Life, The Universe and All That Jazz

[pbp908]

I am so sorry that I've been in and out again, but this has not been a great Spring for us.

There are so many things going on here, and it's hard to know where to start.

Bad news first, but at this point it's all felt bad.

A few weeks ago I made the decision to put my beautiful Apollo to sleep. As I told someone, sometimes the right decision is not the easy one. It's also the one that hurts the worst. He's buried between our fence and the neighbor's fence on the route that he took to visit his girlfriend, Maggie, every time he escaped.

Prior to loosing my baby, Chris moved out (finally!) and it took a lot of elbow grease and muscles to get that room clean again and ready for guests. Unfortunately I ended up cleaning the carpets and area rugs several times because all of that was concurrent with Apollo becoming sick.

I had a Moh's procedure on my left leg for a cancer that had been misdiagnosed by 3 doctors over a year and a half period. For those of you not familiar with the term, the surgeon removes tissue until they get a clean margin, so I ended up with a deep wound that was approximately 3" across. George developed a horrible wound on his heel because of a bone spur at roughly the same time. Needless to say I have the wound center on Mondays, and he has it on Thursdays. In between I am changing dressings daily for both of us.

The large oak beside our fence decided it had provided shade for us long enough and died. The dratted thing was at least 50' tall and huge! The limbs were dropping one or two at a time, but all outside of the fence. Thankfully I was able to handle them but there were still several hanging over the fence, and one very large one over the gas tank and fence that worried me. George of course was nonchalant about it until - one of them fell on the fence, destroying a section of it. Our neighbor came over and lifted it with the boom on his tractor and helped me repair the fence. That finally woke dumb bell up enough to call someone to cut the tree down. Not to remove it, mind you. Just cut it down. Leaving me with at least 2,500 lbs of tree to deal with. With that I ordered a 12" battery powered chain saw for myself and put it on my John Deere card. Ha. All that's left now is the trunk with is still HUGE, but I'm determined to eat that elephant one bite at a time.

It's been over a year since my grey cat Ghost died of old age, and the only cat left is Bugs Bunny. I decided to get a kitten to hopefully convince Bugs to stop gallivanting at night, so enter a 6 week old solid black little monster that I named Elmer Fudd. Well, gotta stick with the Looney Toons theme! Elmer quickly became Tasmanian Devil, so he's Taz and I look like I've run through a bramble to escape a maniac -scratches and bruises. He's now 8 weeks old and the beautiful thing about cats is that they come knowing how to use the litter box. Which leads me to ....

Then... there's always a then. George decided he wanted a dog. For crying out loud, these cats will probably outlive both of us, and I'm still in mourning and have zero interest in potty training a puppy. You guessed it, he has a dog. A cross between German Shepherd and Australian Shepherd. This dog is going to herd us while single handedly pulling Timmy out of the well and arresting the most wanted criminal in America. I do NOT want a dog! I especially do NOT want a dog that's a cross between 2 extremely intelligent, high energy, herding dogs. I had decided to bow to the inclusion of this little leaking yapping whining critter and chose the name Wile E. Coyote. Again, Looney Toons. Nope. Mr. I'm Too Old to Train a Dog (not taking into consideration my age?? shoulda thought about that before getting him) decided that he will be Max.

Toss in taking care of the horses next door and having a weekly student who I'm teaching stable management that also wants to learn how to use all of the goodies in my sCrap room, cooking, cleaning, mowing, and then the next thing hits.

I have large nodules on my thyroid, both sides. They're so large that they're visable to a casual view of my neck. My voice is raspy if I have more than a short conversation, throat hurts a lot, and I've lost all of the range that I regained after quitting smoking. Soooo, we're waiting for a referral and appt. with the specialist to see where this is going to take me.

Anyway, that's life right now. I'll be in and out because right now? This place is sanity for me.

[pugmom]

Oh, Pam.....I'm so sorry that you have had so much going on lately and I am so, so sorry about Apollo. I know how hard that decision is.
I'll be praying that you get an appointment soon with the specialist and that they can get your thyroid under control. In the meantime, slow down, take it easy and take care of your leg.

Now, about that kitten and puppy ----- are you nuts???? (just kidding). With everything else you have going on, that's a huge amount of added work.
I have a mental list of the pros and cons of getting another dog and right now the cons definitely outweigh the pros. As much as I miss having a dog, I know that the responsibilities would be on me and I'm standing firm on my decision. Now, if one were to "find" me, that might change my mind.

Might I suggest that when you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed, you go out and take a few whacks at the tree stump. If I had as much going on as you do, that thing would be gone in no time

Please take care of yourself and check in when you can.

[pbp908]

Sue, I'm right there with you on the dog If one had wandered up or been "gifted" to us as Tiger was, I'd have fed it and checked it to see if it could co-exist with cats. I did NOT and still do NOT want a puppy. That one was not my decision and I'm having to live with it. For now. If someone "accidently" leaves the gate open and the puppy just "happens" to escape and "disappear?" I then become Sgt. Schultz - "I know nothink!"

I did leave out one piece of good news. I've lost 65 pounds! BP meds have been cut in half, A1C is great, and thyroid is "normal," which means the weight loss has nothing to do with it.

I have written a one act play - working title is "Redemption." Waiting for the OK to stage it, so that bit of my life is on hold for now.

I guess I just really need to concentrate on those silver linings and hold tight to my sense of humor.

[pugmom]

Even though he's going to be a lot of work, I'm sure you'll grow to love the new little guy and he may even turn out to be your best buddy.

Congrats on the weight loss! You should be VERY proud of yourself. Also, congrats on the play. I assume you did that in your "spare" time??????

Keep smiling.

[jmp1022]

I hope things get better for you.

[Monica]

Pam, you have my biggest hugs, a shoulder to lean on, and me remembering when I was a young adult being told that God never gives us more than we can handle and wondering why He trusted me so much. I'm sorry I didn't see this until now, I've been having a mostly unplugged week and figured someone would holler if they needed me. We're here for you, and know that healing prayers for grace are going up on your behalf. Love you, sister!!

[pbp908]

I love you all! Prayers are always appreciated!

When I lost my singing voice, Jay asked what I was going to do (he meant medically). I told him that God would give me a new song to sing. The next morning that play basically wrote itself. I had the premise, the characters and the flow within an hour.

The puppy has learned to sit on command - verbal and hand signal. He is learning "down" and we're working hard on "release" and "drop it." As for potty training?? He takes the excursions out as a suggestion. The kitten has found the tiny training treats in my pocket and is driving me nuts for them! Maybe if the independent little Tasmanian Devil would learn something he could have one.

[Monica]

Sit is good. Down is better. And potty training.... sigh. Good luck!

[EDelValle]

Gosh.... my insane daughter, with her full time
job and disabled hubby, got herself a new puppy
when her older dog passed. The pup is finally
learning that going outside is when she is supposed
to do her business. Angela would take her out for walks
and the darn dog would hold everything until she
got back in the house and went on the potty pad.

So.... since George brought the pup home, does he get to
train and clean up after it?

I hope life begins to smooth out for you, it's getting too hot
to be stressed

[pbp908]

Generally whoever finds the "gifts" first is the one who cleans them up.

He's a smart boy, just overly enthusiastic. I didn't work with him on this at all, but the minute I held up my index finger he sat! I'm thinking he may respond to hand signals better than verbal commands, so I'm working with both. George confuses him because one minute he says "hold" the next minute it's "wait." Then there are times when "down" becomes . Training has to be consistent and I feel like I'm training George at the same time. We're working on nail filing. Darned dog is getting a pedicure every day!

"Down" and "no" work as long as you can see him coming. I didn't see him 2 nights ago and he hit a vein in my leg. I was standing in a puddle of blood before I realized what happened. It scared me enough to have George call one of our friends who is the retired head of EMT and serves as the county coroner to come help. Not that I was near death but I wanted someone who knew what they were doing to help!

Life with Max is not dull. Nor is it dull with the Tasmanian Devil! He has teeth and claws and is living up to his name! The little rat has become so strong that I can't shake him off of my foot when he grabs on. His other favorite spot is the chin. Especially bearded chins. Oy.

I think both of us need our heads examined.

[pat-czap]

There is too much here to take in. All the best to you Pam.

[pbp908]

The secret is to keep your sense of humor. Yes, I am laughing about a lot of this believe it or not. Right at this moment there is peace in the den. Tiger is asleep in one dog bed, Taz sleeping in the other, and Max is stretched out on the AC vent. Maybe it's a breakthrough?? The funniest thing today was when I decided that this was a good day to process/dry the catnip. Bugs decided to come in for a bite, and I knew trouble was going to happen. As soon as the hot catnip aroma spread through the house Bugs got a contact high! He laid claim to the trash from the cuttings and was snarling, kicking, and eye rolling anytime I approached him to get the mess away from him. Idjit was trying to eat the cuttings so I gave him some fresh leaves - no dice. He wanted the garbage cuts. Darned cat was stoned out of his gourd and it was absolutely the funniest thing I ever watched. (On a serious note it made me realize what a junkie acts like when they're jonesing for a hit.) Meanwhile Max had his squeeky toy and was running in circles with it. This is a mad house and I'm trying to figure out which of us is the lunatic and who has the keys!

[pamcook]

Love and prayers for you, Cousin.

I still have one cat and she’s the last pet. I love her but I need a break.

Good to hear from you!