A picture's worth a thousand words

Okay, everyone, its time for another installment of motivational posters! A few may be re-runs but they're all funny, and some are downright hilarious!

Click to enlarge them, and enjoy...

Crush du Jour: Eduardo Rico

Pouncer update

I mentioned earlier that it would take a week or so to get the results back from the the biopsy. Dr. Pedigo called today with good news: the biopsy results indicate that Pouncer does NOT have cancer or a tumor!

Instead, he has a bacterial infection, which can easily be treated with antibiotics.

Dr. Pedigo asked about Pouncer's activity level, eating, etc. and I told him that Pouncer has returned to move of his usual behaviors and has eagerly eaten the canned cat food I dilute with water. The doctor said that since Pouncer has responded so well to the 2-week antibiotic injection he received 2 weeks ago, he thinks Pouncer should have another one, which should get rid of the infection.

You can imagine how happy I was to hear this!

So we will need to take him to the vet on Thurs morning at 8:00 for his antibiotic injection and I expect that will be the end of it.

Thanks so much to all of you who've inquired about Pouncer and sent positive thoughts and healing energy into the Universe for him!

Crush du Jour: Justin Thomas

Weekend highlights

We had an absolutely superb weekend!

My friend Lisa arrived Thurs early afternoon. I showed her around town a little bit, gave her a map, and let her wander and explore while I worked. When she returned we had a nice (late) lunch and then visited for a while on the screened porch. Lisa is a big fan of porches and rocking chairs, so we had her covered! Spouse came home and joined our chatfest for awhile, and then we met up with Steven & Thad and The Bobs for dinner, followed by a game of group trivia. Our team won 1st place, and we received $25. off our bar tab!!

Fri morning Lisa wandered and explored some more while I worked. Then we met up for lunch with her longtime friends Chuck & David who coincidentally were in town this weekend. They were very nice and we had a lovely, long lunch. I returned to work and Lisa read and napped. Later Spouse came home, the 3 of us spent time on the porch, and then went to dinner at Dos Locos. We each had pumpkin margaritas which were DEE-LISH!! Once back home we watched a little TV before going to bed.

Sat morning Spouse went to his personal training appointment while Lisa and I enjoyed talking and laughing over coffee and a bagel on the porch. Once Spouse returned, the 3 of us walked to a rummage sale at a local church, where I bought a small piece of art for a quarter. Then we walked over to the historical complex for an arts and crafts show where we were tempted by lots of beautiful things. Then we had lunch at Arena's restaurant followed by a trip to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for our dinner.

As Spouse cooked, Lisa and I nearly collapsed from laughter as we listened to an old cassette tape of us, made in 1977. That's right, 32 years ago, when we were 13 years old. One day Lisa and I met up with our friends Terri, Krista, Brian, Gary, and Wayne in the music room after school. I brought my tape recorder and recorded our "jam session". We attempted to play and sing and handful of the worst songs of the 70s (complete with lots of John Denver), although none of us appeared to know all the words to any single song. It was absolutely HYSTERICAL to listen to this many years later. Every once in a while Spouse would look at us as if to say "You two must have been insane!" It sure was a good laugh!!!

A little while later another friend from school arrived at our house just in time for cocktails on the porch. Bill went to high school with Lisa and me, and was also in Dominants! with me during my senior year. For dinner Spouse made rigatoni with sausage, homemade meatballs and homemade sauce. I used tomatoes from my neighbor's garden to make caprese salad, and we had garlic bread too. We had a wonderful meal, then sat on the porch and talked, laughed, and reminisced. Around 11:30 we decided we had better move indoors so that our laughter didn't disturb the neighbors. We finally went to bed at 2:45 am!

Sun morning the 4 of us had coffee on the porch, then walked to a local diner for breakfast, followed by a walk through town. Then we drove to the glass studio where we spoke with the couple making our stained glass window inserts. Lisa and Bill also looked through their items for sale and asked some general questions. The proprietors encouraged Lisa and Bill to take a day-long stained glass course with me. Then we returned to the porch and talked and laughed some more. Bill brought out his guitar and played and sang a little until it was time for them to pack up their things and head out.

After they'd left, Spouse & I went to Lowes and Home Depot to look at light fixtures. All of the lighting in the garage, bathroom, and closet/dressing room is recessed except 1. I wanted to have 1 decorative fixture that will be seen when you turn the corner and walk into the new section of the bathroom. Unfortunately we did not find anything we both felt was 'just right', so I am going to look online. I hate it when I get a picture of something in my head and know that it will be perfect but then can't find it anywhere. When we returned home Spouse took a nap and I plowed through 3 days of unread emails, Facebook posts, and then posted my addition photos from last week.

Then we went to Steven & Thad's for dinner. We had chili and salad (both delicious) followed by chocolate cake and ice cream we'd brought. We had a really nice time and I was surprised how quickly the time went by. We returned home, watched a little TV and went to bed.

It was a weekend full of good (old) friends, good food, good laughs, good porch-sitting, good cocktails, good weather, and good times.

Crush du Jour: Fernando Macia

Addition update - week 16

Week 16
Mon: Tile was applied to the back wall of shower and 2 corner tile shelves were installed. There are 4 different sizes of tile: 6x6 squares, 3x6 rectangles, 1x1 glass mosaics, and 2x2 squares on the floor. We thought multiple sizes in a complimentary color palette would give texture without making the look too 'busy'.
The pocket door (on the toilet closet) was installed and trimmed out.

The 3 windows inside the dormer were trimmed out.

Tues: Tile was applied to right wall of the shower.
More trim work (ie: trim installation and filling of nail holes) was done inside and out.

Wed: Tile was applied to the left wall of the shower. (Corner shelves are better seen here.)

An apron was constructed around the 2 sides of the tub that do not butt again a wall.

More trim work done inside and out.

Thurs: Tile was installed on the slanted part of the ceiling...

and on the floor. The storage/display shelf was installed.

Beadboard panels were built that will attach to the tub apron and look like cabinet doors. They will be removable in the event of a need for tub motor maintenance. The shelf behind the tub was covered in plywood in preparation for tile. (Sorry the lightening wasn't good.)

Fri: Much of the trim was sanded, primed, and painted.

We tested some stains for the beadboard wainscoting that will be applied later.

Crush du Jour: Tony Mills

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Work and life have been very busy and I am horribly behind in my blog reading. I'm at least a week behind, and will likely not have an opportunity all weekend long to read any. I hope to catch up one day soon, but to be honest, I may just have to start when I can and go forward. I miss you guys and your stories!

My wonderful friend Lisa arrived yesterday for a visit. I worked yesterday and today, but she had no shortage of things to see and do in our cute little hamlet. Last night we had dinner with Steven & Thad and The Bobs and then played group trivia at a local watering hole. Today Lisa is loving all the unique homes and the 'walkability' of our downtown area. We met some friends of hers for lunch, one of whom was a colleague/teacher when Lisa taught high school English and Drama. Our plan for the weekend is to cook, eat, laugh, tell stories, and do lots of porch sitting. Since Lisa lives in NYC (we stay at her fab apt when we go there) she misses the opportunity to sit on a porch and rock, listening to nature and just enjoy 'being', so we'll be sure to do that a lot.

I hope to have more 'interesting stuff' to share next week.

Here's a big "Thanks!" to my fellow blogger Behrmark for many of the fabulous Crush du Jour photos you've been seeing lately. He and I share a similar taste in men and his blog is always full of delicious-looking speciMENs.He has agreed to be a not-so-secret supplier of 'woofy' men for your viewing pleasure, including the one below.

Here's wishing everyone a terrific weekend!

Crush du Jour: Adam Champ

Its a sign

I don't care HOW GOOD the food is, I am not eating at these places.

A restaurant for sadists?


Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be so hasty.

Imagine the menu here...

This is a chain; there's one just a few miles from our house!

This seems to have potential.

Surely I was too harsh earlier. This place might be worth it!

Um, not this one...

Excuse me???

Definitely not!

Better see a doctor.

Bottoms up!

Come on now... you mean NOBODY thought better of this?

Now this is just GROSS!

For the fetish diners.

They specialize in chicken.

Again, eeww!

A mistake you don't want to make.

I bet this place is always empty.

Only for straight men and lesbians.

If you ask me, the word "Dung" should never be associated with any restaurant or carry-out, regardless of the native language or cuisine.

Crush du Jour: Billy Jeffrey

Pouncer update

Thanks to everyone (Brent, cb, Anne Marie, and others) who have inquired about our lovey kitty boy, Pouncer. The good news is he seems to be getting better, slowly. The bad news is that we still don't know exactly what's wrong with him yet.

As I wrote earlier, he got 'sick' while we were on vacation in Portland, OR and did not eat for a full week. We took him to the vet on Mon of last week where he was examined. The vet said his soft palette was swollen and he was dehydrated. They gave him a fluids injection for the dehydration, a steroid injection for the swollen soft palette, and an antibiotic injection in case there was an infection causing the soft palette swelling. They charged us $450. and told us to call back on Wed if he was not doing better.

I wondered if he was not eating because his dry food was too painful to swallow, so I bought some canned wet food on Mon and diluted it with a little water to make a puree. The poor guy was so hungry he devoured it immediately and licked the bowl clean. Same thing on Tues. The vet called us each day to check on Pouncer.

On Wed, the day I was to call back if he wasn't doing better, I called the vet because even though he was eating, he still had that horrible wheezing with every breath. The vet was encouraged that he was eating, and suggested we wait until Fri to see if the wheezing improved. If it was an infection, the antibiotics would need a few days to result in improvement.

On Fri I thought we were going to take him back to the vet because his breathing was still labored. Sometimes he seemed to be coughing, which I imagine must be painful to him. However, we were unable to coordinate a time for an appointment until it was too late for Spouse or me to take him in, so we scheduled an appointment for Mon.

Mon morning I left Pouncer at the vet so he could be examined again and so they could do a procedure where they sedate him and insert a tiny camera behind his soft palette to hopefully determine what might be causing the swelling. When we picked him up that evening we were shown photographs of his soft palette and sinus area and told there is a 'mass'. It was easy to see in the photos. They said Pouncer woke up from the sedation when they touched his soft palette, so it must be extremely sensitive. They took a biopsy of the mass and sent it to the lab. They said the mass could be a tumor, an infection, or possibly cancer. The biopsy should tell which one, but it will take a week for the results to come back. Spouse asked for something to give Pouncer for his discomfort, they obliged, we paid $650. and took him home.

To my surprise, Pouncer was much more alert than I expected, after having been sedated. We weren't allowed to feed him until the next day, but he was walking around the house a lot more. He sat on my lap and I petted him for a while as we watched TV. Then we settled in on a chair and dosed.

Pouncer's appetite and activity level seem to be returning. We usually feed him dry food once a day, but since he lost so much weight from not eating, we've been feeding him the wet food puree twice a day and he's been licking his bowl clean. He's also returned to his usual behavior of meowing for food in the mornings while we get ready for work, a behavior he stopped last week, so I see these as 'good signs'. The wheezing is still present, but not as loud. It seems to be getting better.

So while we wait for the biopsy, my earnest hope is that his increased appetite and activity are the result of the antibiotics working on an infection which caused the mass. I don't even want to THINK about the possibility of a tumor or cancer. I just can't.

Please continue sending positive, healing energy to Pouncer. I think its working!

Crush du Jour: Bo Dixon