|
Take a walk on the mild side.
September 2008 - Posts
-
|
On Saturday we had dinner with our closest friends. Since we are established in our new residence, it was time that we invited them to dine with us at one of our favorite restaurants. Also, we wanted them to pick out the kittens that they will take from our latest litter. So far, they have taken two kittens from two previous litters. We feel good about giving our kittens to our friends since they have always treated the animals well; they provide a good home and good care. Finding good homes for kittens is always a chore because there are always more kittens than there are good homes. This particular litter seems to us to be sweeter and smarter than previous litters, but that could be because we are going to try to not produce any more litters. There are too many animals in this neighborhood and we wouldn’t want to add to the number. In addition, we would worry that the little ones would get injured or killed.
Anyway, our friends arrived on their scooters and we took out our scooters, and all of us “scootered” to the restaurant. It only took about five minutes to get there. Actually, we could have walked; it is that close by. But, anyone who has ever ridden a scooter or motorcycle knows that it is a lot of fun riding in nice weather. Our friends and I are new to scooters, so it is still a novelty. My husband has many years of experience on a Harley (when he was younger) so to him there is no novelty, just great gas mileage.
|
-
|
First let me mention our regular Vet, he is our choice every time. He is located in Monticello, just up the road from the town circle. He has been caring for our animals since before I met my husband. Our three dogs lived at my husband’s house before we were married, and our many litters of cats stretch back twelve years. This Vet, Mike Purvis, is a friend of my husband as well. He probably could stay in business just caring for all of our animals. We highly recommend Mike Purvis as an outstanding friend and great Veterinarian.
There are others, however, that never seem to be available when you need them. One such place was only one mile from our previous house. You would think this to be a good thing. But, whenever my husband would take one of our emergency situations to him, he was never there; we had to drive across town to have Northwood save the dog’s life. If this happened only once, we would say, “well, it is just bad luck”, but this happened three times. We stopped going there even though he was the most convenient. What good is a Vet if he isn’t there to care for your animals? This guy also has super high prices. No matter what you bring in the animal for, he somehow manages to get the price over a hundred dollars. We understand that things are expensive these days, but a simple exam, no shots or other invasive procedures, and the price is still over a hundred dollars? No thanks, I see it as a blessing that he was not there when my husband took our dog in for emergency treatment.
We have to drive about fifty miles to our favorite Vet, but he’s worth the trip.
|
-
Anytime an animal gets hurt you know it will be on a weekend or after hours. I wonder what the Vets do during regular hours since they do all of their work in the middle of the night and on weekends. Of course, when you take an animal into the Vet during these odd times, you pay through the nose (or is it snout?) But, what are you going to do? The animal is injured, he needs medical care right now, and there is no way you can wait until regular hours are available. So, off you go with checkbook in hand, praying that the procedures won’t be too expensive. We have been to the Northwood Animal Hospital several times. They are wonderful people, expensive, but wonderful. They have always been considerate of us and they have taken great care of our animals. Most of the time we end up going there at night, or after hours. Our dog, Brownie, seems to go after poisonous snakes late in the afternoon. He has been bitten three times and, you guessed it, by the time we have killed the snake (unless he kills it first) and checked him over for bite marks, it is after hours. My husband has tried to explain to Brownie that, if he is going to get injured, he should do it earlier so it won’t cost us so much.
The other great Vet that we recently found is in Wakulla. They too, are very caring people and they take good care of our dogs. Just recently, our Chow had to have a major operation to remove bladder stones. We would not have known about this emergency procedure without the good service of the Wakulla Vet.
|
-
Last Saturday we took our new litter of kittens to the Vet to get them wormed and looked at. The Vet techs took the kittens in the back room almost immediately and they started to give them the worming medicine. No waiting; that was great. All seven kittens were wonderful as they were handled. It only took about five minutes to get all of them wormed. My husband asked the techs if any of them would like a kitten (he’s always doing that everywhere we go) and one of the young ladies said. “Sure.” She chose one of the black kittens, Hanna. She put the little one in her smock pocket and the kitten stuck her head and one paw out and gave her the sweetest look you have ever seen. I pointed out that she still had one empty pocket. To my surprise; the tech said she would take the other black kitten, Fay, to help keep Hanna company. One trip to the Vet and we found a good home for two kittens. We know that the little ones will be in good hands because their new owner works in the Vet’s office. Free medical care; you can’t beat that. Lately, we have had the good luck to find several good Vets. Our regular guy, where we took the kittens, is wonderful. He really cares about the animals and he always gives us great service.
|
-
We moved into the new house about two weeks ago and the settling in process is still going on. We are excited about being in the St. Marks area but some of the old house charm still lingers. I asked my husband the other day if he missed anything about the house that we used to live in and, if so, what was it. He said that the old house was comfortable, that the yard was much bigger, and that we had plenty of room and accommodations for our twenty plus cats and kittens. I have to agree with these observations even though I love living in our new home. There was never a problem with our cats giving birth to their litters because there was always plenty of space in our yard and in the adjoining vacant property. The huge back yard was great for the dogs to run and play. Then, my husband asked me if I missed anything about the old house. I replied that I missed the “porch of the rising sun”. You see, in the old house, the back of the house, which had a huge covered porch, faced East, where the sun rises in the morning. It has become our habit to sit outside on the back porch after breakfast for “coffee time”. I don’t drink the nasty stuff but my husband does. We sit on the porch and talk while the dogs run and play and poop. All the while the sun is rising and giving the lawn a beautiful pattern of colors; it is very peaceful and quiet.
|
-
It is that time again. We have more kittens and they are the cutest bunch ever. They were four weeks old on Monday, the fifteenth of September. Click here to see pictures. There are seven in the litter and they are all wonderful. They have great personalities and all of them are really smart. Most of you probably remember Tastee Wheat, our pretty gray cat who produced seven kittens in her first litter. Well, this is her second litter of seven kittens. My husband says that this will be her last litter; we will have her spayed. She is a wonderful cat and she has become a member of the family, but she has produced fourteen kittens in the past year. There are too many kittens and we can’t find homes for all of them. At the rate that she is producing there will be several hundred cats in no time at all. In the present litter there are three girls and four boys. Just imagine if they all produce like their mother produces. Those are scary numbers. We really love the cats and we would like to keep them all but it just is not practical. There are so many animals in this neighborhood that we are afraid that adding too many more will cause problems.All of the kittens will go to the Vet in about a week to get wormed and a general examination. At that point we will be actively looking for good homes for all of them.
|
-
Gas prices going up all the time has been a terrible problem. I didn’t think it could get worse, until this past weekend. The only thing worse than high-priced gas is no gas. It was amazing to see all the people scurrying around on Friday trying to get the last drop of gas before Hurricane Ike hit Texas and ended the world as we knew it. I bet that if the gas stations charged $10.00 per gallon, it would not deter most people. When you think about it, gasoline is so important to us that we could not survive if there was a permanent shut down of the gas industry. We could not go to work, or to the doctor’s office, or to Walmart.
I was lucky to find a gas station on Sunday that had some gas. Most stations in Tallahassee were completely out of fuel. In Wakulla County, most stations were out too but some had only high test. It seems that the people who panicked only purchased the regular and mid-grade and they left the high test. It is sort of “eerie” to drive down all the roads looking for gas and seeing only those plastic shopping bags draped over the gas pumps. Some of the gas stations simply took the prices off their signs to indicate that they were out of gas. I think that this is a better way to tell people that they are out of gas. Sometimes it is hard to see if the pump handles are covered with the plastic bags and you might get your hopes up for naught. I hope they get more gas by the end of the week because I'll have to fill up again if I want to keep going to work.
|
-
As nice as the day was for riding scooters, it was still very hot. My husband pulled in to a store that we know sells ice cream. Since most people enjoy ice cream it was a safe bet that all of us would like to get a cone and sit in the shade while eating it. Unfortunately, the store was closed. This was not a holiday or any other day that most stores would be closed. We were very disappointed. In point of fact, most stores in these parts are open only a very short amount of time. Limited hours and limited days on most restaurants are very annoying when you are hungry. Now we really wanted something to eat. Our lips were set for ice cream, but we opted for lunch instead. One of our favorite places to eat is the Saint Marks River Cantina. We have enjoyed going there for a long time. They are open at reasonable times, the food is great, and the people are very friendly. We have become “regulars” there and the servers know us very well and they know generally what we are going to order and where we are going to sit (at the bar). Usually, as we are parking our bikes outside, the server is already getting our drinks ready. Now that’s service! The place and people are always warm, a great atmosphere. So, we stopped at the Cantina for lunch because we couldn’t get any ice cream. It was a good trade off because we ate better food than just a dessert and the malt beverage that we like really quenched our thirst.
|
-
I decided to teach my niece how to ride my scooter. The scooter is a lot of fun to ride and it is easy to learn. The weather was just perfect for riding around the town and I wanted to take advantage of it. Since we have two scooters (one for me and one for my husband) and there were three of us, I let my niece ride my scooter and I rode with my husband. We gave her a quick lesson on the operation of the scooter and then we let her ride up and down the street to practice before we set off to see every small street in our neighborhood. She learned very fast and the scooter is simple to learn anyway, so only a single lesson is required. Usually we ride bicycles but the scooters are really great on a nice day.
My husband and I took the lead and my niece followed close behind. We traveled slowly so as not to get too far ahead of her. She only had about ten minutes experience before we took her around the town. Luckily there were no mishaps. Sometimes riding a bike that you are not familiar with can cause problems. I think that we covered every little street in St. Marks. Then we went down to the boat landing to enjoy looking at the rivers and marvel at the beautiful day. We were lucky to have bright sunshine, calm waters, and a gentle breeze, a truly gorgeous day.
|
-
Last weekend I had to help out my parents with their church function. I didn’t actually have to go there or participate; I just took care of my niece for a couple days. She is the oldest daughter of my brother who resides in Missouri. His daughter took a vacation from her job for a couple weeks and she usually spends it with her grandparents here in Florida. Coincidentally, this vacation occurred at the same time as my parents church function; my mother was so busy that she asked me to entertain my niece for the first two days of her visit. I was happy to do this since I’ve never had the opportunity to have any of my brother’s children come to stay with me overnight.
She arrived at the airport on Saturday evening. It was pouring rain here in Tallahassee. I was glad that the plane was on time, a rare occurrence for the airlines in general. We retrieved her single suitcase without a hassle, another rare occurrence. Since it was about eight o’clock in the evening and she was weary from the trip, we went right to the house instead of stopping to eat. After much conversation to catch up on the local family matters, everyone settled in for the night.
Next morning I took her to the local restaurant for breakfast. It’s nice to take people to restaurants that you have found to be good. Here in St. Marks there are several nice places to eat. The people are friendly; the food is good; and we don’t have to wait too long to be served.
|
-
|
Last Friday morning was very interesting. I had just finished breakfast and we let the dogs out to run in the backyard. This is usual in the morning and we watch them chase squirrels or other small creatures while my husband drinks his coffee. We don’t want the dogs to get too excited because sometimes they start to fight and that is something we don’t want to deal with in the morning. This particular morning was going to be different. As the dogs ran around the yard they started to center on one side of the fence. They were very interested in whatever was on the other side. We heard some rustling in our neighbor’s yard but it sounded like it might be some little creatures running around, having a great time. Then the activity stopped and the dogs started to sniff the air as they continued to run around. Something was different. A few minutes later my husband saw one of the neighbors walking up and down the street pointing here and there as he went. This was strange behavior and we went out front to see what was happening. Two deer, each sporting eight point racks, were running through the front yards trying to get back to the woods. One made it okay but the other could not find his way between the houses. He tried to get through two neighboring houses but there was an eight-foot fence from house to house. He ran back and forth seeking some way to get over the fence. Each time he tried he hit the corner of the house and fence and injured himself. He left blood on the side of the house and he kicked at the fence, knocking one of the slats completely out. My husband and two other neighbors stood to one side of the house and made noise so that the deer would run the other way. This worked and the deer ran down the front lawns of five houses to eventually get back to his home. It was an interesting morning!
|
-
We didn't even get one day's break from crisis. The day after the big hassle with the house closing, we wound up taking one of our dogs to the vet and he had emergency surgery that afternoon. Our dog, Logan, was having trouble peeing. He stayed in the pee position for several minutes at a time, only a few drops would come out, and then he would more to a new spot in the lawn to try again. The vet took an x-ray of the dog and you could see his bladder was extremely large and there were 15 visible stones with one big stone blocking the exit tube. Upon seeing this, the vet wanted to take Logan into surgery immediately. They drained the bladder, cut open his abdomen, pulled the bladder out, cut it open, turned it inside out, and flushed the stones out. There were 19 stones in all. We picked up our dog a few hours later and took him home. Can you imagine a human having this kind of surgery and being released from the hospital the same day?!? The dog is doing well. He is on two kinds of pain pills and will be on anti-biotics for 4 - 6 weeks. We managed to keep the dog quiet for about a day and a half. Then he was back to running around with our other dogs. The vet said Logan had an infection which led to the formation of the stones. He gave us most of the stones and sent the rest off to the University of Minnesota to be analyzed. The analysis may tell us if we need to change his diet. I am so relieved that Logan is doing well. He is a very special dog.
|
-
Well, the closing actually happened and the new owner is in possession of his newly acquired home. This means that we are a one house family again and that we don’t have to keep traveling back and forth between two houses. All of our stuff is at the new house and we spent all morning on Saturday cutting and trimming the grass, trimming the bushes, edging the walks and driveway, and generally cleaning up the lawn so that it looks as it should. The parcel of land is quite a bit smaller than the other house that we just sold so working on the land took only a few hours instead of all day. Now, of course, we will set to work on getting rid of as much clutter as possible. Several trips to the dump ought to do it, but it will take quite a while to go through all the “junk” that we have accumulated over time. Since our new house is smaller than the other house, our stuff seems all the more plentiful. My husband’s stuff could fill a couple warehouses. He has been accumulating his stuff for many years more than I have been collecting my stuff, so you can imagine the big job he has in paring down his stuff. At least he is willing to get rid of a good deal of his possessions. I thought, like most people, that I would have to fight with him to get him to part with some of his “valuable acquisitions” but he is very interested in clearing out most of the clutter. It will take some time, I’m sure, but at least we are heading in the right direction.
|
-
The house finally closed last Friday. It was scheduled for 4:30 in the afternoon on a Friday, the last Friday of the month, and right before a three day weekend. We thought this very odd and ill-advised because of traffic, etc. but I suppose that if it was the 13th of the month it could have been worse. Actually, we would have agreed to any time, any place, and any where. After having the closing cancelled one hour before the previous week we were ready for anything. The people at the closing office said that the closing would take anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes. It actually took three hours. The same irresponsible nonsense that plagued us for the previous five weeks persisted during the closing. First, everyone but the buyer showed up on time. He, for some unknown reason, was at the bank. He showed up about a half hour late. Then we discovered that his last name was misspelled on the closing papers. Correcting this mistake took more time. Then, in going over the papers, we saw that one of the items that should have been in the buyers column of fees was incorrectly placed in the seller’s column. This took more time because the papers had to be retyped and “okayed” by the bank before they continued with the process. By now it was well into dinner time. We were all very hungry and there was nothing but water to be had at the office. Just what we needed to make everyone a little more grumpy. Fortunately, I had bought a package of cookies that was still in the car. I brought them in and set them on the table; at least we had something to eat with the water. A few minutes later, the buyer jumps up and announces that he is going out to get something to eat at one of the local restaurants. More delay. He didn’t come back for a long time and his realtor tried to contact him on her cell phone, he didn’t answer. A while later, not knowing what was happening, the realtor went out to hunt him down. After finding him, she phoned us at the office to say that her client was returning to the closing.
|
-
I have moved from house to house before, even from state to state before, but this recent move takes “the cake”. As you probably already know, we have been wrestling with selling the house in Havana for about eight months. This time period isn’t so bad in and of itself, but the nonsense that occurred, especially in the last two months, sets some sort of record.
We were happy to get an offer on the house about two months ago. The buyer was willing to buy, we were willing to sell, but the people in between (some of them) made life horrible. Everyday there was something else that was required; some sort of report, inspection, re-inspection, etc. You would think that these people were dealing with their first house sale. Why can’t they simply get all their requirements on one piece of paper at one time? Maybe that requires some intelligence that they don’t possess. My husband and I are still trying to figure out why the banks try so hard not to lend money. Finally, I think we out-waited them and the closing actually occurred last Friday. But, we were supposed to close one week earlier, so we had to be prepared by moving out of the house, lock, stock, and barrel by the proposed closing date. We purposely waited until the day before because we were not sure that the closing would take place – and we were right. We started moving the heavy items, like the refrigerator and my husband’s desk, on Thursday evening because the realtors told us that we would close on the following day. We timed our trips and discovered that we could do two trips in the evening and one trip on Friday morning to complete the move. The last trip on Thursday was at one o’clock in the morning (Friday, actually) when we took the refrigerator and the bed in the truck. Needless to say we were very tired and the items were very heavy; we were exhausted but happy that we were prepared for the closing – which was cancelled one hour before we were to arrive.
|
|
|
|