Now I really did it :((

[Austina]

Bonjour from Toulon on the Cote d’Azur

We were in Antibes yesterday, the weather was glorious, and we had a stroll around the town. Spent the afternoon aboard relaxing, had dinner, saw the show which was an extremely funny ventriloquist, and then went to the deck party - we’re pooped today

So glad that you’re able to stay where you are @AV_ and have got a grant to boot! What great news for you.

Great that your presentation went well @marcy, isn’t the Hubble telescope fantastic? Who’d have thought years ago that it would’ve even been possible to get such detailed pictures of other galaxies? Ugh to Marty having over done it and still having a sore back.

Yum to going out to celebrate @canuk-gal and having a delicious meal. I won’t rub salt in to your wounds by telling you how beautiful the weather is here

I’m so excited for you @Tekate, keeping everything crossed you sell your house quickly so that you can get going on the new place. I don’t think we’ll be able to buy new because of timing, but we’ve seen lots of homes that would suit us, so we’re not too worried, and I can always poke my nose in on your choices

Happy weekend to you too @sarahb

I’m really hoping this is the storm before the calm @missy, and you have to go through all this torment before things suddenly start to improve and you find a way out of this nightmare. I honestly don’t remember ringworm being so devastating when I was young and people often took in strays to find they had ringworm. This must really be a nasty, virulent strain, Continuing to keep everything crossed, that things will get easier very soon. Hopefully the new vet derm will be able to help with the problem. You could write a book about all the experiences and research you’ve done in to various conditions you’ve had to deal with, I’m not surprised the vet said you probably had more knowledge than most vets. Keep battling on, you’ll get there.

I hope your Mum is coping well with her second bout of Chemo @Scandinavian and it’s not making her feel too awful. Sending strength and healing vibes to you all.

I hope you’re having lovely weather and enjoying a relaxing time in SC @junebug17

We’re busy doing nothing today, I’ve had a facial and Colin’s had a hot stone massage, and we’re too relaxed to do anything now, other than sit in the shade and read.

Have a great weekend lovely NIRDIs

 

[missy]

Good morning girls!

@junebug17 hello there and hope SC weather is lovely and you and dh are enjoying a relaxing time at the beach. The smell of the salt air and the breeze of the ocean waves. (((Hugs))).

@AV_ hope your weekend is happy especially given all your wonderful news. Sending hugs and love your way. XO.

@Scandinavian hello there and sending continued healing vibes to your mom and hugs to you. I hope this treatment week goes smoothly for her. (((Hugs))).

@sarahb thank you dear. You are a sweetheart and I appreciate your good wishes. And hugs. I won't sugar coat this. It is to date one of the most challenging experiences of our lives. And we have had some challenging experiences. But we persevere and take it one minute at a time. All we want is to get the cats well. As Greg says what we are doing each and every day is just work. We can handle the work. It's not knowing if we can get our cats well that is weighing heavily on my mind. It's to a large extent out of our control and that is always scary. I so appreciate your encouragement and good wishes and thank you dear Sarah. Keeping my chin up. (((Hugs))).

@Tekate hugs and yes we are in this life together. Life is sweeter when it is shared with true friends and loved ones. And as my dad always said. no one gets out of this life alive. Truth. So we have to live in the moment making each day count living our best life. XOXO.

@canuk-gal aww hope your weather improves and sorry the summer weather has been disappointing to date. Glad you got to enjoy cycling however and hope the rest of the summer brings you sweet weather. Glad the family birthday party was fun and yes we need more fun incorporated every day into our lives. Thank you (and your sister) for your well wishes. Hugs and love to both of you.

@marcy yummy yes definitely next time get mini milky ways. Glad the astronomy meeting on galaxies went well and hope you also got lifting in this weekend. Sounds like you are having a good weekend. And glad you got all your grocery shopping done though sorry you forgot some things and had to run out and get them. We have that same experience. Even when I make lists I forget stuff and have to go back and get things at a later date. Never fails.

Yesterday after all the talk of milky ways (haha) I had to get mini peanut butter cups in my ice cream despite it having ingredients I am not supposed to ingest. Plus I would like to get my weight back up to a triple digit number so yes I thought OK I will get that in my ice cream. I figure hey let me live a little lol. Well turned out to be too much for me. Too sweet. Last time I will do that. Sharing a photo of my ice cream at the end of my post. Thank you for your hugs and sending hugs your way too.

@Austina sounds like you are having a wonderful time and glad the weather is cooperating. Relaxing and running around at the same time. The perfect vacation and gorgeous scenery to boot. I so wish ringworm was easy to manage. Since getting ringworm I have spoken to experts in the field as well as real life people (aka warriors) who have endured this trial and let me tell you my experience is not the exception sadly. It is quite the nightmare experience for many (most?) who deal with this especially in a multi cat household.

What increases the challenge for us is we have 4 cats (3 adult cats) who have it and we cannot isolate them for their emotional well being. Stressed cats will not fight off the fungal infection. And of course all the treatments throughout the day stresses them out. It's a rock and a hard place where we are at the moment. If you are thinking about dogs you are quite right however as dogs don't get it or transfer it the same way. Let's hope you never experience cat ringworm or to that point any ringworm. Ignorance is bliss in this circumstance. I had never even heard of ringworm in cats before we got it. Oh if only I could remain blissfully unaware. And if only we could treat Fred systemically with oral anti fungals. I fear he will keep everyone sick and we just don't know what to do. He is eating again but he isn't being treated systemically and without that treatment he might never get rid of ringworm and that means we will never get rid of it. Oy.

Here is a journal article from a highly respected veterinarian fyi. If you are interested in reading what we are going through at the moment. Of course I would not blame you one bit if you did not want to read this. LOL.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/vde.12440

Enjoy doing nothing today dear Austina and enjoy being pampered. Sounds like heaven. Happy funday Sunday. XO.

@Slick1 happy Sunday. Hope your weekend is continuing to go well and sending you big hugs and lots of love.

We had a lovely ride yesterday and again the weather was pretty darn nice. We also got ice cream and I made the mistake to add peanut butter cups to it despite it not being on my list of AIP foods. And I have to say it sounds better than it was. I just think I cannot tolerate such sweet candy anymore since I don't eat that generally. Dave was too generous with the PB cups for me I think but I appreciate his generosity and it was worth a try though. I gave some to Greg and he enjoyed it.





and look at the gorgeous sky with the puffy clouds. Looks a bit like Mickey Mouse ears, no?


Enjoy a lovely big dog Sunday girls! (((Hugs))).

 

[AV_]

@missy @Austina @marcy @Tekate @canuk-gal (whom as I missing!) Good to hear your good wishes! I am relieved to say the least... Of cousre there is a pile of papers to deal with on my desk that need to get published one way or another (this is what the grant is for), but it all feels like vacation. This was a long weekend - since Thursday, and I sure did observe the 'do nothing' law of the land ,)

@missy I hear you about sweets... I managed to almost loose my famous ability to live on cakes and icecream & I want it back! (so there are three jars of beautiful honney in the fridge - for taste training)

 

[Tekate]

@missy I feel for you. My dog Daisy was always sick, 13 years of constant and incessant vet visits, allergy shots, operations, constant skin infections, I say to you and this is true, we went to the vet at least once a week for 10 out of the 13 years, and she ate bakers chocolate and almost died. When Daisy died of hemangiosarcoma our vets donated to Texas A&M veternarian school in Daisy's name. When she died our vet cried with us as he knew her as well as we did (almost) I spent more time reading medical reports about skin infections and allergies etc in cocker spaniels. I did not have 4 dogs with all this, and possibly I might have gone truly nutzoid, but I saved her, anyone else would have put her down, Daisy we bought on the side of the road for 250.00$ USA. She was sick from day one, the vet said she was over bred and full of genetic problems, and she was and I loved her and love her today. I have an inkling of what you are going thru, Daisy needed a bath every other days for 10 years, with prescription cleaners, it took over 40 minutes every other day and I did it. I would do it again, she was wonderful. Sometimes I think in finding you as a good friend I found someone like me but not (you are nicer, thinner, younger and cuter! xo) someone who loves diamonds and animals.. lucky me. I am so sorry you are going thru this but I do understand. I'm here for you! xoxoxoxo

@Austina sounds so glorious! have a wonderful time, I love to just read on cruises! we are happy with the land in TX now to sell this house. xoxox

@AV_ glad to read your news AV! things are going well, have a great evening and sending a big hello from Scarborough, Maine, USA! xo

going for a walk today with a woman I used to work with at IBM 30 years ago, she is a jewlery afficiando and has own jewelry stores and has TONS AND TONS of jewelry and she get's it all on ebay!

have a wonderful rest of Sunday everyone.

 

[junebug17]

@missy, I'm glad you were able to speak to the vet derm and she confirmed you're doing all the right things. I hope Fred is eating a little for you. Ollie is so sweet Lovely pics of Francesca, I know you still feel her loss deeply. (((Hugs))). Gorgeous pics of the sky and water, what an amazing shade of blue! I'm glad you're enjoying some cycling and ice cream. Keeping you all in my thoughts and continuing to hope for the best possible outcome. XOX

@Tekate, congrats on closing on the lot - Exciting! Good to hear all is good with your family. It counts for a lot! So nice that you got together with someone you used to work with, maybe she'll show you her jewelry collection LOL. You took wonderful care of Daisy, you gave her a fantastic life and she was so lucky to have you. (((Hugs)))

@Austina, beautiful pics of Monte Carlo! How funny you ran into 2 people you know...so sorry to hear about the elderly gentleman though, very sad. Glad to read you are having a wonderful time so far. everything sounds wonderful - doing activities but relaxing as well, such a nice combination.

@Scandinavian, thinking of your mother as she undergoes this second round, and I'm hoping she's tolerating the treatments without too much discomfort.

@AV_, how fantastic things fell into place for you and you can continue living where you are! And great news about the grant too... Happy for you!

Hi @sarahb! Hope things are going well for you.

@canuk-gal, it stinks that your summer weather hasn't been that great, I'm sorry! So glad you enjoyed a wonderful dinner, you deserve it and more!

@marcy, sounds like Marty is making progress on the gym, he has really been working hard on it. I've had to go back to the store because I forgot something more times than I care to admit. Sounds like you were on the go all day Saturday. Hope you had a chance to relax a little today.

@Calliecake, thinking of you and hoping that stone isn't giving you trouble. <3

Things are good in SC. Got together with my sister and her dh, and since they live here full-time we'll be seeing a lot of them. It's been rainy here but today was better so we spent some time outside. Hot and humid though.

Sending love to all!

 

[marcy]

Good afternoon NIRDI’s. Sending all of you friendly greetings and hoping you are having a pleasant day.

Austina, so glad you are having such a marvelous time. Yes, the Hubble images are great. What is also pretty amazing is technology on Earth has improved so much as well, the universe is always smiling for a great picture. I have to ask, what is a hot stone massage?

Missy, Greg has a good perspective there; what you are doing daily is just work and that is something you can easily handle. Hoping your kitties are turning the corner and improving as I am typing this. I did get my lifting in yesterday and it seems like I always forget something as well. Oh well, that’s not a big deal. Since you rarely eat sweets I bet candy on your ice cream was a bit much. Maybe next time get just a few pieces of candy on your ice cream. I usually don’t get anything added or mixed in because I think it’s too sweet. Thank you for the hugs. The ice cream looks delicious and yes that cloud looks like Mickey Mouse ears.

AV, nice that you enjoyed a long weekend of doing nothing. Sweet.

Kate, what a sad yet touching story about Daisy; she was worth those vet visits and long bath treatments. Big hugs to you. Enjoy your walk with your friend from IBM. How cool about your friend owning jewelry stores and buys great pieces on Ebay.

Junebug, darn that you have to go back to the store sometimes too. It’s usually the thing we needed most, too. All I’ve done today is laundry, a few dishes and watched golf. Sounds like you are having a nice time in SC. I saw on FB the 3 words southerners like to hear “low humidity today”.

I’ve been lounging around most of the day. I watched a few episodes of Jag, I am almost done with laundry and we had a late lunch / early dinner,

Have a wonderful day.
Marcy

 

[missy]

GM girls! Happy Monday.

@junebug17 wonderful you are getting to enjoy the company of your sister and her dh and that they enjoy the shore full time. Hope your weather improves soon. It's going to be a beastly hot week here but as long as our AC keeps working fingers crossed we'll manage. Enjoy and relax and have fun.

@AV_ yes to work feeling like a vacation. That is the best it can be and may that continue. Publish or perish I seem to remember that phrase. I have no doubt you will publish and thrive. Have a good Monday AV and enjoy work and relaxation. Being fully engaged in work/one's passion is pure bliss at times.
And yes I seem to have lost my taste for sweets. For now. But I still enjoy Days ice cream so at least there is that.

@Tekate sorry Daisy was ill much of the time. You were/are such a good mom to furbabies and humans alike. They were/are all so lucky to have you by their side and Daisy knew how much she was adored and loved. I know you understand. All the cats at once and it isn't looking good for Fred. And the others keep getting worse despite aggressive treatment. In my worse nightmare none of them get through this and at this point in time it's looking quite grim. Even Oliver is getting worse despite the most aggressive treatment of 10mg/kg Itrafungol daily. Bobby and Tommy are only getting 5mg/kg because it is simply too much med for them to get the higher dose and the vet wanted them on the lesser dose anyway. But they are all getting it daily and not pulse dosing yet they continue to worsen. Thanks for listening and for understanding. Hope your home sale goes smoothly. And I hope you had a great get together with your old friend from IBM. (((Hugs))). And LOL you are beautiful and perfect in all ways that count my dear kate. Thank you for your too generous comments. And I am always here for you too sweet girlie.

@marcy yes to lounging around much of Sunday. You deserve it with all the craziness you deal with at work. Love early dinners. Those are the only dinners we have but getting up before 4AM I suppose eating by 5PM isn't that early lol. Have a good Monday and hope the cuckoo work people behave themselves today. XO

@Scandinavian sending bucketloads of continuing good luck dust to your mom and (((hugs))) to you.

@Slick1 how was the rest of your weekend? Have a good Monday and stay cool. XO

@canuk-gal enjoy a lovely week and hope you get some cycling in and the weather cooperates for you. Hugs.

I enjoyed a refreshing mango sorbet with the coconut milk vanilla ice cream yesterday.
And Greg enjoyed Guatemalan ripple.



Enjoy a wonderful Monday girls and hugs.

 

[Scandinavian]

Morning girls!
My mother is having a difficult week but I just wanted to stop by and say hello!
For a little bling, look what a friend gave me:



Sorry for the really bad photo. They are amazing, hand made traditional gold Portuguese jewellery. Queens earrings and the Maltese cross.

 

[missy]

Morning girls!
My mother is having a difficult week but I just wanted to stop by and say hello!
For a little bling, look what a friend gave me:



Sorry for the really bad photo. They are amazing, hand made traditional gold Portuguese jewellery. Queens earrings and the Maltese cross.

I’m so sorry Scandi. Sending gentle hugs and continued healing dust to your Mom. Gorgeous earrings. Hugs to you too.

 

[missy]

Elaine the cat rescue lady agreed to come today and help us bathe the cats. Still waiting for her to tell me what time she can come so we’re staying home today. The cats come first. Now just hoping she doesn’t disappoint us.

 

[Scandinavian]

More pictures

 

[Scandinavian]

Elaine the cat rescue lady agreed to come today and help us bathe the cats. Still waiting for her to tell me what time she can come so we’re staying home today. The cats come first. Now just hoping she doesn’t disappoint us.

You will start bathing them at home? In addition to the dips or to replace them? Fingers crossed it goes well!

 

[missy]

You will start bathing them at home? In addition to the dips or to replace them? Fingers crossed it goes well!

In addition to the dips. But depends how it goes today. If they get violent and we cannot handle it we won’t be able to. I want to do the dips twice a week but our local vet won’t because she doesn’t have the resources so I want to try it at home and add that to the once per week at the vet. Elaine wants to shampoo them though and since we are like dipping them at the vet tomorrow we will attempt shampooing today. I have a bad feeling about it though. If it goes ok however then we will so lime dips once a week at home and once a week at the vet office. Today is a trial run with shampooing. Have I mentioned our cats can be violent and don’t mean to hurt us but we have gotten cut up before. It’s not their fault. They are terrified and traumatized.
The issue with cuts is any skin openings ringworm takes hold so hoping it is not a disaster today.

 

[missy]

More pictures

Stunning photos and jewelry Scandi.

 

[Calliecake]

@missy, I’m glad you and Greg have been able to get out and have been able to enjoy cycling with everything that has been going on. I’m sorry this has been so hard. Hopefully the additional help with bathing the kitties will help a great deal with getting the furbabies well. You and Greg are a great team and will get thru this. I’m hoping they all begin to do better and this nightmare comes to an end soon. This has been hard on all of you.

@Scandinavian , The jewelry is beautiful. What a lovely and generous gift from your friend. I’m sure they look gorgeous on you. I’m so sorry to hear the treatments have been really hard on your mom. My dad’s wife has battled an extremely aggressive form of cancer the past few years. She has been cancer free for the past year and a half and is doing well. She had often said what it was doing to her emotionally was as difficult as the treatments. Please make sure your mom gets help for her emotional well being if she needs it, as well as anyone else in your family. I know you have a loving support network of friends and people helping you but if you or anyone in your family needs additional help, please get the help. I realize this isn’t the case for everyone and some people handle this pretty well. I’m sorry if I over stepped in mentioning this and if it’s not helpful please ignore what I’ve said. I think of you often and am sending your family lots of dust. Love, Callie

@junebug17, Have a great time in SC and enjoy the time with your DH and sister and BIL. How is DD enjoying teaching now that kids are back in school? I was thinking of her the other night when I was out with my niece. She was very interested in hearing about the experiences your DD has had. She had quite a few stories of her own about her work this past summer.

@Tekate, I hope you had a great time with your friend. You have lots of exciting things to share with her. I’m hoping the house sells quickly and you decide what you want for the new house easily. So many choices. It’s exciting building a new house and getting to pick out all the things you want in it. I can’t wait to see what floor plan you decide on. How is Autie doing? Your story about Daisy was touching. She was lucky to get you for her mom.

@Austina, Your vacation pictures look incredible. It’s so much fun vacationing vicariously thru you LOL. Please post more pictures and have a great time.

@marcy, It sounds like you had a nice weekend. I’m glad the meeting went well. You will have to give me some pointers on lifting for arms. It’s great that you are enjoying lifting and have kept up with it. Is Marty’s back feeling any better? Did you watch the BMW Medina tournament?

@av, What wonderful news!!!! I was so happy to read you are able to stay where you are and get to continue you doing work you enjoy.

@canuk-gal , I hope there are still many cycling days ahead before the weather gets too cold.

We had a busy weekend. It was a fun week with my grandniece starting school. They grow up too darn fast.

 

[missy]

Girls the bathing is over. Elaine was great. She bathed all of them and took the fungus off where she could. Poor Fred is very bloody and raw on his legs were she removed the fungus and his face. Praying this helps. She is willing to come every week and help bathe them for us. She is away next week but she said she would come this Saturday to bathe them again. She feels responsible but it's not her fault and I so appreciate her help. Hoping this is what makes the difference.

Here is Elaine holding him after the bath. You can sort of see how raw his legs are and where all the hair is missing and same for his face and neck. Bloody and raw. Poor baby.




@Calliecake glad you enjoyed the weekend with your family and yes they grow up too fast. Speaking of growing up too fast look at my nieces surfing. Love them so much.





Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

@missy I am not gonna lie, Fred does look threadbare. But I suspect he is energizer bunny...… Glad you had some help today.

@Scandinavian in the realm of stupid diseases and their challenging treatment, is the beauty of steadfast support, good friends and loving families. And success. The universe is on your/MOMs side.

Work was busy. Nice weather tho.

NIRDI's cheers--Sharon

 

[Tekate]

@missy Oh no I am so sorry that the furbabies are not getting better and getting worse I so wish things were improving for you and Greg. I know we do what we must for our furkids and kids so at least you know you are doing the best you can. Sending you love and healing thoughts and I too am very happy you and Greg can still get out and ride and eat special ice cream together. Fred looked peaked Missy, I hope so much he get's better

@marcy Hi Marcy, thank you for your kind words about Daisy.. she was so important to my older son and me, Chris loved her as did John, but Mike and she had a wonderful bond and love. How's Marty feeling? and you? I'm good.

@Scandinavian Hi Scandi, I hope your mom is bearing up, chemo is tough, my brother did 1 1/2 years of it plus radiation for lung cancer. Your beautiful jewelry shines Scandi! so wonderful and thank you for sharing!

@Calliecake Hi Callie! Thank you Callie girl. My mother and father were not good to animals, they weren't abusive but they treated not like family but like 'things' tied up, given up, ignored. When I got Daisy I promised myself and whatever higher thingy there is that I would take the best care of this dog, and higher power thingy gave me a challenge and I did my absolute best to be the best fur mom ever. I loved her with my whole heart. I know what you mean about grandniece's! my little Neve is starting kindergarten I cannot believe she is starting school too. Time does pass way too quickly.

@junebug17 Hola June! I hope you are having a wonderful time with family at your SC home.. it must be wonderful to have a pool, I miss having a pool, hope all is going well with you and your family! sending love June.

@canuk-gal Hi Sharon, all sound good with you! enjoy the weather.

@AV_ Good to read all in going your way AV!

@Slick1 How's things with you? how's the wedding bustle and hustle going?

@Mamabean hey Joanne, sending you love and hi's!!! xo

Gotta run, Kate is calling! love to you all.

 

[marcy]

Hi NIRDI’s!

Missy, definitely getting up at 4 am means early dinners are a must. The cuckoos at work weren’t bad today. What a surprise. Your ice cream looks delicious as usual. How nice Elaine offered to come help bath the cats today. I hope the bathing and dips at home work well.

Scandi, I am sorry to hear your mom is having a rough week. Your new jewelry is beautiful.

Callie, I will tell you those overhead presses are rough. My third round isn’t as quick as the first. Marty’s back is slightly better. I think he needs to just quit lifting for a few weeks then work back up slowly but what do I know? We did watch the BMW Medina Tournament. Did you watch it? I bet it was fun spending time with your grandniece. They do grow up fast.

Sharon, enjoy the nice weather.

Kate, that is so awesome Daisy was so special to all of you especially Mike. I am glad she had such a loving family. Marty is doing okay. I know his back is still hurting. How are you doing? I am good except my right knee is giving me heck. Phooey. How is the planning going for moving towards selling your house?

My day was uneventful. Marty was home for supper so I picked up window food on the way home. I had some peaches as well. It’s about peaches are getting good.

Take care.
Marcy

 

[missy]

GM girls!

@junebug17 hope you are enjoying family and good times in SC. Thinking of you and sending hugs.

@Scandinavian thinking of you and thinking of your mom and hoping this chemo week goes as smoothly as possible for her. We are all here for you and sending buckets of healing dust and good thoughts and gentle (((hugs))).

@canuk-gal thank you and I hope you are right. Keep on hanging in there sweet Fred. He sends purry kisses and furry hugs to his Auntie Sharon. Glad you are enjoying nice weather and hope that work is engaging. (((Hugs))).

@marcy lol glad the cuckoos at work didn't drive you too cuckoo crazy yesterday and may the same be true for today. Today is lime sulfur dip day at the veterinarian office. Not sure how it will go because Fred is still raw and I hope they don't say they cannot dip him. I am not confident we can do the lime dip at home (unless Elaine moves in with us haha) so I was thinking now we would do one lime dip a week in the office and one day a week bathing them with anti fungal shampoo with Elaine's help. But we shall see how it goes. I love peaches (but not the fuzzy skin so I can only enjoy them when someone else cut them up for me lol) and glad you enjoyed some last night with your window food. I am so sorry your knee is hurting you so much. And I hope Marty's back starts feeling better soon too. This aging thing is for sure not for sissies. You and Greg should get a 2 for 1 special knee replacement. Offer open to come here to HSS and I will take care of both of you as soon as the RW experience is over. And please let that happen sooner rather than later.

@Slick1 how are you doing? How are wedding preparations going? Hope you are feeling well and enjoying the last weeks of vacation. Hugs.

@Austina hope vacation is going well and you are enjoying lovely weather and scenery. XO.

@Mamabean hope you are having a good week. Thinking of you and sending hugs.

Dear @Tekate thank you. Yes sweet Fred is tired and weak and we so badly want to save him and give him good quality of life. Doing all we can including me asking Elaine for help. I hate asking people for help (besides my dh that is) though somehow sharing it on PS does help and I am never shy about that. But anyway yesterday morning when it was looking the grimmest and darkest for our dear Fred I texted Elaine asking her could she come and help us and she jumped at the chance. I am so appreciative of her help and hope she is willing to continue coming here for as long as we need her. It is quite a trip for her but at this time she is willing to do it. I did try finding a cat groomer first but there is no one around here. I placed a request in the local newsletter for a cat groomer and no one answered. There are plenty of dog groomers but no cat groomers and it is a different skill set. Plus to find someone to come to the home is an added hurdle but even just to find a cat grooming place there was nothing. Anyway all this to say we are hoping so hard we can save Fred and that all the cats get better from this dreadful RW infection.

How goes the home sale? How goes the new purchase? How is everyone including Autie doing? How is your sweet niece Kate doing? I hope one day to visit her in action and buy some of her lovely creations. Looking forward to the day we can lead a more "normal" life and a life with our kitties healthy and happy and a life where Greg and I are feeling good too. Not exhausted and sleep deprived. One day in the not too far future I hope. Yesterday was a good day and having Elaine come here and help with the cats changed the whole dynamic I think. We have more hope at the moment and may that continue.

Leaving you with a photo of sweet Fred from last night next to us on the couch.
(trying not to think about all the fungal spores he is spreading lol and oy oy oy)


eyes open


eyes closed and relaxing a bit
and next to his daddy who was so happy Fred was looking a little bit better



Have a wonderful day ladies. It is lime sulfur dip day today and fingers crossed the cats all do OK. Oliver is also getting his booster shots today and they are all getting dewormed again 3 weeks after the last deworming since patient Zero not only has ringworm but roundworm which is a parasite. We got rid of his Coccidia (or at least the vet's office didn't see any Coccidia at the last stool eval) but then somehow they found roundworm. Oh Oliver what didn't you get lol. As Elaine wrote we got hit with everything with him but truth be told no we didn't. It could have been a lot worse. Believe it or not.

See you later lovely ladies.

 

[Austina]

Hello lovelies

We’re in Corsica, beautiful scenery, but OMG, the drive up was nail biting, narrow winding roads, and I was sat by the window so could see how close we were to the edge We were very glad to get back to the ship alive.

@Scandanavian I’m so sorry your Mum is having a hard time with this round of treatment, poor lady. How sweet and thoughtful of your friend to give you such a beautiful gift.

Glad work isn’t driving you cuckoo @marcy, and yes, I suspect you’re right, Marty needs to rest, but do men ever listen ?

I’m sorry you lost your lovely Daisy dog to hemangiosarcoma @Tekate, we nearly lost our lovely Dottie 3 years again to the same thing. We were very fortunate that they were able to remove her spleen before it ruptured. I know we’d have been completely devastated if we’d lost her. Even now, I can’t bear the thought of losing her, but I can see she is slowing down and beginning to show signs of age.

Glad you’re enjoying some good weather @canuk-gal.

Oy indeed @missy, poor old Fred does look the worse for wear, but hopefully removing the fungus patches will help him heal quicker. What a find that Elaine is able to come and bathe the cats. Did they behave better with a stranger than they would’ve done with you? The groomer always tells me that Dottie was good as gold, but if she sees me with a brush or comb she legs it in to her crate so I can’t get to her.

Weather her is lovely and we’re really enjoying the short break. We were in Menorca yesterday, and it’s relatively unspoilt by tourism, unlike Majorca. Tomorrow Portofino.

I hope all the lovely NIRDIs are doing ok despite all the difficulties currently in your lives.
]

 

[AV_]

@Austina You are within shouting distance! Menorca has been on my To Do list for years, since a friend is from there & keeps promising to play guide - for so long, I am quite decided to do without.

@missy I am darn' happy to hear that you have some help, at last! I hope one of the vet clinics - or whoever else under the sun, can set up some service for situations like yours. It is rare enough that anyone wants can can provide this level of care, let alone without any help.

August - what is left of it, will be quiet, so I am taking my time too.

off to one of those walks

 

[Tekate]

@marcy Hi Marcy, sorry about the knee, John has a bad knee and I know it can flare up (like today it did ) eventually he will need to get a knee replacement. I know you have talked before about how you may need one, hope not. I am good Marcy, thank you for asking. We are stlll waiting on hearing from the real estate agent to do what we have to so we can ensure a good sale. xo

@missy it's great that Elaine is coming to assist you and Greg, she must have integrity just like you and Greg I hope so much Fred is doing better, you are the best furmom!!! I was reading earlier today about wild dogs in Brazil killing endangered animals and I thought how sad that dogs are abandoned there, in SA I believe the economy is so bad that people can't feed their animals... I feel so lucky to be able to take care of Salley and I know it's a big strain for you and Greg but I am so glad Ollie found you in one way.. compassion is often hard to find in this life. Fred looks so happy and Greg too! sorry about the coccidia, Daisy came with that. Hope the baths went well today and I'm sending Fred a big pet for being the best boy he can be.. sending you love Missy and healing, and try to eat what you can please.

Missy, we bought 2 acre lot in Liberty Hill, TX so we own that but we cannot build without selling this house first, we would have a very hard time gettinga mortgage if we could at all, John tried getting a credit card (from of all places Capital One!) and they turned him down, said we don't have any income stream (we get so little SS that I guess that didn't count). So we need to get as much money as we can out of this home.

@Austina Hi Austina! I loved that Daisy dog, she was a cocker but we always shaved her due to the constant skin infections. Mike loved her so much.. when she was sick he took all her paw prints and have 3 copies made one for me, john and chris... he was bereft.. he has his dog for 9 years now, really the dog L O V E S his mommy Cara and me! and Mike's MIL. That is wonderful that you had her spleen removed Austina, no vet mentioned that to me they talked about chemo but felt the sarcoma had overtaken her liver.. wish I had known that. Daisy was 13 when she died, she had a great life, and she was loved but I wish she were still here. xoxo hope the trip is FABULOUS! have a great time. xoxoxo

Dinner is calling me!

@Calliecake @Scandinavian @Slick1 @Mamabean I send you guys love, Scandi I hope your mom is okay, Callie I hope your grands are doing well and your niece's are doing well as hubster and YOU! Slick how's things? Mamabean! how's the family.

heres a pix of Mike on graduation day in 2005 with Daisy Dog. Mike was 17 then and Daisy 5, Mike is almost 32 now.. time... (also Mike has lots less hair!).. Daisy was beautiful.

 

[canuk-gal]

Hello lovelies

We’re in Corsica, beautiful scenery, but OMG, the drive up was nail biting, narrow winding roads, and I was sat by the window so could see how close we were to the edge We were very glad to get back to the ship alive.

@Scandanavian I’m so sorry your Mum is having a hard time with this round of treatment, poor lady. How sweet and thoughtful of your friend to give you such a beautiful gift.

Glad work isn’t driving you cuckoo @marcy, and yes, I suspect you’re right, Marty needs to rest, but do men ever listen ?

I’m sorry you lost your lovely Daisy dog to hemangiosarcoma @Tekate, we nearly lost our lovely Dottie 3 years again to the same thing. We were very fortunate that they were able to remove her spleen before it ruptured. I know we’d have been completely devastated if we’d lost her. Even now, I can’t bear the thought of losing her, but I can see she is slowing down and beginning to show signs of age.

Glad you’re enjoying some good weather @canuk-gal.

Oy indeed @missy, poor old Fred does look the worse for wear, but hopefully removing the fungus patches will help him heal quicker. What a find that Elaine is able to come and bathe the cats. Did they behave better with a stranger than they would’ve done with you? The groomer always tells me that Dottie was good as gold, but if she sees me with a brush or comb she legs it in to her crate so I can’t get to her.

Weather her is lovely and we’re really enjoying the short break. We were in Menorca yesterday, and it’s relatively unspoilt by tourism, unlike Majorca. Tomorrow Portofino.

I hope all the lovely NIRDIs are doing ok despite all the difficulties currently in your lives.
]

Austina--I've been on those tours...on the edge of those "type" cliffs. All I can say is EYIYIYI! After a martini or two of course...enjoy your holiday!

 

[junebug17]

@missy, I'm so glad Elaine was able to bathe the cats for you. How wonderful to have some help and support! I'm keeping Fred and all the kitties in my thoughts and I really hope things start turning around for them. Love the pic of sweet Fred and Greg together. I'm hoping the lime dips go ok tomorrow. Sending lots of support and love to you and Greg, you guys are doing such an amazing job. ((((HUGS))))

Wow, your nieces look amazing! I am so impressed, surfing is really hard! They are such special and beautiful young ladies.

@marcy, so true, it's usually the thing we need the most that we forget. This humidity is good for my skin but terrible for my hair lol. I'm so sorry your knee is giving you trouble and I hope it starts feeling better soon. I hope the rest of your workweek goes smoothly for you.

@Scandinavian, I'm so sorry your mother is having a hard time this week. Absolutely gorgeous jewelry , that yellow gold is yummy. So very thoughtful and generous of your friend.

@Calliecake, my dd starts school August 28 for teachers, and the kids come the next week. She's planning and getting things ready, and is a little nervous. She'll be fine once school is underway. So nice you had a lovely weekend with your family, and it is amazing how quickly these little ones grow up. I hope your grandniece is enjoying school!

@Austina, glad you enjoyed Corsica and that ride sounds harrowing! You are seeing such beautiful places, sounds like you are having a fabulous time.

@Tekate, love the pic of Mike and Daisy, so touching and bittersweet. 2005 doesn't sound like it was that long ago, but it was...Crazy how the years fly by.

@AV_, glad to hear August will be quiet for you, enjoy it!

@canuk-gal, yay to nice weather, hope it sticks around for a bit.

Having a nice time here, went out to lunch with my sister and then did some shopping. Also helped dh put protector on the outdoor teak furniture, and that's not as much fun lol. Family is coming on Friday so I have to get into gear and get the bedrooms ready and do some food shopping.

Keeping all the nirdis going through hard times in my thoughts, take care everyone. XOX

 

[Calliecake]

@missy, The pictures of your nieces looks like they had a blast. I’m impressed, surfing is supposed to be pretty difficult and they looked like they were handling it wonderfully. I hope yesterday’s bath/dips went well for all the kitties. Hang in there. You will all get thru this. I’d put sheets or blankets over the furniture and just wash them everyday if you are concerned about the spores.

@Austina, The groomer tells me our furbaby does great at the groomer once I am out of site. She doesn’t like it when I leave her. Lots of crying then once I am out of eyesight they say she calms right down. The groomer said it’s obvious she gets a lot of attention at home. Apparently I have a spoiled furbaby. No surprises there. DH never has an issue when he drops her off. The groomer says she is definitely a momma girl. I hope you are having a wonderful time on your trip. It sounds wonderful. Please post more pictures!

@Tekate, I hear you on what you went thru with your Daisy. Our furbaby as was sick all the time the first year. It took a lot of experimenting and lots of testing and doc visits. We eventually got her well. You do what you have to do to get them well. I always tried not to get too ahead of ourselved and just dealt with each thing as it came along. It’s no fun worrying if you will be able to get them thru it.

@junebug17, It sounds like you are going to have a busy weekend with your family coming to stay. Have a wonderful time with your family. Your DD is lucky she is starting classes later. I was pretty surprised the kids around here started back to school so early. My grandnieces school clothes arrived so I will see her this week to drop them off. I can’t wait to hear what she has to say about this week. My nieces was happy that her teacher was new to teaching. She was so excited to be teaching, Things are going great for our niece who is teaching. It’s so great to see her so happy starting her career.

@Scandinavian , I’m hoping your mom is doing well with this second round of chemo. Thinking of you and wishing you and your family well.

@marcy, I hope Marty’s knee improves quickly. I’m sure telling him to take it easy probably hasn’t had much effect. We all know men can be stubborn. We too watched the Medina tournament. Dear husband taped it we so we watched it in the evening.

 

[missy]

GM girls.

@junebug17 thank you sweetheart. Appreciate your support and good wishes as always. I am glad you are having such a wonderful time with your family and that is what it is all about. Enjoy everyone and everything and have a blast. Life can be very sweet. Sending you hugs and love.

@AV_ a quiet rest of August sounds lovely. Enjoy each moment and savor it. The unofficial end of summer is upon us and so quickly too. Days getting shorter and sun setting earlier. It doesn't bother me this year however as I am almost in bed by 8PM these days. Hugs.

@Austina so glad you are having a terrific vacation and yes the cats behave better with strangers than with us. Sorry Dottie has the same issue. Thanks for your good wishes. Hugs.

@Tekate Sending you bucketloads of house selling dust. Hope it sells at the price you want it to so you can build your dream home on the land you bought. Thank you for your kind wishes. Daisy was a beauty and I love that photo of her with Mike. Thanks for sharing. I sure hope Elaine will come back like she promised but so far she hasn't texted me what time she is coming Saturday. She is going away next week so we asked her to come this weekend and Sunday she cannot as she is running an adoption event but she promised she'd come Saturday and text me the time but nothing about that so far. I am a nervous nellie because now that she offered and I see how bathing might have helped the crusting etc. I am anxious to get it done again but Greg and I wouldn't be able to do it by ourselves. The cats are too crazy with us. Anyway all that writing just to say yes I hope Elaine will come again and again until they get better. Fingers crossed. Have a great day Kate and sending you lots of hugs and love.

@canuk-gal how goes the cycling? I hope your weather is continuing to behave and be nice. We are in a thunderstorm pattern with lots of heat. But we are hoping to go for a ride today in between thunderstorms. I don't like cycling when it is thunder and lightning so trying to get in between the bookend storms predicted. Hope you have a lovely day.

@Calliecake thanks for your good wishes and suggestions. We are leaving the furniture uncovered and just cleaning like maniacs every day. If we covered the furniture it would be hard to uncover without releasing lots of spores anyway so decided to do it this way. But I do understand why others going through this would isolate their cats. Much easier for the humans to isolate the cats rather than clean every single day like crazy. But we are trying to give as much normality as possible to the cats who are already super stressed from all the treatments they are getting. It's not working too well but it would be worse if we isolated them. It's bad enough we had to take away their cat beds as washing them every day tore them apart. And bad enough we had to close the cat room with beds to them. That room has carpet so we had no choice but we did discuss ripping out the carpet so they could have their room back but it would take too long to rip out carpet and lay down wood floors and that in itself would be stressful having workmen in the house doing all that. So they don't have their carpeted room with human beds to lay in as they did before this. You can see where I am going with this. They are upset enough and their life is disrupted enough so we are just trying the best we can to make it less hard on them. Not sure we are succeeding though.

Glad your kidney stone isn't bothering you and hope when you do schedule an appt to break it up that it goes smoothly. I don't blame you for procrastinating as any procedure like that is scary. But you are going to be OK. Sending you hugs.

@Slick1 hello and good morning. Hope you had a lovely walk yesterday and get another good walk in today. Sending you hugs and love.

@Scandinavian hope your mom is tolerating chemo well this week and continuing to send healing dust her way. And hugs and love to you.

@Sunstorm just wanted to let you know the Vetri immune liquid came and I am giving it to the cats. Thank you for the advice and hugs to you.

So yesterday was a busy day as are all days since this started. We got up at 3:30 AM and fed the cats. Then gave the Itrafungol to them (with the exception of Fred who isn't getting any oral meds). Then we had coffee and breakfast and then we started cleaning and the laundry rounds. Then we dropped the cats off at 8:30 AM to the vet office for lime dips. Then we went back home and changed into cycling clothes and got the bike ready and went riding and had Days in between. Then we came back home for Greg's conference call and I did more laundry. Then we picked the cats up (Oy to the weekly vet bill lol and thank goodness we don't have to worry about that because if we had to that would just add another whole level of stress), fed them and then we had dinner. All in all an exhausting day and today we get to do it all over again haha minus the vet visit.

Oh and we still have to keep Oliver isolated from the other cats as he is not parasite free yet. In 2 weeks we retest since he had the latest Drontal dose yesterday. Poor sweetie has been isolated from the others for over 4 week now and he is almost 5 months old. I worry what this will do to his social game but we have no choice and we try spending time with him as much as we can given our demanding cat schedule. He is in the bedroom with us at least so he does have that though he is for the most part in his playpen in our bedroom.



For you @marcy


It was warm yesterday but a lovely cycling day nonetheless.



and sweet Fred last night after the lime dip. Poor baby. He just wanted rest, peace and quiet. I want to give him that so badly and I want him to have his relatively good health back too. He looks so small in this photo.



Have a good day girls. (((Hugs))).

 

[AV_]

@missy Your mention of the ending summer reminds me that I do not have to worry about winter, not this year, at least, since I am not leaving this place.
I am reading through your daily saga in disbelief ,( I couldn't pull off such a schedule, come what may.

 

[Scandinavian]

Good morning girls!
Even if it is not really morning for me - nor @missy, LOL. Girl, how can you get up so early?? Don't you need to sleep? Super human!
@AV_ So happy to read your amazing work news! Sounds like you will be very happy! If you would like some winter, just come on north, LOL
@junebug17 Enjoy the family visit, hope you will have a lot of fun! I love the idea of guests, even if I sometimes regret it for a couple of hours right before they arrive, and then I'm all happy again when they do arrive LOL
@marcy, how is work? Sorry about your knee! My dad had a knee preplacement last year (I think) and he recovered super quickly, was fit as a horse again within a couple of weeks.
@Calliecake, I really appreciate all advice! And you are not butting your nose in. I think all advice is good advice, whether or not a person chooses to follow the advice, at least a new idea can be inspirational. My mom hates all things psychology, but the hospital is offering if she changes her mind.
@Tekate, the house project is so exciting! I love such things! Have you found a house plan you like yet? Any ideas as to the style you prefer?
@Austina, Hope you have an amazing holiday! Yes please to pictures!

Thank you so much to all of you for your continued good wishes. It means a lot to me. I'm very blessed to have such good friends - you all included - for support and for venting my mind. I still can't get over how kind and generous everybody are. I'm OK for now. My mom is really tired this week. I hope next week will be better for her. Or she might accidentally chew my head off, LOL. My work is the practical problem these days. his work hours does not allow for a lot of help. We have relied on a lot of assistance from my parents. But now with my mother sick, I have to call on my dad (they are divorced) tp help with my mother (driving her to the hospital etc) and he also has limited time available. And my grandmother also needs a bit of help with shopping and such things, which my mother used to do but now - oh hey - that's me also LOL. And also, I can't travel to work, because the furbabies can't be home alone for a whole day. And the children has homework and activities and apparently they also need a bit of food every now and again. So I'm stuck working from home. And that has its limits, practically as well as from a time perspective. So I might just have to stop working. Oh well. Not the biggest problem in the world. But not really nice either. Sorry for the whole me-me-me.

Hugs!

 

[AV_]

@Scandinavian Don't they do sabaticals in your line of work?
I should get to see some snow this year, sure enough, else I'll forget what it is.