Oh, Andi, you have no idea how happy I am to see all your information about kitty doctoring. Makes things go so much better when our little friends have trouble.

My info about cats with early stage renal disease is that the subQ fluid therapy prolongs lives. Forget about starving them trying to make them eat food they don't like. Obligate carnivores don't need grain filling or the cheap stuff.

With a prescription, you can order a case of the saline bags at Costco for about $25, the needles and drip lines from Foster and Smith. Much Much cheaper than getting those supplies from the vet.

I hope the good news keeps on coming, sj.

I am research girl, and I want to know everything. One of my favorite things about Kaiser is that most test results are online and can even be graphed.

Sadly it seems my adventures with the hummingbird family have come to an end. There has been little hummer activity at Chez Katie over the weekend. Occasionally I see one swooping over the roof next door but none at close hand.

Sad because it is over; ecstatic that I had a week in which I could walk right up to a wild baby bird and see it all unafraid curiosity, willing to lean over and poke my finger with its little white tongue hard enough that I actually could feel it. Amazing isn't strong enough to describe it.

Funny that the birds were not especially frightened by the cats and were sitting on the same dangerously low branch only a few hours after the captured-by-Pearl incident. They have a long lasting fear and distrust of me now that is more appropriate for their chances of survival than thinking they are pets, but still, I miss my little buddy zooming over my head in the morning.

Aw. Maybe they'll remember your place as being a good place to raise families, Katerina Bee, and come back for future generations. Thanks for sharing their progress with us!

I talked to Mom and she said that R is her favorite person right now.

I had someone make a disparging remark about working retail (not to my face it was online and kind of an aside) but at my skill level in an office setting there's no way I could get the kind of accomdations I need. I couldn't say - btw I need all day Wednesday off and then - can I have two days off in a row. Oh and I need my hours changed (I switched from all most all closing shifts to opening shifts) and I can do that here.

Now I just need to remember to eat. I don't think I did a good job shopping but I don't feel like cooking and a lot of the quick foods are out because of problem ingredients.

My mother works at K-mart now. She started for the Christmas holidays. Some of her old co-workers think it was a terrible comedown and actually came to point and laugh. Mom said they work at a high school...they aren't in high school.

Erika, that's horrible. WTF is wrong with people?

I'm sure the Buffista Hivemind makes all our pets happier and healthier. Katerina, that is valuable information about a cost effective way to get supplies for sub-q fluids.

askye, I continue to be grateful on your behalf for this job at Best Buy. It seems to give you plenty of exercise for both mind and body, plus giving you the flexibility you need.

Well, it could be worse--they could have seen her at the no-tell motel up the street. That would be much sadder than handing out keys to the fitting room, for heaven's sake. It's hard to find a job that works around the whole attendant thing, and my mother always taught me that there was no shame in whatever people do to make an honest living.(Some people do make having a settled life look like the worst thing ever, because it makes them small-minded.)

I don't think they literally pointed and laughed, but, you know, the kind of drive-by shit some women pull(And one of them is the principal's secretary, which, in her own mind, at least, makes her Jesus Jr.)