DarqByte

So this last weekend Laura and I took Pepper and Samantha to our vet. We go to VCA Spring Mountain for them to get up-to-date on shots. Pepper needed one, Samantha needed three.

We’d been neglecting Pepper’s teeth cleaning until our tax return came in because it was going to ring in at about $400. So we finally scheduled to have her teeth done, and they were done yesterday.

They were very nice to Laura when she took Pepper in yesterday and very nice to me when I picked her up. They were also very informative about all that we needed to do after the cleaning to ensure good teeth health until her next cleaning.

Pepper was pretty out of it thanks to having been put under. VCA said that really they can’t do a full cleaning unless they put the animal under because the animal will fight, move, etc. It made sense. Thus, Pepper was pretty out of it. She was sluggish and couldn’t jump into my car, had trouble getting out, just kinda zoned out.

Obviously this is expected behavior. But what we didn’t expect was a call today from the vet, asking how Pepper was doing. That’s pretty cool in my book.

Not only that, but they’ve had a history of treating us very well with our pets. When we had to put Dusty down, they were totally awesome about it. Very nice and very understanding on everything. We felt valued and that they understood that our pet was a part of our family and not just an animal. We were upset over having to put him down and they were very good about the whole process.

Basically our vet has been spectacular. I really like them and we’ll continue to take our pets there any time we need veterinary service done. High marks from me.

I don’t really have much to write about at the moment, but oh well. I wanted to post to keep in touch with all of you wonderful people.

So money sucks… It seems like every time that Laura and I make a sizable purchase, something goes relatively wrong soon after. After getting our iPhones and HDTV, we’ve seen our bank account plummet with some unexpected expenses… Oy. But we’ll be alright. I’ve already started identifying areas where I will be spending less, such as canceling my Sports Illustrated subscription (since I haven’t been reading it much), and I’ll probably be quitting soccer for awhile. I haven’t had a break since I started playing again 5 years ago and I think I need one.

Anyway, Christmas is coming soon and the whole commercialization of it has started to bother me a bit. Everybody just expects gifts unless you explicitly tell them “Hey, we’re giftless this year!” Then they may get upset, especially if said person just purchased an HDTV… Yeah, I know. I just got an HDTV, so I ought to be able to afford gifts for everybody, right? Well, I’d done freelance work this fall and saved it up, not to mention I’ve been wanting one for 2 years and a great deal finally came along. That, and unexpected expenses.

I regrettably ended up telling all of my friends that Laura and I are focusing gifts this year on immediate family. We needed to do it. That, and we have a very large number of friends, so it would have been mighty expensive on us to get gifts for everybody, even if we were buying affordable gifts.

That, and we don’t really have a big list of things we want people to get for us. We usually just get things that we want or need when we want or need them (although sometimes we should wait, i.e. HDTV and iPhones…). Really, I’d just be happy to get a text message or a phone call from friends and family that aren’t in town, wishing me Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or whatever they believe.

So Samantha is doing well now. She’s settled in to the whole house finally. She hangs out wherever we’re at in the house now, which is nice. Before she would only hang out upstairs, but the breakthrough really came when we moved her food and water downstairs. Previously, they were in the master bathroom on the opposite side of her litter box. We’d read that you should separate good & water from the litter box as best you can, so we moved them downstairs to along a wall in the kitchen. Since she was forced to go downstairs to eat, that worked.

She’s gotten into a habit of waking me up at 4:30-5:30 area by purring in my ear and walking all over me. Oy…

Hm. Can’t think of much else to yak about. See you later.

I promised I’d post about our new cat, Samantha, so here I am!

Last weekend, Laura and I had to go to Petsmart to get dog food, cat food and cat litter. We were also hoping to find one of those new nail grinder-type things for “cutting” your dog’s & cat’s nails. So we get there and do most of the shopping, with my Mom in tow.

We ended up in the back of the store and they had dogs from the Heaven Can Wait sanctuary there. There was a really, really pretty chocolate lab puppy there that if we had the room, time and money, we may have very well have taken that puppy home. My Mom sure wanted her.

We ended up going to look at the cats since we generally always do that when we’re at Petsmart. My Mom “egged us on” a bit by saying we should go in and meet some of the cats. So we did, and we met this really affectionate fluffy black cat, 8 months old, called Skippie/Skipper (not sure on the name, it was different in different places the cat was mentioned). We met her and she was really affectionate. Purred like crazy, climbed all over you and just wanted to have everything to do with whoever was paying attention to her.

After sitting in there with her for about 10 minutes, I could tell Laura really wanted her. We looked over at my Mom and she gave us this whole “get the cat” look. We decided to go ahead and get the paperwork started on her and went outside to talk to my Mom and think it over.

Long story short, we decided to get her, and also got some more things she’d need, like kitty food, a scratching post, a litter box, etc. Laura was initially a little hesitant about getting her because we already have Dusty and he’s 20 years old. But in the end, we decided it would be alright.

We decided in the car on the way back to our place to call her Samantha. My Mom is the one that came up with it. She just blurted it out and Laura and I suddenly couldn’t think of a better name.

Heaven Can Wait said that she’d been having some eye issues and indeed she was. When I took her to the veterinarian the day after, they confirmed as such as gave us some eye ointment to give to her for it to clear up. I think it has finally, as she’s not winking any more and you can see her eyes fully now. We were initially worried about Dusty picking it up and it becoming a complication, so we sequestered her in the extra bedroom my Mom was staying in until it cleared up.

My Mom commented after the first night she was in that room that she is really, really affectionate. Licks your face, climbs on you, nips at your nose & ears, purrs like crazy, rinse and repeat. The second night she had to keep the cat in the bathroom because she couldn’t sleep that first night.

She get along with Dusty rather quickly. He even seems to have taken enough of a liking to her to not impose his dominance very much. It’s pretty awesome, Laura was worried about how Dusty would take us having another cat.

Pepper & Samantha, on the other hand, is another story. Pepper, just like when she met Dusty, was very interested in her. Wanted to meet the cat, smell her, etc. Samantha was very worried about his bigger, excited dog, naturally, so she still hasn’t really warmed up to her. She’s not as hesitant to walk past her as she initially was, but she’s still wary.

Anyway, I should probably wrap this up so I can give her the attention she’s meowing at me for.