Blanket Purrs and updates on the whole darn Shirk Clan (not totally OT)

Sorry gang. Real life keeps stabbing me in the foot and causes it usual
chaos. First of all, I'm in the process of wading through around 900
messages, after the idiots have been weeded out. So I'm sending kind
thoughts and blanket purrs from our clowder to all out there who want and/or
need us. Believe me, we wouldn't be able to make it without the physical,
emotional, and spiritual support of all of you out there.

Temperatures last week were in the 100s F. Now what is the worst thing that
can happen when the heat is that bad? Right, our air conditioner went out
last Saturday. I found out that a 10 lb bag of ice, placed in a tub and in
front of an area fan melts in less than 1.5 hours in that kind of temps. At
one point I walked into the master bathroom and found Merlin and Huey sacked
out on the ceramic floor, Pine Cone on the floor of the bath tub, and Sonya
snoozing on Rob's shower chair. So I checked out the main bathroom and
found Tanada sleeping under the sink and QC sprawled in the bath tub. Miss
Calico Girl was stretched out on Mandy's bed under the ceiling fan. Speedy
the d-thing was snoozing on the plywood platform portion of Rob's wheel
chair ramp. The animals had the right idea.

Monday one of our area HVAC companies sent out a technician to check out
what was wrong. First of all, our system is 22 years old. I'm told that is
ancient even for a Trane. Second, the condenser coil had not had enough
ventilation and had frozen up. The Freon level was also down but not by
much (they didn't charge us for topping the Freon up. The first canister of
Freon is $50.) Some times I really miss living up north. However there was
no improvement by Tuesday, so they sent out another technician and he went
deeper into the problem and found a place where the insulation under the
house had gotten into the air duct and blocked it. They cleaned that out,
found some other problems and fixed them. So we are now over $300 poorer
and praying that the air conditioner lasts the year. How do you go about
affording a new air conditioner anyway? Advice appreciated.

Since then I have discovered that it takes two cats and a d-thing to help me
use the bathroom. They all crowd in as soon as I walk into the room. They
also seem to want something that I haven't figured out yet. I suspect it is
for me to turn off the heat machine. Pine Cone has been particularly
clingy. Huey and Merlin have been hanging out closely, but not insisting on
being scritched like PC has been.

Qui Gun Kit and Hermione are continuing to cement their position in their
new home. I'm told that Hermione thinks that she HAS to beat up Hershey,
the red setter mix d-thing. They have also been busy putting Smokey, the
fat, stupid, and ignorant cat in his place. Carmel is top cat and they all
recognize that.

I don't buy Sour Dough bread very often. I love it, but I'm about the only
human who does. I was telling Cheryl Daniels about this and suddenly
remembered that I was the only HUMAN who loves sour dough bread in the
family. I'd forgotten about Tanada. I dismissed this until after we hung
up our phones. I went into the kitchen to make myself a luscious Ham salad
and sour dough bread sandwich and couldn't find the bread. I looked around
and found the empty wrapper beside Speedy. Some hoagie rolls that I'd also
forgotten to shove into the fridge had their wrapper open and chomps taken
out of them. The only bread thief that would do that is. . . ta da. . .
Tanada. This time she enlisted the help of the d-thing to help her hide
some of the evidence. The little sneak. So, I'm back to honey wheat bread
for my sandwiches. But next month. . . .

The cats seem to sense something changing in their lives. They've been
following us, especially me, around the house. If we go outside we now have
an interested audience watching our every move. Speedy whines and cries at
the door whenever Mandy leaves the house including when she goes out to mow
the lawn. I suspect that he does the same whenever Rob and I leave as well.

To Rob. We've started the down hill slide, I'm afraid. He passed out a
couple of times in the past few weeks. Fortunately, both times were either
at the cancer center or as we were driving away from the cancer center. The
last one put him in observation for three days. His oxygen levels are going
nuts with levels as low as 80%. Optimum level is over 95% oxygen in one's
blood stream, under 90% is major cause for concern. I don't know if this
makes sense, but just put it down to OMG. No one has figured out why his
blood oxygen is going nuts, though they are exploring every avenue they can.
With the lower oxygen level is a lower cognition ability. We won't discuss
the down side of that. His blood pressure medicine had to be increased as
well. I told him that, if he passes out on me like that again, I'm going to
stick him on the side of the curb and see what happens. Do you know someone
actually seems to have believed me and asked the staff at the cancer center
if I should be checked out. Fortunately, the center staff are quite aware
of our quirky and sick senses of humor.

Mandy and Jim's wedding is still in train. Her dress has been delivered and
we need to go in, have it fitted, and see if any alterations need to be
done. We now have to buy the two veils, tiara, shoes, and accessories. I
figure about another $500 for all this. We haven't got to the cake or
bouquets yet. I refuse to pay for the reception as we have fewer than 30
people invited (if you're interested, send me an email) and Jim's family are
inviting over 150 people. Jim's family are ok with this. I told them that
cookies and tea were more my style of reception. Nancy, Jim's mom, had to
repress a shudder. I tell you, what I know about weddings and planning them
could be written on the head of a pin.

So, that's our lives and times. How are your lives, owners, and so forth
going?

Pam S

tanadashoes wrote:
snip
So, that's our lives and times. How are your lives, owners, and so
forth going?

Pam S

Life doesn't change much here, Shadow has started pulling his fur out so I'm
going to take him to TED next week to try and find what's wrong. Purrs for
your AC to last and that you win a large sum of money before it needs
replacing, purrs for Rob are ongoing.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy, Bagheera & Shadow)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

its hotter than it has been in several years here, that is interspersed with
major thnderstorms, and last year we had our central air serviced... we used
it for a total of 11 hours, because, naturally once we had it serviced it
cooled off enough that it wasn't needed.

as to bread, both DH and i love all manner of bread. Our cats are 7/8ths
uninterested... then there is tiger, who has stolen and eaten with the
assistance of TV, a double bath of pumpkin muffins... now mind you i wasn't
even upset they ate them, it was picking up the muffin wrappers all over the
house, that annoyed me... they were strewn throughout the house in a manner
that suggested a quite enjoyable party atsmophere during the eating, Tiger
has also been known to eat cornbread, the occasional ungarded slice of
white, and he is particualrily fond of the wheat bread from subway,

Lee
"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
Sorry gang. Real life keeps stabbing me in the foot and causes it usual
chaos. First of all, I'm in the process of wading through around 900
messages, after the idiots have been weeded out. So I'm sending kind
thoughts and blanket purrs from our clowder to all out there who want
and/or need us. Believe me, we wouldn't be able to make it without the
physical, emotional, and spiritual support of all of you out there.

Temperatures last week were in the 100s F. Now what is the worst thing
that can happen when the heat is that bad? Right, our air conditioner
went out last Saturday. I found out that a 10 lb bag of ice, placed in a
tub and in front of an area fan melts in less than 1.5 hours in that kind
of temps. At one point I walked into the master bathroom and found Merlin
and Huey sacked out on the ceramic floor, Pine Cone on the floor of the
bath tub, and Sonya snoozing on Rob's shower chair. So I checked out the
main bathroom and found Tanada sleeping under the sink and QC sprawled in
the bath tub. Miss Calico Girl was stretched out on Mandy's bed under the
ceiling fan. Speedy the d-thing was snoozing on the plywood platform
portion of Rob's wheel chair ramp. The animals had the right idea.

Monday one of our area HVAC companies sent out a technician to check out
what was wrong. First of all, our system is 22 years old. I'm told that
is ancient even for a Trane. Second, the condenser coil had not had
enough ventilation and had frozen up. The Freon level was also down but
not by much (they didn't charge us for topping the Freon up. The first
canister of Freon is $50.) Some times I really miss living up north.
However there was no improvement by Tuesday, so they sent out another
technician and he went deeper into the problem and found a place where the
insulation under the house had gotten into the air duct and blocked it.
They cleaned that out, found some other problems and fixed them. So we
are now over $300 poorer and praying that the air conditioner lasts the
year. How do you go about affording a new air conditioner anyway? Advice
appreciated.

Since then I have discovered that it takes two cats and a d-thing to help
me use the bathroom. They all crowd in as soon as I walk into the room.
They also seem to want something that I haven't figured out yet. I
suspect it is for me to turn off the heat machine. Pine Cone has been
particularly clingy. Huey and Merlin have been hanging out closely, but
not insisting on being scritched like PC has been.

Qui Gun Kit and Hermione are continuing to cement their position in their
new home. I'm told that Hermione thinks that she HAS to beat up Hershey,
the red setter mix d-thing. They have also been busy putting Smokey, the
fat, stupid, and ignorant cat in his place. Carmel is top cat and they
all recognize that.

I don't buy Sour Dough bread very often. I love it, but I'm about the
only human who does. I was telling Cheryl Daniels about this and suddenly
remembered that I was the only HUMAN who loves sour dough bread in the
family. I'd forgotten about Tanada. I dismissed this until after we hung
up our phones. I went into the kitchen to make myself a luscious Ham
salad and sour dough bread sandwich and couldn't find the bread. I looked
around and found the empty wrapper beside Speedy. Some hoagie rolls that
I'd also forgotten to shove into the fridge had their wrapper open and
chomps taken out of them. The only bread thief that would do that is. . .
ta da. . . Tanada. This time she enlisted the help of the d-thing to help
her hide some of the evidence. The little sneak. So, I'm back to honey
wheat bread for my sandwiches. But next month. . . .

The cats seem to sense something changing in their lives. They've been
following us, especially me, around the house. If we go outside we now
have an interested audience watching our every move. Speedy whines and
cries at the door whenever Mandy leaves the house including when she goes
out to mow the lawn. I suspect that he does the same whenever Rob and I
leave as well.

To Rob. We've started the down hill slide, I'm afraid. He passed out a
couple of times in the past few weeks. Fortunately, both times were
either at the cancer center or as we were driving away from the cancer
center. The last one put him in observation for three days. His oxygen
levels are going nuts with levels as low as 80%. Optimum level is over
95% oxygen in one's blood stream, under 90% is major cause for concern. I
don't know if this makes sense, but just put it down to OMG. No one has
figured out why his blood oxygen is going nuts, though they are exploring
every avenue they can. With the lower oxygen level is a lower cognition
ability. We won't discuss the down side of that. His blood pressure
medicine had to be increased as well. I told him that, if he passes out
on me like that again, I'm going to stick him on the side of the curb and
see what happens. Do you know someone actually seems to have believed me
and asked the staff at the cancer center if I should be checked out.
Fortunately, the center staff are quite aware of our quirky and sick
senses of humor.

Mandy and Jim's wedding is still in train. Her dress has been delivered
and we need to go in, have it fitted, and see if any alterations need to
be done. We now have to buy the two veils, tiara, shoes, and accessories.
I figure about another $500 for all this. We haven't got to the cake or
bouquets yet. I refuse to pay for the reception as we have fewer than 30
people invited (if you're interested, send me an email) and Jim's family
are inviting over 150 people. Jim's family are ok with this. I told them
that cookies and tea were more my style of reception. Nancy, Jim's mom,
had to repress a shudder. I tell you, what I know about weddings and
planning them could be written on the head of a pin.

So, that's our lives and times. How are your lives, owners, and so forth
going?

Pam S

On Jun 28, 8:27*am, "tanadashoes" wrote:


So, that's our lives and times. *How are your lives, owners, and so forth
going?


Great to hear from you, Pam, still keeping purrs up for you and Rob.
Touch base with us when you can.

Life here is quiet but considering earlier in the month I had a mole
removed which put me through a couple of weeks of worry and Dave's dad
was admitted to hospital as well as an interview for a job I really
wanted I am enjoying the quiet. For those not up to date, mole was
nothing , Dave's dad is back in his care home and I didn't get the job
but I have another interview at the same place in mid July. I've
discovered my inner Goth wants to stay hidden after I ordered some
outrageous fitted shirts complete with fishnet sleeves only to find
"fitted" meant I could only get into an XL and that felt ;like the
time my Mel squeezed me into a lace up corset- one of those "it
seemed like a good idea at the time" moments through i am still
perservering with eating less and have dropped a waist size

It's baking hot in here and very dark for 4.20PM which means another
storm is coming. As it's impossibly humid we're hoping it will clear
the air. We had ice cream for dessert (don't normally eat dessert but
ice cream in hot weather- I had forgotten just how good it tasted)
whilst I would have done all the housework today I am not doing
anything heavy until it cools down so I've run over with a duster and
wiped down in the kitchen and cleaned the bathroom- I'll vacuum later
if the storm cools things down. One recent result is that Dave does
the floors- he always reckons I never get them as clean as he likes so
as long as I fill the bucket he does them.

Dave continues to make slow progress- he finally graduated a couple of
weeks back to stockings rather than heavy bandages- this idea was
first proposed last August but has taken a whole epic story in its own
right including the delivery of a pair of size 5 ladies stockings, in
theory he should now start getting used to shoes but of course being
Dave the first time he tried them he left them on for hours ignoring
the fact he hasn't worn shoes since July 2005 then wondered why his
feet hurt- I've persuaded him to try it a little more slowly next
time! He also has something of a new interest that he's really
enjoying- last year he and a friend organised and promoted a benefit
gig and the guy who gave them the venue to use was so impressed with
how he promoted it- he's helping them out (Lovely venue- rotten
location) a bit- not a paid job but who knows where it might lead?
There's also some talk of him DJ'ing there and Dave used to love doing
that and would like to do it again- once again no pay but who knows
where it might lead? The main thing is it has given him something to
do that he's interested in. because we both have this fear that if he
were to go back to sitting around doing nothing he could get depressed
and who knows if that might not put him back in hospital?

And of course the cats....that's all you really wanted to know about
isn't it? They're melting in this heat. Dunzi has taken to camping
on the windowsill where she can stretch out for hours, she just got up
to have some water and will probably be back on the sill in 5 minutes
time. Sarsi is a black puddle on the bed, apart from the occasional
ear twitch to tell us she's not dead she hasn't moved since
lunchtime.through as i have sardine pouches for tea she may stir then
(but I wouldn't bet on it)

And it's just starting to rain.....

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

wrote:
snip
And of course the cats....that's all you really wanted to know about
isn't it? They're melting in this heat. Dunzi has taken to camping
on the windowsill where she can stretch out for hours, she just got up
to have some water and will probably be back on the sill in 5 minutes
time. Sarsi is a black puddle on the bed, apart from the occasional
ear twitch to tell us she's not dead she hasn't moved since
lunchtime.through as i have sardine pouches for tea she may stir then
(but I wouldn't bet on it)

And it's just starting to rain.....

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

You always leave the poor cats till last! ;o) I'm glad your mole was
harmless, this is the first I've heard of it. I'm glad Dave continues to
improve, it doesn't get any easier as we get older. As for the heat it looks
like you're in for at least a week of it,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8122969.stm up here on the North Sea it's
much more comfortable.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy, Bagheera & Shadow)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

On Jun 28, 9:27*am, "Adrian" wrote:


You always leave the poor cats till last! ;o)

Well how else am I gonna keep you reading?! :-)/ (Dunzi has now
plonked herself down on Dave's PC. still no movement from Sarsi)

I'm glad your mole was
harmless, this is the first I've heard of it.

I did mention it- I thought the best bit was when I started to panic
and thought if it was bad news, Dave can't get to the shops so he
won't be able to get catfood so what happens to the cats? Only after
I'd calmed down did I realise it never crossed my mind what Dave would
eat if he couldn't get to the shops!

.. As for the heat it looks
like you're in for at least a week of it,http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8122969.stmup

Thanks!!!!

here on the North Sea it's
much more comfortable.


You may find me standing on your doorstep if you keep reminding me of
this! I am dreading the underground in the morning! Last week was
bad enough!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On Jun 28, 8:27*am, "tanadashoes" wrote:

.. *I told him that, if he passes out on me like that again, I'm going
to
stick him on the side of the curb and see what happens. *Do you know someone
actually seems to have believed me and asked the staff at the cancer center
if I should be checked out. *

I had quite a lot of that when Dave was in hospital. One day we had a
row, he was moaning at me about how bad it was in there and I was
pointing out it was no fun for me trying to start a new job and
spending almost all of the rest of time waiting on him etc......In the
end I had to get out and get some fresh air and calm down but as I was
leaving he shouted at me about how I could go for a cigarette and he
couldn't and it wasn't fair and I just lost it and shouted back what a
selfish (insert every rude word you can think of here) he was!

I calmed down and by the time I came back so had he....I later found
one of the agency nurses ran into the sister;s office to ask if she
should call security and have them ban me from the ward only to be
told "That's Dave and :Lesley- don't worry we know what they're like"

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

On Jun 28, 11:27*am, "tanadashoes" wrote:
So, that's our lives and times. *How are your lives, owners, and so forth
going?

We continue the purrs and prayers for you and Rob and clowder and
family, and please never forget we're here.

Buffalo is rainy and it is oddly beautiful. I love the thunder. Stosh
and Philip and China don't give much mind to it, but Roxie and Brandy
and Sabrina want to hide from the noise. When the air cleared earlier
Louie went out to take petitions for a friend of ours who is running
for town supervisor. Nice fellow, Mr. Kindel. Louie and I have a
mixxed marriage: I'm a liberal Democrat, he's a card-carrying
Conservative. And for some alternate-universe, unfathomable reason,
I'm the one getting mail from The Heritage Foundation (ultra-
conservative think-tank.) I am in recovery from doing a grueling
session of volunteering yesterday for a big charity bike ride for
Roswell Park; the event is all day long and I was barely coherent when
all was said and done.

Both of us love sourdough bread, and neither of us has the patience to
make it. We go to a bakery or Panera's to indulge on those days when
life sucks and work sucks and we want something comforting and
straightforward like brad and butter and tea.

Blessed be,
Baha

tanadashoes wrote:
So, that's our lives and times. How are your lives, owners, and so forth
going?

Lives? I'm oddly happy and awfully busy for someone who is
recently unemployed, older, disabled, and half too smart for her
own good :-) A dear friend is in heart failure and a lot of my
time is spent helping her. We're also working to create a
community food preservation resource for the Portland area and
that is taking a LOT of my brain. Plus, I'm painting a mural on
my dining room wall and it is ever FUN! On the really bad side,
my dad (remember, he had surgery in May) is not doing well and is
back in the hospital in Michigan. It looks pretty bad.

Owners? well, we are dealing with two very elderly (18 and 16)
cats with problems with inappropriate pooping (the 18-year-old)
and peeing (the 16-year-old, who is also deaf). The older guy
(Fearless Fosdick) is so arthritis in his hips that he can't
sustain "the position" in the catbox, so he chooses the nice
solid floor. We could wish that "under the nightstand" hadn't
been an option...or "corner of the dining room". Ew. The other,
Smokey, seems to have allergies and going into kidney failure so
she is now on meds and kidney diet. Little Bit is fine & healthy,
as are Cinder, Jezebel, Miss Kitty, and Emma. Most of them are
loving the warm sun on the deck.

Thanks for asking, and lots of purrs for you and Rob, and for
getting through Mandy's wedding intact, and all that good stuff.

--
Deborah
phoenixpdx.livejournal.com
"...I beat you with the pathetic fallacy stick of dualism" --Piglet

"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
Sorry gang. Real life keeps stabbing me in the foot and causes it usual
chaos. First of all, I'm in the process of wading through around 900
messages, after the idiots have been weeded out. So I'm sending kind
thoughts and blanket purrs from our clowder to all out there who want
and/or need us. Believe me, we wouldn't be able to make it without the
physical, emotional, and spiritual support of all of you out there.

Temperatures last week were in the 100s F. Now what is the worst thing
that can happen when the heat is that bad? Right, our air conditioner
went out last Saturday. I found out that a 10 lb bag of ice, placed in a
tub and in front of an area fan melts in less than 1.5 hours in that kind
of temps. At one point I walked into the master bathroom and found Merlin
and Huey sacked out on the ceramic floor, Pine Cone on the floor of the
bath tub, and Sonya snoozing on Rob's shower chair. So I checked out the
main bathroom and found Tanada sleeping under the sink and QC sprawled in
the bath tub. Miss Calico Girl was stretched out on Mandy's bed under the
ceiling fan. Speedy the d-thing was snoozing on the plywood platform
portion of Rob's wheel chair ramp. The animals had the right idea.

Monday one of our area HVAC companies sent out a technician to check out
what was wrong. First of all, our system is 22 years old. I'm told that
is ancient even for a Trane. Second, the condenser coil had not had
enough ventilation and had frozen up. The Freon level was also down but
not by much (they didn't charge us for topping the Freon up. The first
canister of Freon is $50.) Some times I really miss living up north.
However there was no improvement by Tuesday, so they sent out another
technician and he went deeper into the problem and found a place where the
insulation under the house had gotten into the air duct and blocked it.
They cleaned that out, found some other problems and fixed them. So we
are now over $300 poorer and praying that the air conditioner lasts the
year. How do you go about affording a new air conditioner anyway? Advice
appreciated.

Since then I have discovered that it takes two cats and a d-thing to help
me use the bathroom. They all crowd in as soon as I walk into the room.
They also seem to want something that I haven't figured out yet. I
suspect it is for me to turn off the heat machine. Pine Cone has been
particularly clingy. Huey and Merlin have been hanging out closely, but
not insisting on being scritched like PC has been.

Qui Gun Kit and Hermione are continuing to cement their position in their
new home. I'm told that Hermione thinks that she HAS to beat up Hershey,
the red setter mix d-thing. They have also been busy putting Smokey, the
fat, stupid, and ignorant cat in his place. Carmel is top cat and they
all recognize that.

I don't buy Sour Dough bread very often. I love it, but I'm about the
only human who does. I was telling Cheryl Daniels about this and suddenly
remembered that I was the only HUMAN who loves sour dough bread in the
family. I'd forgotten about Tanada. I dismissed this until after we hung
up our phones. I went into the kitchen to make myself a luscious Ham
salad and sour dough bread sandwich and couldn't find the bread. I looked
around and found the empty wrapper beside Speedy. Some hoagie rolls that
I'd also forgotten to shove into the fridge had their wrapper open and
chomps taken out of them. The only bread thief that would do that is. . .
ta da. . . Tanada. This time she enlisted the help of the d-thing to help
her hide some of the evidence. The little sneak. So, I'm back to honey
wheat bread for my sandwiches. But next month. . . .

The cats seem to sense something changing in their lives. They've been
following us, especially me, around the house. If we go outside we now
have an interested audience watching our every move. Speedy whines and
cries at the door whenever Mandy leaves the house including when she goes
out to mow the lawn. I suspect that he does the same whenever Rob and I
leave as well.

To Rob. We've started the down hill slide, I'm afraid. He passed out a
couple of times in the past few weeks. Fortunately, both times were
either at the cancer center or as we were driving away from the cancer
center. The last one put him in observation for three days. His oxygen
levels are going nuts with levels as low as 80%. Optimum level is over
95% oxygen in one's blood stream, under 90% is major cause for concern. I
don't know if this makes sense, but just put it down to OMG. No one has
figured out why his blood oxygen is going nuts, though they are exploring
every avenue they can. With the lower oxygen level is a lower cognition
ability. We won't discuss the down side of that. His blood pressure
medicine had to be increased as well. I told him that, if he passes out
on me like that again, I'm going to stick him on the side of the curb and
see what happens. Do you know someone actually seems to have believed me
and asked the staff at the cancer center if I should be checked out.
Fortunately, the center staff are quite aware of our quirky and sick
senses of humor.

Mandy and Jim's wedding is still in train. Her dress has been delivered
and we need to go in, have it fitted, and see if any alterations need to
be done. We now have to buy the two veils, tiara, shoes, and accessories.
I figure about another $500 for all this. We haven't got to the cake or
bouquets yet. I refuse to pay for the reception as we have fewer than 30
people invited (if you're interested, send me an email) and Jim's family
are inviting over 150 people. Jim's family are ok with this. I told them
that cookies and tea were more my style of reception. Nancy, Jim's mom,
had to repress a shudder. I tell you, what I know about weddings and
planning them could be written on the head of a pin.

So, that's our lives and times. How are your lives, owners, and so forth
going?

Pam S



Mega purrs from me and my big "rumble-bug" Persia.

Jill