Christmas 2014

The time off so far has been fun.  My sisters and BIL came to town for a few days.  We did a lot of tourist things and went to a bunch of local restaurants.  A good time was had.

One thing that disappointed me was the lack of hot air balloons.  I talk all the time about how we see balloons in the air all year 'round.  No such luck.  I guess all the balloonists were working at their day jobs in the days leading up to Christmas.  My younger sister did get lucky on Christmas Day.  She went out to get the newspaper and there one was at the end of the street.  She took a couple of photos (I don't have copies).  They left on Friday and wouldn't you know, one took off from the park out back this morning.

In looking at my last post, this appears to be the same balloon shown in my previous post.  I guess they're a balloonist that resides in this neighborhood who finds the park a convenient launching pad.

Today I added to my small amount of Christmas decorations.  While my sisters and BIL were in town, it occurred to me that putting Christmas tree balls in my cut glass bowls would be pretty.  I was at Target today and they had decorations on sale so, what the heck.

I think they look very festive.

Happy Holidays!
Papillon

A Weekend - Gone Too Quickly

On Friday morning I was awakened by a hot air balloon.

My suspicion is that they were taking advantage of the weather.  Friday was a lovely day.  Sunny and cool but not cold.

For the past several days, the local weather people have been sounding the alarm.  The front that had dumped a whole bunch of rain on California was headed our way.  Weather warnings!  Weather warnings!  This will hit on Saturday PM.

With this is mind, I did all my errands on Saturday because they were forecasting possible snow for the whole metro area and I wasn't sure what the roads would be like on Sunday.

Sure enough, the rain started around 7:30PM.  From the puddles remaining today, we must have gotten a significant amount of rain.  However, it wasn't the violent downpour the weathercasters had made it sound like we'd be getting.  It was more of an extended gentle rain. 

This morning I woke up to sunny skies.  It was chilly, made more so by a sharp wind.  It sounds like the wind has died down, but it's still quite chilly.

Having said all that, the metro area did get snow.  This picture shows why I don't live in the Sandia mountains east of town.  I try to avoid situations that involve me shoveling snow.

I'm still missing Oscar.  It's been a week and 3 days.  I miss seeing him curled up asleep in my recliner.  I even find myself missing him at 8 PM.  He had to have one vaso-dilator pill a day and that was the time I usually gave it to him.  Missing you, you silly furball.

Papillon

Missing Oscar

Over 16 1/2 years ago, I adopted an orange tabby named Oscar.  Here he is, just a day or so after coming home with me.

He has aged gracefully over the years, at least until April of this year.  At that time, he began losing weight.  Since he was not overweight at the time, this was not a good thing.

I took him to the vet who said it was a question of 16+ YO kidneys beginning to give out.  The vet gave me a prescription for Oscar, vaso-dilators to help his kidneys continue to function.

He did OK, but more and more little things started to surface.  He couldn't jump up onto things like he used to - such as my bed.  I put a chair in place so he'd have a halfway point to use.  Then, his balance was beginning to go.  He couldn't make quick turns. 

This past week, the downhill slide speeded up.  When I got home from work on Tuesday, he was so heavily asleep it took him a half hour to notice I was home.  Even more balance problems, including not being able to squat when he urinated and getting urine on the floor.

I called the vet and set an appointment for Thursday morning.  Wednesday evening we spent with him on my lap being petted.  By this point, he was still drinking water, but had stopped eating.

Since my appointment was early on Thursday, I was hoping for some peace and quiet.  No such luck.  There were a couple of unhappy cats letting everyone know how unhappy they were.  Plus, a large dog (golden Lab?) who did some barking. 

That said, I did get some alone time with Oscar in the exam room and got to hold him as he passed over.

I sure do miss him.

Here he is, about a week prior.

I love you, silly kitty.
Papillon