Tomorrow...

...I go here. Woo-hoo!

Busy

I'm pooped!

Yesterday, I went on a hike with my dad - up a mountain called Deer Park Mountain, AKA the Asshole. The nickname comes from the fact that Deer Park Mountain is shaped like two butt cheeks, and an old road goes right up the middle of them - the Asshole.

As usual, my dad wanted to go in the middle of the day, when the heat is most intense. He assured me that most of the trail was shady, but I put on a ton of sunscreen anyway. And, as usual, Dad understated both the length and the difficulty of the trail. I should have known what I was in for when he said, when I asked him how long this hike would be, "It's a casual three hours, but the SAS could do it in an hour and a quarter."

Seriously? Do I look like I'm in the SAS? What kind of answer is that?

But I went anyway, because, as Dad said, it would be good for me. All I had planned for the day was to sit around surfing the net and watching a movie.

As usual, I didn't take enough water. Damn all the pills I take that dry me out! I need to invest in a second water bottle.

It was an OK hike, though there were lots of mosquitoes, and there was a section of sustained uphill that my dad assured me was "only a few hundred yards" but then he retracted that shortly thereafter and claimed it was more like a mile.

There were some very cool things along this trail, actually, including an old mine shaft and lots of pretty wildflowers. The view at the lookout was well worth it, too.

Full Flickr set here.

Today, Dad wanted to go to Creston to get strawberries. I wanted some asparagus and possibly some cherries, and I wanted to find the place where they sell chocolate covered fruits of all different kinds. Dad also wanted to go to lunch at a place that does great sandwiches. You can see that lunch here.

I was hoping to spot a polygamist - namely Winston Blackmore - but I was disappointed.

We were to discover that we'd missed out on the strawberries altogether! The cherries were all overpriced and imported and I didn't see one stalk of asparagus, either. I did find the chocolate covered fruit place, appropriately named Chocolate Orchard (no web site, unfortunately) and I plunked down nearly $20 on a selection of chocolate-covered treats. I'm worth it.

But the highlight of the trip was the Kootenay Pass. It's so beautiful, and I hadn't been there in so long. Us locals call it the Salmo-Creston, because it's literally between the towns of Salmo (on the western side) and Creston (on the east). The summit is 1774m/5825ft above sea level, and it's a fine example of some of British Columbia's most amazing, pristine, vast wilderness areas.

There is a small, very pretty lake at the summit called Bridal Lake, and on the way back from Creston, Dad and I stopped there to nibble on some goodies I'd purchased at the bakery where we'd had lunch. It was so gorgeous! It was quite cool with a pleasant breeze, and it was a quiet, peaceful place to stop for a bit. I took a ton of pictures, and we even saw a Columbia Ground Squirrel who came out of his hole to check us out.

Tomorrow I'm taking a day off to do some errands and then on Saturday I'm going camping with my family out on Kootenay Lake. Looking forward to that very much! It's my first camping trip of the season and it's to celebrate my brother's birthday. A couple of his friends are coming too and we're going to have a lot of good food and good times! And there will be swimming! Woo-hoo!

Deep Thoughts, by Wandering Coyote

As a significant (to me) birthday approaches, I find myself feeling all philosophical inside. You might have to suffer through a few of these posts as this significant birthday creeps ever so much closer.

A few years ago, I posted a poem called "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. One verse of that poem has always stuck with me, and when a dear friend of mine first introduced me to the poem, I couldn't quite get what a particular line meant. Here is the verse, the line emphasized is the one I've always wondered about.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

"Faithless", according to the Oxford dictionary means A) false, unreliable, disloyal or B) without religious faith.

Disregarding B, because this isn't about religious faith (I don't think), how is it possible to be faithless and trustworthy at the same time? They seem like contradictory ideas, oxymoronic.

I think that faithlessness means not having an agenda. Would you trust someone whom you knew to have an agenda, or would you take a step back and hesitate to give that trust, knowing it came with something attached?

I know for myself that if I perceive an agenda being chucked at me - by anyone, not just a romantic interest - I will hesitate. Yet, I trust those who are transparent, who listen or give unconditionally.

Oriah Mountain Dreamer's "faithlessness" doesn't necessarily refer to someone being disloyal, false, or unreliable to someone else, but rather to something else.

Would you trust me more if you knew I would judge you, if my support/love/friendship was conditional? You wouldn't. And I wouldn't trust you under those same circumstances.

And I can answer YES to Oriah Mountain Dreamer's questions: YES, I can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray my own soul. YES, I can disappoint another to be true to myself. I have done it. I am doing it right now.

It feels shitty, but YES, I can do it.

Garden Update 2009

I've decided I'm not a fan of gardening and that I'm doing only for the principle of it: it's good for the planet, it's good for me, it's green, it's sustainable, it's all wonderful. Except it's annoying, unpredictable, and sometimes more effort than it's worth.

This year's crops:

• arugula
• dill
• spaghetti squash
• basil
• cilantro
• chives
• zucchini
• yellow beans
• carrots
  
• lemon balm
• spinach

And of course, what would this coyote's garden be without purslane, AKA the Fracking Weed? 'Cause it's baaaaaaaack! It's not as bad as last year's, but it's bad enough.

This year I also invested a bunch of money ($15) in top soil and mushroom compost, just to add some richness and nutrients to the rocky Rossland soil. The soil and compost I got had a lot of mulchy stuff in it, so now my garden has lots of bits & pieces of unidentifiable crap on top of it. This has made it difficult for some of the seedlings to poke through, so in some cases, I've had to gently brush this mulchy stuff off to things could actually see the light of day. While the soil does seem to retain more water, which is nice, I'm not sure it's been worth the investment.

The star of this year's garden is the arugula. It came up quickly and has matured quickly, too. I just harvested some the other day and put it in meatballs. The squash and zucchini have come up nicely, as have the beans, carrots, basil, and cilantro. The chives aren't doing so well, but I think it's because the peony bush they're planted next to is overshadowing them a lot.

My rosemary bush is looking particularly lovely this year.

The spinach is a lost cause. It all sprouted, but more than half of it croaked well before maturity, and now there is very little left.

The lemon balm is doing didley squat.

The echinacea I planted last year isn't doing a hell of a lot, either.

I didn't plant any marigolds this year because last year they were useless as far as keeping insects down. In fact, I think I have way fewer insects this year as a result of making different crop choices.

In related news, the mosquitoes have been terrible this year. Usually we have the odd mosquito here and there, but this year it's been a plague. It makes evening waterings hell and I'm no longer waiting till it's cool to go out and weed because I've been eaten alive; instead, I pick away at Pursy in the afternoon when I get around to it.

The biggest pain in the ass with the garden this year has been this:
Malcolm! He rolls all over my garden whenever I'm out there! Steps in everything! He makes a mess! He sunbathes ON TOP of my seedlings and young plants! He is impossible to shoo away! Why can't he target Pursy instead of my delicate basil shoots? He is also wreaking havoc in Roommate's flower beds! He ate half of her yellow mini-rose bush! He's ridiculous!

There Is Something In The Air...

...And it's cat pheromone spray. Seriously.

We have been having really bad spraying/marking/peeing problems lately, and on Thursday morning my roommate witnessed Juno taking a huge whiz in the basement. So, off the vet we go. I was going to take Juno to get her shots and a regular check up done this month anyway, but it worked out that there was an available appointment and my dad could take me Thursday morning, so that's what we did.

What ensued was a lesson in the ridiculousness that is cat psychology. If you thought humans were complicated and had inexplicable motivations for weird behaviour, I encourage you to adopt a cat so you can learn the intricacies of the complex inner workings of cats purely to make you feel better about humanity.

First of all, the litter box. Or in our case, litter boxes. Three cats, three fracking litter boxes. If you think that's crazy, you should see my place now, because we are currently up to five litter boxes for three cats. Not only that, but we have to have two types of litter on offer: the corn/environmentally friendly/flushable/super-odor absorbant/light stuff, and the traditional clay stuff that I hate. Additionally, one box must be the covered kind.

Juno might be pissed that A) I changed litter about a year ago and have been experimenting with different types of new litter in that time, B) that Malcolm is using her precious litter boxes, C) that her litter box has been moved several times since not only January when Malcolm came to live here, but in the last couple of weeks when she was ill, and D) that she doesn't have the privacy she feels she deserves when taking a crap - hence the covered box option.

So now, Roommate has a box in her closet for Turtle, which has been the norm for a long time, Juno has two boxes on the landing, one covered one not, both containing the corn litter, and one box in the closet of my sitting room, with clay litter. Malcolm is used to pissing wherever it's convenient for him, so now Juno has the option of using her own private litter box upstairs, an open box on the landing, and a covered box on the landing with corn litter - just in case she's huffy that Malcolm is shitting where she doens't want him shitting. The point is to give everyone lots of choices. The fifth box is in the basement with clay litter, just in case a cat escapes down there, as Juno did on Thursday morning, and feels the need to take a leak.

As of the writing of this post, no one has used the covered box on the landing with the corn litter. Juno has peed twice in the box in the sitting room closet with clay litter, and taken one dump in the corn, open box on the landing. It's looking to me like she prefers to pee in clay and poop in corn.

And it gets better!

In order to discourage the marking/spraying - which was getting out of hand; I'd bought myself a nice whole pineapple and it was happily ripening on the counter until last Monday when someone sprayed all over it - and this is nothing compared to what my roommate has been dealing with in both our common areas and her bedroom; it's been disgusting - I was told to invest in a spray can of cat facial pheromones. Twice a day, I have to go around the house and spritz this pheromone spray in all the places we've had marking/peeing problems, and in prominent places in the house where the cats often rub their faces - you know, on corners and chairs and other edges. The facial pheromones are meant to indicate to the cat that, instead of spraying/marking with your ass, it's preferable to spray/mark with your little face. The pheromones also have a calming effect on cats. Luckily for us humans, the spray has little scent and doesn't stink up the house.

Cost of one small can of pheromone spray: $33.68. It had better last the month this spraying routine is supposed to go on for.

On top of this, I had to purchase an odor neutralizer ($17+) to neutralize any spraying/marking odors, because the stuff we were using is just masking the odor for us humans and not doing anything to deter the cats from marking.

Regarding the Butt Licking Facilitation Diet (which Juno's illness two weekends ago aided quite a bit with, to be honest with you; I mean it was a terrible way to become able to lick herself properly, but she can do it now, lemme tell ya), or BLFD, Roommate and I are now putting all three cats on a feeding regimen because, according to the vet, Juno's weight gain and weight loss problems are a result of her snacking on Turtle & Malcolm's food whenever she wants to because it's always available. Roommate is going to only feed her cats at certain times of the day and the rest of the day food will be unavailable to them. Same goes with Juno. Hopefully, this will result in some weight loss.

The last thing was the tartar build-up and gingivitis evident in Juno's mouth. I was given a quote for the dental surgery needed to rectify this, and just let me say that unless I win the lottery, Juno will be SOL in the dental surgery department. I won't even go there. It would be cheaper for me to get crowns.

So, to sum up:

• three cats
• five litter boxes
• two different types of litter boxes
• two types of litter
• pheromone spray
• pheromone spraying routine x 1month
• odour neutralizer
• feeding routine
• ludicrously expensive quote for kitteh dental procedures that would give a hockey player a conniption

Oh, she's been vaccinated, too. Has had exam. She's fine. Needz boosters in four weeks - appointment has been made and ride organized.

All this better mean that we get some kind of feline harmony going on in this house, or else I'm going to be supremely put out.

On the upside, the cats do seem way more Zen now that there's a whack of pheromones floating around the house. Perhaps they can develop something like it for humans that we can spray on like cologne or perfume...Seems to me it could solve a lot of problems.

I Wish My Cat Did This!

Instead, this...

A Nice Surprise

Yesterday, I received a lovely gift from the people I work for: a huge box of chocolates, a really nice card, and a gift card to a store I regularly haunt. It was so nice to be appreciated for my work. I can't tell you how good it felt, and how I appreciated the fact that they appreciate me so much.

Just Great!

Someone in Lumby, BC Googled "'fat kid with breasts in castlegar bc'" and found my blog.

Nice.

Laugh of the Day: Weird Al's "Craigslist"

Thanks to Twitter, I was aware that Weird Al has a new video out, and I just got around to watching it today. It's a song about Craigslist, and it's a parody of a song by The Doors. Embedding isn't available, unfortunately, so you'll have to click here to see it. Here are the lyrics, which I found here.

You've got a '65 Chevy Malibu
With automatic drive
A custom paint job too

I'll trade you for my old wheelbarrow
And a slightly used sombrero
And I'll even throw in a stapler if you insist...

Craigslist!
I'm on Craiglsist, baby, come on!
Yeah!

Well we shared a quick glance
Saturday at the mall
I never took a chance
Never approached you at all

You were a blonde half-asian with a bad case of gas
I was wearin' red speedos and a hockey mask
Come on let's find that love connection that we missed

On Craigslist!
Yeah, Craigslist, come on!
I'm on Craigslist
Oh, baby, maybe you are too!
Be bom ba chomb cadonk bin bam boo!

An open letter to the snotty barista at the Coffee Bean on San Vacente Boulivard:
I know there were twenty people behind me in line,
But I was on a cell phone call with my mother.
Didn't you see me hold up my index finger?
That means I'll order my soy decaf hazelnut latte in just a couple of minutes.
So what's with the attitude lady?
No tip for you!

Got a trashcan of Styrofoam peanuts
You can have em for free
You can drop by on the weekend
And pick 'em up from me
But the trashcan ain't part of the deal
Only givin' you the peanuts, get real!
Don't have hefty bag so get your own,
Don't bug me with questions on the phone
Don't ask for help, don't waste my time
And don't complain 'cause they won't cost you a dime
Just ask yourself:
Do you want my Styrofoam peanuts?
You can have my Styrofoam peanuts.
Do you want my Styrofoam peanuts?
You can have them all.

They're on Craigslist!
Craigslist! Oh, baby come on!
I'm on Craigslist, Craigslist, Craigslist!
I'm on Craigslist, Craigslist, Craigslist now!

Craigslist!

Happy Father's Day

Via LOLcelebs.

To celebrate, I am making my dad chicken lasagne, which he has been nagging me for since my article came out, and my brother is also coming over for dinner.

Being a Fangurl...

Recently, I have been told two things: 1) that I don't take enough risks and 2) that I am too negative.

So, what am I going to do to remedy this? Well, I am going to make a fangurl video for my favourite band, Nightwish. The Army of Nightwish, whom I follow on Twitter, is having a fan video call.

Why is this risky? Well, I have a certain level of discomfort with how accessible a favourite band (or celebrity, or someone else one admires) can be over the internet. I kinda like to watch from afar because I am actually quite shy and would probably keel over with a severe fainting spell if I were to ever be confronted by one of these people. Yes, I did go right up to George Stroumboulopoulos and introduce myself, and yes, I did the same with Anna Olsen the day before as part of my Test the Nation adventure. That was quite brave of me, and this is a similar situation. I have been regularly reading Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon's blog, and have even gathered up the courage to comment several times, which is a step in the right direction.

And, obviously, expressing my love for Nightwish is a positive thing, right? Right!

Yes, I am aware that I am nearly 35 years old.

My brother, co-owner of Juicy Studios, is going to help me shoot the video since he has access to the appropriate equipment, and I thought it would look ridiculous for me to shoot my own video with my camera held out backwards and at arm's length for the duration. So. Shooting begins this week sometime when Jem has a few spare moments. It'll be about 5 minutes long, I have narrowed down my musical choices, and I am busy contemplating what I am going to say. The Deadline is July 1. I have no idea what I'll get out of this, if anything, other than it's a cool little project and since Nightwish's music has had some very life-changing effects on me, I would like to give credit where credit is due.

I will now regale you with some of the reasons why I love Nightwish.

1. Ghost Love Score. Honestly, I don't know if ever a more goosebump-inducing piece of music has ever been written. Seriously, I still get goosebumps every time I hear this song - particularly the "my fall will be for you, my love love will be in you, if you be the one to cut me, I will bleed forever" the choir sings in the background. This is a masterpiece and I love cranking it at high volume and savouring the feeling of aliveness it gives me. To the composer, Tuomas Holopainen, THANK YOU for this. I can play this anytime I feel shitty and feel instantly understood, comforted, and heartened.

2. Anette Olzon. I became a fan of Nightwish after the split with former vocalist Tarja, and for a while all I knew was the Anette-fronted band. It didn't take a lot of research to find out that Anette was a controversial choice and that there were a lot of Anette-haters out there. But, the more I read, the more I grew to really admire this woman who put up with a lot of shit and criticism for just about everything she did at the beginning of her tenure with NW. It takes a hell of a strong woman to endure what she did, like fans giving her the finger as she performed. She is resilient and definitely her own woman, and for all of this I have the utmost respect for her.

3. Turning me on to female-fronted metal and other types of metal, like power metal, gothic metal, etc. Just as Within Temptation turned me on to Nightwish, Nightwish in turn turned me onto bands like Leaves' Eyes, Midnattsol, Lacuna Coil, Angtoria, Dawn of Destiny, Epica, The Gathering, Lunatica, and more, including a Canadian power metal band from Ontario called Borealis. What would my life be without this genre of music that I have come to feel so at home in? Well, it would be far less colourful, I can tell you that.

4. Tarja Turunen. Like I said in #2, I first experienced Nightwish with Anette at the front, so when first heard the "old era" NW songs I was a little stunned. She has an operatic style that is incredibly powerful, and it is such a joy to listen to the "classic" NW material featuring her vocals.

5. Lyrics like this:

Where have all the feelings gone?
Why has all the laughter ceased?
Why am I loved, only when I'm gone?
- Bless the Child

Leave me be
And cease to tell me how to feel
To grieve, to shield myself from evil
- Romanticide

Who are you to tell me
What to do, why to do, why bother
Leech in a mask of virtue
Such waste, to ever think of you again
- Master Passion Greed

6. Sleeping Sun. This is my second favourite NW song. Sometimes, it makes me want to cry - in a good way.

7. Tuomas Holopainen. OK, you cannot be a NW fan and not totally love this guy. He's the mover & shaker, the main composer and lyricist, and the keyboardist. He is also the guy lots of women - including myself - would love to coat in chocolate sauce and lick clean. Seriously. Not only does he rock the eyeliner, he is a wordsmith - and God knows how a wordsmith can make this coyote perk her ears up and start yipping so very happily. I always admire someone who can so adeptly infuse intense emotion into something poetic and resonant. Not only that, he has such broad vision when it comes to his music. He pays attention to theme. His compositions are exquisite. I love it when people so clearly live their genius, and Tuomas does just that.

8. Which leads me to Sacrament of Wilderness. Yeah, they're young in the video, but man, this is such an amazing song!

Naked in midwinter magic
Lies an angel in the snow
The frozen figure crossed by tracks of wolves
An encounter symbolic yet truthful
With a hungry choir of wolves
An agreement immemorial to be born...

...I want to hunt with the tameless heart
I want to learn the wisdom of mountains afar
We will honor the angel in the snow
We will make the streams for our children flow...

9. Headbanging. I don't do it often, because it makes me dizzy, and I only do it in the privacy of my own home, but I love it nonetheless and I have Nightwish to thank for starting me off.

10. Marco Hietala. Yes, I do listen to tons of female-fronted metal bands, but there are often male vocals mixed in, and some bands have both, like Lacuna Coil and Visions of Atlantis. Not one single male vocalist I have heard sings like Marco. His vocal range, his range of styles, and his versatility are unparalleled. And he seems like a funny, charismatic, articulate guy with a brain between his ears. Listen to The Islander, which he wrote both the music and lyrics for. This is another guy who obviously is living his genius, and I love it.

11. Nightwish album artwork. Such care and attention is given to the covers and the artwork in the CDs. They are all gorgeous.

12. Concert DVDs. I own two, End of an Era and Made in Hong Kong. If you're like me and have never been to and may never get to an actual Nightwish concert, owning a concert DVD or two is the next best thing. I actually love to watch concert DVDs (I also have Within Temptation's Black Symphony) because you get a whole different sense of the band and their music when they perform it live, and I love the drama and emotion of a live performance. YouTube is pretty sweet, too.

13. Jukka Nevalainen. Tattooed, pierced...perhaps potty-mouthed (I have no idea). A man after my own heart. What else can I say?

14. Emppu Vuorinen. Guitarist extraordinaire. And he's hilarious to watch on stage, always running around and making funny faces. He also has the most boyish, impish smile ever and it's so infectious. He always makes me smile when I watch him play.

15. And the most important reason I love Nightwish is this: their music makes me feel alive. I can be feeling empty and low and put on just about any Nightwish album and both my mind and my body come alive. That's such a huge gift, you guys, and I can't tell you how much it has meant to me.

One Week Later...

Well, things seem to be back to normal in Juno's world. She's eating, drinking, whizzing, and crapping, and she's fighting regularly with Malcolm and Turtle. She is also back to obsessing over shopping bags.

On Wednesday, I took the advice so many of you gave me and invested $6 in a laser pointer with the aim of giving her some extra exercise, now that she's an official indoor kitteh. Well, let me just say that I'm not sure how many calories she's going to burn by moving her neck around! Chase the little red dot she does not. In fact, she often swings her neck in my direction, sees me holding the pointer, and gives me a look that says, "I know you're messing with me. Nice try."

Malcolm, on the other hand, loves the laser pointer and I had lots of fun yesterday having him chase his tail and run all over the upstairs here leaping after the red dot. Then I got bored and moved on to something else.

Morning fire at swingers club forces some to flee naked

Seriously. This was a headline on the CBC's web site today.

Hat tip to The Hour on Twitter.

Laugh of the Day

Via ICHC.

Good News!

Just talked to the vet, and she thinks Juno is out of the woods!

Yay! What a HUGE relief!

Thanks once again for all your support, you guys! You are the best!

Let's Have Some Laughs

OK, things have been serious and stressful around here, so I want to lighten it up a bit. As my paternal great-grandmother used to say, according to my dad, "a laugh is as good as a tonic." (When I hear the word "tonic" however, I always think of tonic water, which I find a bit gross, but you know what I mean, right? Tonic = medicine. She was a right Victorian lady, Great-grandma Alice, according to Dad.)

So, first of all, we have Cookie Monster doing death metal. I found this here. It's short - less than a minute - but it's hilarious. Especially if you've listened to a tad bit of death metal in your life. I love how Cookie Monster head bangs!


I used to love Kids in the Hall. Here is a classic: "The Dave's I Know."


And oh, the lessons learned on Sesame Street! How sinister is Lefty?


Finally, here's my friend Red Jane doing what she does best: being a thespian. This isn't a funny video, as you can see, but I thought I'd put it up anyway because I just get so pleased as punch whenever I see RJ on TV.

The Happy Dance!

This morning, in the last few minutes, Juno has peed AND pooped! There wasn't a ton of poop, but it did seem to have a decent amount of hair in it, and in fact, it looked like it even had MY hair in it. But there was no blood, so I am HAPPY!

Yay yay yay yay!!

I just called the vet's office and they are happy, too! I am going to be out most of the day, but I am to call back with an update when I get in this afternoon.

Milles Mercis

I have been so touched and honoured by the amount of support and good wishes/prayers/etc. my blogging community has shown me over the past few days, with regards to my Juno saga.

THANK YOU for your supportive comments.

THANK YOU for being there for me at a time when I really needed encouragement.

THANK YOU for your friendship.

THANK YOU for your offers of help, both financial and otherwise. I can't tell you how humbled and grateful I am that I have such a generous, caring community of people out there rooting for me.

THANK YOU to the Castlegar Veterinary Hospital and its staff, particularly Doctor Dennison, for the fabulous, compassionate service, for putting up with my phone calls, and for coming in on the weekend to examine Juno. If anyone in the Castlegar/Trail area needs an excellent veterinary service, I highly recommend the Castlegar Veterinary Hospital.

And now, a Juno update: she has been drinking and eating, but she hasn't peed since just after 7pm yesterday, and she hasn't had a BM since Saturday morning. She's a little perkier and less lethargic and is cuddly and alert. I just wish she'd take a whizz and a crap! I have been keeping close eye on her all day and I have to call the vet with an update in the morning. Here's hoping her little system will start excreting as it should soon!

No Vet Today!

Thank God! Juno just took a huge drink and the vet doesn't think she needs to come in today, but I am to monitor Juno for the next day and call the vet with an update tomorrow morning.

Cross fingers!!!

I Am...

I am sitting here crying because Juno is still sick and I am trying to organize a ride to the vet's for us first thing in the morning.

I am so sick and fucking tired of being dependent on others for transportation.

I am stressed about my cat's health.

I am stressed about the cost of the vet bill.

I am stressed because I have a very intimidating appointment on Wednesday afternoon.

I am not sleeping well.

Juno Update #2

Thanks to all of you for your great comments through this bit of stress! You all rock my world! Your comments really made me feel supported and I can't tell you how much I appreciated the time you all took to write.

Thanks for all the constipation advice. Juno wasn't constipated, however. She'd had a normal crap in the morning and the vet could tell she wasn't constipated when she did the exam. The blockage is likely hair, as Juno isn't a hairball cat who coughs up hair regularly. If it's not hair, it's something else she ingested that isn't food that hasn't been able to pass through her intestine. Could be a piece of carpet or part of a toy or some thread or whatever. She does get part wet cat food in the evenings, so everything is nice and greased.

I just got off the phone with the vet, happily telling her that Juno, who spent the night in the bathroom, seemed better and that there was no new vomit. No stools, either, but that's OK at this point. She tucked into some breakfast and is much perkier. The vet said all that is good, but if there are any more puking episodes to call immediately.

Now Juno starts on a course of anti-biotics, 1 pill twice a day. Funx3. Luckily, I am used to pilling cats as I had to do so quite a bit with a foster cat I had in Ottawa, and luckily the pilling tool was available for purchase at the vet's office last night, so I went ahead and got one. I just gave her a pill now and so far so good. The only thing is, the pills might upset her tummy.

The $226 bill sucked, but yes, worth it. I have a credit card for things like this, though it's balance is now quite intimidating, so I hope this is the end of the vet bills for a while...though I do believe I am going to get Juno's vaccines up to date and get her in for a regular check up.

I also discussed the vet the indoor/outdoor thing, and she said indoor cats generally have longer, healthier lives, and Juno would need some additional vaccines if she were an outdoor kitteh, so this kitteh - no matter how loudly she meows at the door! - is going to stay an indoor kitteh!

I had a rough night. I have not been sleeping well lately; I think my imovane needs to be increased. I had a lot of stuff to do when I got back last night - had chicken stock in the crock pot and I'd just baked and I had to leave my dinner in mid-meal and I had a ton of dishes kicking around etc. so I didn't get to bed until midnight and after that I had a restless sleep and was up at 5:00. I went to check on Juno and then did doze from 6 - 8-ish, but man am I bagged this morning! I am doing NOTHING today and may even take a nap if nessesary.

Anyway, thanks once again for all your support - you guys really are the best and I feel all warm & fuzzy inside that you are all so caring. It's so wonderful.

...And here is the star of the show, recouperating in a patch of sunshine just behind my chair.

Update

I'm exhausted and frazzled so I'll be making this short.

Juno has an intestinal blockage. I brought her in just in time because it could have been more dangerous. She has blood in her stool, which might cause a bacterial infection.

The vet gave her an IV drip so she wouldn't be dehydrated and so that her intestine would have some juice with which to move the blockage. Juno is home now and has to be confined to the bathroom for the night so I can monitor the puking and the stools. She has food and water and I'm to monitor what she eats, too.

I have to call the vet with an update in the morning, and if Juno is no better I'll have to take her back in for something more invasive. If she's better in the morning, I start her on a round of anti-biotics.

The vet was excellent. I couldn't have asked for a more calming, communicative person to take care of Juno and explain to me what exactly was going on, and then present me with a plan.

I am $226 poorer and still anxious about how she'll do overnight, but I'm glad I took her in when I did and got such a nice vet out of it, too.

Panic Time

Oh my God. Juno is sick. She started puking this morning big time and so I called around to various animal hospitals but the ones in Trail are all closed. I called the SPCA and they couldn't give me any medical advice, but they did give me the number of a Castlegar vet who was on call for the weekend.

I explained to the receptionist that Juno had be puked four times in six hours, had not eaten since last night, hadn't had a drink that I'd witnessed, and was lying around sleeping in strange places. She wasn't her usual cuddly, active, annoying self. The receptionist put me on hold and consulted with the vet, who said I should bring her in. I said I live in Rossland, have no car, and the three people I use for transportation in emergencies are all away or working and I had no way of getting to Castlegar. Was there anything I could do at home?

The vet was on another line but called me back within a few minutes. She said she really wanted to see Juno because there was little she could do over the phone. She gave me a run-down of all the possibilities that could be causing Juno's illness - which were alarming! - and possible treatments - equally as alarming! She said that if she wasn't better by about 7pm tonight to bring her in. Hopefully, my dad will be back by then.

But now Juno is more active, is wanting to be cuddled, meowing at the door to go outside, looking out the window. Though I found some puke about an hour ago, she seems improved, but still not eating.

I am not sure what to do...

Friday Stuff

1. Excellent news awaited me this morning: Kelly Ellard's conviction has been upheld! This means no fourth trial for that bitch who belongs in a 6'x3'x1' slimy, subterranean cell filled with everything that is nasty, creepy-crawly, disgusting, and soul-sucking. And to all you sick fuckers out there who are coming to this blog by Googling "kelly ellard nude": I hope you all get penis cancer.

2. What was our fearless leader, Stephen effing Harper doing yesterday when he had Mike effing Duffy ask him a question after his "economic report card" press conference? What an absolutely shameful, absurd, insulting piece of political posturing! This is beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned. Stage shows of that kind are assinine and fool no one. Obviously, Stevie has no respect for the intelligence of the citizens of this country.

3. And, again the Cons show how out of touch they are by announcing that in the next election there will be two extra days of advanced polling. This is in a ridiculous attempt to increase voter turn out, since 10-million Canadians didn't bother voting in the previous election. According to Steven Fletcher, Minister of state for democratic reform, it's possible that many of the 10-million non-voters chose not to vote because it was inconvenient to do so.

Newsflash: No! One third of the population didn't vote because they're apathetic or disaffected. Politics in this country suck hairy balls and people are pissed. If the so-called "minister of state for democratic reform" actually did his fucking due dilligence before making such a ludicrous announcement, he'd probably have figured it out. Who knows? He is a Con, after all; he might very well know that people are peeved with our political system but he just doesn't give a shit. He'd rather come up with an empty scheme to make his government look like they're doing something instead of implementing changes that might actually make a difference. Typical, typical.

Update @ 3:40pm: since this post went up, I have had many more searches for Kelly Ellard's bits, including "kelly ellard tits" and "kelly ellard boob pics." WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE??

Snicker of the Day

This made my morning:


Via Historicaltweets.com.

Kittehs

Oh, Malcolm. He loves to play in the bathroom garbage (including attacking discarded pads, etc.), and now we find that he enjoys chasing the drops as the sprinkler moves back and forth - then he rolls in the dirt. This is the result:
Sigh...

And here is Juno making herself comfy in a cloth grocery bag.She is no longer an outdoor kitteh, BTW. It was just way too stressful for me. She's not terribly happy, but that's too bad.

Laugh of the Day

Via ICHC.

Bizarre Search of the Day

Someone in Davidson, North Carolina Googled "how to take out the walmart piercing" and found this blog.

That is just hilarious!

Jesus Cures Depression: Whoa!

I found this on Bruce's blog.

Oh my dear freaking lord...I am disturbed. She claims she wasn't high at the time and has never done drugs or been drunk in her life, and that she spends most of her time in prayer.



Let me know what you think. I think she's batshit crazy. And I don't say that about too many people.

In the Closet