Pet Lovers

[GingerPeach]

Dear Ralphie, Finn, and mom @Drythe 

We are checking to make sure Finn is all recovered and feeling better.

We hope no more holes in anybody!

Love,

Kiku

[Drythe]

Dear Kiku & her Sweet Mom @GingerPeach 

We haven’t written because we like to write you long letters, and this has been a busy medical appointment time for  Mom and Grand Paw.  Somehow those appointments all seem to clump together don’t they?

We are all OK.  Finn is working on growing furs over his hurt.  Robbie and Bertie went to the Veteran, Bertie needs to KEEP loosing weight and not stop. I know your Mom watches your treat goodies.  Us cats get to free feed on dry food all day, guess that’s one of those cat/dog things!

We keep having those Tornado Warnings.  I wanted to go out and look, but Mom says NO!  Sooooo, Robbie, Bertie, Finn, Fleur, ReeRee, A flashlight, the Phone, and ME all go sit in a closet size  / safe room we have.  The dogs don’t like it at all, us cats are well... Mom says I can say the word peeved.  The longest we’ve spent was 4 and 1/2 hours.  A dairy farm just 2 miles away was hit by one.  Lost of damage to their solar field, and their wind field, but no big hurts.  Still, we have Watches today.  It has been almost every day.   Mom doesn’t say so, but I sense that she is scared of Tornados.  How about your Mom?

Mom had had a new kind of appointment yesterday.  It was with a group of Anesthesiologists who run a pain clinic at a big medical center.  Mom says to say  It is not a ‘prescription’ kind of place, they do ablation, little, tiny batteries that power patches to go on steroid patches for hurtie places, cold and hot washes, and some other interesting stuff.  Yesterday they taught Mom how to measure her pain.  Surprising no one has ever really taught her this in all this time!  Dad went with her, and he told them she always Under-reports her pain.  And she found out by really thinking, and talking about it with them that she is always in pain, and just because she is used to it doesn’t mean that it is normal, or 0 on the scale, because 0 means NO pain which she never has.  It’s just normal for her, but not OK.  So then they talked more and decided that her normal is (just sitting still) is really a 3 or 4 on the academic pain scale.  Then they talked about how more hurts in different places make the pain, like when she moves, go up higher on the scale.  It was a good learning experience.  She has always been a bit proud about being ‘brave’ not being all ‘whimpy’ just because of being sick.  But the Docs told her that she might could get some help with the pain, and not have to use so many of her ‘troops’ to be brave but have them instead to use for other things.  Any ways she is going to think hard about it and maybe take some baby steps.  Some of this isn’t real clear to me, but she said she just bet your Mom would understand.  

It is getting dark with another bad Thunder storm coming in.  Hope we don’t have to go to the closet thingy again!

Much love to Y’all,

Ralphie

[GingerPeach]

Dear Ralphie and Mom @Drythe 

We are always happy to hear from you and we love reading your long letters.  But we sure are not complaining that you don't write all the time.  We know you have lots of other things to keep you busy.

We are glad to hear Finn is busy growing hairs.  We think pet hairs are the best thing ever.  My mom likes to rub her hands on my hairs.  She says I am extra soft.  I bet all you kitties are extra soft, too.

But we do not want you to be in danger.  Those tornado warnings sound so scary.  I am glad we do not have those where I live.  I don't think I would be very well-behaved if my mom put me in a room all by myself with the door closed.  I don't have any other brothers or sisters to keep me company.  It's good you are not all by yourself.

My mom says we have earthquakes where we live.  She wishes she could find a place safer from those, but she also likes her neighborhood and the new place we found for my walks.  They have the best sidewalks and lots of trees all around.  They are all curvy, not straight and boring like regular sidewalks.  She says they make her happy.  I am happy just being outside with my mom.

We do not like appointments.  They keep mom and me apart.  I don't like my mom to go places without me, even when she comes back with treats for me.  She always says "see you later" and waves at me (she says it's a queen's wave except she uses her whole arm!) when she leaves the house so I know she'll be back soon, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.  My tail always goes down until she comes back home.

Your mom is smart to find new things to help her stop hurting.  My mom has some hurts, too, and they make her just kind of be lazy around the house and take naps sometimes.  I like when we take naps together.  But every once in a while she doesn't even want to take me for a walk, but mostly she does.  We hope to hear good things coming from your mom's appointment and new methods.  My mom tries to ignore pains, too, so she hopes your mom gets lots of relief.  Her doctor gave her some ointment, but it's not very helpful for her hands since the stuff is almost like the water in my water dish.  (The label says it's for knees and big places on people's bodies, not hands.  She thinks her doctor is silly sometimes.)

Big hugs to everybody at your house!  Stay safe and happy and healthy.

Much love,

Kiku

[Drythe]

Dear @GingerPeach  and Pretty Miss Kiku,

Just a fas’ note to assure you, Mommers goes in the closet sized safe room with all of us.  When she goes runnun’ round grabbin’ us all

 up and stuffin’ Us in there she keeps tellin’ Us that those WARNINGS to take COVER were for US too!  Not just her.  I never did know where we were supposed to take that cover to ‘cause we didn’t go anywhere, Jus’ sat there for a long time.

She reads us stories from her phone.  Still, we didn’t like it much, ReeRee and  Bertie ‘jus go

 to sleep, Fleur, and Phin hide, me too!  Robbie was really sad one time ‘cause he had his ‘vac seems’ the day before, and they always make him feel bad.  I hope she brings treats next time, doesn’t that seem like a good idea?

Bye for now, purzzz to Y’all!

[GingerPeach]

We thought you were extra smart since you had that phone all to yourselves, Ralphie.   (But we guessed your mom @Drythe was really the one using it.)  Isn't she a nice mom to tell you stories?  My mom thinks stories are the best way to be calm and happy.

Tell your mom not to forget those treats.  Everybody knows treats are always a good idea.  Stories and treats just go together, don't they?  But make them small just in case you have to stay there longer than your mom expects.  

[GingerPeach]

Dear Ralphie,

Just in case you have to sit in that closet again, ask your mom @Drythe  to show you this picture of me relaxing in the garden.  Maybe it will help to be a little bit calming.  I hope so. 

Love,

Kiku

p.s.  I stopped being calm after this picture was taken because my mom told me I have to get my nails trimmed again pretty soon.                                                                                                            

[Drythe]

Dear Kiku and Mommers @GingerPeach 

I had to laugh!  That beautiful green grass around you looked for a moment as if you were wearing a Porkypine costume!  Do you have those out there?  I've never seen one.

But, no, it's YOU lying there in the Sunny Shines looking all beautiful and serene.  I'm glad you had bright yellow sunnies today.  Mommers saved the picture and she said she would print it out so I could take it with me next time, Thank You very much.  That was very thoughtful of you.

My Mommers has been chasing that VROOOM - VROOOM thingy around the house all day.  I'm tired of it!  Robbie and Bertie got to go out in their huge doggie pen, and the other cats got to go out into the yard, but ME?  I had to stay in and RUN from it.  Do you like the VROOOOM thing?

I spoke with Mom about taking snacks into the safe room.  She said that none of us were going to starve from a few hours without food and that she didn't want to think about the possible consequences.  But, I thought it was a really Good Idea!

Sorry to hear about your nails.  Dad did Bertie's the other night and Bertie gave him a very dirty look.  He can do them really good 'cause his face is all scrunched up anyway.  Do you think if you gave your Mom a mad look she would forget about it?  What if you limped a bit when it was over?  Bet that would make her feel sorry.  But, then, she might take you to the Veteran to see what was wrong - better not.

There is some bad news here at our home.  Another shooting at a college.  I don't know why it just keeps happening.  Sometimes it seems that the humans don't care a bit.

Much Love,

Ralphie

[GingerPeach]

We hope you are safe from storms and other bad things, Ralphie and Mom @Drythe 

We don't have much to add today except Mom thinks I ate something I wasn't supposed to and I'm having a little bit of tummy trouble.  We think it's mostly gone away now.  She is teaching me not to pick up things I'm not supposed to but I'm still learning. Plus Mom had more of those achies like your mom was writing about before.  

Mom found a good quote and she asked me to let you know:

“I want to be around people that do things. I don’t want to be around people anymore that judge or talk about what people do. I want to be around people that dream and support and do things.” 
― Amy Poehler

[Drythe]

Hello, Dear Friends Kiku, and Mommers @GingerPeach ,

We are sad to hear that the ouchies are bad.  Bad enough as usual, but when they decide to PUSH, it’s just tough.  Of course we want to Fight them, Growl at them, and Do What We want to 😡!  Then we just make it worse.  Best to rest up ‘till they back up a bit, and we can Sneak away for a little while.  Hard isn’t it?

Kiku, be very careful about things you find!  I know you know this, but Robbie says sometimes they smell all Yummy 🤤, and are very hard to resist.  Please be strong 💪 Miss Kiku!  Mommers is friends with two ‘Your Key’ sisters who live in ‘My York A’ (guess they named it after

 them?)  Anyway one of them ate a used Cigar she found.  You know those doggies are small too, anyway, her Mamma & Daddy & the Veteran could not fix it. 😢  Sad.  So, you must Listen 👂 to your Good Mom, and use Your Smarts.

I think Your Mom is on to something with that quote, thank you for sharing it.  My Mom believes that we need to work to keep our spirit in a Clean, Safe, Home.  In the last little bit she has been slowly considering, and turning away from some negative people.  I think you are both on to something.  

Please don’t think that we live exciting lives, after all, I can’t even go outside!

Most of our excitement happens in our backyard, and here just with us, since there are 8 of us, something is usually going on.

Afternoon showers are on the way again.  This Spring there has been more rain then has ever been recorded, past 100 years.  Very wet!  We do have a bit of news about a yard visitor, but I will wait a bit for it.

Don’t you think that ( , )  thingy is fun to jump on?

Wishing for you and your Mom, Less Pain, Peacefulness, and Sunny Shines.  Please be well.

Ralphie

[GingerPeach]

Dearest Ralphie and Mom @Drythe 

We are glad to report that both of us are starting to feel better. My mom is getting back on her eating plan and I'm getting plain rice and a tiny bit of beef (for now).  Good thing I like both of those stuffs.

We were very sad to hear about your 'Your Key' friend who ate that cigar.  That is an extra sad story.  I think her Your Key sister must have been extra sad, too.  And her mom and dad and even the Veteran.  And your mom.  

(Speaking of My York A, my mom's favorite movie was filmed there [Evil Under the Sun with Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg.].  She always wanted to go there after seeing that movie.  The movie is campy and fun.  Agatha Christie, she says, whoever that is.)

My mom had to grab a chicken bone! out of my mouth one day on a walk.  She doesn't have any idea why it was there on the mulch but my super sniffer nose always finds foodie things so naturally I grabbed it.  My mom had to kind of pry my teeth apart because "drop it" doesn't seem to work if chicken bones are involved.  My mom took it home and put into the garbage so no other unsuspecting doggies would find it. I did get an extra treat after we got home because even though I didn't want to let go, I didn't do any of my famous growlies.  

We finally saw some fairies in the garden.  My mom was fast enough to take their pictures.  Mom says they finally decided to come out of their inside fairy door and now are flittering around the garden.

We think you gave us a big puzzle because we can't imagine what thingy we like to jump on. Can you give us a hint?  

My most favorite thing to jump onto is my mom's bed!  But I bet that's not what you are hinting at.

Here are those flittering fairies:

         

         

And here's a picture from Evil Under the Sun.  My mom thinks she might watch it again today.  She just told me she owns two copies!  But that's OK; I have two or even more of a few of my favorite things.  I have SIX supper dishes because my mom gives me a clean one for each of my meals.  

Even the artwork featured in the credits is wonderful:

Lots of love,

Your friend Kiku