Thursday Stuff and Some Needling

Yesterday afternoon Bill and I went for a walk and decided to stop in at the Filipowski barn to see the babies.  Obviously there's been a population spurt since my last visit. 

Miss Yellow Kitty joined us, purring and rubbing, as we stood and looked over the herd of calves from one end of their cushy resting place while, at the other end, moms stood quietly, keeping an eye out and probably wishing they could enjoy some of that bedding. 

During our visit, all remained pretty much the way they're seen here, totally laid back and enjoying their new little lives.  

A month from today, give or take a day or two, we'll have some cushy bedding all laid out in the Lovestead horse nursery.  Maybe, just maybe, by that day, there will be a little one enjoying its new life with a lot of adoring humans, coming for visits. 

Interestingly enough, just as I was typing the paragraph above, I received a Facebook note from my partner in this little horse adventure.  Monty is getting excited and wondering how Lily is doing and what is the due date.   Great minds work in unison, I guess!

Fingers crossed that all will go well and that the weather will cooperate so Lily, Lefty and Little One won't have to deal with too much mud during the mud season. 

We heard yesterday that some roads in the county are bottoming out, thanks to the hard freeze and thaw.  So far, ours is still covered with snow and ice on the sides and opening up to mud and bumps in other places. 

Yesterday signaled a new era for the critter population here at the Lovestead.  

We learned that our kitty Festus has diabetes.  Another of life's "so that's what's going on" moments occurred after the past few weeks of noticing that I was sure using a whole lot more kitty litter than usual. 

Plus, the heated water dish needed to be filled more often.  At one time, Bill suggested that the water might be evaporating from being heated.  

Well, during a vet appointment yesterday, the diagnosis was determined quickly through a urine sample.  I knew diabetes was a strong possibility but was dreading the reality.  

You see I have such an extreme phobia to needles/shots that I cringe at the winter-time news stories whenever the flu bug rolls around. Those sadistic reporters always insist on showing nurses giving shots in the arm.  

I look away cuz I cannot stand watching.

During my first year of teaching, the county health people had to chase me down to get my TB test. They caught me one afternoon in my classroom and herded me down to the office where I stood in the mimeograph machine room (yes, it was THAT long ago) while a nurse rolled up my sleeve and allowed me to look away while she jabbed that needle into my lower arm.

I held my breath, shut my eyes and looked the opposite direction for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally, I asked if they were finished. 

"No, just four more inches," the nurse said.  

I almost fell on the floor, thinking my arm was certainly not four inches thick, "What the heck are they doing to me?"

When it was explained that the four inches was on the the syringe and not my arm, I exhaled with relief.  

I think that nurse might have been pulling my leg while she was jabbing my arm, but no way was I gonna look to find out for sure. 

I lived through the TB test and have survived through a lifetime of TV  flu-season jabbings.  Childbirth and a few tetanus shots along the way have also kept me looking the other direction. 

SO, the doctor told me yesterday that, yes, I can give Festus shots. 

Then, I told her the story of college biology class at the U of I when Cecelia Donnerberg and I were lab partners and we were each supposed to poke our fingers for a blood sample. 

The two samples on our test plates came from Cecelia. 

That's when the doctor one-upped me and told me that in her college biology class she actually poked herself for her blood sample AND THEN ALMOST FAINTED.

It was obvious she was not impressed with my protest, so I shut my mouth and agreed that I could do this; after all, Festus will be relying on me.  

So, today or tomorrow, Festus will be going back to the vets and Marianne will take a short course on "Injections 101." 

I hope I don't faint. I'm pretty sure Festus won't cuz he's a mellow and very friendly cat, so that's good.  

Every time I get scared to poke that needle, I'll just keep thinking about how nice it will be to not have clean those 100-pound urine-logged litter boxes.  

And, I'll think of Dyno from The Festival. 

When Bill told Dyno last night down at the church about Festus, she told Bill about their cat with diabetes and about her phobia for needles and that eventually she could be talking to her mother on the telephone, call the cat, give it the shot and never skip a beat in her conversation. 

I don't know that I'll be so casual with Festus, but, like so many firsts for me in the past year that involved deep-seated fears, I'm sure I'll answer the kitty-cat survival call. Just not while on the phone. 

So, that's about it for this Thursday. I have posted a photo at the bottom, taken two years ago on this day.  Annie was home, and we drove out there for some geocaching.  I'll take the bare ground any hour or any day, thank you.

I may have to wait because it's snowing AGAIN! 

Happy Thursday.