I Am Still Here

I might have the flu bug. Maybe, I don't know. I have been sick since the week before Christmas. I stayed away from the land of Blog, lest I be contagious.

Yes, I am aware that it does not work that way. I feel better, but I still do not feel good. I am still coughing form the depths of my body. Would not be surprised to find my toenails gone, I have coughed so hard. My voice comes and goes. I sound like a heavy smoker upon awakening ..... and it does not go away.

As tired and bored as I am from doing nothing much all day long, I just don't seem to have the energy to get much done. I cooked today, but the efforts left me in a cold, clammy sweat. I took note that this place is rather dusty, but, unless little elves visit in the night, I suppose it will still be waiting for me to gather the energy to deal with it.

My eyes hurt for about 10 days, preventing the joy of reading to while away the hours. It is cold, here. So cold that Wall-E, the wonder dog is refusing to go outside. Normally he is happy to go out with any other dog heading out.

Martha, the boy cat, has decided to use the litter box. What has he been doing for the past 6 years? Well, he has been taking it outside. Exclusively. He would wake me in the wee hours of the morning and would linger near the door during the day. Now, suddenly he has decided to take advantage of that box of litter that has been at the ready all these years.

You may be wondering why I kept a litter box all this time. Well, just in case. Should he ever find himself stuck inside with no access to the great outdoors, he would have a place to go. Even when we go on a trip, he waits patiently for our friend to let him in and out. For 6 years. I would check the litter from time to time, but found no evidence of use. I would even change it and provide a nice clean, smooth layer of Fresh Step for his going pleasure.

So, imagine my surprise (and utter annoyance) when he woke me around 3 AM one morning (his usual habit) and I stumbled along to open the back door and he swished past me to the litter box in my laundry room and proceeded to make use of it! I suppose he felt the need to let me know that he had chosen to change things up a bit, but I was not amused. He could have shown me this during my awake hours!

Martha has not been outside in over 10 days! With no hunting, he is becoming even fatter. He still gets limited exercise tormenting his canine siblings. Eddie loves to wrestle with Martha endlessly. The others tend to just ignore him unless he decides to launch a surprise attack from behind a chair or from high above. Then they will bark at him and give chase.

Martha's main path to safety is to jump up on the half-door that separates the office from our living quarters and escape into the office. I am not sure exactly what happened a few days ago, but Martha apparently misjudged his jump and ended up in the floor with the curtains he grabbed on his way down.

I was busy coughing and did not witness the accident, but Martha must have caught his shoulder on something sharp, resulting in a good sized tear in his skin. He has an area about the size of a quarter that has no skin on it. Totally raw.

I have been cleaning it and applying bacterial ointment. He lets me do as I wish (he learned that fighting me was pointless when he was but a scrap of fur), but I can't keep it covered. I applied a nice bandage, then wrapped it with an ace bandage. He took it off when I went to bed and presented it to me the next morning.

I must be doing something right. No signs of infection and it seems to be growing a nice layer of transparent skin. Hopefully, it will not need a vet visit. I am not up to it!

While coughing and moaning about my aches and pains, I have been binge watching "The Incredible Dr. Pol" a series about a vet on Nat Geo. I have absorbed many skills that I hope never to use!

Now I am off to bed, dosed with Nyquil. Tomorrow should be better.