As I type, my daughter is on her way home to San Diego with two new additions to her household strapped snugly into the passenger seat. Our quest to find her a new kitten (or in this case, two) took only one stop. Her two orange babies, Athena and Apollo, will soon be joining the rest of the family. Athena is, at the moment very protective of her brother, and is what we call a “hissy spitty” for now. But when you take Apollo away from her, he’s a little snuggle bug. He just freaks out when someone tries to touch him with his sister near, because she goes into Mama bear mode, hissing, spitting and smacking. As they were strays and recently separated from their mama, she tends to be a bit overprotective, but should learn that Heather is a good cat mama by watching how her brother settles down with her. Heather just can’t pass up someone who might need the extra attention and understanding she can give!
My birthday week was amazing, as I got lots of time with my daughter, but also a phenomenal outpouring of love from my friends! Now I have to sort through it all and write thank you notes to everyone for making it so special!
I’m really loving the Fitbit Heather gave me, as I had no idea I moved as much as I do in a normal day. Just moving around the house, cleaning up the kitchen, making the bed, walking back and forth down the hall from my office to the kitchen…it really adds up! Of course, today we added two trips to the animal shelter, a trip to Walmart, another to Costco and one to get my nail fixed. We finished the day with dinner and a movie. All told, I’ve walked close to 7,000 steps! Is that unbelievable or what? If I had a bigger house, I’d probably log 5,000 steps a day just making meals, refilling my water and using the bathroom! So on top of everything else, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself.
There was one rather funny incident involving the Fitbit, though. When I go to sleep, I put it into a mode which tracks my sleep and how often I’m restless. Around 6 AM, Toby came in for his usual round of attention and started chewing on the Fitbit. Next thing I know, he’s switched it over into non-sleep mode, though I didn’t realize it until I got up and checked the stats! Fortunately, their little graph shows steps and it was easy to tell when I was still in bed, so I was able to correct the error. Darned cat has now progressed from chewing on the Otter Box around my phone to chewing on the Fitbit around my wrist! What is it with him and plastic???
The most wonderful part of the day came around noon when the vet called to tell me that Dylan could come home on Sunday, the absolute soonest I expected to be able to get him. I’m so excited as I’m already turning around, expecting to see him on my desk! And having lost two cats since November, the house is already pretty quiet without having the one who follows me everywhere gone too. Thank goodness we caught his hyperthyroidism early and it’s curable! He’s showing no outward signs, and his renal and cardiovascular systems were not compromised. I can’t tell you how relieved this makes me (or maybe I have, several times over the last few days.). I can’t say enough about AVMI. Not only do they take excellent care of my boy, but they send me updates and pictures every day, give me access to all of the updates to his chart as well as his x-rays and scintigraphy, and a webcam between 8 am and 8 pm for me to just watch and talk to! If he had to be away from me for a few days, this makes it a lot easier to handle. I can watch him eating and drinking, re-arranging his condo, (he pulled one of the beds almost into his water dish today!), playing with the toy I left for him, meowing at the techs to give him some attention, and taking naps on top of his little cubbies, while stretching out to nearly his full, beautiful length! While he may not be happy, I can see that he is, at least, comfortable.
In the meantime, Munchkin and Toby, who have been dividing their time between me and Heather for the last few days, will have only me to demand attention from again, so I won’t lack for furry attention. Patches stuck with me the whole time, but at 17, she’s old and a little crotchety, and very set in her ways. She has a nightly routine and it doesn’t change much from one night to the next.
As I wait for the call that says my daughter and new grandkitties made it home safely, I’ll finish off with tonight’s gratitudes.
1. I am grateful for the time I got to spend with my daughter.
2. I am grateful for new grandkitties.
3. I am grateful for the wonderful care Dylan is receiving, and even more grateful that he will soon be back under my care.
4. I am grateful for a very full, satisfying, incredible week.
5. I am grateful that I will soon be getting back to my routine.
Love and light
