Tuesday, August 18

Another sleepless night...this time because Shih Tzu is not well, and I worried about her. It was after 2 a.m. before I could drift off.

Yesterday and today, Shih Tzu has eaten very little, and except for a healthy session at the water dish this morning, she hasn't taken in much fluid, either. We dread taking her to the vet, because we don't want to hear his recommendation for our beloved fifteen-and-a-half-year-old pet. We're hoping he can maybe prescribe a pain medication for her arthritis, and an appetite stimulant. My stomach has been tied in knots all day from stressing out about her.

Despite a lack of sleep, we were up by 7 a.m., so Hubbie could get ready to go to his doctor for an annual exam. While he was gone, I gathered scrapbooking stuff for Mother and I to work on later, and then I did a session on the treadmill, including weights exercises.

Mother came over after I was ready for the day, and we planned several scrapbook pages to take with us to our monthly scrapbook meeting Thursday. This month, we'll work on pages featuring Hubbie in the garden, great-grandson at the grape festival, another great-grandson playing his saxophone, and the fourteen-month-old great-grandson who came with family for a visit here on Sunday.

After lunch, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS, so I could pick up wallet-size photos that I need to complete scrapbook pages (I'd uploaded the photos to one-hour service this morning). We picked up a few other items at the store while we were there, and then came back home.

We were no sooner in the door than a thunderstorm cropped up with lots of lightening and thunder and an inch of rain. At one point, we were all startled by a loud crack. Later, we saw energy utility trucks across the road. Apparently, a transformer had blown on the utility pole there.

A thunderstorm was my cue to read my novel until suppertime. For supper, we had stuffed banana peppers (stuffed with leftover meatloaf from the freezer), baked potatoes, and canned green beans.

Update: the kittens are growing by leaps and bounds of course. They've made themselves right at home in the sunroom, exploring, rolling and tumbling, and wrestling with each other, and swarming Mama Cat when she comes in to feed them. They're scampering around pretty good, though they are still a little wobbly on their legs. But that doesn't stop them from climbing on things.

We bought kitten chow for them while we were at the WDCS yesterday, and put some out for them last night. They chowed right down on it, just like they'd been eating solid food since birth. Hubbie put a pan of litter out for them, too, but so far they don't know quite what to do with it beyond sniffing it, and occasionally trying to nibble at it.