Tiger Pouncings

Looks like Our 19-year old, Spooky, is going downhill. He's been suffering from chronic renal failure for some time now.

We've been able to give him many good days with the help of Sub-Q fluids, Pepcid, Sucralfate, a space heater, and a lot of love. But nothing lasts forever; he seems to be retaining fluids now, so I'm having to cut down on the Sub-Q. He's also turning away from food more and more.

Our vet is stopping by the house tomorrow afternoon to take a look and then we'll try to assess what to do from there. For now, he's sleeping comfortably in front of a new, silent space heater we picked up. I guess I'll go up and finger-feed him some KD so he doesn't go the night with an empty tummy.

Man, this has been a hard year.

I have everything I need and pretty much everything I want: A wife who is better than I deserve, loving fur-babies, a nice big old house, lots of fun hobby stuff, an interesting job that pays all the bills and then some. The list goes on...

Certainly, this is cause to be very thankful indeed. My personal belief is that the Great Spirit has shown great mercy and generosity to me. I try to pass on a little when opportunities arise.

Whatever your beliefs, I hope all of you have good fortune and much happiness in the years ahead. Big Tiger Hugs... =)

Like Odysseus returning from the Trojan War, I've finally made it back from my 3-week trip to Valley Forge, PA. The return trip, Friday, was fraught with silliness and frustration but I finally made it home. My flight that was supposed to leave at 11:30 in the morning was first delayed till 4:00 p.m. and then canceled due to a faulty part. There were no other flights out that night so American got me onto a Northwest flight through Minneapolis.

I finally got to COS airport around 10:30 only to find that my one check-in bag had not made it on the plane. After a very nice luggage man looked in several places, he finally found that it had been routed through Denver ahead of me. Finally made it home around 11:30.

The trip itself was filled with both frustrations and rewards. The work was relatively easy but the work environment got tense at times because everyone there was under a schedule crunch. Added to that was my lack of knowledge and experience on this particular system. But I did end up learning quite a bit, so the purpose of the trip was accomplished.

Among the highlights were getting to visit both Washington's camp at Valley Forge and getting to drive to Gettysburg to see the battlefield there. Both were pretty spooky (I guess going on cold, drizzly, overcast days added to the spookiness). I also visited the Jenkins Arboretum near where I was staying — very restful.

 Not too many Trick-or-Treaters this evening.  One little girl asked if she could pet one of our kitties, so I picked up Moonlight, our Halloween cat, and let her pet him.  She was so happy.  =)

We have a surplus of candy now.  Worse things could happen...

Spooky the 19 year-old kidney cat has taken to napping in the bathroom wastebasket.  I suppose because all the kleenexes in there make it fluffy and warm.  So I took him out and put him in his little TV stand nook with the space heater on.

Patty's going to put a clean empty bag in the wastebasket with a few towels for him.

Almost done with my second week at the new job. Mostly reading course materials to get up to speed. I took the initiative to set up some time with a friend who's working with the same system I'll be teaching. Hopefully this will eventually keep me from having to travel so much, if I can accomplish some of the same things locally. The boss was happy that I'm an "opportunity seeker".

Good news: My new boss is a cat lover. She fell down some stairs and broke her leg rather than step on one of her cats. She was in the hospital for several months. I told her she had to be a good person and I dare not disappoint her now. We're going to be trading pictures of our babies.

Moonlight misses Yoda. He's been sleeping in Yoda's cat carrier I think because the towel still smells like him.  I miss Yoda too.  He was always there to greet me when I got home from work.

Spooky is still hanging in there.  He's a real trooper for being 19 years old.

Butterfinger does NOT approve of Behr.  Behr thinks she's his personal chase toy any time she comes downstairs.

Ummm, what else?  I don't know.  I'm sleepy.  I suppose it's time to go to bed.

Be well, everyone.

Happy Birthday, Naomi!  Patty and I hope you have the best one ever.

Nico and Naomi

Spooky got his fluids tonight and has decided that I should provide my lap for his comfort. Also, he thinks my hand is dirty and needs a bath. It's so hard losing one, but Patty and the rest of my fur-babies keep me going.  I'm so grateful for them all.

Spook Cheers up Papa Cat

We had to put Yoda to sleep a little while ago.  He was crashing and just not getting any better.  I found that he'd thrown up all the food I finger-fed him last night.  This morning he refused to eat anything else.  He was so weak he could hardly move.  Still, even now we're second-guessing a little about whether we should have waited another day.  I just don't think this was going any other direction.

I really don't feel like making a post at times like this, but I force myself so I can remember later on.  God, this hurts so much.  My life has been turned upside down lately, and now losing Yoda is almost too much to take.

But, I have to put down some good memories.  Yoda followed me everywhere — especially in the recent months.  Whenever Patty and I would start to walk to the library, Yoda would want to follow us.  I'd have to put him inside, even though I would have rather let him come with us.

Yoda was also my bath-time and hobby buddy.  He would hop up on the toilet seat lid and camp out with me while I was taking my hot bath.  He'd also hang out while I was working on hobbies and "Yoda-vise" when Patty and I were working in the garden.

We called him, "Soda", "Poohbah", "Zen Kitty", and "Buddy Junior" (after Shadow who was the original Buddy Cat).  He was always so mellow and sweet.  More recently, he had taken to swatting dogs who stuck their noses through the picket fence around our yard.  I wonder if he wasn't feeling well.

I whispered in Yoda's ear before the vet administered the euthanasia, "Come home to us, Buddy.  Follow me back home and be with the other spirit kitties."

I really hope all the boys we've lost are with us as spirit kitties.  The thought, at least, comforts me.  Be at peace, Yoda, and come home to us.  We love you so much.

Yoda Sunbeam

 I think we're losing Yoda.  He looks really bad.

Patty and I just got back from our week-long vacation in Seattle, WA today.  We rescued Spooky, Yoda, and Bandit from boarding and then all snuggled in for the evening — it was 24 degrees when we arrived at the Denver airport.

Poor Yoda's not looking very well at all.  I think they didn't give him his supplemental feeding (i.e., scoop it into the side of his mouth with a finger).  He's feeling pretty week and looks like he's lost weight.  D@$#n it!  We're not leaving him at the vet's again.  I've given him 16 finger-fulls of KD so far to try to start beefing him up again.  Probably will do another 8 before bed this evening.  Poor guy.

Spook is doing great, on the other hand, and Bandit is his usual self.  Moonlight, Behr, and Butterfinger met us at home.  They were all very happy to see Mom and Pop.

Anyway, we had a great time in Seattle, and also went up to Victoria, Canada to visit dotcombabe  and dotcomdude  .  Naomi and Nico are awesome folks.  They showed us a great time and even had "in flight snacks" of home-smoked salmon and Canadian "Smarties" and other candies.  Thanks, you guys!  =) 

Here are a couple of pics to hold you peeps for a bit.  More to come...

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Our boss came in late this morning and talked with us. He had some relatively good news.

He's pretty sure he can place two of us (me being one) temporarily in other groups for a few months. Then, he's also fairly sure he can find us jobs in those groups depending on what the budget news is at the end of that time.

One of the other two guys in the group is going to retire, and the other has about 360 hours of vacation to hold him till he can find something or take the severance package.

The one bit of sad news is that the guy who's retiring, Joe, found out his chemo hadn't shrunk his lung cancer any further. So, he's retiring to spend quality time at home.

The other bit of news is one job I'm up for is "classroom instructor" for a new user system. I think it would be a lot of fun, except it involves a whole lot of travel — I suppose I could get used to it for a while anyway. Joe, who was an instructor for a long time, "willed" me his old laser pointer.

So, we're not totally out of the woods yet, but after all the bad news this week (including learning my college friend's wife is terminal with brain cancer), I was hoping for a little good news today. My appetite's back, I think I'll be able to sleep okay through the weekend at least, and I'm not feeling quite as bad — humbled and leery though.

Many thanks to everyone who offered supportive words in my last post. You guys are great. =)

 Found out Tuesday that the program we were hoping would pick us up decided not to.  This after we came in last weekend to support them.  I had to pry the info out of them.  So we're done on September 30th.

So now, we're all looking for new jobs within the company.  God, this is stressful.  Between balancing out my Lexapro and taking Pepcid AC, I'm managing to hold it together.  Our boss is trying to get us down to another location for a few months to buy us time to find another job.

If that fails, then we get laid off.  I've got a pretty decent severance package, but I'll need to find some other job.  Starting over is not the most appealing thing -- losing my extra vacation, etc.

I hate the defense industry.

I took a walk Sunday morning with my camera and recorded some of the last signs of Summer and the first signs of Fall.   Nothing like taking photos to get your mind off your troubles and into the moment...

( Lotsa Picss Behind the Cut... )

Not lookin' too bad for a 19 year-old grandpa cat...

 Poor Yoda came stumbling into the house foaming at the mouth with his eyes shut.  It looked and smelled as if someone had sprayed him in the face with bug spray.

Patty and I rushed him to the animal emergency and I explained what I thought had happened.  As soon as I put the cat carrier on the counter they said, "No, he's been SKUNKED."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, and now we will be for days to come..."

So we brought the poor guy back home and I gave him a bath with a mixture of Dawn, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda.  It was hard because the skunk got him right between the eyes (talk about good aim), so I had to be extra careful not to get any of my deskunking concoction into his eyes.  Also, rinsing with a couple cups full of water in the face was not Yoda's favorite experience.

I never thought I'd be thankful that one of my cats got skunked, but compared to what we feared, I'll take that with pleasure.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight with all my anxiety about work, but with all this excitement, I think I'll probably just conk out now.

Maybe this is the Great Spirit's way of telling me to lighten up and not worry so much.

Feeling lots of stress about my job today.  Still don't know whether my current position will be rescued or not.  There are some other positions out there within the company that I've put my resume' in for, but still, the prospect of change after 14 years is pretty scary.  My anxiety issues are not helping — they don't respond to reason very well.

Butterfinger came downstairs for the first time in quiet a while.  She's still in the office with Patty.  Behr has been keeping her trapped in our bedroom like Rapunzel.  Behr gets along with all the other cats, and I think he wants to be BF's friend too, but, being the 2-year old kitten, he's too enthusiastic for her tastes.  She runs every time he runs toward her, then she mounts her last line of defense in the bedroom; howling and hissing and then charging him.

I've been giving them treats every time they're together to hopefully let them know that being around each other is a good thing, but it will just take time...

As promised, albeit a little late in the evening, here are some cat pics — a few rehashes of my own LOLCATS past, for those of you who missed them...

Gee, "String Theory" is harder than I thought...

 Urlesque.com has declared today, 9-9-09, "a day without cats on the internet".  I agree with Icanhascheezbrgr.com.  EVERY day is CATURDAY.

So kiss my kitties' furry butts, Urlesque!!!  Tonight I shall post CAT PICS!

An extremely hard and frustrating week — busted my butt and barely managed to avoid the disaster of having our system turned in for junk next week.  I'm still a bit jittery from the whole affair.

I really don't want to talk about it, so I thought I'd post some pics for you kids.  Mostly pics from my trip to Missouri last May.  I hope you enjoy 'em.

( Behind the cut... )