Let The Long Weekend Begin

Good evening folks! I don’t have new tile in my kitchen but I do have a new electrical panel…in my living room. It’s the law. You can no longer put that ugly box out of sight in a closet and because of where the old panel is located there was only one place they could legally put the new one. I haven’t quite figured out how to hide it yet. I’m thinking on it.

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My own electrician came in and got me all set up for the Microwave range hood. The new hood will arrive sometime next Thursday, December 4.

Rocky has finally begun to get used to all the door bell ringing and men coming and going. He isn’t cowering behind the furniture. In fact this afternoon he was snoozing under his heat lamp when the Electrician came back with the bill for the panel. I don’t think Rocky even opened an eye. Tim (that’s the electrician) laughed and laughed over him. I explained how the heat lamp had come about and he thought that was interesting but the thing that really got him was the way Rocky was sprawled under it and paid no attention to a stranger in the house.

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All of the people who have worked on the kitchen have asked about the heat lamp. Most thought I was nuts or that I was taking spoiling over the top. Once I explained I got the lamp in hope of correcting Rocky’s habit of over grooming and how it worked, they all changed their tune.

This evening I was channel surfing (I should have been putting more stuff away but…) and they had something called “Ballroom Blitz” on. I’d never heard of it before so I checked it out. OMG I didn’t  know whether to laugh or cry. It captured that world so perfectly from the expense of lessons and costumes and travel to the addictive nature of the sport. It made me miss it. As much as I wanted to turn it off because of the emotions it was pulling out of me, I was glued to the set. If I ever win the lottery I know I’d be right back at it. Its been long enough that I could be an amateur again. I could dance for exercise and the fun of it.

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Just not at Arthur Murray’s. Nope they will never get another dime from me but that’s a story for another day.

 

 

Acne…just Acne!

Just got back from the “Cat Hospital” where the Vet examined a very squirmy Rocky.

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I noticed this morning that the swelling seemed to have subsided overnight and clearly  it wasn’t as tender as he let me pet him with no “melps” or aversion. Still I felt as a senior cat that it was worth following up on.

Rocky has lost a little weight ( We can only hope that Buddy is losing too.  ) but no temp. Rocky also let the vet look into his mouth and under his tongue and all was good there. Under his chin, nestled in his chin hair, was a pimple.

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Maybe it was an ingrown hair or maybe he scratched himself or got a bug bite, but that little pimple looked like it could have been the problem. It still looked red and sore.

She also pointed out a ring of black heads along his lower jaw line. Diagnosis: Kitty Acne! Treatment: warm compress, Strident Wipes, and an OTC antibacterial cream interspersed with lots of petting. I am also going to toss out the plastic water dishes and switch them to ceramic. I did that with the food bowls years ago when I had Little Joe because he was prone to kitty acne too.

So I guess cats and humans have something in common. Adult onset acne!

So glad that’s all it is.

 

If It’s Not One Thing It’s Another!

So you all know that this year has been a rough one in my little household. First I played the klutz and got all bruised up on the trip to San Diego.

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Then poor Smokey passed away.

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And most recently I came down with shingles.

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Just when I thought things might be looking up Rocky started acting strange. Well he always acts strange but this time he started acting like he was in pain.

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Yesterday morning he played fuzzy alarm clock and got me up by sticking his nose in my face. Cat whiskers tickle in case you didn’t know that. As I moved over to make room for him he plopped his chin on my hand while I rubbed his cheeks, chin and throat. He was the picture of contentment.

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This morning was completely different. Once again he woke me up by sticking his nose in my face but when I went to give his chin a rub he gave a melp (that’s the cat version of yelp) and almost backed off the bed in an effort to get away. That got my attention.

I got up and tried to approach him but he kept running away. This is not normal behavior for the Rocket-man.

I decided to feed them fish cat food for breakfast. I usually save that for treats because I’ve heard fish flavored cat food isn’t good for male cats. Of course they love it. It’s Rocky’s favorite and I wanted to be sure he was eating. He is. And he had a drink of water after breakfast and he did some grooming. All good signs.

Except when he came over for his after breakfast petting session and I reached for his head…he almost fell over backward getting away. I let him go and he found a chair to his liking and curled up to sleep. If he’s sick that’s probably just what he needs.

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He is now letting me pet his back and if I work my way up from his back to his neck to his head I can gently stroke his cheeks but I can’t go near his chin.

I called the vet and tomorrow morning we’ll find out what, if anything is going on. I’ll be sure to let you know.