Getting ready for the long vacation:2012
 

We are getting ready for our summer vacation in the boonies with no electricity or wifi (except for a small generator and free wifi at the laundromat in town, which is a several hours trip).

So I'm just reminding posters here if they have questions, now is the time to ask them.

I'd also appreciate others here taking up the slack and helping newbies. We should be back around Sept 2nd, give or take a week. Alot depends on Oreo, our 14yr old cat, and if she worsens with her cancer.
As of now, the Vet says we can take her...after all the blood work he checked out 2 wks ago. I think this will be her last trip, as she has outlived all predictions. Her photo is in my album along with other vacation photos too..in all 3 albums.

We go to Northern Lake Huron in the UP of Michigan...as shown in my current siggie pic. The island our family owns privately is one of the few boreal forests left in the US. This is what a boreal forest is:
http://vcebiology.wikispaces.com/Boreal+Forest

I'll be putting up a new avatar as a reminder and new siggie, a couple of days before we leave. You can send me PMs still, as when we go to get food or the laundromat, I try the wifi there if it is working. I check my PMs first. So that is the best way to reach me. There may be a delay of up to a week however, for any answers. Many questions can be answered by using the SEARCH function here... its link is in my siggie too.
Our target leave date is still not set, Maybe July 21, 23 or 28, depending on what goes on here. The 23 is the most likely however.

If anyone posts to me here, while I am gone, please bump up this post.
I'd appreciate it.

Escanaba in da Moonlight?

Doc

Escanaba is on Lake Michigan. We've been there many a time. We used to work in the UP of Michigan.

have a relaxing time getting away from it all!

That was a good laugh.

Haven't been to Escanaba yet, but we do pass the signs pointing to it on I-75!;)

That whole southern shore of the UP is very nice tho!

The whole UP is beautiful. At least that's what we think. :winky:

I know. I was attempting to make a Yooper (UPer) joke. The flick is hilarious; Jeff Daniels grew up in MI. Another of his indie flicks, Super Sucker (about door to door vacuum cleaner salesmen) is also set in MI.

Doc

I know you were but I could not resist. :ROTFLMAO:

Oreo is having some new health problems. I am not sure if this will delay our departure, or if we can still take her, or if it is going to be the time to put her to sleep. This involves her inability to vocalize and her throat which is suddenly swollen.
It seems like a serious thing to me. She has a tumor which has
been fairly quiet lately, on that side of her neck.

I am taking her in to the Vet early this morning for an evaluation.

So sorry to hear this. Hope they can make her more omfortable and she can make the trip.

Just got back.... sad sad :Sob:

Oreo has worsened considerably in the past 2 wks. Her neck is swollen (can't meow) and her abdominal mass is far bigger with a new bud on it the size of an egg.

Our vet doesn't think she will make a 5 wk trip. He said a high dose pred would probably take down her throat, but not the abdominal mass. Since is would be a long trip to find a vet open in the boonies, she could be in considerable pain if that emergency occurred. (which he thinks will). The vet thinks since this sudden turn for the worst happened so quickly that it will continue quickly. It is therefore going to be a painful vacation for her.

So after discussing with hubby by phone, he finally agreed and
he will take her back at 3:30 for the euthanasia.

I am very sad and wrecked over this. Our other old cats died 2 months apart a year and a half ago!
This photo is of all 3 of them on our porch upNorth not too long ago on vacation, when they were still a threesome. They are looking to see if the "dreaded" dog would be coming down the path to us, from a cousin's place. LOL It is a funny photo.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/al...pictureid=2025

I am so sorry to hear this but I think you are making the right decision. But that does not make it any easier - I know. Take care.

I am very sorry for your family, but I am sure it was a good decision.

A strange thing happened today, over this.

Weezie our young black cat watched us take Oreo away, and was very concerned since I was upset and crying and talking to Oreo in a special way.

Then hubby returned with Oreo's remains. He put them in the box on the picnic table where she usually enjoyed our yard.

Weezie found this and sat a vigil over the box/remains until he came back out with the shovel to bury Oreo. This kind of thing has never happened to us with an euthanasia. So he brought Weezie into the house while he buried Oreo's remains. He didn't think Weezie should see this and I agreed.

Many tears are being shed today over this event. We both knew and understood that Oreo had a limited life with this rare cancer. But that doesn't seem to matter when the time comes to release her from her suffering. sigh :Sob:

Thank you for your post. The other seems to sense it. I know it was that way with our dog and cat. The cat missed the dog terribly when we had to euthanize the dog. It is amazing to see though. Take care.

I love my pets. The ones that are still with me and the pets I have lost over the years.:(I know the heartache....It hurts so much. I am so VERY sorry. Rest in Peace with no more pain and swelling Oreo.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../Pet20loss.gif

Thank you everyone for the wonderful support.

Last night was rough. Hubby now wants to postpone the vacation and not even GO! So we are aiming for Tuesday.
We lost yesterday totally for packing. There is lots of packing,
because the place is so remote, stores are 90 miles away except for a Mom and Pop small grocery (with very high prices).

Hubby is acutely feeling Oreo's loss and needs to cry some I think. So I am getting him to talk about her, so he won't bottle it up. I know yesterday and last night I had a hot rock in MY stomach which with the passing hours became very painful.

Today we will putz around gathering up things, cleaning Oreo's bedding, and taking some preparatory feline things with us in case the rescue place up there has "the" special kitten for us.
Our friend up their runs a Rescue and I contacted her yesterday and she has 8 kittens. 2 are already spoken for but she is going to save the others until we look at them. They are 8 wks old now. I ordered a nylon indoor/outdoor pet "pen" so we can keep any kitten should we get one, more safely up there (I am having it delivered upNorth from Petco). We are definitely going to need a new companion for hubby. Oreo was his girl, and he is already missing her.

We're going out to the stores today...getting him out so we can talk in the car, I think is best. He is rather stoic and in this very sad time he needs to let his grief out.

Weezie is avoiding us... stayed out all night to worry me. I will have to work on HER too. She is looking for Oreo... sniffing the air. :(

I'm sorry to hear of this, I lost a young cat to leukemia years ago before they had the vaccine and another to liver cancer and I know its hard. We had to euthanize my beloved old Siamese (Weird Harold) who had been my daughters faithful companion since she was a year old when he was 14 due to kidney problems, they didn't have the good food for it at that time. My 17 year old female lived a full life but it was still hard, she had CHF and collapsed when anything startled her.

I wonder if cats have some concept of death. Ny father had his hospital bed in the living room. My old female never got onto it until the night before he died early AM. she slept on the bed for several hours that night. I saw a tv show about resident cats in nursing homes that behave similarly

Loved the 'guarding against the evil dog' photo..thats their job.

judi

Animals need to grieve too. When my oldest son's dog died, her brother who was from the same litter so they grew up together and were constant companions, would sleep on top of her grave. It was so sad to watch. Time will help heal the hurt all of you are feeling and maybe you'll find the perfect kitten in that new litter up north. My thoughts are certainly with you all during this sad time.

I recall an amazing death story with a cat. The babysitter I had growing up, was from the Ukraine. I went to her house after school each weekday. When we moved, I was 12 and didn't visit there much anymore. Her daughter who lived with her had cervical cancer, (in the days before pap tests). They had a fluffy cat for many years. It had to be almost 15-20 yrs old.
The daughter was very ill at the end, and died at home.
(fast moving cancer). She was in her 40's. The cat sat on her
every day near the end. And when she died in bed, the cat howled and howled still sitting on her. It knew. Like the nursing home cats we see on CNN and in magazines now and then.

One thing our late Tippy did for me, was when I first took my first Tramadol...I didn't expect to hallucinate and be weird and nauseous. Tippy sensed this and slept on me all night long. (she never does this normally). So if I rolled over, she moved and hopped back on. She kept this vigil on me all night...so she knew I was in "trouble". I'll never forget that night. It might be like the dogs that sense low blood sugar in diabetics, or warn patients of seizures. I don't know how they do it, if it is an odor or heart rate change or what?

Weezie barfed twice last night and this morning and she never barfs. So I think she is upset. I suppose the trip and the excitement of the vacation location with new scents and perhaps a new kitten to play with will distract her.

I feel a bit relieved that this is over...I was watching Oreo so intently and wondering if "today"would be the day of worsening...for a WHOLE YEAR, that now I am released from that worrisome task.

Here is a funny picture of our son, Oreo, and hubby on the boat.
Oreo would sit there with him. When I took this telephoto candid shot, our son had come up for a short few days from college, and she needed to get used to him again. But this photo is typical of how she would be in the middle of conversations, and our life in general. Looks like she is understanding what hubby is describing! And maybe doesn't agree..LOL

Great picture!!! I do hope you get a new kitty soon. It helps the pain a little. :grouphug:

getting ready for returning soon.... sometime late next week.

We had a rocky beginning up here, with Weezie having a mystery illness suddenly, which turned out to be a toxic bite of some kind. She almost died one night.

The Vet in Pickford, talked to me over the phone and we got her out of her coma on the weekend back then. Two visits later and two wonder drugs (Convenia long acting antibiotic and Rimadyl for trauma both injections) and she is now on the mend.

We adopted a new kitten here too from the local rescue which is run by a friend of ours. Her name is Maya and she is really cute:

Another major bummer: Our phones stopped working--Sprint--
after the first week! And we just talked to a guy here in the laundromat whose Verizon is not working. Only AT & T is working here now! So it is goodbye to Sprint when we get back! :(

See you all soon!

Sure a cute kitten. :Tip-Hat: Glad Weezie is O.K. now. :)