Crazy Cat Lady

I proudly wear the title of the Crazy Cat Lady of Crosby Pointe. I hope when I die I am found curled up in my bed with a good book opened next to me and surrounded by my cats.

Anyway this is in response to anonymous smacker 1116 a.m. who wrote: "Nell, I'm sorry to go off topic but your cat is just gorgeous. I'm a cat lover myself but we can't have any here because my hubby is allergic to them. My oldest son used to bring home every stray he found and at one time we had 4 cats."

Thanks 11:16 a.m. The photo you refer to is of Wexford. He is a very elegant cat who is very photogenic. He is 3 1/2 years old, weighs about 18 pounds, and is a big wuss of a cat. He is afraid of his own shadow. He is a gentle giant. His sister Kilkenny is a grey tortoise shell. Lately she seems to have developed anxiety. I'm not sure why. I would think she had hyperthyroidism except she's getting fatter, not thinner. I may end up taking her to the vet. Wexford and Kilkenny joined me 3 1/2 years ago after I saw an ad in the paper. I was planning just to take the female but I couldn't leave the male; the rest of the litter had been adopted already. I had never had a male car before and was a little concerned, having heard about spraying their territory and being aggressive. My fears ended up being unfounded. Now I think I'll only take male cats, they seem more gentle.

I was happy with 2 cats. I should mention, I have had cats all my life. The 2 cats I had before Wexford and Kilkenny had gone over the rainbow bridge a few months previously. My younger son mentioned he wanted a cat as did my friend Jess. So I called the lady I had gotten my 2 kitties from. Well, Wexford and Kilkenny's mom was expecting another litter in a few weeks. She had 4 kittens. The owner planned to keep one. My son would only take 1, Jess wanted only 1, so that left 1 lone kitty. That kitty became my 3rd cat, Donegal. He is all gray. He and his siblings are now 1 1/2 years old. They are much smaller than their older siblings. Different fathers maybe? The mom cat is quite small.Wexford, Kilkenny, and Donegal keep me entertained. They love to be outside on my 4th floor balcony. They go crazy over the birds. I expect Donegal will one day leap off the balcony in pursuit of a bird.

11:16 a.m., you mentioned allergies. I actually am allergic to cats. I have severe persistent asthma, which developed a few years ago. When my cats were kitties they bothered me but as they scratched me in playing I became less allergic to them. My pulmonologist makes me bathe them weekly, they hate it but it does help. I also run hepa filters in the house and vacuum frequently. If I go to other homes with cats I am bothered but my own cats no longer bother me. I have a pulmonologist who thinks no one should have cats and an oncologist who thinks all cancer patients should have cats as part of their treatment. So I follow my oncologist's advice. She has 2 cats herself. If I didn't have cats I'd need a psychiatrist, cats are cheaper.

This photo is of Kilkenny looking out the window, wishing she was an outside cat.

Laziness

I have no excuse for not posting anything in October. When I started this blog my plan was to post 2 or 3 times/week. Obviously I fell short so I begin anew today.I will be posting separately about my trip to Colombia to visit family, and my grand-daughter's serious illness. Those 2 events took up most of October.

Now November is here. I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is soon upon us. And deer hunting season. I am not a hunter. I could never shoot Bambi's mom or dad. My daughter Em and my friend Jess can however. In fact, they love nothing better. They are honest to goodness women who kill. My daughter almost always gets the first deer in her group, which drives the men crazy. Her living room, which isn't all that large, has her buck from last year, a doe (either hers or her husband's), and an elk head mounted on the wall. I sleep on the couch when I visit. I wake up at night and think I'm in the middle of a forest. They are adding a wood duck to the wall. I don't get this thing with dead animals on the wall but that's what's great about people, we are all different. And Em and her husband eat what they kill. I guess their venison cheese brats are great. They have a hundred different recipes for using venison.

Next, a reply to an anonymous smack blog poster about my cats.

Good News

I had my bone scan on Monday. I always get a CD of any scans I have. I came home, put the CD in and read my scan. My reading was exactly the same as that of the radiologist. Degenerative arthritis of both feet, both knees (right > left), both elbows, both shoulders, and cervical spine. My lower spine is fine as our my hips. I walk a lot plus I have very strong bones so that's probably why those areas are fine. My left finger, which I broke in April, is still not healed so lots of uptake there. But no evidence of cancer in the bones. This is great news, as those who are on the cancer journey can attest. I still have pain in my left arm but as long as it's not mets I can deal with it. My next set of scans will be a MRI of liver in January, then CT of liver and lungs in July.

I need to get busy packing for our trip to Colombia on 7 October. We can only each take 1 small suitcase because we'll be driving from Bogota to Ibague, and cars there just aren't that big. I have a few small suitcases but they are cloth so I will probably go buy one that is hard plastic. You don't want cloth suitcases when flying out of Colombia since it's very easy for others to make a small slit and hide cocaine. Then workers at the Miami or whatever airport you fly into it remove it. But the dogs can still smell it and so of course you could end up being charged with smuggling.

I still have to find a dress to wear to the blacktie affair we're going to in Ibague. I'm not one to shop, it's a form of penance to me. I'll take my dgtr-in-law with me as I trust her taste and opinion. I don't trust mine at all.

I still need to make it to the mall to look at cell phones and find a new carrier. It won't be today. It will probably be next week.

Cell Phones

I got my 1st cell phone about 14 years ago. It was a very basic phone and the plan was a government plan, $10/month. I decided to get a cell phone because I frequently drove through a 40 mile stretch of a national forest in northern Wisconsin. I hit a deer one night, fortunately no real damage but I knew I might not be so lucky next time. I hardly ever used the phone for the first 8 years or so. It was strictly for travel. I had 60 minutes daytime use, 60 minutes night use. Eventually both the phone and plan were discontinued. I got a new phone and a new plan. Naturally there were no $10 plans left. I currently have a Samsung phone and Sprint PCS. It's about $29/month but after taxes and misc charges it's about $35/month. This month there was an extra charge of $30 for downloaded ring tones. I spent 24 minutes on the phone with Sprint to request that these charges be dropped. I have no extra ring tones and no downloads show up in my history. I have no clue where these charges came from. Well, the customer service representative refused to delete the charges.

So tomorrow, or more likely on Tuesday, I'm going to a Sprint store, show them the phone, and see if they can do something. If not, I'm cancelling Sprint. I have to decide what company to go with. One of my sons has ATT and likes it. My other son and his wife have Team Mobile and like it. They all have plans with a ridiculous number of minutes so they pay more than I can afford. I don't need a lot of minutes. The problem is there are so few plans that are cheap. I don't need a phone with all the bells and whistles either. If anyone knows of a cheap plan let me know.

Tomorrow I go for a bone scan. I have bone pain in my left upper arm. It's been present about 2 months. The plain films were normal. My oncologist feels a bone scan needs to be done since early metastasis usually doesn't show up on a plain film but will on a bone scan. I am not unduly worried. If I have bone mets then I'll just deal with it.

Today I've been just plain tired and ache all over. The weather was quite humid. Since developing severe pulmonary problems I find I simply cannot tolerate humidity. And of course autumn, my favorite season, is the one that most triggers my allergies. But I'm alive and that is always a good thing to be. And in 2 weeks I leave for Colombia, can't wait. I love it there.

The Smack Group

Well, it seems the anonymous crowd at smackblog(http://scrapsmack.blogspot.com/) are curious as to whether I have a blog. Well, I have two but to date hadn't yet posted. So I guess it's time to start.

So, I am retired as if you couldn't figure that out from the blog title. I worked as a R.N. for 40 great years. I had to retire due to poor health. I had planned to work another 10 years. I was sad about retiring but then my son and his wife had a beautiful baby boy 6 days before my retirement date so now I am a SAHG: stay at home grandmother. He'll go to a Spanish speaking daycare part time when he's older. For his first year he's with me when he's not with Mami and Papi. In 2 weeks the 4 of us head to Colombia to visit family there. This will be the baby's 2nd trip, he first visited at a month. My son is Colombian and is reunited with both birthparents there. His wife is Colombian, all her family is there. Vive Colombia.

If there's anything you anonymous smackers need to know just ask. I might answer, I might not.

Today's quote: "Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Peace is not the silent result of violent repression. Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all." Archbishop Romero