Sadness and Heartbreak

As some of my friends know, I have three kittens from Boots, that we brought in when she was sick. Two of them are fine and healthy, baruch Hash-m. But the littlest, Squeak, has not been doing good for the last few days. A week and a half ago, shortly after we brought the kittens inside, Squeak had a seizure. But he seemed to get better from that. Yesterday, I took him to the vet because i noticed one of his pupils was all the way open and didn't close. He also didn't seem to be as active. He was never that active to begin with, but still, what little activity he had done was gone now. The vet said that what he really needed was an neurologist, but in all honesty, that would be crazy expensive, and there is no way, I'd put an animal through something like an MRI scan. It's traumatizing enough for people, and at least THEY know what's going on. So I brought him home, and he just has been getting worse and worse. I don't think he's going to survive the night in all hoonesty. He won't eat, won't drink, and he just lies there shaking. It's so hard when a baby animal that you've cared for is sick, will possibly die, and there is NOTHING you can do for it. So, that's why I'm sad, now you know the whole story.

Update: Squeak did live through the night, but when I went into the room the next morning he didn't seem to be doing much better. He was having trouble breathing and he still couldn't get up. We ended up taking him to the Humane Society. I felt relieved when we dropped him off because now it would be THEM making the decision and not me. We gave away Slippers the same day, but we are keeping Mittens.

Pros and Cons of Sukkos in Florida

Ok, so Florida is known for it's lovely sunny weather. After all, we are called the Sunshine State. However, around Sukkos, it's usually not sunny. It's actually quite....rainy. Which means, we go out into the sukkah for a total of 10 minutes, get drenched while my step-father says kiddush and does hamotzei and rush back in. There's a tendency for it to rain at night, when it's not raining and we can sit in the (dripping) sukkah, there are mosquitoes and bees, oh, and humidity, can't forget humidity. Also, there is always the threat of a hurricane, I mean living in Florida you know there are going to be hurricanes. Baruch Hash-m, there have been no hurricanes in Florida this hurricane season, but the season isn't over yet, so you never know. Two years ago, at the end of Sukkos, Hurricane Wilma came crashing through. Fortunatly, it was Simchas Torah, so my family didn't need the sukkah anymore but...the hurricane made something of a mess you could say.

Alright, so I've gone through a few cons of Sukkos in Florida, there are good things too, don't get me wrong. After all, there are 7 days to the chag and not EVERY day is bad. There are days when you are sitting in the sukkah and there are beautiful breezes. You don't need to worry about freezing in the sukkah (unlike in NY, or Mass.) I spent sukkos up in Monsey one year, and I was freezing my tuchus off, I was so glad the next year to be back in Florida and not have to go through THAT again. And, for my family at least, there is always the chance that yet another cat will wander into our life and take off with the challah cover.

I think that is all I will ruminate about sukkos for now, until next time, when I shall discuss "Snowbirds and Tourons"!

Dragons...

People often ask me, why I am so obsessed with dragons? So I'm gonna list some of my reasons here. Dragons play a big part in fantasy, and there are many different things you can do with dragons. Also, people from different places have different images of dragons in thier minds, so the way an american imagines a dragon is very different from the way an asian does.

There are as well, many varied dragons: fire dragons, ice dragons. water dragons, earth dragons, magic dragons, small dragons, large dragons, stupid dragons, wise dragons, dragons that fight humans, dragons that work together with humans...etc. I can likely list at least one book that has each kind of dragon I've mentioned. Heck, I could probably list several!

I have a very active imagination, and I have a tendency to make little stories in my head, and most of them never see the light of day, and quite a few them feature dragons. I could write one right now!

She peered over the edge of the crater, and shook her head. "The ground seems very far down from here." She said to her rider anxiously. It was their first flight and the dragon was having second thoughts. "Oh, come on, Mage," her rider chided, "it's not that far, and if you drop there will be someone to catch you. You were really excited this morning." Mage sneezed. "That was this morning," she whined, "this is now, and I'm scared." Her rider snorted in disgust. "Look at all the other dragonets, they seem to be having a fine time." he gestured at the rest of the group, whose dragons were whooping and doing loop-de-loops. Her rider then decided to switch tactics. "You're not going to let Jode outdo you, are you?" Jode was the one simbling who canstantly got under Mage's skin. There was a "friendly rivalry" between them, though now it wasn't very friendly. Mage caught a glimpse of Jode winging by, his teeth bared in a mocking grin. "Absolutlely not!" she roared. She spread her wings and jumped off the ledge. As she jumped a thermal drifted up beneath her, and she soared. "Woohoo!" her rider cried. "That's it Mage! I knew you could do it!" She smiled, it had been easy after all, what had she been scared of? She went swooshing after Jode, thinking "Let's see if he smirks now!"

Okay...that was actually pretty long for me, and I came up with that in the spur of the moment. But the problem is, that I can't keep it flowing for long, and then I end up thinking it needs work and I lose interest. Whatever. Oh yeah, and there are people who ask me, in a condescending tone, "You DO know dragons aren't real right?" Yes, I do know that, I might be crazy, but I'm not completely insane. Oh, and by the way, I apologize for not having posted in a week, been busy. Till next time, whic hopefully won't be so late, So long!

9/11/2001

WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET...

May G-d avenge their souls.

Busy Week

It's been a busy couple of weeks. First, Boots was very sick, and we didn't see her for two days. Then on Friday, the 31, she showed up again and was looking VERY sick, she hardly moved, wasn't doing anything. So I took her to an emergency vet, and he said that she had an upper respiratory infection, as well as another kind of bacterial infection. Her white bloodcell count was high, she wasn't getting enough liquid...in short, a very sick cat. So I opted to leave her there for the next two days, because shabbos was coming and we wouldn't be able to do anything for her than anyways. Ok, after that, we came home and our neighbor had found oneof the kittens, and then another and then a third! So we now had three kittens, I took them to the vet to asl him what we should feed them. I was given food and medicine and then I had to run hometo finishgettingreadyfor shabbos. Then, we went back on Sunday to take her home. The vet said she had a 50/50 chance of getting better. Her main problem was that she was depressed. I had a feeling that I could nurse her back. So, it has now beenone week and I took her to the vet on Wed. and he saidshe was doing a lot better. But I've been kept busy, that's for sure!