Michelle and Mannie (GA)
Member Since 2009
Happy 4th L&LL! Enjoy your Holiday, be safe, and HAVE SOME FUN!
Good Morning LL!
(YUM! I Love coffee!), and Happy Caturday!LL! It's is I, Elsa, Kitteh Barista!, president and CEO of Coffee Cat! Life is GOOD! Coffee is on, Lola and Bug , founders of Paw Prints Pizza, are ready to go! Want pizza? it is MEGA GOOD! They are busy getting ready for.... uh.... I dunno! but there sure is a flurry of activity in the kitchen. They are offering a special on the Mannie and Stu Pizza Special: Hot Dogs RULE Pizza, buy one get one free! Try it, it is mega good. Mannie said so! so. well. anyways.
Coffee time! For today, I proudly offer Elsa's special 10 hour energy coffee, and triple shot espresso, beans from the heart of central Ethiopia. For my mocha fans: Venti Quad orange and vanilla mocha, laced with orange swirls, topped with chocolate whip, garnished with orange zest, slivered vanilla beans and chocolate swirls....... and orange drizzle! SWEET OH! No worries, a dollop of orange and vanilla and chocolate and caramel swirl ice cream, on top of a dollop of fudge, and a chocolate caramel drizzle.... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh....... mega good! I hope everyone has had a great week. We have been.... well, busy again!
I just can't imagine not being on the go. 
It keeps us out of trouble, and makes for great times! I often think back on the weeks happenings, and wonder how in the world did we do all that! It was the same this past week. Even with the added care for Elsa, and the addition of a new furkid Vanessa, and the increased intensity of the pool, we have mange to maintain a week of adventure, and fun. Weather was darn cool too: Warm, like 85/90 warm, and sunny! It has been a good week, a very busy one, but great. 
And first up today.... Elsa News. She is doing fairly well.
We continue to be on fluids every other day, and will continue in that mode unless it appears that she needs them daily. She is also on pepcid, and cerenia to deal with any upset tummy issues. We have not had to give any cerenia in a couple of week, she seems to be handling meals well. Her appy is OK, not great but OK. We attribute alot of that to our uncommonly warm/hot weather, as none of the cats her are eating with gusto. It is way warmer than any of them are used to. She was also on clavamox to deal with her mouth as she is not a dental candidate. That has been discontinued. The vet(s) and I discussed doing this by flash method, but that too has been dropped, for now, until there is any indication she needs it. Her phosphorus values are up significantly enough that we will be adding a phosphorus binder. Thanks you Amy for your recommendation of ConSeal-AIH, which has been reported to be a more palatable form of Aluminum hydroxide. Elsa has been eating so well that I won't want to add anything to her food that is not palatable, and loose that aspect that is now working so well. THX Amy for getting us some, as my vet was unable to order it. We retest BW in a month to see how things are. Elsa is a good at home fluid taker. She sits on my lap, DH will stroke her head and talk to her while I administer her fluids. She continues to be as good as gold. I will have to laugh though, as soon as we are done, and she knows when that is, she sits up, hisses a few comments, and off she goes. That aspect has not changed. She is such a tortie! She gets handful of kitty treats for being such a good patient. She remains active, doing Elsa things. It is nice to see her just being Elsa.Elsa, Wishing she had thumbs so she could open the screen door....
Vanessa is doing well. She has made alot of adjustments to being in a new home, but no longer remains under the bed most of the time. She now comes out during the day, spends most of her time in various places in the bedrooms there, no longer roaming just when the other cats are quiet. We are now finding her coming upstairs alot, exploring, sometimes spending some time in the living room. A couple of days ago she was seen playing with Mannie's nanner stash. That was so totally cool. She spends her nights in the basement area for the most part, well as much as I can tell. I have awakened during the night to find her sitting next to me, sleeping , or just having a purr-fest. at 2AM no less.
She is such an affectionate kitty, that I hope soon she will take on the lay of the land, and live upstairs, where we spend most of our time. Several nights I have brought Vanessa kitty treats. Lola, who cannot resist them, followed, so those two sat nose to nose, two feet apart, and ate their treats together no growling or hissing. Vanessa and the others will pass each other no issues. I have to laugh though. Sometimes vanessa will walk by the others, look, hiss a soft gentle hiss and continues on her way. Cracks me up. It as if she is saying: "I'm here, I'm staying, so deal". 
Things are improving. It is great to find Vanessa out most of the time Vanessa, out and about, checking out the upstairs...
It has been a week in the pool! It has just become the norm for us, we go each week, and just never tire of it. It proves to be such fun for both boys, and their excitement with it all has not wavered. Nicholas's swim lessons continue, though with the onslaught of summer, things have changed there quite a bit.
Summer swim classes are offered on a five days a week basis 
and not twice a week as they are during the school year. oh. my. We are in a struggle to make this work for Nicholas. I do not have an issue with it, and have adjusted our activities accordingly, the other DGP's however will not support it, say it all infringes on their personal time (WHAT??), but I have come to an agreement with them. They will continue with Mondays, the pool and lessons, and Tuesday when they feel they can spare the time. Their attitude baffles me, but I am grateful that they will at least give him his Mondays, and that Nicholas will be able to continue with lessons and the pool they way that summer pool lessons work. He is beginning to voice his opinion, alot, and wants to be there, and apparently has told them this also. I have to admit that 5 mornings a week is a bit much, but in talking with Nicholas, and watching him in his first week of class each day, he just LOVES being there all that time. He says he is so happy that he can swim as much as he does. Nicholas continues to do well in class, working on learning side breathing, elementary back float and stroke , and the beginnings of breaststroke. He just loves class, and can't wait for his lessons to begin. He still literally runs to class when it is time. They have started to introduce the diving blocks, and beginning dives from the side of the pool. He absolutely loves that. The added benefit to all this pool time, and since summer sessions do not open the big deep water pool, William has been able to swim with his brother. This has been fabulous! William is so happy to be swimming with his brother. 
Class days for Nicholas this week were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Outside of class he still is our little energizer fishie, loves swimming in the big pool, and will often forgo the beach area play for the 6 and unders. He'd rather be in deep water. William continues to do well, and has gotten very comfortable in the water, on top and down under. He likes to float, and will do so, on his tummy in the shallow beach area. He tells everyone he is swimming! He's also started to do some jump ins. Cool! He's learning that jumping in can be fun too. How fun! Lessons ought to go well for him too, when he is eligible. We are grateful for our time in the pool. It has all enabled to boys to explore anther aspect of growing up, one they really enjoy. Our swim days this week were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Friday Night. The added FUN for Friday was that the boys mom had the day off and was able to swim with her boys on Friday, and watch Nicholas's class. Even better was that their dad had the afternoon off, so we were all able to swim as a family on Friday night. WHAT FUN for the boys. They were so excited to have their mom and dad there. And of course we wrapped up the night with a burger feast for Nicholas, and William too. Always the ending highlight of the boys Friday.GO NICHOLAS! GO WILLIAM !!
Nicholas, mom, and William, looking for mermaids...
William and Nicholas: Exploring the depths of the lagoon....
The week was busy.... three days of adventure after adventure. Weather was great this week, with sunny skies and temps in the 85-90 range
. DANG! It has been HOT here! we were able to spend alot of time outdoors, from the river at Bothell Landing Park, the Snoqualmie River at Twin falls, and all that swim time! The extra pool time has been a factor, but I've adjusted how we approach the afternoons, places we visit to that the experience they get remains much as they are used to, and want to do. Success! They have been extremely good days for the boys. We have been so warm in the afternoons, like 92/95 warm, that the rivers have been a god-send. They can get as wet as they want, play in the shore sand, build these lakes and fill them with river water, or just sit in the river , toss rocks and cool off. That has proven to be such great summer fun. We have been lucky too to see all kinds of birds while on the rivers, several eagle and osprey. Both boys have found too new generations of fish in the pools at the sides of the rivers. All only an inch or so long. That is such fun too, hunting for these pools of very tiny fish.William and Nicholas: Exploring the river, literally...
William and Nicholas: Rivers RULE!
For my own personal time, I continue to hike the local trails here when I can: Meadowdale, Picnic Point, The neighborhood, Mesika, Scriber Lake, the upper park trails at home, and even an early dawn at Picnic Point. With the new swim schedule I was unable to devote a full day to hiking, so opted instead to hike a close to home, mountain area waterfall that I knew I could get to, spend some time at, and make it home at a decent hour: Twin Falls. That was great, HOT out there, but the falls were beautiful. Going forward Sunday will become my new hike days, a full day that I can spend "out there".
A portion of Twin Falls
Normalcy in Four MusketeerVille!
(Bug missed the photo shoot, silly boy!) Kitties are doing well, and there really isn't much change from last week. Bug is still being cuddly and befriending Vanessa, Elsa is still holding her own even with a few new issues, and Lola is still escaping, and making sure Vanessa knows her place. Vanessa has decided enough of that, and let's Lola know she is her to stay. Still no fighting, so all is well with he group. It is interesting that Bug has no desire to be outdoors, still hasn't tried, even when we left the door open for him. . Lola however.... Elsa seems to be doing OK this morning. She's made two trips outdoors, made a couple of passes at the fuds bowl with a few nibbles, meowed at me a few times, and is now lounging outdoors in the sunshine under her favorite azalea plant in the yard. Lola is currently running from window to window (it seems to be her Saturday morning), plotting, I am sure, her next escape route. I can't wait to see how our new addition, Vanessa, will fit into the three ring circus, once she utilizes the whole house. Guess they will have to become the Four Musketeers! Have a great Caturday everyone. It will be catch up day here, and time for me to recover from three very busy days with Nicholas and William. I hope too to get in a woods walk, maybe the shore too, before we hit the 90's here later this afternoon.
KITTIES!! Remember: BLUE, think GREEN
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We are too on Vanessa. it is a long process, but she ventures out more upstairs alot now. so hopefully in good time he will be as comfortable upstairs as she is downstairs 
We need rain! Cuz now my automatic sprinkler system is on the fritz...
