Yet Another Reason Why I Get Frustrated

Apparently I’m having email issues lately: I’ve not gotten several emails that I know I should have gotten. So today I tried to log on to my GCI account to look at the Junk File, but discovered that I don’t know my password.

I clicked on the “change your password” link and they asked the usual question, and then sent me a special code to change my password.

To my GCI email.

Which I can’t get in to because I don’t know my password.

Yeah…

Typical Conversations With My Kittens

Naldo: MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!

Me: What?!?

Naldo: Meow!

Me: Oh, you have a string?

Naldo: Meow

Me: Let me see…

Naldo: Meow

Me: Well, that’s a nice string!

Naldo: Meow

Me: You’re such a lucky girl…

Naldo: Meow

Viktor: CRASH!!!

Me: Viktor! Get down from there.

Viktor: -lays down right where he’s at-

Me: On the floor, Viktor.

Viktor: chirp!

Me: Oh, Viktor… you’re just too damn handsome.

Viktor: chirp!

Kilroy was here

Isn’t it interesting how some people just have this burning NEED to sign their names to things?

Take graffiti for example. Some punk with a spray can paints his name in three foot letters on the side of a bridge, and then is surprised when they get caught and are in trouble for it!

Or my little brother, Reed. When he was younger (maybe 7 years old) he once took a screw driver to the fridge in our kitchen, carving his name on the side. He then tried to convince Mother that “I didn’t do it!”

But then you have people like my sister Noel – she once carved MY NAME into each and every wooden pew at church!!!

She always was the smart one.

Gearing Up: After the Fact

So here’s a review of our gear after having used it for a few days:

1. Tent – I love our tent! It’s so easy to set up and take down. It’s not tall enough to stand up in, but it’s quite roomy and easily fits two people with all their stuff. It even has pockets to put your kindle or phone into so they don’t get lost during the night. The only thing I would add to it would be a hook in the middle of the roof to hang the lantern from.

2. Sleeping bag/pad – our pads were quite comfortable, but man they were noisy! Like, really noisy. Just the slightest movement created a racket loud enough to wake the dead – believe me, I woke up each and every time he moved! Blowing them up and deflating them afterwards was easy enough, although Bryan’s took longer each time. And our sleeping bags were not warm enough; it got downright cold at night, so I ended up curling into a little shivering ball each night. I think that will be the next item on our Upgrade List.

3. Food – we brought the Mountain House type food this time, and it was okay. Not the greatest in the world, but certainly filling. I’m not sure I would buy their Breakfast Bowl again, but the rice & beans was very tasty. For snacks we had Cliff bars and M&Ms – with blueberry pop tarts thrown in for good measure.

3a. Hydration Bladder - I used my new hydration bladder on this trip and love it! Not too happy about the taste (it was supposed to not have any weird taste) but having water right there the whole time I’m hiking really helped my migraine issue. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the nozzle & hose – I just left it dangling but think surely there’s a better way.

4. Bear Protection – those bear-proof canisters are really hard to get into - which is the whole point, I get that - but we probably broke two or three nails each time we tried to get into the darned thing. 

5. Bug repellant – worked like a charm, except for the one place I forgot to apply it = my ankles have about 20 bites a piece on them! In fact, one bite actually created a bruise! I don’t know what critter that came from, but he has quite the bite!

6. Boots – my boots were very comfortable. They have more ankle support than I’m used to, but once I forgot about that, I had no problems at all. I should have worn the liner socks from the very beginning of our journey, however - I did get a little raw at first. But once I put on my layers, it was fine.

7. Packs – my pack rubbed me raw in several places, namely my collar bones and my hips. I have a feeling I just didn’t have all the straps adjusted properly. There’s only like a million straps, so it’s hard to know what to do to adjust the thing. It’s quite roomy, however: I was surprised at how much stuff can be stuffed into it.

8. Clothing – I pretty much wore the same outfit the entire time. I did bring lots of socks, and a change of clothing incase I fell into the lake or something. I should have brought a warmer sweater along – did not expect the cold (like I should have).

9. PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) – we arranged to send the SPOT to my sister Noel each time, and she enjoyed following our journey on the maps. It gave her our exact GPS location so that if need be she could pass that information along to the emergency response people to find us more easily.

10. Lodging – the B&B we stayed at in Homer was a very cozy little place, but not for everybody. It was very cluttered with all kinds of knickknacks everywhere. It was a small place but quite functional, with a very comfy bed. For breakfast the next day, we even got 6 fresh eggs from the chickens out back! Very tasty! Our host gave us all kinds of local information, too – very helpful.

11. Water Taxi – Ashore water taxi was very prompt and helpful. The captain of the boat was a fisherman, so he and Bryan talked fish the whole way. The boat was exactly the kind of boat I’d get if I lived on the water = small but perfect for getting around. I had a hard time not laughing like a maniac the whole way there and back because the ride was so much fun!

12. Electronics – my kindle worked perfectly the whole time, but I probably could have left my phone at home since I never even turned it on. My camera has issues, however: I am not happy with it at the moment, but have no idea how to fix the darned thing. I may have to just toss it and get a new one – which I hate doing. Thankfully Bryan’s camera worked so I was able to take pictures of the place.

13. Kittens – the kittens were so excited when we got home – they missed us! Naldo just kept running around and attacking our ankles as we walked passed her. Viktor was a bit stand-offish at first, but eventually crawled up into my arms to nuzzle my neck for a while.

Gearing Up

Gearing up for a big 3-day hiking/camping trip this weekend:

1. Tent – set it up in the craft room to make sure all the pieces & parts are there, and that we know how it’s done properly.

2. Sleeping bag/pad - inflate the pads to make sure there are no holes. Lay out the bags to air out and clean up a bit.

3. Food – lay everything out to make sure we have all meals accounted for, including snacks and drinks.

4. Bear Protection – confirm that all smelly items fit into the proper canisters. Make sure everybody knows how to use the pepper spray. Make sure the gun has bullets and that each person knows how to use it.

5. Bug repellant – make sure the aerosol spray can actually works, and that we have a lotion-type back up, just in case.

6. Boots – ensure boots are still in good order and that they still fit, then clean off old mud and apply new water-proofing.

7. Packs – make sure all gear & clothing fits comfortably in our packs. Distribute weight proportionately between the two of us.

8. Clothing – choose light weight clothing with just enough insulation, bare minimum amount of personal gear, warmth without too much bulk

9. PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) – designate a family member as Emergency Contact, ensure the DeLorme inReach unit works properly and notifications are sent to the proper person.

10. Lodging – make reservations for small cabin just outside of Homer for the night before our hike, so we can start off fresh and well rested.

11. Water Taxi – make reservations for the water taxi to take us across the bay to Halibut Cove, and then pick us up again two days later.

12. Electronics – ensure that all electronics are charged up and that extra batteries are included (kindle, phones, cameras, GPS & PLB, etc…)

13. Kittens – make sure babysitter knows what to do, where food is, and how much they get. Make sure their water fountain is clean and full of fresh water. Make sure litter box is full and clean, with paper bags for scooped poop.

Have I missed anything? 

Why yes, yes I did forget something.

14. Toiletries – medications, first aid kit, toothbrush & paste, TP & trowel, etc…

Noel’s Artwork

A couple months ago Noel asked me to make some artwork for her salon; she’s remodeling her Waxing Room with a Beach Theme. It’s taken me a while, but I finally got them done!

This first one I did is basically just a flat collage of paper-cuttings. I got a pack of coordinating papers from Graphic 45, cut out some pieces that she and I chose based on her plan for the room, and then glued them all down. The frame is a simple shiny black (by request) and the whole thing measures a foot square. I like it – but more importantly, so does Noel.

the first one 

This second one was considerably harder. It’s more of a Shadow-Box type of thing, with a lot of depth to it. Again I used coordinating paper by Graphic 45, but also some real shells and “netting” to make it a bit more interesting. My favorite embellishment, however, are the crabs! Can you see them? I found those at my favorite on-line crafting store called A Cherry On Top, but I bet you could find them pretty much anyplace that sells stickers by Jolees.

the second one 

It took some creative fumbling at first, but I eventually got it looking the way I imagined it. All in all, I had so much fun with these I might just make some to sell – who knows!

Birthday Crab!

For my birthday this year, Bryan got me a 10-pound box of King Crab Legs from Catch 49, a company who “provides delicious high-quality wild seafood responsibly-harvested by Alaska's small boat fishermen” - sort of like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) but for seafood. When you buy from Catch 49, you’re buying direct from an Alaskan Fisherman.

Last night around 6:00 we cooked up about half of it, and then sat down and proceeded to feast on legs & claws. Oh my gosh: it was so good! I had forgotten how painful it can be, though. King Crabs have sharp, pointy little spines all up and down their legs: each time you try to crack one open, it’s trying to crack YOU open as well. Given that they are a salt-water animal, an open wound on your hand can give quite the sting. But there’s no stopping! You power through the pain and just keep on eating.

the remains of our dinner!

Dip that meat in a mixture of melted butter and lemon and pop that baby in your mouth. There truly is nothing better.

Except maybe chocolate cake.

Maybe.

I'm Finally Me Again!

Finally, I’m starting to feel more like myself again. Boy, that migraine was a brutal one! But it seems to be over now, so I can get on with my life. There’s quite a bit going on right now, too.

First: Bryan has a dental appointment today. Normally that’s not exactly a note-worthy event. But for Bryan, who is deathly afraid of dental work, it’s a huge issue. He has to be sedated for it, which means I get the joy of driving him home when he’s drugged out of his gourde. I’ve done it now three times already. The first time, he made a few nonsensical announcements (once he shouted “KLUNK! very loudly) but mostly just slept. The second time, he tried to dance in his cowboy boots on the way to the car, but again promptly fell asleep once he got sat down. The third time, it took a good half hour to wake him up once I got us home. I thought I’d have to leave him in the garage for the night almost! He’s too heavy for me to carry. I’ll let you know how this fourth time goes.

Second: Mother is having a fence built on our new property to separate us from our neighbors out back. At first, I was not too happy about that; I thought the back yard was just fine the way it is. But now that I’ve seen the fence posts – which got installed a few days ago so they could cure in their bed of concrete – and have a better idea of how it will look, I’m thinking maybe it won’t be so bad. The final pieces of the fence are being installed today, so by the time I get home it should all be done. There was a brief moment of upset this morning, however, when Mother thought that Bryan’s truck was left in the way of the fence company’s access to our back yard. We had already left for work in my car, so she was not able to move it. A few phone calls between her and Bryan, and apparently all is well after all.

Third: plans for my Catio are coming along nicely! I’m so excited to have one finally, and I’m sure that Viktor & Naldo will love it. Right now, when Mother wants the cats outside, she has to put them in these tiny 3-foot square cages. They do well enough out there in them, but it will be nice to give them room to jump and play – plus they can come and go at their own pleasure. Bryan has researched all the different ways to build catios, and is finally ready to jump in and begin. He’s even blocked off the weekend for the task!

Fourth: I traded my old kindle in for a new one. Amazon sent out an email telling me about their trade-in program where I could get a percentage off the new one based on the condition of the old one. My old one was in good condition still, so I ended up with about $67.00 off my new one! I was so excited when it finally came (I had to send the old one in first, so was without for a good month); I quickly loaded my books onto it and started to read. And it promptly lost its charge over night! That should NOT have happened, but it was easily cured by simply charging it back up. THEN – for some bizarre reason, it lost all my books! I have no idea why – and now am gun-shy about it, only loading two or three books at a time in case it decides to dump them all again. I have organized my “cloud” storage such that I can easily tell which books are to be read –vs- which ones are done, but it’s still a hassle – and I can’t help but wonder why I gave up a perfectly good kindle for this new one that doesn’t even work.

Today is not a good day.

To be honest, however, neither was yesterday. This darned migraine just will not ease up.

I’m so exhausted my eyeballs hurt, my brain is trying to wade through waist-deep molasses, and what little math skills I had the day before are completely gone.

On the plus side, however, I get to nap with my Viktor and play fishy with my Naldo. That is always a good thing!

And once I feel better, I can start in on my stack of new books to read: Bryan gave me four of them!

One Good Dog, by Susan Wilson

Women Talking, by Miriam Toews

The Binding, by Bridget Collins

The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, by Andrea Wulf

That last one will be a tough read because it’s like reading a comic book – which I am not particularly fond of. But the subject matter is totally fascinating, so I’m hoping it will be okay.

Which one do I read first?

Hello Again! I'm Back...

I’ve been meaning to revive this blog for quite some time now; my birthday just seemed like a good day to begin. Not that I have all that much to say at first – but at the very least, this will get me going.

But first: a brief update on my life.

I moved back to Palmer finally! It only took me - what, 25 years or so? Let me tell you, it feels great. I love being back home where my family is and where I can “drop by” anytime I feel like it. The house we’re in is actually Mother’s new house; Bryan and I moved in with her. The plan is to save up for our own property while at the same time helping her out with things. It’s a win-win for both of us!

We’re still working in Anchorage, however, which means commuting each day. It’s not ideal, by any means, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Bryan and I work very close by each other, so we are able to carpool. Eventually, my goal is to quit and get a job in Palmer – and Bryan will somehow magically convince his employer that he can work for home, maybe going in to the office just one or two days a week.

My house in Anchorage is rented out to 3 young people. They’re paying their rent on time and seem to be good renters. I will keep that going until we buy a place, then will sell to use the equity to pay down on the new place. Or maybe I keep on renting it to generate a monthly income. Who knows…

Thing and Djuna both passed away a few years ago; Djuna from kidney failure and Thing from cancer. I saved up my money and got myself two kittens from Arkansas (there just are not any Devon breeders up here to buy locally from) so now am happily sharing my home with Viktor and Naldo, brother and sister. They are the cutest kittens ever! I say kittens, but honestly their 2 years old now. I think that qualifies as at least Teenagers.

Mother has her cat as well; Bailey is a grumpy old guy who is quite overweight. It took some time integrating them all, but they seem to get along quite well now. Bailey seems to purposely seek the kittens out and will sit with his tail strategically placed so as to entice them in to playing with it so he can whop them a good one.

A Much Needed Retreat

The timing could not have been better from a mental point of view; my sweet little Djuna had only just passed away and I was still very sad. From a financial point of view, however, it was not so good. It was another $300.00 added to my credit card bill after all. But, it was so nice to retreat from the world for a while and leave all my troubles at home.

Bryan drove me out to Wasilla Thursday night after work. I had packed everything up the day before so I was ready to go almost as soon as I got home from work. It was hard leaving my Thing, however – she is not taking Djuna’s death very well at all. Bryan offered to stay at my house to keep her company while I was gone, so I felt better about that.

Once we got to the Pioneer Ridge Bed & Breakfast, Bryan helped me haul everything in and get set up in my room and at my table. He got the grand tour of the place since he’d never been there – and then headed on back home, leaving me to my crafting overdose.

There were only 5 people there that early, and thankfully my friend Tammy was one of those people. She and I sat across from each other so we could chat while doing our craft work; she does actual scrapbooking while I make my cards. Friday afternoon saw most everybody else arriving, bringing the total attendance up to around 12 people (give or take a few who came and went).

My typical day at a scrapbooking retreat is: I get up at 6 and make my first cup of tea and then sit down at my table and start crafting. Eventually everybody else wanders in and joins me, but since they typically don’t go to bed until the wee hours of the morning, it’s usually a bit later. Lunch is typically served around noon, which I eat at my table. We all continue to do our crafting while gossiping about whatever comes to mind and listing to music. Dinner is served around 6:00 or so, which I eat at my table while others actually gather at a communal dinner table away from their projects. Eventually, around 10:00, I head on back to my room to go to bed, only to repeat the process the next day. Once in a while somebody suggests a walk outside to stretch our legs, but for the most part I spend my time making cards. And I love it!

This time, my total card count came to 42. I came home with only 32 however, since I actually sold 10 of them there at the retreat. 

My Little June Bug

We took her to the vet on Saturday: a new one she hadn’t seen yet. Dr. Coyne is so VERY nice: she spent a good hour talking to us about all the options available, and was sincerely caring and concerned for Djuna’s health. She was also taken by how sweet Djuna is, and made several comments to that effect.

Here is a quote off the website for The Pet Stop:

Dr. Kathryn Coyne received her veterinary degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She practiced in New York for a year before moving to Alaska. Her special interests include emergency medicine, pain management, endocrine and infectious diseases, and working with pet owners to manage behavioral issues that affect quality of life and the human-animal bond.

Basically, Djuna’s potassium levels are alarmingly low. Dr. Coyne recommended adding it to her IV bag to replenish what her kidneys are losing.

Also of great concern is her heart. Apparently a cat’s normal heart rate is around 200 beats per minute – Djuna’s was about 60 beats per minute! Dr. Coyne did say that the low levels of potassium were most likely the cause and the added amounts in her IV bag should help bring that back up.

Djuna’s lack of appetite is to the critical point: she simply does not want to eat anymore. The doctor gave me some anti-nausea meds in case that was the issue, and I’m continuing with the vitamin B12 shots. Sedating her and inserting a feeding tube was briefly discussed: just long enough for me to say “No”.

And, last but certainly not least, my little June Bug is severely dehydrated:  she’s no longer eating so is no longer getting that extra boost of liquids that I have been putting into her food. This means that her IV treatments have been increased to every day rather than just twice a week. I have to admit, this is taking a toll on both of us. Djuna hates it and I hate having to make her do it.

That all took place on Saturday; it’s Tuesday now, and she still has not eaten but maybe a bite or two. I have her set up on my bed with an electric blanket and wooly babies blanket over the top of her. She is happiest when she’s with me and still wants to be held if I’m at home. Bryan is a fair second choice, but if she sees me, she starts crying until I hold her.

I’m sorry I have no good news – it’s only a matter of time now, I think.

Sigh.

Summer Hiking Schedule

I got inspired last weekend: not only was the weather just absolutely gorgeous (don’t look now, but I do believe that summer might actually BE HERE!) but we got to attend a talk up at the Eagle River Nature Center on Sunday on Hiking in Alaska! 

The speaker was Susan Beeman Sommer, a freelance writer and editor for the Alaska Magazine.

She has a blog documenting her hikes: True North Alaska

She has her own website, as well: Alaska Writer

She showed pictures from a few of her favorite hikes that she’s been on these past few years. She talked about how to plan for the hike, what gear to bring, and even how to determine when you should just turn around and go home. From the sounds of it, she goes on a lot of hikes and is a pretty hard core hiker. Kind of like what I would LIKE to be, but sadly am not.

Best of all, she totally motivated me to create our schedule for the summer. I scaled back considerably this year, though. Last year I put way too many hikes on the calendar and ended up doing barely half of them. This year I’m being more realistic and have only 7 hikes planned – always allowing for more, should the mood strike us, of course.

So here’s the plan:

May 28-29: Caines Head Trail

April 11: Hilltop trail System

June 17-18: Spencer Whistle Stop

July 9-10: Byers Lake

July 31: South Fork Eagle River

August 7: Reed Lake up in Hatcher Pass

August 12-14: Blueberry Picking up at Denali

The more observant of you have no doubt noticed that several of these have multiple dates listed. We will be camping out on those hikes; either car camping or packing the tent in and finding a spot somewhere along the trail.

It’s going to be a great summer!

Writing a Blog

It’s actually a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Not that choosing a topic is all that difficult; life is full of stories if you know how to spot them. 

The hard part is starting the story. How in the world to you begin? Quite literally, what are the first words to be used? I struggle with that every time.

My strategy, for the most part, involves just diving in and typing whatever comes to mind. More often than not, I have to go back and edit what I’ve said.

I look for grammatical errors, typos, and duplicate words – that sort of thing. I don’t normally use a thesaurus, relying mainly on my own vocabulary – but once in a while I will check it to see if it comes up with a better word.

Eventually, I have something “good enough” for posting. Not by any means perfect, but good enough.

What are some of your tips for a good story? How do you deal with the opening statement? Do you have any advice for an aspiring writer?

Scary Stuff

I’ve made a few decisions lately that are more than a little bit scary.

The first one is that Bryan and I are going to live together. Now, I have not lived with another person (my brief disastrous stint with a roommate doesn’t really count) for well over 30 years, so this is no small decision – but I think it’s a good one. If anybody can put up with me, it would be him. It remains to be seen whether I can put up with him!

The second one is that he and I are going to build our own house! These plans are a lot more fun since it involves me getting to design our Dream House complete with a Craft Room for me and a Shop/Garage for him.

In order to make these two plans work, we’ve come up with The Plan.

Step One: He has to sell the house he’s currently in.

        This involves a lot of remodeling and fixing up, as it is not in very good shape right now. Tentatively I’m giving him until fall of this year, 2016.

Step Two: He will move in with me in my current house.

        The money that he has been putting in to his house payments will be put instead into a bank account to be used as a down payment on the Dream House. I will continue to make payments on my house as usual with no change for either of us on money going out. A year or so will give us a fairly hefty down payment for the new house.

Step Three: We then start looking for property.

        Okay, I admit it: we’re already looking at property. We want more than 5 acres of wooded property with a creek running though it, preferably out in the valley. We’ve found some really nice plots up Buffalo Mine Road and off of Fishhook, just to name a few.

Step Four: We start building our Dream House

        By this time, we’ll have the plans nailed down (Hahahaha!) and will have an idea as to how it will set on the property. We want it to be as “off the grid” as possible, with solar panels, in-floor heating, the whole works. I’m hoping to be in the house by the by mid 2018, assuming all goes well (which it never does).

Step Five: We figure out the job situation

        I would very much like to quit working entirely or at the very least get a part-time job in Palmer; if I rent out my house in Anchorage that would provide a monthly income for me. Bryan is hoping to be able to work from home as well, with perhaps a drive in to the office once or twice a week.

Step Six: He gets his woodshop up and running to build all the furnishings

        He said he’s always wanted a Wood Shop, so I’m taking him at his word. I’ve got a list (of course I do) of all the bookshelves, cabinetry, tables, dressers, shelving, and whatnot for him to build. We can save quite a bit of money off the price of the house this way, and he gets to make things for me!

So. That’s The Plan… as I said to begin with, it’s scary stuff!

Yeah, He's a Keeper

I have two daily calendars (one is a Book a Day and the other is a Cat a Day) that I sometimes get a little bit behind on tearing off pages. This morning, I was catching up on this very important duty when I found the notes that Bryan left for me.

The first one was on the Book a Day page and said “Did you see the note in the cat calendar? No? You might want to take a look.”

When I went to the cat calendar, I found this note: “Happy Valentine’s Day! There just so happens to be a little something in the closet behind your chair in the library…”

Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? 

He somehow manages to not only give me a Valentine’s Day gift when he’s half way around the world (literally, he’s in Australia right now) but he did it by getting into a closet that requires moving furniture into the middle of the room – all without me knowing about it in my own house.

The heart-shaped box was waiting for me in the closet, just like he said it would be. It’s big, too = about the size of an old-fashioned hat box. Inside are all sorts of goodies from my new favorite store, LUSH.

I got the following items: 

     Sex Bomb

     Tisty Toasty

     The Kiss Lip Scrub

     Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner

     Love and Light Hand Cream

     Soft Coeur Massage Bar

     Roses All the Way Soap

Animals I have known

Animals I’ve had in my life:

Thing & Djuna = my current cats.

The Alien, Floyd, Mildred and Gracie = all cats.

Ssadi = a corn snake

Grendle = a leopard gecko

Shakespeare = a Chinese Box Turtle

Athos, Aramis, and Porthos = frogs

Chaeron = an iguana

A multitude of mice (all dinner for the snake)

While living with my family, we had:

Honey, a cat, plus Wookie, Winnifred, and 4 other kittens

Pookey, originally named Ebony = a cat

Patches = a feral cat we “tamed” who promptly had 5 kittens under my bed

Jacob, Albert, Buster, Mamma Dog, Little Dog, Sasquatch, Puppy, Rabbit, Sam, Ninianne, and various other dogs

William, George, and Martha = rats

Teddy = a hamster

Numerous fish

Katie and various other rabbits

Thomas, Winchester, Shoshone, Baby, and various other horses

Jiminy the burrow

About half a dozen pigs

The same number of cows

Dozens of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, peacocks, and guinea hens

Possibly six (if not more) goats

I seem to recall a few sheep in the mix, too

How many animals did you grow up with?

Djuna: my little girl

My resolution to write at least one blog posting per week has not exactly been kept: I only got 3 written last month. That’s not bad, but I can do better. With that thought in mind, I figured it would be a good time to talk about my little girl, Djuna.

As most of you know, Djuna is a Devon Rex cat who is 13 years old. About 4 years ago, she was diagnosed with Kidney Failure, but then proceeded to surprise everybody (the vet included) by doing just fine, thank you very much. I even dared hope they were wrong and she was going to live forever.

Sadly I was being overly optimistic.

About two weeks ago, she got really sick again and had to spend four days in the hospital at Pet Emergency Treatment. Those people are so nice; they immediately fell in love with Djuna (as they should) and took such good care of her. I saw continued improvement each time I went to visit her, so that by the time I got to take her home again her blood work showed amazing progress!

When they do blood work on a cat (well, on anybody, actually) with the purpose of checking their kidney functions, they look for three things: the Blood Urine Nitrogen (BUN) levels, the Creatinine (CREA) levels, and the Phosphorous (PHOS) levels.

For a cat:

Normal BUN should be from 16 to 36

Normal CREA should be from .08 to .24

Normal PHOS should be from 3.1 to 7.5

When I originally took her to the hospital on the 16^th:

Her BUN was at 211

Her CREA was 7.0

Her PHOS was at 19.5

When I brought her home on the 19^th:

Her BUN had come down to 85

Her CREA was down to 4.8

For some reason they didn’t look at the PHOS

When I took her to the vet’s on the 29^th:

Her BUN was at 61

Her CREA was at 4.1

Her PHOS was at 7.0

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that she will not last much longer. When pressed for a prediction, the vet said it was a matter of months, not years. I am helping to prolong her life by giving her a bi-weekly treatment of IV fluids with several other medications injected into the bag while she’s hooked up to it.

She hates her treatments, by the way, and so do I. I can’t do them without help, and Bryan has been wonderful in being there to hold her while I administer her treatments. Unfortunately Bryan is going away for a month, so I have had to scramble to find somebody else willing to help me; Lauren would gladly help out but does not handle needles well at all, so thankfully my neighbor across the way has agreed to help.

I will keep a close eye on her to insure “quality of life” is as good as it can be, and will not let her suffer unduly – but am very grateful that I get some more time with her as she is a sweetie pie.

Plastics: the Never Ending Story

I am inspired on this next posting by my friend Jan, who lives in London and just recently got back from an All-Girls Scientific Expedition on board the SV Sea Dragon which sailed across the South Atlantic Ocean from Senegal to Brazil via Ascension Island to study plastics in the ocean. I got to thinking about my own contributions to the plastic problem, and am trying to find ways to reduce my usage.

Take a look around you: what do you see? How can you change things around you so that there is less waste?

Here’s what I see:

I get up in the morning and go to brush my teeth – using a plastic toothbrush with paste out of a plastic tube.

I take a shower to wash my hair using shampoo and conditioner out of plastic bottles.

I brush my hair (or comb it) using a plastic brush & comb set.

Heck, even the shower curtain is plastic – as is the toilet seat, the outlet covers, and god knows what else.

Right there, I can eliminate plenty.

I am now using shampoo bars and toothy tabs from Lush, and am looking for a good wooden brush/comb set as well as toothbrushes made of bamboo. I hope to find a shower curtain that is durable yet NOT plastic. Sadly I can’t do a thing about the building materials in my bathroom, so will just have to make sure that my own house is built as “naturally” as possible.

And that was only one room/one event in my life! How much more can I change for the better? How about in the kitchen?

I bought pouches made of nylon in three different sizes to be used instead of zip-loc baggies. They’re washable in either the washing machine or in the dish washer (or in my case, by hand) and they will last a lot longer than their plastic counterparts. As an added bonus, they come in cute fanciful patterns to liven up your day!

There are – of course – the reusable bags that fold up into tiny packages that are used at the grocery store instead of the plastic bags they hand out by the gazillion.  That one is basically a no-brainer, and there’s no reason AT ALL why everyone on the planet would choose not to use them.

What are your recommendations?

Ringing In The New Year

So, how did you all celebrate the New Year?

I had a fabulous weekend, myself. Bryan and I drove up north almost to Delta Junction and stayed at The Lodge at Black Rapids.  Oh my goodness – what a beautiful place that was! I highly recommend it.

The Lodge at Black Rapids

The weather was somewhat less than desirable, however. In fact, the wind blew pretty much the entire time we were there. We had hoped to get out and do some hiking, but only managed a small foray down to the old lodge to see if we could see the in-resident ghost.

We did not see the ghost, but we did get to see the progress they are making on restoring it. One day soon, they hope to hold musical events there, perhaps open a small coffee shop and/or a touristy-type store. They work on it piece by piece as they get the funding, so it will be a slow progress – but they are at least making the attempt.

The lodge itself is a stunning piece of artwork. The logs were all hand cut by a group of high-schoolers who were attending a class on how to build a log cabin. They used wooden pegs instead of nails, even! And for the shingles, they managed to use pieces of slate rock, each one nailed on by two copper nails so they wouldn’t stain the rocks over time.

Our room was on the third floor, so we had a pretty good view of the mountains behind the lodge. Rather a tease, actually, since the wind was blowing so hard we couldn’t get out there. But it was a fine view, none the less. We had access to the common area so I was able to get out my crafting kit that I brought along: we sat and made cards for hours each day! And yes, Bryan made cards right along with me.

The meals were all quite good. Their “cook” is actually a family of three: husband, wife and son. They accommodated my dietary preferences with no problem at all, and were quite happy to do so. Meals were served family style, with all the guests eating together (each on our own table, though) so we all got to know each other fairly well.

For New Year’s Eve, they had planned on serving a five course meal and then heading out to a bonfire out back to shoot off some fireworks – but the weather put a stop to that. Instead we all sat and listened to the live music they had: Hurricane Dave sang songs and played his guitar for several hours. The following evening actually lightened up enough for us to shoot off the fireworks so at least we got to see them even if it was a day later.

All in all, it was a great weekend: one of the best New Year’s ever, I’d say.