lorinalynn's PhotoBlog

Brightening up a Rainy Day

2008-05-16T18:25:40Z

Bleah. It's cold, wet, dark and dreary. It makes me want to hibernate. Or go shopping. But I'd have to leave the house to go shopping, so... hibernation it is. Except that the cats and dog need to be fed. Beavis should be walked. The litterboxes need to be cleaned. The dishes need to be loaded into the dishwasher. Laundry should be done. Clothes should be put away. And all I want to do is sleep til the sun comes back out.

All creatures great and ... some not so great, really.

2008-05-15T18:55:05Z

Monday's the big day. The kittens will go with me to the vet's office for the day for their first set of vaccinations and a checkup. Hopefully, the vet will give the ok to do their FeLV/FIV tests, so I can start to merge the feline household. It's getting harder and harder to keep them confined to the bathroom. I don't know what the hell I'll do if they're positive. I'm incredibly attached to the little guys. They've become lap cats, and purr and purr and purr every time I go into "their room." They always want to be on my lap, and to put it delicately, there are times when you're in the bathroom sitting down that you do not want a cat on your lap. ;) Poor simple Fergus can't figure out how to jump onto my lap, though. If I sit on the edge of the tub, he'll jump onto the toilet, then to my lap, but he hasn't realized (thankfully!) that to go straight from the floor to my lap, he needs to use his claws a little. Pippin has no reservations about using the claws get where he wants to go. He'll try to jump on my lap when I'm standing! He's climbed as far as my waist, sometimes while I'm performing delicate tasks like putting in my contacts. Little stinker! So say a prayer, send vibes, or cross your fingers that they're clean and healthy little critters, please. :)

Theme: Dreams

2008-05-14T08:12:55Z

Now I'm hungry.

The Bog Witch Project

2008-05-13T10:20:24Z

I love a day off. :)

The Human Jungle Gym

2008-05-12T21:32:27Z

*sigh* The diabetic cat I talked about on Friday, died over the weekend. :( So sad. She was doing so well when she left the hospital. But coming home to my own bunch of crazy critters... that makes me realize it is all worth it. :) I love my little gang of misfit pets. Orphaned, homeless Gracie. Abandoned, stray Beavis. Gypsy, Fergus and Pippin, my former feral kitties turned snugglebugs. You can't save them all, but you can cherish the ones you can.

Gracie, Gardening and Walkies

2008-05-11T20:43:07Z

Fergus fell in the toilet today. I think he's a little... dim. He doesn't catch onto things quite as quickly as Pippin. Poor little kitty. At least he's cute. And this means that sweet, simple Gracie is no longer the dumbest one in the house. And she's gotten lost under my desk.

Pansies and Puddytats

2008-05-10T19:03:10Z

Dammit dammit dammit dammit! I caught mamacat. Had her in my hands. And she got away. Now she'll be terrified of me. :( I was about to take Beavis for a walk when my neighbor called me over. One of the cats was on the roof/in the raingutter of another neighbor's garage. I climbed the fence and stood perched on top of the fence to get a look. Wasn't sure if it was mama or a baby, since they're getting big and she's so small. She wasn't there, but she was in a small pine tree along side it. I reached in, she hissed, but didn't swat, and I scruffed her. But then what? I'm standing perched on the top rail of a chainlink fence with a wildcat in my hand. I had a small tote bag in my pocket for collecting rocks by the creek, so I tried to stick her in there, just 'cause I know even the nuttiest of cats can feel safe in a bag. (My first cat, Rambo, could only be taken to the vet in a pillowcase.) If I had another arm, I would've had her. She was 3/4 of the way in the bag, when she squirmed and jumped, and took off. But at least I know she can be handled, more or less, and isn't mean. I don't know what I'd have done with her if I caught her anyway. I can't bring her in the house. She's too big for the bunny cage, and too fast to keep in the bathroom with the kittens. I s'pose I could keep her in the garage until I can see if she's tame enough and can get her tested. She'd need to be spayed asap, since she's probably already pregnant again. :( I also saw another neighborhood stray in my backyard later in the afternoon. I've seen him/her around before, but never in my yard. Cats don't tend to hang out in my yard since I got Beavis. ;) But if I hadn't just been petting Gracie in the house, it would have scared the crap out of me, because this one is marked almost just like her, white with tabby spots. Only half her size. I hate that I care so much about cats. Seeing them outdoors, and thin, sick, injured or (worst of all) dead, breaks my heart. One of the strays I've taken pictures of was recently hit by a car and killed. Her body is at the end of the trail. I want to save them all, and know I can't. I know I should be satisfied that I've saved the lives of my four, and prevented more homeless cats by taking them in and getting them altered. But I can see why some people become crazy cat ladies who smell like urine and eat cat food. I'd never do that, though. My cat's food is too expensive. They eat better than I do!

The Swat Team

2008-05-09T22:12:40Z

The kittens are up to about 2.5 pounds now! That's up a half a pound from just Sunday. They're growing like weeds. I'm pretty sure they're older than I originally thought. I'd guess them to be about 9 weeks now. Which means only three more weeks until they can be reliably tested for feline leukemia. I don't know how the hell I'm going to keep them confined for three more weeks, though. As sad as yesterday was at work, today was one of those, "So that's why I'm a vet tech" kinda days. First thing in the morning, we get a diabetic cat in with insulin shock, pretty much comatose and near death. A few hours of treatment (fluids, hand feeding, coaxing to eat, a little karo syrup & dextrose) and she's well enough to go home, with her blood glucose level and body temp back where they should be. It was amazing to watch this poor, sick kitty go from totally unresponsive to actually PURRING at one point. Until the syrup gave her diarrhea, and we had to give her liquid Endosorb (kinda like pepto for pets). But at that point, knowing where she was a few hour earlier, it was good to see her acting fiesty and grumpy. Just like a cat should.

Another Mishmosh

2008-05-08T17:43:43Z

I really like doing themes. But I just can't seem to decide which of the pictures I take to post, and my favorite ones each day have nothing at all to do with each other. So it ends up being a hodgepodge of photos, but it'll be nice to be able to look back on this in a few weeks, months or longer and remember my day. And as a really rough day at work, I'd much rather remember today with frisky kittens and a happy muddy dog, with sunshine, flowers and little chirpy birds, and not the day one of my favorite doggie patients lost her fight. Euthanasias are always hard, but it's worse when you're close to the client and patient. RIP, Tashi. Your mommy loved you and did everything she could and more to save you.

Theme: My Part of the World

2008-05-07T09:23:02Z

Wilkes Barre. Nice place to live, but you wouldn't want to visit. ;) Ok. Maybe that's being a bit harsh. I've lived here all my life, and probably don't recognize the city for the charm it has. Or maybe I'm just bitter because W-B local income taxes are almost three times higher than any other surrounding town, and we don't seem to get any added perks for the added expense. They're trying hard to revitalize the downtown area. Even have a nifty little slogan called, "I believe..." that they made this big fuss over a few years ago. But really... none of that impacts my life. High end restaurants and weirdo art installments don't do much for me. Bringing Davy Jones to downtown while I'm at work and can't make it... that doesn't help me much either. What I really want is smooth paved roads, reliable garbage pickup (none of this saying, "We won't take the bag, it's over 30 pounds," when I weighed it and it's 27 pounds! Buncha wimps... if I can carry it out to the curb, the least they can do is shove it in the truck. Hell, I'll pick it up for them if it's too heavy!), a good police force, and clean parks. Recycling bins in the parks would be fantastic. A yearly clutter cleanup like we used to have before Mayor McBelieve was elected, since we have to pay for garbage by the bag and any big item needs to be hauled to the dump yourself. Noise ordinances. I would love a noise ordinance. A road crew that, when it snows, plows, then salts, not the other way around. (Yes, I have seen a salt truck followed by a plow, shovelling up the just-layed salt.) And maybe public transportation that does more than drive to the mall or the casino. And most busses only have one or two passengers. The bus could easily be replaced with some dude driving Miss Daisy to the mall in a LeCar. But really... I like the area. Just not the politics. It just seems as though my hard earned tax dollars are only going to make the downtown area more appealing to rich yuppie types.