Isn't it interesting that as soon as one problem is handled, another crops up almost immediately? But that's life, I guess.

The newest problem was that Columbus seemed to have lost some ground. After drinking a lot of water and peeing, the first thing he did was head back to the carrier to sit and sleep. But I had to administer his vitamin and give him a teaspoon of parseley tea. In addition, I wanted to finger feed him some cat food. Well, he barely took the vitamin and tea. He basically sat where he was. Seeing him like that tore my heart out. Before leaving the house, however, I did allow him to run back to the carrier, figuring that the house would be quiet and he'd get more sleep, healing faster.

Returning home about two hours later, I tried to coax that poor cat to eat. I cleaned his mouth and chin and spoke to him all the while, adding a kiss or two. I knew that he was constipated and thought I'd give him some time to use the litterbox to poo, which he didn't.

So I bought him to the vet yet again. He yowled during the entire trip to the vet's office, poor thing, but once there, stepped out of his carrier briefly.

The vet examined him and said that she'd get the technicians to administer an enema and a shot. As I explained what had been going on with the cat, Columbus walked towards me and rubbed against my hand and arm as I pet him. He seemed to have grown thinner as well.

The vet explained that the cat had to have the medication administered by placing a small needle under the cat's skin for about 5 minutes. Otherwise, he would soon die. She also said that I could bring the cat back to the office if I felt uncomfortable in performing that procedure.

As a matter of fact, I happen to be very uncomfortable! I can't even imagine doing something like that to myself, much less to an animal. So sometime this Thursday, which is when that procedure is supposed to be done again, I will definitely bring the cat to the vet's office. If I'm charged, then so be it. If done on a steady basis, that procedure will extend the cat's life by so many years, so it's worthwhile. It's recommended in a lot of books on cat care.

I feel a little better today. Columbus ate more without my having to coax him. And for once, I'm eating a balanced diet. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that the cat recovers, gains the weight that he lost and starts playing with his string toy again.

With him being so ill, I've had less quality time to spend with the other cats and feel badly about it. I tell them that I will be able to pet and kiss them more once Columbus recovers. They look at me. I wonder if they got the message. I hope so.

The thing is that my sleep quality has suffered lately, as I've awakened rather early, 4 or 5 am and go to bed well after 10 pm.

Part of the problem was that cats like Waffles liked to jump on the bed. Instead of settling down to sleep, they tended to walk around and jump off the bed, only to jump on the dresser and knock stuff down. I can't sleep listening to that racket.

Shooing the cats out of the bedroom didn't work and was rather time consuming anyway. So I've had to be cruel to be kind....that is, firmly closing my bedroom door before going to bed.

The strategy seems to be working. The cats find other places to sleep and remain quiet for most of the night, although at five this morning, Waffles found a way to get in my bedroom and quickly jumped on the bed. So much for my turning around and going back to sleep.

I'm happy to report that the sticker shock regarding my heavy bills is slowly wearing off. I'm going to deal with them one at a time. Naturally, if a given utility bill, like my telephone bill is low enough as my recent one of 29 dollars has been, then it's no sweat. But a bunch of rather hefty bills arriving one after the other is a bit much to deal with at one time. My other strategy is to remain calm, as this too shall pass.

With Columbus, it's different. I've taken a proactive approach by checking out information about his condition online and found some pretty good stuff --- and some hope. His chronic condition is not an automatic death sentence after all. I read about a 19-year-old cat who was in really bad shape, but who received steady, reliable treatments and wound up in the best shape ever.

So on Saturday, I bought some fresh parseley, heated it in boiling water, then chopped it up and allowed it to cool. Then I tried to feed bits of it, or about one-two teaspoons' worth to Columbus. Parseley is especially effective in cleaning out toxins in a cat's blood and kidneys. According to the directions, I'm supposed to continue this treatment for a week. I've designated that as Plan A. Plan B is getting alfafa tincture from a health food store and administering it, twice a day to the cat. Alfafa is also supposed to help clean out the toxins. I've also bought distillat water and put it in the cat's water dish. Columbus drank quite a bit of that water.

Today found me busily preparing and administering a variation of the parseley mix --- parseley "tea." I don't have to struggle as much to get Columbus to take it. The hard part is getting him to open his mouth. But once it's in, it's in, and on its way to the cat's bloodstream.

Cats with that condition will rapidly starve and become worse sick if they do not get enough food. So the advice is to let them eat what they want until they get back their bearings and are on the way to recovery. I'm dealing with that by trying every trick in the book, including "finger feeding" the cat by letting him lick some food off my finger. The whole thing is time-consuming, but if I can nurse him back to health, it will all have been worthwhile. I'm just not ready to lose him yet. Besides, he's got a lot of good years left.

A lot has been going on lately and dealing with it all has just about wiped out all of my time.

Today, for example, my vet called me to let my know that my Columbus cat's kidney problem has worsened. I now have to administer a liquid solution to him (intravenous) via a needle every two days. That solution is supposed to help clear the toxins. The poor cat has also lost a pound and a quarter (I found this out on Tuesday). I've only had Columbus for two years --- he's now 12 years old. I don't want to lose him. He's the sweetest, most loving cat who greets everyone who visits, even the plumbers!

Yesterday, I had to have all new plumbing installed, as a few pipes in the basement were badly corroded. New pipes were installed under the sink and all the gunk was cleaned out. I no longer have to worry about bailing water collected from my washing machine into two large tubs. However, the entire job cost a little over 5 thousand dollars, which I've arranged to pay in installments. And here, I was so happy to have paid off my mortgage in August. I spoke too soon.

I got my electric bill down by submitting a reading to a customer rep over the phone. The greedy utility had billed me over 300 hundred dollars in estimated readings, but revised the latest bill.

My property tax (around one thousand 4 hundred and sixty-six dollars) is due in two weeks.

I've reached a point where I don't even feel the shock of large bills any more. I'm just worried about Columbus at this point and am doing all I can to help turn around his kidney issues.

That's where I am right now. That's why I haven't posted in awhile. Dealing with all of those curve balls takes a lot of energy and time, but I see all of this as a test of my mettle. I will pass this test and having done so, strengthened my inner core. Things have been so low lately that they have no choice but to improve.

This lady who lives on the corner across the street had a habit of placing her reflectors (ornaments that absorb sunlight, then glow at night) on one end of her lawn. Her purpose in doing this was to get those reflectors to take in as much sunlight as possible. Then sometime in the late afternoon, she'd go out and place the reflectors back on her lawn. For example, she'd put two reflectors down on either side of her home's steps and maybe two or three of them somewhere in the back yard.

She had been doing this, placing the reflectors in a bunch on her lawn, for awhile now and nothing happened. But early this afternoon, it did.

A while van pulled up in her next-door neighbors driveway. A woman got out, grabbed all of the reflectors and put them in the van. Then she and her accomplice took off.

Those reflectors are gone for good. Still, police were called and the incident was reported.

Had I owned those doodad reflectors, I would have never place them on my lawn in a bunch for a thief's convenience. But somehow, some way, those reflectors were bound to be stolen. I'm sure that there'll be similar incidents, though I hope not. The lesson of never placing any tempting item on the lawn so close to the street has not been lost on me.

But some people never learn. I just bet that the victim will think that I had something to do with it, which I haven't. Had she been a good neighbor and treated me and my property respectfully in past years, I would have alerted her to the robbery. But since she had been so mean and nasty, thinking that nothing bad could ever happen to her .... well, it did happen. Hopefully, she'll learn her lesson and avoid tempting thieves by leaving shiny doodads on her lawn for the taking. Or maybe she would.