Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Full court begging (the cat, not Ron)

My day so far: I slept pretty well.  I had Biscuit and Torbie in my bed at one point.

Confession time: I always swore I wouldn't play favorites, and that's one reason I never had kids, I was on the bad end of playing favorites and I didn't like it one bit.  Yet I do the same with the cats.

Case in point: when Baby Girl and Biscuit got out at the same time one day, I went after Biscuit first.  Baby Girl ran off and Ron had a bad couple hours until she came back (we fixed that by locking the door to the garage, Baby Girl had pawed it open and gotten out into the garage when we opened the door to come in).

I won't say Baby Girl doesn't love me, but she never spends time with me.  The other cats seek me out, sleep by my feet while I work on the computer (every day, most times), and sleep with me when I go to bed.  Baby Girl begs for food in the morning.  It's much easier to love the cuddle cat who seeks me out and enjoys my company.

Torbie left in the middle of the night sometime, and Biscuit got in the bed.  I woke up when Ron "went into the kitchen" (drinking), and went back to sleep a couple of times.  Biscuit doesn't pester me when I'm in the bed, but when I get up and say "Come ON" it is game on full court begging.

Ron always laughs when he hears the chorus as I brush my teeth and head to the dining room (more of an alcove).  I open the container of cat food and Biscuit jumps up.  I scoop up a portion, and pour it in the bowl.  Baby Girl starts eating (she will beg, but that's about the only interaction we have daily).  Biscuit eats out of the second scoop like a starving animal, his flabby belly hanging down as he gulps.

Frequently, he eats so fast he gets sick.  I am pretty good at cleaning up cat puke.  Bubba was the same way.

I felt pretty good, just mildly depressed.  I can always tell the depression by the shower gauge.  How do I feel about taking a shower?  If I am OK with it, it's a normal mood.  If I try to put it off, acting like I'm getting my gums scraped (apparently they don't call it that anymore), it's moderate.  If I act like I'm being boiled, I know I am really depressed.

Today was moderate.  I always brush out my hair first, did that, got out all the tangles and loose hair.  Climb into the garden tub and pull the curtain.  Turn on the water.  Takes a minute to warm up.  I stick my foot under it in the summer, in the winter I just stick a finger in the water flow.  Wet down.  Wash my hair, takes a while because I have a lot now and it is pretty thick.  I do it in thirds, front third, middle third, ponytail.  I take turns washing each and rinse well.  Then I put it up in a hair clip so I can wash my back.

I didn't shave my legs today, I wasn't going anywhere.  I finally finished, took out my hair clip, squeezed my hair, and got out, dried off.

I went to go do my God Time.  Now, I need to tell you about the lizard.  There has been a green lizard in my computer room for a couple of days.  I saw it on the wall, up near the ceiling, and thought "Smart" one day while I was doing my God Time.  I warned Ron I might scream, but if I did, not to panic because it would just be the lizard falling on me.  Ron thought that was odd, but, sure enough, halfway through my Bible study, AAAGH!  It fell on me and scrabbled around.  It ran off, but not quick enough for Biscuit, who caught it in his mouth, walked around for a while, and then let it go.

Baby Girl would have eaten it.  She doesn't miss a chance.  Of course it ran and hid, and I saw Biscuit pawing at some of my old (Free Bibles) signs a day or two later.

Today it was sitting on the arm of the couch, looking at me.  I caught it.  Now, it is hard when you catch a wild creature.  You have to restrain it, but not too firmly, or you will hurt/kill it.  This one struggled for about 30 seconds.  I told him it was OK, I was going to put him outside.  I opened the front door and unfolded my hand, and it jumped down and ran off.  Hopefully it will stay away from the cat cage from now on.  It sure had plenty of energy left, so I'm not worried about it.

I did my God Time.  I use Operation World, a guidebook to prayer for each nation on Earth.  I have been slogging my way through India.  If you are a believer, pray for India, they can use it.  Some countries are highly evangelical, India less so, but a lot of encouraging work being done among the Dalits (Untouchables).  Interesting stuff.  

They don't allow outside missionaries anymore, I believe, so they have to use native missionaries.  Which is a better fit anyway, someone who looks like you, speaks your language fluently, works a regular job just like you do.  There are some good agencies that do this, including Gospel for Asia. 

So I read Operation World and then do my devotionals.  I have about 5.  One is a used book I bought from a book store.  I would have regifted it to a recipient but 1.  It is really battered and 2.  It has an inscription.  Kirk apparently didn't appreciate the gift, and sold it to the bookstore.  I like that one because things are kind of dumbed down for my low comprehension days.  Then I have a couple more, some are gifts, some I bought myself.  The last thing on that bookshelf - I read down the shelf, one book after another - is the daily Bible.  Daily Bibles are really cool.  This one has everything in Chronological order, not the "standard" order.  I find it fun - I had my parents buy it for my birthday some years ago.  I was expecting the softback but they sent me the hardback!  Whoo!  It stands up better to use.  Some of the covers are getting beat up on the paperbacks but that's a good thing. 

Then I pick up my prayer notebook.  I have different things in there, notes, post cards, photos.  I go through praying for everyone (including you guys), it takes a while.  But worthwhile. 

I'm not taking anything out of my life but my actions, and I believe my God time is a very important action every day.  It equips me, I think, to do the evangelism and handle the stresses of my life with Ron. 

Years ago, I saw a devotional for caregivers.  I should have bought it. 

Sometimes the cats hang out with me, but there's no room on the couch since I started doing the candy again.  I have several bags, boxes, and canisters of assorted candy, not to mention the ziplocks.  When I am doing up the candy I sit on a stool, in front of the couch, and spread the candy all over the couch (in their bags).  Then I take a couple pieces out of each bag and put it in the ziplock with the tract or Scripture Booklet.  When I'm done, I put it back on the right side of the couch.  I can sit on the left side and do my God stuff. 

After that, I ate some chips and watched some TV.  Then I took a nap with Biscuit.  He was so cute all stretched in the bed, but he was very willing to make an accommodation for me.  I slept with him for a couple of hours and woke up with a headache.  I got up, took something, and went back to bed with him. 

When I felt a little better I got up. 

We had a lot of rain today and some flooding, but one of my Bible readings was Psalm 46.  Here  It's a good passage when you are worried about flooding.  And it did flood, just not massively, and God stopped the rain already.  Just enough to wet everything down so no fires from fireworks. 

I am a little post traumatic.  When it is raining, hard, I start getting nervous.  God will take care of me, and I have flood insurance, but I still freak.  So Psalm 46 was a good one to read. 

Ron has been lounging in bed all day.  Not hard to see why he got blood clots.  But he can't exactly do handsprings, can he?  He took his pants off so they won't get cat hair, but forgot to take off his shirt.  Sometimes I have to remind myself he took a serious whack to the head.  I remember seeing his head after the accident and wondering how he was still alive. 

I will be fixing dinner pretty soon, a very simple one of BBQ hot pockets.  I have ice cream, for me, for dessert.  And salad stuff.  We need to be eating more salad. 

Whatever is wrong with him can only be helped by a better diet.  I believe he has multiple things going on right now, which is baffling the doctors.  But he can eat salad with Eliquis so I will offer him one.  He did have me buy him a cucumber yesterday so I can slice that up and put it on top. 

I just prefer my salad as plain greens but he may want something a little more elaborate.  We'll see. 

After I eat, I need to clean the litter boxes again.  Torbie and Biscuit really like the box here in the computer room, so I need to get it, and if I need to get that one, I probably need to do the other ones as well. 

But I will do that AFTER I eat. 

We have had some fireworks in the area but nothing serious.  The cats aren't fazed.  I know Bubba was profoundly upset by fireworks when he got old, so we stopped doing them.  And Ron can't really set anything off anymore. 

That's it for now. 

No comments: