Naughty Cats

Sometimes Raven thinks he’s a dog rather than a cat.  I’ve never seen a cat chew on so much stuff.  He’s two and a half now so shouldn’t be cutting teeth anymore.  At least he’s almost stopped chewing on me like he did when he was a kitten.  He’d bite me all the time and didn’t realize he could hurt someone with his teeth.  He thought it was all play.  Now he nips at my leg and my ankle if I don’t get his food ready soon enough but I know he’s just telling me “Hey, I’m down here and I’m hungry.”  He doesn’t try to hurt me.

 This is Raven after he's nipped at my leg and takes his place on the counter waiting for me to get the food

 

But he gets a wild hair and chews on the furniture too sometimes and the dried plants.  Some of you might remember me writing about his achievement of making it to the top of the linen closet in the bathroom a few months ago.  Well all that was fine and I didn’t mind him jumping up there to lie under the A/C vent.  But then hubby discovered he was chewing on the corner of the wood cabinet.  Oh dear, not another “cat fix” to come up with.

So here I was in my PJ’s in the garage on the cement floor with a box cutter cutting up cardboard boxes so that I could block the top of this cabinet before I went to work.  It was hot out there and I really didn’t have time for this extra little thing, but I didn’t need to have the cabinet replaced either later on.  So this is what I came up with on short notice.

 I have to live with this thing in the bathroom for now, but you do what you have to do.

 

Yes, I know it looks tacky but so far it’s working and right now that’s what counts until he outgrows this stage.  I hope he does.  At the moment my house is “cat proofed” so nothing breakable is out where a cat can get to it if he gets bored.

 This is Koki sitting in front of my desktop

 

I’ve had to do such measures with Koki, my daredevil, too when she was younger, but nothing to this extreme, although we did have the curtain rod blocked for a while so she wouldn’t get up there and walk it.  She would slip down behind the bookcase in the middle of the night and get trapped back there.  She outgrew that idea and so we could remove that obstacle.  I don’t remember any of my other cats being this naughty, or maybe just plain curious.

Cat Chaos on my desk

This is what I came home to the other day.  I walked into my office and was shocked.  I figured Koki and Raven had a chasing match while I was at work.  I’ve never found the top to my paperclip dispenser.  I imagine it’ll show up one day.  My keyboard didn’t come unplugged either so I was lucky there.  Nothing was broken so it was just normal cat chaos.  Thank goodness.  I’m sure there’s more of this to come.

Working can be Comparable to a Gym Workout

And you might think I’m joking, but I’m not.  Those demo carts we have to push around aren’t easy when they’re loaded with pounds of product.  Although, I’d much rather have this situation going for me than a fold up table.  For some reason mantling and dismantling those tables is no easy task for me.

A few days ago I was doing a demo for white grape juice.  My cart must have weighed three hundred pounds, perhaps more once I had all the bottles of product on there and the ice and ice bucket and everything else needed to do the demo.  I must be a ninety-pound weakling because once I had my cart in place I felt like I had just come off the machines at the gym.  My legs were burning from pushing that weight from the back to the isle I was on that day.

There’s no doubt about it – you get a workout every day at work.  Even on my breaks I have to power walk from one end of the store to the other in order to stay on schedule and get back to my demo in time.

 Me at work

Anyway, the gal breaking me for lunch took this picture of my cart.  I had already taken my blue apron off.  I served about 1100 cups of juice that day.  There are many times you feel like a one-armed-paperhanger and just can’t move fast enough to keep the tray full of samples.

But I have to say there’s a lot of variety and everyday I’m doing something new.  I see the worst of human nature, in the course of the job, but there are plenty of nice folks too.

Is everyone crazy these days?

Okay, I’m talking about the massacre at a gay nightclub about a week ago in Orlando, Florida.  We were celebrating birthdays of four people that I know who have theirs on the 12^th and I came home to this forecast.  Why does this stuff keep happening?  It makes me wonder how good the upper echelons in the government are.  I don’t think any of us should ever feel safe from anything. 

Now I realize this is a gay nightclub and this terrorist was against all gays, not to mention everything else he was against.  I’m not in the gay camp but I believe all should do as they wish with their lives if they aren’t interfering with or hurting others.  It’s wrong to kill people just because you don’t agree with them.

 Omar Mateen - Shooter in Orlando, Florida 6-12-2016

If this kid was on the FBI questionable people list and was interrogated by them two years ago, why did they let him off the list and how was this guy able to buy weapons without being questioned?  I have very little faith in our government who is supposed to protect us.  That faith is dwindling more everyday.  I think we have to be responsible for ourselves and not expect to be protected by anyone else.  Of course a lot of this is luck by not being in the wrong place at the wrong time because you never know when a crazy person will take it upon themselves to kill a bunch of us unexpectedly.

It will never be enough to have some officials come to the microphone and express their “heartfelt condolences” to people who have lost family members in something that could have been prevented (perhaps) if they would do their job in the first place.  We’ve all seen this happen if there’s a tragedy.  This will not ever bring your loved ones back!

We are really going to hell in a hand basket quick because there are so many confused and deranged individuals out there.  These people are unstable and no one will heed the warning signs until it’s too late and yet another tragedy brings them before the microphone on the national news.

We need big changes now or we won’t be any better off than the third world countries overseas.  Is this the kind of country you want to leave to your kids and grand kids?  I don’t think so.

Golly gee – Another year older tomorrow

How did I make it halfway through my sixth decade of life?  Sometimes I wonder because I used to think this was so old when I was a kid.  Now of course it doesn’t seem old at all, except for all the aches and pains associated with it.  Most of the time I have to look at the calendar to realize that, yes, I’m really this old.  Thank goodness I don’t look it …yet, or so my co-workers tell me.

 This is me.  I don't post many pics of myself

I’m fortunate that I have the energy I have and keep going like a much younger person.  There’s a gal at work and we discovered we had the same birthdays a couple of months ago.  We were born in the same year on the same day but in two different places, so due to the time zones she’s about 2 hours older than me.  Of course since this came out it’s all over work, thanks to Doreen (my birth mate).  I would just as soon fly under the radar at my age.

But all this birthday talk brings up another story about a guy at work named John.  This guy is amazing.  I’m totally flabbergasted at his age and the hours he keeps.  He’s an inspiration to me for my later years.  I really think we’re cut from the same mold, but he’s about twenty years older than me.  This guy ballroom dances, goes to bed at 2 am and gets to work by 10 the next morning.  He astounds me by his story of laying wood flooring in his house until the wee hours and is still able to make it to work on time.  He always has a big smile on his face too.  When he came to work a week ago he said he’d gone to bed at 4 AM and would try his best to do the job at work that day.  Of course I want to know what his secret is because that’s so like me.  I seem to do fine on very little sleep and now I know I’m not alone in that world.  That’s a very comforting thought because John is an ordinary guy and always in a happy mood.  I like to think of myself that way too. 

This is my sister, Scherri - Happy Birthday!

Anyway to get back on track, my next birthday is tomorrow and one of my sisters is the 21^st.  We’re a year and a day apart.  She can start Medicare this year.  We’re all getting so old.  I know I never envisioned myself carrying around a Medicare card.  But I guess as long as I stay well, age is only a number.

Is it Sticker Shock?

They gave me a nice tote bag advertising the place

I was wondering about this as I went to my cataract appointment today.  They were supposed to measure my eyes for the lenses and also have me talk to a counselor about prices.  Uh-oh.  Why would I need a counselor unless it was going to be a BIG price tag?

Hubby went with me and had to sit in the waiting room over an hour.  I think they had a trainee looking in my eyes through all the machines, but lucky for me a gal came to assist and told me she’d been there twenty-nine years so that made me feel better.  After all, everyone has to learn their new jobs and I’m okay with that as long as they have a seasoned professional with them.

They ended up having to test my eyes again on one test because they water so badly due to my dry eye, they wanted to be sure the reading was accurate.  That was okay with me.  I’d rather them be sure too, even if I had to stay there all day.

 This is the eye patch I'm supposed to tape on at night after the surgery.  I was expecting a "pirate patch."  I hope this thing stays on.  Of course hubby says I have a wild imagination.

 

Now I’m home and I guess it all went well.  Everything is still so Greek to me.  I guess they do these procedures all the time though so I worry needlessly, but it is my eye they’ll be cutting on and that makes me very nervous.  It’s actually both eyes because one is done one week and the other the next week.  Naturally, you have to sign all kinds of disclaimers, adding to the nerve wracking value of the whole thing.  My hubby tells me to stop spinning off into outer space and calm down.  It’ll all be fine.

It didn’t end up being a big sticker shock after all because my insurance will pay most of it, but I’m wondering if I made the right decision.  I suppose I’ll be wondering that until the day I have surgery.

 They gave me these dark glasses to wear in the sun afterwards.  I may use the ones I already have and save these as a spare.  I already broke one pair and had to get new ones that protect against UVA and UVB rays as well as being polarized.  I think the last ones fell off my shirt too many times and that's why the lens fell out.

 

I wasn’t a candidate for some lenses due to my macular degeneration even though that isn’t bad, but it could change as I get older.  I’m having the surgery done through some ultra sound procedure and one of my eyes will be made slightly far-sighted and the other slightly near-sighted.  That sounds so weird to me but no one else seems to think this is weird but me.  I guess our brains figure out the difference and that way we can see without glasses most of the time, near or far.  My husband thinks it’s such a good idea that he wants his eyes done that way.  What?  I can’t believe it but he really wants to get away from glasses that he’s worn since he was a teenager.

My surgery is scheduled for the 11^th and 18^th of July.  Does anyone have any input on this type of surgery, or know of anyone who’s had it done?  I guess I should just be happy if I’m not blind and can get away from my glasses that are always dirty.

Now if they could fix my dry eyes, I’d be REAL HAPPY!

Your help is needed

I’m posting this for a friend that needs to raise funds for her cat’s medical bills.  My friend B’s cats are her only family.  She’s the greatest cat lady I know personally, rescuing cats that would otherwise perish as kittens or on the streets as they get older.  She’s the only one I know that has the nerve to trap, care for and find homes for these abandoned kittens.

Now she has a little angel in desperate need of help.  This cat was rescued as a kitten from a brickyard.  He’s the sweetest thing with a great disposition.  No one would ever guess he came from feral beginnings.  Novi really needs your help as he battles lymphoma.  He’s had surgery but needs a lot of follow up care.  Whatever you can afford will be appreciated, even a dollar will help.  If you can afford to give $5.00, that’s great too.  All money received will go to Novi’s care.

 Novi

If you’d like to read Bonnye and Novi’s story and donate to this worthy cause, please click the link below.  Bless you if you can find it in your heart to help.  I’m doing what I can to get the word out because it makes me terribly sad that my friend cries all the time wondering how she’ll ever help her furry friend.

If you can’t help, I understand that too, but please pass the word on to a friend.  That would be appreciated.  Furry friends are family and are there for us offering their support when we’re ill or sad.  We need to do the same for them if we can.

Thanks to all of you for reading this post. Here’s the link for further information.

Novi-A Homers Hero

Should it be laser or the knife?

I had an eye exam this past March.  To my surprise I was told I had cataracts and given a referral card to a place in town that does that surgery.  It was for an evaluation, supposedly.  The first thing I did was call my Medicare provider to see if this surgery was even covered.  It is, but of course they only pay a portion – no surprise there.

At the time of my original eye appointment I had a lot going on with my eyes.  Besides not being able to see out of my trifocal glasses anymore, I have extreme dry eye, macular degeneration, and as if that wasn’t enough, a sty on my right eye!  Good grief!  I was flabbergasted. 

The good news is the MD hasn’t gotten worse since my last visit, thank goodness.  I guess taking all my eye vitamins and cooking all my greens stinking up the house (my husband’s words) has paid off.

I didn’t want to go to the cataract doctor until the sty was gone, which took six weeks!  It has to run its course, the doctor said.  And then if it didn’t move to my left eye.  I was fed up at that point so I went to the herb store and got a homeopathic drop for sties.  I was very impressed with it. The second sty was gone in two weeks.

 Richens Eye Center - my place of choice

 

Now I didn’t want to go the doctor he referred to me too either, so finally free of sty’s, I made an appointment with another doctor in town.  She has the best reputation for eye surgery and my eyes aren’t something I want messed with unless the person is a specialist.

My appointment was June first.  They gave me an entire eye exam all over again.  The doctor told me I had cataracts in both eyes.  Oh my!  Maybe that’s why I feel half-blind, along with the constant watering.  So what do they do, refer me to more eye drops!  I think I’ve tried every drop made at this point, even prescription ones.  Heck, what’s two more weeks of suffering with this dry eye business.  It’s already been four years.  I can do two more weeks surely, I told myself.  So I was a good girl and went and got more eye drops after I left the office.  He had dilated my eyes, but I had those heavy wrap-around shades to wear under my glasses.  I would be fine, right?

 The wrap around shades some of you might be familiar with

 

Well, yes, I could drive, I guess, but the sun glares on the cars were like huge sunbursts exploding all around me.  It was 103 in the shade.  After I followed my husband to an appointment at the bank, I went on to Walgreen’s and got my drops. 

You guessed it, my next appointment is in two weeks (and another co-pay) to go in and have my eyes measured for the lenses, and to discuss pricing with the counselor.  Lord this must be expensive if you need a counselor for that.  The doctor already scared me to death with all the bad things that can happen, but usually doesn’t.  Hmmm…Now the counselors will scare me with the prices, I guess.  The receptionist already told me they have financing.  Hint, hint.

Then it will be yet another appointment for the actual surgery, for one eye and the other about three weeks later.

So I’ve picked the brains of some people at work who had the surgery done.  The laser cost about $2100 more than the knife.  So what it boils down to is how long I want to pay for this cataract surgery.  The guy at work told me he had the knife and was doing fine.  He was only out of pocket about $1800.  What?  That’s a lot of money.  So depending on the lenses I select, I’m looking at $4,000 if I go with laser.  Good heavens!  I hope they have smelling salts to bring me around when they knock me over with the prices.  My sister says I definitely want the laser because you heal quicker and can see better faster.  She knows a few people who’ve had this done.  I guess I need to do more research before my next appointment on the fifteenth when I probably have to sign on the dotted line.

Getting older is expensive.

Do any of you have experience with this?

Is it really what it looks like…or not?

Working sure does open my eyes to the behavior of people.  Whether we’re busy or not something always comes along to amaze me.  The things people will do for free food samples will make your jaw drop.  Most of the time, we’re too busy to think a lot about this behavior at the time.  And luckily, there are some very nice people out there, but there’s also some that show just how bad humans can be.

However, I’m not going there in this post.  I have a question for all of you about service animals.  Do any of you know if service dogs eat on the job?  I’ll explain below.

Lately, I’ve noticed an influx of people with service dogs in the store over the last couple of months.  I think service animals are great and do great work for impaired individuals, but I have a lot of doubts if all of these animals are really service dogs.  I think anyone can go into a pet store (such as Petco and Petsmart) and buy a service vest for a dog.  My issue is that these people come into the store with the “service animal” on a leash and they eat, and feed the dog as well, while standing in the store with other shoppers also partaking of the free samples.

A very heated argument took place last week over this issue between a shopper and an older man with his “service dog.”  Now this older man is in the store all the time eating free samples and feeding his dog in the isle beside/or in front of our food carts.  Management had to intervene as the argument escalated between the two men as they made their way down the isle.  They stopped right in front of six of us with samples so there were a lot of witnesses to this incident along with the other shoppers in the store.  The man confronting the person with the dog was so red with the veins bulging in his neck that we thought he’d have a heart attack.

None of us needed that bit of excitement happening right there.

I think that there should be a way to check this type of situation.  Only real service animals should be allowed to come in the store.  I hope a way to remedy this will be implemented soon.

Once the men were taken upfront to cool off, the gal beside me told me about an incident that happened a few years ago with a man and his service animal.  The dog was allowed to wander under the gal’s sample table eating up any crumbs that had fallen and then it lifted its leg and peed on her cart.  She had to shut down and take everything to the back and sanitize all the equipment and throw away the food.  I don’t think a service dog would do this.

There are never too many dull moments in the food sample business.  Any thoughts anyone?