I know that people often worry about old folks in the bath....

I am probably the most carefully watched old person in the shower.  ......

Three out of four watch me for my entire shower.  They go off once I get out, but I am rarely out of their sight...

This is what feeding time at the zoo must look like

We have a visiting dog for a few days (that's her in the middle the tiny black one) and there is Sienna, the white dog, and Tinta (the TinyTerrorist) on the right.  At 5 months she is nearly as big as Sienna.

On the left, we have Romeo, the big boy and Clementine, the tiny puffball.  This is what feeding time at the zoo must look like to the staff. 

 

It is a well supervised job, this painting

Romeo is checking for missed spots.  There are NOT any missed spots.

Nick did the painting.  He laughed when I slapped a little paint up there.  He is a perfectionist.  That is a good thing to be when you are painting.

Sienna and Romeo volunteered to help

the odd couple

Some of us got a present...

This box arrived the other day, it didn't get here looking like this, it looked like a perfectly good box with nice neat sides and corners.

The Princess Clementine loved the new shape, it was a comfy seat. However she found it already shaped to fit someone else when she sat down on it.

Are you accusing ME????????

Can I help it if my butt just happens to fit perfectly in the small indentation I have "discovered" in this lovely box?

Just so no one is worried...

I did NOT superglue the cats to the bathtub...... Romeo would probably have let me do that if I talked to him sweetly but Clem would have known right away that something was up and that would have been the end of THAT!

They just sat there for a long time and seemed to simultaneously discover interesting things to look at in the bathtub. I can assure you there is NOTHING but them and the umbrella in the bathtub.

Have I mentioned

That it is raining in New York?
That it has rained for 16 of the last 20 days?
That I am not talking about little splashes in the puddles here, but that I am talking about
gullywashers (If we had gullies).
OK, I am talking about GUTTERwashers with thunder and lightning and hail...oh yes.
I am talking about dismal, depressing droplets falling from the skies, and no matter how much we pretend tomorrow might be better it rains again.
We are talking about rained out baseball.
And, finally, we are talking about how when I put my dripping umbrella in the bathtub,
two furbuckets take refuge, in case it starts raining INSIDE next.

Pink is his Nose

The pink nose is one of Romeo's hallmarks.... in response to questions from his Fan Club (Gill  and Nadine in particular).  

Well, he is chugging along .. literally with his portly self .. and he seems to be better. I force fed him for a couple of days, but it seemed to me that he was liking that a bit too much, so I cut him off on Monday and he is eating slowly, though not as much as previously.  

The big worry for me was drinking .. his, not mine .. and he is drinking just fine.  I know that because everytime I enter the bathroom he is standing in the sink just as fast as he can get there demanding running water. 

He is still acting as though there is nothing wrong and his superior attitude is untouched. As to what was going on for the week he didn't eat, no one has a guess. The vet says this is just one of those questions where if they won't talk you may never know.  Since I have always thought that Romeo is a bear of little brain, I doubt he is going to learn to talk any time soon!  He just stopped eating and drinking for 10 days, got two trips to the vet in a cab, started drinking again and seems to be starting to eat. 

So, barring unforseen complications I am going to assume he is cured of whatever he had.  Clementine is goinig to miss the additions to her diet that he wouldn't eat, so I sort of think she will go on strike next. 

DIet

Forgot to mention that we are down from 18.3 to 17.6.  Romeo did need a diet but there are other ways to do that.

Romeo, page 2

Looks just fine, doesn't he?  Acts just fine also...purrs, rubs his head against you, plays with Sienna... does EVERYTHING a cat should do.  Except eat and drink.  That he does NOT do.  And if you force him to do it by making food or water go into his mouth, he barfs.  End of story.  

The vet - today -  did an xray.  It looked just great.  Everything is in place where it is supposed to be, nothing is enlarged, nothing looks odd.  We are now at the $700 mark - even with my senior discount - and he is still not eating or drinking.  So we did fluids under his skin so he wouldn't get dehydrated and we forced some food.  The cab driver on the way home was not particularly happy, though none of it got on his cab, when that food came back in a return to sender kind of way.  

Clementine regards this as a Christmas situation, since we try all sorts of things to tempt him to eat and after he spurns them all she gets to eat them.  She is REALLY happy about this.  She is the only one. 

Think good thoughts please

So poor Romeo has been sick since Sunday.  Or at least he hasn't eaten or drunk anything to speak of since then and every once in a while he decides to empty his stomach, though there is nothing in it....(Probably too much information for the non-cat focused among you). 

SO since the weather is iffy for the rest of the week .. really really cold .. I called the vet and tried to talk him out of suggesting that I bring him in.  The thing is, he ACTS just fine.  Wanders around the house, chases Sienna, sits in my lap, purrs etc. He just won't eat and drink.  Vet said bring him in.

Lugged all 18.3 pounds! of him into a cab and down to 76th street.  Don't even ask about how much that was, and the vet poked and prodded and looked and drew blood and took temperature and found .... exactly nothing....  

The bloodwork comes back tomorrow, but he thinks it is an irritated stomach, gave him fluids and peptin and cat food that is supposed to be easy on the stomach.  I am letting Clem try that too since she is the upchucker of the century.  

He came home, walked in the door and puked again... who says cat owners don't have it made?  He did look at the cat food and the water.  He is just not having any of it right now.

The little escapade so far has cost me nearly $400.  I hope we are done.  

Oh, and I cracked a tooth yesterday.. don't ask when THAT is in the budget.  

of course I took a few detours

and took a few lessons from the champion of all the sleepers and the thinkers.





















Any where, any time, any box at all, big or small, or way too small, and I am there. I think, therefore I sleep













I can make the world go away.
















and I can close my eyes real tight, and I can think with all my might ...


















and when I decide to wake up, look out world.. I am ready to roar.

Harriet Homemaker

Hasn't been a "harriet homemaker" post here in a bit.
SO ...
Semolina bread from this book, which is the most used book in my cookbook library .. It is good, but the Main Recipe one is the best so far. It sure is pretty, though, isn't it?





And as a second course, we have this...Knit in wonderful cotton from Colourmart it is a little more refined but it is still the "warshrag" from the first Mason Dixon book. Colourmart, by the way, is a great source for cashmere and other interesting yarns, and at $15 including shipping for a huge cone of the cotton, it is a bargain too..

I love this book. It is one of those books that every time I go back to it I find something else to knit from it.

It is the source of my Bathroom Rug, which I remain very happy with and which Romeo is even happier with than I am. He spends a portion of each day just lounging about on the rug. He has such good taste.


SO.. there you are, I have turned into someone who knits washcloths and rugs for bathrooms and bakes her own bread. I can hardly wait for the new Mason Dixon book to arrive at Amazon. I am hoping my new Amazon credit rewards get here before it does!!!


Next I am going to start running the vacuum......or not. That might be a bridge too far, even for me.

She just doesn't GET it!

Here I am, all asleep in my nice comfy box. It is the latest fashion and the sides are SUPPOSED to pooch out like that.
It has NOTHING to do with my midsection being larger than the vet would like. It has EVERYTHING to do with STYLE.
Sienna, however, doesn't GET it! First she brings all her toys and piles them up around the box.

Now, I ask you, is that an improvement over a pristeen perfectly shaped box? NO!

Then, just when I think things can't get any worse, she sees something in my right ear that she wants to clean up for me. Now, I will grant you, that I am not particularly invested in clean ears, and she seems to care much more for them than I do, but really... can't a boy get any nice napping time here?










Then as a final indignity, she just STARES at me. What is she waiting for? A TIP???? I have a tip for her, once more with that tongue in my ear and you will find out about how hard I can punch!

I do have to admit, she is very patient. And I guess there is a possibility that we might play a game of chase in a few minutes. But I draw the line at cleaning out HER ears. She better learn how to do that herself.

the large and the small of it

on the left, Romeo, 6 years old, 17 pounds or so

on the right, Clementine, 6 years 6 months, 7 pounds or so

This morning they had a fight, a first class, chase'em and kill'em fight with hissing and yowling and chasing and all of the accoutrements.

This afternoon, here they are in the sun. Wonder what it was all about and who won. I'll never know, but I REALLY would like to. My guess is he really pissed her off, because she is fast when she wants to be and he hates to run and there was a lot of running going on.

Glad it is over.