Alyssa and I had to saw a tree down to save Junior, who somehow got out of the house and was treed by our yard dogs.  I call the outside dogs "yard dogs" as in "junk yard dogs" because they aren't very nice to strangers...or to cats.

Junior is one tiny cat, just about a mouthful for Midas (an otherwise lovely, loving dog...he just hates cats).  All six of the outside dogs were milling about the base of the tree, and Junior was about 16 feet above the ground.

While Alyssa held a belayed cable looped around the tree to keep it from falling, I sawed at the tree until it split and fell.  Junior was terrified, but once we got her inside, she was much happier. 

After all the excitement, I spent the next few hours in bed from angina.  I am back up and moving around again, but dang, the cats have been rough on me today.

 

Yup, that's right.  A Kitty Piss Fire.  Cali pissed on the power strip right next to my computer and blew out the power to half the house.  I am not quite sure why she pissed on the power strip, but she sure caused some fireworks when she did.  Luckily, I was right here, and threw an old towel over the socket and put out the fire.

Alyssa and I have strung up all sorts of extension cords, etc, to get us back online.  My computer is acting up and so is our server, but at least they are working at a minimal level.  Some stuff will have to wait until Ronald gets home.  He doesn't know that a cat pissed on a power strip and caused all this trouble.  I am not sure I want to tell him.

Oh well, we are back up and operating, and that is the main thing.

He is in the hospital, and we are hopeful that he will pull through.  Poor Dad has had it very rough; his fingers were literally rotting off, he couldn't eat, and had lost a great deal of weight. 

In my condition, I wasn't much help while we were down there, other than to encourage him to go to the hospital.  My sister Kay, who is a RN who worked at Duke University Medical Center, drove down from Corpus Christi right after we left to come back home.  Kay knows what Dad needs, and let the medical staff know it.  (She had been a DI in the Army.  Believe me, her prior military experience serves her well.)

Kay has been wonderful for Dad and has hopefully gotten him the help he needs....including simple things, that the doctor and nurses should have done back when he first started having these problems (like lidocaine gel for his poor fingers).  She has a very take-charge personality, which is really a blessing in a case like this.  With her help, I think my dad has a much better chance of getting through this.

I don't know how to thank her for her help, I don't know how to tell her how much I appreciate her.  A card seems to be too small, but that is what I will be sending.  How do you thank someone for saving your father's life? 

I got online tonight and noticed that some jerk had posted about eight or nine trackbacks with animal screwing themes.  All were deleted and blocked.  I guess I must have pissed some monster off out there, for them to try and link me to animal sex abuse sites.  Losers is what they are, the whole lot of them.

A police officer in Fremont, CA escorted a 17 year old home after a traffic incident and was attacked by five angry chihuahuas.  The officer had minor injuries to his ankles which were treated at a local hospital before he returned to duty.

I guess this is what people mean when they talk about ankle biters....

In Utah, a dog owner did not restrain his pet...and 130 show sheep, valued at over $1300 each (total value approximately $170,000) were chased by that dog onto a Union Pacific railroad track and killed by a train.

The sheep owners had been breeding their show stock for 20 years and refining that stock for that entire time.  All that hard work is now gone; only eight of their herd survived and the ewes lost the lambs they were carrying due to the stress of the attack.

The dog owner said he was sorry.  I don't think "sorry" covers the lives of those sheep or the cost to their owners.