209 - Pics

Seeing lots of blue birds in the yard. They entertain the cats, which in turn entertains us. I threw some bird food on the ground near the magnolia tree to attract them and it seems to be working.

Mike managed to catch a couple of the birds and this gorgeous tree. I think the golden yellow is becoming my favorite. I love red and orange, but gold just really stands out.

Bo-Bo the Destroyer. I will decimate you!

Another pretty bird

Gracie is looking much better today. I didn't even have to hold the can and encourage her to eat, she just dug in. She seems less yellow, she's consistently using the litterbox, and today she is acting more like herself. The wobble was concerning me and she didn't eat as much yesterday so I had to force feed her last night. I also think she's The only one of us who enjoyed that was Mike... she makes a funny face when she's getting the food down. :) Anyway... I think we're on the right track. It's going to take a while to get her back to full health, but she's trying and that's the most important part.

This is her snarfing down the food.

And this is another bird.

208 - Update

Fall has arrived. There are clumps of gorgeous colors so intense they almost glow. I didn't retouch these pics, if anything the photos are less vibrant. I took these on the way to Lafayette to pick Gracie up from the vet.

Just seemed like a cool shot of the trees and the sky.

Our barn and gorgeous tree. Mike wants to turn it into a painting. I think that would be kinda cool.

Strange pink berries on the way to the creek.

I can't decide if I like the red, orange or yellow leaves better, but this tree is very pretty

Pic from today. It's a rainy, drizzly, windy day out but still gorgeous.

Another pretty yellow tree

So... here's another county living lesson: Ladybug infestations. Yes... it is documented and we are not the first to experience it, but it is a first for us. Don't get me wrong, I like ladybugs, I would just prefer them in my garden and not in my house. And the really sucky part is that wasps apparently love this phenomenon. For the most part, the wasps hover outside the doors (which makes having Bo the small bladdered wonderpuppy somuchfun) but one did manage to find his way inside and had to die.

Gracie.

She was getting worse and not better and the vet bill was climbing. The diagnosis is still mixed and I wasn't ready to just give up and have her put down. The only difference in treatment between theirs and mine was the bag of fluids they were putting into her so I decided to bring her home and take over. My plan is/was to feed her via syringe every 3 hours, which I did yesterday but haven't had to do today because each time I offered her a can of food she took an avid interest in the gravy - and that's progress. I put a full-sized litterbox in the kennel and she actually used it, but I have puppy pee pads under her in case she doesn't; she'll be drier and I can change them out if she does pee. At their office she would pee and sit there and she was developing sores on her legs because of the acid in her urine. They changed the blankets, they bathed her, but it was unusual behavior and not really helpful in the healing process. I also have the heater next to her and it blows warm air because if she is warm she won't use her energy trying to generate body heat. And I take her out and put her in my lap throughout the day when Bo isn't too riled up. I don't know if she enjoys it or not but she tolerates it and it makes me feel better.

That said, she's very weak. I took her into the bathroom with me earlier when I took a bath since it's a space I can contain her in... I wanted to let her walk around for a little while so she's not confined to the cage all day. She didn't walk much, when she did, she wobbled and her back legs gave out once. It's disheartening, but at the same time, she wasn't eating much and between the litterbox and the eating, it seems like there has been some improvement. When they would try to feed her she would drool and start to get sick so she wasn't getting much food. Since she's been home she hasn't done more than gag if I squirt food down her throat by accident (it's hard to force feed a cat). I think overall this is a better environment for her and I get to spend more than an hour a day with her which I think also counts for something (they would let me stay all day if I wanted, I just couldn't stay all day). The vet was great, very caring and compassionate, but I have all day to care for her and they have other obligations and given her propensity to be nervous in new environments I think being at home is far less stressful.

Other people have beaten this. It's mostly about the food, if you can get them to start eating on their own again, there is a good chance to turn it all around and it's like it never happened. So I'm determined to be one of those people. And I love my husband for encouraging me not to give up, for his willingness to give her more time either at the vet's or at home. It's hard not to give up sometimes. It's hard not to look at her and wonder if I'm doing the right thing or if she's suffering. But ultimately I have to try because I think she is.

207 - Nashvuhl

Got up this morning and went to visit Gracie. She seems about the same except that she poops in the litterbox and pees on a towel without removing herself from it. My guess is that when she pees outside of the litterbox it's because she's trying to let me know something is wrong, sitting in it makes me worry a bit. On the other hand, she very sternly let me know I wasn't opening the cage fast enough to administer the Gracie-lovins, and she ate it up (the lovins... not food unfortunately). I couldn't stay long because we had to go to the airport, but I hope knowing we haven't abandoned her will help her mindset. I think with animals, much of their health is dependent upon their mindset. Sometimes it seems as if they choose to live or die. I won't be able to visit tomorrow, but I'll go again on Monday.

On the way to the airport we stopped by Los Compadres for lunch. They are (besides Chuy's) hands down our favorite Mexican restaurant out here. They serve margaritas for one thing, but also the street tacos taste good. The salsa could use some work but we've gotten used to requesting pico de gallo, a lime wedge and some cilantro to make our own version of salsa. Lebanon is about the same distance as Cookeville, maybe a little further, so it's not something we do every day, but every now and then we treat ourselves.

Oh, and up the road we saw turkeys. Lots of turkeys... out here, Thanksgiving comes to YOU. (our road - which has a sign now, we're getting big for our britches out here)

It's been nice to have a heat pump. It's dropped to 24 degrees the last couple of nights. Starts from about 60 during the day, so it's not too bad out, a tad chilly. Late night potty breaks with Bo are a little cold. And once again, we learn something new about country living (mostly about septic tanks, lots to learn about septic tanks - important things). They had to tie a drain in to the septic line, and since then, the house has sometimes smelled like Bo pooped on the floor - but he didn't (knock on wood it's been a few days with no poop or pee to clean up). I notice the odor more in the evening. So I called Jeff and he said there is a pump to the side of the inside unit, to pour water in there, that maybe the unit hasn't produced enough condensation to provide a seal yet. I did that and I'm waiting to see how it goes. Seems like water is a very important component of keeping the house from smelling like shit. When it rains really hard we were having the same issue but more intense, and I think that was the bathtub. So we just need to make sure there is water in the p-traps and everywhere it needs to be... I have had quite enough of the crap between Bo and the septic system.

Bo playing with his duck in the yard (still uploading as of 3:39 pm) http://youtu.be/9pnNZeCr5o0

Walter and Bootsie are getting big... they are in the teenage kitten stage where you catch glimpses of the cats they will become, but they are still half-sized and kittenish. They get along great and do exactly what I hoped... keep each other entertained. They're sweeties.

206 - Gracipoops

Took Gracie to the vet this morning, bright and early (7:30 in the cold early morning). As we suspected, her liver is not functioning well. Most everything else is okay though, some kidney involvement but primarily the liver. She is still producing urine, her temperature was normal, and she was purring and walking around the room investigating while we waited for the results. We're leaving her with them over the weekend so they can force feed her and give her intravenous fluids. I'm happy that the vet doesn't do esophageal feeding tubes because I feel like that's the wrong way to go about it, if stress brought this on, I can't imagine anything more stressful than having a tube shoved down your throat. And Gracie isn't vomiting any more than usual, which mostly happens if she gets hungry, so that is a good sign too. Anyway, we don't know how she's going to do but I have high hopes. I don't want to lose her and I think she's a fighter.

The rest of the day was shopping at WM and doing stuff around the house to keep my mind occupied.

Cool moon last night

Bo finding things to bite, disembowel and shake.

He wants the human food.

He takes naps. I don't know why but this pic makes me thing of Flashdance.

Affirmative - Walter is feline. He loves to play in boxes.

With the heat pump installed, we no longer need the window units. Goodbye window units, hello view! I've missed being able to see the view.

Treats???

Mike installed new floodlights so that we can see more of the front yard at night when Bo goes potty.

They help a lot. :)

And I protected the spigots from the 27 degree weather we're supposed to get tonight.

Mike likes Irish Stew night because he gets the left over Guinness.

I used the fancy Amish carrots.

The purple ones get fancier when they are cut into medallions.

Stew. Apparently Bo thinks he's going to get some stew.

So that's that. Watching Ron White because he's hilarious, and letting the food settle.

205 - And the B's have it

Bo looking very dapper in the blue sweater that mommy picked out. Note the unintentionally matching collar that completes the ensemble. (that's on-som-bleh for those who don't speak fancy). It was a crisp 48 degrees out today (midday) and he is not insulated like his mommy.

We had a good day today. We pooped outside (solid!!!) and we chased crickets (hilarious!!!). For a fleeting moment we almost met Dale's dog, but Dale's dog wisely chose to go home. Bo wasn't as pleased about that as I was, he is a very social puppy and wanted to shoot some hoops or chase fribees or something.

And here's Bootsie doing what Bootsies do best... assuming the nap position in a safe zone where Bo can't nibble on him.

Not a very exciting day around here. I hooked up the Blueray player, which is cool because it has wi-fi and I can watch Netflix and Amazon through it as well as dvd's and blueray discs. Besides the crickets, that's pretty much the big happenings.

But TOMORROW will be much more exciting because the hubs will be home for a few days. :) WOOT! And maybe the heat will be installed by then too.

204 - Get Wild Saturday

Hard to see, but the doe and baby are back, and they brought dad with him (he's far left, they're more to the right). Not easy to take a picture at dusk so this is the best I could do.

Mom ad baby.

Dad. He must be drunk because he's fuzzy.

Bo the flirt. He got soooooooooo many compliments yesterday from people at the vet's office. And I have to admit, he was very well behaved. I had to explain that not everyone is a Bo-person... he has Bo-people at home and other people might pay attention to him, but not everyone will.

We want treats.

Give us treats.

Yes precious.... treatses...