Visit the kelpforest....

Just to take my mind off things...

Avalon found this the other day. Has bad language but this is hysterical. I needed the laugh at the time, so I'm not gonna get after her for it. Besides, her dad is worse.



Entire playlist...

Plus, Sylvester is mean to the dog...

Between this and The Engineer's Guide to Cats...I think I have to send these to all the people who like to send me cute animal pictures. ;p

It seems Dad was either not being quite straight with us or he wasn't hearing everything the doctor said (he's getting fairly deaf, as well). I took him to the hospital at 6 am this morning for an angiography and supposedly an angioplasty - he only had a 20% blockage right? He had told us after his appointment last week the cardiologist also suspected a leaky atrial valve as well, which might require surgery, but we didn't know until they looked if or when that surgery would be.

They got him prepped and I went and sat in the waiting room for about an hour. The cardiologist's assistant came and got me because the doctor wanted to show my dad's pictures to me, mainly to get across how serious this is. I looked over his shoulder into a tiny room where he ran videos of my father's heart. He has three coronary arteries that are so blocked he couldn't get the wire through them (99%). When they sent him home last week with a diuretic instead of doing this because of some fluid in his lungs, that was actually congestive heart failure. They couldn't get the wire through to actually look at the valve but they will be doing another test tomorrow with an esophageal probe. He's in the ICU now to prep for the test tomorrow morning and surgery Friday.

Supposedly it's still a fairly routine surgery that a lot of people come through well, and the cardiologist referred to him as a "tough, stubborn old guy" which should do him good stead for coming through this. After getting him settled in ICU, he was pretty sleepy because a Valium was still wearing off and he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night. I came home to get some lunch and maybe take the kids for a walk. They're probably not going to get to see him until after he gets out of the ICU post surgery (maybe next Tues.).

Doug told me he'll come down after work to visit for a bit although probably not for too long because he has to come from LA and hours are over at 8 pm I think.

Then I came home to write this and find that Scooter, who just got his stitches out yesterday, has ripped open his abscess wound YET AGAIN! Stupid cat!

Well, so much for paying off Dad what we owed him this month. We'd begun letting Scooter outdoors because it's nearly impossible to keep one in when you have two other outdoor cats teasing him with their outdoorsyness, and you don't have an airlock, or at least double screen doors. He'd been neutered, so hopefully the urge to roam and fight was going to be less. Unfortunately, Gareth saw him get in what appeared to be a minor scuffle with Boots, another fairly young male cat belonging to Avalon's friend Emily, two doors down. It didn't appear to be a big deal, just establishing some pecking order levels.

However, a few days later, Gareth noticed when he came indoors, he wasn't acting like himself and sleeping more than he usually did; Avalon complained he tried to bite her when she picked him up - this really isn't too much out of the ordinary because she tends to want to carry him around like Frieda's boneless cat in the Peanuts comics. He's usually remarkably tolerant, but occasionally gets tired of it. I tried to figure out what was wrong, but it wasn't until the next day, when he came into the kitchen to curl up on a grocery bag that had fallen out the recycling bin (and what is it about lying down on crunchy paper or plastic things? They seem to find it comforting...) that I noticed his shoulder was all swollen, from my angle looking down on him. No wonder he wasn't feeling well. Great - Boots must have gotten in a bite, and he now has an abscess.

The paycheck already being gone for the month, we again had to borrow from Dad to take him to the vet. John chose to take him to Dr. Garza instead of the clinic where we had him neutered, so we are now in the hole again - not that we've gotten very far out (or out completely at all - there's some major things that have gotten put off). I picked him up Saturday evening, after calling to see if he was ready and being asked "Which Scooter? We've got three of them!" He now has to wear the cone of silence for a couple of weeks and there are several ugly stitches in his left arm, with a drain for a few days; it appears to be a piece of rubber tubing extending from the top and bottom of his stitched area. John just took him in for a check this morning, and they decided they want to leave it in for another day. He is still sleeping a lot, but he's back to chasing around John's feet under the covers, and wanting his head scratched almost constantly because he can't get to it himself. I think the cone is a trifle too small, as his ears, whiskers, and chin regularly jam against the sides. I'm sure that must be bothersome; I'll see if I can't let it out bit without him pulling the thing completely off.

Boy, what is with me? Seems like I only make an entry lately when there's a drastic change in the weather. Which there has been lately - abnormally cool summer punctuated with short lengths of record high temperatures. It was over 100°F at my office yesterday, so I don't even want to know how hot it was in San Pedro where I was collecting squid samples. Yes, it is right on the water, but Palos Verdes blocks off any ocean breeze. Not that there was any - the air was pretty much dead still. At least at the second dealer, they sort the boat's load inside their facility, so it was fairly cool in there. The truck's AC seems to be dying though - it was just barely feeling slightly cool when I arrived back at the office (about a 20 minute drive). I stopped at Fresh & Easy for something cool for lunch (I'd brought something frozen to heat up, which just wasn't appealing), and I tell ya, nothing like a grocery store for a place to cool off.

So for a recap of just lately:

• Kids are back to school - Gareth and Angus are now going to the same school again, for the first time in three years. Gareth was a little overwhelmed with the changes the first week of middle school (it's middle school now, when I was going there, it was always "jr. high" - and indeed the school team is the Jr. Oilers, after the high school about a block away). Avalon's the last one at the elementary school, and for the first time, has a teacher one of her brothers had. Angus had her for third grade.



• Two weeks ago (already?) I spent a couple of days in Boise, ID. Last time I was there, I barely got out of the hotel; this time, the HMS agenda items on the Council's plate (which the team I'm on spent the previous two days discussing) finished early, my flight back to LAX wasn't until 8pm, so I got to spend a couple of hours wandering around downtown Boise - and the capitol building. Weirdly, I was trying to find a place for lunch and nearly all the restaurants closed at 2pm , then reopened at 5pm for dinner. Finally found an upscale pizza/wine bar and coincidentally both the hostess and the server had lived in Huntington Beach (after asking where I was from). They had a very good small pizza/salad lunch special, and I'd recommend the place if you're ever in Boise. Especially looking for a late afternoon lunch. Oh, and I also tried Basque food at a rather pricy restaurant that came well recommended - and several of us were less than impressed. I don't know if it was just the restaurant itself or I just picked the wrong thing. Oh well.



• I made a list of topics to write about about a month ago - and I've only gotten to one of them.



• At the top of my agency's intranet website:
  

  Dust off the ol' crystal ball again!  Take the State Budget Survey! (Looks like those of you who chose "When the cows come home" got it right!)




• Part of the update laziness, I guess, is only having a non-starting home PC to write on currently. I could use my phone but I'm just not up to typing the size entries I usually do with my thumbs (and I don't thing the phone browser likes them either - letters start becoming invisible at the end). Anyone just upgrade to Windows 7 and have no further use for their XP disc? Mine didn't come with one, and I'd only need it for attempting repairs and reinstalling a backup registry.



• Scooter is now neutered. In trying to find a vet with a reasonable price for doing this, runsamuck found the range went from $75 for a place in Santa Ana to $350 for the vet closest to us - who used to be our animals' regular vet when her office was in Sunset Beach. However, since she moved to the shopping center close to us, she more than doubled her charges. I suppose it was the rent - that all goes with the realtors calling my neighborhood "prestigeous." We went with Santa Ana. Anyhow, he was so out of it when we picked him up, poor guy.



• runsamuck decided his ponytail is a pain and cut it off. He must have asked me ten times if it was ok with me; however, it's his hair. I'm not going to force him to keep some way he doesn't want it. If I were smart, I'd do the same with mine, but I actually kind of like it.



• We've all had colds; and the dishwasher is going kaput. It refuses to get anything clean, so right now I'm just using it for a giant dish drainer. Which I need to leave for home and go do more of.


Bleh.

Heh! This is a great series of photos.

I don't think I'd worry too much about the cranes; Beau's owner is more worried they might go after him... In a rural area as this appears to be, I'd be worried more about raptors carrying him off, which happens occasionally even around here...

Scooter update: While I was stumbling to the kitchen this morning, Scooter was doing his usual "Finally, someone's up - I want breakfast, dammit" darting around. I stepped into the kitchen just at the same moment he dodged right in front me, stepped on my foot and used it as launchpad to a box he likes to sit on, leaving an 1½" long scratch on the inside of one of my toes from his hind claws. While I'm hopping around on one foot and swearing, he's looking at me, blinking with his eyes half closed, all sullen teenage "Whut?"

Damn cats.

Oh I know he didn't mean it, but he is constantly doing this right angle dodge right in front of where you're walking. I've accidentally kicked him on more than one occasion, because he ran right in front of the foot I was stepping forward with. Maybe it's revenge.

We actually went to the human cemetery today, but were surprised to find the gate locked; I would've thought it would been open at least until sunset. Then we checked out the pet cemetery, where in a corner we found what I took below. However, in the end I decided the above meant a little more to me. These rocks mark the spot in our side yard where my good buddy Bob is interred; the best cat who thought he was a dog who ever consented to live with me. He's kept company by Termite, not the smartest, but the sweetest. We miss them both immensely. The back rock is actually light green and sparkly, but I could not get the phone's white balance to record it properly. The front one is obsidian with red veins.

( To serve and protect... )

24. Gravestone ♥

Six tigers; Angus (1998), me (1962), and my dad, Robert (1926) were all born in the year of the Tiger, plus two toys and our newest little tiger, Scooter. 

( And the last of my Feb. scavenger hunt... )

And I'll be back for the next scavenger hunt, because this one is done!

3. Tiger ☺
13. A kiss ☺
28. Something you want to spend your tax return on ☺
8. A sign of jealousy ☺
18. Self portrait at work ☺
22. The cover of a book with the word "home" in the title ☺
9. Laughter ☺
7. An object you always have with you ☺

Oh dear, I meant to keep up better on the scavenger hunt thingies. Here are a good 50 toes, and maybe a finger and front paw or two...

( moar... )

25. Bare feet ☺
6. Something that helps you start the day ☺
10. Contents of your friend's wallet ☺
20. Game ☺
27. Birthday Candles ☺