Gremlin

Today was a rather awful day.  Last night when I took the dog out to go potty, one of the outdoor cats was meowing like crazy.  Not unusual, he's always meowing.  I shined my flashlight towards their area and saw Jake and Gremlin outside looking at me.  I took the dog back inside but decided the next day I'd go and check on them.  Today, I took Jasmine out to play and while I was out there, Jake was meowing again, this time more insistently.  I headed out that way and immediately thought it weird that Jake was the only cat I was seeing.  I was within ten feet of the cat yard when I began to smell it.  I turned back towards the house to grab a carrier for Jake so that I could leave the doors open without him running away.  After he was safely crated and Shawn was keeping Jasmine busy, I went back out to find the source of the smell.  I glanced up and saw Gremlin, laying on the table, obviously dead.  I had to take a moment before I could go in.  He was alive last night and yet today... he just looked awful.  I still wasn't sure if Minka was alive or not and assumed she wasn't considering she hadn't come out when I was getting Jake.  I left the doors open and did my best not to look at my cat or breathe a great deal.  I called for her, not really expecting to hear anything, when she meowed.  She was inside a trash can (It's empty aside from a roll of garden hose and a tractor tire).  She wouldn't come out on her own so I had to do battle with the spiders to pull out the tire and then her.  I carried her into the house.  I dug the hole but I just couldn't get him out of there.  The smell was awful and I knew that the underside of him was bound to be worse than what I was seeing.  I eventually asked Shawn to do it for me.  (we used a shovel... I hated doing it but he was covered in bugs)  I just can't get the image of his face out of my head.  They did so much damage in the small amount of time that he was dead.  Both the other cats are indoors for the night.  I want the smell to clear and then I'm going to go clean it out a bit.  Jake obviously wasn't setting foot inside the shed and was very upset.  I wonder if it would've made a difference if I had actually went out there last night.  When I was out there the other day, everyone was fine.  Gremlin seemed a little dehydrated but other than that, he seemed good.  Since we moved into this house, I have lost so many animals.  I know it's not the house but it makes it that much harder to stay here.  There are some days I feel as if I will be stuck in this house for the rest of my life.  I love this house.  Honestly.  But I don't want to live in this area.  I want the kind of privacy that you just can't get when you live this close to the city.  Not to mention that we are drowning in debt from the bills.  I want to start over and do it better and the only way to do that is to sell this house

Creepy Crawlies

Don't worry, I'll get to Batman at the end of this thing.  I took Mia out to go potty (husband's border collie).  Normally I wouldn't go out with her but I wanted to make sure she went and considering there was enough junk food on the ground to feed Ethiopia for a week, I figured I should keep an eye on her.  (old not really fit for human consumption junk food but hey, the dogs liked it)  While I'm out there, I decide to take a look at the pool since it's been at least a week since I've even been in the backyard.  Omigod.  I didn't know that many mosquito larvae could be breed that fast.  I swear the entire pool is full of them.  There were also some other kind of bug larvae swimming in there except they were pretty huge.  (well as far as any larvae I've ever seen)  It really gave me a case of the heebie jeebies.  I shocked the hell out of the water, although I don't really know if that kills the bugs or not.  We haven't put any chemicals in the water recently due to the fact that the pump broke.  I wasn't sure if it would be a great idea just to toss chemicals in the water and not have them circulate but after seeing that, I said to hell with it.  (oh and of course I can't find the pump for this pool ANYWHERE to replace the old one) 

The Dark Night was really good but I don't think anyone really expected to hear anything different.  I had a hard time not tearing up through the movie knowing that this was Heath Ledger's last film and that it put such a strain on him emotionally.  He played the part of joker extremely well.  I know many will be sad that he will not be able to be the joker in the next Batman movie.  Christian Bale did such a wonderful job with the role of Batman that I can't imagine that they would cast anyone else in his place.  I know Heath got a lot of credit for his role but I think Christian Bale deserves just as much bravo for his character.  He was phenomenal.  Jasmine did extremely well throughout the movie.  There's been a lot of talk about how it should've been an R-rated movie due to the graphic nature of the movie.  Honestly, I didn't think it was that bad.  There's some special effects at the end that is... disturbing but the rest of the movie was what you'd expect from a superhero movie.  Nothing too terribly gory.  She fell asleep during the last half hour or so.  She had her hands over her eyes so much during that time that I think she just passed out.  (she didn't much care for the graphic part that I'm talking about and I didn't want her seeing it, although I don't think she really understood what she was seeing)  I thought it was worth the money spent.  Although, unlike many who have seen the movie, there was occasional talking in the theatre, along with one cell phone going off (C'mon here people, the usher even comes in front of the theatre before the movie starts and says to turn off your damned cells) and several people thought it was ok to text.  Even with the few inconsiderate movie goers, it was still worth it. 

Dark juice

We're getting ready to go see the Batman movie that everyone won't shut up about.  I wasn't going to go see it but my husband wanted to so here we are.  I just like to go for the food.  ;) 

On another quick note.  Why has no one ever introduced me to pomegranate juice?  I bought a berry pomegranate juice thing last night and I'm in love with the stuff. 

Mindless chit chat

This has been the first week in three weeks that I haven't had someone to hang out with morning, noon and night.  I miss it the most at night, when most everyone else is sleeping.  Although, I do have more time to get things done around the house.  Whereas when my husband was home, I felt like I needed to spend time with him.  Plus, it's hard to get motivated to clean when your significant other gets to watch tv.  I'm shocked I didn't put on a ton of weight with all the food we've been eating.  Late night snacks are always out around here when he's on vacation. 

We've been having internet problems for about a week now so I think it's time to call ATT out here already.  One day, we had no home phone because they were putting in high speed internet at the neighbors house.  The next day, we had frequent internet outings.  One minute you could get online and the next, the router was in the red.  I'm not usually allowed to make the phone calls to the companies that service us.  My husband, more times than not, is able to be calm and understanding.  I, on the other hand, feel like if I'm paying for a service to work everyday, then it should work and when there's a problem, someone better get to fixing it asap, not when a technician is available.  I try to be nice to the person on the end of the phone, as it's not their fault, it's just their job to answer the phones and deal with people like me.  However, if they are unfriendly or I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, I ask for a manager and then I become a little more snippy.  We figured the problem would be taken care of by now as the ATT guys had been out here quite a few times in the last two weeks.  No such luck.  My husband is going to have his chance to talk to them and if nothing changes, I'll be calling.

I guess I don't have really too much interesting to write about on here right now.  My brain is stuck on the bills that have to go out this weekend and how much will be left over after everything is paid.  I guess I'll go figure that out and maybe have more to say later.

Another weekend gone by

Saturday, I got up early to take Doodle to an adoption event.  I originally wasn't planning on going to this one since this is the last weekend of my husband's vacation but I felt a little forced but not really a big deal.  I get to the event, fully planning on staying till it's over.  (I got there about two hours after it started and would've been there a minimum of two hours, probably closer to three)  I went to set my purse down and was told by the director to put Doodle in a cage that had just opened up due to an adoption.  As I was putting her in the cage she told me that she'd be taking Doodle and I could leave now.  It was said with some bit of contempt.  I was so shocked that I stayed for a few minutes, not really sure what to do.  After looking for Doodle's crate tag, and not finding it, I grabbed my purse without a word to anyone and left.  Right now I feel as if my time with this rescue is limited.  I've been feeling very ostracized for some time now and never really felt like I fit in.  That being said, I had made a decision to stick it out no matter what.  I still stick by that decision.  I think after my kittens are gone, they are going to tell me where to go however.  I have also made a decision over the last month to keep any personal issues, my own and not tell anyone at the rescue that we thought there was problems with the baby or anything else.  I just felt like it was none of their business.  However, it had caused me to miss quite a few events.  The most they know is that I'm pregnant and I had some morning sickness.  (I didn't even want to tell them I was pregnant yet, it was something I didn't tell a lot of people but felt I had to with them due the morning sickness)  I feel like because I have omitted those things, they think I am just lazy and not devoted to the organization the way the would like me to be.  Most of these people live for the rescue.  They seem to sit around, waiting for the phone to ring so they can run off and do some other rescue business.  I feel like my first priority is to my family and my daughter.  I also think they would like me to feel differently.  These are all people with no children, grown kids or almost grown.  I am the only one with small children that also does fostering.  I only know of one other that has young kids and I have never met her in the seven, almost eight months that I have been with this rescue.  I feel as if I am looked down upon by some of the elder members for my lack of devotion and it makes me uncomfortable to be around them.  I don't think I should have to justify every single thing I do or don't do. 

After that fiasco, we went to the Venetian Festival in St. Joseph, Michigan to watch the fireworks they have every year.  We sat in the cold mist and waited for the show to begin.  They have a boat parade before the fireworks but the mist was so thick, you could barely see the lights from the boats even though they were so close to shore that you could swim out and touch them.  Suddenly you heard the first whoosh of a firework, you heard the firework go off.... but you never saw a thing.  The mist was so thick that even the brightest of them only appeared to be colored lightning through the clouds.  They stopped after about a minute or so.  I felt badly for all the kids who wanted to see fireworks and didn't get to, my own included.  It's hard to explain to a three year old that the fog and mist were just too thick for the lights to be seen. 

And now we're to today.  *sigh*  I had been up for a while when I went into my husband's computer room to check on the rat and ferrets.  I noticed the rat was low on water and went to go pull it out of the cage.  I had just said jokingly, 'now don't bite me' and then of course, he bit me.  He let go when he realized it wasn't food he was biting but he had bitten so hard that it went well through my skin.  His teeth never touched but they came close.  My husband, as usual, was mad at the animal that did the biting.  I told him it was my fault.  Since the last bite, I have avoided interacting with this rat, aside from throwing the food in the cage and changing his water.  The rat that bit me the first time, has since died.  I still have lingering nerve damage from it.  My doctor said it could take a while to fully heal but at this point, I'm thinking there may be long term nerve damage.  It's nothing that limits range of motion or anything.  If I touch the bite, I get that just hit my funny bone feeling but in my finger.  And there seems to be a small, very small loss of sensation.  At any rate, I think it's understandable that I am a little nervous of getting bit like that again.  Although I believe it to be highly unlikely to ever happen again.  Today, I could tell immediately that the bite I received from Toby, was not a vicious one but he thought it was food.  If it had been vicious, he would've held on for dear life and separated the top two teeth in order to obtain a more painful, deeper bite.  He did neither.  Once I stopped bleeding, I went back, gave him his water and food.  He took his food very gently.  He didn't want to bite the wrong thing again.  And that's the end of my weekend.  ;)

Neighbors

We came home tonight from having dinner at my mom's house and both my husband and I noticed that things seemed amiss at our elderly neighbors house.  They are near their 90's and their adult daughter lives with them.  (I assume to keep them from a nursing home and make sure they're taken care of)  Some of you may remember I spent a few hours with the wife, Joan early in the spring, working on her yard.  They never leave their garage door open at night, or the garage light on and both were.  It was strange enough that even my husband noticed.  At the time I thought maybe I should walk over and check on them but it was midnight by that time.  What if it was just something that went forgotten and some strange girl knocks on their door in the middle of the night?  I decided to leave it be but keep an eye on the house overnight.  At about 2am, I got up to get some water and noticed strange lights in the window.  There was an ambulance in front of their house and one backing into the driveway.  I stood and watched them bring out a stretcher.  I'm not sure how it works when you pick someone up but I don't think they cover you with a sheet unless you ask for one, or it's cold.  The person they brought out was at least partially covered.  (I could only see the legs)  I went to tell my husband and while he was watching out the window, they brought out a second stretcher.  We know the daughter is ok as she was outside with one of the EMT's but didn't appear to be distraught.  I just hope it was something minor and not the mostly likely reason for the ambulances to be out there.  They also didn't seem to be in a hurry, even after both stretchers were loaded.  I wish there was something I could do.  A part of me hopes that if tonight was their night, that they indeed went together.  They lost a son to a car accident when he was in his teens, I hate to think that either one of them would have to suffer in that way again.  I told my husband, you know they were nice people when their nephew flew in from New York to replace a light bulb in the backyard.  (He was coming to visit but the reason he made the trip was for that light)  I hope whatever may have happened that they are together and not in any pain.

Quicky

Just to let everyone know, had my doctor's appointment today.  Heard the heartbeat at 142 beats.  Doc says everything appears normal and to be progressing well.