April sucked donkey balls, and I’m glad the month is over! I spent more time at the vet this month than I think I ever have . . . as well as a hell of a lot of money! Where to begin?

Well first up our eldest cat has been wasting away as of recently. At first I thought he was just old, he’s 15 or 16. It’s not unusual for older cats to lose weight. Then however I began to worry something more was wrong, as he had an insatiable appetite. He just sat and meowed for food all day long, and nothing seemed to fill him up. So I took him in, worrying it was cancer. His two brothers (litter-mates) died of it, so I was preparing for the worst. This was the last of the original three cats John had when we met. I knew he would not take it well if something was wrong. It was actually hyperthyroidism, and his levels were extremely toxic. He’s been on medicine for 2-3 weeks and is doing much better now. He still has to have another check-up in a few months to make sure everything is going okay and the meds are still working.

Then there is the dogs . . . . Nikko somehow got exposed to Lymes disease over the past 5-7 weeks, so the vet thinks from his blood work. What the hell! We have not found any ticks on him! I traditionally never frontline the dogs from December-February, but I guess that one warm day we had in February got him! Though frontline doesn’t completely prevent exposure to lymes disease either, so who knows when he got it. It has to be some time in the past year. Ironically I had also JUST got the lymes vacine for them both. Grrrrr! The vet said it will at least prevent further exposure from any other bites. He’s been on antibiotics and is fine. However I have to keep an eye on him for “lameness” which is the usual symptom dogs show. Of course as I type this, the news is running a report that our mild winter is going to mean a horrible summer for ticks. Don’t we already have to deal with those cicadas?

Finally Princess just about gave me a heart attack, which with my blood pressure issues is actually a real possibility. Her urine levels were off at a recent check-up, and then they realized they were off last year too. She had a +2 protein in her urine last year, it rose to +3 this year. Last year she had a bladder infection though, so they attributed it to that. This was the first I heard of this protein issue mind you! Now they needed more tests because it could be a sign of kidney disease, or it could be nothing as the vet said this can happen in older dogs. After the tests I finally heard the news that her levels are higher than normal, but not at the point where we probably need to worry. The vet is going to consult with a second doctor (I hope that isn’t another bill!) and will get back to me, but he thinks we’ll just have to add this test in yearly from here on out to watch it so it doesn’t rise to levels that could start causing kidney damage and then failure. I would rather pay and have this checked every 6 months to be honest if it can pose the risk google claims . . . cause you know when we google symptoms that minor neck pain always leads to an MS diagnosis. Needless to say I’m giving her supplements for old age doggies and probably putting her back on her old “limited ingredients diet” as it makes kidneys work less (among other things). She was on it for skin allergies and I moved her to a new food that she loves and didn’t bother her skin, and also had the added benefit of reducing doggy farts.

So like I said . . . . good bye April!

So yet another year passed, and I forgot poor Princess’ birthday again! She just turned 8 years young on July 12th. I originally thought it was the 8th, looked it up and found out it was the 12th. Then by the 14th I remembered I had forgotten it! She was of course devastated . . . . okay not really. I need to put this in my iPhone calendar with an alarm set though, along with Nikko, who is in October.

My garden hasn’t been doing so hot this year. I don’t know what’s going on. I guess I had a few good years, now I’m do for a bad one. I put three tomatoes in topsy turvies, two in pots, and one pepper plant in a pot. The one tomato plant in the topsy turvy that I thought wouldn’t amount to much is now doing the best of the three, while the other two seem to be hanging on. I think the heat has been a little too much, and those two get the most sun out of all the plants because of where they are.

Then I had a vermin problem. The groundhogs are back! They devoured half of the best tomato plant that I put in a pot. It has come back, but it probably would have been twice the size it is now. I have since put my halloween zombies out, attached tin foil pans to the tomato ladders to make noise, and have been spraying my plants with various internet remedies to keep the buggers away. So far so good . . . but I just for the first time in a long time saw a groundhog today. Grrrrr!

I have not even touched the two rooms in the house that I said I’d start packing up. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I won’t get to them until the fall at this point. I have a lot of stuff going on. I have taken on a few projects, which are right now only in the planning stages. Nothing huge yet, but come fall it will become some added work for me. Of course it pays nothing right now, the hope is for a future payoff from them and a better job for me in the long run. I’ll discuss all these is a future blog at some point. Hey I gotta keep something to blog about since I have so little to blog about as of late!

I have been keeping up with my diet and fitness regime, and am down about ten pounds! I’ve been doing a lot of classes at my gym in the evenings: Zumba, Step, Boot Camp and Body Blast. This has become all the more important as of late, as it turns out I have high blood pressure. I probably have for years now honestly, but it’s just slowly gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. I think this probably explains why I’ve felt so run down and blah for awhile now, as well as the increase in my headaches. I just thought it was the result of stress and the long commutes to and from work. I am now on medication, and it’s wait and see if it works. I am actually waiting for my doctor to return my call as I write this, as I was supposed to check in with her as to how it’s going. So far it’s down slightly, but it’s still high. Boo! Then I have another appointment at the end of the month to review everything and decide whether to try something else or change dosages. Fun fun! John is also being the food police. Actually no he’s just being a brat, telling me how all I’ll be able to eat on the cruises from now on are the bland spa selected meals on the menu.

So the deadline to pay for the cruise is fast approaching, and I have not fully made up my mind. Each day I lean one way more than the other. More than just trying to get the dissertation done by the end of the year is now affecting my decision. There was Moo Kitty’s unexpected and expensive trip to the vet, as well as my work schedule for the spring. I’m teaching at least 2 classes, one I’ve never taught before (but it’s archaeology so I’m excited at the same time). There is possibly a 3rd as well. The 3rd however may not happen for many reason, my choosing not to take it being one of them. While the money would be nice, I’ve quickly learned the hard way the amount of driving I’ve been doing is taking its toll on me right now with everything else going on.

John and I briefly discussed vacation alternatives should we not do the cruise, and it would be something local. I really would love to see Salem as well as Plymouth Colony . . . . however January might not be the best time of the year to do so! I also suggested Great Wolf Lodge in the Poconos. Heidi and I went to one in Wisconsin and it was so much fun. It’s basically a giant indoor water park/hotel. Plus there would be other things to do nearby, such as skiing. I’ve never done it, but think it would be fun. John is not a fan of the cold, and said I’d probably be over it in about an hour. Emily said I’d probably break my leg. Truth be told, both are probably right

John suggested New York and Broadway. “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” hits Broadway early next year. Broadway is always fun, but NY is a day trip at most. I have a hard enough time relaxing on vacations as is (my mind thinks about what I need to be doing and should be doing instead). Add in NY and you just have too much stress. I like NY, but it’s as I said a day trip. NY in January really isn’t much fun. It’s cold, windy, miserable and god forbid it snows. You can’t go anywhere because you can’t get a taxi.

While I have a good number of reasons to just cancel the cruise this year, many of them also become reasons to go oddly. I’m so stressed right now, that a vacation will be wanted and possibly needed by January. Plus it’s the only time of the year John and I can get away together and just both relax. Okay I try to relax as much as I can, but it would be easier honestly if we could go away during the summer like normal folks rather than the week before another school semester starts!

Aside from vacation ponderings, I have yet to motivate to decorate inside. John’s brother, who is now regularly here on the weekends, noticed I didn’t have the Halloween village out. I carried some of it up last night, and it sits in boxes in the living room right now. My friend Keith comes this weekend, so I figured I better put some of it out. Only a few pieces are going up this year, just on the mantel I think. In years past I’ve put pieces all over the living room. Truth be told, I just don’t wanna deal with taking it all down this year I might motivate to decorate while watching my shows tonight.

Our house currently smells like cat piss. Moo Kitty apparently has some abdominal swelling from the surgery the vet thinks is putting pressure on his bladder, which makes him feel like he has to pee a lot. So rather than making it to the litter boxes downstairs, he just pees wherever. I am however developing an alternate theory. I think Moo Kitty is just angry and is pissing anywhere out of spite. Given how much I paid to save his life, I am hoping the swelling theory is correct and this stops soon. Cat piss SMELLS and it never comes out. He has pissed on brand new carpet John put down on our steps and the kitchen nook, which now needs to be replaced. I am spraying and shampooing it as much as I can, cause it’s not going to be replaced till January when John is off . . . and the SMELL!

Our crotchety old neighbors are moving. Or they are trying to I should say. They are LOADED, have a nice house (set far back on their large property) and are either 1) going to get taken to the bank in this poor housing market or 2) just not be able to sell it right now. John says whether they can sell or not, they are moving. They had originally thought of dividing the land up into four plots and selling them as well as the plot their house is on (and thereby resulting in 4 new houses going up), but that hasn’t happened and probably won’t (because of the market I guess). However the option is there for whomever might buy it, the land has officially been divvied by the county to make it possible. To be honest, I expected to be asked to “take down some of my decor” outside, but wasn’t. These are the people that planted a row of pine trees, sending our house into eternal shadows and cutting off our sunlight, simply because when they drove in and out of their driveway they didn’t want to look at our house. They had an open house today . . . . I don’t think anyone actually came by from what I could tell.

Anyway, I leave you with some photos of myself, John and Princess I made with some monster morphing app I got off iTunes. Hey, these days, I have to get my fun where I can find it

So after a looooong night of mojo hunting, I got home in the weee hours of the morning. Our housekeepers were set to show up this morning, and I just decided I’d take the dogs and lock ourselves in the guest room and let them clean the rest of the house. This was not only the longest time I’d ever spent in that room, including sleeping in there . . . but apparently the first time the dogs had ever been in the room.

Almost immediately the dogs darted straight under the bed. This was a problem, because the bed is seated high up on coasters, and it’s become a bit unstable as of late. I had also had a dream the night before that Princess refused to ride in the car when travelling, she insisted on running under the car as I drove. I of course was paranoid I’d run her over. I decided because of this dream, they couldn’t stay under the bed. In fact, the bed did get a little tipsy later on!

After a bit of coaxing I got them out from under the bed and up on top with me. There they just stood alert looking around for a good long while. At some point they eventually settled down. I wondered what they were seeing, but as I was so dead tired at that point, I didn’t care too much. I just went to sleep. As far as I know, the ghost didn’t bother me . . . but now I feel like I’ve invaded his territory.

Dum dum dum dum!

So at 5:06am, a 3.6 earthquake hit the DC metro region, with the epicenter in Rockville, MD. I am home in Virginia at the moment . . . . and slept through the whole thing! We’ve only had one other minor quake in the region, and it was so long ago that I can’t remember if I felt it or not These aren’t California sized quakes mind you. My mom said the whole house shook and it felt like a tank went down the street. A good clap of thunder can do that too.

My mom said the dogs went nuts about 45 minutes before the quake. Demanded to go outside, sniffed the ground all over. When they finally came in, moments before the quake hit, they went to alert again.

I can’t believe I slept through it! I’m so effin pissed! I know, weird, I wanted to be in an earthquake. Again this isn’t some 2012 or California type one, though we are on a major fault line here on the East Coast. Most don’t realize that, and one day we might get a big one and several of our cities will be in big trouble as most buildings aren’t built with earthquakes in mind.

I finished sweeping and clearing off the patio this morning. Tried to power spray the dirt away and really clean it, but it’s not working too well. Ending up having to just shovel the mud film left after I sprayed. I set up the fountain again. Poor Pan got knocked off long ago and the fountain filled with dirt and crud. I’m amazed it still works, but Pan has suffered a serious leg injury . . . . poor guy.

As you can see I have my grill out to grill this weekend. Happy Fourth everyone! I’m actually grilling tonight. Unfortunately here it’s going to be 97 degrees on the fourth and 99 on Monday and Tuesday. Not sure how many people will actually brave that to go to Philly to see fireworks. We’re not! I’m hoping John gets off work early enough tomorrow and he’s not too tired that we can go out to eat and see the fireworks from the parking lot after. That’s what we did last year if I recall.

Oh and to show that once upon a time, our yard did actually look really nice . . . . a photo from six years ago. Princess playing in the flowers. I think this is actually the day I brought her home, or very shortly after.

So I’m typing this on this handy dandy Mac app called MacJournal. It is a diary/journal app, but with the ability to post them to blogs. We’ll see how well it works, especially since I’ve attached some photos and resized them.

I can also apparently download ALL my previous blog entries into it. We haven’t tried that yet, we wanted to see if posting went okay first. If it works though, it will be a handy way to have a solid back-up of the blog in a format other than the MySQL database wordpress stores them in.

The weather lately has been wonderful. I just hope the nasty rain and cold stay away Well obviously we need rain, but not days of flooding rain! In spite of the lovely weather, I spent most of the weekend with a migraine. I know where it came from, I volunteered to do some manual labor in the sun on Friday at school. The next day . . . migraine! Aside from feeling crappy, I am now behind on work. Story of my life lately!

Speaking of school, I am teaching in the fall and next spring most likely. I was told the prospects of keeping me around look fairly good right now. Fingers crossed! I have my conference at the end of this month, and am entertaining submitting an abstract to another local conference that happens in May. Fortunately I can and will use the same paper, with some minor tweaking The dissertation will finally be finished and defended this summer. It’s dragged on long enough, and by fall I expect to be working a lot and it just needs to be done.

In a little over a month I head out to visit my friend Heidi. Unfortunately we have become a fat-ass! I was shocked and horrified when I stepped on the scale this morning. I have not been exercising enough lately with working so much, and I’ve been drinking too many non-diet cokes for caffeine boosts at work, as well as grabbing too much fast food cause it’s quick and easy. None of this is good considering we are doing some water parks. Me in a bathing suit like this? GASP! It’s diet time again and I now have to be serious. I also picked up a copy of EA More Active, the sequel their personal training Wii game. I liked the original well enough, aside from the fact it was such a lunge nazi. Lunge lunge lunge! I got sick of always lunging. I’m hoping the sequel is better, I’ll give it a go tomorrow morning to see if it revs me up.

The doggies have also been getting their exercise as of late. I’ve been taking them to the enclosed field next to us to run around sans leashes and play Frisbee. They get pooped out pretty quick though. They are as out of shape as I am Enjoy some photos I took of them today, as well as one of Little Bunny Poo Poo, who is now a little over a year old.

So lots of things to talk about in this post, things that float into my head but without Twitter I don’t tweet, so I to turn to the blog.

Halloween is officially over. I did in fact jinx myself. I waited till Friday to order the tickets to the haunted house, thinking that would be safe, and the weather for Saturday was only supposed to be cloudy. Of course Saturday arrives and it’s rainy and gross. The hayride, one of the three Bates Motel attractions, was closed down. $#%@#$%@%!!!!! There are two other attractions at this place though, a corn maze and a haunted house, and fortunately they were open. It just sucks as the hayride was so awesome. The haunted house and maze were awesome too though, having been expanded on from the previous year. However had I known it would have rained, I would have just gone back to the prison. Quicker drive, all inside for the most part.

The weather for this week says sunny but cold. Yeah we’ll see! I need my decorations to dry out so I can take them down . . . which means NO RAIN! I might be horrid and put up the icicle lights at the same time. No I’m not plugging them in though, just putting them up while it’s still somewhat warm.

With all the rain we’ve had this summer/fall, I think we may be in for a messy winter. I better get a good snowstorm dammit, we’ve been jipped on snow the past several years. I want a monster blizzard, just one, that shuts down the state and makes everything quiet outside.

Over the weekend Keith brought his new puppy with him. He was adorable, but the little monster wasn’t house broken at all and just pissed and shit everywhere. He was also a hyper puppy and just couldn’t sit or sleep . . . period. It made me realize I don’t want another puppy anytime soon.

A WTF rant that would have gone on Twitter . . . I just found out Reynold’s discontinued their handi-vac bags/system. I wondered why I couldn’t find the bags anymore. Not only that, the cheap alternative hand-pump Glad version also seems to be gone as well. I was going to buy them, but nope! So now I’m bag to sucking the air out of the bags before freezing or refrigerating them. I’ll have e-coli in no time!

Finally tomorrow is election day in many states, ours included. The Republican and Democrat candidates are neck and neck in the polls, and this year an Independent is in the race and has been gaining a lot of support. There is no chance in hell that he’ll win, but he will steal votes away from the other two. Which party has more people crossing lines to vote for the Independent will basically decide who wins. In the past even though the two-party system sucks and the candidates might not be ideal, I never understood why someone would throw their vote away on someone without a chance. Now I get it, it sends the message that people are tired of the bullshit the R/D give us. I’m voting Independent tomorrow, I know I’m not alone, but it most likely will insure a Republican win for the first time in many years here. I think Republicans are probably going to stick to their candidate, while a lot of the Democrats vote for the independent. For me a lot is at stake too, the Republican has made it clear there will be no gay marriage in Jersey as long as he’s in office.

And that’s about all I have

I realized I had to do a post as it’s been almost a week! Bad me I know, but I don’t have too much to discuss.

First off, if you follow the tweets on the sidebar, you know we have had a “visitor” to the house. Last week I thought someone ran over a skunk outside the house. It happens from time to time living on a farm basically. Turned out I soon learned a skunk sprayed either a fox or the neighbor’s cat in the field. When I walked the dogs before bed, I could tell where the smell was coming from, and it wasn’t the street.

A few days later while returning from a nightly walk with the dogs, they went nuts right outside the back door. I saw something in the yard and realized what it was, the skunk! I got them in fast. I’m pretty sure it’s taken up residence in the bushes (ie overgrown forest) next to the house. Now at night I keep them from sniffing anywhere near the bushes. I fear it won’t be long before we are all sprayed one night :-\

In other news, oh yes, October is fast approaching, which mean Halloween! I never did get the yard landscaped like I hoped to. So I have to cut back the weeds at least, trim the bushes, and then I can start decorating next week! I have to be good and not go crazy with new purchases this year. I am only allowing myself to buy a Michael Meyers mask (to make a Michael scarecrow) and something new to hang in the attic window. I’m thinking a Yurei (funky white lady ghost alah “The Ring” or any of those Asian movies).