Breadsticks, Birthdays, and Fall Weather

Since I missed posting a Thursday 13 last week, I’m doing a list post today. 

We’ll start with a picture of Caroline tucked into bed.  The cats tend to get a little more cuddly when it starts to cool down.

We’re supposed to have warmer weather for the first part of this week, but we’ve had a few days that have felt very much like fall.  It’s the perfect weather for reading in the hammock.

We had perfect weather and beautiful blue skies over the weekend, so we went and walked at a park that’s just far enough from home that we usually only go on the weekends.  It was so nice to spend time outside and enjoy the perfect weather.

We had some work done on the HVAC system.  Fortunately, it was minor.  Yay!  We’ve used the same company for years, and we had the same technician who came out last year when so many things got zapped with lighting.  He loved Duke and spent some time petting him and even rigged up a temporary cooling solution so Duke wouldn’t get too hot.  He remembered Duke and asked where his three-legged buddy was when he came in the house.  In some ways, it was really sad to explain that Duke had died.  But, it was also really sweet that someone who met Duke over a year ago still remembered him and asked about him.  It was a reminder of just how many people that Duke made happy. 

Two of my coworkers had birthdays this month.  I usually decorate people’s offices for their birthdays.  My boss was one of the birthday people, and he likes to tease me about my pink office, so I opted to decorate his office with a lot of pink. 

I’ve still been giving the neighbors’ chickens snacks.  The free-range chickens followed me back and forth while I was carrying in groceries and waited outside the door in between trips to the car. 

I gave the chickens leftover breadsticks one day, which they loved.  The next day, I gave them rice cakes, which they’ve happily eaten before.  Apparently, though, they thought the breadsticks would/should become a regular thing because they were very unenthusiastic about the rice cakes the day after the breadsticks.   They’ve since resigned themselves to not getting breadsticks every day and are back to eating whatever I give them.

I’ll leave you with this picture of Howard and Frankie cuddled up together.  They’re so precious.

What have you been up to lately? 

Thursday 13: A Busy Week

I was hoping to post again before this, but since I didn’t, I decided another Thursday 13 was in order.  It has been a busy week.

1.     Duke has pancreatitis again.  We’re not sure how he keeps getting it.  He had it in April, and we’ve been careful about not giving him too much people food since then.  We took him to the vet on Tuesday, and Dr. M. wanted to hospitalize him.  We’re hoping he’ll be able to come home tomorrow.  He’s eating again (always a good sign with Duke) but still has a fever. 

 

They sent us this picture of him today.  He likes everyone there, so he's happy.

2.     Dr. D. had us bring Howard in on Saturday morning and show her exactly how we were giving him his insulin injections.  Given Nick’s EMT background, no one was really expecting an issue with how Howard has been getting his shots.  Howard’s insulin dose was due before the appointment time, so Dr. D. had Nick demonstrate with our syringes and a bottle of saline. 

3.     Everything was right.  I bought the right needles, and Nick has been doing the injections perfectly.  I didn’t demonstrate (Yay!) since Nick does most of them, and I do exactly what he does. 

4.     Howard went to the emergency vet last night.  He started having severe gastrointestinal issues, and I called in case it was something to do with his insulin.  We were there for about three hours, and they gave Howard fluids and antibiotics and did bloodwork.  His glucose level was finally good!

5.     I really liked the vet we saw.  It’s always a gamble at the emergency clinic; most of the time, they’re great, but it seems like when they’re bad, they’re really, really bad.  This vet was awesome, though.  I hope we don’t need to see her again, but I’d be happy with any of the fur kids seeing her when we do need an emergency vet.

6.     I mentioned Duke’s pancreatitis to the emergency vet, in case it was related to what Howard had.  She said it most likely wasn’t and was just terrible timing.  I talked to Duke’s vet (Dr. M.) this morning and Howard’s regular vet, Dr. D., and they both agree that it’s only a coincidence that Howard and Duke are similarly sick at the same time.  Dr. D. was thrilled about Howard’s glucose when she got the report from the emergency vet.  He has an appointment with her next week to check it again, and we’re all hoping the level stays where it is.

7.     I hate that Duke and Howard are both sick, but I’m relieved that we don’t need to worry about the other five cats having the same problem.  That would be a lot to deal with!

8.     In non-vet visit news, I’m going to try to make my sister a crocheted cat couch for Christmas.  She doesn’t read my blog, so I’m not worried about her finding out.  She has been asking for one for two years now, but I’ve been scared to try it.  There weren’t any left-handed videos, but Crochet Crowd posted one recently, and I’ve been practicing the stitches.

9.     It only has three different stitches; single crochet, double crochet, and half double crochet.  I used the half-double for most of the mask adapters I made, so I’m pretty comfortable with that one.  I think I’m getting better at the single and double.

10.  I like the UK crochet terms better than the US crochet terms.  The UK terms seem to make more sense for what you’re doing.  I like the videos from this website, and she gives you the UK and US terms, so it works for me to learn from a UK site. 

11.  I ordered the yarn I’m planning to use, and it arrived this week.  I really like the gray and rainbow yarn in the pattern, but that yarn was more expensive, and I’m not sure my first attempt will be gift-worthy, so I opted for the less expensive yarn.  The gray is for the couch.  The multi-colored one is called Fiesta, and it’s for the afghan and the dust ruffle. 

 

12.  We bought the foam on Saturday after we got back from taking Howard to the vet.  Nick will be in charge of building the couch.  I’m terrible at things like that, and he says the pattern/building instructions make sense to him.  I’m sure the couch will take me a while, so I’m hoping to get started on it this weekend, assuming we manage to stay out of vet’s offices.

13.  We have cherry tomatoes again.  We’re pretty sure 2016 was the last year we planted cherry tomatoes, but we have some come back every year.  I think they should be called something other than cherry tomatoes.  Maybe immortal tomatoes would be a good name for them.

So what have you been up to this week?  

Duke Update

A quick explanation for those of you who may be visiting as part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge, Duke is our three-legged wonder dog, one of our many foster failures.  He had surgery for the adrenal form of Cushing’s Disease in January.  Now, on to the update.

Duke is officially recovered from his surgery.  Dr. S. cleared him to resume all of his normal activities.  He’s still on steroids, though they’ve already lowered the dose to half of what it was.  Dr. V. has turned over managing the steroids to Dr. M., and the hope/plan is that he’ll be able to come off of them at some point.

Duke’s muscle strength isn’t back to what it was.  No one is really sure if that’s lingering from the Cushing’s Disease or if it’s simply because he’s an older dog.  He has had an ongoing issue with a sore (like a pressure sore on a person is probably the best description for it) on his back left leg, kind of near his knee, and it got much worse in the weeks leading up to his surgery.  Steroids can impede wound healing, so that’s part of the problem.  Dr. M. said those sores are also very common, especially on older, larger dogs.  It’s practically impossible to keep it bandaged because of where it’s at.  Dr. M. has told us that encouraging Duke not to lay on hard surfaces may help.  Our floors are all hardwood or vinyl, so we’ve put down some rugs and have pet beds and blankets scattered throughout the house.  We keep adding more because it seems like Duke will always pick the spot without a rug to lay down.

We put a little outfit on Duke for a while to try to help pad his knee a little bit.  It’s hard to find clothing for larger dogs, but I finally found one that fits from Target.  Duke doesn’t mind wearing clothes and I think he looks adorable in it.  He got it pretty dirty pretty fast, so we took it off of him to wash; then we had some fairly warm days, so we haven’t put it back on him yet.  We have several cooler days coming up this week and next, so we may try putting it back on him to see if it seems to make a difference. 

Duke’s leg with the sore got really bad a couple of weeks ago.  The sore looked a lot worse, and his leg was swollen to about twice the size of his other back leg.  Since he’s already down a leg, we tend to panic over anything involving his legs.  Dr. M.’s office worked him in that day.  Dr. M. has put him on a very long course of antibiotics, and it seems to be helping.  The swelling went away within 48 hours, and the sore doesn’t look as bad. 

I asked Dr. M. about the muscle weakness while we were there.  He said there’s a chance it will get better, and there’s a chance this is as good as it will get.  He said it’s possible that Duke’s age, the missing leg, and having had Cushing’s Disease are all catching up with him.  He also said that Duke seems happy and doesn’t seem to be in pain, so even if this is as good as it gets, it’s not a bad life right now.

Duke is still wearing the Help ‘em Up harness.  He’s able to get up without help from a rug or a firm dog bed but struggles with getting up from the hardwood floor and cannot get up from the vinyl floor.  Since he still likes to lay on those floors, we’re keeping the harness on him so we can help him up.  It makes it a lot easier on him and on us.

Howard is still Duke’s shadow.  He pretty much follows him everywhere, which Duke seems to be okay with. 

Duke had a fantastic weekend.  We had our neighbors over to dinner, and the kids were very generous in sharing food with him.  And I’m not sure there was a point in the evening where there wasn’t someone petting him.  Food and attention are Duke’s favorite things, so he was very happy. 

An Update on Duke

Duke is home from his surgery.  He came home last Saturday.  Overall, he’s doing fairly well.

The surgery was mostly a success.  Dr. S. was able to get about 95% of the tumor.  The rest of it was growing into his vena cava, and removing it would have been too risky. 

The pathology report on the tumor came back.  It is cancerous.  Apparently, everyone except me was expecting this.  I thought it was going to be a benign mass because I seem to excel at denial whenever anyone is sick.  It’s a slow-growing tumor, and Duke is an older dog.  There’s a chance he’ll develop Cushing’s symptoms again.  There’s also a chance that he’ll live out the rest of his life without problems from what’s left of the tumor. 

Dr. S was great about calling with updates about Duke.  She called at least twice a day, even after hours, to let us know how he was doing.  She also let me know that Dr. M2 would be taking over Duke’s care on Friday.  I’ve seen Dr. M2 in the lobby before when Emma was going almost monthly for bloodwork.  Dr. M2 always seemed to talk to the dogs first, then the people and would get down on the floor with the dogs.  So it seemed like she was very caring.  She was also great about calling us with updates about Duke.  Both vets commented on how good Duke’s appetite was, which made us happy since eating is Duke’s favorite thing in the world. 

We brought Duke home on Saturday.  The incision is quite a bit larger than I thought it would be, and his feet were a little swollen.  Dr. M2 told us to massage Duke’s feet to help with the swelling.  Duke seems to enjoy his foot massages, and the swelling has gone down significantly.  His activity is extremely limited for a few weeks, and he’s still having some trouble getting up, so they fitted him with a Help 'em Up harness.  It was expensive, but that thing is a lifesaver!  It’s so much easier on him and us when we use that.  I’m planning to do a more in-depth post on the harness and a few other things soon, but if you have a dog with mobility issues, I highly recommend a Help 'em Up harness.  I usually can’t lift Duke on my own, but I’m able to with the harness.

Right now, there’s a lot of lifting Duke up.  We have to stand him up and get him to move around several times a day to help prevent blood clots.  The medications he’s on cause excessive thirst, so there are extra bathroom trips and changing out his puppy pads since he’s not quite back to his usual excellent etiquette.   He does seem to be getting a little stronger and seems to go a little faster and farther every time we take him out.

Nick and I have been taking turns sleeping out in the living room with Duke since he seems to need a bathroom trip or a puppy pad change every few hours.  We’re exhausted!  It has been over twelve years since we’ve had a dog recovering from major surgery, and we’re definitely feeling the difference between lack of sleep in your 20s versus lack of sleep in your very late 30s.

Duke is on several medications, which he gets in Pill Pockets or cheese, so he’s happy to take the pills.  He’s on pain medication, anti-coagulants (blood clots are a big concern after this surgery), steroids, and a few other medications.   The steroids are because it takes some time for the other adrenal gland to start functioning after the surgery, which pushes them into Addison’s Disease.  The steroid dose will be tapered over months, and there will be bloodwork to determine when and how.

Dr. V. started Duke on the steroids but has said that Dr. M. should be able to take over managing the medication.  I’ve talked to Dr. M., and he agrees with me that it seems hopeful that getting 95 percent of the tumor was good enough to stop the Cushing’s Disease since bloodwork is showing that Duke does need to be on steroids.  Obviously, we may not know for sure for a while, but I’ll take hope where I can find it. 

Howard has been Duke’s self-appointed caregiver, companion, and massaging pillow.  Howard adores Duke and has barely left his side since he came home.  I wasn’t able to get a picture of it, but yesterday, Duke was sleeping with his chin resting on Howard.  It was so sweet!  There’s some thought that cat purrs may promote healing, so as long as Howard doesn’t seem to be bothering Duke, we’re happy to let him stay with him.

Duke’s follow-up with Dr. S is in a couple of weeks, and we should know this week when Dr. M. will want to see him for medication management. 

Now we’re just hoping for a speedy recovery and that what’s left of the tumor doesn’t grow at all. 

Duke Has Cushing’s Disease

After Emma’s Cushing’s Disease, I truly hoped it was something we’d never deal with any of our pets having again.  Unfortunately, that hope hasn’t come true. 

We boarded Duke at his vet’s office when we went to Folly Beach in the fall.  We've always loved boarding the dogs there because the vet is very hands-on.  More often than not, it’s the vet himself walking, feeding, and playing with the dogs.  It’s sort of like a week-long vet visit/observation period for the price of boarding. 

They’re also perfectly fine with you calling to check on your pets, and they usually text us updates and pictures.  When I talked to Dr. M. on the third day, he mentioned that Duke’s water consumption was excessive and that he wanted to do some tests. 

I know that excessive water consumption is a sign of Cushing’s Disease.  It happened with Emma and was really the first symptom we saw.  I should have put it together with Duke, but I didn’t.  My first thought was diabetes.  Dr. M. has lectured us for years about Duke’s weight.  I thought we’d finally have to get strict about Duke’s food. 

After the first round of bloodwork, I knew exactly what Dr. M. was looking for.  The results were similar to Emma’s years ago.

Dr. M. did all of the bloodwork necessary to confirm Cushing’s Disease and was able to diagnose Duke.  He just couldn’t tell us, for sure, if it was the pituitary or adrenal kind.  He’d already referred us to the specialist for imaging.  He was just doing everything possible ahead of time since the appointment was months out.  We were waiting for the specialist, Dr. V., who had treated Emma.  We’d had an extremely bad experience with another vet in the practice (she misdiagnosed Emma and cost us time with our girl; you can guess how I feel about her) and wanted to stick with the vet we knew we liked.  Meanwhile, Dr. M. was in contact with Dr. V. about the test results he was getting and was fairly sure Duke had the adrenal Cushing’s, not the pituitary like Emma had. 

Because of Dr. M.’s diligence, we were able to make Duke’s first appointment with Dr. V. for all of the imaging needed to determine whether the Cushing’s was adrenal or pituitary.  We also knew what our options were likely to be, so we had a little more time to plan.  Dr. V. was great with Duke, and they did all of the CT scans and bloodwork they needed. 

Dr. V. was able to determine immediately that Duke’s Cushing’s is the adrenal kind.  He has a mass on the right adrenal gland.  She told us that from what she could see on the CT scan, Duke was a good candidate for the surgery, but she wanted a radiologist to look at to be sure.  That took a few days.  Dr. V. called with the results and told us that Duke is a good candidate for the surgery to remove the adrenal gland and tumor.  The outlook with treating it with medication instead of surgery isn’t good. 

We talked to Dr. M. (because we always talk to our regular vets), and he agreed that surgery is in Duke’s best interest.  He said it’s a highly specialized surgery, and not one he would perform himself, but one he felt confident in the surgeons at the specialist practice doing.  Dr. V. isn’t a surgeon, so she won’t be the one doing Duke’s surgery. 

Duke was scheduled for surgery on Monday, January 17^th, with Dr. A., the surgeon Dr. M. is familiar with.  Unfortunately, because of all of the snow and ice in western NC and upstate SC, the specialist vet’s office was closed on Monday, and Duke’s surgery was canceled.  He’s now scheduled for surgery on Wednesday, January 26^th, with Dr. S.  

Dr. M isn’t familiar with Dr. S. but says he’s confident in any of the specialized surgeons there who do this kind of surgery.  He also said the surgery needs to happen as soon as possible.

I talked to Dr. S. on the phone three times yesterday, and I liked her.  I had some questions about some problems Duke has been having, and she said that Dr. V. was more qualified to address them since Dr. V. treats diseases.  Dr. S. talked to Dr. V. and called me back within 10 minutes.  Dr. V. and Dr. S. wanted us to get an appointment with Dr. M. for Duke to get checked out and have some bloodwork done.  Getting a call back so quickly was huge.  I feel like that means the vet cares when they communicate and work to get answers.  I also liked that she immediately involved Dr. V. when she thought Dr. V. would be better able to help Duke.  The third call made me like her even more.  She called to make sure Dr. M. was able to see Duke since all of the vet’s offices were behind due to the weather.  If Dr. M. couldn’t fit Duke in, she wanted to make sure they got him in at her office.  Dr. M. was able to see Duke, but I really liked that Dr. S. called to make sure.  I always feel better about a vet who seems to see him as Duke, the three-legged dog who loves to catch birds and rabbits and steals lasagna, not chart #12345.   

Oddly enough, Duke will have to go on steroids for a while after the surgery.  Apparently, the adrenal gland that’s left takes some time to start functioning properly, so dogs who have the surgery go from way too much cortisol (Cushing’s) to none/not enough (Addison’s Disease).  Dr. V. will be the one managing Duke’s medication and aftercare, which is good since we know she’s good and very communicative. 

We’re told that Duke will have to stay in the hospital for a few days.  There’s a risk of blood clots and complications in the first week or so after the surgery, but after that, it’s usually all good.  The specialty clinic is part of an emergency clinic, so they have 24-hour staff. 

Of course, we’re nervous.  Duke’s our boy, we love him, and he has already been through so much. 

The silver lining in all of this is that we have a great regular vet.  Dr. M. was able to get things started to get Duke diagnosed much earlier than he might have been otherwise.  We’re also fortunate to be within a reasonable drive of a specialty practice and that we have a vet we really like there.  I’m also so incredibly grateful that the adrenal Cushing’s  Duke has doesn’t suppress his appetite the way the pituitary Cushing’s did with Emma.  Duke has always been a total pig, stealing food every chance he gets.  It would be devastating to go from that to begging him to eat something, anything, the way we did with Emma. 

Assuming all goes well, Duke should be completely back to normal after he recovers.   We just want him to be healthy and happy.

A Few Random Things

This is kind of a miscellaneous post since none of these things are enough for their own post, but I do want to start blogging more regularly.

Since this kind of post isn’t complete without a random cat picture, here’s one of Caroline.  This was one of the times she “helped” me while I was working from home. 

Speaking of working from home, after doing it for so long I seem to have lost all faith in my ability to dress appropriately for being at work.  I seem to text my sister about once a week asking if something matches.  This was the latest.  We decided that it does match. 

It was HOT here yesterday.  It rained a lot earlier in the week, then got really hot, which is perfect weather for the yard to turn into a jungle if we’re not careful.  So, we agreed to make sure we cut the grass after work yesterday.  I mowed, Nick used the weed-eater for all of the places the mower doesn’t fit, and in some of the places where the grass was so long that the mower needed a little help.  It had only been six days since we cut the grass the time before!  I’m not kidding when I say it can turn into a jungle.  Quickly!

Did I mention that it was hot?!?  Nick doesn’t normally sweat, but he was sweaty yesterday.  I always get sweaty, but yesterday I could actually wring sweat out of my clothes, which is really gross.  We’ve definitely reached the part of the summer when we are completely over cutting the grass. 

Apparently, Duke found it exhausting to hang out in the air-conditioned house and watch us mow his yard.  He has a hard life.

After we finished with the yard and got showers, we were starving, but it was still too hot to want anything heavy.  So we opted for a snacky dinner of fruit, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and crackers.  

The cheese was a Wensleydale, which I’d never had before.  I bought it at Aldi.  And I’m honest enough to admit that I bought it because of Wallace and Gromit.  I’ll also admit that we discussed our Wensleydale in very, very bad British accents.  No disrespect to those of you with British accents.  We both love the accent but are both terrible at doing most accents. 

Our Wensleydale (Are you reading that in Wallace’s accent?) was honey lemon flavored.  After Googling it, we learned that the texture is somewhat dry and crumbly.  We both liked it.  I think it might have been a little better served with something that wasn’t also dry like the crackers were.  We still have some Wensleydale left, and I’m thinking about getting some strawberries or melon to serve with it.   I’m definitely open to suggestions on how best to serve Wensleydale. 

So what about you?  Are you a fan of Wallace and Gromit and/or Wensleydale?  Do you doubt your ability to dress appropriately after spending so much time at home?  Is it HOT where you are?

Getting Back to Normal

 

It has been a long time since I’ve posted, which seems to have become my pattern over the past couple of years.   This time, though, there seem to be more positive things going on in between posts.  I’m not sure how long that will last, with the delta variant, but it’s nice for now.

Here are a few of the highlights.  As usual with this kind of post, most of the pictures aren’t related to the post.  They’re just pictures I like and haven’t gotten around to posting yet. 

Like many people, I’m fully vaccinated.  My group got bumped up pretty fast, so I got my second dose on March 28^th.   I didn’t expect to get it that soon, but it seemed like it really sped up.  Everyone at work was emailing information about clinics, and several of us ended up at a drive-thru clinic about an hour away.  It was so efficient!  Everyone was really nice, and they did a great job moving people through.  

I ended up getting the Pfizer vaccine and had fairly mild side effects.  I had a small, slightly itchy rash around the injection site after the first dose.  I had a large (pretty much my entire upper arm) very itchy rash around the injection site after the second dose.  I messaged my doctor, and he called in a cream that cleared it up within about a week.  I’m told skin reactions aren’t unheard of but aren’t one of the more common side effects.  I’m very, very prone to skin reactions, so it makes sense that I’d be one of the people to get a rash.  My sister is fond of saying that I can get a rash if someone looks at me the wrong way.  She’s not exactly wrong. 

I will definitely take a week-long rash over COVID, though.  Possible death or permanent lung damage versus a rash?  I’ll take the rash, thank you very much. 

Nick and my sister were fully vaccinated last time I posted.  Both of my parents and Nick’s mom and step-dad are fully vaccinated as well.  We’ve been able to see my sister and parents, which was wonderful.  There’s more travel involved in seeing Nick’s mom and step-dad, so we haven’t seen them yet.

We had our neighbors over for a cookout and game night a couple of weeks ago.  We’ve been out to dinner a couple of times and have met friends for lunch.  It is so wonderful to be around people again!  I think that was something I took for granted pre-COVD, the ability to see people by going out to eat or having someone come over for dinner.   I hope it’s something I will always appreciate going forward.  

I’m finally back to working in the office.  We went back on July 6^th.  There are a few more teleworking options than there were pre-COVID, but I’ve opted to keep the same schedule I had before COVID.  I’m embracing being back to normal!  I have some projects I’m really excited about coming up, so I’m doubly happy to be back. 

As so many people are, we’re trying to schedule all of the appointments that we missed in 2020.  Our dentist’s office isn’t scheduling any appointments.  They just put you on a call list and aren’t saying how long it will be.  I got lucky when I called for an eye appointment in June.  They were scheduling for January but had one cancellation for the next day.  I was pretty sure my prescription had changed, so I happily took that appointment.  My prescription had changed drastically!  In addition to glasses, I have prescription sunglasses, but my insurance only pays for one set of frames and lenses per year.  I couldn’t get new lenses for the sunglasses without leaving them at the office, but I could for the glasses without leaving them.  They said it’s because the sunglasses frames are so old.  I’ve had them since 2012, but they’re still in great shape.  So I have new sunglasses (frames and lenses) and new lenses for my glasses.  And I still have my old sunglasses for working in the yard.  I’m hoping my prescription won’t change for a few years so I can eventually get to the point of having a backup pair of glasses and sunglasses. 

Charlie

 We’ve been working on another house project.  Because, apparently, we didn’t learn our lesson with the kitchen.  Our back porch was screened in when we moved in, but over the years, the screens have torn, and the outdoor carpet has fallen apart.  Nick’s mom gave us a Lowe’s gift card for my birthday in April, so we decided to re-do the porch.  Like every other home project, it has been more difficult and taken longer than expected.  It’s so close to being finished, though!  And I think it will all be worth it.  I envision lots of al fresco dinners and time spent outside reading. 

I don’t have many pictures yet, since there’s still work to do, but you can see the color we painted it in these pictures of our cute little groundhog visitor.

Isn’t the groundhog adorable?  They remind me of Howard the way they stand up.

Howard

The groundhog hasn’t been back.  While I would have liked to see him again, I think it’s probably best for him that he’s staying away from our yard and away from Duke. 

Duke

 So what about all of you?  Are things getting back to normal for you?  What have you been up to over the past few months? 

A Few Random Things

This is kind of a miscellaneous post since none of these things alone are enough for their own post.  Of course, like all of my random things posts, there will be cat (and other) pictures sprinkled throughout. 

Howard

I’m trying to reply to all of the comments now.  I’ve posted about it before, and the opinions seemed fairly mixed.  I replied to comments when I first started blogging, way back in 2012, but just stopped somewhere along the way.  I’ve decided to try it again for now.  I can always stop if no one seems to read them, or if I don’t really have anything to say.  I haven’t responded to some of the comments on my photography post because they were really long when I started to, and I’ve decided to just write a post instead.  I’m hoping to have that finished soon.

Mortimer

My best piece of random news is that my dad got his first dose of vaccine last week.  My parents live in South Carolina, so my dad got vaccinated shortly after they opened up appointments for people 65 and over.  They’ve lowered the age limit now, so my mom has an appointment scheduled for next week. 

We’ve had almost a week of wonderfully nice, warm weather, even getting up to 70 degrees.  The daffodils are starting to bloom  I’ve been wishing the tree hadn’t destroyed the hammocks when it fell!  Today is the last of the good weather.  It gets rainy and colder, even going down to highs in the 50s for all of the 10 day forecast.  I hope that will be the last of the colder weather, but I’m not counting on it.  March tends to lose its ever loving mind every year and torments us with another bout of cold weather.

The company, Corel, that owns WordPerfect has absolutely terrible customer service.  We’ve been trying to contact them for over two weeks about an issue with the program. They take a few days to respond to every email, and it feels like they’ve been deliberately dragging it out.  Nick sent them all of the information they might need in the first email, but they’ve been emailing and asking for the same information he already sent, one thing at a time.  Email on Monday asking how many systems it’s installed on, email a few days later asking for a screen shot of the error, etc. 

Their latest response is that we have a pirated copy of the program and need to buy a new one.  We most certainly do not!  We bought it brand new, from Best Buy.  It’s old, but it’s not pirated or stolen.  When we first started having problems with it, I was mostly prepared to buy the new version of it since ours is old.  It seemed worth checking to see if we could get a little more life out of ours first, though.  I really, really like WordPerfect, a lot more than Word, so I wasn’t opposed to replacing the program.  Now that they’ve been so obnoxious, I’m less inclined to buy their product.  Bad customer service is bad enough, but I really don’t like being accused of stealing, which I feel is what they did when they said our program is pirated.  I use Word every day on my work computer and if the Corel people want to be jerks, I can certainly use Word on my personal computer. 

 

Caroline

I’m making mask adapters again.  One of my coworkers asked for one for his wife.  She works in retail, and had one of the ones I made early on, but it disappeared at work.  I made a few for her, and some extras for her to take to work as well.  I was really happy that someone asked for them.  I’ve been telling people to let me know whenever they need them, and I’m glad someone finally did.  My sister has handed out all of the ones I sent to her a few weeks ago, so I’m working on another batch to mail to her. 

I found a new chiropractor that I’m extremely happy with.  I hadn’t been since before the pandemic.  The chiropractor I had been going to has been open, but I won’t be going back there, ever, because of their COVID behavior.  I kept putting off finding a new one, but persistent headaches are a good motivator.  I Googled “chiropractors in my town” and then looked for Facebook pages to see what their practice was like.  I had never realized how helpful a business’s Facebook page could be!  I eliminated two from my list immediately, and found what looked like a solid first choice and a decent second choice.  I called the first choice to ask about their mask policy and ended up making an appointment for the next day.  They are awesome!!!  The practice reminds me a lot of the one I absolutely loved when I lived in SC.  I’ve been going weekly and feel so much better. 

Dogs make people smile.  Especially friendly, happy three-legged dogs.  Since almost everything is curbside or drive-thru now, I’ve been taking Duke with me almost every time I go anywhere.  He loves going for rides, and I think he misses seeing other people and going places.  He’s always so happy when I get his leash out.  And people are always happy to see him.  Everyone just seems much happier when I have Duke with me. 

Duke

So what about you?  Have you been enjoying warm weather?  Do you have a favorite word processing program?  Have you found it helpful to look at a business’s Facebook page?  

Happy New(ish) Year!

You can still say Happy New Year in January, right?  Even if it’s the very last day of January?  Anyway, I hope 2019 ended well for all of you, and that you’re all having a great start to 2020.

I meant to do at least a few posts in December, but as usual time got away from me.  I had a few projects at work to finish up, and the usual holiday stuff just seemed to take over beyond that.  Here
are the highlights since the last time I posted:

An oldie but a goody:  Howard the meerkat.

We had our holiday meal at work.  It was a lunchtime potluck in mid-December.  I really like how the new job does it.  There aren’t many nearby options for lunch so almost everyone brings their lunch almost every day.  So bringing food to work and eating it there wasn’t really an inconvenience for anyone.  And I loved that it was during the workday.  It’s so much better than trying to fit in yet another event after work or on the weekend during the holidays.  And the food was awesome, which I’m sure contributed to my good opinion of it.  I got a few new recipes I’m looking forward to trying.  I brought macaroni and cheese, which went over very well. 

Nick and I went to my sister’s for Christmas.  It was just the three of us this time.  Nick’s mom and step-dad weren’t able to come because one of their cats was extremely sick, and they couldn’t leave him.  Fortunately, he’s doing much better now.  Our friend Alex ending up going to Florida to be with her family.  It was a little odd without our usual group, but the three of us still had a great time.  We’re working on putting together a second Christmas so everyone can get together to see each other and exchange gifts.

I bought a camera.   A nice one.  I’ve been toying with the idea for a long time.  I took pictures for a Realtor for a couple of years while I was going to school, and I fell in love with taking pictures.  I’ve never had any formal classes or training, but I love it, and I’ve dabbled with trying to improve my skills over the years.  I’ve never taken the plunge on a good camera, though.

One of my coworkers, Doc, has a degree from an art school and has done professional photography.  He was nice enough to look at some of my pictures (taken with a cellphone) and offered me some pointers that have been helpful.  He also said I have a good eye and have potential.  One really good Cyber Monday sale later, I was the proud owner of a new camera. 

Doc showed me a few things with the camera, and has sent me out into the world to practice.  He has promised to look at my pictures and tell me what’s working, what isn’t, and how to get them to turn out how I want them to.  I haven’t had as much time as I had hoped to experiment, but I think that will change now that the holidays are over.  You’ll probably be seeing more pictures from me.  Hopefully you’ll also notice an improvement in the quality. Just FYI, the pictures in this post are the usual cellphone pictures.

Nick’s mom sent the cats some catnip bananas for Christmas.  All six of the cats absolutely love them.  Tara loves them, which made me so happy.  Tara was a few years old when we adopted her, and had an extremely hard life.  She’s still very skittish around people.  Some days seem better than others, and lately she seems to be really coming out of her shell.  She loves the bananas so much that she came out and played with them, and even let me get some pictures of her playing with one.

Tara

 It snowed today.  It started off light around mid-morning, and then started coming down heavily.  We have the option to work at home during bad weather, so I panicked, took my laptop home, and finished up my work for the day at home.  I’m a South Carolina native, and we don’t handle snow well!  It’ supposed to get warmer this evening, so the snow should all be gone by tomorrow.  I certainly hope so!  Nick sees this as a dusting.  I see it as accumulation.   I think most of you who read and comment regularly live in colder climates, so I suspect most of you will see it as a dusting like Nick does. 

The view down our street. 

In my defense, it did snow some more after this picture was taken.

We had a Crock Pot cooking competition at work last week for a fundraiser.  I entered my macaroni and cheese.  I came in second place.  Obviously, first place would have been great, but I don’t think second place is too bad. 

Duke had surgery a couple of weeks ago.  He had two cysts on the top of his head that needed to be removed.  He also had some broken teeth that needed to be pulled.  The vet thinks he probably broke the teeth chewing hard on something.  Given everything Duke gets into, I think that’s an excellent explanation.  He did well with the surgery, and is recovering nicely.  Duke is pretty popular at the vet’s office, so I know he was treated very well.  He insisted on going around to tell everyone bye before we left.  He did manage to look very pitiful the next day, and convinced us to give him quite a few treats. 

Duke

Nothing else is really coming to mind that merits posting about.  It always seems strange to me how the end of the year seems insanely busy, but whenever I try to list what we did there’s just not much.  Does that happen to you? 

So how has 2020 started off for you?  Was the end of 2019 insanely busy?

Of course, no catch up post is complete without random cat pictures, so here are a few more for you to enjoy. 

Charlie & Mortimer

Howard

Mortimer

Caroline