Haiku's Dementia

Some time back our veterinarian said that Haiku has dementia.  I believe she is correct, as Haiku's behavior demonstrates that this is true.  As it did tonight, when I was in the bathroom, and she joined me.  She acted like she wanted my attention, and just wanted to sit on my lap, in the bathroom!  I had just recently fed her on the sofa with liver, her favorite food.  Sometimes Haiku eats in the kitchen where I used to feed both cats, but often, she only eats where I am sitting, on the sofa or at the dining table. Which tells me  that during the day she cannot always find where her food dish is if she is hungry. So, sometimes, I leave several dishes out for her.

I feed Haiku several times a night when I am home.  And, when I am home for a day off from work, or on the weekends, I feed her as often as she asks for fresh food.  I just want her to be okay.  

Sometimes, when Haiku is eating, Taki stares at her and intimidates her into not eating, so Taki can eat her food. Which is a problem, because Taki has her own food dishes and is way over weight.  I try to minimize that when I am home, but, of course, cannot when I am out of the house. 

I do not want to restrict movement for either cat while I am gone, although that would resolve the access to eating for each cat.  I just prefer to feed them as much as I can when I am home, and adjust their food as I can.  

For the Third Year, the Swallows Have Returned

So, for the third year in a row, the swallows have returned to the nest on my front porch.  Actually, I first noticed them on 4/16/18, for the first time this year.  I am so thrilled.  I am hopeful that they will successfully raise a brood of young, or perhaps, more than one.

I have patio furniture on the front porch, below where the swallows nest.  As in years past, I have upended the furniture, so the feral cats in my neighborhood do not have a good purchase to jump up to the nest.  

I am concerned that one side of the nest looks weak, but I cannot help the swallows reinforce their nest. 

I like having swallows on my front porch.

The Swallows are Back

For the last few years, I have had a pair of swallows nesting on my front porch.  Earlier this week, I noticed a cat on my front porch, perched on one of the chairs, eager to pounce.  I looked, and there were bird droppings on the floor.  I overturned the chairs and table on the front porch, so the cats do not have purchase to jump up and try to catch the swallows.  I did not see the swallows that day.  But the last few days, I have seen the swallows flying in and out on my front porch.  I suspect they are repairing their nest, which looks a little distressed on one side, but strong elsewhere.  I am so excited to see the swallows. 

Wind Storm

So we had a wind storm today. The temperature reached the mid - 60s, but it was still cold outside.  When I was walking to my car after work, I had to stop and rest and catch my breath a couple of times because the wind was so strong. 

I had to work late tonight, and then went to do some shopping before I got home. So I arrived home a couple hours later than usual.  Haiku was at the door to the garage, making her distressed cry, but it made sense to me today:  I was late; and the wind was howling.  She went into the garage, made it to the closed garage door, and stood there and cried.  I brought her into the house, and she was fine.  

Throughout the night, I could hear the howl of the wind in the kitchen vent fan or in the creaking of the house overhead when a particular gust was very strong. 

Wind storms are interesting.  They might be nothing.  They also might cause more straight line wind damage that an F1 tornado. For sure today, there was dust blowing.  

And, we did not received the rain the forecasters speculated we would receive.  Not yet. 

Gillette - An Aha Moment

I grew up in Western Massachusetts, and we received our TV broadcasts out of Boston, Ma. and Hartford, Ct. back in the 1960/s. My dad liked to watch sports, baseball and some boxing.  Many of the sporting events were sponsored by Gillette.  I guess it never dawn on me that was because Gillette was headquartered out of Boston. 

Had I thought about it, that would have made sense why the New England Patriots play out of the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

I just never thought about it until I saw the recent Gillette ad  about an employee in their Boston factory.   

Good job Gillette!

My Voice

I got laryngitis around Christmas time, 2017, and it continued for several weeks, well into February.  Even in March and even a few days ago, my voice got raspy again.  The dust does not help.  I am not having nasal drainage so that is not the problem.  Laryngitis is not unusual for me; the duration of it was unusual.

Wind

When I left work today, the wind was very strong.  The wind made the air actually feel cool.  There was a haze of dust in the air, and the wind buffeted my car as I drove home.

It has become my habit to gas up the car and go grocery shopping after work on Friday afternoon.  This afternoon, I stopped by the house first, and discovered I had forgotten to turn in my work keys.  So, I returned to work to do so.

As I walked back to the car from my work building, I was buffeted by the wind, and decided that I did not want to be transferring groceries from a grocery cart to the car in this wind.  That may have been a mistake, because tomorrow is supposed to by windy also, and colder.  Oh well, I only had two items on my list, and I can even go shopping on Sunday, if I need to wait.  

I dislike being out in the wind because it takes my breath away.  But even more so, being out in the dust makes my voice become thick and raspy again.  After such a long period of laryngitis that I had this year, I do not need to aggravate my vocal cords. 

Keys

Where I work, I have to turn in keys at the end of the work day.  Since it is Friday, as I check out for the night, and the week, I had my mind on something else besides checking in keys.  So, I got all the way home, and discovered I had work keys in my pocket.  It is not far from my home to work, so it was a quick trip back to turn in my keys.  They actually do a key count, and if the keys are not turned in, they will call the employee and tell them they need to return them in post haste.

Tattoo Parlor

I am infrequently in downtown Lubbock at night, but I was last night, and as I was driving home down Avenue Q, I was surprised to see 3 tattoo parlors within a few blocks of each other.  I cannot find all of their names, so I will not mention any one by name.  Two looked well lit, not sleazy, and fairly well populated.  The third look a little less cared for.  Tattoos are big business these days.  

Save The Alamo

A few days ago, I received a post card from The Alamo Roadshow at the National Ranching Heritage Center.  I was intrigued.  I had no stories to tell about the Alamo, nor any artifacts to share, but I went to see what was going on.  

Not what I suspected. I thought we might hear about a few of the Alamo artifacts, and then maybe be told about other artifacts brought in for review.  Not so.  The presentation was about the efforts to Save the Alamo.  I am sure part of the intent was to get a data base to ask for donations, because we were offered the opportunity to sign up for emails or submit a survey with our email included (optional).  I submitted the survey without my email. Obviously they know how to contact me. 

There were a couple of artifacts present, and an archivist who would view artifacts, as well as a recording station for people who had stories to tell. 

If you go to the Save the Alamo website, the neatest thing is the Digital Battlefield.  Someone in Georgia, no less, developed an historically accurate website of the Alamo and Alamo Battlefield as in 1836.  You can view the Alamo and environs as it currently is or as the Battlefield was in 1836.  Or you can overlay the two views. 

The preservation and restoration project sounds ambitious, and is probably past overdue.  We need to preserve our history. I was thoroughly unimpressed the first time I went to see the Alamo. It is very small, and just sort of set in amongst all these modern buildings, and it was very depressing.  Someone told me it was a battlefield, it should be depressing.  I did not know what to say then, but now I know it was depressing because it was so poorly managed, so poorly preserved, and there was no sense of awe, or reverence, no sense that this was consecrated and hallowed ground.  I have since been to Gettysburg and Vickburg, and that sense of honor and consecration is present.  And, as I think back, many of the historic sights I visited growing up exemplified that sense of honor that was missing in the Alamo.  I have been twice to see it, because I was in San Antonio, and the second time, in San Antonio with someone who had not seen it before.  But, I have been to San Antonio other times, and not felt a need to visit the Alamo. Maybe that will be different in the future. 

Haiku Was Distressed

Because of my work schedule, I go to work later on Monday than any other day of the week, because I have to stay late on Monday.  Monday this week was no exception.  When I got home, a little after 6 PM, Haiku was at the door leading to the garage, and I could hear her making her distress call.  She rarely makes it at home. Occasionally she does if there is a lot of loud traffic in the alley, but rarely, otherwise.  So, I opened the door from the garage, and she shot into the garage, and made a circuit around my car, checking out items along the way, making her distress sound. 

Once she made her circuit, I picked her up and did my best to reassure her, which helped, and she stopped making this distress call. She came into the house, and eventually, ate well for her.

I have no idea what precipitated that behavior. I was relieved when I arrived home from work tonight, and that behavior was not repeated.  

A Foot Fungal Product

I was watching TV last night, and I saw this advertisement for a foot fungal product. Several years ago, both of my big toes had fungal nails.  A foot specialist (not a doctor, but a nurse who does in home foot care for diabetic patients) told me that if I put Vicks Vaporub on my toes once a day, every day, after a long time (it took a year for me) the fungus would go away.  The advantage to this is that most fungicide are actually very poisonous to the human body, and the Vicks product is not.

The second advantage is that when I notice the nail problem re-occurring, I use the Vicks Vaporub, and it nips the problem in the bud. 

Modern medicine is good, but sometimes, the old time remedies work and are even safer. 

Trash

I don't know how it happens, but I find really strange things in my front yard sometimes.  Once, there was a flash drive, sitting almost smack dab in the middle of my yard.  No near the edge, as if some passerby dropped it, but in the middle.  

Today, in the middle of my front yard, there was a completely flattened aluminum can.  We had a cold front blow in over night, so I can understand that this very light wafer of aluminum could have blown into my yard.