Aussie105
Aussie105's JournalThank you for being my friend!
Subtitle: Vet said NO! I said YES!
Daughter wanted to move and dumped a cat on us, a timid middle aged ginger.
We took him in, named him Rufus, fed him and all that stuff, but he never connected with us or our dogs.
Ended up living outside, often in the back seat of the wife's car, window down, backseat down so he could get to the boot 'cave' where his food was.
Didn't show up, went looking for him, neighbour said he is now living in his garage and he was happy to let him.
Anyway, I still left food out on the porch for him.
One night, I found him eating - went out to see how he was, ignored me while munching.
Took a closer look, a different ginger!
Picked him up, put him on my shoulder, expecting cat panic and me getting my back clawed.
But no, he just oozed in, all relaxed.
Much younger, no white patch on his chest.
Took him in, careful introduction to the dogs, cat showed no fear - pleasure instead - much head rubbing on the dogs, to their delight.
You smell different. But friend!
Took him to the vet.
Vet did tests, he has feline AIDS, shall we put him down?
Instant NO!!! from me.
Got desexed, ear tattoo, microchip. Named him Moggins. Now officially adopted!
Had a problem with his eyes, vet said ingrown eye lashes, inverted eyelids.
Got fixed by the vet.
Fast forward 6 years, he is still here.
In the meantime, the original ginger Rufus has died, so has the elderly neighbour who looked after him, and one of the dogs.
Likes to jump up on my computer table and sit on the keyboard to get my attention. His way of saying 'feed me please!'
And when he did that today, I said, for no particular reason "Thank you for being my friend!"
(No photos because we all know what ginger cats look like, right?)
I did a thing today!
And I don't know if I should be proud of myself, or feel sad, so I'm cycling between the two.
Back story:
Second marriage for both me, 75, and the wife, 80. Married in 1988.
The scourge of advancing age is upon us, well, one of us anyway.
Wife's mother ended up in cloud cuckoo land and spent the last 10 years or so of her life in sheltered care.
(Alcohol use was blamed for the brain rot.)
Wife's first husband is now wheelchair bound, in sheltered care, also off with the pixies.
But it gets worse - wife's oldest son, now has dementia and is in sheltered care, 2,000 km away.
And worse - wife has slowly developed all the signs of dementia too.
I'm guessing there is a big genetic component at work there, but there is nothing in my side, so I'm in the clear. Just strung out looking after an 80 year old lady who is unpredictable and can throw temper tantrums like a 5 year old.
Anyway, the 'thing' I did today:
Collected a lot of childhood photos and more recent ones of the past life the son had, scanned and printed copies, put them into a photo album with captions, and sent it off today.
The aim is to try to refresh some of his memories, if that is possible.
He likes photos, his son - who lives locally to his dad - tells me.
So yeah, I did a thing, hopefully for the good.
The whole dementia thing though, surprisingly common in Australia, and very much a taboo subject from the vibes I'm getting from some family members who should care, but act like they don't.
Oh, for all this is holy! Stop calling it the Republican Party, or GOP!
The Republican Party of yesteryear no longer exists.
It died a long time ago, from moral turpitude, self serving freeloader members, and a general lack of working for the best for all.
It died, and no one noticed, but the empty space left behind attracted some unsavoury characters.
Call it the PoT, instead, the Party of Trump.
A party with only one figurehead and a host of mindless followers, and no consistent or detailed platform, with a desire to limit and control people, isn't a political party at all.
It's a cult, by any definition.
One of these is not like the others . . .
No picture unfortunately.
I go out in the morning to feed the backyard birds.
(Front yard birds are magpies and ibis, they get left over cat food later in the day. They don't mix with the backyard riff-raff.)
Backyard birds are different species of doves, pigeons, sparrows and visiting ducks.
Did a headcount of the ducks . . . yep, the usual 4 - but wait - one of them isn't.
Cormorant!
First one I've ever seen in the wild. Cohabiting with the ducks in the local wetlands and parkland lakes?
Usually coastal around here. We are nowhere near the coast.
Not happy. 8-(
Male dog, 13 years old, is dying.
Been off his food, losing bladder and bowel control, staggering around.
Twice today he got himself jammed in unusual spots, once in the back yard and once in the room he is in now, got stuck and very confused, and howled somewhat demented.
Currently he is lying down and breathing shallow, slow breaths.
I check him every couple of minutes just in case.
Been coming on for a while, haven't taken him to the vet because our vet is predictable as far as putting down animals go.
Better to save him the stress of being put down, as opposed to dying peacefully in his sleep at home.
Sad time, but what can you do really.
To be honest, I'm typing this to make myself feel better.
It's not working.
Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about this. 'Power of the dog'.
If you ever lost a pet, prepare to cry when you read it.
Recently translated Neanderthal cave writing.
"Roses are red, violets are blue,
Now I lie me down just to dream of you!"
- Lovesick Larry.
"Could the person who borrowed my club without asking, please return it.
Mammoth hunting season is almost here!"
"Cursed be the man who stole my wife!
I hope the next hunt sees you permanently crippled and she returns to me!"
- Jilted husband.
"You were once the girl of my dreams,
All sugar and spice and all things nice.
Now you complain, and I can do no right."
- Confused husband.
Archaeologists surmise this was a notice board with extra graffiti.
And that people haven't changed much.
Came across this thread at an 'interesting' time . . .
While sitting in my car, next to a wife stoned out of her mind on pain killers, for 4 hours in an underground car park, in 32 degree C heat.
Yes, the dental pain - so severe, she hasn't made much sense over the last week.
The back story.
1. Snapped a tooth off level with the gumline, in November.
2. Went to a local dentist, nope, needs a dental surgeon, try this guy.
3. Dental surgeon booked - first available spot, 20th Jan 2023.
4. Wife insisted she could wait that long. Turns out . . . nope.
5. Massive pain, multiple doctor visits for antibiotics, pain killers. Pain went, came back.
6. Last couple of days swollen face, major pain.
7. Rang another place, sure, 10:30 am tomorrow.
8. We rock up, waiting time took this out to noon.
9. Too swollen, here is a script for antibiotics, come back at 4 pm.
10. 4 pm became a 5:30 pm wait, she was worked on by up to 3 dentists for 2 hours.
11. Paid the AU $ 550 without arguing. After all, they spent quite a bit of time in that room listening to her throw up.
12. Got her back home and resting, sort of.
I'm totally exhausted! What a way to spend a day!
Major sympathy for those who have been through this.
I better go see how she is . . .
Fleas!
Stupid weather here in Australia.
Winter carried on well into what should be spring, and rain like you wouldn't believe.
Lots of weeds, and now, after a few warm days, FLEAS!
12 year old dogs, 6 year old cat, never had flea problems before.
Couple of warm days and . . . FLEAS!
I wondered why one of the dogs was scratching himself so much, rubbed a patch where he was nibbling, and 5 fleas dropped out.
On my bed!
Nearest thing was some alcohol based spray, just made the fleas dopy but gave me enough time to go get fly spray. For the bed, not the pets.
Anyhow, lots of fleas on all three. No fun watching those jump around on the bed, or watching my pets be uncomfortable.
Got some spot on back of the neck type stuff coming in the mail, looking for flea powder to start the kill process off.
Wifey says she has been bitten, I haven't, we did a lot of washing but that is futile while they move around the house shedding fleas.
So my question - what is a good flea powder to rub on the pets?
DAMN! Just realized there will be flea eggs in the carpets and on/in matrasses. Going to be a bit of a job.
As an outsider, may I ask . . .
Are property owners boarding up shops and other places because they think Democratic party voters will lose, and loot, rampage and generally run amok?
Or is it the deplorable hordes of vanilla ISIS in major disappointment mode they fear?
Or antifa?
The proud (sad) boys?
The Tiki torch brigade?
The 17 year old out of state self appointed vigilante crowd?
The armed incels?
Bikers for Trump?
Grandmas for Biden?
The lesbian bikers for Biden?
Mmmmm?
But what if someone gave out riot invitations, and no one came to party all night?
And if there is an all night riot party, who will bring the food, the guns, the ammo, and the bandages?
Don't forget if you get injured in that (possible) riot, the hospitals are rather busy at the moment . . .
Never mind me, I'm confused. A lot of people would be, I'd say.
The cargo cult (*) of Nice Things.
Nice Things - we all want them, they are different things to different people, and how we relate to them and their acquisition defines who we are.
Trump: If I promise them Nice Things they will keep voting for me, right? Biden wants to take away the Nice Things, right?
Republicans: Nice Things are in short supply. To keep continuing for us getting them, we need to ensure people 'lesser' than us don't get them. (And that is a LOT of people!)
Democratic party: Everyone deserves Nice Things. Let's ensure all citizens get them! Affordable health care, quality education, a living wage! There's enough for everybody! We just have to (re)build the social and economic structures that ensure this!
Young people: My parents have Nice Things! How can I get them for myself, with the least effort, and as soon as possible, like right now?
Bezos: All the Nice Things you will ever want are on Amazon!
Theoretical Communism: If we all work together, we can all get the Nice Things!
Practical Communism: See Republicans above.
BLM people: The main Nice Thing we want, is to NOT be harassed, beaten up or killed by the police.
Environmentalists: Mother Nature supplies lots of Nice Things. But you need to look after Her better.
Me (Retired White Person trying Hard not to be Grumpy): I have all the Nice Things I need! Good luck in your pursuits of Nice Things!
(*) 'Cargo cult' - a reference to WW2 air drops of supplies in the highlands of New Guinea.
The Nice Things that fell out of the sky resulted in a semi religious cult following by the indigenous peoples.
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Member since: Wed Jan 16, 2019, 06:45 PMNumber of posts: 6,467