Quinquagenerian

I'm a quinquagenerian today. Thanks, Poet, for expanding my vocabulary. You can learn a lot in Yahoo Word Racer. Some of it I will not repeat here (censored).

There are lots of downy goslings about. I like that.

Finn is doing well. He can chillax with the best of them, even with his collar on. Just 3 days, almost to the hour, til the appointment to get his stitches out.

If your dad breaks into the Trail Mix dog treat sample that came in the mail, don't worry, he'll be fine. At least mine was. He said they were very tasty actually. No, he didn't notice they were shaped like little dog bones and smelled sort of meaty. No I don't have a dog, but I have some doggy friends who like my free samples. Canine friends I mean.

Had a lovely birthday lunch at Maggiano's, and partook of my favorite 4 cheese pasta purses with pesto cream sauce with a touch of marinara, a beautiful salad with my favorite dressing and sauteed prosciutto, blue cheese and red onion, warm bread and olive oil, and tiramisu for dessert. Ahhhh . . . I'm going to have to take a moment . . . excuse me . . .

I used my vacation whiskey (If you only know Jack you don't know Dickel!) to make some homemade Bailey's for glamping (glamorous camping) with my chums, which is coming up in a couple of weeks. I can't call it Bailey's Irish Cream because I don't know if Mr. Dickel is Irish. Anyway, holy moley batman, danger Will Robinson! It's delicious but very strong. AFTER I mixed it up I read the comments under the recipe, and lots of peeps recommended cutting the amount of whiskey in half. LOL  Oh well. I'm sure the coffee will help. And the whipped cream. Glamping coffee, camping coffee, whatever you call it it is tasty stuff. I'm making homemade Kahlua too. After glamping maybe I'll have to go for The Cure, which is what my 92  year-old dad calls rehab.

That's all for now.

Oh, and big shocker here, I did NOT lose 100# by my 50th birthday. Oh shut up.

Kay :)

The Patient, The Garden, and the Potato

Finn is doing very well. He has learned to relax, play . . .

and even help with the laundry! He has shown me he can make it to the top of the fence pretty easily, and I'm pretty sure the little chit will get out whenever he damn well feels like it, despite my Finn-ifying of the cat fence. He is so good-natured, love him to death. He doesn't even squawk when I have to put his collar back on after giving him a break from it, though he did look somewhat alarmed last night when I put it back on him . . . BACKWARD!  LOL  LOL. It was really hard to get off! He was sweet about it though. He knows what a ditz I am by now.

Gotta love square foot gardening, there are 16 tomato plants in this 4 x 4 bed, plus I must have missed some taters last year, there are some coming up in this bed, and John gave me a Jerusalem artichoke and a horseradish bulb(?) thing that I stuck in here (and forgot about) and both of those are coming too, along with tons of morning glories. I think of this bed, with its hodgepodge of tomato cages and things, as a feline obstacle course for Midge. She loves it! LOL

The perennials John planted just last month have bloomed already.

Midge's zinnia bed is a sunflower bed this year. I put a bazillion zinnia seeds in there and I think only 2 of them are coming along. She let me put some onions in there too.

Midge was industriously digging in garden bed, and when I went to water, look what I found!  At first I thought it was a wayward radish, but no . . . a tater!

I fried it up for breakfast, and had it with eggs scrambled with red pepper (yummers), and sprinkled it with Vulcan Fire Salt from the Spice House in Chicago. With toast and ketchup, wow it was tasty. Thanks Midget Widget Bidget Fidget!

Over and out!

Kay :)

Recuperation in Action (but not Kay this time!)

Gosh I have a strange feeling of deja vu doing this post . . . where is the red robe? Doesn't everybody wear a red robe when recuperating?

Anyway, Finn was very nervous about going outside with his collar on. I tried to carry him for walks around yard but he'd get nervous at the least little sound and bust loose and run back in. I should say that I fortified (Finn-ified?) the cat fence-in system, at least I have my fingers crossed. I want him in the yard. Preferably forever, but at least til his stitches are out! Today he settled down enough to sit on the patio in a rocking chair (not THE rocking chair!). He seemed to enjoy it. Then when it was time to come in, I decided to take him out in yard for one more walk round. Well, he got down and laid in grass for a while, and was chilling, until he saw Murphy, the neighbor's dog. then the hair that was left on his poor shortened tail stood straight up, and he attacked Murphy through the fence, just like he always does. Murphy seems highly amused when this happens, Finn is deadly serious. I was afraid he was overdoing it, and went to shoo him in, and I should know better than that by now, and lordy did I get a nice scratch.  They must have trimmed his nails when he was under, because I remember his claws being a lot longer. LOL  He's doing very well, a sweet boy. I took collar off him for a bit tonight because he had an area that needed some attention and he didn't want me messing with it, though he enjoyed me washing his face and eyes lol. He got tidied up and ate and drank and purred a lot. He didn't fuss at all when I put the collar back on, which surprised me. A week from tomorrow he gets his stitches out.

My Achilles is feeling better from the support the foot doctor made me to put in my shoe. Wanted to start walking again this week, but I've been busy fussing over the patient.

Bedtime!

Kay :)

Home from the hospital!

It feels funny to type those words when it is not me coming home!

The amputee is home. Poor kitty. Ten days of collar and indoors til stitches come out.

Major major guilt trip. Sad sad sad. He wants the collar off and he wants outside! And it has only been 10 minutes. :(

Rotten Rotten Day

Well I was in rocking chair on patio last night. My buddy Finn was hanging around, wanting a pat, taking a little bath, when all of a sudden I hear him yelp. A rare rocking chair/cat incident. I am so careful! ARGHHH I get up to go to him, and he is running away from me. I'm not surprised. He and Midge are both highly sensitive and highly affronted at any foolishness and both have good memories. But this was a big yelp for Finn and I am worried. He takes another look behind him as he goes over the fence. He  finally comes home later last night, and his tail looks a little funny, so it was clearly a rocking chair meets tail incident. He is anxious and I calm him down, but he doesn't want me to mess with his tail. I decide he can stay in last night, instead of letting him go as he pleases. Around 5:00 I get up to use the facilities and he really wants out, so does Midge, probably because he doesn't use the litter box in the house, except in extreme emergencies, and I let him out, he looks pretty good, figuring I'll check him out later. Well this morning I freak out when I see a bit of Finn's tail on the patio under the rocking hair and no Finn! I'm pacing around, calling him, boo-hooing. Neighbors might think I am totally bonkers. ARGHHHHHHHH  He finally comes home again and I get a look at his tail and I don't like it. While I'm dithering about deciding what to do he shoots out back door and over the fence again. I tell myself that he can't be in too bad a shape if he can get over the fence that fast, but I know better. Cats are tough. You gotta be careful because sometimes they are too tough and things are worse than you think. I call my vet, who is closed on weekends, but has a number for an emergency pet hospital. I get things lined up and wait and finally spot him out the window. After some coaxing he comes in, and off we go to the hospital, and I had to leave him there for surgery on his tail. Poor sweet boy. He's going to lose more tail up to the next vertebra. Vet said they'll do it today and I can probably pick him up this afternoon close to closing time. I hope so!

I don't know how many friends I have told "Don't take guilt trips! Take road trips!" Well hell. That advice sucks and is impossible to follow. I'm waiting to hear from hospital now, hoping my buddy is OK and using a lot of kleenex. Hopefully I can combine my guilt/road trip and pick my buddy up later today.

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Send an Illinois girl down south for a vacation and look what happens! Pulled pork sliders with slaw, corn fritters, green onions from the garden, and Claussen pickles, a new hot and spicy variety, and believe me, they are! The meal was delicious. I'm bummed that I forgot the jalapeno for the fritters.

I'm good at so many things. Too bad dieting isn't one of them. Maybe I should just throw in the fritter! Nah, I can't give up. I supposed to my friend that I guessed nobody was going to cut any more weight off me, I'll have to lose it myself, and lamented they couldn't have taken a bit off my ass when they took out the tumor. 

Nothing much new to report.  I decided the bushes looked fine and had been trimmed just enough . . . right after I cut through the extension cord, a fine Mallaney family tradition I guess I'll be carrying on.

My strained Achilles or whatever it is caused me to make yet another doctor's appointment. When it rains it pours. If I disappear suddenly maybe the insurance company put a hit out on me! I remember the good old days when I only went to the doctor once a year and never met my deductible. Those were the days! They are seemingly over. Heading to doc Tuesday a.m. Looking forward to getting this healed up so I can enjoy walking again. I finally get a good habit going and boom, a sore tootsie derails me.

Planted my tomatoes and peppers. Hoping for some rain soon. It has been quite dry since I planted. Everything else is looking pretty good.

Thankful for AC today. Blazing hot out there. Cats are laying around like slugs. I finally went out and hauled Finn in, and since it was not his idea, he was pissy. He felt the cool air and changed his tune and is curled up on the bed now. Something has Miss Midge all jumpy and she won't come in. Oh well. When it hits 97 later she might changer her tune.

Have a good weekend all. Off to Mark and Donna's for a swim this afternoon, perhaps a beer, or two, or three . . .

Kay :)

Well the old entrails look good! I met with the PA at the gastroenterologist's office today. She said the polyp they removed was teeny tiny, but it is of a type that can come back so they recommend another colonoscopy in 3 years. The reconnection site looks dandy, no narrowing or other bad stuff (that I can't remember any of lol). Seems my entrails look just dandy. Woo hoo!

The end.

Kay :)