Tuesday morning, September 9, 2008

Hello, Everyone,

I'm really excited about this. This Thursday I am meeting another author. I met her through emails. She belongs to the IWA (International Writer's Association)in which I am a member too. Her name is Joyce Morris. She has written several books. We are going to meet for lunch. I am looking forward to it a lot and share some things about writing and whatever!

The weather sure is changing. A storm came through last night around 1:30 p.m., but the thunder woke me up at 12:15 a.m. I got up and shut windows, and removed the cushions from the porch swing. Then I was wide awake of course, so I read for a little while then the rain/storm started. The hummingbirds are still here feeding at the feeder, and I'm sure they will go back south when they are ready. It is going to be in the 40's tonight. We may have to turn the electric heat on already! Bummer.

Last night while I was sitting downstairs with hubby, B-Bob the cat, the one that has been sick, got on my lap. His breathing seemed to be labored. When we went back up to eat supper, I took out my stethoscope and listened to his heart (which was beating very fast), and also his breathing. Hmm. I will take him to the vet on Wed. if they have an opening. I don't want him to be in pain or suffer. He seems okay, but there might be something else going on now. The vet did say he had a bad heart murmur, and I don't know if it is escalating at this point to cause his labored breathing now. Poor little guy. He is 17 years old and has had a good life.

I'm going to do a lot of driving today, and taking the elderly neighbor to the stores. Then back home to get more work done.

Sounds like another storm is coming so I better sign off for now and shut down the computer.

Have a blessed week, everyone.
Stay safe.
Best regards,
Becky :)

Sun. morning, August 10, 2008

Hi, Everyone,

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my site. I sure hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the beautiful weather. It has been cooler here recently and a relief from the heat. My brother-in-law lives in Nebraska and he called me for my birthday. He said it was 103 degrees out there for several days and was really hard to deal with.

Kinky-B-Bob, our 17 year old cat is not doing well. A couple weeks ago I took him to our local vet and she assessed he has hyperthyroidism, a bad heart murmur and he has not been able to keep his regular cat food down, plus he is loosing weight. I got all the medicine for him, nausea pills, heart pills, thyroid pills, and a bottle of vitamins. Poor little guy got a reaction to one of them, or all of them and was really spaced out. I never saw a cat hallucinate before! His eyes were totally dilated and he was really stressed out with very labored breathing. I was so worried and scared for him.

Around midnight last Saturday, he finally settled down and slept most of the night. I didn't give him any medicine the next day and by Monday afternoon he was better. I called the vet and told her of his reactions. Because of his advanced age, his little old systems cannot handle all the drugs. So he isn't on anything now. He is getting his regular baby food, tuna fish, and boiled white chicken. He seems to keep all that down, but as soon as he eats his regular cat food, he throws it up within about a half hour. Poor little fellow. We will just see how it goes. He absolutely refuses to eat canned cat food. Won't touch it!

I have been working on a four-part series on domestic violence and abuse for my supervisor at the office. So far one of the articles was published in our local paper, The Free Press Standard, on July 31, 2008. I submitted the second article the other day for August. The next one will be in September, and the last one will be the first of October, as October is "Domestic Violence Month." I sure hope it makes the public aware, and also helps someone dealing with the violence and abuse in their lives.

Despite the lack of rain, the zucchini is flourishing as are the green peppers. I have already frozen beans, and pepper. The tomatoes are ripening, but they are small. Hubby's first corn is on its way out and today we are going to blanch, cut it off and freeze it in bags. The second corn, Candy Corn, (so delicious!) just started coming the other day. We have corn out the wazoo! We are giving some away and eating all we can each night. Hopefully there will be some of the third corn to feed to our company in a couple weeks when my only living Uncle, his wife, my Aunt by marriage, my brother, and my Aunt's niece and her husband come down for a reunion of sorts. I am looking forward to it a lot as my Aunt and Uncle have never been here and they have not seen each other in about 18 years or so.

If you haven't visited the CCAPL's website, and you love animals, visit when you can. It is through FreeWebs and serves our purpose for now. There is a lot of valuable information on it and also what all we are trying to accomplish. Check out the "Pet Alert's Page" for various things that are harmful to dogs and cats!

Gotta go for now. Thanks for stopping by!
Be blessed, correspond when you can, and enjoy the great outdoors!
Becky :)