Time to Travel

Things are looking up. I booked my flights for my visit to Israel later this year. Considering how far away Israel is, the cost was pretty decent for the round trip. I was expecting to pay several hundred more than I did. Yay!

I'm leaving via LAX on Thanksgiving and returning on 12 December. It's a good long trip, but I don't think I'll wear out my welcome. I think I make a decent houseguest, plus Sam and Ari will be working during most of my time there, so I think that their dog Jack and I will become best buds.

We're also setting up a little 3 day trip to Cairo while I'm there, to visit that magnificent (crowded) old city as well as the pyramids at Giza. We'll do that over a long weekend so Ari and Sam will only need to take one day off from work. I've got a tour company almost arranged - I'm still doing some comparison shopping, but hope to get that nailed down soon. Internal flights to/from Cairo we'll be doing on our own. It's only an hour flight from Tel Aviv, but it shaves tons of time off the trip from the driving alternative.

Other travel plans also include Adrienne's and my annual birthday trip - this year we're going to New Mexico. Our flights are booked for that too, so I now need to make hotel/B&B arrangements, car rental, etc. This trip is in late September. We will visit Taos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Next weekend, I'm going to Sonoma to pick up Lucas, who will be staying with me for 2 weeks, while his mom and dad (Jim and Mary) fly to New York to visit with their son Jim, who is one of my long-time close friends. Jimmy recently returned from a 10-year stint in London and is now living and working in New York City. He's excited to have his folks come to New York to visit. Jim (elder) had a pretty serious stroke 2 years ago while visiting his other son, Greg, in Rhode Island. Jim's now mostly paralyzed on his left side, but let me tell you something - this man has found ways to get around, move about and do things you'd never believe, given his condition. I know he scares his kids by the things he does, (including driving....) but I'm in awe of him. This man does not let anything get the best of him. God bless him. Oh, Lucas. Well, Lucas is a 3 year old (or is he 2?) standard white poodle. He's HUGE. And he's a good boy, likes Miss Molly, and I'm excited to be able to have him come stay with me. I'm also hoping that by having Lucas here, I'll be able to sneak out of the house once or twice and maybe go to a movie, or visit a friend. See, not being able to leave Miss Molly alone, due to her significant separation anxiety, has me pretty much house-bound over weekends and evenings. Most of the time it's not a big deal, because I love to putter around the house anyway, but I think that having another dog to keep Molly company will put the kabash on her anxiety. When Roxanne was still alive, this was never a problem, so I'm hoping Lucas' being here will bring the same results.

We shall see.

June Gloom

Well, my cousin emailed me and suggested I might not want to disclose such personal info about my neighbors, so, I took his comments under advisement, and have decided to remove the info etc. The likelihood of my weirdo psycho neighbors coming across my blog are pretty much slim to none, but just in case, I've removed it.

Thanks, cuzz.....

The week at work is not shaping up to be much better than last week. For me, things are a bit slow, but given the fact that I've been crazy busy through most of the past year, I don't feel too bad for the slow tempo at the moment. I've done some housekeeping kinds of things to neaten up my files and records, that sort of thing. But, I'm still daydreaming a lot. Thinking of better things to be doing with my ever-decreasing life span.

I'm considering, post-work, and definitely post-pets, to join the Peace Corps for a year or two and go do something really meaningful. Although I've helped to create and raise a most awesome child, there is more to my life, in terms of contributing to the greater good, than that. I want to make a difference!!! I want to change something for someone or somebodies, in a positive way. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

I'm also considering trying to do my world cruise before I retire, rather than after. It's only 4 months, and most of them begin in January, so I'm thinking a short leave of absence might work. It's a slower time of the year for our business, and I could pretend it was maternity leave!!! Ha!! I could go away to "grow a travel baby." Wow, that sounded dumb. Well. Whatever. It's an idea that is germinating....

Molly continues to do well at doggy day care. But she is slowing down a lot, and she is, increasingly, having trouble walking, standing, that sort of thing. I have been taking her to a specialized vet who does acupuncture, so far, we've had 3 sessions. I don't think Molly is showing any signs of improvement, but I'm going to see it through for 1 or 2 more sessions and then will probably stop that. I want to try as much as I can to see what can make Molly feel better. I don't want any "what ifs." I don't want any "coulda, shouldas".

Summer, my cat, seems to be sinking a bit too. She's losing more weight, albeit slowly, and she seems to be more talkative - in the middle of the night - meowing as though the world is coming to an end. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Not much to do but carry on.

Father's Day weekend

I decided to take an early day on Friday and left the office at noon, picked up Molly from day care and headed out 80 west towards Carmel. My dad has always referred to their home here on the Monterey Peninsula as "paradise". "Welcome to paradise!" he always says.

There is something to be said for that. It truly is a beautiful place here. The U.S. Open is taking place here at Pebble Beach this weekend so there are plenty of people about. The weather is foggy and cool but I think that makes for great golfing. Or maybe not. My dad said the golfers are having a tough go at the course because the people that oversee the courses have worked really hard at making the course tougher. I don't really know what that means but I think it has something to do with the modifying the courser landscaping-wise.

The biggest news around the neighborhood here at my folks was the spotting of a decent size mountain lion the other morning by their next door neighbor. Apparently the guy walked out onto his back patio and came face to face with the beast. Obviously alarmed and panicked at the same time, our smart neighbor backed up slowly, rounded the corner and then ran back into the house. He then called 911 who told him to call the Department of Fish and Game. They never even bothered to call him back. Well, perhaps when someone or someone's beloved cat, dog or horse is attacked then, perhaps, someone will call back. In the meantime I will be escorting Molly outside for her potty visits, a rme with a broom and a cardboard box with which to make lots of noise, should we be faced with our own encounter. I have to admit I am a little spooked.

I am having lunch with one of my friends today but other than that I plan to just hang with my mom and dad. Tomorrow I will head back to Roseville, land of pretty trees and massive allergy attacks. Oh joy.

Restless

Sam's been gone - back to Israel to live - for almost 2 months now. It seems surreal. I miss her a lot, but I've been so used to her being away that it sort of seems normal. Until I think about where she is and how far away that is. I miss her. I can't tell you how great it was to have her stay with me earlier this year, for as long as she did. I cherish that time and keep it close. She's turned into such a great young woman and so responsible, so loving, so amazing.

What Can Happen In A Day

Yesterday I was so freaked out about Summer's newly diagnosed condition of CRF. I knew I was going to have learn how to give her daily sub-q fluids via an ICKY needle. Today I had an appointment after work with the vet tech to learn how to do it. Cassandra, one of my co-workers, was so kind - she offered good encouragement and brought me an IV pole to borrow as long as I may need it. God Bless Cassandra!!!

Anyway, I went home and got Summer, put her in her cat carrier and rushed off to the vet for my 4:30 appointment. 45 minutes later, I was a newly indoctrinated giver/administrator of sub-q fluids in my kitty! I took to it like a duck to water. An entire day's worth of angst and fear now completely gone. I CAN do this!!!

And Summie seems to be feeling better already. She came home and ate her dinner, and now she's sitting next to me in bed and swishing her tail around like she owns the place. I am so grateful she feels better. It gives me hope that she can have some continued good quality life for quite a while. Joining a list group on yahoo for people that have cats in CRF has helped me a lot too, there is tons of good advice, lots of info and I don't feel so alone.

Pet woes

I am reeling from news from my vet today that Summer, my 16 year-old cat, has CRF. That means chronic renal failure - not a good thing for a kitty, or anyone for that matter.

I adopted Summer from a cat rescue group in 1994, a few months after the devastating Northridge earthquake. Summer was born to a feral mom by Dodger stadium and as such has always been a very shy and skittish kitty. It's only been the past 4 years or so that my kitty girl has calmed down and come out of her shell. After Roxanne's passing last September, Summer has been elevated (a self-proclaimed elevation, I might add) to that of alpha pet in my house.

She sleeps in my bed with me, meows and purrs around my feet when it is feeding time, walks all over my head in bed after I've been away from home a few days, and generally makes me laugh and smile on a daily basis.

I thought that Summer would live a really long time, since she's been so healthy all her life and she's an indoor kitty. Now, at 16, she's still a really senior cat, and I guess I should be grateful, but I was hoping she'd make it to 20+, even though, in cat years, she's like, 80 years old today. One can hope and dream.

I just didn't want this kind of news so soon after losing Rox. Well, it is time to buck up and do what needs to be done. The vet wants me to give Summer daily sub-q IV fluids. Every day until the end. She also says Summer might make it 1-2 years. Part of me hopes so, part of me is thinking right now - OMG - am I going to be able to give my cat daily IV fluids, with a needle and the whole thing? What do I do when I have to go out of town? When do I know that it's not working anymore? Will I be able to make those tough decisions when the time comes?

I have an appointment with the vet tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to be taught how to give the IV fluids.

A New Beginning

Happy 2010!

It's always about a 50/50 chance that I'll be able to stay awake until midnight in order to "ring" in the new year. This time, I made it to 11 PM before calling it quits, turning off the tv after watching 3 episodes of last season's '24' on dvd, rolling over and falling asleep.

I'm not one to go out and party till the cows come home. Never have been, most likely never will be. I had not been feeling 100% anyway, I'd come down with a moderate sore throat earlier in the week, which developed into a minor head cold. I say minor, because Sam made me some awesome matzo ball soup and I am positive that the soup healed me. I felt better the next day - sore throat gone, very little congestion, just a small dry cough lingering about.

New Year's Eve, we made a tofu stir-fry to dinner, opened a bottle of our favorite dining wine - a fume blanc from Grgich Hills, and finished off dinner with a red velvet cupcake from Icing On The Cupcake, a place I discovered a few months ago in nearby Rocklin. OMG is all I have to say about their cupcakes.

I woke up on January 1st, early, the day was gray. A light rain was falling. I stood at the door from my bedroom looking out onto the patio, watching the rain make plip plops and spreading rings in the pool. I thought about where I was exactly 12 months earlier, on 1/1/09. On that date, I was in a deep depression, very unusual for me. I was living at my parents' home in Carmel Valley, I had been laid off from my job of 13 years, my farm in Oregon was up for sale, my daughter was living far away in Israel and, for the first time in her life, we had been apart at Christmas. I had no idea what 2009 would bring for me. No job, little hope, given the state of the economy.

One year later, I stood in my own (rented) home, was 10 months into a wonderful job that I enjoy, my daughter (and her boyfriend) was asleep in the spare bedroom, and my farm had been sold. I reflected on all of this, and knew that my deep and abiding faith in God had supported me during this past year. Even within the depths of despair, depression, whining, moping....I keep my faith and know that things will always work out. And so it does.

Sam is leaving again in a few months. She's returning to Israel to start a life with Ari there. I hope and pray that they will come back and live in the U.S. I cannot deny that is what my wish is. But regardless of where she lives, I want her to be happy and so I hope and I pray for this for her. Happiness. Joy. Love. Peace within.

I am excited now. I can't wait to see how 2010 unfolds. There are new adventures ahead, I feel it!!