SAVVY JO

Savvy Jo died today. She got out of bed sometime during the night and she fell. I found her on the concrete floor this morning. I gathered her up and put her back in her bed. She was unable to stand and unable to walk. She also was unable to drink. I wrapped her up in a blanket and lay with her for a while holding her close. She was still alert and aware enough that she liked that a lot. She was unable to drink so I gave her water through a large syringe the VET gave us for administering liquid medicines. She clearly was in a great deal of trouble so I called the VET for an appointment. I ran the car for some time with the AC running and then loaded her in the front seat after the car had gotten cool. As I drove to the VET, I kept my right hand over on her side and talked softly to her. She died shortly before we got to the VET. I knew she had died because my hand could not feel the rise and fall of her breathing anymore.

I am heartbroken. I loved her so very much. She had been with us since June, 1993. The River Patrol had found Savvy Jo and Jake on a concrete stoop with the Mississippi River lapping the top of their stoop. Their mother and other siblings floated dead in the Mississippi nearby. It was the 1993 flood. The shelter brought them to Alton State Hospital on Friday for the patients to see. They were both scheduled for death on Monday. I adopted them on Saturday. Four days later they both developed Parvo.

My VET and the Emergency Vet Hospital managed to get them through Parvo. It was touch and go for many days. Two weeks later, I took them home from their inpatient stay in the hospital. I remember the discharge instructions were to feed them bland non fatty foods. I took them home and that very day they found a can of mixed nuts (mainly cashews) chewed through the top and ate the whole can. And their 17 years with me began. She hated baths and I think it had to do with that experience on the stoop with the Mississippi River lapping at her feet. I remember one hot summer afternoon, Rhonda and I attempting to bathe her in the back yard. She escaped in "full bubble" and went running wildly down the cul de sac in front of the house with bubbles flying off her in a jet stream as Rhonda and I gave chase. It looked like a scene from a cartoon. The neighbors stood in front of their houses laughing at the scene.

We used to go to Evansville quite often to visit my father in the last years of his life. There's a Dairy Queen along the highway and I would always stop at that DQ and buy each of them a "baby cone". Both of them could recognize a DQ sign from quite a distance. When I moved to Appalachia for a year, they accompanied me. The trip down, they rode in the front seat of my tiny yellow Metro which was on a trailer behind the UHaul. I think both of them stood on their back legs the whole trip with their front paws on the dashboard checking out the Kentucky stallions and fillies in the fields. In these last few months, she became known as the Beagle Burrito because of her love of being swaddled and cuddled in a blanket.

I loved them both beyond all reason and measure and they returned that love a million times over. They loved us so much it was beyond any known measurement. I did not love one more than the other, but the grief of giving up the last one is overwhelming.

MORE PICTURES

As you can tell, Fraidy Sadie who hates change and any and all strangers who come to her house, ventured out. She's under the table where all the backsplash tiles are stacked waiting to be installed. It's not finished, but it's moving along.

We have countertops, not backsplash--but we have countertops

Finally, last Thursday the counter tops arrived and they were installed. One very long piece had to be sent back and changed because they got the measurements wrong, but it looks gorgeous. The tile backsplash should be installed this coming week.

One of the things I have noticed is that the design Eric and I came up with is very good. It functions. I notice a dramatic difference in function when cooking.

PAINTING

Neal is here finishing up the painting in the kitchen. Allegedly, the countertop should be installed tomorrow. Then, all that will be left is the tiled backspash.

Neal has done a really good job on the painting. I have his number programmed in my cell phone so I can contact him in the future if we need other painting jobs completed.

We are getting close and as soon as it is done, I'll be publishing photos.

WONDER IF I QUALIFY FOR UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

Last Thursday at 4:15 pm while driving home from a Probable Cause Hearing in which I had testified and won, my cell phone rang. And, my world--as I know it--ended. I answered the phone. It was my boss telling me that the state had awarded the contract under which I am employed to some other company. My job ends August 16, 2010. My health insurance ends. My malpractice insurance ends.

He's going to check and see if I qualify for COBRA. Meanwhile, I have contacted the State Employees Retirement System and discovered that I can buy decent health insurance for $500.00 a month. Of course, the difficulty is coming up with $500.00 a month when you don't have a job.

At 63, I am an unemployed PhD scrambling to find some way to support myself, support my dogs, contribute to the household, and help other family members through very difficult times. Oh, and I have to continue to pay major legal bills because some inmate sued me for diagnosing him a pedophile. Then, when he lost the first round in federal court, he appealed it to a higher court.

So folks, I may be away for a time. I'm going to be sort of busy looking for work. I got a list of every public defender in Illinois and I plan to send every public defender in the state a vita and a cover letter announcing my availability to do sexually violent predator evaluations for the defense. Going to be just a tad busy scrambling to attempt to find work. And, if push comes to shove (and it very well may), you may find me working as a greeter at the front door of the local Wal Mart.

QUINCY

I'm headed for Quincy. I need to evaluate an inmate tomorrow morning. I'll be back home late tomorrow afternoon.

It's a nice drive to Quincy (through Hannibal, MO) except for that horribly treacherous bridge across the Mississippi from the Missouri side to the Illinois side. Coming back, Illinois has a big, wide, new bridge with high sides. Missouri's bridge is narrow, low and does not have any sides. Scares me to death. Once there, the hotel is small and quite charming. I've stayed there many times in the last four years since I began this job. The coat hooks in the rooms are heavy, metal Fleur de Lis. Somehow, just that tiny touch raises the standard to a low key elegance. They also have this little old lady (in her 80's) that cooks a really lovely country breakfast. The hotel is small, quiet, the staff is intrinsically respectful of guest's privacy, and the service is excellent.

I HURT ALL OVER

I started the day mopping the last of the grout haze off that huge kitchen and dining room floor.

Then, I started the process of complete reorganization of the kitchen or maybe it's organization for the first time. If I remember correctly there are 21 cabinets and 29 drawers now. I am not finished yet. I have not even started on the drawers. But, I have made major headway on the cabinets.

We now have a baking center, a beverage center, a knife center, several cabinets dedicated to storage of staple dry goods, an "everyday" dishes center near the dishwasher and sink, a savory center, a cabinet dedicated to the hated plastic storageware that used to fall out on me every time I opened the door, and a center for the fancy dinnerware that we rarely use.

I have discarded many things. We had packed up two boxes of Eric's mother's good crystal to give to younger people in the family. I discovered another entire cabinet of it that we missed. His parents had lots of really nice crystal. We had quite a substantial collection of lids for pans. I took every pan out of their cupboard and down from their pot rack and matched a lid to them specifically. All the other lids are discarded. I believe we have 15 or 16 really nice pieces of cookware. I discarded the cookware that was not so nice. But, we had about 30 lids. I figure even if we are cooking in every single piece of the cookware at the same time, there is no way any pot needs more than one lid. We had quite a collection of mugs. I kept the ones we actually use and disposed of all the rest.

Tomorrow, I'm starting on drawers. I believe we have at least 3 sets of flatware.

Fortunately, Eric has spent the day with his brother in Columbia.

I WISH I KNEW......

Sometimes, I wonder who, if anyone, reads this blog. I don't know if I am writing to myself or if others actually see it. I found out by accident that Eric's brother reads it. Eric mentioned it in passing. I was surprised because I didn't know he knew I had a blog. I am very pleased that he reads it. I know Curt reads it and the reason I know he does is he makes comments every now and then. If there are others reading the blog, please make comments and give feedback.

THINGS ARE BEGINNING TO COME TOGETHER

Today, Pat finished the grouting. The floor is finally done. Well, not totally, I have to mop the last of the grout haze off tonight. We are still lacking the new counters, new sink, new faucet, tile back splash, cabinet hardware, and the painter. But, it's coming along. The stove got moved back in it's proper place and we have a Living Room again. It feels less chaotic.

The new pot rack is hung. I bought it in Chicago when I had a two day trial towards the end of May. Last night we started working on hanging it and found out that the ceiling rafters or joists or whatever they are called ran a different way than we thought. We also found out that the rafters or joists were significantly farther apart than the pot rack is wide. In order to find out where they were and how they ran, Eric got me the huge tall ladder out of the garage. I climbed up into the attic access with a flashlight and tape measure. I got the data, came down the ladder, did not close the attic access and went to tell him what I'd found. When he went back to the ladder because whatever I said to him made no sense, he discovered that Fraidy Sadie had climbed the ladder and was buried in attic insulation. She hates strangers, doesn't like change and loves to hideout in high places. This is the cat who lived on the top of the AC ducts in the basement for four years only coming down to eat and use her box (when we were gone). The only way we knew she was in residence was we could climb the ladder and see her green eyes peering out at us from the darkness. Anyway, last night Eric had to rescue the stupid cat from the attic insulation and she fought the rescue with all her strength. After rescuing Fraidy Sadie, he discovered that we needed some different hardware to hang the pot rack. He got it today and hung the pot rack. It's beginning to come together. Less chaos. Still messy, but I'm cleaning as fast as I can.

"AREA RUG" MADE OF TILE

Eric, Pat and I just crawled around on the floor and created the design you see in the picture. It's the tile "area rug" that is centered in front of the sink, refrigerator, and stove. In the picture, we had just came up with a design all of us could live with. Pat is upstairs right now installing it and he will come back in the next 24 to 48 hours and grout it.