Should I close the blog?

I've been a little concerned recently about the notion of privacy with this blog, and I'm wondering if I should actually close it down. Here are a few of my concerns:

- I'm now working with a full case load at C4, and I already have to be very careful about boundary issues
- My cousin recently had some problems with her blog being read by ex-students
- I've just been more aware lately of the risks of having personal information out there in cyber-space

I love having a way to sort of carry on a conversation with all of my friends and family at once. I like sharing details of my life with those I really care about. I've been proud of the fact that I've overcome some of my shyness here and some of my shame around talking candidly about myself and my feelings. Well really it has been VERY therapeutic for me, and I've gotten a lot of wonderful positive feedback from people that read it.

What do you think? Maybe I can change my blog so that my last name isn't part of the address and the comments that I've posted. Hmm, that probably would've been smart to do in the first place! I'm learning. I'd love any feedback or advice I can get from you.

Oops, I did it again...

Douglas Fur is now a permanent member of the Fakes/Dever household. He was adopted yesterday from Tree House, and is absolutely perfect! He has no medical problems that we know of, is very very sweet, and seems to LIKE other cats! He is a mixture of brown tabby with patches of white, about medium sized, and he has a little heart-shaped nose outlined in black! He already seems so happy to be home, and we love him! The other cats don't quite know what to do with him yet, but Douglas Fur is staying in the "middle room" until the cats get used to each other's smells. So I'm happy to say that we're starting the week off perfectly with a wonderful new addition to our family!

Is it Friday yet?

When it rains it POURS! I am purposefully taking my time getting ready this morning so that I will be an hour late for work because I'm trying to catch my breath after this whirlwind last couple of weeks. First Helen, then the apartment fire, then our car broke down, our electricity went out, then another stressful visit to the vet on Saturday! Allie has a heart murmur and her lab results showed that she also has some kidney abnormality, likely indicative of kidney disease which is very common in older cats. She has a cardiac ultrasound scheduled for Monday - $400 (!) - to determine the severity of the heart murmur so that she can then proceed to get dental work done that she desperately needs because she has an abcessed tooth. If the heart murmur is mild then she needs to go ahead and get the dental. If it is more serious then I don't know what happens. Needless to say, mom is very worried! The tooth could be connected to the kidney abnormality somehow too - not sure how that works. They are also drawing a urine sample from her bladder on Monday. Sigh. I suppose these things can be expected with a 19 year old cat.

I've also been busy with school and work. I've had student clinic the last couple of weeks, which seems to be going well. Today we start the "Tree House Group" at C4. I'm taking clients to Tree House to volunteer with the cats. I'm pretty excited about that. The group will be held every Friday and we seem to have a nice group of clients going. Yay! Two weeks from Monday I go to Tinley Park Mental Health Center every day for work because I'm volunteering to help Katrina victims that have re-located to Illinois and are staying at TPMHC because the hospital has been closed down and is vacant. I'm excited about this too. I finally get to do something to help. I'll basically be doing case management with them - linking them to needed resources and whatnot.

This weekend I'm going to RELAX and not do much of anything! I need a break from all of the chaos! I suppose I'll be glued to the tv watching Rita coverage unfortunately, but I'm hopeful that the storm won't be as devastating as Katrina was, and I heard that they are also allowing animals to stay in temporary shelters with the humans so that is GREAT news!

My little Harrison is vying for my attention as I type this and he's being very cute this morning so I'll close for now.

Rude Awakening

It was 2:00 a.m. and we were jarred from sleep by the sound of some kind of faint, but annoying alarm, and then the sound of sirens which abated right in front of our apartment building. Then we smelled the burnt cheese smell, I looked out the window, and saw smoke tumbling from our side of the courtyard building. Allie was shoved right into the wicker cat carrier, Harrison harnessed and leashed, and Adat flung over Dave's shoulder and out the door we went, cats in tow.

I'm exaggerating a little because it took us an insane amount of time to figure out what the hell was going on, throw some clothes on, and get the cats ready to go. If that would've been in our apartment we would not have survived the smoke inhalation. We decided that we flunked our present fire escape plan.

So it turns out the fire must have been pretty minor because the trucks left shortly after we loaded the cats in the car. It was our downstairs neighbors, and we never found out what exactly happened. Everything seems fine this morning, and I don't smell smoke at all.

Dave and I were pretty well carved up by Harry and Adat who were understandably quite freaked out that their owners were hauling them out the door, past huge fire truck and into the car. I've got one long gouge down my abdomen, and Dave's shoulder is speckled with little Adat claw marks. Allie somehow maintained her cool and we didn't hear a peep out of her the whole time. Oh well.

Two things we learned: come hell or high water the cats are coming with us, and we need to come up with a far better escape plan.

Art for kitties and a better day altogether

Funny how I've been to more art fairs this summer than usual. Not because I've wanted to go necessarily, but because I've been either soliciting art for, or accompanying Jenny while she solicits art for the Art for Animals Auction at Tree House in October. We went to Lakeview Art Festival today, which was quite nice. I always make fun of all the cheesy art - either in my head or out loud to Jenny, which entertains me. And then some of what we see is actually kinda cool like the craftier pieces that aren't as pretentious as some of the "finer" art. I like to look at the jewelry and all of the weird 3D pieces that you can always find at Chicago art fairs.

I took Jenny out for a birthday lunch at Chicago Diner, which was wonderful of course. Gave her one of my own pieces for her birthday, and then three more for the art auction. We took a walk by the lake after the fair and had fresh squeezed lemonade, and sat and talked. It was a beautiful day, and I'm so grateful for the chance to hang out with a good friend on a day when I needed to more than ever. I think Dave and I needed yesterday home with the cats to grieve for Helen, but it was good for us to get out today. Dave went to a friend's house to play music.

Harrison has been pretty bummed out because he misses Helen, and Adat has been especially needy because she doesn't understand what is going on. Allie is fine, and seems indifferent. The cats have all been very supportive of the humans, however, and have been giving us lots of love and much needed affection.

We will get another cat at some point, but have decided that it is way to much to take on a special needs cat right now. Meowza is still at Tree House... There are lots of other cute ones too - Ritz, Mama Celeste, Petrushka, Bailey, and the list goes on...

But we're going to take our time on that. We can't fill the space Helen left, we can only create a new one.

So in all today was much easier than yesterday, but we're still hurting. It'll take time.

Good-bye Helen

Helen died today at 12:10 p.m. at North Center Animal Hospital. We were there when they euthanized her. It was very very hard, but we're okay, and relieved that she is not suffering anymore. We've just been staying at home today, grieving, listening to music, and remembering her. It didn't take us long to fall in love with her. All for now.

Lovely Little Cat

Is Helen. She may not make it through the night. When I woke up this morning her breathing was labored, and she looked very frail. I took her to Tree House, and the vet gave her an IV and a nitroglycerin paste right away, and put her in an incubator. I had to work today, but then TH called to say that she was taken to North Center Animal Hospital. Dave and I picked her up from there this evening to take her to the Emergency Vet Clinic for the night. Her lungs have filled with fluid and her heart is quite enlarged. The vet at the emergency clinic said that she probably dislodged a clot or something, and this is why the condition came on so suddenly. I don't really know what that means, but I know now it wasn't anything Dave and I did or didn't do to make her condition worse. I've been blaming myself all day. She had lost 2 pounds of weight and I've been beating myself up about not having taken her in sooner. She doesn't let me pick her up so it was hard to tell that she had lost weight. I thought she might have lost some, but she was a little chunky when we brought her home so I figured it was okay. Anyway, it wasn't my fault, and we did the best we could for her, and continue to do so. She was happy in our home. So please keep Helen in your thoughts, and bless her little heart!

Bad Music Going on in My Household

But I'm happy nonetheless. Dave has been listening to some pretty awful music on the Naim system - loudly! To be fair, it probably isn't that bad, I've just been very pickly (hee hee, I accidentally wrote "pickly" instead of "picky") about what I listen to lately. Nothing seems to sound good to me. Kind of like when you're pregnant and nothing smells good anymore. I'm not pregnant, but I've been weirdly interested in jazzy stuff on the radio, usually to be found on NPR in the evenings. Either that or just talk radio. I love "Car Talk" on Saturday mornings!

I'm also happy in spite of all of the overwhelming stuff going on in the news lately. I've been learning (re-learning) the value of taking good care of myself. The little things make a big difference. I've been making my bed in the mornings, keeping up with laundry, doing the dishes, paying extra special attention to the kitties, buying good soap, and doing my homework.

It turns out that through C4 I may be able to put in some volunteer time with families that are re-locating from the south. I would LOVE to do this! I hate not being able to do anything because I don't have extra money floating around. I'm not sure what this will entail yet, but I know that it'll be a very good thing.

I've also been very proactive with the cats (instead of freaking out about every little thing that might be going on with Helen). Helen and Adat have vet appointments on Sept. 17. I've been in touch with Tree House about Helen's issues. Helen seems to have a rash on her neck which might very well be ringworm. If so, I may need to take her to TH to be treated since she is under a 30-day health insurance policy. She has also seemed kinda "pickly" lately and lethargic. Sigh. I hope she's alright, but like I said, keeping in touch with TH helps.

Dave has switched from David Sylvian and Bryan Ferry to some kind of rap/reggae music.

So we had a nice Labor Day weekend in Erie with the in-laws. We attended a raucous German Heritage festival, ate really good food, and hung out with Shannon's chickens and kittens. We also went to Sharon one night to visit with with Mom and Bob-in-law and younger brother, Christopher. We watched Monster-in-law, which was cute.

The drive back was great in spite of the hideous gas prices. Our pet-sitter did a great job, and due to all of my hard work we were able to return to a clean house!

I have student clinic tomorrow, and a LONG day so I need to get to bed.