the picture

I was looking around on FB...and it hit me...like taking a punch to the gut...when it leaves you breathless and gasping...you run out of air before you realize that somebody just punched the shit out of you. That's what it's like looking at this picture. Sometimes the memory of Mandy sneaks up on me like that. It hits me...and when it does - it shows no mercy. Just a rapid succession of quick jabs...

It's supposed to be a picture of all of us girls out on the beach...and it was posted as a "look at us then!" gag. I see it now and think about Mandy being gone...and it's the weirdest feeling. It's not so funny or embarrassing...but it's just sad...

ugh!

ok...so, I've been meaning to start blogging -- but I haven't figured out what I want to write about.

I love writing. It's such a therapeutic thing to do...I just...I don't know. I'll have to get back on this one.

My day -- in a nutshell

whiny cat...
flat tire
broke
death news
chaos
late shower
cramps
facebook
weak tea - strong coffee
missed a friend!
worked too much....

The Cat Lady

OK. So far, I've only ranted about crazy Leonard....It's true, I have an obsession... and I love it!

I promise to update this thing SOON!
:)

Leonard becomes a cone head...

Yesterday was interesting...I know that I mentioned the dog attack...but I did not mention how the afternoon progressed to that point.

We get to the house -- open the door -- and a horrible smell immediately hits us. Our one hundred pound dog had diarrhea ALL over the living room floor - the carpeted living room floor. I couldn't believe it. At first glance, I thought that we'd discovered the dead body of a hobo that tried to rob us...but no. It was no hobo at all. Staring back at me was a massive pile of dog poo of various sizes and textures.

I rushed to our local independent grocer to get overpriced paper towels and carpet cleaner...and we spent the next hour cleaning up big, fat, hundred-pound-dog diarrhea.

After that I needed some serious kitten love...so I went to the garage where we keep a stash of kittens. mmmm kittens! I loved on them and fed them and purred and played and had a big time...then we went to leave. J was trying to close the garage door quickly and it came off of the track. the damn thing almost fell on me and the kittens... Thankfully, J is strong and effortlessly held the entire thing up while I got out of the way. He put it back up and we were fine...Major incident avoided.

Back in the house, we opened a beer and tried to forget the annoying events of the evening... I decided that a nice, hot shower was just the thing to make me feel better. I sat under the steamy stream for longer than usual...when I came out, J was standing at the doorway... "The neighbor-dog just attacked Leonard." And so, we closed the evening by trying to coax our cat out of the tallest damn tree on the block... And when he finally came down, I discovered the gash in his belly.

So, today was the day of the big surgery. He's sewn up and trying to heal. He has a big, plastic cone on his head.

In unrelated news -- my niece lost an ovary yesterday.

The 9 Lives of Leonard

I brought Leonard home from my parents house... I put him in the small pocket of my purse. The entire bus ride home, he meowed unless I held him. Once here, we noticed that he ate and ate and got fatter...but never seemed to poop. He meowed and complained and walked funny, but still no poop. It finally occurred to me that he might be too little to know what to do. I put him in the litter box and he scratched around in it. Still no poop. I finally got a rag and wet it with warm water. I "groomed" him with it on his head...then moved to his butt. As soon as the warm rag touched his butt, an explosion of poop squirted out of him. I had to groom his ass this way every day for a week before he finally pooped unprompted.

I knew then that this cat was special. This cat -- was paying attention. He's been a blast and he's put us through quite a bit. Some things are not such a big deal. I rushed him to the vet one day because he had some crazy skin condition. The vet waited patiently while I wiped away tears. Then he broke the news that Leonard had cat acne. Cat acne! It cost $30 for the vet to tell me that my cat has pimples.

Then there are the big things. According to my calculations, Leonard has 4 lives left. These are the lives that he's used so far.

Life number one -- Leonard went missing one day. A month or so later he came home - skinny, whiny and glad to be home.

Life number two -- Trying to jump from the roof to a nearby tree, Leonard missed the mark with his hind legs. He lost his grip, slipped, fell on his back from the roof to the ground -- then had a seizure. Jay rushed him to the vet. He had a concussion, but was otherwise fine.

Life number three -- Always the little hunter, Leonard makes it his personal duty to kill and eat any creature smaller than him. He eats a poisoned rat...gets super-sick and almost dies. All we could do was hold him while his pissed and pooped on himself -- too weak to get up to go to the litter box.

Life number four -- Leonard went missing just the other day. We found him at our old house. He walked the ENTIRE way back! I couldn't believe it. He crossed major streets, but he did it.

Life number five -- Tonight. Tonight, Leonard was relaxing in the yard, minding his own business, when the neighbor-dog attacked him. Leonard barely made it away. He got up a tree and wouldn't come down. After an hour of us promising him canned cat food and snuggles -- he slowly made his way down. I noticed that his hind leg was sticky...and then realized that it was saliva. I turned him onto his back and found that his belly was torn open and bleeding.

He's sleeping off life number 5. First thing tomorrow we head over to the vet to get him taken care of. My crazy cat.