to hold boredom at bay.  It helped.

The quilt ended up being 96-inches square, with each block being 14-inches square.  I did not make a nine patch and then cut it.  I just built each block using a 10-inch square, 2 - 10x5 rectangles and a 5-inch square.  Most of the fabric was previous cut strips leftover from other projects.

Well the label is on.

So it it time for me to wish all of you a good day!

Judy

the state of my mind

No, I have not abandon my blog, just went through a very dry spell of nothing done creatively and a prolonged spell of melancholy.  I have come up for air again and hopefully I can reestablish some enjoyable routines again, like building quilts, knitting, cooking, and other pursuits.

My beast of burden  (the 2005 Focus) died.  Finally got an estimate on the check engine light that had been on for two years.  It was the front catalytic convert at 2,000 bucks.  Since the car was only worth $300 to $1,000 with 260,000 miles, it is not worth the repairs but it ran, and ran well.  The final blow was the car acted like something was wrong with the battery/alternator/starter and the mechanic could not find anything wrong, but all the gauges on the dash would quit and the car would die.  The car died on Sister Suzy at Christown Mall after a movie and would not restart after letting set overnight.  Called the junkyard and had them come pick it up.  Did not realize how much stress I was under about the car until the tow-truck pulled out of the parking lot and I cried from relief.

Anniversary of Hubby's death plus the financial bombshells and repercussions that have been occurring the last year did not help any either.  Things are better but it is still going to be a while before everything is taken care of.  Of course, the vultures/bill collectors do not believe there are no assets as 95-97% of all Americans have some kind of assets.  There was nine dollars and 41 cents in our checking account the day he died.  No life insurance, no IRAs, no stocks, bonds, property, real or personal that were unencumbered, zilch, nada, nothing.  So, basically, I am waiting them out by ignoring the phone, taking all the collection notices and putting them in a file and when I get his ashes interred, I will address the collection notices.  The phone ringing is stressful.  It reminds me of the financial mess that is setting in the file cabinet that I do not have the money for a lawyer to resolve.  In the meantime, the needs of the living come first, not some bill collector, in my world.

I have been stressing over Sister Suzy's first quarter of graduate school.  Will she pull it off or not?  17 hours of graduate level class in 10 weeks instead of the standard of 9-12 hours over 16 weeks.  The last couple of weeks were touch-n-go, but she pulled out A-minuses across the board.  So, this quarter is starting out a lot calmer.  She is still behind the 8-ball on books, 2 of the 4 are going to be late coming in, but she has a workable plan for those.

My sister went through a cancer scare this spring/summer.  The doctors say it looks like they got it all, so now it is in the wait-n-watch phase.  She is now dealing with the side effects of Chemo and Radiation, hair growing back, deep bone pain, weakened muscles and neuropathy.

And, for the icing on my cake of woe-is-me, my knees hurt like hell and my weight is ballooning.  Cortisol levels are way up, asthma is bothering me, and blood sugars are being stupid.  I.e. the stress of being me is getting to me.  But all is not lost, I have started mediating, again, and doing EFT to bring down the stress/cortisol levels which is helping the asthma and blood sugars.  Which in turn is helping the weight so if I can get some weight off maybe the knees will lighten up a bit.  Which would help my mental health by not being in such pain, which means I will feel like doing something.  Which...

Okay, I have bent your ears enough.  Back later with some pictures of a quilt I actually finished.  I hope everyone is having an enjoyable day.


Judy

goings-on

Well, I decided to come up for air and post something on my blog just to let y'all know I haven't abandon it.

Sister Suzy is safely nestled in the other bedroom waiting for the first day of graduate school.  She's a bit nervous after the first day of orientation.  She thinks she may have bitten off more that she can chew.  Which I think is good, in that, she won't go into this complacent.

One hiccup is none of her books is in the university bookstore and the disbursement of student loans isn't until the third day after school starts.  However, she is not the only one and the professors were made aware.  There is some scrabbling in the background to loan some books until everyone has money to get their books ordered and in.

Got a crap load of junk in the dining room I need to go through...hang pictures on walls...quilt racks on the walls...books to put away and such.  Still got a crap load of junk in the storage room in Kansas to get rid of or find a place for here.  But that storage room has a lot less in it than when I rented it in November of 2013.  I hope to have the storage room emptied the next time we head back.  Two years is all the time I want to invest in storing stuff.  Time to let the stuff/junk go or put it to use again.

More later

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

ready for sister suzy

I finally got the master bedroom ready for Sister Suzy.  Damn, I hate bunged up knees!  I took down the Vertical blinds that seem to be ubiquitous to Arizona on all windows and doors.  Oh, and patio doors are arcadia doors in Arizona, too.  You get some really puzzled looks when you talk about your patio doors until they make the connection.

Can we say butt ugly!?  I thought we could!  Also, note they do nothing to protect from heat/cold infiltration.  I don't think they had ever been taken down to clean, if the top of the bracket/rail was any indications. It looks like all maintenance did was replace damaged slats as you can see in the different shades of white in the slats.

Any way, this is what I came up with.

I went to Hobby lobby and picked up 5 yards of white flocked drapery lining.  I made a sash/black-out curtain and hung that over the door blocking out any light that might come around the curtain as well as blocking out the cold/heat.  That curtain alone cut the temperature in that room by at least 10 degrees and the A/C isn't cycling as much.  Then I hung the drapes I originally bought for the front room on the rod that the finials screw into but only used one and butted the other end up against the wall.  I used rings on the sash curtain so you can open the curtains and step out the door.  But like a dummy I got the wrong size rings for the drapery rod, so I had to just run the drapes on the rod until I can get the right size rings to finish the project.  This makes the drapes hang a little high in the picture.

If Sister Suzy wants it darker in her room, I will go back to Hobby Lobby to get the black drapery lining fabric and make another curtain.  She has a security light just outside her patio door shining on the mailboxes and courtyard.  It really lights up that room and the balcony.

Well I'm going to be off line for a month or so while I'm back in Kansas getting Sister Suzy and visiting family.

Y'all hold the fort down and don't have too much fun!

Judy

just checking in

Just checking in, been having all kinds of computer problems.  Took my tower into Best Buy and they tell me my motherboard is dying although the funky sound is coming from the hard drive.  I got on Hubby's computer and sent an e-mail to his brother-in-law because I decided they were full of it.  However, I will have to stop calling them names after he e-mailed back and said it is a good possibility that something on the motherboard isn't working right and not feeding the correct power to the hard-drive.

So, I've got to dig through all of Hubby's computer stuff and see if there is a spare motherboard lying around.  Find all the disks for the software and if I have the right ones.  I'm also looking at just moving my hard-drive to his computer.  Then running both hard-drives from his, but I will need all the software before I start and his computer needs to be upgraded to Windows 7 cause his still has XP on it.  Also, he has some sort of exotic motherboard that is specifically for re-mastering music and videos and the standard stuff isn't always compatible.  Ah, for the days of our old KLH 286 with plug-n-play.

Don't have much to report on the quilting front.  I have two quilts started and with the blocks about half quilted.  I have lost interest in both.  Come to think of it, I have three quilts started and laying around. Sigh!

I haven't started cleaning out the second bedroom.  I need to get a move on it as I am heading to Kansas the middle of June to load Sister Suzy up to bring her out here with as much stuff as possible.  I would love to rent a truck and empty the storage room and my sister's garage but I may not have the funds to do it. Another sigh!

On another front, I'm beginning to think I may be allergic to corn. (Sister and oldest daughter are/were allergic to corn.)  I've been watching my caloric intake in an effort to take some strain off my knees.  I had a bowl of popcorn about a week ago and overnight gained five pounds.  (I gain 2 to 5 pounds if I have any dairy.)  It has taken me a week to get most of that weight back off.  If that (being allergic to corn) is true, I will probably need to drop peas and soy from my diet as they are/were both allergic to those items, also.  Double sigh!

Well enough grousing!  There are lots of good things going on, too.  Even if it's nothing more than John Bradford's, "there, but for the grace of God, goes I."

Y'all have a good day!

Judy

latest additions to my summer wardrobe

Here are the two latest additions my summer wardrobe.

The pink print is your standard V-neckline with one important change.  I bring the point of the 'V' up about an inch, as I really don't like exposing my cleavage.  My last name isn't Kardashian, so leaving nothing to the imagination, just isn't my thing.  Something my dear sainted mother pointed out when I was 13-14 was, if you wanted to be treated like a lady, look like one and act like one.  It rang a bell, along with, you are responsible for any child you procreate until that child is 18.   Do you remember how old 18-year olds were when you were 13-14?  E-gads, they were almost as ancient as my parents!  LOL  And did you know that a V-neckline has a slight curve to it?  I didn't until I took that pattern making seminar.

The green Hawaiian print's neckline was inspired by a pattern I saw when I was making sure I was spelling Butterick correctly last week.  That was pretty easy to do.  I took the front opening for the slit-neckline and using the lid off the rice storage container as a template I drew a slight curve on the facing.  Then I laid it down on the front of the shirt matched up the neck line and sewed it on leaving about two inches unsewn so I could attach the back facing and sew up the shoulder seams before finishing the rest of the shirt.

I am reorganizing and cleaning the kitchen so I maybe off-line for a while.  I need to make room for Sister Suzy moving in with her stuff in July.

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

second improvement to summer wardrobe

The second improvement to my summer wardrobe finally got finished today after a couple false starts and an attempt by myself to screw up the other knee.

I used the pattern pictured as inspiration for a better neckline.  I redrew the neckline a couple of times before the old noggin remembered I had a pattern making kit in the closet.  I dug it out and got the neckline much closer to what I wanted. (Still needs a bit of tweaking)

Some of the best money I have ever spent.  I bought this kit and the one for pants back in the mid-80s.  There was a seminar that went with it to explain how to get the most out of the kits and some pretty cool tidbits like; why Simplicity patterns are usually two sizes too big, McCall's are one size too big and Butterick and Vogue are usually dead on.  Which helps explains to me why I always preferred the fit of the Butterick and Vogue patterns, as well as the fact they were more couture/stylish.  Interesting side note: while I was making sure I spelled the names of the pattern companies right, did you know McCall's now owns the Butterick and Vogue labels?  Me, nether!  If you ever run across either one of these kits or the clear acrylic ruler that goes with the kits grab them.  The best thing that ever happened to altering patterns so what you make fits.

Anyway back to my new shirt, I went through my button box, which is a plastic 7” x12 “x12” drawer in one of those tower thingy's, and found a button in the buttons I inherited from my mother I liked really well.

It's old and some of the gold is worn off but I think it adds to the charm of the button.  I moved the button loop down a little from the edge of neckline for the fun of it.  The jury is out as to whether or not I think it was a good idea.

Well, on to the next one.  I'm thinking maybe a keyhole neckline for the next shirt or a V-neck or a scoop then there is a square neckline.  I don't think I want any collars but who knows where my imagination could wander off too.

I hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

Oh yeah, the knee!  Friday morning as I was coming out of the kitchen my left knee popped and I thought I was going to the floor but caught myself with the table and hung on for dear life.  I finally got myself back to the bedroom using a folding chair as a walker to get to Hubby's cane.  Then, I used both of them for the rest of the day to get from the bed to the bathroom.  I was eating naproxen like it was candy.  All I could think of was, "Man as bad as I hurt, I don't even want to experience this pain without these pain relievers."  It took me until the middle of the night to remember I have a TENS unit for the other knee that would work just fine on the one that was hurting so badly.  LOL, I know, kind of slow! By Saturday afternoon all I needed was the cane to get back-n-forth.  Yesterday, I made it down the stairs to the dumpster and to the mailbox only using the cane for the stairs part.  The weird part is the lower calf muscle is painfully tight and the muscles up the outside of leg into the hip are stiff-tight.  So much for my doing a bunch of exercises to strengthen the muscles that support the knees and doing more walking to get the weight off for the time being!  Jude

sister suzy graduates

One of my reasons for heading back to Kansas in December was for Sister Susy's graduation.

(Not the best picture but considering it is from my little point-n-shot from half-court...)

They had her stand to acknowledge her grade point average.  It was announced to be a 4.0 but final grades were not in yet.  Last class was Friday, graduation ceremony was Saturday, and grades weren't due until the following Tuesday. 

I had to laugh, she is so disgusted because she made an A- in one of her class so her grade point average is 3.999 instead of 4.0.  She said they jinxed her by making her stand for the 4.0 acknowledgment.  I don't think that's too bad considering Hubby passed away a month into the semester, the Saturday after he died she started a full time job and was taken a full load of 15 hour with no fluff courses.  Those last 3 weeks were touch-n-go to get all the papers and projects finished and turned in on time, along with the job.

Afterwards we (family and friends) head over to the local Chinese Buffet for a celebratory meal.

Two of her high school teacher, Kent Harms her Softball Coach and Algebra teacher, Julie McCreight her Theater Director and forgive me I can't remember Julie's daughter's name.

One of the girls she runs around with from high school, Kylsie

One of her cousins, Sami.  I didn't get photos of the rest of the crowd.  Big hugs to you guys for coming and making our day!

Now for Graduate School!  I have my fingers crossed she gets into the program out here with Midwestern because it has a Doctorate Program and all internships are done on campus and are paid.  (Not to mention, I sometimes want to play Helicopter Mom.)  She, of course, is torn between staying in Kansas to be close to friends and the Doctorate Program out here with Midwestern.  Time will tell.

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

first the sad part

Psycho Kitty escaped in Liberal, Kansas.  I pulled into the Mickey D's for something to eat and drink.  The bum right-knee is slow to unlock and that first step can be a crap shot after sitting for four hours so she took the opportunity to escape while I was stretching out the leg and seeing if I was going to be able to stand and walk.  I stooped to pick her up; she went off the deep-end, again, and took off running.

To begin the saga, when I tried to put her in the kennel the morning we left, she decided she wasn't interested and took a hunk out of the base of my left thumb.  (I'll probably have a scar.)  I did get her stuffed in the kennel and into the car.  The ride to Alamogordo, NM was not pleasant with her letting me know just how unhappy she was for most of the ride.  Have you ever spent eight hours listening to a cat bitch?

When I got to the motel, I got her all set up with her paraphernalia in the bathroom, so she would be easier to catch the next morning, and let her out of the kennel.  She ate cat treats from my hand, let me pick her up, love on her and acted like she was okay.

When I woke up the next morning I decided not to put her in the kennel and just carry her out to the car thinking maybe her biggest objection might just be the kennel. So I stepped into the bathroom gave her a quick love, put her down and reached for the kennel.

Psycho Cat FREAKED out!  I grabbed a towel and threw it over her so she would have a place to hide and to break eye contact.  I left the bathroom in hopes she would calm back down.  When she got quiet I went back in to get the rest of her stuff to put in the car.  She started in again even though she was still under the towel.  I waited about an hour but she was not having any of it.  I didn't feel like getting bit again and the only safe way for me to handle her was at the end of a capture pole.

So I called the Alamogordo Animal Control and had them come out.  It took thirty minutes to catch her and stuff her in the kennel.  His comments were: A. That is the most pissed-off cat he had ever handled. And B. I needed to get some serious amounts of Dramamine from a vet for her to be calm enough to travel.  If she had figured out how to get through the mesh windows of her kennel she would have tried eating both of us, that's how unhappy she was.  I held the kennel out at arms-length to get her back in the car and covered her up so she would have a dark place to hide.

It took a couple of hours before she got quiet and by the time I got to Tucumcari, NM I decided to let her out because she was calm.  She laid on top of her kennel, let me pet her, purred, drank from a cup of water I had for her (dipped her paw in and licked the water off).  I thought we had made peace with the situation.

All the time trying to figure out how-the-hell I was going to get her into a vet's office to get some Dramamine.  And how-the-hell was I going to hang-on to her and stuff a pill down her throat, anyway?  Or use a syringe with a liquid and get her to swallow it?  Maybe, if the Dramamine came in a gel I could rub it on her nose and she could lick it off like the 'Vaseline on the nose' trick.

So we got to Liberal, I was slow getting out of the car and shutting the door.  Sigh :(

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Judy

out of here

Well, y'all I'm out of here until sometime in January.  Sister Suzy graduates the 13th and I WILL be there even if I have to do a 'Planes,Trains and Automobiles' to get there.

Hope every one has a good Holiday!

Judy

giving thanks

 

 free clip art from:  http://www.hellasmultimedia.com/webimages/

I hope every one is having an enjoyable holiday.  I am having a reflective day.  I woke up this morning and realized this is the first Thanksgiving I have been alone in 62 years.  My family got together at some point during the 4-day weekend for a dinner depending on what day was best for the one who worked the oddest hours and days.  This was usually my older brother because he was a long-haul trucker.

So I am counting my blessings and giving thanks as I go about my day.  Celebrating my health, celebrating the roof over my head, celebrating that the cupboard is full, celebrating that with a flick of a switch I have lights, music, and all the conveniences I choose to have.  Celebrating that I can grab the keys, head out the door, burn all the gas I can afford wondering around looking at stuff in full stores or looking at nature's wonders.  Celebrating my relative safety in my own home as well as in the streets of the community I live in.  And above all, celebrating that I have people in my life that really care about my well being.

As I was thinking about past Thanksgivings, I remember with a smile the time that I worked at a small manufacturing plant that made terminal connection boards.  We were all excitedly discussing our plans for the holiday when Elfrieda and I were approached by a several of our Laotian co-workers about exactly how to bake a turkey with all the trimmings. They also didn't truly understand what the holiday was all about.

So I ask them if they really liked baked turkey (I don't).  No, they didn't, but they thought it was necessary to celebrate the holiday.  They were surprised when we ask if in their culture they had holidays where they counted their blessing or gave thanks with a special foods or dishes.  They, of course, did.  That's when we explained that despite the media hoopla, that was what the holiday was about and that a turkey was not necessary to celebrate.  It was way more important to get together with family and friends, count your blessings and eat foods that tasted delicious to you.  They seemed relieved they weren't going to have to buy, cook, serve and eat something that was not appealing to them.

So for my Thanksgiving Feast today, I'm not having turkey!  I am going to have chorizo topped nachos, tons of fresh veggies, apple turnovers and RC Cola.

Count your blessing and enjoy your dinner!

Judy