Another Box Down

Posted on December 4, 2014December 4, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Believe it or not I’m still emptying boxes and sorting what to put where in the kitchen. I emptied another box today. Only 2 more to go. Whew!

The new over the range microwave came today. Now I have another big box in my living room. Rocky did the inspection.

I hope I can get my electrician to come out this weekend. I’m not sure what to do with the old microwave. I won’t throw away a perfectly good one. Maybe I can find someone who would like it.

I ordered some “wall art” today to go on the soffit area of the kitchen. It says “Many have eaten here…few have died. ” If I get sick of it I can peel it off and put something new up there.

In other news, my sister and I are booked for the River Walk to French Quarter Amtrak vacation. It’s booked for October 2015 so we qualified for an early booking discount. The discount was $300.00 so I used $140.00 of it to upgrade from coach to “roomette”. It’s not a bedroom but it has seats that convert to beds in case we want to nap. Plus all 3 meals on the train is included.

We’ll fly into San Antonio and then have the rest of that day to explore. The next 2 days is all San Antonio which includes a tour.

On day 4 we have to catch the train at 6:30 am! We won’t get into New Orleans until 10 PM. so no sight seeing then but there should be some great scenery as the train travels from Texas to Louisiana. Day 5 & 6 we’ll be in New Orleans and we fly home on Day 7. How much we can explore will depend on what flight we get out.

In a previous post I mentioned that I didn’t see any singles rates. Well I asked and was told there aren’t any. If you are single and want to go on the trip you pay double! I’ve heard of singles penalties but I thought paying double was a thing of the past. Guess I was wrong. Now I’m really glad my sister agreed to come along. I’ll have good company and a fun traveling companion and it saves me $$$.

Day 2 of the Great Kitchen Makeover

Posted on November 18, 2014November 18, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I awoke to a flooded kitchen! Yup the bucket containing the drip had overflowed during the night. I grabbed a bunch of old towels and began the mop up. Right at 8 am the door bell rang and my two perky installers arrived ready for a full days work. I explained that the pail had over flowed and we pondered the problem for a bit. Then they started on their main business, the cabinets.

I went out to locate our property manager who then called in a drain specialist to address the water problem. They only made it worse so the cabinet guys came up with a plan that seemed to solve the drip. They diverted it to a higher point so it was now running downhill into the drain. After all water can’t run uphill.

The cats were underfoot all day! The noise was deafening with the sanders and hand saw. You would have thought they would have stayed hidden with all the commotion!

The plastic drapes were hung today as a lot of sawdust was being generated, They had their big shop vac running to add to the mayhem.

But I am beginning to see progress. Can’t wait til the doors go on and I can really see the new look! A lot different from those old dark cabinets.

I think the kitty cats are down for the count. Should be a quiet night!

Acne…just Acne!

Posted on August 21, 2014August 21, 2014 by Dusty Roads

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

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.

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!

Posted on August 20, 2014August 20, 2014 by Dusty Roads

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.

Then poor Smokey passed away.

Smokey

And most recently I came down with shingles.

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.

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.

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.

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.