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Saturday, October 29, 2011

fleas

So my youngest cat has fleas. I think.

I miss my wife for many different reasons but one of the more interesting ones is because I have no idea what to do with the cats. Ok I know how to feed them and play with them and clean their litter boxes, but I don't have a clue what to do when they get sick. And what do you know, one of my cats has fleas. I can troubleshoot all the computers, server and AV equipment at work but when it comes to a cat I have no idea. 

It started on Monday night, the night my wife left. My youngest cat started freaking out like he was being bit by fleas. He would run to the corner of the room all of a sudden and frantically lick and nibble at some part of his body. then after a minute or so he would be fine. Then 20 minutes later he would do the same thing again. This happens once in a while and usually we just put Frontline or Advantage Multi on all 3 cats and they are fine, but not this time.

I put the medicine on them Monday night and for the rest of the night everything was great. The next day when I got home from work I noticed he was back to doing the same thing again, like he was being bit. I facebooked one of my wife's old coworkers to ask for advice and she said it could be anything from resilient fleas that might take a couple days to die to a skin irritation from the bites to some other allergy. After a couple days if he doesn't get better I was to take him to a vet. Well a couple days go by and still no improvement.

I called up the vet 2 days ago and she says pretty much the same thing and I should try giving the cat a bath in Dawn to kill off the remaining fleas. Now I know how much my cats hate water, but for some reason I was looking forward to it. Alright, I know exactly why I was looking forward to it. The sight of a helpless soaping wet cat just  makes me giggle inside. So on my way home from work I picked up some blue Dawn, because I didn't realize we had a TON already. I loured the cat into the bathroom with food and closed the door. 

I was surprised that he didn’t freak out when I ran the bath so I put about an inch and a half of water in the tub and got myself ready. He was curious at first, like ooo what is that? Who are you? (in the voice of the curiosity sphere from the end of Portal 1) but as soon as his precious little paws touched the lukewarm water he supremely spazzed out like I was dropping him into a tub of molten lava.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds of super spazzy kitty action, I let him go. He splashed into the water and immediately clawed his way out and lunged for the door. Seeing that it was closed he hunkered up next to it and started franticly cleaning himself. Once I picked myself up off the floor from hysterical laughter I went for round two. “Come on Niko,” I said “you need to get at least a little wet.” I grabbed him and he must have had a momentary lapse of memory because he did the same thing as before and didn’t freak out until his paws touched the water again. What came next was worse than the first time.

I tried to hold him lower so he couldn’t grab anything, hoping that he would eventually calm down like my middle cat did; she gave up fighting and stood there crying. He didn’t. He spazzed out even more and scratched me a few times before lodging all 5 claws of his front paw in my lower arm. I, of course, dropped him immediately and he climbed out and hunkered by the door again. At this point he was wet enough that I could start washing so I soaked a towel added some Dawn and pinned him against the bathroom door so I could scrub his fur. Surprisingly he took that part pretty well and didn’t put up one bit of a fight. I finally finished and, after taking a few pictures to amuse myself in the future, I went about my evening. Thankfully he came over and laid next to me on the couch to clean himself later on so there are no hard feelings. But about an hour or so after this ordeal he was back to freaking out about fleas so I did all that for nothing!

Now what make me miss my wife after all this is that she would know what to do. She was studying to be a vet and worked at a vet hospital until recently. Whenever the cats are a bit off she jumps into action and fixes everything. I can't do that. I have no idea what is really going on with my youngest and like a concerned parent, I fear the worst. Even the doctor said there probably isn't much they can do accept potentially make him a bit more comfortable, a hundred or so dollars later.

I miss my wife for many reasons and I almost feel lost without her. Now I have to deal with a sick(?) cat and her student loan companies who refuse to postpone payments until boot camp is over, fun fun. But with my emotional state, it's a lot to handle.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

entering the navy


Well my wife’s military career has officially begun. She entered boot camp on Monday night and thankfully I was able to talk with her briefly when she landed. I wanted to update you all earlier than this but I have been such an emotional wreck since Sunday that I haven’t felt like doing much of anything. This is harder than I imagined.

I guess I don’t really know what I was expecting to feel like in her absence. We have been living together for 6 years this Christmas so I don’t know how to live by myself. The mood around the house over the past month has been less than good to say the least.  I had been sinking further into depression with the deployment date growing closer. When I said good bye to her on Sunday afternoon that was hard. She spent the night in a hotel and I got to go in Monday morning to witness her enlistment ceremony.

Saying good bye to her after that ceremony was unbelievably hard. And to be honest with you, even though it’s only 2 months it’s still painful. Going from living with a person for 6 years, and getting married over a year ago, to not being able to hear her voice again until Christmas and having no idea when the first letter will come, is incredibly hard. I know there will be other probably longer deployments in the future but at least we will probably be able to talk to one another or maybe even Skype.

I’m getting through it though. It’s getting easier every day but not much easier.

I am super proud of her too, and I’ve told her that many times.

She’s a strong girl and I have all the faith in her. I just can’t wait until Christmas when I can hold her again.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

our last week together

So my wife is leaving next Monday for boot camp. Our last full day together will be Saturday.

Writing that was hard. I'm going to miss her tremendously but I know it's for the better.

As for the details. She will be going up to Boston on Sunday afternoon for some last tests and things and on Monday morning I'll get to see her sworn in and shipped out to boot camp. After 2 months of boot camp I'll be there for her graduation and get to see her off to California for 6 months of training/schooling. It's still up in the air whether or not I get to move out there with her, but I think it would be better financially for me to stay here. As hard as that will be, we need my income to keep us stable and trying to find a decent paying job for <6 months would be near impossible.

We have found out from a few people in her field that the main bases are in Florida, Texas, California and, Hawaii. If you have been reading my blog, you know how absolutely amazing it would be for us to be stationed in Hawaii. And one person she talked to recently said most of the people in her field are stationed in Hawaii so fingers crossed!

Now for what I'll be doing for about 8 months...I have no idea. My wife is away this weekend and I'm just sitting around wondering what I should do so multiply that by 80 and you get how long I'll be sitting around wondering what I should do. I will definitely be more active in the local ABDL scene and will be trying harder to actually meet up with people outside the munches, so that's a start.

When my wife first moved in with me, about 6 years ago, all I had in my fridge was frozen pizza, hot dogs, ketchup and beer, so I expect to be in a similar situation in the near future. As much as I want to cook for myself and make a good dinner, it took me 45 minutes to wash dishes yesterday so I don't want to have to do that again.

I also fully expect to go through a ton of diapers! Whenever my wife goes away for a day or two I already diaper up asap so with her gone for months I'm sure I'll be diapered for a good portion of time; I'm already on my 3rd diaper since I got home from work yesterday :)

I want to end this post by saying thank you to all of my online friends. I am closer to some of you than I am to people in real life. Unfortunately as time passed all my real life friends moved on or away so my twitter buddies have been invaluable to me. I wish you all the best and as hard as the future may seem, I'm looking forward to the adventure!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

recipes for when my wife is gone

Last night I asked my wife to make me a list of recipes that I can make when she is away at boot camp. After I went to bed she made something up and emailed it to me. I loved it so much I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy! 

PS
Read all the way to the end :)



Chili Recipe
2- 8oz. cans of red kidney beans
1- 8 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1- 16 oz. can of tomato sauce
2 packets of McCormick’s Chili original flavor packets
1 pound of Hamburger
½ sweet Onion
2 spoonful’s of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon Oregano.
Brown meat, drain excess liquid. Chop onion into small pieces. Then combine all ingredients together into crockpot. Allow it to cook on high heat for at least an hour and thirty minutes.

Hamburgers
½ pound of hamburger
1 tablespoon of Worchester sauce
½ tablespoon of Oregano
½ tablespoon of McCormicks hamburger seasoning
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of meat tenderizer
Combine all ingredients together mixing well to insure even coverage of seasonings. Place a handful of meat into the hamburger press and mash well until you have an evenly pressed hamburger. Cook hamburger(s) on medium high heat until it starts to turn brown on the sides. Flip once and press down on the hamburger with spatula. Heat through until meat is cooked. (Easy way of telling if meat is cooked is to make an indent on the top of the burger after you have already flipped it once, if the juice that comes out is red, it is not done. If the juice is watery and brown the burger is done cooking).

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
1 can of tomato soup
Bread
American cheese
Butter
Place tomato soup in a sauce pan and cook on medium low heat. Heat skillet to medium. Butter each side of the bread, layer 1-2 slices of cheese and cover with another piece of bread place in skillet. Toast each side of the bread until golden brown. Enjoy!

Taco’s
 El Paso taco dinner kit
1 pound of hamburger
Sour cream
Mexican cheese
Lettuce
Tomato
Salsa
Taco bell’s Fire sauce
(You can also make nachos with this recipe just add tortilla chips!)

Cat driving you mad? Try Cat on a stick!
Kill and skin cat
Place cat on stick
Bake at 400 until the core temperature reaches 180 degrees. (About 4 ½ hours)
Goes well with your favorite side dish!

Frozen Pizza and Beer
Buy a frozen pizza, and six pack of your favorite beer
Follow directions on the back of the pizza box
Open beer… drink!
Congratulations! You just made dinner!

Enchiladas
Well I could tell you how to make them but, you’re gonna say that it is too much work. So just go and buy frozen ones!

Cold Cuts
Buy your choice of meat at your local deli. Place meat on bread along with your favorite condiments. Enjoy!

Lazy Day
Wendy’s, McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, or Taco bell are calling your name!
Don’t feel like any of those? You can always go and mooch off your mom!

Junk Food Night
I’m only allowing you to have one of these nights while I’m gone! As for all the other nights get off your butt and make something decent!

Vegetables
Well, I hope that you will eat them while I’m gone…