16. All the animals

Growing up, we always had animals.  Actually, my parents had animals for most of their marriage before kids.  And my mom grew up on a farm, so there were always animals.

My dad, I would say, is an animal person; especially cats.  I don't think he had pets growing up, but I could be wrong.  But he loves pets.  He said if he didn't always out live them, he'd have a cat.  It's too hard (emotionally), he said.  My mom is not really an animal person.  She likes animals, but wouldn't seek out any of her own (especially now that she's retired and likes to travel).

When I was little (and before I was born) my dad (the family) had a cat called drummer.  He was a smooth black cat.  He wasn't overly friendly, but not mean either.  Just a normal cat.  After he died (I think I was 7, maybe), Jessica and I each got a kitten.  Two grey tiger cats.  I named mine Tiger (how unoriginal).  Jessica called hers Smokey.  Smokey was especially anti-social, though, to be fair, we were very enthusiastic pet owners.  They were meant to be inside cats, but gradually became indoor/outdoor.  And back then, the flea medicines weren't great.  They became outdoor cats, and then semi-feral cats.  I think they lived to be 17ish.  We had a cat that adopted us, we called him BooBoo.  He was a super skinny, mangy, black and white tuxedo cat.  He had been de-clawed, which I assume means he was abandoned, since de-claws cats can't do well outside.  We tried to bring him in, as he was a very lovey cat.  But he was either incontinent, or too dumb to use a little box, and peed in the heat vents.  So then he only came in if he was under direct surveillance.  He disappeared (died) a few years later.

We also had hamsters, and a few birds in those years.  

In college, my friend Anna adopted a cat named Lilac (We renamed her Phantom, aka Phantos Mantos, because she was super sneaky).  She was going away on a trip, and brought the cat to my house.  Then the cat never left.  I think my friend's mom didn't like the cat.  This isn't surprising, as she was a mean cat.  She loved to claw at people and news papers.  When Aaron and I moved out, we left her with my dad.  But as he became increasingly ill, the cat wasn't doing well either.  And he couldn't take care of her well.  She died one day before we came home for Christmas break.  (We couldn't take her to Utah, no apartments there allow pets.  Seriously, it's impossible to find a place that takes pets).  We both still feel bad about that.

When we were in Utah we got two rats, Winston and Dexter.  They were good guys.  It's funny, but they had distinct, and unique personalities.  Winston died on the fourth of July, after being sick.  (We took them to the vet for various issues, as one would with any animal).  We got a dumbo rat called Floyd shortly there after, and moved back to California.  After a year or so, Dex died.  So we got Stanley (because rats are social).  One night while we were asleep, Stanley attacked Floyd so badly, we thought Floyd died.  Aaron rushed him to an exotics vet, where we paid $500 to put a rat back together.  (Stupid decisions made highly emotional moments).  Stanley had essentially castrated Floyd.  Then they were separated, and we got no more rats.  

This is getting too long, but I think I've written about the current round of pets more recently.

Another pet blog

Zelda:
She was our first dog (as in neither of us had ever had a dog before).  We had wanted a greyhound for sometime, and where matched up with her.  She has lived with us for nearly 6 years.  Zelda is the sweetest dog.  She loves all people, and cats!  And she is an easy dog, she sleeps all day.  She has deep brown eyes with Egyptian-looking eyeliner.  She loves walks, holding hands, zoomies, sleeping on the couch and treats.  She will be 11 in October.  Her full name is Zelda Belle.  Aliases: Zelly Belly, Zoody, Zooby, Zelby, Zella, Noodles, Big Dog, Dogzilla, Belly, and Zoo.

Fiona:
Thinking all dogs were awesome, like Zelda, we got Fiona at a chihuahua sale, at the local shelter. She is not full chihuahua, but possibly has dachshund, or terrier as well. She tricked us, she acted very quiet and friendly.  Neither of these things have been true.  When she first came home, she peed on the floor a lot.  That, fortunately, has stopped.  But she barks all. the. time.  And she hates all dogs that aren't Zelda, and is not fond of many people either.  But she is a snuggly little idiot, and we love her.  The age estimate from the shelter puts her about the same age as Zelly.  She still acts like a much younger dog.  Her full name is Fiona Josephine.  Her aliases are: Yoie, Yoie Joey, and Small Dog,

Julius:
Juli is possibly the most handsome, and troublesome cat we've ever had.  He is friendly, and loves to be a lap cat.  But he also sprays whenever he is in the house, and after trying many things, he had to be an outside/garage cat.  Juli got along with our previous cat (Moss) but doesn't like any other cats.  He gets along with the dogs without any issues. He is a jerk, but we still love him.  He is likely about 7 years old.  Neither cat has a middle name.  Aliases: Juli, Jules, Juli-Booli, Julius-Boolius, and Juli-Cat.

Priya:
Priya has only been with us since January.  She is a shy cat, but likes snuggling once she knows you.  She is missing one of her rear feet, so she hops a bit.  Her name was Tinsley when we adopted her.  She doesn't like dogs, but likes hissing and swiping at them.  Priya has Bertie get along fairly well; she likes to sit by him in the big recliner.  She doesn't have many aliases: Pree, Pree-Cat.

The incident

A week ago we took the dogs on their nightly walk.  We went on one of our non-typical routes.  As we were walking down the sidewalk a grey pitbull charged out of a house, and straight towards the dogs.  It all happened so fast, I didn't even have time to think. (We carry pepper spray in our walk bag for that specific purpose, but didn't even have time to grab it).  I hoisted Yoie up by her lead, and the pitbull went straight to Zelda.  In a matter of 2 seconds, Zelda had several bites on her leg (one was muscle deep).  

The friend of the dog owner had let the dog out into the front yard without a lead.  The owner (Regina) was not happy about this, of course.  Aaron called his mom to come pick up him and Zelda, and they went off to the emergency vet.  I walked Bertie and Yoie home.  Aaron had to leave her for a while, and pick her up around 1:30 am.  It was $400-something. When Fiona and I went to bed, I noticed that she was bleeding.  She had been bitten on her chest, but it didn't look too bad, so I decided to take her to our normal vet in the morning.

Zelda came home and looked alright.  When we got up, Fiona's bit was really, really swollen.  I took her to the vet.  She had a hematoma and needed a drain.  So I left her for the day, her bill was around $500.  

Then on Wednesday we noticed that Zelda's stitches looked really bad, like she'd popped a stitch.  Thursday I took her to our vet, who told us that the emergency vet didn't fix her correctly and she had necrotic tissue in her wound.  So she needed a drain too.  Another $500.  Aaron is still in talks with the ER vet to reimburse us for their error.  The pitbull's owner paid $1000 for the first round of bills (but it it's right for her to have to pay for the vet's error).

In the meantime, my sister made a go fund me for Zelda and in a day we raised enough money to cover the bill, in case the ER vet doesn't pay.

Fiona had her drain out on Saturday.  She's looking a little better, and her appetite is coming back.  Zelda's leg is still looking bad.  She's suppose to have the drain out tomorrow, but we'll see that the vet says.

It's been a very stressful week.

What I did today.

• Got up "early" (as opposed to sleeping in) at 7, to go to the flea market.  I think it was about 40 degrees when we got there.
• We wandered around for about 90 minutes.  It was emptier than usual, due to the cold weather, and that it'd rained last night.  I found a couple books for Mojo, but that was all we got.
• On the way home we got gas, and donuts.  
• We laid down for a few minutes when we got home.  Actually Aaron laid down for a few minutes, I ended up napping for 2.5 hours.  He left to go to a memorial while I was asleep.
• When I got up, I found that Fiona had made a line of poop from the kitchen into the living room.  I cleaned that up, and decided that it was about time to deep clean the kitchen.
• They finished taking out the tree while all that was going on.  The giant camphor tree is no more.  The stump got all the way ground, hopefully we'll have a driveway again soon.
• In the kitchen, I put everything away, did all the dishes, scrubbed the counters, and stove top.  I took the recycling and garbage out, and shredded all our papers.  I swept the floor. Then I got a bucket and Lysol and proceeded to scrub the floor on my hands and knees (I did the baseboards too).  Aaron came home while I was scrubbing, so he helped too.  I also ran the laundry while doing all the cleaning.
• After that we worked on Aaron's quilt.  We'll he did most of it, I assisted when necessary.  The top was sewn together.   He added the patches he wanted (it's a scouting quilt).  Then we pin basted it on the (newly cleaned) kitchen floor.  We went back and forth on whether to tie the quilt, or stitch in the ditch.  Tying is a lot easier, but doesn't look as nice.  Stitch in the ditch is a lot more difficult, but looks a lot nicer.  We ended up using the stitch in the ditch.  We needed to go to ask grandma for some advice on how to minimize pulls on the back of the quilt.  There were a few small mishaps, but it looks really great!  All that's left is the binding, and it's all done.
• While we were doing that, Julius peed in the dog bed, which was about 5 feet away from us.  I guess Aaron had gotten a little behind in cleaning the boxes, but man, that cat is a jerk.  
• I've walked 15,100 steps today.  :-D
• We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Now we're watching Star Trek Into Darkness.
• I wanted to change the bed linens, and put the laundry away, but I think those things will have to wait til tomorrow.

At this time

I opened my Discover Card bill and found I owed $0 this month.  I love when that happens!  We never carry credit card debt.  I think we've done it once it all of our married life, and then it was for only a month.  In terms of debt, we have $3700 left on my car to pay off, and all of Aaron's school loan.  As for the car, I'm making double (or triple) payments; I'm going to have it paid off before the year is through.  The student loan is hefty.  And we're hoping Aaron can stay in a non-profit or government job for the next 9 years so he qualifies for loan forgiveness.  But we're only making small payments on that, since they're income based, and it's going on my income from last year.
We're actually doing really well financially.  So I'm putting quite a bit into our two savings accounts (one for actual savings, one large unexpected bills eg: vet).  Right now, while our expenses are still low, we're going to save save $ave.
My dad bought a new Prius today, a red one.  He has two cars (well, three right now): a 92 Dodge Caravan, and a 99 Toyota Corolla.  He selling the van this weekend.  Then he wants to replace the Corolla with a new Corolla in a year or so.
We got a new cat on Tuesday.  We named him Julius.  He's a three year old grey and white tabby.  He's still afraid of Fiona, but he's getting a little braver each day.  And he a big snuggle cat, which is nice.
I've made a new weight loss plan.  These are the rules for the next month:

1. Track all calories every day.  (I was doing this but not being very strict about it)
2. Maximum of 24 oz of diet soda a day.  (I am really addicted to diet coke, so setting a two can limit is a good start).
3. No sweets except on Sundays and special occasions.  (I'm also really addicted to sugar.  So this has been tough, but I know it's healthier to do without it)
4. If not running errands, walk or jog on lunch break.  (I'm lucky enough that I can eat lunch at my desk, then use my lunch hour as I please.  Sometimes I need to buy groceries, but most days I'm free.  And since I work alone most of the time, I can come back to work all sweaty and red-faced).
5. Ride the bike 4-5 times a week, aiming for 45-60 minutes at a time.  (I have my bike on a trainer, in the living room.  I can watch tv and petal away.)
6. Weigh in Sunday morning.

I'm hovering around 150, I think I'm currently 148 or 149.  I'm going to get back to 140.  Then I'll see what to do from there.  I would like to sign up for a 10k or half marathon.  But I think I might be healthy enough to get pregnant in the next few months.  I don't want to sign up and pay for something I might not be able to do.

All About Diamond Jim

In December 2011, I was looking at the Best Friends website.  I came across Diamond Jim.  He had been in the shelter since 2005.  They estimated he was born in 2000, he had FIV, only three teeth and he was looking for his forever home.
Somehow, I convinced Aaron that our home needed to be his home.

Best Friends flew him out from Utah.  He had a long day: a drive from Kanab to Las Vegas, Vegas to LA, LA to San Jose.  Poor guy was stuck in his crate for 10+ hours.  He cried this whole way home because he wanted out.

When we got home and let him out, he was very aggravated.  He was so tiny and skinny.  But he was strong.  He batted at us a couple times, with a powerful swipe. 

And he had to go see our vet the next day.  He was not happy to get back in the crate.  

 At first he didn't play well with the others.  Moss (who usually dislikes other cats) thought Diamond Jim was the bees knees.  He was happy to have a buddy, Diamond Jim was not.  He hissed, puffed and swiped.
The dogs were worse.  Zelda loves cats, generally they don't love her.  Fiona loves to play with Moss (they chase each other, play fight, and sometimes groom).  Diamond Jim didn't realize Fiona likes to play, and she had a scratched nose off and on.

He started out as a loner with the other fur-kids, but he loved Aaron and me from the start.  He was such a love.  He loved nuzzling, and was the perfect lap cat.
He had a habit of lasering in on our hands and headbutting us until we'd pet him.  He'd do it when we were sleeping.  Or come by and nap around our heads.  He was a love.

 Since he was small, he loved getting into small spaces the others couldn't fit.
He was also sneaky and quiet.  There were many times he got kicked or almost stepped on in the dark because he was always swirling around our feet.










He had a lot of nicknames.  This was all me, I love nicknames.  Jimmy-Jimmy, Jimmy-James, Old Baby, Slim Jim, Skinny.

He and Mossy did become buddies. They would play fight.  I think in the beginning it was real fighting.  Towards the end it was just posturing.

Jimmy-Jimmy liked Moss a little too much sometimes.  He may have been gay, and humped Moss' hip on a few occasions.  Moss didn't mind.

 He loved laying in the sun.  He often would sneak into the backyard, and try to munch on grass.  He would explore: in the garage, in the sink, in the closet, under a blanket.  Always curious, even in his old age.

 He loved people food.  He was always sneaking stuff off our plates.  He loved pretty much all food, but he wasn't too keen on cat food.
He was pushy about it.  He would repeatedly jump on the table to get our food.
One time Aaron had beef stroganoff and he, quick as lightning, took a swipe at the bowl and took off with a big chunk of beef.  A few minutes later he came back to try it again.

 He would often "sing".  He didn't whine, or meow much.  But when he found himself alone he would sing (like cats do when they sit on a fence).  At first, we thought he was distressed.  We'd find him, and he'd give us this look that said "what do you want?"

Diamond Jim, despite having him for only a little over a year, was our most expensive guy.  He had quite a few health issues over our time together.  Mostly tummy issues, he was often barfy.  So he lost weight over time.

I hope he was happy here.  We loved having him.  We did the best we could. And what we wanted was for him to have a home, and not spend his whole life in a shelter.  We gave him a family and a real home.  He gave us snuggles, smiles, and fun memories.  We will miss him.

What has been up

• Last night I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30. Aaron told me to go to bed at 10.  I slept straight til 8am, when the alarm went off; then snoozed til 8:30.  12 hours?!  Really?!  Oh, and I'm still tired.
• We worked on a home improvement project yesterday.  Our kitchen doesn't have enough storage, so we've been using an open wood shelf as a pantry.  Yesterday we bought a cabinet from Target.  It was boring white, so I told Aaron, I wanted to paint the doors like Mondrian.  He said ok, but then suggested we use chalkboard paint, and make the doors a message center.  I liked this better.  We also bought an extra shelf from Home Depot, and new pulls, because the ones it comes with are ugly.  I hurt my back helping Aaron move it.  But the first one went together easily, and we liked it, so we went back and bought another.  When Aaron was almost done building it, it fell over, and thus new issues started.  One of the doors folded under, the hinge broke, we had a hard time finding a replacement hinge, blah blah.  It's become a hassle.  But the first cabinet is nearly done.  It needs one more coat of paint.  Yay.
• I did better after my breakdown day.  Sunday was pretty good.  Stake conference was good.  The agoraphobia is still there, which is hard.  But I muddle through.
• The other thing we did yesterday was take Zelda to the vet.  She had been limping, so we'd been not walking here much. Then she started yelping, and wincing.  I was worried it would be an ACL, or torn tendon.  But Dr Bath is pretty sure it's hip arthritis, he said we could do an x-ray is we wanted to be certain, but it keeps our cost lower to skip it (for now, at least).  So she got a pain shot, some antinflamitories, and a laser treatment.  It was under $200, which is very good.  But she has to go back for more lasers, for the next few days/couple weeks.