Musings on a Small Life

I'd better get myself in gear and keep posting a few pics of the jaunt to Montreal, before the summer slips away. Before I do, I'll just take a moment to wish those of you in the U.S. a very happy and safe 4th of July. Have a terrific holiday! Okay, on to St. Joseph's Oratory . Dad had been before, but I had not, and it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I thought it would be Gothic in architecture, like the Notre-Dame Basilica also in Montreal, but it's not, it's far more modern and even what I would consider minimalist.  I assume this is a shrine to Mary. It certainly has impressive organ pipes, below! I admit to being underwhelmed at first. I grew up in the Anglican church and left organized religion decades ago, have no attachment to a single belief system or specific religious place. However, after about 20 minutes in the Oratory, walking slowly around in silence, amid the other tourists (some obviously very devout Catholics...

From the Montreal Botanical Gardens And just a young "pup" at 110 years of age! Pretty amazing. It boggles my mind that humans have been caring for the same plants for over 200 and 100 years, respectively. Well beyond our own lifespans, at least in the case of the azalea. I have lots of pics to post, if I ever get around to it. I just had four days off, had taken last Friday as a vacation day in advance of our Canada Day holiday Monday. Busy three days; yesterday was my "chill" day. I feel like I need another four days...but don't we always want more (paid) time off work? Peace.

With all the kerfuffle over the boys, I haven't had a chance to post any snapshots from the family trip to Montreal, so I'll do that in a few posts. BTW, Nicki, who ate yesterday, isn't feeling like eating today, and Derry, who was all lovey-dovey yesterday, looked at me like I was evil and tore off to hide upstairs this morning, as I was getting ready to leave for work. LOL. I think he had a flashback to two days ago, when I hauled his butt to the vet (again)! I just threw up my hands, wished them a good day, and left the house. Anyway, these snapshots are mostly from the car window as we were driving to downtown Montreal, and then touring around. My cousin has lived in Montreal for his entire life, so he's a good, ableit speedy, tour guide! BTW, this was Saturday the 15th and it was a mostly grey day, with absolute pouring rain once we got to the downtown. So pic quality isn't great, but no matter. Note that I've turned comments off today. I...

This just in from my vet, via email: "I received the report back from Dr. Crews (the radiologist) and the news is positive. There were no significant finding on the images we sent. The opacity around the heart and lungs is apparently fat deposits and not fluid. There are mild lung markings as we noted within the lungs (the little donuts) She said that without a cough present, this could be normal age related change for Derry. Also nothing significant on the abdomen except she said the spleen was a bit big but no abnormal shape or masses noted. This could be due to an immune response. If you have ongoing concerns about Derry please let me know." Thank you for the purrs and purrayers, they must have worked!

From Pinterest I suspect we all feel this way sometimes, regardless of our age. Peace. Comments are off.

Derry is home, happy to be back, as I am. I have a sulcrate suspension to give him twice a day, to coat/soothe his innards, in case he feels nauseous, and I have three mirtazapine pills in case he needs an appetite stimulant. This weekend is our long holiday weekend (Canada Day on July 1st) and I didn't want to be caught without something if it's needed. Fortunately, he did eat when he got home, after the sulcrate stuff (which I think is unpleasant in taste, based on his reaction). So I hope I don't need the appetite stimulant. (Snapshot from a bit earlier this afternoon.) I'll cut to the chase regarding the x-ray results: He has a small bit of fluid outside the lungs (if I recall correctly), but nothing that needs to be addressed at this time. However, he also has...something...in his chest cavity. Could be nothing, could be a tumour. The vet is sending the x-rays off to the radiologist, though he said sometimes the radiologist also is inconclusive. I woul...

Nicki, happily, has been producing solid output the last couple of days, probably thanks to the canned vet food, which (also happily for me) isn't filled with a lot of grain. However, now Derry is sick.  :-( I don't know what's wrong. He ate a bit of breakfast yesterday morning, but nothing after that. Around 9:30 PM I had to coax him to eat 1/2 tablespoon of kibble, and it was the same this morning. It took some doing to get him to eat a few pieces of dry, and though he seems interested in food when you rattle the jar or treat bag or let him sniff the FortiFlora packet, he's just not eating anything. I can't tell if he's unable to smell or if the scent of food is making him nauseous. His ears are not hot, he has no nasal discharge at this point, and seems to be breathing through his nose normally, again at this point. My boss drove me home at lunch time so I could check on him, and he was in the same spot as this morning, up on my bed. Happy f...

Update : It's not a blockage, the x-ray indicated that his kidney stones are the same size, placement, etc., as his previous x-ray (when they were first detected). So it's his gastrointestinal tract, we think. I have some of the vet food, which I'm willing to try at this point, but when I get a chance I suppose I'll have to research feline IBS/IBD (if his problem falls into that category) and see what I can do with respect to food, etc. I won't tell you how much I've spent on vet bills in the past two days, but it comes perilously close to four digits...before the decimal point. It was worth it, though. The boys are worth it. _________________________________________________________________ We're still around. My dad is still here today (Thursday June 20th), plans to leave tomorrow, though he's flexible. Great trip, busy, maybe too much "peopling" for me, even though it's biological family. LOL. I'm back at the office today, bu...

  I think Nicki must be the reason for all my grey hair. He's my problem "child," the one with all the health issues: asthma, kidney stones, an overly-sensitive digestive system, and anal glands that fill up quickly. Am I missing something? Right now he's having a flare-up of his digestive issues, so his back end output is, uh, well, quite messy. Started Saturday afternoon. He's getting slippery elm at least 2x per day, plus extra FortiFlora, with the hope that I can get this under control before I head out of province at the end of the week. Otherwise the pet sitter will be dealing with it. (Fun times for her.) Then this morning he managed to find a few blades of grass that I missed with my vinegar spray bottle, and threw up twice because he ate them. (Many of the weeds are growing at a rapid rate in spite of twice daily spraying, so I'll have to cut them with the little mower on the next dry day.)  So I was cleaning up cat puke while...

First, thanks for the input on progressives. It seems to be a mixed bag, either you end up loving them or you can't stand them. Second, since the optometrist doesn't have Saturday hours, I'm taking a half-day vacation and will pop in there after I leave the office, then head out to do a few errands. Maybe there's something that can be done with the frames and/or lenses, maybe it's just me. I had to shell out a lot of money for these, however, and I'd like to have them work for me. So I'll see (literally and figuratively)! Third, a note that I'm turning comments off today, in lieu of doing that this past Wednesday. I simply felt like posting a few recent floral snapshots, because flowers make me feel so happy.  :-) Everyone take care and have a great weekend.   Hey, one of these things is not like the others!  :-D Peace.