Kitty Woes

About two weeks ago we had an outbreak of illness in the feral cat population in our neighborhood.  Several died of what I believe may have been distemper.  After reading on the net that distemper is very infectious and could possible be brought indoor on our shoes and clothing, we decided to get all the indoor kitties brought up-to-date on their shots.

Penny and Isobel are good till October, but Deiter, Tipper and Reggie were due for theirs.  We decided to take all three at once.  That would mean needing two carriers.  We shopped around and decided on a soft sided one.  They loved it!  Here Penny has it all to herself.....until someone else comes and climbs on top and starts swatting at her.

We left them play in it for a few days so when we packed them in for the vet visit they wouldn't be suspicious.  Reggie likes to pick on Tippy so Reg and Deiter rode in the new carrier and Tippy had the old one to herself.

On the way, Reggie laid a stinky egg in the carrier.  We tried to clean him off when we got to the vet's, but with his long hair it was impossible to do a good job.

Needless to say, They got their shots and we were out of there to avoid further embarrassment.  We brought Reg into the bathroom and put him in the tub,  Zip, for some reason, had things to do elsewhere (chicken!).  With one hand I held Reggie in a vice grip and with the other I held the sprayer and pointed it at the appropriate spot.  And I escaped with only minor injuries.

When the vet examined Tipper, he said she looked fine.  Since then she has become more lethargic and withdrawn.  She's ten years old, but that's not old for a cat. We know that Reggie and Penny are very forceful cat personalities and sometimes have tried to intimidate her.  She doesn't like the  younger guys and is afraid they will push their way in and get the first bites of kitty treats.

Apparently they have been more aggressive with her than we knew about because she's been hiding upstairs and not coming down to eat unless we go and get her and bring her down to the food bowl.  Not a good situation!

   
We have now put her in Zip's bedroom with her own food, water and cat box to try to reduce her stress level.  It seems to be working.  She has Zip's company all night long and I go up and sit and talk and play with her several times a day.  She seems a lot happier and more active.

So what else have I been doing?  Not much!

August 1 I rejoined Weight Watchers for the ???th time.  After almost a month, I must admit that I feel better and have lost a bit.  But it takes a lot of TIME.  I guess if I weren't so OCDish, and didn't plan my every meal down to the breadcrumb, I could do it in half the time.  So instead of working on my handcrafts, I'm cooking healthy low-fat meals.  Three times a day.

I did start a new sweater, but made a mistake and will have to rip out.  I'm not sure I liked what I was doing anyhow.  I got out my big flower basket rug, thinking I would do some hooking, but hated every color I'd picked to use in it.  Back to square one!

I've been trying to psych myself into exercise, but so far, no go!  Deter has been using the treadmill more than I have.  I like his routine, though I think for myself, I would need to add a pillow.

We've been making lots of trips to produce stands since the start of the healthy craze.
I will close with this picture of the lovely flowers at one of the farms.

 I love the riot of colors at this time of year.

Hope you are all having an enjoyable summer!

Summer Weather

It's totally unpredictable!
We have had some VERY hot and dry weeks.  Then we have wild storms.
Our electricity has been off for hours several times.  Luckily we have a few oil lamps for the emergencies.

One of our huge maple trees has been damaged beyond repair and will have to be taken out.  We knew it had a crack in it, but it withstood the winds of winter.  It was no match for the storm on Monday evening.

We are hoping the rain we've gotten in the past few days will save what's left of the garden.  Earlier in the season we had a nice crop of strawberries, enough for me to make jam and freeze a few quarts for shortcake during the winter.

 Then the dry spell came and the beans dried up, along with the Swiss chard and tomatoes.  We're hoping the tomatoes revive.  We have had a few nice ears of sweet corn. 

It had been so miserably hot that for a few weeks Zip and I didn't stray far from the fans.  My Mom had been wanting us to take her to visit her sisters in Mt. Joy, PA, so one of the not-quite-so-hot days we made the trip.  It was a nice visit.

Mom is on the left in the black and white top.  My aunt Ada is in the middle and Aunt Mary is on the right.  We were at the nursing home where Aunt Mary is now living.  It's a very nice place and she seems to like it there.

On the way home we had to drive through the eastern part of York County near Hallam.  Mom's family lived near there when she was a child and neither of us had been in that area for over 20 years.  The house where she lived was still there.

She and Dad were married in this church in Hallam in 1946.

Afterward they went to her older sister's home and had hamburgers and fried oysters for their reception dinner.

I love revisiting places from my past.  Not that I was there for the wedding or anything!  ha-ha!  I just wish my parents had been more open and told more about the times when they were growing  up.  Once they are gone, that part of family history is lost forever.  Mom has always told me that the skeletons in the closet should be left in peace.  But why, so long after the fact shouldn't we know about the people whom we came from?  I guess because I'm such a tell-it-all kind of person that I can't understand the need for 'family secrets'.

And now for my confession of the week....

Two months ago I started a summer sweater.  My dear friend Julie from the Knitting at Large blog says 'summer sweaters' are an oxymoron in the mid Atlantic states.  But I was not deterred.  I chose a lovely bright pink yarn and a pattern with lace ribbing around the bottom, sleeves and neckline.

It came out lovely!

EXCEPT.....!

It's a little snug bordering on 'stuffed sausage'!

I did a gauge swatch and it seemed OK, but over 400 stitches, even a little deviation could cause a sweater not to fit right.  But I wet it and dried it on my Maxi-Me sweater blocking form and I didn't have to stretch it to get it on the form.

I didn't know what exactly went wrong, so I decided to start another sweater and just make it a little bigger.  I usually take measurements before starting, so I can check the numbers to help see if it's going to be big enough.

Holy Guacamole!!!  When I measured myself, I was 3 inches bigger in the chest than when I started the pink sweater.  Three inches in two months!!!  And my hips had increased too.  Darn those yummy lunches of burgers and hot dogs on the grill with potato salad!  And maybe the latte and pastry in the evening while watching the Food Network added their contribution, too.  I am disgusted!

And the fact that Zip and I haven't been doing much besides sitting in front of the fans isn't helping.  This summer we have made a slug look hyperactive.

That sweater is going to be part of my fall wardrobe.  Back to Weight Watchers.

The kitties are spending their time lying around in any cool place they can find.  It's even been too hot to cuddle.  I miss that! 

Greetings from Deiter!