Martinis, Contrails, Waterfalls, and Seizures

 

Blairsville, Georgia (high 65, low 38)

 

We’ve had a busy few days.  We had friends from Tampa visiting over the week-end.  They are looking for property, and may have found a nice  rv site in nearby Murphy, North Carolina.  

They spent the day with the Realtor, but afterwards, we met them at Shoe Booties Restaurant/bar for drinks.  Stephanie and I decided to try  one of their specialty martinis.   They were delicious, and I think when we get back to Florida, I’ll be going to the liquor store to get the ingredients to make my own.  Liquor stores are few and far between around here.  :)

While Stephanie and Barry were with the Realtor, we took a drive over to the Ocoee River, to the whitewater center.  This is where the 1996 rafting events were held in the summer Olympics.  I’ve posted about it before, so I’ll only post a few pictures.

The water is controlled by a dam, and unless there is a water release, it’s mostly rocks and very little water.  When there is a water release, these are large rapids, and people are white water rafting all along this river.

We see this cute little snake.

They are having a water release next week-end, so we may go back for that, although it will be at a slightly different location.

We were looking for fall color, but it’s still too early in this area, I guess.

 

On another one of our sightseeing trips, we headed to Moccasin Creek State Park and found the trout farm next door.

They raise and release trout in the mountain streams.

There were a LOT of trout.

We drove around Lake Burton and Lake Rabun.  There are some beautiful houses both on and off the water.

They are beautiful lakes.

 

Last year, we hiked to nearby Angel and Panther falls. We decided to wait until fall to go back this year. Unfortunately, even with the heavy rain we had a few days ago, the waterfalls were kind of puny this time of year.  I guess the best time to see these falls is during the summer when more water if flowing.

Al thought this might be a nice cave for bears.

It was a fun 2 mile hike.   It started out easy, but there were some more challenging areas with some fairly steep climbs.

If you’re interested in seeing more of the hike, check out last years post HERE

You can compare this years pictures to last years pictures to see the difference in the waterfalls.  

There are three main waterfalls along the one mile path, with smaller waterfalls also.

First main waterfall.

This is the second waterfall.  I can’t remember if this is Angel or Panther falls.

I love the stair like rock formations.

I guess I didn’t take a picture of waterfall number 3.  It just wasn’t too impressive this year.

The leaves sure are falling.

 

Isn’t this rock pretty?  It looks like 6 different rocks, but they were all one piece.

 

 

Along  our travels, we came across some nice cabins. If you ever come up to this area without a RV, here are some very nice cabins for rent.   They are near Hiawassee, GA.   Nice river, and some big trout in the stream

 

Although the fall color was minimal, it is always pretty in this area.

Blue skies and jet contrails.

 

 

We noticed a lot of jet contrails in the sky.  Then we noticed this gold colored spot in they sky.   You can see it on the right top of the next photo.

At first, I thought it was the sun behind the clouds, but then we noticed the sun was to the left of the gold patch. 

We wondered if it was from one of the jets, but the gold spot didn’t dissipate or change like the contrails.

 

The contrails  made the clear blue sky look white. The sun was blinding at times but the gold spot was always there.

At one point there were two of them, one on both sides of the sun.

 

I don’t know exactly what we were seeing, but the gold spot seemed to stay in the same area and didn’t seem to change.  We watched it for at least 20 minutes while we were heading in that direction.  

The sun was starting to set and we still had a long way to go before we got home.  We try not to drive at night in these mountains.

 

Monday morning, we were awakened by the sound of a cat having a seizure.  Big Noogie ended up having three seizures that morning.

We took him to the vet and had all sorts of tests done.  Nothing was conclusive as to the cause of the seizures, but he was sent home with antibiotics for for a bad tooth, and high blood pressure pills.  I never knew animals could have high blood pressure, or that the veterinarians could check their pressure.  Evidently, they have a little cuff, just like they use on humans.  Their BP is supposed to be the same as ours.   Who knew.

So far, no more seizures, but we really don’t know the cause, so one could occur at any time.  He’s about 16 years old, so we know he’s on borrowed time. 

We stayed  home on Tuesday to keep an eye on Noogie.  He seems okay and hasn’t had any more seizures.

We made a road trip yesterday and had a fun day.  More on that later.

Censored

St George, South Carolina  (Jolly Acres Rv Park)

We  brought little Chatty home from the hospital yesterday morning.  He had spent two nights there after the surgery.  He still wasn’t urinating on his own, but the vet said that was not uncommon and that he may do better in his own relaxed environment.

We left an them “an arm and a leg” and headed home with Chatty.  He has an Elizabethan collar on his head to prevent him from licking or biting his wound and sutures.

He was calm on the way home while in the car but once we got him in the house he went nuts. He was extremely hyper.  He is not supposed to jump up on anything and is to be confined to a small area. 

Confining him to a small area is not always the easiest thing in a motor home. He have a bathroom area between the kitchen and the bedroom where we can close it off with pocket doors. The only problem is these pocked doors are about 4 inches off the floor and Chatty (and Baxter) can get under them.

He kept getting away from us and before we knew it he would manage to jump on the bed or into the kitty pan.  Every time he moved he’d bump his head (with the big old collar) against everything.  He has no peripheral vision so he’s always bumping into something.  Poor baby.

Mr. Baxter was extremely nosey and not making things easier.   Chatty decided he wanted to run…  I think he was trying to run away from that collar.  We soon realized keeping him in that bathroom area was not going to work.    If we needed to use the bathroom, or go in the bedroom, we’d have a fight on our hands to keep Chatty in and Baxter out.

We decided we needed a larger cage where we could put a kitty pan.  We have one in Tampa in our storage building, but of course it wasn’t with us.  It figures…  we do have our scuba gear though. 

We went back into Charleston and got a larger cage. Chatty has done a little better and at least we were able to keep him calm and everyone could get some sleep.

He’s eating well, but we’re still having trouble getting him to urinate.  His bladder went through a lot of trauma, plus he’s not allowed to have his favorite kitty litter and he hates the new stuff. 

He said I could take his picture, but since his back side is “nekkid” I thought I’d better cover his privates .   

Our plans to head to Asheville are on hold until we’re sure Chatty can pee.  Wish him luck!

Update

Things have been extremely busy around here and I’ve neglected posting my blog.  Thanks Carol and Margie for checking on us.  It’s nice to know someone is thinking of us.

We hadn’t heard any news by the end of the week last week, so we knew nothing would happen over the week-end.   Al made plans to head back to Tampa to do some pest control accounts.  He left today knowing our May 20th closing date would be extended once again.

We had a good garage sale Friday, making $230 and getting rid of lots of stuff.  Saturday we were pretty much rained out.  We ended up getting some traffic in between rain showers and made $100. 

My Mom and brother came for a short visit Saturday.   They were only able to stay overnight, but it was good to see them.  They brought Steve’s dog, Red.  He’s an Akita.  If you saw the movie, Hachi, that’s the same type of dog.  (a real good movie but such a tearjerker)   Red fell head over heals  in love with Sweet Pea!  It was the funniest thing.    Red is getting old and had been hit by a car when he was young.  My brother found him laying on the side of the road with a broken leg. He was in a cast for quite a while and the leg healed, but he has always had trouble with it.  Despite the pain, Red followed Sweet Pea everywhere and it wore him out!  His  leg  and hip were giving him trouble and,  and he couldn’t make it up the stairs.  Sweet Pea was on the porch and Red was at the bottom of the steps wanting to get to her.  He struggled to try to make it up the steps.   It was pitiful, but cute.  Mom, Steve and Red slept in the house and ended up letting Sweet Pea come in and spend the night in the house with them.  She was at the back porch and Red wouldn’t settle down with her outside.  Red gave up his dog bed for Sweet Pea,  and he laid on the floor and licked her face.  Yep, that boy was in love!  Mom was here only one night but she managed to spoil my dog!

As far as the house, I just received an email from the Realtor and it appears everything is good, other than some foundation work we thought we would have to have done.  They are now talking about the end of the month for closing.  The delay is probably a good thing.  It will give us more time to get rid of more stuff and not have to kill ourselves.

Well, I’ve struggled with this piece of news, and even considered not putting it in the blog.   I wasn’t sure I could get through it.

We lost our little kitty Socks today.  She was around 20 years old. She was born in a hole in the ground as a feral cat.  We rescued her, her siblings and mother, when she was just a few weeks old.   I found homes for the other kittens and I even found her a home, but the lady brought her back after 2 days…she was such a mean little thing!  That wildness took a long time to disappear but she eventually learned to trust and love us.  She was the “Alpha” cat and the other cats feared her.    She never weighed much over 4 pounds, but was the ruler of our household.  She’d smack the other cars when they walked by, just for good measure.  They got so (and still did until the end) they would try and avoid getting too close to her.    She was so tiny that she always looked like a kitten.   We are sad, but she had a good long life and the end was relatively easy for all concerned. 

Progress ?

We did another Craig’s List post yesterday, and managed to sell Al’s big tool box right away.  The guy that bought it was a machinist and was very glad to get it.  He even sent us a thank you email after he got home.  Do you think we may have sold it too cheap?   At least it’s gone!

Update on Squeaky

I finally broke down and took Squeaky back to the vet for a checkup.   We needed to run some blood work to see what/if any progress has been made.

She’s been on antibiotics over a month (this round) and I was hoping we could  take her off some of the meds.  The antibiotics are making her sick to her stomach and I really hate to keep forcing them into her.  She’s getting extremely tired of having pills shoved into her 7 times a day and is starting to fight me.  It breaks my heart to have to do this to her because she’s at the point where she hates to see me coming!  She used to love me so much and now she avoids me.  Heartbreaking!

She has Cholangiohepatitis.  It’s basically a bacterial infection in the gallbladder, pancreas, liver,  and bile duct area.  It’s extremely hard to cure and can be fatal.  Evidently it’s quite common in cats, but this is the first I’ve heard of it. 

The vet drew some blood and ran a whole series of tests.  The good news is that a lot of things have improved.  The bad news is that it’s not enough, and she still needs to continue the meds.  At least we know there is some improvement.  The vet wants me to continue what we’re doing and check her again in 3-4 weeks.   She was encouraged though and so I felt better.  I know I have to keep the meds up and even though they make her feel bad, they are helping her….so I have to do it!

Update on house sale

The Realtor sent an email yesterday stating the mortgage broker  “got the approval for the property and will order the appraisal tomorrow.”  I guess that means things are finally progressing.  I just hope the appraisal will be okay and not find anything we need to do.

 

We have started mowing the pasture….the last time?  It’s about 4-5 acres and is a very big project.  We normally only mow it monthly during the summer and we were hoping to not have to mow it before we moved.  I was trying to ignore it, but Al guilted me into mowing it.  I started yesterday afternoon and mowed until I couldn’t mow anymore, then he mowed a while longer.  A few days like that and it will be done….for the last time!

Update on Dolly Parton and Medium

After all the problems we had getting Dolly and Medium out of the motorhome and back into the house, the little darlings settled right back in and acted like nothing ever happened!

Of course we are still PO'd at them because of the way they behaved.  After all, we've had them more than 8 years,  and you'd think by now they'd know we aren't going to hurt them.

Medium lets me pet him when I walk by and Dolly has been sleeping in the bed.  She comes up to us wanting a rub!  What's that all about?  When we were trying to get them out of the motorhome, they acted like we were going to kill them!  The little stinkers!

I guess I should be happy they have settled back into their old routine, because sooner or later, we will be hauling them back into the motorhome for another trip!

Caught the Little Stinker

We finally caught the second (and last) kitty and transported him from the motor home to the house.

After we removed Dolly, I was able to tranquilize "Medium" enough to "dim" his wits enough so that we could catch him.

I mixed up one whole tranquilizer in some fishy flavored cat food.  I had only been giving him a small amount of food so that he was hungry.  The tranquilizer dosage is 1/4 pill per five pounds.  I don't know exactly how much he weighs, but guessed he was close to 20 pounds.  He's a big boy.

I waited a while for him to eat the food, then went back to the Motorhome, with the hope he wouldn't be passed out under the bed.  He was : (

The problem then, was go get him out from under the bed.  Remember, he was not under the part that you could see when you lift the mattress, but under that platform where the slide mechanism is.  I could not get to him by removing that platform because I couldn't get the slide out for fear of injuring him.

I then decided to turn on the generator, hoping the sound would frighten him out from under the bed.  The generator is right below where he was hiding.  I started it up and then went and sat on a recliner in the front. Sure enough, in a minute or two he came out.  He had a terrible time getting his fat body out from under the bed frame.  I think partly because of his weight and partly because he was so doped up!  He walked right past me (yes, the drugs were working) and got under the captains chairs.  Al had gone into town for mower gas, so I had to wait for him to come back home.  I called him and told him I needed his assistance.

I sneaked back to open the bedroom slide, so that he couldn't get under the bed again.  There is no way for anyone to get into this area if the slide is extended, so that was my first step.

Al came up and we formulated a "plan."  After all, he was out from his hiding spot, and drugged up, but he is still a very large wild cat.  In his mind, we were trying to kill him.  Remember, all his "brothers and sisters" had already disappeared and I'm sure he must have thought we had already killed them.  So in his mind,  he is fighting for his life.  I finally used a broom and fly swatter to herd him back into an open cage where  Al was waiting.  He very quickly slammed the door shut  before he knew what hit him.   Safe and Sound!!!  We put the cage on the golf cart and transported him down to the house to let him out.   He walked right out, seemed to recognize his surroundings, and saw the other cats and calmed right down.  The little STINKER!    Later in the evening, he got on the bed and went to sleep.  He even let me pet him!  The joys of feral cat rescue.

Here's the story on "Medium" and how he got his unusual name.   We were camping in October of 2001, right after 9-11-01.  It was kind of a spooky trip because the campground was deserted.  If you remember that time, not only had we had the attacks on September 11, but there were letters with Anthrax powder being mailed all over, and the country was very nervous thinking another attack was imminent.

We went to High Falls State Park in Georgia.  We had a beautiful campsite and like I said the CG was almost deserted.  There were feral cats running all over the park and LOTS of small kittens.  It broke my heart seeing all those tiny babies with no home with winter approaching.  Al and I cannot ignore an animal that needs help, so we managed to catch 3 kittens.  There were a lot more, but we weren't able to catch anymore.  We got a small furry black/gray and white one.  A Medium sized  tortoise shell one, and a Large yellow one.

We brought them home and they became "Small, Medium, and Large."  I put an add in the newspaper and was able to find a home for "Small" right away.  He was very cute and less wild than the other two.

The others grew and "Medium" grew to be the biggest, and "Large" was a small cat.  About a year or so, "Large" passed away.  He had become pretty tame and was very lovable.

So that's the story of Medium! 

The next time we go on a camping trip, it may be a little more difficult catching him again!!

One Down, One to Go!

Well, we finally caught Ms. Dolly Parton.  The poor thing must have thought we were going to kill her, after all she had to have thought we killed her brothers and sisters because they were gone.  What she didn't realize was that they all were safely back into the house. 

Here she is before we brought her into the house. 

We had this cage in the MH, and left the door open.  She had come out from under the bed and into the front of the MH.  We blocked her path with this cage and the open door.  I scooted her towards it with a fly swatter.  She had no where else to go and finally got inside the cage, and Al quickly shut the door.  She fought like crazy for a minute and we were afraid she was going to hurt herself.  We quickly loaded her on the golf cart and took her inside.   Finally.

BTW....she got her name because when we found her she was producing milk and wouldn't stop.  The vet said something must have happened to her kittens but she didn't stop producing milk.  Her little "breasts" were so swollen that the hair was gone, and they were very shiny and hot.  Each one was the size of a small orange!  She was so sick that we were able to catch her.  The vet gave her an injection to stop the milk production, but it didn't work, so the only option was to spay her, even though it was risky in her condition.     So now you know why she became Dolly Parton!

Tomorrow, I am going to give the other cat, "Medium" some tranquilizer and drug him up real good!  Now that he's the only one there, I can do that.  I wonder what he's feeling now that we "killed" another one of his friends :(       Poor Guy.

Wish me luck!

Keep the suggestions coming everybody.

Karen, thanks for the sardine idea.  We actually used a very strong tuna cat food in the live trap, and someone got inside, ate the food and was able to escape.  These are both pretty large kitties and I'm wondering if when he/she got in the cage, their back end was sticking out and that prevented the door from closing properly.  Dolly weighs 14.5 pounds and Medium is quite a bit bigger, but I don't know how much he weights.  Dolly actually let me pick her up a few weeks ago and I was able to weigh her.  I doubt that will happen again, anytime soon!