Poor Little MeyToch!

I really empathize with MeyToch Chandler, the little male pygmy goat.  I understood that the vet was going to geld him (neuter, castrate, whatever you want to call it) on Tuesday.  Instead of a quick slice and dice, he was banded instead.  The vet places an extremely tight plastic band at the base of the scrotum, and the band causes a lack of blood flow, causing the testicles to (eventually) drop off.  The poor little guy is walking around with his back hunched up, and his scrotum is swollen to 4 times it's normal size.  He doesn't want me to touch him, as he now associates that pain with humans; but he also wants to be comforted.  He and Sunbeam ( a very pretty cream and white  girl) are also in the process of being weaned from their mothers - this is their third day of being separated from Mom's udder and Mom's protection.  Sunbeam currently wants to be with a person constantly; MeyToch wants the comfort and love he remembers, but each step he takes reminds him that he hurts.  I'll have to take my camera back to the house and take more photos of all the critters.  ...  Lemony, the little yellow chick from my last stay with the Chandler's crew, has turned into a white hen with black speckles on her back.  And Topgallant Charlie, the rooster, managed to draw blood from my right ring finger this morning - I had just glanced away from him, when he came at my  hand - so I have a round hole at the fleshy base of that finger.

The red kids managed to get into my chicken jerky treats yesterday evening - and ate all 2 pounds of them, having just had their supper of four raw chicken wings each.  I guess they were sated, as they both slept through the night.  We had a nice 90-minute walk this morning when the temperature was still below 65.  After their walk, I took care of the Chandler crew and walked both Victor and Xena.  While I was walking them, I met one of the new neighbors, and we had a nice chat.  They have an 8-year-old cat, and are interested in hiring me to cat-sit for them. ....  Even though the sky looked ominous several times yesterday afternoon, we only had one loud thunderclap.  There were a few very light sprinkles of rain - but just enough to dampen the grass. ....  I'm at home with my kits at the moment - Lovey is stretched out on top of the room divider, and Nedi has just gone back outside, having nursed on, and kneaded, the insides of both of my elbows.  And I just discovered a knot in his pantaloons - I'll have to comb that out .   -   Have a great Thursday! 

Around and About

A lone gull flies against a background of storm clouds.



This kitten was having trouble getting adopted - the local papers dubbed her "Kitler" and "Charlsie Catlin."  She was adopted last week and re-named Luminus.



A Romanian sheep herder and his flock in the Parang Mountains...

The Assateague lighthouse keeper's house hasn't changed much on the outside since my Mother was a child.  She and her friends used to tease the baby lambs around the house, and then quickly run up the stairs onto the porch to avoid the butting heads of the ewes and rams.

Adopt a Feline at NO Cost

If you live near Boulder, the local Humane Society is once again sponsoring a free adoption period for all cats aged 6 months or more through the end of August.  Our Society is a no-kill shelter, and we also take in unwanted pets of all kinds from other states that do kill the animals.  As usual, there has been an explosion of kittens, who are very adoptable at almost any cost, but the older kits then get ignored.  Any cat, aged 6 months or older, is available for free adoption; that includes free spay/neuter, free vaccinations, free micro-chipping, and a free follow-up visit to the vet of your choice.  If you can, please adopt a new friend!

The lawn is being mowed at my apartment building, so all the kits are currently inside.  They seem to think that the riding lawnmower will gobble them up without a thought.  I've walked the Rs, and just returned home to blog and get a few needed overnight items.  The Chandler family was excited this morning, also, as they leave for Waco today for the Little League Regional Championship games.  ESPN2 will be showing the regional playoffs, so please root for the North Boulder Wildcats!  (And I get to meet Sunbeam, the baby female goat, who is now is residence with MeyToch.  -  Poor Meytoch was gelded yesterday afternoon, so I know he won't be in the best of spirits today.)  We have a 50% chance of thunderstorms today, and as the humidity is over 60%, I'm sure we'll have a few.  We were under a flood warning through midnight last night because of the slow moving rain storms up in the mountains, but luck has been with me so far. So I'll be at the Irish kids' house, and taking care of the Chandler menagerie until Monday night.  I get to spend Monday night in my own bed, and then move into Alexy's to care for Cloudy and Shady while she's back in England. - 'Twill be interesting!

700 BC Feline Triad

This large carving (about 5 feet tall and 3.6 feet wide) was recently found at an archaeological site near Chalcatzingo, Mexico.  Since 1935, more than 40 large carvings, mostly of big cats - jaguars - have been found in this area, which is about 60 miles south of Mexico City.  They are believed to be influenced by the Olmec culture, but the the Olmec culture usually carved 3-dimensional statues, rather than reliefs.  With so many cat relief sculptures, most of them set into hill sides, almost like they were ancient billboards, some archaeologists think the area may have been near a pilgrimage site, and that the carvings were placed to remind the worshippers what they should be thinking about.  

A Pain in the Butt

Our 90+ degree heat wave broke today - we only got up to 86, but we've had several rain showers (yeah!).  It's 78 right now, with the humidity at 68%.  I was able to get the Rs walked early, and then came home to take a nap before showering and going out to see Dr. Pohlman for my surgery follow-up.  I told both the surgical nurse and the Doctor about how much pain I was having.  Dr. Pohlman asked if I hated him, and I told him, no, that I just hadn't expected so much pain all the time with this surgery.  I had prepared myself for constant pain for the seton cutting stitch surgery, but he had told me he did a different type of surgery...  What was going on?  He looked at the incision, and while he was doing that, we talked.  He was surprised that I remembered that he talked to me after the surgery, and that I remembered him talking about packing the wound.  I told him I lost the packing in the bathroom of the Recovery Room before I left the hospital.  He hemmed and hawed while he looked and felt, and then said he saw "something" that didn't look right.  Whatever it was, he removed it with tweezers/tiny forceps, while I gasped.  He constantly apologized for causing me pain and discomfort.  Finally, he was done and had me sit up and talk to him.  I hadn't understood what the surgery he did perform last time had consisted of.  He did, indeed, "fillet" the fistula open, and he closed one end with stitches.  The reason I'm having such pain is because the rest of that "fillet" incision is open and draining.  He stated that it is healing, but at a rate a little slower than he expected. And that I will probably have the pain and drainage until the site is totally healed and all scar tissue has formed - which might take another 6 weeks.  In any event, I get to visit his office again in another 2 weeks.  -  But I am healing!!  Yippee!!!

Beat the Heat

Heat & Thunder

Normally, the high temperatures for Boulder are in the mid- to upper-80s in late July and early August.  Yesterday was our 17th day in a row with temperatures of 90 and above (99 yesterday).  When I left to walk the red kids this morning at 7:10, it was 73 degrees with 38% humidity, when I returned home, it was 83 degrees with 33% humidity.  The weather people say they  believe that we'll have  "normal highs" today and tomorrow because of thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Right now, I kinda doubt it.  The Rs were their usual super selves this morning, and we stopped by to say "Hello" to Suki at the Snow house as we went by. We had an evening thunderstorm yesterday, and Joel said that Remy spent more than an hour huddled in his arms due to the thunder.  Joel also let me know when their flight leaves on Wednesday, so I'll be arriving at their house around 6:30 in the morning.  I also got to speak with Lucy's mom for a few minutes; I'll start walking her again in September, once we cool down a bit.  Lovey is laying across the end of my desk; Nedi is curled up in his red plastic tub; Mocha is asleep under my bed.

I washed and dried three loads of laundry yesterday - bed linens and towels, darks and lights.  Boo is back in Fort Collins for her 9th day of radiation therapy - and Kathy and Jim are exhausted, as this past weekend was Jim's 50th High School Reunion, plus being an irrigation night for the ditch (so he was up every 3 hours, rotating the sprinklers).  It was too hot to cook this past weekend, so I've been living on cereal, fruit, and sandwiches, GatorAde, water, and Coca-Cola.  I started reading the second book of the Blending Enthroned series last night.  I need to get the Catherine Coulter FBI book that (finally!) came out, and I need to visit the public library again to replenish my reading stock.  It's definitely the Dog Days of summer!