Sunday, November 29, 2015

Just an FYI ...

 
Greetings and Happy Sunday, my friends! Not much happening here today; except that I just wanted to let my friends and followers know that as of this morning I have decided to change my settings on my comment section to my posts to allow only followers of this blog to comment!

Yes, once again I am being harassed by some nut case who is, thankfully, not one of my followers but rather a whack job who follows another blog which I happen to follow as well ... hence they found my blog link after I left a comment there. Of course, this moron also has their own blog as well. You know, the kind of blog that shows you a message warning you about the offensive content because Blogger had gotten so many complaints about their blog? Whatever ...

Upon actually viewing this person's blog myself, I can honestly tell you that this person gets off on offending all kinds of people! As far as I am concerned, if someone wants to be an a-hole, there is nothing I can do to change that, but do not continuously antagonize other bloggers on their personal blogs. It is just plain rude and unnecessary. Besides, I simply do not have the time nor the inclination to deal with the likes of idiots such as that! Not to mention the fact that I refused to publish their non-sense comments to my posts probably only served to piss them off even more so. Oh well, that's life, isn't it? LOL!

At any rate; hopefully, my friends and followers will not have an issue leaving comments as in the past when I had to change my settings.  ;)


Thank you & Enjoy the rest of the weekend all!

Friday, November 27, 2015

Surprisingly Nice Holiday!



Yet another holiday come and gone. Originally, we all had planned on having dinner with my hubby's cousin's family at their house, but since my MIL is still on the mend from her recent hip surgery, we had a change of plans and spent a rather enjoyable Thanksgiving day eating dinner and relaxing at my in-laws instead.

My bro, me and my mom
 
"Tulip" (my MIL's King Charles Cavalier rescue dog)
 
  And, this afternoon, hubby and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to get together with a former High School band mate of mine and a really good friend of his whom he had graduated with for an early dinner and drinks at a place located just down the road from us called, "Ganly's Irish Pub." The last time I had the chance to see my band mate friend was approximately four years ago. It was so great to see these guys again during the holidays!
 
 Jeff, me & Tim

All of us 4 years ago at "Flanagan's Pub"


Jeff lives in North Carolina and is heading back home sometime tomorrow afternoon. And as for me, well it's back to reality and my usual weekend chores! 
 
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!! 
 


Sunday, November 22, 2015

This and That

Another busy week has come and gone and with the holiday of Thanksgiving approaching this coming week it will promise to be yet another busy one. Since our families always celebrate it, suffice it to say, so do we because they are, after all, our only family. Hubby, myself, and my mom are planning on spending Thanksgiving day having a delicious home-cooked dinner at hubby's cousin's home. It is always nice to be able to spend quality time with friends and family regardless of the reason for the season.

My MIL is currently out of the hospital after her hip surgery and in a very good rehab for a few days. Not sure if she will make it home or not in time for Thanksgiving as of yet. Hubby has been and is still staying at the in-laws house in order to watch over his dad who has Alzheimer's and obviously can not be left to his own devices. He naturally has his "good" days and his "bad" days which is to be expected. under the circumstances.

Me 'n' hubby clowning around: A little pic of us taken back in 1998.


Highlight of the week? Hubby surprised me with a lovely little bouquet of carnations (my favorite flower actually) ...

 
 
And finally, for all of my friends who celebrate it, I wish everyone a very Blessed Thanksgiving!
 
 
)o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(  
 
 

Saturday, November 21, 2015

One Simply Never Knows ...


It was March of 1983. My senior high school year. I was in a St. Petersburg, Florida hotel room with my fellow band mates and friends while on a band trip getting ready for practice when I first remember hearing a catchy tune by British artist Gary Numan called, "Cars" on the radio. I simply could not get the melody to this song out of my head the entire rest of the trip. So upon returning home to PA, I immediately went out and bought the 45 record (yes back in the early 80's you could still buy these things).

Now, fast forward to March 2002. My hubby, who ironically enough is a huge fan of Gary Numan's music, asked me if I would be interested in going with him to see Numan perform in a quaint little venue on South Street in Philadelphia called, "The Theatre of Living Arts." I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Sure, I suppose so. I am only familiar with one of his songs, but okay. Why not?"

Numan as he looked in 1979.
 
"Cars"
(Performing at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia on his "Splinter" tour on March 23, 2014. We were there watching it live).

It took us about an hour or so to get there. The building was fairly large with a rather nice size bar, but no seats ~ only a floor and a stage ... one as you would see in a high school assembly or something. Hubby and I arrived early enough that we were able to get a good place to stand about three rows back from the stage. 

Not really knowing what to expect musically, I watched as Gary Numan and his band made their entrance on the stage. All dressed in black, as were ALL of his fans standing around us, and as he began to sing a song from his then newest album, "Pure," I realized that this was what they called "Goth" music. Oddly enough, I found myself memorized by it! This 40-some year old artist from the 80's decade sounded GREAT! He truly did! 

After about the third song of his set, I turned to my hubby and said, "I hope he sings the song, "Cars." Hubby replied, "I doubt he will sing THAT song here." Sure enough, as God is my witness, we hear the beginning notes to the song, "Cars." Much to my surprise, the "so-called" Goth crowd which consisted of mainly young people in their early 20's (and of course a few fans around our age), started screaming and singing along. At one point during his performance, Numan stared directly into my eyes for what seemed like a good 8 or 10 seconds before looking away. Hubby turned to me and said, "He looked RIGHT at you!" Of course, I wasn't too hard to find being that I was the only one in a crowd wearing all black who was dressed in bib overalls. Kind of stuck out like a sore thumb you might say. LOL!

Gary Numan as he looks today.

It was actually pretty cool because I was close enough to him to get a good view of his big, blue and very intense eyes. It was no surprise to me when I found out later on that he is a Pisces. Wow, those eyes of his are just amazing. And, as intense as his eyes were, his music equally so. His voice and his lyrics just completely blew me away! By far, the BEST live show I have ever seen! I am forever grateful to hubby for broadening my horizons at bit musically. To be honest, we both pretty much have very different tastes in music; however, it just goes to show one simply never knows sometimes what they will enjoy until they open up their minds to new things.



Finally, in 2014, we had the chance to see Numan  perform live once again. This time, at the Trocadero Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. He was promoting his latest album called, "Splinter." What a great performer!


And so at hubby's request, I am including one of his favorite live video clips of Numan's hit song, "Down in the Park."

Saturday, November 14, 2015

When it Rains, It's a Monsoon ...


Greetings, dear friends! First off, I would sincerely like to thank all of you for your very kind thoughts and supportive words as to my post on our kitty cats. I do wish that I could write a somewhat more positive post, except as to say that as far as we know the tapeworm problem is taken care of? Thus far, we have yet to see anymore on or near Leo.

Now for the bad news. As you know, hubby and I have recently switched to another vet, Dr. Mike Comalli, who is fortunately for us only up the road a bit from our last vet. We took Midnight to see Dr. Mike about three wart-like things on his tail as we were very concerned about it. Let's face it, lumps and/or any type of tumor on a cat is seriously never a good thing ... period!

Midnight's tail

Dr. Mike examined him and after shaving the area on his tail to check him, he saw at least 12 little tumors on his dorsal. He also noticed a lot of moisture around that same area. He suggested (and we definitely agreed!) that we should have a biopsy performed on the tumors in order to get a better idea of exactly what is going on. But first, he gave us an antimicrobial Keratolytic Follicular flush (a shampoo) called Pyoben which is safe for cats, dogs, and horses. We are to use it on his tail three times a week until his biopsy which is scheduled for December 3rd. Dr. Mike told us that the reason we can not have it done sooner is because of the excessive moisture on his tail. It would affect the accuracy of the biopsy results.


We haven't yet gotten the cats medical records transferred from the old vet since our cat Kiki is still being treated by Dr. Heather for a chronic issue and is still on her necessary meds every day. As far as the rest of the cats are concerned, we are going to deal with Dr. Mike from now on. After we are able to; hopefully anyhow, get things taken care of with Midnight we will then proceed to take Kiki to Dr. Mike for another evaluation of her condition and find out if we can take her off her meds eventually or not - and even if her current diagnosis from the old vet is sound.

Miss Tabitha & Midnight ~ the best of buddies!


But wait, not quite finished as of yet. My MIL (my second mom) is currently in the hospital as she fell again after her hip popped out of place. On Monday she must finally have a hip replacement surgery and then rehab from there. Meanwhile, my 88 year old father-in-law was diagnosed with conjunctivitis (pink eye) and hubby must take days off of work to watch him (he also has Alzheimer's as well and can not be left alone) and give him  his eye drop medication of two drops four times a day.


And so it goes. We are keeping our finger's crossed, holding our breath, and praying like we have never done before that things will eventually get better? On a more up-beat note, I leave you all with this little cartoon which any cat parent could appreciate ...

 

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Honoring ALL Veterans Today

 
 
Military Pagan Blessing
 (Prayer by Dr. Drake Spaeth and Rev. Selena Fox, Graphic by Kia)
 
Powers of the Ancient Ways,
In this place far from my home and my family,
I honor you and call upon you.
Powers of Earth,
Strengthen my physical body and the bodies of my peers and commanders.
Powers of Air,
Keep me vigilant at my post,
My mind clear and sharp.
Powers of Fire,
Give me courage,
Even when my duty is hard or bitter.
Powers of Water,
Grant me restful slumber and good dreams after a long duty day.
Powers of Spirit,
Balance me in honor, nobility, and spiritual purpose.
Powers of Goddess & God & Their Unity,
Be with me & around me, bless me & protect me as I carry out my mission.
So Mote It Be.
 

© 2003, Circle Sanctuary, PO Box 9, Barneveld, WI 53507.
Copies of the Prayer and these credit lines may be copied without
additional permission & forwarded to Pagans in the military.

Saturday, November 07, 2015

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished!


What a hard week hubby and I have had! It all began when we noticed a lot of little "uncooked rice-like" non-moving "things" left on the blankets and comforters of every place our cat Leo had laid. I called up our vet and they told us to bring them a fecal sample from him to have analyzed at their out-sourced lab. In the meantime, I researched the issue via the pet vet sites (and people I know who also have cats) and everything pointed to tapeworms! How? I honestly do not know since all of our cats are completely and strictly indoor cats only!

A day later, the vet called us and said that he had isospora which is supposedly an intestinal parasite similar to giardia. Now, when I dropped off Leo's fecal, I also bagged up the samples of the "rice-like" dead tapeworms for them to look at as well. I asked them about it and they said he doesn't have tapeworm, just isospora and that they did not "know" what the rice-like things were. Well, turns out they may have been right about the isospora, but they were completely wrong about the tapeworms!

Because these parasites are so contagious, we have to treat all five cats for both issues. So, yesterday morning I called up the vet to let them know that hubby was going to pick up the cats meds and they said they will have them dosed and ready for us. Then when my husband showed up at the vets office to pick them up, he was told some BS about our one cat Midnight had not been seen in the last six months so they couldn't give us his portion. WHAT? How useless is that? Why would we treat only four of our cats and not all as seriously contagious as the problem is? They told us that since we already have an appointment set for this Monday night anyhow to have Midnight seen for three wart-like things on his tail, we should be able to pick up all the meds then ... (sigh)
 
(What the tapeworms actually look like. They break off in segments via the cats anus. Although they come out live, they do not live very long outside the host cat's body ~ that is when they dry up and die looking like uncooked rice.)
 
 
Last night, we left Leo out by himself in the cat's room to stretch his legs a bit as we have had to keep him in a cage and separated from the other cats until the problem is resolved. Two hours later, I went in the room to put him to bed and back in his cage and what did I see? EEKK!! A live, moving, disgusting tapeworm which had apparently just slithered out of his butt! That was it! I had had enough of the vet's BS and first thing this morning hubby and I drove over to the vet and demanded help! That is when they told us that he also had tapeworms as well as the isopora! Gimme a break, will ya? I was so upset and livid at that point that Dr. Heather had decided to take a break from a surgery she was working on to come out and straighten out their mess!

She maintained that she could lose her license if she dispensed meds to Midnight without the "six month check up." She also said that the tapeworms were more than likely from fleas ~ either ingested by one of the cats or caused by feces in the litter boxes. Now, our cats do not have fleas, but after further thought, hubby told me that he remembered seeing one on Fancy Pants (the idiot neighbor lady's Siamese cat) the last time we watched her for her owner. AH HA!!! Made logical sense at that point and, lesson learned! We will never take another stray cat in for any reason, temporarily or otherwise, that way ever again. I absolutely refuse to go through this nightmare again! Everything, including the water and food bowls, cats boxes, blankets, rugs, etc.) had to be completely washed and decontaminated as best we could.. On top of that, we had to treat all of the cats for fleas.

Dr. Heather must have felt sorry for us and had decided to dispense the isospora meds after all so long as we still agreed to bring Midnight to his scheduled appointment on Monday night. For some ridiculous reason unknown to us; however, she did not give us tapeworm meds, only the meds the cats were supposed to get before their office screwed up.

And so we had to stop off at our local PetSmart and pick up tapeworm meds to give to all of the cats as well as giving them their isospora dosage. It isn't exactly over yet as only time will tell if the treatments worked, and we are keeping our fingers triple-crossed! All of this because we tried to do the right thing thinking that we were helping to save a nice, sweet cat. As the saying goes, "No good deed goes unpunished" ... how true!

Thursday, November 05, 2015

Fun Friday!




  
This post is meant to be all just in good, light-hearted fun! Hope you all got a little kick out of it ... Have a GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

Throwback Thursday


Well my dear friends, it's finally Thursday and time for a Throwback Thursday story (or two)! This week I wanted to share a couple of true stories with all of you by re-posting two previous ones from my blog. As I said, they are actually true stories of something which happened to me quite a few years ago: 

"A Spiritually Lifting Experience" http://thewiccalife.blogspot.com/search/label/Ghost%20Story 

and

"Divining the Future: Speaking of Ouija Boards"
http://thewiccalife.blogspot.com/2011/10/divining-future-pt-2-speaking-of-ouiji.html


Both of which involve my late fiancĂ©, Mike ...


This was a pic taken at the Neversink Gun Club which we all believed to be haunted by the spirits of a few previously deceased club members. This photo was also taken at an awards ceremony dinner for a target shooting competition of which I had won a third place trophy that year. (Mike is in the middle)

Mike & I dressed up for a Neversink Gun Club Halloween Party for which we also bartended that night. We were both 26 years of age. BTW,  Mike's birthday was October 30th (Samhain/Halloween Eve)


Even though I have always held a huge love for cats for as long as I can remember, I have Mike to thank for giving me the level of appreciation that I hold so dear for them now. Here he is holding his cats Pluto, Brandy, and Bummer.

Mike & I on my birthday ~ 1986
 
May he rest in peace ever and always!

Sunday, November 01, 2015

A Very Blessed Samhain!

 
Happy Sunday all! I hope that everyone had a very enjoyable Samhain and/or Halloween! Ours was quite memorable as not only had I been fortunate enough to spend the entire day celebrating with my twin soul, Rhiannon, but her son, Page, had joined us as well!


Page took a few pics of our ritual and was kind enough to allow me to use some of them for this post ...



 
 

Rhiannon lighting the ritual candles

The blessing of the ritual wine



A little snapshot of Leo on his condo out in the catio


After ritual, we had decided to take a little trip to the nearby "Halloween Spirit" store to check out some of their holiday sales, Rhiannon found a really cool black and white sequin dress with a spider web design and I picked up a neat jack-o-lantern t-shirt. Later on, we all had a really nice dinner at a great place called, "Flanagan's Pub & Downstairs."

 


To top it all off, we had such a gorgeous fall day that one could not have asked the Lord and Lady for anything more. A perfect day enjoyed by all of us! Brightest Blessings!!