Miss Daisy had other plans.
It was one of those nights, where she wanted into everything. She wanted into the bathroom, where she had decided a carrier in there was her special hideaway. She loves to find unique places to sleep. But, she wasn't really into sleeping. She wanted noticed all cute in that out of place carrier.
The minute she was settled into it, and I'd closed the bathroom door, so other cats wouldn't bother Electra in the night, she would start with the deaf cat loud howling.
I tried to ignore it. I'd put a pillow over my head. Eventually the low yowls got higher pitched and not easy to ignore. I would drag myself out of bed and let her out of the bathroom, admonish her, although she can't hear me do that, and go back to bed. Then she'd want right back into the bathroom. Over and over, this went on, until I took a sip of NyQuil and told the cats, others of whom were also being very loud in play with others, "I can sleep through anything now."
Not anything.
Miss Daisy then took to jumping onto my prone body from a shelf.
OMG. I mumbled about sleeping in my car, that nobody loved me here.
Those threats go nowhere with cats. Even if they did understand, they would think sleeping in the car would be an adventure. FUN STUFF! When I thought about this, I broke into laughter.
And Miss Daisy coyly curled around my feet looking up at me all cute and innocent. She's that way. Just a spoiler of any bad mood I try to work up and into.
She's perpetually the innocent. Even when she's not.
I finally slept, long and hard and wonderfully. So it's all good in the end.
But she wants to sleep now and I know what that means for tonight.
Electra is doing ok, better than yesterday, making progress maybe. How would I know.
I read online pneumonia in cats is fairly rare, but when it strikes it hits the young and the old and often afflicts a cat trying to overcome a viral cold, when they tire, and seeps down into their lungs when sleeping. Or when they inhale vomit.
I read it can take months of recovery time also.
We are taking it one day at a time, and if she recovers, good, and if not, we tried.
Doing home care treatment, steaming her, with my decades old Vick's vaporizer, using mint oil in it, or Vick's vapor rub. Wish I knew where around here I could get peppermint or mint oil and eucalyptus oil. I used to find it at one Fred Meyer but they discontinued. There's nothing like either to penetrate clogged nasal passages. I also got nutrical to supplement her nutrition.
I briefly thought I'd find and buy a nebulizer. One Walmart website said they had them at the Albany store. I went there and they didn't and the pharmacist complained people are always being directed there from online but that they don't carry them at the store. You have to order them. But they're cheap, about $30. Nebulizers are better than vaporizers because the droplets put out are supposed to be tiny and penetrate the lungs, whereas vaporizer droplets probably penetrate only the sinuses. Ordering one online, through Walmart, would take ten days to get here, so I didn't order one. Cats are often nebulized to receive medications for asthma or pneumonia, but even the steam can help with no medication and it's done this way for cats at home (yes thank you again youtube):
I also discovered a physical therapy treatment online, used for dogs and cats with pneumonia. You cup your hands and lightly slap the cupped hand against the chest of the dog or cat, to loosen up the junk in the lungs. With a cat, you use one hand, or several fingers. So I have been doing that. Today she sounds like she has croup in her lungs sometimes, which means its loosening I guess. She's even trying to cough it out.
I'm learning a lot, which is always good, always interesting, always fun for me.
My phone quit ringing. People call but I wouldn't know it, because the phone won't ring. I have it set to both ring and vibrate, but it won't do either for an incoming call. Also, when someone does call and leaves a message, the message might be delivered two to three days later along with notification that they called. I find this hilarious.
At least I can call out reliably. There's a dead zone where I live for cell coverage. I might get one bar of coverage if I turn the right direction, stand on one foot, and tilt my head a certain way.
The lack of reliable service doesn't bother me. I'm not a phone talker. I can still receive texts in and out with no delay. I can call out because I can watch the reception bars and move to where I can get at least one bar before calling out.
I spent all day Saturday doing a five minute repair. Isn't that the way things go?
My garage door lockset had begun sticking, locking me out, at times, and locking me in, stuck closed, when it wasn't even locked. My brother sent me a replacement. This should have been a five minute thing. Nope.
I could not get the old lockset off. It was corroded for one thing and the internal parts of the two knobs, stuck to each other. After multiple doses of WD40, they unstuck, but still I could not pull them all the way out. What do I do? Go to youtube, that's what I did. I love youtube and all the helpful DIY'ers on it.
I realized I could not find the push button to pull out the knob because I wasn't wearing my glasses. I needed my glasses and a flashlight in the poorly lit garage and then easily found the lever down from the knob, to depress, so the knob pulled out of the other parts and finally the old lockset was off.
I thought "Easy going now". Not so much.
The new lockset didn't quite fit together. I tried and tried, but finally by turning one knob one way and pushing, the parts slid together through the latch. But the faceplate of the latch was rectangular and the old latches faceplate was small and round. Darn it anyhow. I couldn't bore out a new setback because it's a seventies door, plated in metal.
What to do now. Well, I remembered finding an old lockset on a back shelf in the garage when I moved in. It had no keys with it, so was useless, but what if it had universal latch face plates in the package. I dug it out and sure enough, there were three different face plates in its package. I again took to youtube, to find out how to remove the faceplate on the new lockset. Sure enough, there was video on that. Thank you Youtube!
I pried off the two parts of the faceplate on the new lockset and installed the universal round one from the old one from the back shelf of the garage. At last. All parts on and tight. I didn't have to replace the strike plate. The old one worked just fine. Yay! Hours working to do a five minute job. But it's done!
Bad photo, I know, but the color is quite beautiful and despite hardships involved, I enjoyed finally figuring it all out and learning all about the different kinds of locks and their parts.
Today, now finally, noon already, I will tackle more projects. I need to change my cars' spark plugs. I used to have a spark plug wrench and gapper, but they are long gone. When I used to change my spark plugs I'd have this terrible fear I'd break the ceramic part and not be able to get it out then.
I did change the oil, oil and air filters three days ago. I think it runs better already. I like to live in lala land and hope everything is beautiful and that my car will run forever. If I believe it, it will be so. Right?
And tonight Miss Daisy will be perfectly behaved and quiet and cuddle up next to me as I fall into an easy peaceful sleep. Right?
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