| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Barney Frank's Town Hall Snaps | ||||
| ||||
When felines and fiber invade your home.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Barney Frank--Just one more reason that I love Massachusetts!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Playing for Change: Peace Through Music
I love these Songs Around the World from the Documentary Playing for Change: Peace Through Music.
How could I do what I do and not love them!
How could I do what I do and not love them!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Then there were three . . .
Mikey came into our lives on Friday night May 25, 2001. I was at home sewing Ems' graduation dress for the next Tuesday when she called me at 10 pm. "Mom! I found five kittens at the restaurant park!" Me: "Leave them there. Their mother must be around." Ems--"It's too late. They're already in the car!" I contacted the Howard County Cat Club which is a rescue group because I was concerned about the mother cat. Ems had seen her and she appeared to be feral and hid. The cat club trapped the mom a week later, had her spayed, gave her shots and released her as she was, indeed, really wild. I knew ultimately that the babies would have better lives if they were taken care of. In they came! Five tiny, and I mean tiny babies. Ems' first words were "One's polydactyl! Can we keep him?" Without hesitation, I said yes. These babies were about 12 days old. I had grown up with mom cats and I was well aware of all the developmental stages of kittenhood. I was worried that they may have been exposed to things that I didn't want my 4 indoor kitties to get so the babies were put in a box with a blanket in the kids' bathroom. We started them on KMR immediately. There were two all black males, one tabby and white male, a tabby female and Mikey, also tabby and white with his extra toes. He was named Mikey after Ems' friend Mikey who was with her when she found them. Mikey, the human, was really stocky. Mikey, the kitten, was also stocky with his big old feet, much like like a little bulldog. The kittens grew and we adopted out 3 of them. We kept Mikey's brother who was named Greg. Greg was the runt, weighing in at 1 3/4 pounds at 6 weeks old when the others were all in the 4 pound range. He was sickly and I couldn't part with him because he got so much extra mothering. Greg is now a 19 pound black panther.
Mikey had so much personality. The kitty sitter we have has always said, "Don't be surprised if Mikey is missing when you get home!" He was very talkative and personable. He would carry his cat teaser around (that's the feather on the end of a long stick) and drop it at our feet so that we would play "spinny" with him. Spinny was when we would make him run around in circles chasing the feather--much like chasing his tail. It was comical to see him do this on his big old feet!
This is how I remember him most--lying on the couch in his "rub my belly" pose. It was part of our nightly routine. In fact, if I was busy, he would come over and nag me to come to the couch so he could lie on his back for a belly rub.
I chronicled his illness here and in the last post I talked about the ordeal of the last week. We had decided last night to put in a feeding tube because he was doing so much better. I talked to the vet today and he wasn't doing well. I went to see him and his temperature had dropped to 96, his blood pressure had gone down and he had some fluid in his lungs. Ironically, his electrolytes were up to normal. He was very cold when I was with him and he was covered with a blanket and surrounded by heated rice bags to warm him up. He cried like I've never heard him and I knew what I had to do. He just had that look in his eyes. I told the vet and she cried too--saying that they had all become rather attached to him. I stayed with him when they injected his IV and he was already half asleep. He died peacefully. My gut tells me I did the right thing, but I am still heart broken.
Here are some favorite photos of my Mikey:
Running around under the rug!
Waiting for mom to get ready in the morning:
Nestling by the creche at Christmas time:
Napping on the dining room table:
Curious Mike:
Watching Mom vaccuum:
Celebrating the 4th of July:
Cuddling with sibling Greg:
Cheek to cheek with Harley:
Hanging around the window with Samantha:
Rest in Peace my little angel kitty. You enriched our lives more than you will ever know. We miss you.
Mikey had so much personality. The kitty sitter we have has always said, "Don't be surprised if Mikey is missing when you get home!" He was very talkative and personable. He would carry his cat teaser around (that's the feather on the end of a long stick) and drop it at our feet so that we would play "spinny" with him. Spinny was when we would make him run around in circles chasing the feather--much like chasing his tail. It was comical to see him do this on his big old feet!
This is how I remember him most--lying on the couch in his "rub my belly" pose. It was part of our nightly routine. In fact, if I was busy, he would come over and nag me to come to the couch so he could lie on his back for a belly rub.
I chronicled his illness here and in the last post I talked about the ordeal of the last week. We had decided last night to put in a feeding tube because he was doing so much better. I talked to the vet today and he wasn't doing well. I went to see him and his temperature had dropped to 96, his blood pressure had gone down and he had some fluid in his lungs. Ironically, his electrolytes were up to normal. He was very cold when I was with him and he was covered with a blanket and surrounded by heated rice bags to warm him up. He cried like I've never heard him and I knew what I had to do. He just had that look in his eyes. I told the vet and she cried too--saying that they had all become rather attached to him. I stayed with him when they injected his IV and he was already half asleep. He died peacefully. My gut tells me I did the right thing, but I am still heart broken.
Here are some favorite photos of my Mikey:
Running around under the rug!
Waiting for mom to get ready in the morning:
Nestling by the creche at Christmas time:
Napping on the dining room table:
Curious Mike:
Watching Mom vaccuum:
Celebrating the 4th of July:
Cuddling with sibling Greg:
Cheek to cheek with Harley:
Hanging around the window with Samantha:
Rest in Peace my little angel kitty. You enriched our lives more than you will ever know. We miss you.
How much is too much?
I'm sorry I haven't posted lately. I have a lot of photos from Boston. I've been a wreck this last week. Mikey had a severe diabetic episode. For those who may not know, Mikey is my 8 year old polydactyl cat. His diabetes has been well controlled with insulin injections. Apparently he hasn't been eating enough--which for those of you with cats, diabetic or not, if your cat stops eating, take it to the vet ASAP. DH was taking care of the cats while I was away and he is at work all day so he wouldn't have noticed anything unusual per se. The cats also don't hang around him whereas they swarm around me.
On Monday Aug. 3 as I was leaving to drive home, DH called me and said that Mikey didn't come for his kitty treats Sunday night and didn't eat Monday morning. I got very worried, thinking that maybe he was getting too much insulin. I worried all the way home. DH got home at 7 pm and I was just north of Baltimore at the time. I asked him to rush Mikey to the vet (who closes at 7:30). By that time DH had to pull Mikey out from under the couch as he couldn't stand on his own. I got home just as DH was coming from the vet with instructions to rush Mike to the ER Vet whom she called ahead.
Our vet said that Mikey had DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) and it was a life threatening situation. With DKA, their blood sugar is too high for a long enough time for them to get severely dehydrated and their body creates ketones. Typically the treatment is to hydrate them with IV fluids to get their electrolytes up and they will eventually pee out all of the ketones. I was floored as I suspected the opposite--too low sugar. Mikey also appears to have Hepadic Lipidosis or fatty liver syndrome. This is what happens specifically to cats when they stop eating. The liver basically attacks its own fat reserves and if this isn't treated, they can go into liver failure. The treatment for this is food. Many cats have to be force fed with a syringe and many go on a feeding tube.
I was, and have been completely heartsick. I thought he looked like he had lost a little weight. Why didn't I take him to the vet? I will forever beat myself up over this. The vet gave me an estimate for 3 days of treatment which was $1100 - $1600 and I paid a $900 deposit. She said that typically the DKA clears up in about 3 days but can go as long as a week. Anyway, I went to see Mikey on Tuesday and he was still lethargic, but he purred when he saw me. Wednesday he could pick his head up and he tried to meow, but he seemed to have laryngitis. Thursday, he was very talkative and looked quite bright. He still wasn't eating so they put a nasal feeding tube in since he was too weak for a regular feeding tube. He was also using the litter box. He continued to look better on Friday. His electrolytes were still low and they were still concerned. On Saturday and Sunday, he seemed more tired and he had diarrhea on Saturday night. The weekend vet said she didn't have a good feeling about him and I got the impression that she was basically saying to put him down. She didn't think he was strong enough to undergo the anesthesia to insert an e-tube. On Monday, he seemed better and his electrolytes were in the low normal range. I had kind of decided that I would bring him home Monday and take him to our regular vet to put down that night. The question is--how much do I spend on this? I've spent $2800. Do I just put him down after that or spend another $1000 to nurse him back to health? He is very jaundiced. His ears, gums and his little pink nose are yellow, though they looked a little better yesterday. Do I spend the $350 for an ultrasound to more accurately diagnose if it is pancreatitis or a liver issue or do I put that money into getting a feeding tube for him? The vets are basically treating him for the various conditions it could be.
I've been getting a lot of support from the ladies on the Feline Diabetes board. Four of them told me stories of their cats who were actually worse than Mikey. All of them had an e-tube put in and got their cats on their regular diet that way. An e-tube goes into the esophagus and you use a syringe to put the food in it. You can feed the regular canned diet if it is pureed and thinned a bit. All of these people said that their cats improved quite rapidly with this and they suggested getting the feeding tube asap so that he can get stronger.
I've been so torn and my stomach has been in knots the last 4 days. The other cats for whom I've made end of life decisions have been such clear cut cases--elderly with kidney failure, cancer etc. Mikey is only 8 and this seems treatable. It's just taking longer than usual for the ketones to clear up. The vet last night said that he was actually trying to climb out of his cage and she thought we shouldn't give up on him but she understands the financial need to get him home.
We made a plan. This morning they would take out his nasal feeding tube to see if he would eat. If he didn't eat, then they would insert an e-tube. I will bring his regular diet for feeding as that is essential to regulate his long acting insulin which they hadn't been able to do. He has been getting short acting insulin every 4 hours and he has to be off that to come home.
So this is where I've been all week. I'm an emotional wreck, breaking down in tears at the most inconvenient times. People who aren't pet lovers don't understand. It's hard to put a monetary value on a treatable condition. If Mikey makes it home, he will require a lot of care. I'm hoping that I can get his tube feedings down to 8 hour intervals before I go back to school. I will also have to do home glucose testing, which I should have been doing all along.
Please say a little prayer for Mike!
Kitty Cam: Here's Mikey, looking fairly bright with his new feeding tube last Thursday:
On Monday Aug. 3 as I was leaving to drive home, DH called me and said that Mikey didn't come for his kitty treats Sunday night and didn't eat Monday morning. I got very worried, thinking that maybe he was getting too much insulin. I worried all the way home. DH got home at 7 pm and I was just north of Baltimore at the time. I asked him to rush Mikey to the vet (who closes at 7:30). By that time DH had to pull Mikey out from under the couch as he couldn't stand on his own. I got home just as DH was coming from the vet with instructions to rush Mike to the ER Vet whom she called ahead.
Our vet said that Mikey had DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) and it was a life threatening situation. With DKA, their blood sugar is too high for a long enough time for them to get severely dehydrated and their body creates ketones. Typically the treatment is to hydrate them with IV fluids to get their electrolytes up and they will eventually pee out all of the ketones. I was floored as I suspected the opposite--too low sugar. Mikey also appears to have Hepadic Lipidosis or fatty liver syndrome. This is what happens specifically to cats when they stop eating. The liver basically attacks its own fat reserves and if this isn't treated, they can go into liver failure. The treatment for this is food. Many cats have to be force fed with a syringe and many go on a feeding tube.
I was, and have been completely heartsick. I thought he looked like he had lost a little weight. Why didn't I take him to the vet? I will forever beat myself up over this. The vet gave me an estimate for 3 days of treatment which was $1100 - $1600 and I paid a $900 deposit. She said that typically the DKA clears up in about 3 days but can go as long as a week. Anyway, I went to see Mikey on Tuesday and he was still lethargic, but he purred when he saw me. Wednesday he could pick his head up and he tried to meow, but he seemed to have laryngitis. Thursday, he was very talkative and looked quite bright. He still wasn't eating so they put a nasal feeding tube in since he was too weak for a regular feeding tube. He was also using the litter box. He continued to look better on Friday. His electrolytes were still low and they were still concerned. On Saturday and Sunday, he seemed more tired and he had diarrhea on Saturday night. The weekend vet said she didn't have a good feeling about him and I got the impression that she was basically saying to put him down. She didn't think he was strong enough to undergo the anesthesia to insert an e-tube. On Monday, he seemed better and his electrolytes were in the low normal range. I had kind of decided that I would bring him home Monday and take him to our regular vet to put down that night. The question is--how much do I spend on this? I've spent $2800. Do I just put him down after that or spend another $1000 to nurse him back to health? He is very jaundiced. His ears, gums and his little pink nose are yellow, though they looked a little better yesterday. Do I spend the $350 for an ultrasound to more accurately diagnose if it is pancreatitis or a liver issue or do I put that money into getting a feeding tube for him? The vets are basically treating him for the various conditions it could be.
I've been getting a lot of support from the ladies on the Feline Diabetes board. Four of them told me stories of their cats who were actually worse than Mikey. All of them had an e-tube put in and got their cats on their regular diet that way. An e-tube goes into the esophagus and you use a syringe to put the food in it. You can feed the regular canned diet if it is pureed and thinned a bit. All of these people said that their cats improved quite rapidly with this and they suggested getting the feeding tube asap so that he can get stronger.
I've been so torn and my stomach has been in knots the last 4 days. The other cats for whom I've made end of life decisions have been such clear cut cases--elderly with kidney failure, cancer etc. Mikey is only 8 and this seems treatable. It's just taking longer than usual for the ketones to clear up. The vet last night said that he was actually trying to climb out of his cage and she thought we shouldn't give up on him but she understands the financial need to get him home.
We made a plan. This morning they would take out his nasal feeding tube to see if he would eat. If he didn't eat, then they would insert an e-tube. I will bring his regular diet for feeding as that is essential to regulate his long acting insulin which they hadn't been able to do. He has been getting short acting insulin every 4 hours and he has to be off that to come home.
So this is where I've been all week. I'm an emotional wreck, breaking down in tears at the most inconvenient times. People who aren't pet lovers don't understand. It's hard to put a monetary value on a treatable condition. If Mikey makes it home, he will require a lot of care. I'm hoping that I can get his tube feedings down to 8 hour intervals before I go back to school. I will also have to do home glucose testing, which I should have been doing all along.
Please say a little prayer for Mike!
Kitty Cam: Here's Mikey, looking fairly bright with his new feeding tube last Thursday:
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
I miss Jon Stewart!
My hotel doesn't have Comedy Central :-(
Thank God for the internet!
Thank God for the internet!
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| So You Think You Can Douche | ||||
| ||||
Friday, July 31, 2009
Water water everywhere!
It poured today so I stayed in. The weather has been lovely otherwise. I love Boston. It feels like home to me. It represents everything that I love about the northeast. I will take some photos tomorrow. Yesterday I went to Providence RI. I love that city too and in reality, I can see us retiring there as it is so much more affordable than Boston and less than an hour away. Rhode Island, known as the Ocean State, is beautiful in the summer. There is water everywhere and there are hydrangeas all over the place! I'm partial to blue flowers so seeing hedges of hydrangeas makes me very happy. Providence is easy to get around and in most places you can just pull up to the curb and park for free--unlike Boston where you will pay $8 per hour in a lot. Even more surprising were some of the housing prices in the East Side which is near Brown Univ which is a lovely neighborhood. First I saw this house:
This one is out of my price range. It is going for a little over a million dollars. Compared to the DC market, that's not bad given that this house has 10 bedrooms and 6 baths. It is huge and gorgeous!
The next two are well within our price range. If I could afford to retire, I'd work on talking DH into the first house which is being sold as a short sale at $349K. That's less than our house is worth and this one has 9 bedrooms and 5 baths. It is divided up into 3 three bedroom units with the one on the first floor having central air. I figure you could live on the first floor and rent out the other two.
The third house is also in the $300,000's. It has a unit on the first floor with 2 bedrooms and then the 2nd and 3rd floors make up a townhome unit with 4 bedrooms. Again--you would live in one and rent the other.
I think purchasing a multifamily unit will be the way to go! We'll see how we feel when the time comes.
I have spent most of my time here buried in microfilm. After a while, your eyes go nuts with this! I'm always amazed that there is still more to discover about my ever expanding family tree! Being in Boston means that there is a lot of walking involved. Fortunately my foot is a lot better though I've had to stick to ugly shoes for the time being.
I would not be seen in public in those shoes at home! I'm hoping to be in my heels when school starts as I have 4 pretty sun dresses to make and ugly shoes just won't do!
I visited two yarn shops. The first, Windsor Button, is in downtown Boston a block away from the Commons. It's been there since 1936 and has every type of button imaginable. They have started carrying yarn and have a nice selection. In fact they have the best section of Malabrigo that I've seen in one place.
I bought two very large and fancy mother of pearl buttons by Lantern Moon and 2 skeins of silky Malabrigo in a beautiful teal. The color is lighter than in the photo. I think the yarn will be a scarf. I also got a gift for my secret pal which cannot be divulged here!
The other shop I visited was in Providence. It is called Fresh Purls and it is an absolutely lovely little shop. They have an incredible selection of nonwool yarns and I got to see and feel some yarns that I'd seen online and wondered about. I bought a skein of Malabrigo worsted to make myself a Struan hat. I had been looking for the right color and this color will go with my Shalimar fingering yarn that I'm using to make my Entagled Stitches gloves.
The colors look gray in the photo but they are a lovely medium spring green! I'm itching to start those gloves but I will have to swatch. The pattern is only for a size large and the gauge is 30 st. to 4 in. on size 2.5 mm needles. I figured that I need to get a gauge of 36 st. to 4 inches so I will swatch on a 2.0 mm needle to see how it goes.
My other project before I left home was to put together a package for my Cuppa Tea swap pal. We did a tea towel swap. I love linen tea towels so I decided to make a vintage style one using the colors of her kitchen. I bought Irish linen and made a scalloped hem on the bottom and a hanging loop on the top. I used a vintage embroidery design from the 1940's and hand embroidered it using her colors. It turned out quite well! I may have to make some of these for myself as I love them!
I have to go work on my homework!
Kitty Cam: Harley looks so regal when the other kitties aren't around!
This one is out of my price range. It is going for a little over a million dollars. Compared to the DC market, that's not bad given that this house has 10 bedrooms and 6 baths. It is huge and gorgeous!
The next two are well within our price range. If I could afford to retire, I'd work on talking DH into the first house which is being sold as a short sale at $349K. That's less than our house is worth and this one has 9 bedrooms and 5 baths. It is divided up into 3 three bedroom units with the one on the first floor having central air. I figure you could live on the first floor and rent out the other two.
The third house is also in the $300,000's. It has a unit on the first floor with 2 bedrooms and then the 2nd and 3rd floors make up a townhome unit with 4 bedrooms. Again--you would live in one and rent the other.
I think purchasing a multifamily unit will be the way to go! We'll see how we feel when the time comes.
I have spent most of my time here buried in microfilm. After a while, your eyes go nuts with this! I'm always amazed that there is still more to discover about my ever expanding family tree! Being in Boston means that there is a lot of walking involved. Fortunately my foot is a lot better though I've had to stick to ugly shoes for the time being.
I would not be seen in public in those shoes at home! I'm hoping to be in my heels when school starts as I have 4 pretty sun dresses to make and ugly shoes just won't do!
I visited two yarn shops. The first, Windsor Button, is in downtown Boston a block away from the Commons. It's been there since 1936 and has every type of button imaginable. They have started carrying yarn and have a nice selection. In fact they have the best section of Malabrigo that I've seen in one place.
I bought two very large and fancy mother of pearl buttons by Lantern Moon and 2 skeins of silky Malabrigo in a beautiful teal. The color is lighter than in the photo. I think the yarn will be a scarf. I also got a gift for my secret pal which cannot be divulged here!The other shop I visited was in Providence. It is called Fresh Purls and it is an absolutely lovely little shop. They have an incredible selection of nonwool yarns and I got to see and feel some yarns that I'd seen online and wondered about. I bought a skein of Malabrigo worsted to make myself a Struan hat. I had been looking for the right color and this color will go with my Shalimar fingering yarn that I'm using to make my Entagled Stitches gloves.
The colors look gray in the photo but they are a lovely medium spring green! I'm itching to start those gloves but I will have to swatch. The pattern is only for a size large and the gauge is 30 st. to 4 in. on size 2.5 mm needles. I figured that I need to get a gauge of 36 st. to 4 inches so I will swatch on a 2.0 mm needle to see how it goes.
My other project before I left home was to put together a package for my Cuppa Tea swap pal. We did a tea towel swap. I love linen tea towels so I decided to make a vintage style one using the colors of her kitchen. I bought Irish linen and made a scalloped hem on the bottom and a hanging loop on the top. I used a vintage embroidery design from the 1940's and hand embroidered it using her colors. It turned out quite well! I may have to make some of these for myself as I love them!
I have to go work on my homework!
Kitty Cam: Harley looks so regal when the other kitties aren't around!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)