The Fabulous Five
Look at these little monsters.
This is our first batch of foster kittens.
Five of the little blighters and only 5 weeks old.
I don't know what happened to their mummsy only that I will be their mummsy for a few weeks.
We picked them up this afternoon.
They were very smelly, very vocal and very hungry when we got them home.
Now they have been fed they are sleeping all in a heap. It is so cute.
They are being kept away from our own cats. I think I am going to have some fun playing with this little lot of hooligans.
They have to stay in the cage for about a week ........then they can come out and create havoc.
Bliss.
It has come at a good time really as Philip and I have been a bit down lately with various health issues etc.
Then over the weekend the air conditioning decided to stop working. Yesterday was our hottest day so far this year. Typical.
Temps near 90 degrees.
So, we had to call the man and $185 later it seems to be working.
We are now going to indulge in kitten therapy.
Bubba seems to be the only one interested in what is going on behind the closed door.
He always has liked kittens though.
Lily doesn't. Nothing maternal about our Princess Lilibet.
Heh heh.......think of the photos I can bore you with now.
Sidney
Well, so far so good.
Sidney the stone seems to have made an appearance.
Sidney has left the kidney........so to speak.
Philip is not in the intense pain that he was but now is a bit achey and tired.
Hopefully that was all of Sidney and he is over the worst.
He does still have the other two stones but the doctor said they may just stay where they are or they could move any time.
We hope they don't move for quite a while yet.
Meanwhile I have been working on my Christmas card for this year.
Last year was The Snow Dragon.
This year I plan on it being the one above..........the Ice Dragon.
I have quite a bit of work to do on it yet but I am happy with most of it.
I shall never be happy with all of it.........artists are never happy with their work...........to me nothing I have ever done is really finished and there is always that temptation to just add a dab here and a line there.
I am pleased with the way you can see the landscape through his wings though.
Hopefully I will be happy enough with it to say "Enough!" and walk away.
Then it will be as finished as it ever will be.
I hope everyone has had a pleasant Memorial Day.
I have to go back to the Tooth Fairy on Wednesday..........oh joy!
Now what??????
Donald & Daisy.
We had something of an adventure today.
Philip woke me at 5am in a lot of pain.
Initially, we thought it might be a reaction to the steroids he was put on yesterday when he had to go to the hospital regarding his breathing/chest problems.
I soon realised it wasn't.
He was in agony. So much so that he was rolling around the floor, screaming, swearing & moaning (and swearing again....there was a fair amount of swearing).
I had a pretty good idea what it was and had to call the ambulance.
You don't do that lightly over here as it is a very costly business.
I am dreading the bills that will come in but we had very little choice.
The ambulance men stretchered him out and I accompanied him to the E.R.
They were very good there. They started him on pain killing injections as he was in a terrible state.
A C.T. scan confirmed what I had suspected (I had seen someone like this before) ....Philip has kidney stones.
3 to be precise.
One of which is on the move and causing all the pain.
At one point it looked like they would keep him in as they couldn't get the pain under control.
They were having to inject him every 10 minutes.
The doctor said that if we could control it with strong painkillers then Philip could go home and wait for things to pass.........literally.
So, eventually we came home armed with pain pills, nausea pills and pills to try to move things along a bit quicker.
It didn't start well when having taken the pills he immediately threw them up again.
But, after taking the nausea pill first and waiting a bit, the others stayed down and so far, so good.
If it gets too much for him then we have to go back.
They say it can take 7 - 10 days to pass. Let us hope it goes quickly.
Well, we won't be doing much for Memorial Day Weekend.
I am just glad that Philip is ok and that he is home.
Let's hope he can stay here.
The ducks, Donald & Daisy, now visit every morning and evening.
I have started to put a dish of water out for them now.
I think I might end up putting a paddling pool out soon.
Back to dentist..........
Firstly, I must admit that our hummingbird feeder is not quite so successful as the one pictured.
Not nearly as successful.
Not very successful at all. Oh well, alright.........we haven't seen one hummingbird flocking to it yet.
The bluebird was back though, but he eats seeds not the hummingbird nectar.
I will not give up on it yet though.
I am also trying not to give up on this poxy tooth.
I had to go back to the specialist on Tuesday.
It really is no better and was beginning to feel worse. The whole of the side of my face hurt, including my ear and up to my eye.
I was midway through the fourth course of antibiotics but they were obviously having no effect.
He prodded an poked (again) and decided that the infection is in the jaw bone.
So,................wait for it...............antibiotics course number 5.
These are extra potent which basically means they will have extra potent side effects.
I am growing weary of it all.
But, I will not lose faith.
It shall be alright.
It shall be.
On a much brighter note.
I was at the animal shelter yesterday and found out that an application had been put in for a kitty I had grown very fond of.
Hilary.
She has been at the shelter for over a year but constantly hides under her bed. Once you take her out of the cage she is a sweetheart, wanting tummy rubs and being super affectionate.
I was so pleased to hear someone wanted her.
Then, even better, the lady who was adopting her came in to pick her up while I was there.
She is a lovely lady. She was so excited to being taking her home and I was so excited to have met her and to see Hilary go home.......Oh I was near to tears.
Makes it all worthwhile doesn't it?
Hello Bluey
Saturday we bought a hummingbird feeder.
When we lived in Illinois for a year we had hummingbirds who came regularly to our balcony.
They were so beautiful, like tiny metallic, shiny bees.
They seemed unconcerned about me being out on the balcony and would hover around me.
I thought that Milwaukee was too far north for hummingbirds.
I was wrong.
No, that blue bird isn't a hummingbird, but my friend June put out a hummingbird feeder and she now has them visit every day.
I was so envious.
We put out our hummingbird feeder, complete with hummingbird nectar, over the weekend.
The weather has been awful, cold, windy and raining so I wasn't expecting any delicate little hummingbirds.
I also wasn't expecting this beautiful blue bird that showed up yesterday to the regular bird feeder. After researching a bit I have found out he is an Indigo Bunting.
I have also found out we were very lucky to get him as they are very rare around here.
I took some photos but he was actually much brighter than this. I had to photograph him through the window screen which blurs things a bit.
This was the actual bright blue that he was.
Gorgeous.
At the same time we had this guy on the finch feeder.
He is an American Goldfinch and as bright yellow as a canary.
We get quite a lot of these and other finches but the blue bird is a welcome first.
The weather today is sunny and a bit warmer so I hoping the hummingbirds find the feeder soon.
I shall buzz off now and watch for the little hummies.
Rattle. rattle
It was my second trip to the toof specialist yesterday.
I was not looking forward to it.
Toof still hurt.
Well, he didn't seem concerned, but then the tooth wasn't hurting him.
He spent a long time twiddling away in the roots with pins. I half expected him to triumphantly produce a winkle at some point.
He was most interested in our recent citizenship test. His assistant, Diane, was more interested in the recent Royal Wedding and the state of the hats.
She was intrigued by the princesses wearing the teletubby headgear.
She said she was very impressed by the organisation of the day and the good feeling amongst the crowd.
The march down the Mall with all those thousands of people behind a thin line of policeman bowled her over. She said that wouldn't have been so dignified over here.
She said that the British should be proud. How nice of her to say that.
Anyway, back to the question at hand........or should I say mouth.
There was one root that had been giving me all the trouble and he thinks he got all the nasties out of it this time.
I bloody hope so.
Another hour and half in the chair. It gets kinda old.
To try to ensure success this time he has given me.........wait for it............another course (2 weeks this time ) of antibiotics but in case that isn't enough he has given me steroids too.
Just what I needed.......more pills.
Oh, I really won't mind .........if it all works.
I have to go back in another 3 weeks and if it is all healed and ticketty boo, he will finish it off.
I do hope it is.
Philip had to go to the quack's today because his chest has been playing him up again. Now he has got two lots of stuff to take.
Right old pair aren't we.
Wednesday I was at the animal shelter again. Our friend Nick has adopted a little dog from there after I sent him pictures of it.
She is lovely. Ellie May. We were meant to go over and see her tonight but we are both not feeling up to scratch so we will go next week.
Well, at least I have done some good for Ellie and Nick. I am so pleased for them.
Another chance.
Another chance to wear the ole fascinator?
I hope so.
Apparently the swearing in ceremony can be quite posh.
It is held at the courthouse downtown. There does seem to be differences due to location but I am hoping that Milwaukee's do will be a posh do and I can wear the posh frock & fascinator again.
I don't get that many opportunities to wear them.
We are also considering having a bit of a do ourselves. We thought we might "grill out" as they say over here.
We would do the American thing and have hamburgers, hot dogs (or brats as they are known in Milwaukee). Oh and perhaps apple pie & ice cream.
I expect I could find a little veggie burger for me.
I am back to the dentist on Thursday.
Dreading it.
I can honestly say that despite, 3 different courses of antibiotics, one visit to the dentist and one to the specialist...........the tooth feels no better than before we started.
I am totally ticked off with it.
I am beginning to doubt if it can be treated.
I have another hour and a half appointment for Thursday. That should be fun.
We had Gary over to dinner yesterday.
On TV was a documentary entitled
"Hill Billy Hand Fishing". !!!!!!!!!!
We decided unanimously that we didn't want to see that.
Philly Bob & Sue Ellen
Well we did it.
We are now American Citizens.
It was totally nerve wracking. I had been revising for the test questions for weeks.
At times it seemed the more I studied the worse I got.
Last night my brain seemed to implode and I couldn't even get the easier ones right.
This morning I noticed on the top of the attendance letter that it said they needed copies as well as originals of all the required documents.
Plus, my nail tech told me yesterday that if you pass your interview then you can get apply for an American passport while you are there.
So, after calming down from my hissy fit at needing more copies of everything, we flew round to Walgreens for more passport photos.
Philip then went and made copies of all the remaining documents.
We arrived early and I sat there worrying about the questions/answers until I zoned into a mental fluff of blah.
I shouldn't have worried (I can say that but I don't think there has ever been a time when I haven't worried), when the time came I remembered all the questions I was asked.
Eventually I was congratulated and handed a piece of paper that stated I had been accepted as an American Citizen.
Philip was called in shortly after I came out. He too was successful.
There will be a swearing in ceremony at the court house in about a month's time.
I couldn't apply for my passport then but will be able to do so after the swearing in.
I will need to do that fairly quickly in case I have to nip over to England at short notice.
Phew!!!!
It is such a relief. We shall have to celebrate with some friends after the ceremony.
Tonight we will have a meal out and a bottle of bubbly.
Maverick
It will be my second day at the Animal Rescue place today.
Above is a portrait I have just finished of Maverick.
He has been at the shelter a long time. He is absolutely gorgeous but unfortunately for him, he is around 10 years old so gets passed over in favour of the younger cats.
So, I decided he needs as much help as he can get and made him my first model.
The idea is that I shall put the portrait on his cage. Anyone who does take him can have it for free.
This worked for a dog once when I was at the Humane Society so I thought I would give it a try for Maverick.
He does deserve a home and although I know it won't be easy to find him one......I can still hope.
I am still taking antibiotics for my tooth but I am getting a little disheartened.
I seem to have a couple of good days......and then I start to believe it is on the mend......but then I will have a really bad day (like yesterday) when my whole jaw, side of my face & ear hurt.
That makes me miserable.
I really don't know how this is going to work out. I go back to the dentist on Thursday next week.
We have our citizenship test/interview on Thursday this week.
I am starting to really stress about it.
The more I practice the test questions ......the worse I get.
What with that and my tooth.......pants!!!!
Look at these little monsters.
It has come at a good time really as Philip and I have been a bit down lately with various health issues etc.
