Monday, Monday

I'm going to try something new. I'm going to try to remember to post every day, even if all I have to write about is getting out of bed. I've been wanting to keep a record of that, anyway, because of my self-diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Today I awoke to the strong smell of poop. I figured maybe one of the cats had used the litter box and the smell had just made its way to my bedroom. (It happens.) But then it seemed too strong for that, and lasted too long. My next thought was that one of the kittens had pooped in the bedroom. So I turned on the light and got up to look. To my surprise, there was DOG poop on the dog bed and on the floor next to the dog bed. Celie, my 13-1/2 year old dog, had pooped there for some reason. Celie is housebroken. She has been ever since she was a young pup. And she has 24-hour access to a doggy door, which she regularly uses to go outside and relieve herself. But not this morning. Now I'm worried. Why is my girl suddenly pooping in the house? Is she losing control of her bowels? God, I hope not. At her age that's got to be a very bad sign. I guess it's time for a visit to the vet.

 I'd taken something to help me sleep at about midnight, so waking up to the poop smell at 7:00 AM was way too early. I'd thought about going back to bed after I cleaned up the mess, but stayed up, instead. I've been extremely tired all day -- more so than usual. I'm about to lie down now and see if I can have a nap. 

I've seen a new feral cat and one kitten playing in front of the empty house across the street. I'm going to see if I can gain their trust, catch them, and have the mama cat spayed, and both of them vaccinated. I put out some food, but have only seen mama cat eating it, and only one time. When I checked the next day, all the food was gone, of course. I put some more out yesterday.

I also have a feral at my house that I need to catch and neuter. He won't let me near him. When I did manage to get close enough to touch him, he scratched me. It will be hard to catch him. If I put out a trap with food, one of my cats will, no doubt, spring the trap before the feral (I call him "Squint" because he has eye issues) has the chance.

 It appears that Peanut's milk has finally dried up. Just in time for her spay appointment on Thursday. Yay! She's the only one of the original feral litter of four that hasn't been "fixed." She got pregnant (my bad) before I could get her spayed. I think she's pregnant again, but she'll have a kitty abortion on Thursday, if she is.

 I'll try to remember to give some background about all this in my next post. I'm too sleepy now.

I went to Bush's Chicken to pick up lunch today. I didn't have anything in the house that I wanted to eat. I really need to go buy some groceries. I planned to on Friday, but my car had other plans. It quit working before I got to the grocery store. No big problem, but I spent an hour at the Chevy service department to find that out. Why didn't I do grocery shopping that day? I don't know. I must have had a reason. Maybe I just didn't feel like going out again. If I haven't gone by Thursday, I'll go then, in conjunction with my trip to the vet to get Peanut spayed and vaccinated.

 My driver's license expires on Sunday. I've procrastinated a long time and should have had it renewed by now. That's on the list of things to do by Thursday, too.

 Going to go nap now.

A Pussy and a Pillow and Pet Pus

Well, two pillows, actually. I ordered them about a week ago - two solid foam pillows from Overstock.com. I'd had solid foam pillows for many years and loved them, but never replaced them a few years ago when they wore out. (They're hard to find.) I missed them. I had been thinking recently that my regular, store-bought pillows actually felt kind of hard. So I went online and found two very reasonably priced solid foam pillows and I ordered them. (I only really wanted one, but the price at Overstock.com for two, together, was better than the price of one at other places.)

Ooooh I love my solid foam pillows. They are so soft and comfortable and not at all "hard" like the other pillows were. Hard to believe I waited this long to replace the old pillows. Thank goodness for the Internet.

I would have had a great night's sleep with my new solid foam pillows, except that Gracie (one of my cats) decided she wanted to spend the night on me. She slept on me for most of the night. She was on my stomach when I was sleeping on my back. She was on my hip when I was sleeping on my side. I'd get up and use the bathroom and as soon as I came back to bed she'd climb up on me again and go to sleep. I'd switch positions to get more comfortable and she'd patiently wait until I was settled and climb back on. Eventually she decided to sleep somewhere else (thank God) and I and my solid foam pillows thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the night!

I took Celie to the vet yesterday because she has an inflamed sore on one of her legs. I didn't think much of it. Figured she'd get some antibiotics. Roscoe had a similar sore awhile back and that's all he got - antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. But the vet decided to scare me a little - just a little - by suggesting a test for cancer because Celie's lymph node was swollen. Great. Long story short - it wasn't cancer. But Celie HATES THE VET and it didn't help when the vet stuck the inflamed area TWICE with needles so she could test for cancer. Celie will never get in the car again.

So far, everything's okay.

Roscoe is doing okay staying in the house all day. I was worried that he'd start peeing inside, but he hasn't. Instead of removing the doggie door, I laid a chair inside on the floor so the dogs can't get out, but the cats can still come and go. I have one cat that's a little slow. I fixed up the bathroom window so the cats could get in and out, but Sweetie didn't get it! She was making the saddest sounds trying to get out! So I nixed that idea and went with the blocked doggie door. That's better anyway, because I don't have to leave a window open. Don't want bugs coming in.

Last night Rosie made me get up at 4:oo a.m. to let her out. Then I had to wait for her, Roscoe and Celie to all come back in. I guess I'd better get used to that because it's bound to happen often before these six weeks are up. I already have enough trouble getting out of bed in the morning!

I keep forgetting to give Roscoe his morning dose of medicine. Damn. I get up late and, rushing around, I just don't think about it. But he gets his evening dose. And I'm off work tomorrow, so he'll get his morning dose, too! It would be a lot easier if I didn't have to go through the process of hiding the pills in bits of hot dog. Can't someone invent a pill that dogs enjoy eating?!! Sheesh!

A Glitch

I didn't get my dogs today. There was a bit of a glitch with the plans. I have been told that I'm not getting Sammy, the senior chihuahua. He has found a home elsewhere. That disappoints me since he's the one I wanted more. I will still get Skeeter, the puppy, but not until tomorrow at lunch time. That sort of sucks. I wanted to get him on my day off so that we could spend some time bonding before I had to leave him alone with my other dogs. Now I'll have to bring him home at lunch and almost immediately leave him and go back to work. Oh well. I suppose he'll be okay. I know that Roscoe will love to play with him. Celie and Rosie aren't very playful dogs, and Roscoe suffers because of that. He has no one to play with. Now he'll have a puppy of his very own! Watch for videos on YouTube!