2014 So Far

Mel, Becky, Mandy & Erin @ NYE

The New Year began with the gals and hubbies at an Elky Summers' performance. Erin's hubby remarked on the fact that the last time we went out for New Years, it was three years ago at the same venue for an Elky show, though Erin commented that there would not be a burlesque performance this time. The gals took this as an indication that 2014 would be a good year since we were beginning it together. This New Years Eve, we were joined by Mandy, who helped us close the bar down. Elky once again gave an outstandingly wild performance. And I showed my support by purchasing one of their newly recorded LPs which included a code to download the songs as well. It was a sweet deal!

1st 2014 pic of James and Mel

Hubby and I spent the New Year removing the holiday decorations and enjoying our annual HIMYM viewing marathon. During the holiday season, I have a tradition of watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve, followed by While You Were Sleeping and Sleepless in Seattle on Christmas Day. Though James abandons me to watch these alone because he deems it inhumane torture to remain in the room, I have my reasons for this tradition. This year was the first time that I did not watch these movies. In a compromise with James over the holiday week, we watched the final four Harry Potter movies instead.

Bartle playing in the snow

This winter has been the snowiest and coldest winter we've experienced since moving up north, so it was shocking to suddenly find ourselves with 8-12 more inches of blowing snow while enduring multiple subzero days. When the high for the day is -16 then add in the wind chill, it equals freezing. The snow was pretty to watch though as it began to pile up, I became concerned about Bartle. As much as he loves playing in the snow, both of his back knees pop out of joint in cold weather and he becomes immobilized until the joint slips back into place. (No, I can't manage to do it myself.) I've had to carry him a few times already this winter. This made me a bit worried about him getting stuck while playing in a snowbank because it might terrify him. So before the snow became too deep, we spent Sunday afternoon playing outside. It is moments like this when Bartle acts like such a pup that make me smile. He was jumping and diving into the snow and though it was torture cleaning him afterwards, he is so worth it.

Snowy week

Because of the amounts of snow and subzero temps, we had three snow days from work. For my FL pals, this is not like a hurricane day. We don't remain huddled inside because there is work to be done during that time. So in subzero temps, I began the process of shoveling my driveway. After a few straining muscles, I decided the drive didn't really need clearing, just remove enough to get my car out. I always forget how wide and long my driveway is until I'm clearing it. When you add in the fact that it took two levels of snow for me to reach the ground and then I had to wade through the snow to dump the shovel in the yard, after 45 minutes, I had only cleared around my garage door. While taking a break, I was pleasantly surprised as my neighbor came over with his snow blower and cleared my driveway.

A major disappointment with the snow storm was that no one got to see my dramatic change. I have been itching for months to do something different with my hair. Say goodbye to the straight blondish length in the NYE pics. I have a much shorter, darker, and more natural (i.e. wavy-curl) hairstyle. It always amazes me whenever I go shorter that the most frequent comment I receive is that I look years younger but I'll take the compliment. And I know, I'm such a tease to comment on the hair and not provide a pic, but I truly hate selfies.

A Rainy Sick Day

Day 8, Friday

6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Ugh, waking this morning was rather difficult. I was quite dizzy and my tummy was upset, which I recognized as my neurological system shutting my other systems down. This was how I felt last summer, as if I had the flu because my organs were not absorbing nutrients correctly. Got ready for work, walked Bartle and cleaned his wound. Got to work 20 minutes early so I could scan some microfilm for my lecture. Unfortunately my tummy had other plans and I spent the next 30 minutes wretchedly sick. Dawne recommended I go home but we had two groups and the Irish seminar. I promised to head home if I continued to feel bad and as long as our other colleague came in. I didn't want to leave Dawne alone.

9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. I managed to push through my shift and had some interesting questions, including a reporter writing an article on the upcoming anniversary of the Titanic disaster. I have a sick fascination with disaster stories and Titanic is one of those that has held my interest since childhood. Had lunch with Becky though I only managed a few bites.

3:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Headed home in the rain, which hadn't let up all day, and picked up hubby so we could grocery shop. As we were leaving the store, monsoon season began. I had an umbrella but it did not help. Both of us were soaked all the way through and when we got home, we had to dry out our groceries as well. Hopped in the shower in order to warm up because with the rain came cooler weather and I was freezing. At this point, I felt completely wiped out and told hubby I needed to take a lengthy nap. When I woke, I discovered hubby had taken care of Bartle, so I could relax for the evening.

7:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. I hadn't realized how much I needed someone else to take care of things for a few hours so I could rest. I felt amazingly better during the evening, though my tummy was still a little upset. Hubby made dinner and I read for a bit while we listened to our upstairs neighbors scream, yell, and make other obnoxious sounds. At one point, hubby asked if I wanted to call the police because he thought the girl was getting beaten up. I told him they had been watching March Madness and shouting at the t.v. all week. And Indiana was playing tonight. Hubby groused about this for a bit until I reminded him that I will pay them back in the fall when college football returns. We watched an episode of Supernatural, while I squealed because one of my favorite characters, Cass, returned. Walked Bartle and cleaned his wound before heading off to bed.

Work-a-holic

Day 7, Thursday

5:45 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. The morning alarm is a cruel sound, shattering my head and scaring me back into the real world. I frantically raced around to get ready for work because I realized I had never printed out my notes for today's lecture. Walked Bartle and cleaned his wound, but became exasperated when he wouldn't approach his treats lying on the black plastic sheet. He just stared at me forlornly as I walked out the door. FYI, when I returned home, all three treats were still sitting on the sheet. He has truly given up trying to eat with the cone.

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Arrived at work and started early. My mind was sluggish and I had developed the shakes, so I knew my body would require a nap after my presentation. Curt has been wonderful about trusting me to adjust my schedule as needed when I have these flare-ups. We had our morning meeting, where it was announced that the director has decided that at this time, they will not force everyone on the new insurance plan. The director attributed this decision to our many discussions on the subject. Yay! All that hard work was not in vane. But it does cause one problem, Curt was asked if I could be loaned to HR to help with the instructional meetings they plan to give beginning around June. It seems my continuous comments on educating the staff were heard, plus the fact that HR has not been able to explain the situation as evidenced by staff receiving three different answers to the same question, which leads to me temporarily doing work in a field I left a decade ago. The month of June is beginning to look scary as well. Delia and I are supposed to have our new orientation video scripts ready to produce in June and um, I volunteered to be the on-camera personality. SoCal is at the beginning of June and some of my FGS responsibilities begin around that time as well. Once again, baby steps.

9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Gave my Shadowed Roots lecture which covers Antebellum records for African American research. I had a small but enthusiastic group and the comments on the surveys afterwards made me feel much more comfortable with giving this talk in California. After the presentation and a brief nap, I was on desk the rest of my shift. We have a group visiting so we were really busy, which meant nothing else got done, except me switching out the two large poster stands at the front of our department while wearing a skirt. This is always interesting since I have to kneel on the ground, essentially with my but in the air, to wrestle with the signs which want to roll and the plastic sheets that cover the sign. But I did get a fun lunch with Delia, Peggy, and Kevin, who always make me laugh.

3:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Came home, walked and cleaned Bartle, cleaned up a bit as hubby comes home tomorrow, put on a load of towels, sewed a button on one of my suit jackets before deciding my body had been pushed enough. Though I wasn't shaky, I still felt sluggish and tired, so I took a nap. Hubby woke me when he called. I feel bad because the last two days, our conversations have been nil since I've been in sleep deprivation mode. Got up and wrote my blog post and worked on my final SoCal lecture.

9:30 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. Walked Bartle and cleaned the wound again. He is such a mess. The drainage has coated his hair around the eye. I have removed the cone several times to wipe down his face and neck, but I avoid around the eye area because he is still bruised, but the ointment and stuff is so oily, it looks gross. I may need hubby to hold Bartle's face while I try to clean that area this weekend. Bartle is refusing to eat with the cone at this point, so I've been hand feeding him. If he was eating his treats, I would refuse to do this, but apparently he is really scared or uncomfortable to try anymore. So I sat there, feeding him for a bit, though honestly it was still less food than normal. I am concerned that he is not taking in enough water. I see him periodically drinking, but then I'll hear the cone hit something and he's done trying. My allergies were really bothering me, so I did one of my sinus routines to try to alleviate the pressure before falling into bed for the night.

Desperately Seeking Sleep

Day 6, Wednesday

5:45 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. Amazingly enough I woke with the first alarm. I have multiple alarms because waking can be difficult sometimes and I fear in my confusion that I will turn the one alarm off and go back to sleep. This has happened before. I ran around getting ready like a mad woman though I had warned my boss I might be late this week depending on how long it takes me to get Bartle settled. I was unsure of his reaction to me leaving him alone with the cone and his poor depth perception. We went for a walk and I cleaned his wound before giving him Benadryl in the hope that he wouldn't go insane from the stitching and rip the cone off.

Normally when I leave for the day, I dip his nylabone in peanut butter and place a treat in a Kong. This keeps him entertained for about 15 minutes and tricks him into not being anxious that I'm leaving. He's incapable of playing with either toy right now, so I dipped a treat in a little peanut butter and placed two smaller treats on the plastic sheet from his former kennel. He tried to get to the treats but just kept pushing them around with the cone. Sometimes the treat would flip up into the cone, but he still couldn't eat it. The whole situation was pathetic to watch and worse, the small amount of peanut butter was now all over his cone and the plastic sheet. I cleaned up the mess and left the treats for him. FYI, when I got home, one of the treats was still sitting on the plastic. Apparently, he gave up.

8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Arrived at work and an e-mail from Michelle who managed to get internet access in Honduras. It was nice to hear from her, but I was a bit confused when she commented on my lack of e-mails. I had text and e-mailed her before she left telling her my plans to document this week on the blog. Oh well! She'll figure it out when she gets back.

My entire work shift was on desk, so I balanced playing catch-up and helping the patrons, but this left no extra time to work on upcoming lectures. A sure sign that I'll need to do some extra work from home in the next few days rather than watch television. I really need to shake that habit. I had been in discussions with a colleague from Becky's former library about me doing a lecture for their customers. She contacted me to share that they have submitted a proposal to their Friends group to have me do a half-day presentation for them. Yay!!! Becky has offered to drive over with me so she can see her old haunt. And the best part, both of the lectures are ones I am presenting at other events, so no new work, except for the fact I still have to write them. I just need to remind myself to take baby steps.

I did have one bitch moment today. My troublesome colleague loves to one-up you in conversations. It gets real tiresome, real quick. She tried this on me today and instead of being humble, I torpedoed her out of the water, essentially rubbing her nose in the fact that we are on different levels. I haven't done this since she questioned my experience level her first week on the job, but I couldn't back down today. Later, she tried to show-off in an e-mail response to my request for date preferences for a week long program. I took delight when Delia questioned the response and my colleague had to backtrack.

3:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Left work early so I could get home to whatever destruction may await, but instead was pleasantly surprised to find Bartle patiently waiting for me, cone still firmly in place. After a brief walk, I cleaned his wound, which had become rather messy while I was at work, picked up around the apartment, and recognized the warning signs of an episode. I took a lengthy nap, hoping to catch it before I felt worse. Hubby woke me with his evening phone call. He had his annual review, which went well. He'll get another contract, but no raise. If only the economy was better then he'd see a nice increase. Oh well! The tornado alarms went off, so I turned on the t.v. because it looked clear outside. Sure enough, they were just testing the system.

7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. I called mom, who seemed to want to rush through the call, which was frustrating once again. I asked for clarification on my dad's comment on Sunday relating to my grandmother's mental state. Turns out, my grandmother has been officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's. I think anyone in the family could have told the doctors that years ago but they kept saying she had dementia. Apparently she had a severe psychotic episode last week and her hallucinations became extremely unhealthy. She has suffered the typical symptoms of not recognizing her husband or home, feeling paranoia, and talking to her hallucinations. It had gotten worse in the past six months when she began to have odd thoughts concerning inanimate objects. Her recent episode involved some intense hallucinations concerning the bedding which lasted for days. My grandfather has been her caregiver with a part-time nurse, but the doctors have deemed she belongs in a facility.

This is a bit strange for me as I have no relationship with my grandparents. Without going through a recanting of past deeds, I will say I carry the emotional scars of certain incidents. After twenty years of minimal contact, my sister and I visited them four years ago in an attempt to see things from an adult perspective. A few hours later, I had a better understanding of them, though I viewed them as strangers rather than family and understanding them did not make the visit and their deriding comments any easier. I told my dad it would be the last time I visited them, but out of respect for my dad, I would attend their funerals.

After getting off the phone with my mom, I examined how I felt by this sad news that my grandmother was in late stage Alzheimer's and my grandfather was on his farm, alone for the first time in his life. It was similar to how I feel when I see a sad story on the news. I feel bad for them and wouldn't wish this fear or loneliness on anyone, but it does not change how I feel towards them. The person I am most concerned with is my dad and how he is handling everything. I can't imagine watching your parents suffer like this. So I will be there in support of my dad and will listen when he wants to talk about the situation.

I worked on my final SoCal lecture and realized I was missing several record types. This was a big oops moment because they are items I don't know very well, so I'll need to do a bit more research. The end of the month is looming over me.

9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. I spent about an hour reading the Bible and praying before shutting down for the night, which didn't go as planned. I am definitively on the downward spiral. I was choosing my outfit for tomorrow's presentation when I realized I hadn't shut down my laptop, so I sat on the couch to close things out. Two hours later, I was staring at my word document when Bartle got my attention. I had completely lost track of time. I went into the bedroom feeling a bit disoriented to find the light on, the closet open and half of Thursday's outfit sitting on the bed. I had completely zoned out midway through an activity. And now it was late again which meant I wouldn't get much sleep. I took Bartle for his walk and then cleaned his wound and face again.

Laundry Day

Day 5, Tuesday
9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. It is getting harder and harder to get up since my sleep pattern is completely thrown off, but I persevered. Bartle and I began our morning with a lengthier walk, since the weather has been so nice, but the temps are going higher, which means I won't be able to walk him in the heat for too long. I know it will shock everyone to discover that with all Bartle's fur, he is susceptible to heat sickness. We returned home to our last day of painkillers and the anti-inflammatory, cleaned the wound, and tried to force him to eat. Bartle refuses to eat much, which still disturbs me. Began a load of laundry, the first of many, and sat with a book and cup of coffee. I truly did plan to be motivated today, but my best plans get sidetracked real easily.

12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Called the doctor for my yearly test results. No need to worry, everything is normal. The gals and I had recently questioned why my doc had ordered a pap test this year considering I no longer have a cervix. This led to a humorous conversation since a few of my friends didn't realize that was removed during my hysterectomy. The nurse explained that since my hysterectomy was due to a cancerous condition, the doc prefers to do a pap test because it can detect cancerous cells on the vaginal wall. I was relieved to hear that he was being extra cautious rather than him forgetting he had performed the surgery or not realizing the body part was missing during my exam. I can't help thinking this way after my last two former primary care doctors continuously ordered pregnancy tests. Once that was done, I hung out with my friend, streaming television, instead of working. At this point, I was on my third load of laundry and didn't want to acknowledge my wastefulness of the day.

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Jumped in the shower and took Bartle for another walk, in which I regretted showering since I felt grimey upon my return. I moved away from Florida for many reasons, one of them being the heat. Another cleaning of the wound and Bartle was ready for a nap. I finished the last load of laundry and focused on my lecture. I honestly, didn't get far with it because viewing the changes to the powerpoint on my netbook is difficult. I'm beginning to realize I may need to go back to the eye doctor. I recently noticed that my presentation notes were becoming difficult to read at the podium and on Sunday, I had trouble reading Kris' bio when introducing him. So I decided to watch more t.v. instead. I know, it was not the best game plan since there is a huge to-do list waiting for me.

6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Delia called to check up. Apparently she was concerned because I had written that I had cried the night before. In the past few months, my emotional state has been tricky. I've been overwhelmed by my concern and frustration with my family then feelings of neglect and isolation followed by guilt then more neglect, which is compounded by my frustration at not finding the right balance with my diagnosis (which I have recently found), and my concerns with Mich and the changing dynamic of our friendship. On top of all those stress factors then there is my increased work responsibilities and the thought of where it is leading. So I've been a bit emotional and trying to find my place. I truly am blessed in my friends and pseudo-family that I have created. They are wonderful people. Talked to hubby who reminded me I had promised my boss I'd review some photos, so I was on to another task.

7:00 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Our home laptop's operating system died a few weeks ago and all of our backed up files are on the external drive, which stores all of our photos. I went through the files searching for high resolution pictures I've taken of the department that my boss can use for our new brochure. This took a while as I have a lot of pictures. Erin texted to say things went well with her ultrasound and so far, it looks like she's having a girl. I am truly happy for her. Erin is such an amazing mom. Took Bartle for another walk, cleaned him, and prepared for bed. As I started to drift off to sleep, a loud crash in the kitchen woke me. Turns out, Bartle had finally decided to try to eat, but his cone had toppled the food bowl, sending food every direction and the water bowl was knocked on its side, spilling water under the washing machine. He was hunched against the cabinets, appearing scared, so I comforted him before cleaning up the mess. And finally managed to get to bed all the while questioning if I would wake with the 5:45 a.m. alarm.

Bummy Kind of Day

Day 4, Monday

Day 1

9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Woke up late since I had trouble sleeping the night before. Plus Bartle kept waking me up through the night scratching his ears again, so I was quite out of it this morning. I took him for his walk while wearing my pajamas and sunglasses. I'm sure I looked like someone suffering from a hangover. I always make fun of those people who walk their dogs or shop in pajamas, but I truly had low energy this morning. Fed, medicated, and cleaned up Bartle. Spent some time with Cleo, cleaning her with pet wipes which is as close to bathing as she gets and brushing her. She's been suffering from some dry heaving so I'm hoping to cut down the amount of hair she ingests. Sat with my morning coffee and a book, while Bartle attached himself to my hip. I think the painkillers knocked him out for a brief nap. E-mailed with the Flagler Society and received the flier for my presentation in January. I was very excited to see it and will post it soon.

Day 4

12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Made lunch and decided I needed a day off. Not just a few hours, but a full day dedicated to relaxing. So Bartle and I curled up on the couch and watched streaming television all afternoon. It was nice until the guilt settled in.

5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. After taking a shower, I took Bartle for a walk. He seemed upbeat though he still isn't eating as much as he should. Cleaned his wound again followed by a call from hubby, which lead to more guilt. We have a long weekend coming up at the end of the month, but if I don't finish my SoCal lectures so I can turn in my handouts by the deadline, I'll be working during our long weekend. So I began reviewing the Shadowed Roots lecture, which I'm giving this Thursday, but need to clean up for SoCal, and made a few more changes to my Librarian lecture based on the feedback from my test run. I placed notes for some altered screenshots, which will wait until I return to work, but otherwise the Shadowed lecture is finished and both handouts are done. One more lecture to go.

9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. Bartle and I enjoyed another walk and then the agony of the wound care treatment. I noticed that some of the leakage had run down his face and into his neck, so I questioned whether this could be responsible for his itching. Keeping a close eye on him, I removed the cone and bathed his face and neck with the pet wipes, removing all the build up. He enjoyed a thorough brushing and remained very well behaved. I washed out his cone and allowed it to air dry, naively thinking Bartle required a reprieve from the torturous cone and that we could sit on the couch together for a bit. Taking a few steps into the living room, Bartle dropped to the ground and began rubbing his face on the carpet. It happened so fast and I truly was keeping a close eye on him. Falling to the ground, I grabbed his face so I could check his eye. Honestly, I can't tell if he caused any damage. I had mentioned to the vet tech on Saturday that two of his stitches looked abnormal, but she responded that nothing was ripped and with his swelling, everything looks distorted. His stitches looked the same as usual though I'm still concerned about the two that look abnormal, especially as his swelling has gone down. I wrestled the cone back on and we sat on the couch to watch t.v. While sitting there, I began to cry. I thought he would enjoy the relief of not wearing the cone, yet I could have set back his recovery if he had damaged his eye. I debated calling the vet in the morning to have him checked. And of course, the vicious nightly cycle continued and I couldn't sleep.

Surgery Day

Janssen blogged about a fascinating exercise where her friend chronicled her life for a week. Since Michelle is on a cruise for the next seven days, I thought this might be a fun way for her to catchup on what she missed. See, Mich and I have never gone more than a couple days without contact so this will be hard on us.

Day 1, Friday

6:00 a.m. -7:20 a.m. I had a difficult time waking up and kept hitting the snooze button until I couldn't push it further. Got ready and woke hubby, so he could take Bartle to the vet for his surgery. Saying goodbye to my baby was hard. I teared up while giving him lots of hugs. We have this game, where I tap my cheek and say, give me a kiss. He usually licks my cheek, but today he was confused, so I didn't get my kiss.

7:20 a.m. -8:00 a.m. I decided to return my mother's phone call from the night before while driving in to work. She had called at 8:50 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. It was a tense call since once again she forgot that I couldn't take calls after 8:00 p.m.; she had to apologize for blowing me off on Tuesday because my sister had yet another crisis; but mom didn't think anything of the fact the incident had occurred 2 days before and she had waited this whole time to call, though the reason I called her on Tuesday was due to the fact no one had called me in over a week; and she forgot about Bartle's surgery. Feeling quite neglected at this point.

8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. I managed to make changes to the ILF lecture and Shadowed Roots lecture. Worked the desk with the amazing Dawne and Becky. And I showed great restraint when an incident occurred while I was discussing the insurance situation with our director. I have spent hours of my personal time the past 3 months questioning our administration  about them drastically changing our health insurance. The director and I were having a great conversation and he was agreeing with my points, when my troublesome colleague interrupted me midsentence to share her story. Once she was done, I continued with what I was saying. By 1:00, I was frustrated that the vet had not called with an update, so I checked with them that Bartle was out of surgery.

2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. We picked Bartle up, with his cone, meds, and black eye. He was quite disoriented and drooling. Ate a quick lunch, sat with Bartle while he whined, tried desperately to get him to eat and be calm. Read a book while Bartle sat attached to my hip, still whining. Hubby came and spelled me for a bit so I could take a nap, but Bartle insited on lying next to me on the bed. Trying to get him to jump on the bed, which is a bit more elevated than a normal bed, was a task. He finally figured it out, which won him lots of kudos.

7:00 p.m. - 10:15 p.m. Stopped by Becky's for a chat and to show off my wounded baby. Bartle and I took a walk, which ended abruptly when Bartle managed to yank the cone and leash off. With the cone, we have to use a normal circular leash, which doesn't work well with all his fur. Usually he wears a harness because of the fact he can yank a normal leash off his head. After 30 minutes of enticement, we managed to get him to eat his food and take more meds. Dinner and an episode of Supernatural with hubby and it was time for bed.

My Baby

My Puffball

Yes, I joke about Cleo and Bartle being my kids because I have raised both of them from early ages and they honestly behave like jealous siblings. It is amazing how I can sit down to play, brush, or pet one of them and the other has to nudge his/her way in. They both think they need to crawl on my lap on the couch or snuggle on the bed. I read a page or two before going to bed in the evening and I'm sure it makes a funny sight; me propped against the pillows, Cleo with her head in my armpit as I hold my book above her and Bartle resting his head on my chest or leg on the other side.

Here's the thing though, I'm not going to have kids. Bartle and Cleo make up for that since I get to care and worry for them in the same manner I would a child. They are better than kids at times because I can leave them at home while I'm working, kennel them when annoyed, send them off to the groomer, and not pay for college costs.

So I have to admit to being worried about Bartle's surgery. Since his last one in January, he has been a bit more nervous. He used to love road trips and visits to the groomer. Now he whines and violently shakes in fear and there is no way I can reassure him. Hubby will be the one taking him to the vet for surgery this time because it would be too hard on me. Bartle doesn't understand what is going on and he'll get upset. Then when he comes home, he'll be in pain, uncomfortable, and completely miserable not knowing why we did this to him. It makes it hard for me because much as parents view their teen and adult children as young kids, I still see Bartle as the little puffball who set his head on my shoulder at the pet store.

Mimicking Behavior

You've seen those people who look like their dogs or their spouses, well I don't look like B or James. Yet somehow, B has developed some of my oddities that are completely unexplainable. I understand when I'm upset that B becomes upset or depressed or excited. He's just mimicking my behavior, but things have become really strange recently. To begin with, I am an overly anxious person and B comes from a breed that suffers separation anxiety. When I went in for surgery, they damaged an unrelated organ resulting in further issues. So it shouldn't have been a surprise when B went in for surgery in January and I received a call at the midpoint that there were some extra problems discovered and they needed permission to extend his surgery. I have several anomalies where the doctor commented one in so many people have this or one in so many chance this will happen. Guaranteed, it will happen to me. Apparently, B falls into this same category. He had a tumor removed during his surgery in January. There was 5% chance of a regrowth of the tumor. Now, until he sees the vet, I'm unsure if it is another tumor or an infection, but either way, there is an anomaly. So, B does take after his human owner in a variety of ways.

My Furry Kids

While watching t.v. the other night, I couldn't help relating to a character who refused to work alongside a former friend. They kept talking about some horrible past incident, how they both loved her, and how the former friend was responsible for whatever befell the ubiquitous her. This storyline went on for several episodes until the former friend accepted that his past deed was too horrendous to overcome and left. The other character pulls a picture out of his wallet to gaze at the her, who we now know is dead. When the camera pans over the picture, we see an image of a dog. I burst out laughing at this scene as I love my animals like they are my children. (The pic is of a plaque I have hanging on the wall in our hallway.)

My Queen

When I was living with my sister almost a decade ago, this cat kept trying to jump in my car. It was quite aggravating as I didn't care for cats at the time and my sis was severely allergic to them. I left food out on the porch for the cat feeling bad for it until I moved out a couple of weeks later.Within a few days, we had a freezing rain storm, this being December in Florida, it was probably in the 60s. I was concerned for the cat and walked around the building in the rain and the beast came to me, so off to the vet we went. I tried to convince the vet that I didn't want the cat, but the vet informed me the cat had chosen me as the beast snuggled up to me. Little did I know I was acquiring a queen. My mom recommended naming her Cleo after Cleopatra because she carried herself regally.

Every morning I am awoken around 4:30 am. Notice: 4:30 am. It begins with the ringing of my wind chimes, which have been moved numerous times. Currently, they're hanging off my curtain rod, way up high. This is followed by everything on my night stand, alarm clock included, being knocked off. Then a great weight pounces near my head and I look up to see the beast, Miss Cleo, glaring down at me. She has figured out if she shakes the curtains, the wind chimes ring. Isn't she brilliant? I snapped this lovely photo of her when she woke me the other morning. She had knocked things off my night stand and jumped down to the ground. I felt her staring at me and looked down to this glare.

She can be a true darling when she bumps up against me, begging to be petted. Or when she curls in my lap or against my hip. But get in the way of mealtime and you're in trouble.

They Want to Explore

My animals decided they wanted to go exploring yesterday. Too bad they don't understand they need to stay inside for their safety. Both of them took off after Cleo knocked over the propped screen on my patio. Bartle actually stayed on the patio, but Cleo decided to take off until she realized I was running after her. She hid below the bottom step outside the front of the apartment. Its pretty disgusting down there. Dirt, laundry lint, and bugs. Did I mention I was working out when this happened, sweaty and in shorts? Bugs, etc. stuck to me as I crawled under the stairs. Cleo was not pleased about my saving, she hissed and bit me. The hubby swears he'll put in a new screen when he comes home.

This makes me think of last week's episode of Bones. Did anyone else see the scene with the cats? I can see Cleo sitting their licking her lips. That scene cracked me up.

Pets

So my dog and cat have had a horrendous time in the past few months. Between my own vacations and work events, I have not been home as much. Our dog gets boarded while we're gone and our cat can fend for herself. Both are traumatized by the experience though. While I was in Philly, we had an issue with the boarder and I was unable to take care of it, since I was out of town. Basically, the whole reason I boarded my dog. So I was very frustrated by the situation.


For our next trip, we are going to try a pet sitter. The person stays at our home and maintains the continuous routines for the pets, so they feel more comfortable. Since I know the pet sitter personally, I'm sure this will be a better plan. The anxieties we go through with our pets.

Morning

I am not a morning person. It is inhumane to expect people to be up before noon. That is how coffee became my friend. My beautiful children do not understand this concept though. For those who don't know, my children are my dog and cat.

My cat has decided she is starving. Around 5:30 in the morning, my cat starts knocking things off my nightstand. Since I normally just roll over, she jumps on the bed and butts her head against me and nips at me. I have a routine where I pull the covers over my head and turn away from her. She has learned to start pushing my tv (weighs less than 10lbs) along its stand. That usually gets me up. Of course, I'm furious at this point. I eventually lay back down. She usually ends the morning by knocking my alarm clock off the night stand. This is every morning.

It gets worse on the few mornings I get to sleep in. My dog gets into the act. He jumps on the bed and tries to lick me to death. I can dive under the covers to avoid him. The problem is he starts barking at everything. At this point, I give up and get up to start my day.

This is very cruel. I love these animals and take care of all their needs. I wish I could explain to them how much I crave sleep in the morning.

So I'm sure others have horrible pet or children morning stories. Please feel free to share.