The Ickle Pickle

Isaac's favorite toy currently is the ickle pickle.  It is a pickle-shaped (and pickle-colored) rubber toy with three slits along the side in which you can shove treats.

If you don't know Isaac, you might not understand why it is known as the ickle pickle.  If you have ever met Isaac and seen how much he can drool, especially when chewing on a favorite toy with treats inside, you would understand perfectly.  If Isaac ever happens to drop his ickle pickle in your lap, all covered with slobber and slime, you'll agree it is perfectly named.

Bad Night for Cayenne

Or maybe just a bad night for me.

Last night, around the time I was getting ready for bed, Cayenne jumped down from the window ledge where she'd been dozing, squatted, and peed on the floor.  She was squatting there for a while, but when she finished, there was only a tiny spot of urine on the carpet.  She jumped back up on the window ledge.  I sighed and got up and fetched the spray bottle and some rags to clean it up.

Then I saw she was peeing again, this time on the window ledge.  Luckily I moved the curtains and some books out of the way just in time.  Apparently she'd thought she was done peeing on the floor but she wasn't really done.

I think she's having trouble peeing.  She wasn't squatting on the floor for an excessively long time, but long enough that she should have produced more than the little spot of pee that she left on the carpet.  And since when do cats pee a little, stop, jump up on something and then pee some more?

It just worried me.  I wonder if the tumors in her abdomen are starting to interfere with her urinary system or something.  My first thought was oh crap, I should call the vet in the morning and I have no money until I get my SSDI in a few days.  My second thought was, I should call Mike and ask him to help me pay the vet and just tell him what's going on and that I'm worried.  Interesting, that, since we are not a couple anymore and since now that I think about it, I am certain Cayenne's vet would see her today and let me pay them in a few days.  He did that once before.  It was also about midnight and I was sure Mike would be asleep.

After I cleaned up the pee and calmed myself down a bit, I decided there is probably no need to see the vet right now.  Cayenne does not appear to be in any discomfort.  Well, maybe she has a bit of discomfort when she is trying to pee and having trouble, but other than that, she is eating well, is still very interested in food (two days ago, I had left the lid off Isaac's treat jar and Cayenne walked over to it and had one paw stuck in the jaw, trying to dig out a treat for herself), seems to be resting quite comfortably, enjoys being petted (just a little while ago, she crawled into my lap and purred while I petted her for a while), and likes being brushed (Isaac's friend K brushes her nearly every time she comes over and Cayenne stands up and prances around and purrs).  I would not want to put her through any kind of medical tests unless absolutely necessary, nor would I want to put her through any type of treatment except maybe medication, and that only if absolutely necessary.  I don't want to put her through a car ride unless absolutely necessary; she hates riding in the car, and on the trip from Mike's to my apartment, she threw up.

I think I need to see if I can find a vet around here that makes house calls, though.  When I lived in Cincinnati, there were a few that did that.  Mine only charged an extra $15 fee for the house call.  Then he charged what would be a normal fee for whatever was done, the same fee he would have charged if he saw the cats in his office.  I thought that was quite reasonable.  I think I'd feel better if someone just looked at her, agreed with me that she did not seem to be having any discomfort, that sort of thing.

Should Fast Food Workers Get Paid More?

Yeah.  They should.  Minimum wage should be higher.  People should be able to at least earn a living wage.

I thought of this issue today while I was buying a sugar free iced vanilla coffee at  McDonald's.  Since there is no Starbucks near me, I have taken to buying iced coffee at McD's, which is not as good as Starbucks, but is good enough and is also cheap.  A large iced coffee for a dollar.  I can get four or five of those for what I'd pay for one iced skinny vanilla latte at Starbucks.

But if McDonald's employees got paid more, like enough  money that they could actually support themselves and maybe even their kids on their wages, I don't think McD's would be selling iced coffees for a dollar anymore.

I don't believe most people are against fast food workers earning more.  It's just like most people are not really against poor people having health insurance.  It's a matter of people being afraid that if someone else gets something, that will mean something is taken away from them.  People are afraid if we provide medical care to poor people that currently can't get care, it will mean they end up getting less care.  People would not mind if poor people got antibiotics when they are sick, but they don't want to give up their chiropractic adjustments in order for those poor people to get those antibiotics. 

That may sound pretty cynical, the part about chiropractic adjustments, but many insurance policies do cover them these days.  Medicare now covers them and I just found out the other day that Medicaid does in my state, too.  And I think it's great that chiropractic care is covered.  I wish massage therapy and acupuncture was covered, too.  However, I also think we should prioritize.  I would like to be able to get a massage and some acupuncture for my back pain, and I'm glad I could go see a chiropractor for my back pain if I wanted to, but I think antibiotics for someone with an infectious illness are actually more important.  I would be willing to give up my chiropractic coverage in order to give someone else antibiotics.

I take my back problems very seriously.  I have serious back pain.  I think I should be able to get medical treatment for it when needed.  But I think some medical things, like infectious diseases,  prenatal care, and treatment for things like HIV are more urgent and more important and I would be willing to give up some of the medical coverage I have right now in order to provide those things for people that currently need them but can't get them.

I also like being able to get iced coffee for a dollar.  If the price doubled, though, I would still buy iced coffee.  If the price tripled, I might buy it less often.  And I'm talking about McDonald's prices; if Starbucks doubled their prices, I would probably never buy another skinny vanilla latte again.

Would people stop eating at McDonald's if they raised their prices in order to pay workers a living wage?  I don't think so.  Some people might.  Some people might eat there less often or buy less when they do eat there.  But I really do not believe McDonald's would go out of business.

Would customers like paying more?  Of course not.  But you know, some customers wouldn't mind so much, not if they understand why the prices were going up.  I wouldn't mind.  If I knew that I now had to pay $2 for an iced coffee so that a single mother could afford to move out of her parents' house into her own apartment with her daughter, or so that a young man with HIV could afford medication to prevent that HIV from developing into AIDS, or so that a woman with PTSD (like me) could afford to see a counselor a couple times a month, or so that an older gentleman with diabetes would no longer have to choose between buying healthful food or insulin (the food they give out at the food pantry is not very diabetic-appropriate, unfortunately, it's very carb-heavy)... Yeah, I'd be happy to pay an extra dollar.

Would everyone be happy to pay more?  No, I'm sure they wouldn't.  But doesn't it seem like the right thing to do?

Do You Sing to Your Pets?

I do.  I have a terrible singing voice.  I cannot carry a tune in a bucket.  But luckily Cayenne and Isaac do not mind.

I'm probably going to make myself sound really silly here, but they each have their own songs.

Cayenne's song is sung to the tune of Cecilia, by Simon and Garfunkel.  It goes:

Oh, Cayenne-a,
You're breaking my heart.
You're stinking the house up, baby.
Oh, Cayenne-a,
I'm down on my knees.
I'm begging you please
Use your box, use your box.

Alas, it does not inspire her to use the litter box.

Isaac's song is sung to the tune of Clementine.  It goes:

Oh my doggie, oh my doggie,
Oh my doggie, doggie boy.
He's my doggie, he's my doggie,
he's my doggie, doggie boy.


Isaac probably thinks his name is Doggie Boy.


So what do you sing to your pets?

What More Could You Want?

It is a gorgeous late summer day.  There is already a hint of fall in the air and the leaves on some of the trees are already starting to turn yellow.  I am at the dog park, sitting on a bench in the shade with my laptop, watching Isaac run around.  I am supposed to be writing an article about how to inspect your home for mold, but I am not really in the mood for that.

It is one of those days when I feel perfectly content with my life, one of those days I wish would happen more often.   Sure, back at my home, the bathroom needs cleaning, and yes, I just checked the balance in my bank account and I have about $10 to last me until next Tuesday when I get paid, but right here, right now, all seems right with the world.  What more could you possibly want than a sunny day with a pleasant breeze, a bench in the shade, and a delightfully happy dog?  Oh, and a large sugar free French vanilla iced coffee that only cost one dollar at McDonald’s?  Does life get any better than this?