Cockle Burr Season is Here!

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Oliver was supposed to get a bath last night, that didn't happen.

What was supposed to be bath time ended up an hours long panicked filled session of removing cockle burrs from Oliver's left eye, ears, nose, mouth, etc.  The one on his eye was the worst as tit was matted into his eyebrow hair and onto his face beneath the eye.

Notice the hack job on his left eyebrow. The right one will get trimmed when John gets home from work this evening, and the left one neatened up.

Oliver was in full panic mode trying to dig the burr out with his foot. I finally got him into a bear hug position so John could work on removing the burr.

John finally removed enough of the burr that I could use my Tim Holts craft scissors (Oliver won't let me near him with standard scissors) to cut the fur away, rather than try to fish out the tiny bits of burr. Our efforts to remove the burr bits was only upsetting him even more, to the point that he was growling at me.

Burrs are all gone now, I'll be going out to remove the cockle burr plant and dispose of it someplace where he cannot get into it again, and Ollie will get his bath tonight.

Been a Little Busy

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And just a little bit more than distracted. Had a health scare, not going to go into details, which pretty much shut me down emotionally and mentally.  First rounds of tests yesterday came up with everything being just fine.

So I did what I do best when these sorts of things creep up, I started this botanical piece. Second round of tests are on Monday, I should have final results next week on said health issue, praying that the whole event was a one time thing only. 

Breathing isn't Always Easy!

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So sometimes we need a little help to do so, unfortunately my health insurance company, Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, doesn't think that I need my medication, so I'm screwed!

If you have asthma, or know someone who has asthma then you can see I have two days left.

My pharmacy Hyvee Drugtown wants $299 for one months supply of Arnuity Ellipta asthma inhaler. At the encouragement of my Facebook friends I called around to see if I could get a better price. Yes I have the coupon but the pharmacies are telling me that they cannot accept it if my insurance company won't pay for the inhaler, although the wording on the coupon says otherwise. 

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So here's the break down in pricing:

  • $437.99 CVS
  • $299.00 Hyvee Drugtown Pharmacy 
  • $195.96 Medicap Pharmacy
  • $193.00 Walgreens
  • $184.23 Walmart Pharmacy
  • $168.96 NuCara Pharmacy

Now I wait for my doctor to once again send in prior authorization paperwork to the insurance company in hopes they will approve my prescription.  So much for cadillac health insurance.

UPDATE:

PRAISE GOD!!! Sam's Club wins the day!!! $83.50 AND they WILL honor the $100 coupon, per month, for twelve months! Gotta drive 28 miles to get it but what the heck!

Life is Good Again

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Today was the third day in a row that I actually left the house, I mean left and went and had an hour long lunch with my best friend Brenda! And then we went for a ride afterwards too look at all of the beautiful red and golden leaves.

And then it occurred to me that the reason I hadn't been leaving the house, or working in my wet studio that's in the basement was because of Pepper. The constant worry of will he fall down the stairs (seventeen steps), or fall off of the bed, the table, a chair, so on and so forth. 

The worry and the stress was real. Taking care of a geriatric pet who cannot tell you what's going on health wise is, well, stressful.

I even spent time in my garden, for the first time in two months, this afternoon. 

I'm sad that he's passed, but the stress of knowing I can go on a day trip now, without something horrible happening to him while I'm gone, has been relieved.

Btw the fact that I was house bound was driving my husband John nuts! I couldn't explain to him why I didn't want to leave. And there were times when I questioned his desire to not be home, to spend hours mindlessly shopping. Subconsciously it was because I didn't want to leave Pepper alone, in case he got hurt while I was away. 

Tracy the Owl

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Have lots of old pieces of paper laying around waiting for a project?

I used a page out of a search a word puzzle book to create Tracy the owl.

I started with a marks it all graphite pencil then applied a thin layer of ivory craft paint over the top. Over this I applied black marks it all pencil, charcoal, and conte to the page while the paint was still wet.

I then layered on color using various soft pastels in a range of colors.

This would be a great project on a rainy day by yourself, or with kids.

Note: I am an Amazon Affiliate.

Orange Tabby Cat Bird

alcohol markers, acrylic paint markers, crayons, and white gel pen.

alcohol markers, acrylic paint markers, crayons, and white gel pen.

It's been a rough couple of thirty-six hours. Pepper started presenting an eye problem very late Saturday night, it didn't get worse over the course of yesterday. And then I woke up this morning.

Mind you John very rarely notices things about our pets though he enjoys their company and immensely, things like eye infections are just not in his wheelhouse. That's my thing.

So yes, when I woke up around ten this morning and found a note on my desk from John saying "Pepper never showed up for breakfast and I can't find him" I started to panic. I panicked  because at ten each morning he's waiting for me on the kitchen table waiting for his second feeding of the morning and he wasn't there!

Off I go to search the house, five times. FINALLY he shows up around 2:15. I immediately called the vet to schedule an appointment. After all there's no need to make one if you can't find the silly cat!  I fed him lunch, he was starving of course cause the last time he ate was at 5:30am when I saw him eating dry cat food and then later in the bath tub licking the tub.

Does anyone know why cats like to lick tub and showers??? I mean it's seriously gross.

I followed him after he was done eating and found his new hiding place.

Cue in 3:05 and I've got him in his crate and ready to go to the Vet, and my best friend Brenda took me and "cookie face" to the vet.

Conclusion. It's ocular herpes which is common in older cats, which means eye drops three times a day and keeping him isolated in his kennel for a few days. Why? Oliver our 86 pound labradoodle LOVES to lick Peppers face and it pisses Pepper of and to no end.

More later, I'm exhausted after today's adventures of being a cat mommy.