21Jul23: “Follow me!”

When Andy wants something, he takes me to the place he can get what he wants.

“Here we are!”

“Greenies, please!”

20Jul23: the unwilling photo subject…

The lined-up Greenies are there to entice a visit by Andy.

Early suspicion!

Andy wonders if this torment will ever end! Always the photo taking!

It’s been done a million times, Doug! An artsy-fartsy close-up in the kitty’s eye….

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All Andy wanted to do is snarf down some Greenies. Though he’s been photographed thousands of times, literally, he never likes it when I do it. I think he expects a flash of bright light because the camera I used when he was a kitten needed flash to adequately light the scene. My smartphone camera handles lowlight scenes much better, plus there editing functions in the camera that take care of imperfect lighting issues.

19Jul23: some day….

Andy noticed Doug was stressed out today.

“He should take a cat nap!” [Good idea, Andrew.]

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An incident at dialysis reminded me that everything can change instantly. Life is fragile.

The incident at dialysis would have been mortal except for one critical factor: it happened in a dialysis unit in a hospital. Other units in other towns are in separate buildings, businesses serving their hospitals but in separate buildings that may be miles away from those hospitals.

In a medical emergency, a patient in my dialysis unit has a minimum of three, four RNs instantly dividing resuscitation chores including calling in more hospital staff. Precious minutes are saved and emergency staff come in to do advanced resuscitation work, taking over from the dialysis staff, who then are free to assist, to verify none of the other patients need immediate attention, and to pull curtains to preserve the patient’s privacy in this intrusive moment of his or her life.

In other dialysis units I’ve been in, a medical emergency like the one here is problematic since staff were an RN supervising trained high school kids (in one place!) who don’t have the extensive skills any one and all of the staff in my unit have. The emergency patient here was resuscitated and stabilized in the dialysis room till she was ready (heart beating, breathing restored) to be moved to the emergency area of the hospital, where she got further lifesaving care.

It was a stressful moment but handled well.

18Jul23: seems we are out of steam today…

Andy had a busy morning.

This afternoon, he’s out of steam.

17Jul23: “The Hand” visits Andy again…

It starts this way.

Andy’s resting, minding his own business when “The Hand” pops in!

It can be fun…

…mostly unwelcome, so Andy…

…steps over to the ottoman for a snack.

Nom! Nom! Nom!

Ding dang it! It’s “The Hand” again, always putting Andy in a sour mood!

Andy ends the fight! It was brutal! “The Hand” now rues the day it messed with this “Kool Kat” and “The Merciless Gutting Claws of Hell on Earth“!

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Andy won, of course!

16Jul23: Andy wants my attention….

Andy has a couple ways he grabs my attention.

There’s the “sit there…

…and stare at me” method.

Then there is the “put his paw on my laptop and weigh the screen down so he knows I can’t ignore him” method.

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Andy usually uses the more abrupt method to get my attention. “Paw on laptop” is alarming because he pushes down hard on the screen. He knows I can ignore him easier on the first method.

15Jul23: my first really “Kool Kat”…

Louie the ginger cat usually slept this way, tail curled inwards and some part of his body touching something solid. This photo popped up on a Facebook memory, making yesterday a happy-sad day for me since it marked the third anniversary of Dougy’s death. I have this photo on a coffee mug, but didn’t have a replacement digital photo any longer to send to the place that makes those mugs in case I break that rare mug. I go through a lot of mugs….

It was after Louie died (1Aug11) and I picked up his ashes at the veterinarian’s that I was introduced to the kitten Andy, a strange looking little mammal I couldn’t categorize. He was set down on the counter and he walked right over to me, beginning a new love in my life. “He’s a smoke Persian kitten,” Tara, Andy and Dougy’s mother’s human, helpfully noted.

Dougy came later when his mommy’s human offered this second kitten to me because he played well with Andy. The transition didn’t end my grief over Louie’s death, but it helped that I soon would be a kitten “mommy”, failing miserably to raise good kitty citizens.

But they brought, Andy still brings, a lot of joy into my life and became the reason to continue blogging.

A New Zealand friend gave Louie a super hero cape on an otherwise dull photo of him sleeping on my computer chair. I have an enlargement of this photo hanging over the spot where the settee Dougy shredded was. It was a favorite spot of Louie’s.

Part of the reason Louie love, love, loved the settee was he could hang over the arm and look out the back door and enjoy birds in a fir tree and two apple trees.

This is the best remaining photo of Louie. He was magnificent!

14Jul23: my sad July day…

Three years ago, Dougy (left) died. I feel too sad today to put together more than this, the video that this photo came from, and another favorite video of Dougy and Andy. Click on the watch on the You Tube note in the lower lefthand corner for best results viewing the videos.

Dougy was a good kitty, funny, entertaining, a comedian cat.

13Jul23: Andy’s busy morning…

I find Andy lounging on the stool I sit on to dry off after a shower.

He follows me out to the kitchen…

…where he stops by the front door, which I leave open on days cool enough that the air conditioner isn’t competing with Mother Earth to cool it outside.

For an “always inside” cat, this lets Andy enjoy the fresh air and anything happening outside.

Andy is done there. I’ll leave the chair in place of the open door just in case Andy wants to stop by for a peep later. Too early for the birds, though…or too late, so Andy tracks off to…

…play “mousies in the cabinets”, in case there finally are some there. Yum!

Intent on doing a thorough check…

…Andy misses nothing…

…which is precisely what he finds!

Andy doesn’t waste this moment, though. He stops by Doug for a thank you and a welcome chin and chest “scritch”!

Andy remembers it is time to stop by the ottoman for…

…his morning Greenies treat break.

Andy checks the backyard fir tree for the missing front door birdies. After his Greenies treat, the backyard birdies in the fir tree will make a perfect end to his morning!

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What a torment! I tried to prepare this post this morning and I got caught in an update. An hour and a half or so later, I got the final notice: “You’re 100% there. Please keep your computer on.” One hundred 100% there and it took another 15 minutes to get back to my blog! Nothing destroys creativity faster than a computer update.