I’ve been busy doing as much NOTHING as possible, so I’m remiss on updating the status of fAngus’s recovery. The torture continues for him, although just before vacation he was able to drop off the awful antibiotic (the one that could burn a hole in his esophagus if he didn’t eat immediately after and make SURE it got into his stomach) and lower his steroid dosage. This appears to have helped his upset belly, which stopped the yowling running episodes wherein fAngus attempted to get outside to go potty, and instead left a trail of streaky cat poo all over the house. The carpet cleaner comes today, because spot shot for that shit (literally) isn’t enough.
Poor dude (fAngus AND the carpet guy).
He (um, fAngus, not carpet guy) went to the vet for boarding while we spent a week at the cabin in Nisswa. Both dogs stayed at Monica’s playing with her dogs all week, but since fAngus was still on meds he had to be kenneled with the vet. He felt very sorry for himself, because he hates his crate with the fire of a thousand suns. If you try to put him in headfirst, he digs his claws into the carpet and wiggles and squirms and cries a little (he does not bite or claw the person putting him in, he’s just trying to escape). If you put him in backward he sort of goes limp and has a heavy sigh of resignation and stares at you with loathing and betrayal in his hate/hunting-yellow eyes from the back corner of the crate. Please note the crate is for a puppy, so it’s technically big enough for 2 cats, but since I enjoy survival I can’t imagine ever attempting such foolishness. The vet techs at my regular vet adore fAngus, so he was no doubt cuddled and petted and snuggled as much as he wanted that week, even with the unpleasantness of a daily pill. And then we drove out of town for the first family vacation.
We crammed 11 people (the horde, my bff family including their college age daughter and her bff AND, and a toddler) into a 2 bedroom cabin and 2 bedroom tent. Luckily for Grandma, she has her own cabin on the property. And oddly, we all seemed to get along just fine in the close quarters. We swam and fished and shopped and read and slept in and played Narwhal Uno and Sorry and tubed behind the boat for a glorious week. I think the kids had fun (particularly Siplex, who discovered the joy of tubing and begged all day every day for a turn). Nisswa is a lovely small vacation town with an old-time Main street that has (as it’s motto states) “Pretty Good Shopping”, a delicious diner, and a couple of brew pubs. Shopping generally caters to the “fishing widow” crowd, full of lake/cabin culture’s equivalent of “Live, Laugh, Love” which is generally not my thing, but the occasional interesting gem can be found. I think we stopped in the candy store three times that week for chocolate frogs, ice cream, and a jawbreaker the size of my fist (for Siplex, who was in sugar-induced heaven and now, a week later, still hasn’t made a big dent in that thing).
I slept in (I know I mentioned it already, but I REVELED in sleeping in, and told SK the week proved my natural wake-up time is sometime around 9am, to which he just snort-laughed…rude.). I also hammocked and read three of the four books in The Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts, which I’ve read a thousand times before so it’s a perfect “comfort vacation” series. Plus, it’s a fun re-read while I’m engaged. SK brought an Isaac Asimov series and got through two of the three, and may have rekindled his reading habits while we were there. All in all, a much needed break from reality. It was only marred for me by managing to get food poisoning on the final Friday, which is firstly my own stupid fault and secondly guarantees I’ll never eat a chicken tender wrap again. I’m peeved about that (I used to love a good chicken tender wrap), and missing the last full day because even after the worst had passed I felt utterly wrung out, sore, and exhausted. My stomach muscles hurt for two days. -1million out of 10, do not recommend.
Now it’s August, we’re home, pets are home, work is back on, band practice is in full swing, and school is only a few weeks away. I plan on enjoying my last few “early release Friday” afternoons while I can, as long as the weather allows me a little hammock time before Labor Day. fAngus will be on steroids for 2 more weeks, then have his blood checked and reduce the dosage for 2 more weeks, then a blood check, and hopefully after that he’ll be done. All this from a mosquito or tick bite that gave him a blood-borne disease that eats red blood cells, making him horrifically anemic. He swatted Minerva’s butt today when she ran by, so he’s definitely feeling more like his old evil self. After a few months of awful, he’s on the mend and expected to be fine. Whew.
No Pithy Phrase 