Odds And Ends And Catching Up

So much for trying to blog on a more regular basis, we've been busy with I don't know what since not that much seems to get done, but the days just seem to fly past. It also doesn't help when I'm still feeling kind of dizzy, which in turn makes me very cranky and irritable.

So, what's new?

Keith got his official signed and certified conductor's card in the mail, so he is now a card carrying BNSF employee. He still has a 60 day probationary period, but he's gotten this far so I don't see any problem getting through that. His mental status seems to be somewhat better, basically all the stress and anxiety was caused by a huge fear of failure. I think it's good that he has figured that out because there were times when I seriously thought he was losing his mind. Kind of like Oprah, who apparently hasn't gotten enough attention lately so now has to create some big news about her almost nervous breakdown. Oprah, I'm kind of tired of you.

And, once again, Bakersfield has not failed to amaze me at how unsafe it is to walk or ride a bike in this town. Last week a man was riding his bike down Coffee Road, and yes, it was at night when it might be a little harder to see someone on a bike, but he was in the bike lane where he belonged, and got run over and killed. Because the driver was not paying attention and yakking on her (hands free but it really makes no difference) cell phone. The news stories were all asking the question as to why so many pedestrians and bike riders get killed in this town (26 so far this year) and to me it's fairly simple. Because the people that drive around in this town are extremely self centered and you'd better GET OUT OF MY WAY because I am so much more important than you. I am in too big of a hurry to take 3 seconds out of my day and let you cross the street, and don't even think about trying to ride a bike because anyone who rides a bike must be a lowlife who can't afford a car!

I keep thinking back on the day when we were driving up the road and a man in one of those Jazzy scooter wheelchair things was waiting at the corner for the light to change so he could cross the road and as soon as the light did change, not one, but two cars turned right in front of him before he even had a chance to start crossing. Because disabled people take too long to cross the street and I AM MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU!

Okay, rant over.

We had to take Genie to the vet yesterday afternoon. Late last week Keith noticed her acting funny, like she wasn't feeling well, and then saw a nasty discharge on her ear. He thought maybe she had an ear infection and tried to clean her up a bit, and we debated about taking her to the vet and thought we'd wait a day or two to see if she got better on her own. Well, on Saturday, she looked awful and we see a big lump behind her ear. Of course we are thinking cancerous tumor or something, so we called the vet and made an appointment. By Monday, the lump had gone down some and she looked a little better, but we still took her in. Turns out that she had gotten bitten by another cat and it got infected. Her lump got drained with a needle and she got a shot of antibiotics. The vet said that it might come back and need lancing, but just to keep an eye on her. She looks SO much better today, much more energetic and the lump is totally gone.

I think I know who the culprit was, Genie usually steers clear of the black and white cat that comes through the yard on a regular basis, so I don't think he would have bitten her. I think it was Buddy. A day or two before she started getting sick, Keith had gotten up in the middle of the night because dogs were barking and as he opened the back door Buddy shot right out of it. Keith is outside in his underwear trying to lure Buddy back in and finally gave up and left him outside and went back to bed. So, Buddy was outside for 3 or 4 hours and he has a thing about Genie and has chased and attacked her before, and I've seen how hard he bites Mimi sometimes, so I think Buddy is the bad one here. I'm just glad the vet visit didn't cost us hundreds of dollars this time.