USMB Coffee Shop IV

[Nosmo King]

Daisy the Mutt has just about completed her regimen of anti-biotics and steroids. Give one pill by mouth every 12 hours for seven days then one pill every 24 hours then one pill every other day until gone. That was the label on one of her four different medications. The other three advised different, but just as complex dosage instructions. Long story even longer, she has a total of four pills to take every other day as all the others are gone!

And Mom herself has pronounced Daisy "frisky again". So my little dog is back in the pink. She's still lapping down water like the camels Peter O'Toole rode across the desert as Lawrence of Arabia. And she's peeing it out as soon as she drinks it. Once the last four pills are gone, I hope her bladder and the front yard gets a well deserved break.

In other health news, my Uncle Jimmseems to have beaten his colon cancer! The operation and subsequent follow up checks show success!

Everything is looking up for everyone here!

Foxy, you can make some changes to the Vigil List! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

 

[ChrisL]

Hot today, 68F!! I almost decided to sleep in the car with the ac running. At least the house stays nice and cool. I have determined that my two turkeys are far more productive than any of the hens. Each turkey lays an egg a day, and one of them is "broody". I'll have to trick her by putting fake eggs into the nest next time she comes out to eat. I'll build a nest box this weekend and see whether I can convince her to lay her clutch in that.
This so-called power system installed by my partner sucks. I'm setting up a meeting with a company that designs the things for real next week. We have most of the major components, just need actual solar batteries and an idea of how to properly wire things together.
I got a refresher course in dealing with a hoarder this past weekend. I've been loading junk onto the trailer to take to the dump. I'm cleaning three different places, including here in Willow. I've been stacking stuff to go since last summer. One of the items included is an old charcoal grill. It's rusted out, the wooden slats are rotted, the legs are falling off, and as I dragged it to the trailer, a wheel fell off. Well, rule #1 for hoarders is: never let them see you dragging their precious treasures away. Rule #2: if they see you, don't ask them to help you load it. I asked and was...well, rebuffed is a polite description,. I waited until he was busy elsewhere and loaded it myself, buried it under several bags of trash and other stuff, pulled a tarp over the whole thing and strapped it down. I came back the next morning and that grill is now piled over in the treeline. Guess I'll have to wait until he goes back to work, after his vacation is over...

I've heard that hoarding is actually a mental illness and that these people cannot help themselves from hoarding. So, you will go through all of this trouble to clean up and within as little as a few months' time, these people will have started "collecting" more things. They are apparently people who have a mental illness severe enough that it interferes with their lives and their health.

That's why, after rooming with my partner for about a year and a half, I bought myself that travel trailer and moved out. There's more to that whole story, of course, but I'll leave that alone for now. I cleaned the place up when I moved in; installed new floors, paper and painted the walls, mowed the yard and bought a gazebo for the hot tub. It didn't take very long for the yard to be filled up with junk again. I've mentioned before that my partner turns out to be a passive-aggressive type personality, too. Passive-aggressive is apparently such a successful coping mechanism that even if the "sufferer" admits they have the problem, there are few know successful ways to break them of the action. He was able to mask this initially, at least until we had started a business and bought property together. I wonder now whether there might be a link between the passive-aggressive personality and hoarding? I'm dreading the time when we finally get around to selling the house in Anchorage.

Have you ever watched the TV series on I think A&E "Hoarders"? The gist is that loved ones of the person overwhelmed by his/her obsessive compulsive hoarding employ a team of experts to deal with it. (If the process is televised, presumably A&E pays all the fees and expenses.) The team works with the hoarder who agrees to allow them to clean the place up. Several truckloads of junk, trash, garbage will be removed from the home, sometimes which is extremely stressful for the hoarder but with counseling they allow it. Invariably the owner is then thrilled with his clean, presentable home.

They always have a postscript at the end of the show reporting how the person is doing weeks or months later. Some have managed to stop their hoarding compulsion. Others they sadly report that the home is filling up again.

I've never seen the show, but I've heard of it. Since the partner's place has been cleaned a couple of time (by ME), and has always reverted to being a hoarder's dump, I doubt my partner will ever become human. Now, he's started converting the Willow place into a dumping ground. I absolutely despise living like this. Every piece of junk has potential, he can fix it, he can! The charcoal grill is a great example. It's rusted, rotted, and falling apart. We have a nice propane grill now that he's agreed is a lot more efficient and easier to use. But he can weld a patch, cut some wood strips...etc, etc. But why? We only need one grill. It's not like we have loads of friends visiting. No one who's been here wants to come again. How much fun is it, witnessing one partner bullying the other. And Mr. Passive-Aggressive loves to make drama for the company.

Its a sickness. And a gross one. Housemate here...he has coupons from the 1960's. Every drawer in the kitchen is a junk drawer. Every time I use his vac, something else breaks on it cuz its from the 60's too. Every nook and cranny is filled with something he claims is worth money and its TRASH in reality. I gave up long ago trying to get him to clean the place up. Even the room I am in, is not wholly mine. The closet has his moms clothes in there....which stink. I have to use MrGracie's closet for my clothes. And..MrGracies room is half filled with desks, papers, filing cabinets, gun cases, magazines, etc...so he has half a room. Its an awful way to live and extremely depressing because there is no comfort anywhere. Its constant assault on the eyes, nose, and general well being with having to live in this filth.
But...I might wind up jumping from the fry pan into the fire. But...the fire can be put out. Maybe. Like I said..long story that might wind up being nothing.

Yup, psychiatrists agree that hoarders are suffering from a mental illness.

I know you don't want to hear this, but maybe you should think about getting out of CA? I'm thinking it is not going to get any better there for people like you. There is a whole country out there and lots of other beautiful states that are much cheaper.

 

[ChrisL]

Meanwhile...it is 94 degrees in this hell hole. I am so eager to go back home to the beach.

Your 94 equals our 68! Hotter than the hubs of hell for us. I just want to nap in my air conditioned car.

Its cooler today....at 72 and will get up to 80 maybe but to me..I think it won't get more than 75 due to clouds and a really nice breeze. If it stayed like this all the time, I would be a happy camper. 100 degree weather is just awful.
Back home..it is 63 degrees. That is what I am used to. For 30 years, I never owned a coat. Up here in the mountains, I own 3 coats since winter means snow..which I sorta like. Kinda. As long as I don't have to move around in it.

Yeah, snow is not very much fun when you have to go to work in it and shovel it and have to get all bundled up every single time you have to go outside, even for 10 minutes or else you will be frozen! Lol. I have had snow all my life, and I have just about had it.

 

[ChrisL]

I am taking my bunny to the vet on Saturday morning. He is going to have a checkup and have his nails trimmed (which are VERY long I might add - he scratches the heck out of me all the time but not on purpose - he can't retract his nails). He also has a little bump on his ear that I'm going to have them take a look at. While they told me that don't really do general grooming, I am going to try to talk them into trimming him up and neatening him up a bit for the summer months when all of those thick layers of fur make him really uncomfortable. He most will just sprawl out on the bathroom floor because the poor thing is so uncomfortable and hot. I don't want him shaved but just trimmed up so that his hair is shorter and more manageable.

 

[Nosmo King]

I am taking my bunny to the vet on Saturday morning. He is going to have a checkup and have his nails trimmed (which are VERY long I might add - he scratches the heck out of me all the time but not on purpose - he can't retract his nails). He also has a little bump on his ear that I'm going to have them take a look at. While they told me that don't really do general grooming, I am going to try to talk them into trimming him up and neatening him up a bit for the summer months when all of those thick layers of fur make him really uncomfortable. He most will just sprawl out on the bathroom floor because the poor thing is so uncomfortable and hot. I don't want him shaved but just trimmed up so that his hair is shorter and more manageable.

I thought I might accidentally stumble into a,pornographic site when I searched "grooming your bunny" on YouTube. "Shaving Ryan's Privates" came to mind.

But here's this. I hope it proves helpful.

 

[ChrisL]

I am taking my bunny to the vet on Saturday morning. He is going to have a checkup and have his nails trimmed (which are VERY long I might add - he scratches the heck out of me all the time but not on purpose - he can't retract his nails). He also has a little bump on his ear that I'm going to have them take a look at. While they told me that don't really do general grooming, I am going to try to talk them into trimming him up and neatening him up a bit for the summer months when all of those thick layers of fur make him really uncomfortable. He most will just sprawl out on the bathroom floor because the poor thing is so uncomfortable and hot. I don't want him shaved but just trimmed up so that his hair is shorter and more manageable.

I thought I might accidentally stumble into a,pornographic site when I searched "grooming your bunny" on YouTube. "Shaving Ryan's Privates" came to mind.

But here's this. I hope it proves helpful.

Thanks. I've watched these videos and stuff before, and these are some things that my bunny just hates and doesn't want me to do. I rescued him from outside in the woods and earned his trust, and I don't want him to not trust me anymore. Even just trying to brush his hind end is a CHORE. He runs away and goes and hides in his box. Lol. He is very friendly and cuddly but he doesn't like being handled for grooming at all. I decided to pay a vet to do it and make him or her the "bad guy" instead.

 

[ChrisL]

I decided that taking him to a vet was better than a groomer because rabbits can actually have a heart attack if they get too frightened. They are aware of that at the vet and they would know when to stop and SHOULD be better at managing a rabbit, I would hope. I just don't want it to be too traumatic of an experience for him. He is a very sweet and gentle little bunny rabbit.

 

[ChrisL]

One time, years ago when I lived in another town, I was going for a walk and I saw a wild rabbit (a good sized cottontail) and a coyote lying there dead on the side of the road right in front of a house. I was like, what in the hell could have happened here??? All I can assume is that the coyote was chasing the rabbit and they ran into the road and both got hit by the car, but it is was so WEIRD because they were right next to one another, and it almost looked as if they were sleeping together. Lol. I am assuming the person who hit them or someone else dragged their bodies to the side of the road. I was a little freaked out when I saw that!

 

[Foxfyre]

Meanwhile...it is 94 degrees in this hell hole. I am so eager to go back home to the beach.

Your 94 equals our 68! Hotter than the hubs of hell for us. I just want to nap in my air conditioned car.

Its cooler today....at 72 and will get up to 80 maybe but to me..I think it won't get more than 75 due to clouds and a really nice breeze. If it stayed like this all the time, I would be a happy camper. 100 degree weather is just awful.
Back home..it is 63 degrees. That is what I am used to. For 30 years, I never owned a coat. Up here in the mountains, I own 3 coats since winter means snow..which I sorta like. Kinda. As long as I don't have to move around in it.

Yeah, snow is not very much fun when you have to go to work in it and shovel it and have to get all bundled up every single time you have to go outside, even for 10 minutes or else you will be frozen! Lol. I have had snow all my life, and I have just about had it.

When Hombre and I decided to leave north central Kansas, he said he was going to tie the snow shovel to the top of the car and drive south until somebody said, 'what in the hell is that?' And that's where we would stop. So where did we move? To Cedar Crest NM, elevation 7500 ft, where we got 130 inches of snow the second winter we were out there. (Most winters was more like 70-80 inches in wet years.)

Here in Albuquerque the snows are rare and usually don't pile up much.

 

[ChrisL]

Daisy the Mutt has just about completed her regimen of anti-biotics and steroids. Give one pill by mouth every 12 hours for seven days then one pill every 24 hours then one pill every other day until gone. That was the label on one of her four different medications. The other three advised different, but just as complex dosage instructions. Long story even longer, she has a total of four pills to take every other day as all the others are gone!

And Mom herself has pronounced Daisy "frisky again". So my little dog is back in the pink. She's still lapping down water like the camels Peter O'Toole rode across the desert as Lawrence of Arabia. And she's peeing it out as soon as she drinks it. Once the last four pills are gone, I hope her bladder and the front yard gets a well deserved break.

In other health news, my Uncle Jimmseems to have beaten his colon cancer! The operation and subsequent follow up checks show success!

Everything is looking up for everyone here!

Foxy, you can make some changes to the Vigil List! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

I am so happy that she is doing so much better! Yay! Uncle Jim too. I have an Uncle Jimmy too. Lol.

 

[ChrisL]

I have another funny bunny story. I took Bunny (that's his name - in case you didn't know - lol) to the park the other day to get some exercise and play in some grass. I have a patio and a little dirt/woodchip area and then woods but no grass around my house. He has never been to the park before, and I thought he might enjoy it and I only have to carry him through a path in the woods to get there. I would let him hop but he always goes off course. Anyways, we got there and I put him down in the grass and he seemed okay at first, and then I said something to him and stood next to him and he turned around and practically tried to climb up my leg. So I picked him up and he nuzzled right into my neck, as if to say, I've had enough and I'm scared, take me home! Lol. So we only spent about 5 minutes at the park.

 

[Foxfyre]

I have another funny bunny story. I took Bunny (that's his name - in case you didn't know - lol) to the park the other day to get some exercise and play in some grass. I have a patio and a little dirt/woodchip area and then woods but no grass around my house. He has never been to the park before, and I thought he might enjoy it and I only have to carry him through a path in the woods to get there. I would let him hop but he always goes off course. Anyways, we got there and I put him down in the grass and he seemed okay at first, and then I said something to him and stood next to him and he turned around and practically tried to climb up my leg. So I picked him up and he nuzzled right into my neck, as if to say, I've had enough and I'm scared, take me home! Lol. So we only spent about 5 minutes at the park.

That's very instructive to me. I had not thought of bunnies as seeing humans as 'family' or 'protectors' in the same way as a cat or dog would. They really do have personalities don't they.

 

[ChrisL]

I have another funny bunny story. I took Bunny (that's his name - in case you didn't know - lol) to the park the other day to get some exercise and play in some grass. I have a patio and a little dirt/woodchip area and then woods but no grass around my house. He has never been to the park before, and I thought he might enjoy it and I only have to carry him through a path in the woods to get there. I would let him hop but he always goes off course. Anyways, we got there and I put him down in the grass and he seemed okay at first, and then I said something to him and stood next to him and he turned around and practically tried to climb up my leg. So I picked him up and he nuzzled right into my neck, as if to say, I've had enough and I'm scared, take me home! Lol. So we only spent about 5 minutes at the park.

That's very instructive to me. I had not thought of bunnies as seeing humans as 'family' or 'protectors' in the same way as a cat or dog would. They really do have personalities don't they.

They are. They are a lot like a cat actually, just not as smart. Lol. My bunny is litter trained too. I never kennel him. He is always out and about. The only problem with that is that his hair is long and he drags woodchips from his litter box all over my house! I am forever vacuuming!

 

[ChrisL]

It is overcast and a little moist here today, and my space bar key keeps sticking. Very annoying when trying to type!

 

[ChrisL]

The bunny is a lot less smelly than a cat or dog when it comes to going to bathroom. He has little tiny poops that look like Cocoa Puffs but a little smaller and they don't really have any smell. His urine smells but the wood chips soak it up really well as long as I clean it out every day. I would love to have a small dog, but I would not look forward to training one. Someone must have already trained this rabbit at one time because he took to it really easily. I really hate litter boxes and poops and pee and cat vomit on the floor, and stuff like that. So gross.

 

[ChrisL]

You know, I was watching that show, My Cat From Hell, and he was saying that cats need to have a litter box in order to satisfy their territorial instincts or something like that and that it is not good for them to go on the toilet, like some people train their cats to do. I was kind of disappointed to hear that. Lol.

 

[Foxfyre]

I have another funny bunny story. I took Bunny (that's his name - in case you didn't know - lol) to the park the other day to get some exercise and play in some grass. I have a patio and a little dirt/woodchip area and then woods but no grass around my house. He has never been to the park before, and I thought he might enjoy it and I only have to carry him through a path in the woods to get there. I would let him hop but he always goes off course. Anyways, we got there and I put him down in the grass and he seemed okay at first, and then I said something to him and stood next to him and he turned around and practically tried to climb up my leg. So I picked him up and he nuzzled right into my neck, as if to say, I've had enough and I'm scared, take me home! Lol. So we only spent about 5 minutes at the park.

That's very instructive to me. I had not thought of bunnies as seeing humans as 'family' or 'protectors' in the same way as a cat or dog would. They really do have personalities don't they.

They are. They are a lot like a cat actually, just not as smart. Lol. My bunny is litter trained too. I never kennel him. He is always out and about. The only problem with that is that his hair is long and he drags woodchips from his litter box all over my house! I am forever vacuuming!

A small price to pay for an affectionate furry companion that knows and loves you.

 

[ChrisL]

I have another funny bunny story. I took Bunny (that's his name - in case you didn't know - lol) to the park the other day to get some exercise and play in some grass. I have a patio and a little dirt/woodchip area and then woods but no grass around my house. He has never been to the park before, and I thought he might enjoy it and I only have to carry him through a path in the woods to get there. I would let him hop but he always goes off course. Anyways, we got there and I put him down in the grass and he seemed okay at first, and then I said something to him and stood next to him and he turned around and practically tried to climb up my leg. So I picked him up and he nuzzled right into my neck, as if to say, I've had enough and I'm scared, take me home! Lol. So we only spent about 5 minutes at the park.

That's very instructive to me. I had not thought of bunnies as seeing humans as 'family' or 'protectors' in the same way as a cat or dog would. They really do have personalities don't they.

They are. They are a lot like a cat actually, just not as smart. Lol. My bunny is litter trained too. I never kennel him. He is always out and about. The only problem with that is that his hair is long and he drags woodchips from his litter box all over my house! I am forever vacuuming!

A small price to pay for an affectionate furry companion that knows and loves you.

I always tell him, you're lucky you are so cute and so sweet! Lol.

 

[Foxfyre]

You know, I was watching that show, My Cat From Hell, and he was saying that cats need to have a litter box in order to satisfy their territorial instincts or something like that and that it is not good for them to go on the toilet, like some people train their cats to do. I was kind of disappointed to hear that. Lol.

I had not heard that, but then though we had cats for many years, I never tried to teach one to go to the toilet. I'm waiting for a great invention to make cleaning the litter box quick, easy, painless, pleasant.

As for dogs, some are easier to housebreak than others, and having Carly, the mini doxie, with us this week--Dana had to go back to Salt Lake for a checkup--reminded me that even a very special furry or hairy friend that you love deeply does require time, effort, and some inconvenience. But they are worth it.

 

[ChrisL]

You know, I was watching that show, My Cat From Hell, and he was saying that cats need to have a litter box in order to satisfy their territorial instincts or something like that and that it is not good for them to go on the toilet, like some people train their cats to do. I was kind of disappointed to hear that. Lol.

I had not heard that, but then though we had cats for many years, I never tried to teach one to go to the toilet. I'm waiting for a great invention to make cleaning the litter box quick, easy, painless, pleasant.

As for dogs, some are easier to housebreak than others, and having Carly, the mini doxie, with us this week--Dana had to go back to Salt Lake for a checkup--reminded me that even a very special furry or hairy friend that you love deeply does require time, effort, and some inconvenience. But they are worth it.

Yeah, in the episode I saw, the cat was trained to go on the toilet, but he made her put out litter boxes for the cat. He said that was part of the problem, that it wasn't able to mark it's territory. Pooping and peeing means something else entirely in the cat world apparently! I love those kinds of shows though. You can learn a lot about animals.