Tattoosday

Haha. That will never get old. This is the latest one. It was also drawn by Allegrea. This duck is right above my right elbow on the inside of my arm and is in memory of my beloved Jemimah duck. We ended up with Jemimah in a kind of strange way. He was hatched and raised in a high school agriculture class. When the school year was almost over, the teachers dumped all the young ducks (literally DUMPED them out of a cardboard box) at Rotary Gardens. As the entire universe knows, a completely human-raised duck is human imprinted and has no idea how to survive in the wild. These 'teachers' who knew that but didn't care proved yet again how shitty humans can be. Jemimah was the only duck from that dumping who survived, but he wasn't doing well. He was following people out to the parking lot trying to get into cars and following cars. I didn't find out about the whole situation until we happened to be at the Gardens for some dinner event I had to attend with Mark. Once I found out what was going on and saw the poor little guy, I had to bring him home. I thought I would keep him for a couple of days until I could line up a sanctuary or more appropriate permanent home. I could not find ANYONE or any place to take him. The rescues and sanctuaries didn't even bother to call me back. I called every single one within an 8 hour drive. Jemimah became part of our family. We learned a lot about ducks, and Jemimah became famous in our neighborhood. The kids all loved to play with him, except for the next summer, when he became manly during mating season. Then he was pretty vicious with the kids. Other than that, he was a very affectionate, playful member of our family. We miss him!

My sweet little boy, Oliver, had to go into the kitty hospital yesterday for another urinary blockage. I went to visit him after work today, and we were so glad to see each other. I hand fed him and gave him a neck massage and lots of love and pep talks. He looks so pathetic in his E-collar with an IV going in and a catheter going out. I HATE leaving him there, but that is the only way to treat this. Tonight will bring yet another sleepless night, as I won't find out until tomorrow if he will live or not. His bloodwork tomorrow will show whether his kindeys can recover or if they are going into failure. If his kidneys are okay, he will have to have an expensive surgery (that we of course cannot afford) on Tuesday. It's a very major surger with a long recovery time. I'm so very worried and sad about the whole situation. He is such a sweet, mellow little guy--it absolutely kills me that he is going through this. I cannot even conceive of losing him, so I will stop talking about that now.

Mark had an appointment tonight, and Dej had to work, so my parents took L & I to Olive Garden. We had very little time together once we got home--it was nearly time to get L settled down for our bedtime reading. She should have been asleep already, and I'm really annoyed that she isn't. I want to watch Criss Angel (he's on right now), but I can't turn the TV on until she gets to sleep. The kittens are not helping the situation as they are tearing around the bedroom at full speed, chasing each other--over the bed, under the bed, up the curtains, down the curtains. They are like crazy little wind up toys gone bad. In about 20-30 minutes, though, they will jump up on the bed by me and pass out. Then I can carry them into their bedroom, give them goodnight kisses, and let them sleep just long enough to recharge for the next round of chase.