Musings on a Small Life

Happy Halloween to all who celebrate (I actually don't, haven't for many years). Everyone--and every kitty--stay safe and stay indoors. This is from the old Fuzzy Tales blog we had, so long ago now it seems: I miss those days of cat youth and vitality...of human youth and vitality too. LOL. Take care, have a terrific weekend. Peace. *Comments are off*

In my entire life, I don't think I've lived anywhere that was properly done (built/repaired/etc.) and that actually looked good . Why would this be any different? LOL.   The plumber came today to install the new fixtures; it looks ridiculous . (But keep reading before you form a mental comment!)     This is what happens when the fixtures company sends the brushed nickel fixtures you ordered but a chrome plate. (The plate will not be permanent, but will have to stay until the reno, to cover up the holes from the previous two taps.) I could have waited for a nickel plate, but it would have been yet another LONG delay, and it's already been about eight weeks. (And I can already see that I will want the kind of brushed nickel fixtures that do NOT show any water marks!)   He explained what should be done when I replace the tub surround (move the tap fixture up, the spout fixture down) and that I won't need a plate once that's done (new drywall, of course). Until then......

I had booked off last week (Monday the 11th was our Thanksgiving holiday anyway) and also booked off the 18th and 19th, was back to work (via the home office) yesterday.     I will just state right away that this break was fine , was good -- no emergencies of any kind for a very welcome change! Mostly it was spent running errands and having appointments, but I did two special (to me) things: 1. Walk into a hair salon in the mall (the only one left) and get a haircut. (You do have to book an appointment, but the owner was just finishing up with a client and didn't have anyone right after, so she took me.)  Now, I know this sounds so commonplace, but no one other than my stylist (whom I've gone to for at least a dozen years) touches my hair. I literally do have the occasional very bad dream where a different stylist is cutting my hair and making a terrible mess of it. I've been loyal to my stylists all my adult life, have stuck with someone until I've moved, or they...

Happy birthday to my sweet, silly, and yes, contrary, Nicki, who would have been 15 today (per the info on his adoption papers, not his real birth date). Pic from October 2014. I'm remembering him with love and wry humour, not sadness.  Photo below adjusted using LunaPic. Head butts and smooches to you, Mr. Purr Bug.  ♥

A very happy Thanksgiving weekend to those of you in Canada! I hope you have a lovely long weekend, whether you're celebrating with human or fur family (or both).  Comments are off. Enjoy the holiday and please heed your public health recommendations; we're definitely not through this pandemic yet. Peace.

Wow, it's the last Monday of September already. Beats me where the heck the month--the year--has gone. There's an Annie Dillard quote I read years ago that has stuck with me: " How we spend our days, is, of course, how we spend our lives ." (Full disclosure: I've not read any of her books; the quote, seen in passing, caught my attention.) That makes me feel a bit sad, since I spend my days in front of a computer doing tedious things with spreadsheets and databases. LOL. On the other hand, I'm blessed to have a good job with great people, and hey, most of us have to earn a living. Life could be much, much worse and I'm grateful for all that I've been given. ♥ Derry's GI issues continue, and I've got an email in to the vet to ask about a round of antibiotics and/or Prednisolone. I need to give up the hope that this will be managed by food alone at this stage ; perhaps down the road it can be. Part of the issue is that he just won't eat most o...

Finally , I was able to have a donation pick up yesterday, after 18 months of decluttering. As far as I know, the only charity picking up in our city now is the Salvation Army, so I booked them a couple of weeks ago. When the guys came I told them I had the dining table (not in the pic) that goes with the chairs, but that I had cracked one of the legs (tried to move it, loaded with heavy items, on carpet). They were happy to take it anyway. So except for a few things that need to either go to the dump or be picked up by the junk guys, my garage is once again cleaned out. How many times over the years have I done this? The good thing is that while I've spent a boat load of money on take-out food during COVID, and on things like vet bills and the naturopath, I haven't done a lot of shopping for the house or shopping for clothes. I don't need much in the way of clothing now anyway, since I'm working from home indefinitely, and I really cleared out what I had, particularly ...

[ Note : I'd previously posted parts of this, but then the vet contacted me again and suggested the pancreatic-specific blood test using Friday's sample still at the lab, so I unpublished this post to wait for those results--negative.] Wednesday September 15th: I'd had Derry at the vet last Friday the 10th for an ultrasound (looked fine, but I'm now having the images sent to the radiologist just to be on the safe side) and further bloodwork. It was less expensive to just re-run a complete senior wellness panel with T4, sodium, B12 and folate than to do them separately, so even though he'd had the senior panel (minus the T4 and extras) in August, I told the vet to go ahead. Last Friday afternoon, back from the vet. Dr. P called me late Monday afternoon; Derry has the blood chemistry of "a five year old cat." Everything was fine, even his T4 and his glucose (he drinks a ton of water these days, I figured something was amiss). The sodium levels that were so h...

First, happy September, even though it's a bit belated given it's September 7th as I type this. There are signs of fall now, even though the temps continue to be in the low to mid-20s Celsius. I had taken last Thursday and Friday off, had a mall "date" with a friend on Friday. It was nice to catch up with her and do a bit of window shopping too.  :-) Derry continues to have intermittent output issues and I now suspect IBD. For example, yesterday he had great poop, but then 1.5 hours later was in the litter box with soft plops, and again a couple of hours after that, and this is how it has been going. I'm taking him back to the vet on Friday for further bloodwork, including his T4 for hyperthyroidism, which was missed in August, and also his B12 and Folate. I read this on vcacanada.com  this morning: "...measurement of the level of vitamin B12 (cobalamin) in the blood - this can indicate whether there is decreased ability to absorb nutrients and a need for su...

The pics say it all. :-P *** So, I'm still working out Derry's food. It's definitely food-related! I've now taken back all the recent kibble purchases and have gone back to feeding him what he was getting before this began at the end of July, am slowly adding in something new that he likes better (for dry). I'll see how it goes. He will be fine for a handful of days, then will have soft-formed output for a bit, which I think depends on how much of the FortiFlora SA I've given him. (I didn't know that there was a new FortiFlora product, but the SA has prebiotics as well as probiotics, plus psyllium.) He had a LOT of poop yesterday. LOL. But now nothing yet today. (I've stopped the SA and gone back to regular FortiFlora, just a sprinkle for taste on his canned.) Anyway, just when I think I've got a handle on the issue, something happens, so it's one day at a time. Pretty much the way it is with my own gut issues. LOL. I wish I'd never messed a...