A Three-fer

First, an Ali update. She is getting better. I know it's only temporary, as there's no "fixing" her kidneys, but it's good to see her being an active part of our family again. She's been enjoying the Fancy Feast Trout Dinner, as the vet said to just get her eating at this point, then transition to the kidney diet. She will get daily sub-q fluids for another five days, then hopefully we can go to once a week.

Now, my rant.
After some grumbles this spring, I am back to loving my job and the crazy work. I don't want to leave. But cripes I feel like a doormat. I'm paid about $15,000 less than my peers for the same work, all because I moved up the chain instead of being hired in.

The state HR system makes it near impossible to get promoted and/or a raise. We just scored three grants this year which covers my salary (and then some, because we planned on a raise for me), all coming from private foundations. Yet, here I am, applying for other jobs because the state has put so many roadblocks in our way.

I'm waiting for the silver lining.

In other news, we are doing a chicken wing cookoff instead of ribs this year. I think more people will enter since chicken wings are easier. Save the date, Oct. 8th! :-)

To all the cats I've loved before

I've never had a pet for a long time. Growing up in the country, we often "inherited" some outdoor cats. Once the cat became an indoor/outdoor cat. His name was T.J. and he was a black and white kitty. We had him for about six months before he wandered off and probably died. Then my sister bought me a tabby kitten. I named him Jordan, as I thought Michael Jordan was kewel. We tried to keep him indoors, but after about four months, he escaped one day. Twenty four hours later, he was dead on the road, hit by a car.

I never became overly attached to those cats, and they were my only experience with pets. Then came Ali. I've probably told the story before of how we met. Chris and I were engaged and living in an apartment. We'd discussed getting a cat, but hadn't pulled the trigger. We'd come home to visit family over the holidays. Chris stayed one night at his mom's, where there was only a twin bed in a tiny house, while I went ahead to my dad's house. I pulled into the driveway at about 10:00 p.m. I went around to the passenger side to grab my bags. Up jumps the cutest calico kitten into my passenger seat! She just looked up at me and purred. After some scritches, I left the cat and went inside. My dad said she'd been around for a few weeks and was very friendly. He'd asked some of the neighbors and nobody was missing a cat. I called Chris the next morning and told him that I think we'd found our cat. That was 1998. She was estimated at one year old.

She was always "my" cat, following me incessantly, cuddling at every turn. If I try to sleep in, she wakes me up by sitting on my chest, nose almost touching mine, purring loudly with big bright eyes staring. She'd do this for an hour if I could stand it. We lived through her knee surgery and constantly struggled for years with her constipation. Today I took her in for what I thought was another enema. She'd been lethargic for a few days, was having trouble using the litterbox, and had no appetite. All issues that added up to constipation before. Today they said she didn't feel impacted, and seemed very dehydrated. After tests, it's confirmed she has kidney failure. We think it's in early stages, but won't know until tomorrow how she responds to treatment. It could be a few months, it could be five years.

*sniffle* It was hard to hear my best kitten friend will never be quite the same.

3 Day Week

In more than one way, it's a 3 Day week! I only work Mon-Wed. because we are headed to Chicago on Wednesday night! I fear I'll miss Frodis this year because of my crew job. We are an "advance" crew, which means we are on another part of the route while the walkers are clipping along. Next week Breezy walks Michigan!

We had a fun weekend. Went to the Jungle Bar for the first time, which is a middle of nowhere trailer house bar. There were more ATVs in the parking lot than cars...and it was busy. The bartender even walked down the bar with a grocery bag of ham sandwiches and handed them out. There was a whirlpool tub in the mens room and a shower in the ladies room. *snort* What an experience.

We are also working on finishing off our front deck. It's never had a railing in the seven years we've lived there. I hate it when simple projects turn out to be a PITA. This wasn't so bad, though. We are working on all these little projects, so if we want to sell the house in the near future, we aren't scrambling.

Chris is applying for a supervisor's job. He had to write an essay response to four questions and will turn that in this week. Then he waits to hear if he's offered an interview. Several supervisors are retiring, so that helps prospects.

I'm still working on my reclassification and raise. Outcome TBD.