MS Golf Tourney

Yesterday was the annual Fred Legg Memorial Golf Tournament for MS at the Whisky Run Golf course in Port Colborne.  It was quite overcast but the weather was good enough to fly over the start of the tourney.  Everything timing-wise worked out perfectly and I was able to do some aerobatics for everyone as soon as I got over the golf course.  Then I got some decent pics of folks heading out:

The flight went really well.  Got to see lots of people looking up and waving at me before I headed back to St. Catharines.

That evening, Mike and I drove out to the golf course and had an awesome dinner with everyone:

I met up with a friend from work who volunteered that day.  She had to leave early so she gave me her tickets from the penny sale.  She won a lot!

It was quite the struggle to get everything up into my apartment:

She owes me!  Tee hee.

I turned the bed down that evening, which the kitties took full advantage of:

They’re so cute.  Check out this little interaction between Mya and Abby:

Isn’t it wonderful when everyone gets along?  It’s like the beautiful friendship between Lil Jan and Donkay:

I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean the things she said to me when I posed him there.

Today’s symptoms: Very fatigued today.  It’s been a busy few days and I think it took its toll.  Worth it though.  As usual with the fatigue, my aches and pains are typically worse too.

Birthday Jan

Yesterday was my cute, little mother’s birthday.  Mike and I headed down to her place to take her out for dinner at the Lazy Loon in Fonthill.  Jan and I have been dining there for many years – their food is so good.  They recently renovated and the restaurant looked amazing.  After our nomtacular meals, we split their perfect bread pudding and a gingerbread and caramel dish:

After that, Jan decided to finish her drink with a spoon:

She’s a little weird.  Might be where I get some of it from.

I paid the bill, after making a slight correction:

Back at Jan’s, she opened her pressies from Mike and I.  One is a trip to St. Jacob’s in October on the CAA bus tour.  We’ve been quite a few times in the past and always have a great time. 

Back at my place, Boo heard that it was grandma’s birthday so she dressed up for her and asked me to send the picture:

Charming!

I was quite happy about the perfect weather today.  I took a friend up for a flight over to Brockport, NY.  We didn’t have to worry about customs or anything as we didn’t land there.

Over Fort Niagara on the US side:

Back home, I gave three of the four kittahs a bath (princess Mya rarely needs one).  They really dislike baths, especially the drying part at the end:

I distracted Boo (so easy to do!) with a ribbon just before taking her to the sink of doom:

Afterwards, little Abby slept out on the chair on the balcony.  Fortunately, under a blanket so she didn’t get sun burned:

Life is good!

Today’s symptoms: Feeling pretty good today.  My bladder infection seems to be gone and I’m getting more energy back. 

Pinktacular News!

Great news – little Pinky seems to have made a complete recovery and is her cute (and sometimes) snarly self again.  One of the first things she did when she was clearly feeling better was go out onto the balcony for some sun:

Only for a few minutes though so she doesn’t get sun burned!  The next thing she wanted was a butt rub from Mike.  She got it:

Meanwhile, the other three kitties watched from the the couch, thrilled about their sister’s recovery:

I know – their enthusiasm is overwhelming.

Regarding this past weekend, the weather wasn’t good enough for a flight.  Fortunately, I had a chance to go on a great flight last week.  A member of the 99’s (female aviator group) came down for a visit from Germany.  I had the pleasure of taking her for a scenic flight around Niagara.  The weather wasn’t too good in the morning, so I didn’t think we would be able to make it over Niagara Falls (clouds were too low).  However, by the time 2:00 rolled around, everything lifted enough that we were able to head over the Falls.  She had just been there earlier that day, checking it out from the ground.  Kinda neat to see it from a different perspective!  She was such a pleasure to fly with – especially at the end when we did some aerobatics!  Great flight and and I hope to take her up again if she comes back for another visit:

Back to the weekend, Mike and I visited my mother in the morning, then we went for a stroll around the quarry in Port Colborne in the afternoon.  He had never been there before.

I used to go there quite a bit as a kid, to search for fossils.  We found a few this trip as well.  I just have to do some research on what exactly they are.  Good times:

I couldn’t believe I had so much energy that day.  After the quarry, we went to the Seaway Mall in Welland to shop a bit then see the second Disney Planes movie.  It was really good, by the way!

I was a little surprised to see Mya when I got back home.  She always acted like she hated baths, but it’s obvious she takes them by herself when I’m not around.  I don’t even know where she got the robe from:

I asked Abby if she knew, but she just looked stunned (as usual):

I begged Mya to tell me where she got the robe but she just pointed and laughed:

On a final note, I got a call from the walk-in clinic about an hour ago.  Apparently my urinalysis came back from the lab and the antibiotic the doctor put me on last week wasn’t the right one.  So, I’m on yet another one for the next week.  I guess it’s a good thing since the bladder infection isn’t getting much better.  Paws crossed this one works!  I think six bladder infections since January are enough, so I’m going to swear off of them for a while.

Today’s symptoms: After my long but awesome day yesterday, I was more fatigued today than “normal”.  The humidity made this worse.  I’m pretty sure I’ll feel better tomorrow after a good sleepy.

Sick Pinky :-(

Poor little Pinky hasn’t been feeling too well lately.  She has been sick to her stomach quite a bit over the last few days, with it getting fairly bad last night.  This morning, she was looking really pale and it was obvious she was dehydrated, as she couldn’t even keep down water.  Mike came over.  Then I phoned the vet at 8:00 this morning.  They said there were no vets in the office until the afternoon, so they referred me to the Veterinary Emergency Clinic.  Mike drove us down there to get little Pinky checked out.  The one technician was pretty excited to see a sphynx, since she just adopted one herself.  Her kitty is adorable, as you can see:

She gathered some info on Pinky before the vet came in.  Pinky was not too happy at this point:

Everyone was so great there – very nice to speak to, really made us feel at ease and were not pushy at all.  The vet suggested blood work and x-rays.  We decided on the blood work and would do the x-rays if anything came back abnormal.  I was relieved to hear that everything was looking good, just some slightly off levels due to her dehydration.  They gave her some fluids, a shot of anti-nausea medication and shot of prednisone.  Once that was done, we headed back home.  Pinky was very good in the car.  She actually appears just a tad googly in this picture:

Once back home, Pinky wandered around a bit then headed back into the cat carrier.  I put a heating pad in there, plus covered it up a bit:  She stayed there all day:

The other kitties came by once in a while to check on her:

Since she hasn’t got up at all, I’ve been regularly bringing her a little water to drink:

I hope to see a big improvement in her tomorrow!

All the other freaks have been their typical selves – like googly Abby:

And Boo trying to turn her head inside-out:

Then there’s big (although very tiny) bully Mya who likes to stand on other kitties in order to take their warm spot:

But gets really ticked off if the other kitty pushes her away:

More Pinky updates to follow.  Paws crossed for a quick recovery!

Today’s symptoms: Seem to be getting over this latest bladder infection.  I think six in less than six months is more than enough and I’m not going to have another one for a long time.  Enough of this silliness!

Not-So-Great News

As you probably read in my previous blogs, I seem to be plagued with infections.  I just ended a round of antibiotics for my last bladder infection last week and within days of my last pill, it started again.  I phoned the MS clinic at McMaster and spoke to a nurse.  She suggested I phone my neurologist.  Our fear was that the infections were caused by my MS treatment (Tysabri).  I’ve been on it for over three years and it seems to be working well for me, minus the infections.  My neurologist suggested due to these chronic bladder and sinus infections, I should stop Tysabri for at least two months.  If the infections lessen or disappear (paws crossed!) over the next two months, then it was likely the Tysabri  that caused or at lease contributed to them.  I’m certainly not dissing the drug – it’s been a life-saver to so many people and I have had very few issues while on it over the years.  So, hearing this news from my neurologist was a little stressful.  Fortunately, there are a couple oral meds on the market that I can switch to, even though they are not quite as effective as Tysabri.  The next medication will be my fourth MS treatment.

On a brighter note, I was actually feeling pretty decent on Saturday.  That combined with the nice weather only meant one thing – flight! 

I let my friend at the Flying Club know we were coming, and he got my plane all clean for us – so awesome!

I flew Mike and I out to a fly-in BBQ at Huron Park Airport in Centralia. 

As soon as we walked into the hangar, we were greeted by a really cute kid who offered us cake!  Best welcome ever!  Then a girl who appeared to be his older sister offered us our choice of beverage.  It was so nice!  We got our drinks and food and sat down to nom:

After good food and chatting with some really nice folks, we headed out. 

I was told by a friend that there were tall ships in the nearby town Bayfield.  It was only about a ten minute flight so we decided to head over and check them out.

It was a nice flight back to St. Catharines, passing some joyous windmills on the way:

We also passed the water park just off the QEW near (or in) Grimsby:

Then back to St. Catharines for a landing:

It was a nice flight – I always love going to airports I’ve never been to before.

I mentioned in a previous blog (with photo) that Pinky is desperate to still lay on the cable box, which I tried to raise so the kitties couldn’t fit.  Yet again, she smushed herself on top of it – well, most of her:

Weird!

Today’s symptoms: Feeling somewhat poopy dealing with yet another bladder infection and still the sinus infection.  Hopefully the antibiotics kick in very soon.  Also a little down for having to go off of my MS treatment, but we’ll figure out something that will work for moi!

Very Naughty Kitties

Since my kitties are hairless, they are always looking for warm spots to sleep.  They were laying on my cable receiver for the last year.  I’m always nervous one is going to be sick on it, so I figured out a way to keep them off – so I thought.  I have my audio receiver on the bottom, and over that is a wire shelf which holds my cable receiver.  How in the world naughty little Pinky ever got up on it in that configuration is completely beyond me:

Looks really comfy too!  What a dork. 

Sticking with the naughty theme, my oldest sphynx is a five pound bully.  She’s also the sweetest cat I’ve ever known – most of the time. Whenever another kitty gets all snuggly and warms up a spot, Mya will sometime walk on them until they move and surrender their spot to her.  Sometimes she goes a little too far and bites them on the bum.  She was doing that to little Abby (who is bigger than her) while she was on the bed.  I Mya-proofed Abby by turning her into an Abburito:

Worked like a charm.  Mya just sat there and sulked for a few minutes, then found her own spot.

Third naughty kitty would be Boo.  I had a kitchen cupboard open for seconds while I turned my back:

I had Mike sit down with her and give her a little talking to:

Looks like the only good cat was Abby.  Paws crossed it lasts.

We had some pretty decent storms over the last week.  I love being up on the tenth floor, facing both West and North.  The view is awesome:

You know what else is awesome?  My fish.  Check out little McMortimer:

Hey Boo – don’t even think about it!

I had the day off yesterday, and since I’m finally feeling better, I went over to my little mother’s house to help sort things in the basement.  Every time we clean it out, we get rid of a fair amount of stuff and can never imagine being able to get rid of much more in the future.  Well, yet another big pile cleared out yesterday.  Her basement is starting to look very bare.  One of the things I did come across (and toss) was this nifty drum I made in high school for a project:

I have no idea why I painted it like that.  I even did the center portion with pipes, sewer system (with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), a subway and the flames of hell:

Maybe my mother was right all these years – I think I am a tad weird.

This weekend, the plans are to fly Mike and I to a BBQ fly-in at the Huron Park Airport tomorrow.  Then maybe we’ll come back to my place and watch some movies or something.  Hopefully if we have a snack, Mike with think twice about getting crumbs all over himself like last time.  Thank goodness for vacuums:

I thought I was going to need it again last night to suck up the body of the huge fly my cats were supposed to kill.  They were having too much fun playing with it though – it went on for almost an hour.  Poor fly must have been exhausted:

It eventually made it out to the balcony so I sorta shushed it down the crack to the next floor.  I’m sure it flew away before it hit. 

Today’s symptoms: FINALLY feeling better.  Yea!  I actually made it through a full day of work with not much more than my usual fatigue, a fairly bad headache and some minor aches and pains.  Life is good!

 

 

My Proud Mother

I wish I had more to report on this blog.  However, since I’ve been feeling rather lousy lately, I haven’t done too much.  I’ve been trying to fight this bladder infection the o’natural way, however it didn’t work.  I ended up going to the clinic on Friday and got a prescription for an antibiotic.  I was kinda hoping he would give me Cipro as it would treat both the sinus and bladder infections.  However, he gave me Macrobid which is only for bladder infections.  Oh well.  I’m surprised that it hasn’t helped too much yet.  I’m still really fatigued and tired and have been having to take one to two hour naps for the last few days.  At least the kitties were kind enough to keep me company, especially Abby who often sat on my shoulder and arm while I was laying down:

And then there was Mya, who has started chewing on my hair some nights:

Mike and I spent this past weekend just chilling and watching tv and movies, plus playing Call of Duty: Ghosts on xBox. He was also kind enough to help me hang my new shelves by my front door.  I have a small pewter fantasy character collection and have really been hoping to display it again.  These shelves I bought recently were perfect:

I had a barometer thing hanging there before.  We tried to find a new place for it – needless to say, the first spot I found (stuck in my kitchen light) didn’t quite work:

I figured other things around here look weird, so why not my decor?  Little Boo actually helps with decorating sometimes.  She likes to run around the apartment with her pipe cleaners.  I guess when she brings them near the dining room, the food distracts her so she drops them to eat.  Doesn’t typically remember to take them elsewhere after she noms:

She’s so weird:

This weekend, my friend from work had the back of her garage painted, which is totally visible from the trail behind their house.  It looks awesome:

Jan and I had one of our typical conversations over text the other night.  I told her I was kinda excited to capture a short clip from a COPS episode that I liked.  Here was her response (I’m in green):

Tee hee! 

Just so you know, I added a few videos on my website video page.  One is of Mike and I zip lining when we went camping a few weeks ago.  The zip line in this video was close to the area where they do the initial training.  The guides told us to scream at the top of our lungs to try and freak out the people doing the training close by.  Clearly, Mike and I were successful, as you will hear! 

Today’s symptoms: Still very tired, fatigued and achy.  Hoping tomorrow will be much better and this infection is finally leaving the premises!

Just Lounging Around

The heat is really picking up.  As usual, as soon as I get home from work, Pinky goes running over to the balcony door.  I let her out for a bit – not too long or she’ll get sunburned:

The other goofs wander out there too, sometimes, but not as much as Pinky.  Boo’s favourite spot is in the bedroom, usually snuggled near or with Donkay:

When I took that pic, Mya was clearly too tired to care about how cute her sister looked:

Three of the four goobers needed a bath yesterday.  With no fur, oil accumulates on their skin, more so in the heat.  For some reason, little princess Mya doesn’t have this problem to the same extent.  I wanted to admire Abby’s clean belly after her bath – she was not amused:

I was hoping to fly over the Canada Day fireworks around Niagara last night, but wasn’t feeling up to it.  My stinkin bladder infection is back.  I’m really going to try and fight it off more naturally than with antibiotics.  I’ve already been on them three times in a six month period recently, and I don’t want my already rickety bod to start becoming immune to them.  Plus, they throw off my Tysarbi schedule, as I cannot have the infusion during or a week after the antibiotics.  So, I’ve been drinking tons of water, cranberry juice and pills, D-Mannose and apple cider vinegar.  Just in the last day, it already seems to be improving a bit.  Paws crossed!  Speaking of paws, Mya was rather interested in watching the fireworks from my bedroom window:

Had a decent show just North of us:

Then Donkay had to check out the action:

Yup, another joyous day in my lovely household.

Today’s symptoms:  Still have a bit of the sinus infection lingering, plus dealing with the bladder infection, which always completely wipes me out.  Very fatigued today with average aches and pains plus a somewhat worse than “normal” headache.