reflections in the mirror

I love my basement, I think it is the best room in the house. The apartment that we were living in, did not have any place for storage, so we filled the walk-in closets and various unused corners to store things. When we were packing, I went through the boxes and repacked everything, so now I know what is in most of the boxes. The best part is that I dont have to look at those boxes…unless I want to.

I love my basement.

It has been a while since I have written about my cats on this site. That is mostly because I gave the cats their own site. But this morning (1:48am) while watching Animal Cops on Animal Planet, there was a little kitty that was saved from a house of a hoarder. We have all seen it on the news…a house with 50, 60, or more cats…The people genuinely think that they are helping all the cats or animals that they have, but often times, the animals are suffering from malnutrition, a varity of diseases, and lack of socialization. Hoarders do not realize that they are harming their pets more than helping them.

But back to the story. This hoarder, had a little orange boy kitty, who had an eye infection, several teeth that needed to be removed, and FIV (Feline immunodeficiency virus). I watch this particular program often, usually everyday. It is rare though, that the vet actually says that the cat has FIV. Usually they say that the cat has an “untreatable disease”, and that the cat was “humanely euthenized”. There are several other diseases that cats can have that make them “unadoptable”, such as FeLV, and FIP…both a cat can live with as a carrier.

Humanely euthenized…that is a phrase that makes me shutter. Abby, my little girl mama cat, lived for months, lingering on the verge of being put to sleep. One of the very few things that saved Abby, was that a wonderful person (I will call, D) kept up hope that Abby would find a home. I did arrive just in time though. If Abby had remained any longer, she might just not be alive now. But D, knew that Abby would find a home…and for that I am so grateful.

I first found out about FIV when my first cat, Socks adopted my family just over a year ago. He had been pecked by a mockingbird, and got an absess on his hip. They tested him at the vet and gave me the shocking news. I think that I probably looked like I had been hit in the stomach. I know my head started to spin. But the more I learned, the less frightening the disease became. Socks certainly doesnt act “sick”, he is happy healthy and living it up here.

Abby was brought into our family next. A couple weeks after that Blackie joined us.Blackie originally joined us as a “foster kitty”, but his FIV+ status, has made it difficult for him to find a home. He is such a great cat. He is a Maine Coon and he just loves being scritched. Everyone who sees this large (17lbs!!) fuzzball just falls in love…that is untill they read or are told that he has FIV. Blackie has since become a permanent member of the family.

If you have not figured it out, all three cats in the pictures above, have FIV. They are happy, healthy and ruling the roost around here. FIV is not treatable, but it doesnt mean that a cat is not able to live a long happy life. When watching Animal Cops, I watched intently to see what the vet would say, or how the cat would be “handled’ on his road to recovery. I was very happy to see that that cat was fostered and that he stood a good chance of living a wonderful life.

I didnt intend this to be a “go adopt a cat today” campain, but I did feel it important enough to actually spend the time to write this rather long post. Thank you for reading, if you have made it this far, I am grateful. One more person that knows the truth and understand that these cats are in as much a need of being adopted, the better.

..and getting settled. It has been interesting, and I dont have a clue where some of the things that I need are. I was joking today, that my apartment looks like a tornato went through, there are papers, toys, and just stuff everywhere…and the house is where all the larger things, like the furnature and boxes were deposited.

I am not feeling to great tonight, I have a horrible cold and possibly allergies. So, I basically feel like I was hit by a truck…then it backed up. I am going to try to spend a few minutes online, I am sure I am out of credits for BlogMad. Anyways, I have the TV, sofa, and the computer. That is enough for me tonight.

I am at the new house and I have a connection!!!!!!!!!!!

I arrived here about 1pm, and about 10 minutes later, the phone lady came by. Ten minutes or so later the TV guy came (he is still here, running a new line for the livingroom), and the Cable works. Tomorrow, the Internet person comes…but I really dont think we need him, as I am on Line

Tomorrow, the furnature is arriving (like it has far to go…the apartment is about 5 minutes from the house), so the mad rush to pack the last of the non-furnature stuff happens today. Add to that, I am taking Youngest to meet his new teacher, and then Youngest and Hubby are going camping tonight (it is fine, it is alot easier to pack stuff up without little feets under foot) and Eldest, is going to a family thing with her boyfriend. So, this will probably be it for today…talk with everyone tomorrow!

I am sorry everyone, I am going to take this week off. With moving and running like a chicken..I just dont have time to visit other people, though I would love to see all your posts. I will post next week.

Next weeks theme for my list, will be about the house. Please stop back to take a look next week.

I am sure there are some out there who would not agree

The electrician came this evening to check out the house. The plug was fried, which is what caused the little “fire”. The rest of the plugs in the upstairs were fine, I had the guy check them all. So, hopefully that will be our only problem.

The owner got to see the pond and she actually was suprised…that is was small. She had thought that I was going to dig up her back yard. I will have to have a proper outlet run for the pond but for now I have it run through a circuit dedicated to the garage, and the pond is in the driveway.

I thought that taking the pond out of the garden would be difficult, but it was actually pretty easy. Once I got the water into the 55 gallon plastic tote, I was able to catch the big fish (the Mama’s), they were put into the tote, and the papa’s were given to my neighbor. Then I had to look for the little ones. They tend to be difficult to see, as they are almost all black. There was one little one that waited till the very end to get caught.

Getting ready for the ride to the house was kind of interesting. A smaller 22 gallon tote that I used for the lily pad, and for things like the pump, seemed fine. But when we lifted the tote into the van, Eldest noticed that there was a crack in one of the bottom corners. I had to get the water out of the van…and quickly. After all that excitement, we finally got to the house, put the pond in the driveway, filled with water, and fish back in. I was even able to get a frog…a little frog, but a frog just the same.

Tomorrow, I will shuttle more boxes over, same on Thursday. Friday, I move some Eldests bed Saturday I bring the cats over in the morning, and set them up in Eldests room. About noon, we will be moving furnature…I dont know if I will have a whole lot of time between now and then, but I will try to post if I have a minute or two.

ggggrrrrrrrrrrrr…ok, now I got that out.

Well, this evening we were at the house, Hubby was upstairs putting together Youngests bed, when I hear Hubby Yell…

So, I grabbed a plastic container, full of water…but fortunately (water isnt what I really should have grabbed) hubby was able to get the fan unplugged and I then went downstairs to the basement and threw the curcuit. Disaster was averted, narrowly. I called the lady who owns the house and reported the problem. Last week, an electrician was supposed to have fixed the electrical problems in the bedroom, but he didnt come, and she didnt let me know that there could still be a problem (I hope that she doesnt read this). My Youngest was in the room with Hubby and he is now scared of his room. I am hoping that having the electrician there and having Youngest there as well, will let Youngest feel safe in the room. I dont feel safe…I can truely understand how Youngest feels. I just wish we had known that the problem(s) still existed…I would never allowed Hubby to do anything in that room if I had known.

I have been commenting that we are using his house as a learning experience, this is one experience that I have definately learned from. I will be calling another well known electrician to have the house checked out.

I really dont know what to post today, so here goes my list…

1. Moving has left me exhausted, of course moving a good thing as we have to be out of the apartment by October 1st, exhaused is not.

2. I would post what I moved, or what is left, but I have done so much and still have so much stuff to do.

3. Today it is going to rain, so I will spend much of the time just putting things in boxes, to move on Friday.

4. I was going to take over 2 boxes last night, but I ran out of energy, so I will bring them over this morning, before I take my customary nap.

5. I am running out of room in the basement. Most of the boxes will be empty soon as they are filled with things what we will actually need and/or want.

6. I think I might try to make my sons bed today, he has been asking about it and the box is taking up room

7. I also have a TV stand to put together, today might be a good day to put it together.

8. I hope that my neighbor will be able to keep me company. If she cant, I will bring over a radio. It is nice to have a quiet house, but it is too quiet sometimes. The other day, I went to the house and all the little house noises freaked me out.

9. My nails have really paid a price this move. I am not one of those, who has a fit whenever a nail breaks, but I have one nail with a crease up the center of the nail. This nail decided 2 days ago to split up that nail, which is painful. I couldnt even clip the nail back to stop the split, so it is wrapped with cloth medical tape.

10. I am still not able to watch Animal Planet without starting to cry. Everyone needs to stop dying, or else!

11. My cats are pretty freaked out by the move. They see boxes leaving everyday and I think that they are wondering if they are going too. Of course they are, but they dont know that. Socks checks on me at least once an hour, when I am home, to make sure I still love him. He is sitting onthe back of the couch and nudging my head, kneedng my back, or jumping straight into my lap.

12. I really want this move to be over with. I dont like moving and this one is driving me crazy. Every other move, I have been healthy and ahead of schedule. This one I am scheduling moving around my headaches, and lack of sleep. It is frustrating and I feel like I am falling behind.

13. I did move most of the pictures/lithographs/paintings already. I have even hung a few of them on the walls at the house. Over the fireplace, I have a perfect space for a set of four lithographs, that are in one frame. I havent been able to hang that frame in the apartment, there was just not the right space for it in the apartment

OK, enough with my rambling on for now. Hopefully, next week I will have a better list for everyone.

I would like ask those visiting to visit my new tenant, Ramblings from the not-so typical Stay at Home Mom. She has a wonderful, funny “Mommy Blog”. I have really enjoyed my visits to her site and I hope that you will too.