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Waldo has a probable ear infection. I need to get him to the vet, but I can't catch him. He won't let me pick him up.
I contacted the shelter volunteer who helped me adopt him. I met her at a vet clinic midway between my house and the shelter, where she loaned me an illuminated magnifying scope that vets use to look for ear mites inside the ear. Luther's ears looked very clean, but Waldo won't let me look at his, especially since I have to lean in close right in front of him.
The shelter volunteer was at the vet's with another shelter cat who also had ear problems, and she invited me in to the exam room when the vet looked at the cat. This was nice becus I got a chance to meet the vet, who handles all the animals from the shelter, even while the head of the shelter owes him $90K in vet bills, which he's unlikely to pay since the shelter building is in foreclosure. The vet seems pretty nice, and he's treated Waldo before when he still lived at the shelter, when he had a really bad ear infection, so he's somewhat familiar with the cat.
The shelter volunteer also gave me the number of a woman in my town who's got a reputation as something of a Cat Wrangler. Meaning, she can catch any cat, or at least, that's what they say. I need to call her today to see if she'd be willing to help me. I'm really running out of options, and Waldo is very uncomfortable scratching and shaking his head all the time.
I hope to get him in to the vet's tomorrow if I can get an appointment then and have the Cat Wrangler help me.
So, I'm hopeful I'll find out this week whether I'll get a job offer or not. If a full-time job doesn't work out, freelance will be better than nothing.
If the best case scenario happens, I began thinking of things I'd like to take care of before I started work. Things that might otherwise require time away from work or coming in late to work, which I'd rather not do with a brand new job. I need to have my furnace cleaned (skipped it last year) and the chimney cleaned (skipped it last year). I don't need an oil change, so all set there, I may let my hair get a little longer for a while anyway.
It would be nice to squeeze in a kayak ride as I haven't gone all year, as well as a bike ride.
Someone I know invited me to pick some (organic!) peaches at a nearby farm, so I collected a small bag of small, hard, blotchy and green peaches, not expecting much. I let them sit on the counter for a week, then checked them and discovered they were all suddenly very ripe. I had to throw 2 out, but I tried eating one and it was very sweet.
So, adapting my grandmother's apple crisp recipe, I made a peach and wineberry crisp, using a bag of wineberries I'd picked on my property in July. I had to peel the peaches because they were so blotchy, and since they were so ripe, it was pretty messy. But oh so worth it. The crisp, with walnuts and raisins, is quite yummy.
If you'd like to see what else I've been picking, check out the photo at my gardening
I'm cooking up some tomatoes now, reducing some of the water content. Once it cools, in the freezer it will go in 1-quart freezer bags which is a handy size for when I make soups or stews.
Today, tomorrow and Tuesday will be rainy. Not sure what I feel like doing. I'm sort of wandering around here doing a little of this, a little of that.
August 22nd, 2010 at 03:39 pm 1282491577
Just an idea. Good luck!!
August 22nd, 2010 at 03:45 pm 1282491929
For weeks i kept the cat carrier in the bedroom with the door open, even with food in there he won't go near it. Luther, on the other hand, liked to nap in there.
Waldo is still quasi-feral. Very skittish, if you approach him a different way, or move too suddenly. On the other hand, he can get lovey-dovey with, butting his head into mine and rubbing his entire body against by back, then jumping over my side to do it again. He's very sweet. I've had cats all my life, but never one so shy.
August 22nd, 2010 at 03:51 pm 1282492261
August 22nd, 2010 at 04:15 pm 1282493701
I've had a bit of a time with my cat since we are giving her medicine twice a day. Ugh! She used to be much worse when younger though. She had been abandoned by her family (at the SPCA) and she was very skiddish. This is why I literally never take her to the vet unless it is necessary. She just flips out because she must think we will abandon her.
BUT, she has gotten much better with age. (We've had her 10 years - she is now 12? Figures we're keeping her?) In fact, dh took her to the vet and administers her medicine. I just hold her for the medicine, and she is PISSED at me, but will cuddle with dh.
Waldo, probably not so easy, huh. Not like he will "mellow with age."
August 22nd, 2010 at 07:07 pm 1282504078
August 22nd, 2010 at 08:08 pm 1282507715