Post 349: Against the odds, I celebrate my 66th birthday anniversary today!

I’m not a birthday person. It’s just another day for the most part. Of course, about this time in 2003, I had a guest show up for my birthday: Wegener’s granulomatosis (now called GPA). I thought I had a cold, but by December, the disease was full blown, and I was barely alive, riding to the hospital in an ambulance. After that experience, every day is special: I survived death!

This is what confronts me all day today: Google’s birthday greeting!

It snowed overnight. I think the worst birthday weather was the year my childhood pet, Peanuts the dog, managed to yank out the ground anchor to which his chain was attached. In a blizzard on my birthday, my dog went missing! And he was dragging a 15-20 foot chain behind him!

Happily, he was found by the animal control officer the next day, cold but OK, in the high school practice field only a few blocks from home. He still had his collar and tags on, and he was dragging the chain behind him.

As usual, when the animal control officer opened his truck door, Peanuts hopped right it. Peanuts had a history with the animal control officer. He knew the animal control officer as a buddy who took him for a ride in his truck, then dropped him off at home!

My Dad was Chief of Police then, but I think the rule of thumb was you didn’t have to pay a fine if you called the police to report a missing pet before the missing pet got picked up as a stray. Peanuts was a bit of an embarrassment to my Dad because of this “relationship” between the animal control officer and the Chief’s dog…! 😉

Yeah, snow on the ground. That’s a birthday tradition of mine, too…and a good excuse to stay inside and enjoy doing nothing!

My intention is to have a quiet day at home. Though I managed to get through all the things I needed to complete yesterday, the day ended with a great four-hour telephone call with a favorite cousin! We’d still be talking but my cell phone battery ran out of juice. Best of all, we made plans to get together to go out for supper one of these days when she comes to town!

Andy (above) and Dougy lurked in my bedroom last night, and decided 1:30 AM was a good time to wake me up on my birthday! (Notice Andy’s horn is showing. I guarantee there was another one on the other side, too!)

Now that I’m wide awake, as of 1:30 AM because of the cats, where are the cats and what are they doing? Well, they are both curled up, warm and comfy, asleep! Did you expect anything different? 🙂

…and a good time was had by all!

Yesterday’s Big 2 birthday for Andy and Dougy brought many greetings from all over the world. Once again, thanks to all who did your part to make the boys’ day a big one. If it were up to me, they would get food and water and a little loving, but not much more. The cat toy gift is an exception to my rule. I’m not a birthday sort of guy.

Cat-cousin Sox, a real fox!

The boys especially liked an e-card their Auntie and cat-cousin Sox in Seattle sent: A chorus of kitties meowed through the “Happy Birthday” song! Cute!

I also enjoyed an animated Beatles video of their birthday song another friend (“seeker”, not to forget Maurice and Lucy) sent the boys. It was hugely amusing to me, though the boys were worn out from playing with their toy and chasing each other by the time I opened the video. They just sat there. Well, “sprawled”, but you get the idea.

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theseeker57.wordpress.com Speaking of “seeker”, here’s a link to her inspirational blog. Check it out!

O Canada! Would you like two cats?

Face it. There are times cats just aren’t fun. Like when Andy and Dougy were babies and had diarrhea from an intestinal amoebic parasite. First they’d poop outside the litter box. (Little kitten legs couldn’t carry them there fast enough – I forgave them that!) Then I’d have to give them “poop baths”, as I called them, to put a joke on top of a crappy situation. Ever bathe a cat!? Two cats!? More than once or twice or three times a week!? I shudder to recall it!

Or, they aren’t much fun when you have to catch not one, but two cats to take them anywhere. They learn from each other’s mistakes, so you can’t let one see how you trapped the other or you will be late for your veterinarian or groomer appointment. Oh yes! Even if one don’t see you catch the other, there is an art to cat trapping. Maybe I’ll write about that some day. I’ve a fair amount of experience.

Or, you pick one cat up and he’s happy for five seconds of loving before he wants down again, so you pick up the other and find out he’s not only not in the mood for five seconds of loving, he’s having a hissy because you interrupted something he really, really wanted to do instead. You know, like nothing! Claws time.

Then there’s the fun side of cats, the “most of the time” side, where they purr when they see you. Or bump a tiny nose to your extended finger in a cat greeting. Or when you blinky-eye them your love, and they blinky-eye you back, forgiving you all those baths and other intrusions in their otherwise perfect existence.

Or waking up in the middle of the night because one of your cats is kneading bread all over your body in a little love fest of kitty massage. Oooh! It feels good, though I make sure all skin is covered because kneaded bare skin is not fun. My boys have their claws!

Or there’s cat play, a manifestation of pure joy we all should emulate before we turn into cranky old coots.

But enough of this! Tomorrow, Andy and Dougy will be the Big 2. Coincidentally, our great next door neighbor to the north, Canada, will be the Big 146! I’m a day early – I’m too excited! – but Happy Birthday, Andy, Dougy, and Canada! You all are the cat’s meow, purrfect, pussycats, and the cat’s pajamas! You all make me feel warm and fuzzy!