My Sonny is Deaf I Think

My old Sonny. He is my ROCK. He is the cat who just will not end. At 18 he is an old boy. He flew to Japan with me! He lived in Japan and was my ROCK there! Honestly there are days when I am sure he will live to 25 and others when I am sure he will not survive the night.

To be clear here he is NOT in pain or discomfort. He is happy and content and well fed and well hydrated and certainly well loved. It's just that some nights he seems to be more away from me than he is with me.

When I am away from home for work it is the worst. Sonny's very favorite thing IN THE ENTIRE WORLD is to be let out in the backyard to sleep under the shed or in the weeds or in the pinestraw and when it starts to get dark and I go out to coax him in he hisses at me and then goes into an old man coughing attack and it's so sweet and funny and upsetting because I talk to him and calm him down and it passes and I just wonder what on earth he does when I am not here. The back yard is loosely fenced in and now Sonny is far too old and apathetic to try to jump over the fence so he is the only one with outside privileges. Because it is what he loves. I want him to leave this world in my arms giving him the love he has given me for 16 years but even more I would like for him to walk out into the backyard, lie down, watch the squirrels and birds for a while and just go on. It is the way I know he would want it.

I am sure as of today that Sonny is completely deaf. For a couple of years I blamed it on him being an old man who would absolutely not under any circumstances answer to me. In the past 2 months I have thought maybe it was hearing loss. Today I set off a Japanese holiday firecracker (the kind where you pull a string and there is great noise and confetti - not the kind where there are actual explosives) and there was no reaction at all.

Lately Sonny's favorite thing is to get in bed with me and while I read he slowly moves until he is halfway on my chest and I talk to him and he gets so relaxed. If he is deaf as I think he is I am sure he is going for the vibration in my chest as I talk to him. I think certainly he is not after my boobs as I am sure he is more discriminating than that. If I stop talking and he is still awake after a couple of minutes he will pat my face with his paw until I pay attention and start talking again. Over and over I say "Sonny is a good boy.. Sonny is SUCH a good boy. Mommy LOVES Sonny. And he is lulled into his very aged sleep and is content and I am content and it is a good night.

Sonny got a flea treatment last night and a bath today. I haven't given him a bath for 3 years due to his age but he got one tonight and despite his irritation I know he feels better. We sat for a long time with him wrapped up in a towel and me holding him close and talking to him. He is truly a mess. When cats get old they decide grooming isn't worthwhile and they get dirty and their ears need constant cleaning and all sorts of stuff.

Y'all I would want every one of you to adopt one or two or three shelter cats. If I lived in a bigger house I swear I would have 8. They love the best because I swear to you they remember where they came from and they will love you until the end with all their hearts. But it is a long term committment - a lifetime committment. That kitten eventually gets old and needs special care. It is 100% WORTH IT but you have to make sure that first you are ready. Please DO NOT do it if you are not 100% willing and able to make every accommodation. To pass an animal around to various homes is as confusing to an animal as it is to a human. It is truly very bad that I travel a lot and my cats must depend on a catsitter but I am thankful that I can at least make sure they have the very best veterinary care and the very best catsitter I can find. I am thankful that I have a sister and brother in law who are vets and a vet here in Atlanta who trusts in me enough to train me to suck out Sonny's old man bump with a hypodermic needle every 2 weeks and give fluids if necessary.

Sonny is deaf and certainly senile now and I suspect cataracts but his quality of life is great. He does what he wants and can go in the backyard and at night he gets on the bed and sleeps on Mommy. He has been a constant companion for 16 years and has seen me through multiple roomates and one very bad husband and many changes in home including a long trip to Japan and back and he is just a ROCK.

Boo was my animal soul mate for the 3 years he was with me but Sonny is coming in at least a very close second. And if you had known Boo you would know this is a huge thing.

I want to come back as a cat owned by me.

Oh Yes I Did!!

Weekend project complete! The old faucet assembly came off pretty easily but there was a LOT of grunge underneath.

Eeeeeeewwwwwww!

The new assembly went on just fine and I got the hot water connection hooked back up and then had one heck of a time with the cold water connection. I was on my back under the sink for a couple of hours trying to get it right and no go. So I finally pulled the whole connection hose out and went off to Lowe's where I found exactly what I needed. Got home, hooked it up in 5 minutes, and

Just to prove it's all hooked up correctly:

I did make one small boo boo. When I purchased the faucet I bought one WITHOUT sprayer because I have a perfectly good sprayer. What I now realize is that this means the faucet will not ACCOMMODATE a sprayer. So until I get around to doing a new sink and countertops I will have a completely useless sprayer on my sink. But that's not a big deal - I mainly used it to fill big pots and watering cans and my Brita pitcher because they would not fit under the old, low faucet. That is no longer an issue!!

My Weeked Project

The weekend before I left for Mexico somethig very ufortunate happened in my otherwise totally great kitchen:
Yep. Bummer. I've always despised this faucet ayway. The sink is shallow and there is not a lot of clearance between the sink and the faucet which makes washing pots difficult. When I re-did the kitchen in early spring 2007 I really wanted to replace the countertop. I have about 2 feet of countertop on either side of the sink so even granite is not out of the question. I also wanted a deeper, white porcelain sink. And of course I would have gotten a new faucet. But I wanted to pay off the flooring first and then Santiago came up for 5 months and this has been put off.

Here is how I have been turning the hot water on and off:

Yep. I have tools and they come in handy from time to time.

Today I went out to Lowe's. Do any of you out there know how much faucets cost? Blew my mind. Does anyone seriously need a $250 faucet in their kitchen? I knew what I wanted and I knew what I was willing to spend and darned if I didn't find it AND on sale for $44:

Simple. Polished chrome. High curved spout. I am psyched!!!

I love it I tell you! LOVE IT!! And evidently Phoebe is going to help me install it:

Yep. I probably won't have to lift a finger.

Thank goodness my choice got approval from the feline peanut gallery.

Forgive a Mini-Tirade

I've hesitated writing this one because I know I will never be able to put into words what is in my heart but I have to spill because this is MY blog and MY place to voice my opinion.

In the past couple of months I have received two emails, both from people I am vaguely acquainted with yet both of whom felt comfortable forwarding what I consider to be rather revolting things. I was so very affected by both of these emails that even though I have tried to ignore them I can not and I just need to spill in the way that is me.

I'm not talking about off-color jokes. I like off-color jokes. I like doo-doo and pee-pee jokes. I even like good blonde jokes. I like to laugh. I'm talking about hysterical, fanatical religious-oriented emails that I swear to you I sat on for weeks before responding. And I did respond to both. In the kindest, gentlest way I could but I made no mistake about sharing my revulsion.

I live in the deep south - the bible belt like you wouldn't even imagine if you don't live here. I took down my front doorbell because of the "missionaries" who want me to join their beliefs and spend their weekends hassling me about it. Even though I am a Christian although I refuse to impose my beliefs on anyone else. Because, well, that just wouldn't be Christian now would it?

The first email was from a wonderful dear woman who helps my 96 year old next door neighbor the way I do - bringing groceries, being available on the phone, spending time with her. For this reason I love her. Miss Jessie's niece - her only living relative - a good Christian woman for the record - ignores her so we pick up the slack as best we can. But her email set me off. It was all about how she sat in church the past Sunday and the sermon was all about how Oprah "denied the existence of Jesus" and said that "Jesus was not the only way" and so this was "blasphemy" bordering on apostasy. There were links to youtube videos of Oprah circa 1992 wherein she expressed her opinion (a reality) that Christianity is not the only religion and we can not deny that other religions exist and there are other ways to God besides Jesus. Well duh. I guess the Baptist churches are just about 16 years behind. Or 160. No seriously. Fucking DUH PEOPLE!!!! Can you say "closed fucking mind?" I was disgusted. Oprah is allowed to believe anything she wants to believe and if I had a show you better believe I would also express my opinions. I am educated and I actually KNOW there are other religions besides Christianity. Hundreds of them in fact and none of them acknowledge Jesus as Saviour. Hundreds of them do not even know Jesus existed and they have been just fine for milleniums without the assistance of Christian missionaries to change their minds. To spread this kind of shit around makes me sick.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email - I will not reprint it here but if you want to vomit google A Letter From One Angry Woman. Oh how I could go to town on that one. It's all about how she doesn't CARE about the injustices claimed by Muslim "detainees" at Guantanamo Bay because "the Muslims" killed 3000 Americans. How she thinks Islam is a sham because "they" can't decide if their holy book is spelled Koran or Qu'ran. What an ignorant fuck. What an embarrassment. The Jesus I think I know would cringe at this lack of humanity. A bunch of fanatic extremists masterminded 9-11 and we should hold all of Islam responsible but should ignore the fact that under these ignorant rules all Christians should be held responsible for one misguided illiterate president who sent our young men and women to Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of God and Jesus. 3,000 died on 9-11. How many have died across the world due to Christian fanatacism? How many people have died because God supposedly spoke to GWB?

Make no mistake - I fully 100% support our troops. I send packages and donate what I can to the families and I support them completely. I just do not support the man who sent them there or his misguided illiterate policies and honestly he is a stupid monkey and as of today he has exactly 173 days to continue fucking up our country. Make no mistake. I am on a daily countdown. At this point I am on a half-daily countdown.

But I digress. Religious fanaticism makes me want to vomit. Regardless of which religion is being fanatic. And I would like to go on record as saying that just because you "accept Jesus into your heart" and believe that anyone who does not believe what you do will suffer in eternal hell does NOT mean you are right. You might be right for YOU and that is OK. But pull your damned stupid head out of the sand and realize there is a huge fucking world out there and not everyone shares your beliefs or wants to hear about them. I honestly would prefer to live in a Buddhist country. In my very heavily Christian neighborhood I don't like to go out of my house after dark. There are shooting and robberies and home invasions galore here. In Japan (where people are Buddhist or Shinto) I was always safe walking in the middle of Tokyo by myself at midnight.

I have a breaking report for you. JESUS WAS A JEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He celebrated Passover (what the fuck do you think the Last fucking Supper was?) For Chrissakes people!!!! Where do you think the Old fucking Testament comes from? Where has your religious education failed you?

Spare me please your religion hatred. Life is too short to engage in this. And since I am a Christian at heart if not in regular church-going practice I have to believe that Jesus would pat my back on this one. Also he would laugh. And maybe dance a little. With a beer. I have to also believe he waould giggle a little everytime I siad "fuck." Because Jesus was a pretty rad little guy and loved and accepted EVERYONE regardless of whether they were destitute or their fucking nose was falling off or whether they smelled bad or fell in love with a member of the same sex or whether they sold their bodies for money and possibly enjoyed it. And if this is offensive to you what part of the fucking Bible did you NOT UNDERSTAND?

God and Jesus and Buddha and Allah and Mother Earth and I have an agreement. I believe in them and they cut me a break for cutting out on formal services. I try every day to live in service and they forgive me for saying "fuck" a lot. And I WILL go to heaven or Paradise or be reincarnated (hopefully as a cat owned by me). I am fully saved because I live the life I have been given as fully as I can. In the spirit.

I'm just sayin' is all.

Now waiting for the hate mail to pour in. Be ready for my response because I WILL respond.

Two Weeks in Mexico - A Recap

I arrived back home Friday night about 8 pm after two weeks trying to help get the Mexico office back on the straight and narrow. I apologize for mostly disappearing without notice but the whole dental thing before I left had me in a real rut. I didn't check in from Mexico mainly because the internet in the hotel was so slow (think 1996 dial up) AND it cost $25 a day. I bought one 24 hour chunk over the weekend but the speed just pissed me off so I didn't post.



Disclaimer: Please do not let my attitude about Mexico deter you from visiting what I am sure must be a wonderful country. Remember that I was there for business and was not able to seek out the decent parts of Mexico City. I am sure Monterey and Cancun and Acapulco must be quite wonderful but I assure you the part of Mexico City I was in was NOT unless you are fond of smelling sewers all day.



The high point of the trip was the flights. I was upgraded to first class on the way down thanks to my medallion status on Delta. That was nice because the flight was delayed quite a while due to heavy thunderstorms in Atlanta and the fact that the potable water on board was not functioning. So we sat and sat and my seat was comfortable and I had leg room so it was no problem. Somewhere over the Gulf of Mexico I hit Gold Medallion status! Cool. So I arrived Sunday early evening.



Monday Jorge and Jorge took us to lunch at a Mexican sushi place. (!!!!). While eating RICE - yes I said RICE - my freaking temporary crown on my root canal tooth came off. I swear I am finding another dentist as soon as the permanent crown goes on Monday morning. For two weeks I dealt with the rough stump of a tooth but it was actually a relief because the temp crown was sensitive and icky.

The weekend I spent in Mexico was spent totally sick. Totally Montezuma's revenge, although it wasn't the water but tacos for Friday lunch. I got sick at about 3 am Saturday and lay in bed the whole day and didn't get out until Sunday at 9 am.

Oh shoot. I just don't have the inspiration to continue. Someday I will go to Acapulco or Cancun or Monterey and I will have another perspective but right now, back at home, I just don't feel like talking about Mexico.

Sam and I did have time to go shopping briefly and he will continue to be my best girlfriend. He is totally straight and has a gorgeous wife and daughter but I can't imagine shopping with anyone else. I bought a great painting and hope to frame it this week.

Still Here!

I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth - I am still alive, still kicking, but I'm in Mexico for the past week and now another 4 days and I swear I will update during the upcoming weekend with stories, news, and photos . . .

Hang in there with me . . .

Why I'm Voting Republican

Good One.