No Elizabeth Katherine today. Gallbladder flared back up and I was struggling to get the pain under control. By late afternoon I was worn out but pain was manageable. Grandmother Joanne went to Elizabeth Katherine’s noon feeding in lieu of mama, and fed her from a bottle! How wonderful and exciting. I wish there were a photo to share. You’ll have to settle for a photo of the device they use to manage her tube feedings (called gavage feeding, don’t know why).
Received news that Kate’s sister, Lucy, delivered nine (NINE!) pups by c-section today. Regrettably a small male wasn’t strong enough and sadly died shortly after delivery despite Dr. W’s best efforts. The other eight are healthy and have a good prognosis. Mama Lucy is recovering and doing a fine job of nursing her babies. Kat has nearly a full rainbow of colors between the two litters, sable, black and white, a TRICOLOR!, and brindles. Mama Kate continues to be good to her babies. She’s more comfortable leaving them briefly so she can take care of her own needs and continues to be aware and careful where her feet go.
Mel picked me up this evening and we spent about an hour over at True Value picking up paint and painting supplies. We had a good time. I’m glad Mel took me – the Dilaudid really affects my cognitive and decision making abilities, I would have made some poor choices un-chaperoned. Which could have been entertaining… I believe we’ll have ten bodies here on Sunday for our paint-a-rama. Feel free to come join the fun, 10-5 ish. Joseph is making a delicious selection of tasty sandwiches, we’ll probably have carrot-ginger soup, Jenn’s killer home made pound cake (I wish the hens were laying we could have provided eggs). There will be no shortage of food.
Pauline arrives tomorrow bearing goodies from IKEA. We should be able to get a fair bit done on the house during her week here even with my surgery Monday (because lets face it, I’m about as useful at house remodeling as tits on a bull at the moment).
Scott and Tom have been working on a sump pump reconfiguration puzzle. We’ve also been looking for a storm door (not white, include a screen, 2/3 to full glass, not cheaply made) and considering replacing the front door (we almost did it last year but ran out of steam). I ‘fixed’ the microwave door. The handle broke off a long time ago and we’ve been using a blunt knife to pop the door open. Kind of a ridiculous way to open your microwave door particularly when you consider how frequently that appliance is used. I removed one of the handle screws, fed through some kitchen twine, made a loop, then replaced the screw. Yeah, I know, cheesy. But it works and is certainly no cheesier than using a blunt knife to open your microwave door for several years.
Break up has been going extremely well. The driveway is about clear, the rose bush mound and the back corner birch have got a fair bit of snow free space. Patches of lawn are showing in the front yard. The dog poo is making itself known. Neither of us did much poo patrol this last winter so it is significantly worse than previous winters. Know a kid that wants to earn some money?
Guilty pleasures. I had ponies and rode through high school – it was a great delight and helped me survive the teen years. I used to participate in the Society for Creative Anachronism in my twenties. I wasn’t particularly good at it, but for several years I was a heavy fighter and delighted in trying to kill some of my best friends with a rattan sword while dressed up in armor (mix of 16 gauge steel, aircraft aluminum, and aluminum street signs). It was a heck of a lot of fun and left a lot of bruises. Did I mention I sucked? One of the most satisfying events I ever participated in was a horse event. No armor. There were rental horses. We tilted at rings and the quintain. With my horsey background I did very well at all of the events – I struck the quintain so hard it snapped. Whoops!
Anyway, guilty pleasures. There’s a program on the History channel called ‘Full Metal Jousting’. The program is serious bread and circuses. I was prepared to despise it. I knew it would be cheesy with awful dialog. Contrived. Surely the suckitude would be immeasurable. I watched it tonight. Told Scott ‘just 5 minutes to satisfy my curiousity’. Huh – I liked it. The armor looked like it was light gauge and there was a great deal of unnecessary foolish flapping of gums. The horses were keen and certainly my next to favorite bit – they were just regular riding horses, only one looked like he had the heavier bone structure of a cold blood. The jousters were about what you’d expect – lots of testosterone and beating of chests (except the show jumper dude – he was delicious fun to watch). Its redeeming feature and probably why I liked it – they walloped the hell out of each other with great smashings of sticks and even crashing to the ground. This will become my guilty pleasure. I’ll watch it again once I am off the drugs – I may change my mind while no longer under the influence. In which case it will be beer, pizza (after gallbladder out) and jousting.