Just the Animals and Me

Mary Ann has gone to California to help daughter Debra pack up her things, now that she’s graduated. Normally, I would have gone too, but due to a couple of factors I’m staying here.

Factor one, Patches, our elderly dog needs special attention for now. He may have cancer, and he is recovering from a very bad infection that had us expecting his death. Today was not his best, but not his worst either. He sleeps a lot, and moves slowly and unsteadily. On other trips we’ve had good luck with people caring for our animals, but not this time. If he does go rapidly worse, I need to be here.

Factor two is a pair of very cute kittens. I’m still not sure how Mary Ann let herself in for this. We’ve never had cats. She’s allergic, and now that I’ve had a week in close quarters with them, I’ve discovered that I’m allergic too. We’re just temporary caregivers. Mary Ann has a poster up, and I’ll be setting up a free kittens stand at Petco this weekend if I don’t hear from anyone. Take a look over at MaryAnnMelton.com for a look at the male. His sister has yellow patches. I’m fond of them, but I have to find a home for them. At least I’ve had this experience in cat ownership. I’ve had several instances of cat feet on the keyboard. One of Mary Ann’s flower baskets is overturned in the fireplace ashes. The carpet is chewed. The table cloth is snagged and ripped. An antique vase has had a close call, and numerous items, including some of Mary Ann’s camera equipment is covered in little ashen paw prints. They sure are fun to watch. Patches watches them too, although I’m not sure what he makes of them.

And of course, I’ve got the horse to feed, and our other dog, Fluffy is so laid-back he’s no trouble at all, content with a few kind words and pat on the head.

Ouch. I’ve just had the b /.