Baby Followup; It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

[grrgoyl]

Here's an update on Baby and his crazy mom, which I had really hoped wouldn't be necessary once the cat was laid to rest. She called me back last night around 8:00. I let it go to voicemail, and good thing. "Hi Elaine, this is Ellen. My cat is Baby, you took care of him this past weekend" she began, as if I need clarification of which crazy pet owner is calling me today. From there she became progressively weepier and more irrational, saying she was wracked with guilt because she had bought something called a "scat mat" designed to deliver a small electric shock to keep pets off the furniture. She was convinced this fried Baby's kidneys. I don't know anything about the medical consequences of shocking your pet, I just couldn't get past the fact that her beloved cat, her Baby who she swaddles and cuddles and treats exactly like "her baby," wasn't allowed on the sofa. As my sister said, Baby didn't die of kidney disease, he died of mixed messages.

I feel bad ignoring the woman in her pain, but I'm really not trained as a grief counselor. I think not answering the call was the best thing I could do for both of us, as I really wouldn't know what to say to make her feel any better. It's one thing if we had a longstanding relationship -- there are a lot of elderly clients who have been bringing their pets to the hospital for years and Tery has an established relationship with. She even sometimes picks up the pet for appointments because the owner isn't mobile enough. But I don't know this woman from Adam. If she wants some kind of reassurance that she didn't kill her cat, I really think that's a discussion for a doctor and not a weekend worker who sweeps kennels and occasionally gives injections. I'll gladly sign the condolence card, but these phone calls on my days off have got to stop.

Hopefully I'm done.


~*~

Tery's Christmas balcony display is complete (unless she comes home tonight with more stuff, which is entirely possible). You know that house on the block that sets their front yard ablaze every year with lights? The one that makes you slow down in utter disbelief? In our neighborhood, that house is OURS.

Victory for the home team!!

Prettier but blurrier without flash. Giddy Giddy really didn't have that much to do with it.

She's insane. Note the large disco ball thing smack in the center of the ceiling, the coup de grace in my opinion. She's especially fond of the huge bulbs near the bottom. Our balcony will be burned onto our neighbors' retinas for months to come.

In other Christmas photos, here is Kitten Mitten With Whom I'm Smitten (who, it should be noted, has free run of all our furniture) posing with the tree:

I tried a version with red eye removal, but I think you'll agree she looks ready to tear my throat out at any second:

~*~

Finally, going here will take you to an assortment of clips from Sweeney Todd (many thanks to kavieshana and minikitkatgirl!). "Behind the Scenes Footage Part 2" has the much anticipated Alan/Johnny duet. "You Gandered at my Ward" literally gave me shortness of breath (MyFriendDeb's reaction was similar: "I'd gander at his ward in a minute if he'd talk to me like that"). Once I finished hyperventilating I told Tery about them. Her response was "I don't think Alan Rickman is even good-looking, let alone hot." *cries* How cruel the Fates are to me. Her title as a joy-sucking robot still stands.

Comments

[trappedinabay.livejournal.com]

Hahaha - your porch is awesome. I'm jealous.

[grrgoyl.livejournal.com]

As well you should be. You and all who look upon it.

[swankyfunk.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, you have a Christmas disco ball!

And your cat is gorgeous (if maybe a wee bit murderous in those pics).

[grrgoyl.livejournal.com]

I'll pass your compliment along to her! She never gets tired of hearing how pretty she is.

[oh-deve.livejournal.com]

My kidneys failed four years ago. They failed because everyone I've ever lived with used a scat mat to keep me off the furniture.

[grrgoyl.livejournal.com]

How do these dangerous things get released to the public? Though it's hardly a surprise to hear you aren't housetrained.

[lizzieloudotcom.livejournal.com]

Tery's decorations are marvahlous. (And surely they will keep Giddy from leaping off the porch, no? Maybe he'll be scared to go out there alone.)

I think the red-eye removal worked okay and that KM doesn't look psycho at all. Her pupils are still reflecting light so that's all good IMO. When I try to do that feature, often the cats' eyes go completely dark and dense, like black holes or creepy shark-eyes.

[grrgoyl.livejournal.com]

Ooops, no, he goes over the edge of our inside loft. We have ample screening up on the porch, as a 3-story fall might be a little trickier to survive.

I discovered I have a program with a pretty sophisticated red eye tool, that lets you choose between human and animal, and even position the center "glint" (can send you copy if you wish). Although it isn't foolproof: Tery wanted me to fix one of her employee's photos with her cat and dog, and their pupils were so enormous that the only solution was an eye patch for one and blind beggar shades for the other (so I added a cup of pencils for sale).