Back from the vet. The problem was she was not eating (and more important drinking) anything for 2.5 days. They gave subQ fluids, a different, non-opioid, pain killer, and an appetite stimulant. Right out of the carrier she headed for her food dish. Took one bite, ran across the room, started pawing at her mouth and ran behind the couch. I think she just can't handle stitches in her mouth. But to be fair, she has a lot of them. Checked again a half hour later and all the food was gone. Tentative follow-up appointment tomorrow in case nothing improves. Fingers crossed she keeps it up. I don't understand why they use such long-lasting stitches. I never had mouth stitches that took 2 weeks to dissolve.
I can see that this might bother them a lot. It's not like the cat understands why her mouth feels different or that it's only going to be temporary.
(2/13/24) Tuesday Two-week follow-up appointment for the hearing aids (HAs). I'd not had time to try these things out much, but kept the appointment anyway. These HAs are linked to the smartphone. Both a blessing and a curse at the beginning, imo. The link allows you to change advanced settings with the phone very easily, but you also have to change the phone settings. Otherwise every time you use the phone for something else, the HAs go into "Bluetooth Mode," and the settings revert temporarily to some unknown (very loud) defaults. I can't figure out how to change these Bluetooth defaults, or cut the link for good. The doctor said two interesting things. 1. There are all kinds of sounds I hear now that I don't want to hear. This is normal. She said the brain will eventually learn to not hear those sounds, if I keep wearing the HAs long enough. Now this makes some sense, because I can block out the sound of tinnitus (hissing sound) and have to concentrate hard to hear it. However, there surely must be a threshold of loudness that the brain is simply not capable of blocking out. There must be an optimum setting where this all works. The doctor seems to think this setting is much louder than I like. 2. It's good to get HAs before you really need them. Eventually you will lose so much hearing the brain will lose the ability to recognize certain sounds. Once it loses that ability, it never comes back again. (Maybe I don't understand this one correctly) I'm going to give it a good try. Physically I don't know I'm wearing these things at all. Another follow-up appointment in 3 weeks. I'm just not in the mood to spend the time right now figuring all this out. Lots of other more important appointments and things have been going on this month.
Not looking forward to spring because there is so much more work to do when things start growing. Last time out to the farm I had only 3 things planned: (1) pick up just enough black walnuts to make one batch of fudge (2) bring back more cedar trees to plant along the fence in town (3) clear leaves off the driveway so it looks like there is activity When I got there the garage door opener wouldn't work. The breaker to the garage had tripped. The trickle charger on the tractor battery was ruined. It was almost brand new. Probably just a cheap fuse blown. Two trickle chargers cost about the same as a new tractor battery. So I'm still ahead, just barely. Those tractor batteries were almost too heavy to lift, two years ago. The squirrels had beaten me to every single walnut. Only black hulls left on the ground as far as the eye could see. There are hundreds of nice little cedars out there. Most have the roots hopelessly wedged between rocks or tree roots, so you have to try many to get a few. Picked up 10 nice ones. There were so many leaves down you couldn't find the edge of the driveway. Too many to rake by hand before dark. The riding mower wouldn't start without battery charger help. Recently it has been shutting down when you engage the mower blades. Tried just pushing the leaves off with the mower deck. Mower got stuck because I ran off the edge of the driveway into some mud, and didn't notice one front tire was flat. One rear wheel just kept spinning. Couldn't find the chain, or a strong enough rope, to pull the mower out of the mud. Pushed it from behind with the EZGO up onto the driveway. I should have just left it out and hope someone would steal it. I hate that mower, but it's hard to justify a new one as long as it keeps working. Filled the tire with air. Pushed off the leaves. Planted the trees in town the next day. More than enough, if they all live.
(2/18/24) More cat updates In the 10 days after this last surgery the cat quit drinking water completely. I took her back for fluids on day 4. From then on I made soup out of everything she ate. The soup had to be served on a plate, not in a bowl. All this was learned by trial and error. It must have to do with the tongue. A cat drinks water from a bowl with the tongue going backwards, like a dog. But licks stuff off a surface with tongue going forward, like a human. Friday morning was the cat's follow-up appointment for the 2nd tooth surgery. She passed the test and no more teeth related appointments were scheduled. This time they said stitches would dissolve in 10-14 days. Exactly 10 days had passed. The technician said she didn't see any stitches. At this stage I should be happy, but I think there's good reason tooth problems are not over. Long story short, she has only 7 teeth left now. One lone canine. None of these teeth have an opposing tooth on the opposite jaw. This, in my opinion, is just asking for trouble. Before surgery I asked them if removing all her teeth might be a better solution. "We never remove perfectly good teeth, besides it's more difficult to remove a good tooth." Since Friday. She is still pawing at her mouth, but not nearly as bad as it was. There must be a few more stitches left. It doesn't make sense they would all dissolve on the 10th day. She is starting to groom herself again. I asked them to send me home with the setup for fluids just in case she still wouldn't drink. I see a tiny bit of water missing from her water bowl this morning. They took out all the lower front teeth. My guess is stitches below her tongue made it difficult to work it backwards.
Sorry for not replying. John. I got distracted. Little things, like water dripping, have a more musical tone now, so bird sounds may be prettier. I'll probably be able to hear the bluebirds more often, from farther away. They make a very soft little warble. The birds are just now starting to show some spring activity. I took down all 3 birdhouses late last summer and haven't put them back yet. Not sure that I should this year, for several reasons. The plan was to encourage this pair of bluebirds to go somewhere else. Out of 6 nests and 24 eggs in 2 years they managed to hatch only 8. This pair needs to retire, imo. It's too sad to watch them bungle every nest.
Went out late last night for some groceries and the Ranger tells me the right rear tire is low on air: 29,30,29,20. The light was amber. I assume it would be red if it was an emergency. Stopped at a gas station and paid $2.50 to fill it with air with a credit card ($2 if you have 8 quarters). Tire still has 30 lbs of air this morning. Found the nail. The tires on the old F-150 had 15" rims. It wasn't easy, but I could change a tire in the driveway and (barely) lift the bad tire into the bed of the truck. That ain't gonna happen with this Ranger. These new tires have 18" rims (no other choice). They are huge. If it goes completely flat in the driveway, I'll have to pay someone to come out and change the tire. I suppose it would pay to buy something to fill the tire with air at home to keep that from happening. There was a man in town that would plug tires for you in 5 minutes while you wait. And it worked. He is retired now. This tire is less than 3 years and ~6000 miles old. Any advice?
When I moved here, I went through a phase of getting flats on my truck and on the old Volvo I had. I got so experienced at it that when I was blocking traffic on a main road (did not want to drive on the rim) and a cop asked me to pull it over, I asked him to give me 2 minutes. He said I was faster than the pit crews at the Indy 500. I had a garage built before I move in, and the house had been remodeled by the investor I bought it from. I think there must have been nails & screws in my driveway. Up north there was always construction debris on the roads (does no one enforce the "Cover Your Load" laws?) and rocks being thrown (I went through 3 windshields), but we don't have that kind of activity here. And no one else was having issues. Those pressure sensors are a Good Thing. Warnings beat flats any day of the week, not that we want to have to mess with this stuff. And it does hurt more when it's on a new tire.
Tires Plus website claims to FIX flats. There's one 2 miles away. I guess I'll call them and see what they say. Ryobi makes a cordless tire inflator. If I spend $40 on one of those, I won't ever have another flat. I need to get on this and not let it linger like I'm prone to do.
I've managed to drag this tire business out until at least today. Tires Plus couldn't do it over the weekend, unless I left the truck with them all day so they could work it in when it was convenient, because they were short on staff. The only reason I asked them is I had a good experience with oil change, and it's close. Mobile Pete doesn't do tires at this time. They had the cordless tire inflators in stock at Home Depot. It's a cute little thing. Works well. Tire only lost 1 pound after a 15 mile drive and sitting overnight. I can now put this off even longer.
I thoroughly enjoy walking on our street when the Cherry Blossom Trees are in full bloom and a lick of wind covers us in petals. Bliss!
(2/28/24) Wednesday GC (general contractor) called. I haven't heard from him since before Christmas. Wanted to know if I needed anything. I asked him if he knew how to plug a tire. "Sure!" . He showed up in an hour and did it. Wouldn't take any money. I thought about trying it myself, but it took more strength than I figured it would. Plug is still holding this morning. If it doesn't work, I can still get it fixed at the tire place. I think they will do an internal patch, which can cost almost as much as a new tire. Too many things on my plate now to spend time on it. It might just outlast me the way things are going.
(2/29/24) Thursday I've never seen rye grass grow so high and so healthy looking. It's up almost to your knees in places. It will all die by summer and should lay down a carpet that will keep the moisture in the ground. I need to plug some permanent grass soon. Big job. (3/2/24) The EGO battery mower started right up. It got through a whole season last year. Paid for itself, compared to hiring someone. Anything it will do this season is a bonus. This grass is very fine and juicy. Mower with mulching blade just pushed most of it over. This would be a good test of the lifting blade. I need to get motivated to change the blade soon.