I need some sleep!

Well, that male grey cat was back again. He comes anywhere from 10:30 to 3:30. And my cats go berserk! Last night I closed down all the doors and just left the window in the breakfast room open about 4 inches. At 1:30, I hear the low growl from cats at the window- Oh-oh! Then I hear the screeching and the hissing and yowling- indicating the male is next to one of the windows and one of my 4 legged angels is at said window having a hissy fit!
I jump out of bed, pry the screen off the window and toss a bunch of water (That I put there for that reason) down at the cat. He takes off running into Julie's yard. Whew! Catastrophe averted!
I crawl back into my nice soft bed and start top snuggle in and I hear whining and hissing and yowling from downstairs. What the heck??? Finally, I go down to check it out and Peaches is just having a fit. She is hissing and yeowling at Sassy and poor Shaggy and Max! Both ran for cover from her! When I went to pick her up, she swatted at me hissing and tried to bite me. We don't bite the Mama. Ever. She was so upset, that I tucked her under my arm (careful to avoid claws and teeth) and shut her into Biza's room upstairs. There are windows, but none that look out towards Julie's where I am sure that little stinker was going to start causing trouble next.
She calmed down after that and the rest of them seemed to be a little calmer, but no one came to sleep on the bed or in the bedroom, which is totally abnormal.
I did not sleep well after that- and when I did sleep, had weird dreams.
Then this morning, at 5:20, when I came downstairs, I smell cat poop. What the heck? I look around and here, on one of the oak built in bookcases, between the dining room and living room, is a pile of cat-doo. I am sure that Peaches was sitting there and saw the male cat outside and pooped to mark her spot. Like he could get in through the window. But, what do I know, I am not a cat. I just know that I have to get that cat to stop coming to my house and causing a ruckus. I have the live trap set up. I am going to put some wet cat food in there again tonight and see if I can lure him in. Of course, then, if I do catch him, what the heck do I do with him? Maybe I can get Debbie Jean to talk to the cat lady and see if she will take him.
On a Larry note- He had dialysis today. I dropped him off and went off to rummage. Finally hit a couple of good ones and even found a high chair for Matt (John and Deb's son)and Kim's little girl Denalli. So, at 10:00 am, I am cruising down Stonewood Dr. towards the dialysis clinic and I look ahead at the parking lot and there is the rescue squad sitting in front of the doors. That is never good. I check my cell phone while I am parking to see if I missed a call from the clinic while I am speed walking up to the broken (Long story) door and back through the waiting room to the treatment area. Relief floods through me as I see Mr. Larson's size 12s loom into view as I round the corner. Whew! At least it was not Larry that is getting hauled away....but, who? I look around and the guys that are teching today say-It's Sarah. Crap! Sarah is such a little sweetheart. She wasn't feeling good when she got there this morning and said that she really felt backed up with fluid and just did not feel right. So if you read this, send a little love and light to Sarah. Hopefully she will be back Monday.

We got Through Therapy-YAY!

Larry, was not too happy with me for resigning him for therapy, but, he needs help and won't listen to me. Then, before we left this morning, he was almost in tears because his neck hurt so much. There is nothing I can do or say, because he won't listen to a word I say about it. He just says-"You don't know how bad it hurts". Not true, I probably do know, but, none the less...he will not be consoled, and no one knows how bad he has it. Period.
So, when we went to our appointment today, Shanna asked how it was going and We told her about the neck thing and he says "I don't know why it comes or why it goes. It just does. There is no reason for it." Well, this is not true...and I know it, so Shanna is looking at me around his head and mouthing what do you think? And I quietly say that it happens in certain chairs, where he is more likely to lean forward and as he sits and gets tired, his head starts to droop and then we start the neck pain.
"WELL!" he huffs- "I am moving my head so that I am more comfortable and it has NOTHING to do with the pain that starts in my NECK! You don't know ANYTHING!"
Alright.... Then Shanna does some work with him on his legs and when she sits him up she tests his back and neck strength and guess what??? Hmmm...they are pretty weak. No wonder it hurts his neck to sit for any length of time when he does not have support behind his head. She did some isometric exercises with his back and neck that we can do at home and the rest of the session went really well.
When we left, I asked him how his neck and back were and then I said,"Well, does it make sense to you that Shanna found out that your back and neck are weak and that is why it is hard to hold your head up for any length of time. And that is why your neck hurts so bad- your muscles won't hold your head up."
And he said...."Yes, it makes sense."
Now this is what I have been telling him for weeks, but apparently(As we all know) My opinion counts for zilch when we are talking about therapy. That is OK- just so long as he finally gets it and starts to work to fix it.
It is a very pretty day. Sunny and blue skies. Breezy. Just beautiful. I am going to clean bird baths, but not for too long because the mosquitoes are vicious! They would eat the skin right off you in the last couple of days! That is not right!

Amazing, but True- Larry is Feeling Much Better!

Well folks....amazingly, Lar is feeling way better after dialysis for the last week. He has not but hacking and bringing up tons of flem (That was always so enjoyable, not only for him, but for everyone in the vicinity), he has not been cramping.His breathing is much better, he has more energy and his legs are not buckling under him when he stands up. I am tickled pink! I think after he has been back at therapy for a few weeks, his endurance will go up and maybe, we can drive up to Door County or something. That will make both of us very happy. I can't tell you how difficult it is for him to not be able to do the things that he used to do. It is very discouraging when he felt so crappy all the time. We could never plan anything on a dialysis day. The few times we did, it was short and then he is wiped for the rest of the day and into the next day. So this is a HUGE thing for us. Even his blood pressure has improved a little bit lately. We will take it.
The other day, Katie called and said that they were going to sell off all of their sample rugs at the Home Depot. Ten bucks a piece, do you want any?They all have a black tag that says SAMPLE- but some are just stickers and even the ones that are cut in- just stick a chair over it!
" Sure, I would love an area rug for my room and for Biza's guest room upstairs. "
Great! She would look through them and put a couple aside and then call me when I could come and get them.
Saturday- "The boss has decided we are not going to sell them."
Then she comes in on Sunday and one of the managers had taken at least 5 rugs. She wanted to know what was up with that???
And why did he get to TAKE them and no one else can?
Alright, after the reset, they can be sold. They will be $10.00 each.
So, then, on Monday, she calls me and says "Well, we can't put them out because we have to figure out which ones get reset, after we figure that out, they will go out, when I get in on Wednesday, but the boss says $20.00." That is still OK by me, give me a call when you need me to get them.
Tuesday am she calls and is a-twitter-pated!"I took Sam to work and just thought maybe I should stop in at the Depot to see what was happening and when I walked in the door, there was a cart full of rugs! Those buggers put all the rugs out and took all the ones that everyone had marked and put them out too. Without calling me and telling me" (She is the head of that department- you would think that she would get a courtesy call). So, I finish feeding Larry his breakfast and we zoom out to West Bend.
Katie and I look through the rugs and I pick out one I like for my room. The one she picked out for the other room was perfect, so we let that one be and then she had rugs for herself and Claire and Collen- We had 14 rugs total. And...guess how much they were??? Five dollars EACH! Five bucks! I paid more than that for a scatter rug at a rummage sale! So, a few people are listening and hear- $5.00. For what? For these rugs! And then it was like the locusts arrived! People were just pulling rugs off the cart and stacking them onto their carts. Katie had called Mushy and Debbie Lynn (David's wife) to get over there and get their rugs! They got there just as the frenzy started and Mush got 2 and Debbie got 3. They said that it was getting a little tense there for a while! But, no fisticuffs erupted, so all was well!
And my rug looks beautiful! I put it down and Max threw himself onto his back in the middle of it and just lay there, spread eagle. I do believe that he loves it!
In the first picture- he is on the rug in my room (Sorry- I did not make the bed before the picture) The second picture is the one that Katie picked out for Biza's room-and the third pic is the solid rug that I figured for $5.00, 2 rugs in that room is good! All the cats were in helping me, so I took a pic of Max watching from the bed. Sassy would not hold still for a pic and I forgot to transfer Peaches picture, so I will put her up later!

Father's Day-And it Was Dry!

Well, at last, it is going to be dry for a few days so that some of the flooding around the state can go down. We went for a drive on Friday afternoon and there were a lot of areas where we could not get through because the roads were flooded. And, the flooding around here is nothing compared to how much water they have in other areas. Fortunately, we did not have any problems. We lost one tree branch, and had no water back-up into the basement.
The houses behind us had some problems with back-up. Billy and Carl always have problems if there is too much rain and the village guys worked like dogs trying to get the water out. There was a reason that Grandpa built the house up here on this rise. A lot of the area that the subdivision is built on was swampy. Grandpa Schlaefer did not use the land for grazing his cows because it was too wet. And now a-days, it always amazes me how many houses they build in lowlands and swamps and then the people who buy these houses wonder why they keep flooding. But, I digress.
It was Father's Day yesterday and I took Larry out to Slinger. John and Debbie had a barbecue. The weather was perfect and for some reason, the skeeters were not around. We all had a nice time and I had Larry home by 7:30. Poor Katie- had to work until 7:30 at the Home Depot. I told her that she should come after work- I did not think that Lar and I would still be there, but figured that everyone else would still be around. I was wrong. Everyone else left shortly after we did, so when Katie got there, she and Dave (Her hubby) sat and had a couple of beers with John and Deb and then headed her home. Katie said-"I told you no one would stay past 7:00!"
Jake and Dave (Katie's Youngest and Hub)came at about 5:00, but Dave was all twitter-pated because Sam was being a pooper-head (As Sam is want to be)and I think that Dave likes to be twitter-pated about stuff.
Westill have the OTHER grey cat wandering around. I set out the live trap and we will see if I can catch him. He keeps making a fuss with Julie's cats at 3:00 am and waking me up! They yeowl and moan and hiss for 1/2 hour. It has to stop. If I can catch him, maybe Deb and John's neighbor will take him to find a home. She is a cat person and has a shelter and LOTS of cats and kittens. We will see.
I signed up on facebook at Biza's urging. I doubt that I will use it, but she said that I should sign up, because it will be a great networking tool and she promised that I wouldn't regret it. I am sure that I will not regret it. It is just something that does not interest me- it feels very teenagerish. It reminds me of those notebooks that we used to have in middle school where you said what you liked and who you liked and what music you listened to- your favorite bands- and then you had your friends sign in and write stuff. Just like facebook, but in 1969 and no computers involved.
Well, maybe I'll surprise myself and really enjoy the Facebook experience.

Ooopsy-Daisy!

I went to pick Larry up at dialysis before and he was just miserable, but they couldn't let him go until his blood pressure came up- 72/37 is a bit low even for him. So, he is huffing and puffing and moaning and squirming and finally Dave, the guy who was taking care of Larry today, got a decent pressure, so he wheeled Larry over in the treatment chair and stood him from there.
Larry does not do well with changes and different ways of doing things, so it was hard for him to stand and then he was really confused and kept letting go of the bars (He NEVER lets go of the bars) and when we told him to just swing his butt towards his wheelchair, he got really flustered and collapsed. Dave and I grabbed him so he did not hit the ground, but then Larry had himself REALLY worked up and was almost hyperventilating! The other guy (I think his name is Aaron) came over to help us get him situated in the chair to calm down and then to help transfer to the wheelchair. He looks at me and says-I felt a little pee shoot out of me when Larry started to go down! Yes indeedy folks. Excitement all the time. The important thing is, he did not hit the ground-we caught him. He did not hurt himself. A couple of deep breathes and you have to move on. I am sure that he will tell everyone we meet for the next 2 days that he almost fell and how scared he was.
The weather man is saying that we get another day of no rain today. It is beautiful out. Sunny and cool and just delightful. I love this weather!The other day, it was so hot and humid, I put the screens on by myself and put the air conditioner in the breakfast room window, all by myself. I made sure that I had my cell phone on my belt with the screens, because I had to climb up to the top of the ladder to get them on- not exactly a job meant for a single person, but, what are you going to do?
And the air conditioner thing is not something that I will repeat by myself any time soon. I put it in the window-no big deal. But, it tilts too much and has to be shimmed. So, outside, up the ladder, weasel it around so the lip is against the frame and then start to place boards under it. Crap! It moved forward, pull it back, boards all fall out, start to slide them under again and it slides forward. Again. With sweat pouring off of me and I can't see because I am growing my ras-a- frassing hair out and it is always where it should not be and sweat is running into my eyes. Down the ladder, back into the house. Prop the front so it won't slide. Back outside. Up the ladder. Well, you get the picture. If I was a guy, I would have lost about 15 pounds just from sweating. Being a woman, I think I GAINED 5 pounds and broke a dang nail! But as daddy used to say-Good Voman! Strong like Ox!
I am waiting for a phone call from KMAWF. She says that Home Depot is putting all of their sample area rugs on sale today. $5.00 each- they just say Sample on them somewhere. For $5.00.... I can certainly live with it saying sample.

The other Grey Cat

Lately, there has been a young male cat that has been hanging around. He comes at about 7:00 and drives the other cats nuts when they see him. Pewter runs for the basement and hides and everyone else yowls at the top of their lungs. Then he usually goes over to Julie's and riles up her cats and wanders back and forth between the houses.
He looks like a sweetie pie- maybe 7 or 8 months old and definitely not fixed yet. He is grey with white stockings.
For the past few days, Pewter has been mad at me (Anyone who has a cat KNOWS when they have done something that offends their feline friend) I assumed that it was because Sassy got into the basement the other night and wouldn't come up. The next morning when I let Pewter out, she huffed off without even stopping for a scratch and I didn't see her all day, even when I called to her, she would not come in and sit with me. So, when I went into the basement to put fresh food out for Pewter, there was some rather large poop in the litter box. I did not think too much of it, since Sassy had been down there, maybe she had a big poop (Pewter saves her big poops for outside in the summer). So I changed the water, put out new kibble and a new can of some of the stuff Pewter likes and went upstairs.
Finally, at 4:00, Pewter deigns to show up and allows me to pet her a bit, but then I have to put her in the basement because we are going to get a storm. In she goes, I see her enter the basement and then I go back upstairs and get Elvis to do a quick potty before the storm and think "I better block the door shut so it can't blow open in the storm".
I don't have a doggy door for her, I just have a brick that holds it open a couple of inches and she squeezes in and out when she wants. It has worked thus for 3 years.
So, last night, after the real major part of the storm, I decide to check on Pewter and open the basement door. What the??? I see a grey cat running down the steps-A. Pewter never runs away from me and B. the cat had white feet! YIKES! Outside I go and as I am walking to the basement door, Pewter strolls up to be let in! How on earth? I opened the door wide and don't have any idea if he is in or out. He looks like a cute cat, but I do not need another cat! And especially an unfixed male!
Right now, I have Pewter on the side porch (She is not real happy with me) and I am waiting to see if he comes out to eat something. That explains why Pewter was eating her food so fast!
We have been having huge storms and tons of rain- over 6 inches since yesterday. The humidity is awful! The whole inside of the house feels like it is wet. We only have the air conditioner in Larry's bedroom window, so we can't get the dampness out! I have all the fans going.
My vegetable garden was pretty flooded for a long time yesterday and today, so I don't know if all the seeds washed away or what! I feel we are pretty lucky not to have been in the tornadoes or major flooding!
I do love a good storm! Nothing like having the wind whip around the house and the leaves are all a-shaking while you are tucked all warm inside, looking safely out the window.
We were supposed to go and see Mickey play fast-pitch at Uhlien Field down next to County Stadium in Milwaukee, but they cancelled that tournament. We watched her play yesterday in Cedarburg. Her team won 15-5. She has a bunch more games over the next month or 2 and she is also playing in a basketball league, so we will have plenty of opportunities to go and watch her play.
Tommy's son Ryan also should be playing a bunch more soon. He plays Little League and those games are fun to watch too, but hose kids are so serious about the game! Holy Cow! I tried not to be too serious about anything when I was that age! We played baseball, but only a neighborhood game and I don't think there were too many cut-throat players out there! We also played all the regular games, especially at this time of year...hide and seek...tackle pom-pom...red light,green light. God we had fun!

Both eyes are done! Now he can see!

Well Larry had the cataract removed from his right eye yesterday and he notices the difference already. In fact he told me this morning when he was reading the paper that he would not need the strong reading glasses any more. I had found him 5 + glasses at a specialty store online and that is the only way he could read for the past year (And then he wanted to argue with me that he could see just fine?)
We got to the hospital at 10:30, going directly from dialysis, do not pass go, do not collect $200. They rushed us in and started to dilate his eye while we were still rolling back to the room where they would prep him. Apparently, Dr. Veere was already running ahead and they wanted him asap. He was out of there on on his way to surgery by 11:30! And if his blood pressure had not been so low afterwards, we could have been home by 1:00 pm. As it was, we were home by 2:00, and we stopped for a burger and to pick up his insulin at Walmart.
He did pretty good considering how long a day it was for him. In fact his only issue was, the instructions said not to sleep on the side that the surgery was done on. Well... he can only sleep on his right side, so he tossed and turned trying to get comfortable and just did not sleep well. So today, when we went for the follow-up, we asked the Dr. and he said- as long as he has the shield on so he doesn't poke the eye, go ahead and sleep on your side! Larry was very happy!
We also rummaged a little on the way home today and I have to tell you, I don't think that I have ever gotten so little at rummages as I have all spring. I have found virtually NOTHING! Most days, I spend $0, and that is just wrong! You should not get skunked when you rummage! I should find books or something! But, no. I think for April and May, if I have spent $50.00 on stuff at rummages, that is a lot. And $23.00 of that was all at one sale where I found a gate leg table and a lamp full of glass prisms, so, that, at least was a good one. But overall, I have not seen too much to buy. Very sad....

My Own Little Patch of Garden

It took me 4 long, hard days, but, I finally got the new patch of garden done. I dug it all by hand, with my trusty spade, into a screen sifter, to sift out rocks, roots, etc. then, I added manure, mulch and peat moss when I returned it to the hole. I just went out and planted my zucchini and sweet corn and will go out in a few minutes to put the rest of the seeds in the soil, where, they will get lots of sun and flourish all summer long! And we will have lots of fresh veggies to eat and to share.
I have tried vegetable gardening in several spots in the yard and none of them get enough sun. Then, this spring, I thought to myself..."Hmmmm.... Look yonder at the ramp. Is it not in sun almost all day?" And, yes indeed, it does get quite a bit of sun all day long on the south side of the ramp. And it is mostly protected from wind and cold because it is kind of in a nook. So, I am giving it a shot! That is all I can do, right?
My flower gardens are doing great, although, I did loose a bunch of perennials to the long, hard winter, I just moved some stuff around to fill in the holes. I just won't have as wide a variety of perennials- no foxgloves or canterbury bells. All of the bells of Ireland look like they went away- at least half of my pestemon (?). I can't tell about some of my butterfly bushes- 1 of them is still not showing any signs of life, so, I must wait and see.
I do love this time of year. Watching to see what springs up. My tulips were awesome this spring. I had put in a bunch of new bulbs last fall and they all came up and looked fabulous! And the lilies of the valley are blooming now, so you can smell them any time you go outside!
Larry goes tomorrow to have his right cataract done. The last one went pretty easily, so I intend that this one also goes smoothly and easily.
Then next week, we start therapy again. He still argues with me that therapy will not make him stronger- I don't care what he thinks, I know that it does make a difference and I need someone other than myself to bug him about it for awhile. He is to the point where he can barely make it from the living room to the bedroom without getting totally wobbly and out of breath. He is walking totally lopsided- leaning hard to the right, with the old vulture head pulling forward- and then he wonders why his neck and shoulders hurt. He will argue that it has nothing to do with how he is walking...or sitting...or standing. He thinks that it is his arthritis- that AMAZINGLY goes away once he lays down and takes the pressure off his poor neck stretching forward.
I called Medical Associates and Tiffiny and I set up all the appointments for the next month, so...he is going. Period.