short and sweet

harley has taken to nipping a lot again. i know he misses my roommate who is on a different schedule than me and so harley had some company more often than not. i know i was off schedule with mom and her surgery and treatments that followed. i'm hoping this biting is going to end soon because now i am wearing sneakers when i sit at the table to type to protect my feet and i cant do that all the time. sometimes i put a blanket over my feet instead. i had to put him in time out this morning because he was stalking me and i couldn't move from point a to point b safely. i have been playing with him and giving him treats and we hang out during movies and when i'm reading. he has all the comforts he could ask for. i'm considering getting more pheromone plug ins again. i haven't had to use them in about 6 months or more.

here's to less nipping in our future!

finally, an update

to say I have been lax in my blogging is more than an understatement, it’s really more of a shame. life got away from harley and me after my last post which is april 2011. i returned to work after my surgery then went on a cruise to Bermuda as planned and then I celebrated two years being single and on my own after a much needed divorce. what i hadn’t anticipated was all that would come after and all that kept me away from my love of writing. what follows is a brief summary; you’ll notice harley is present throughout everything and was a comfort and a joy when I needed him most. dont let the strong silent and sometimes nippy types fool you; he stuck by me, sometimes because he had no choice but I like to believe it was because he wanted to as well.

• ·        june 2011 – a young coworker was in need of a place to stay and after attempts to find him somewhere sooner than the september gig he had lined up, he landed on my air mattress for a few days. we got along so well we decided to rent an apartment together and we have been in a two bedroom ever since, with harley loving the extra company. it’s a blessing my roommate isn’t allergic to harley as he thought he would be. I knew when i saw him on the floor playing with harley we would be ok. we are due to renew our lease this month.

• ·        july 2011 – in a sad and unexpected twist of fate, my step father, neville, was diagnosed with cancer that has already spread too far throughout his body to hope for any kind of recovery. he passed a week after he was diagnosed at 89 years old and he is missed something fierce. my mother is in year five of her ovarian cancer treatments; he was her rock and her warrior and so his passing has dealt the family a doubly hard blow. i received a lot of support from my friends during this time, bt other personal matters came up and it was a very bad time for me.

• ·        august 2011 – my roommate and i settled into our new place with a rocky start: on moving day he was sick to his stomach and i had some bad bug bites on my hand that tured into cellulitis in a matter of hours. he recovered with some sleep and ginger ale and i got treated at the walk in clinic and return to work after a few days.

• ·        september 2011 – yes so it’s my birthday month and you’d think i’d catch a break but no, every september has been rough for the last several years and i don’t know why. same for every birthday too except for my 40^th – that one was perfect. this month we have a freak tropical storm and during it i came down with something nasty that included a fever of 103 and was misdiagnosed for five days. this means that with no power or hot water from the storm and a fever that will not come down, i was sick as a dog and getting sicker by the hour with zero relief. i made it to the er of a second hospital and am diagnosed with tonsolitis and mono. i am home a total of three weeks and lose 20 lbs because I couldn’t eat anything and only drank water or some broth. it was the worst three weeks of my life with no talking, gross medicine – the only thing i could taste was that nasty stuff -  and terrible throat pain. i even asked my roommate to shoot me. graciously he declined. i was well enough a week before my birthday to celebrate with coworkers at a local restaurant for happy hour. during this time that i was sick, harley was my hero. he kept me company and was no bother.

• ·        october 2011 –this month i got cellulitis in half of my left leg from stepping in a puddle of dirty still water when i had an open bug bite on my leg. this hospitalized me for a week and once again i had a fever of 103. the infection is so bad and hit me within hours. in about two hours i went from walking out of bed to not being able carry my weight at all. the pain was just awful. I returned to work after eight days of rest. the state also had a freak snow storm and lot power in a lot of locations. harley and i stuck it out for four of the five days we went without. i built him a fort with every blanket known to man but even I had to admit it was too unbearable. harley and i traveled to my mom’s house where she had power restored the day before and we spent one night in heat which was lovely. harley did so well there, too, not fussing with the new surroundings at all, just making himself at home and climbing on everything. mom was pleased he was so well behaved.

• ·        november and december 2011 – relatively quiet – thankfully – with the holidays and me sorting through a lot of things in my personal/romantic life.

• ·        january 2012 – more loss. my beloved grandmother fell at home where she lived with my aunt and uncle and, at 94, she succumbed to an infection and other issues related to the fall. she had alzheimers as well.

• ·        february through june 2012 – healthy and happy, i have been following through with my “nesting and resting” philosophy since my stint in the hospital in october. i was going out about once a month special like, but now those times are spread out maybe dinner out with my sister and then a weekend with my close friend. a lot of this time was spent processing some very closely personal concerns and events that i haven’t noted here as well the ones i have.

through all of this, i worked on the CATALES newsletters, i put together raffle baskets for their fundraising dinners, and i made it to a walk a thon for them raising $250 through donations. it made me feel good to help and kept me focused on something positive. currently mom is in chemo after radiation after emergency brain surgery where her ovarian cancer has spread. I am grateful every day i wake up, even if i’m not in a good mood, i remind myself, “it could be and it has been worse” and i get moving.

harley has been a bit out of sorts, nipping more again after a long respite, and i believe it’s because my roommate and i have been keeping strange schedules with deaths and other changes taking place in both our lives. The best thing i can do is play with harley and make sure he is fed well so he knows that even if i’m out longer than usual he will have a full belly and playing with him, like with an interactive toy, seems to relieve him of some aggression or energy or both.

right now i’m focused on the next CATALES newsletter and as always, i hope i do the kitties justice. its my small way of giving back to the people who saved harley and kept him healthy and happy for when it was time for me to meet him and take him home – he was there a full four years and i can’t imagine my apartment or my life without him.

peace, love and catnip.

sharon and harley