Isabella's day

We've had a health scare with Isabella, our girl kitty. On July 18th, she was supposed to have her teeth cleaned at our local vet's office. Before anesthesia, they did blood work and examined her. We received a phone call from them because they detected an arrhythmia during the exam. We went over to talk to the vet (Dr. Roth was the vet in this case). She recommended an electrocardiogram and an X-ray to see if Isabella's heart was enlarged. We agreed, of course. The X-ray revealed nothing amiss, but Dr. R. said sometimes a cat's ventricular walls can enlarge inwardly, but the outside of the heart looks okay. The ECG showed ventricular premature complexes - not something we wanted to hear. Dr. R. then recommended we have her looked at by a veterinary cardiologist at the MedVet Clinic in Worthington, Ohio, a little bit north of Columbus. (For all you library people out there, Worthington is very near Dublin, the home of OCLC, mothership of many library functions.) The cardiologist could do an echocardiogram, which our vet clinic is not set up to do. So, we called and got an appt. with Dr. Thaibinh Nguyenba for July 26.

We went to Worthington today (about 1.75 hours away) and saw Dr. Nguyenba, who was great. He has a lovely "bedside manner," or whatever they call it for vets. Isabella's echocardiogram was perfect - no problems. The heart is fine, inside and outside. Not one ventricular premature complex showed up today. Naturally. So, just to be sure, Dr. N. recommended a 24-hour Holter  monitor. I've had one of those myself, but it's another story with a cat. The electrodes are on her, but the whole package is then wrapped with the same kind of tape that's put on your arm after you give blood - only Isabella's tape is wider. She looks like she's wearing a little jet-pack, or maybe she's a tiny smuggler with "the goods" taped to her body. I've got a couple of pictures - not great (I'm having some difficulty with my camera's flash), but you get the idea.

Poor kitty must wear this until tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. She can eat, drink, walk, etc. - she just looks funny and probably has a lower self-esteem. We'll have to address the psychiatric issues later.
I'll keep everyone posted on the Holter results (we mail the monitor back). Dr. N. also recommended a thyroid test today, to check for hyperthyroidism. We'll know the results of that tomorrow. But, meanwhile, we're feeling relieved because her heart appears to be fine. :)
P.S. She never got her teeth cleaned!

My Fruit of the Looms are sweatier than yours are!

Well, it's come to this. We were outside yesterday evening. I mowed the front lawn; Bob dug a hole and planted a Rudbeckia. He also watered. So we were outside working. When we came in, all hot and sweaty, I said, "Look how wet my undies are!"  Bob claimed his were even wetter. And he may be right. I'll spare you the pictures of sweat-soaked underwear. Oh for a balmy dry day in the 70s ....

July animals

Bob's been out with his camera, even though the weather has been ugly. Very hot and humid. He photographed the deer and butterfly at Hobart Urban Nature Preserve (the same place he saw the foxes in the spring). The goat was at Young's Dairy, close to Yellow Springs, OH.

Miami River Clean-up leads to big clean-up for Pat & Bob

We spent the entire morning in a canoe, paddling along the Miami River, and stopping to pick up trash in the river. Oh for light trash like McDonald's cups or pizza boxes ... no, we were hauling tires and parts of shopping carts outta that river. Who throws those things in there? What's wrong with these people?

Here we are when we got home. Believe me, we're dirtier and wetter than the pictures show. What looks like a shadow line on my pants is the wet line. We got thrown into the river once when the canoe overturned. Boy, that was fun. Bob also waded into the river repeatedly to go after trash, haul the canoe over a shallow spots, etc. His pants were so wet and dirty and heavy that they kept drifting downward ... sort of like young men often wear them these days. However, Bob is 64 and generally likes his pants in their proper place.
We did our good deed for the day. We're going to a concert tonight in downtown Troy. That should be fun and a whole lot cleaner than this morning.

I'm as corny as Kansas in August ....wait, I'm in Ohio and it's July!

We decided to check the corn to see if it was "knee high by the 4th of July." Okay, we didn't measure till the 5th, but here's a picture to show that this particular field more than surpassed the knee high measurement.

Cat days of summer

It's been hot, hot, hot here. The cats are indoors, but it's still tough when the temperature rises. We try to keep the house coolish, but not too cool because (a) it's expensive and (b) Mom asks us to turn off the AC because she gets cold faster than we do.
In #1, Isabella "hides" under the bed. She apparently doesn't understand that a tail that shows is a dead giveaway.
#2 shows Ed in his perch. Notice the foot hanging down. That's a tired cat.
Photo #3 is titled "Boy watches squirrel." See the squirrel at the edge of the patio? Also there's a female cardinal under the chair.
We had lots of thunder and lightning yesterday. The rain from yesterday evening means I don't have to water the lawn this morning. Yay! Stay cool, everyone.

Early July

Well, the holiday is over. It's back to regular life. Here are a few photos of Ohio life. In the first one, you see some recent plantings in front. It's our clever attempt to hide the utility doo-dads. Then in #2, sweaty and dirty Bob is planting his rose bush - something he's wanted FOREVER. (I suggested we hose him off before he came in to shower!) Finally, in the third photo, Bob captured some clouds at sunset on the 4th before the big fireworks show in Troy. We hope you all had a good Independence Day.

Happy almost 4th of July

We had a full day on July 2nd - went swimming with family and then attended a huge party thrown by Jack and Penny's friends. They had jumpies, volleyball, water balloons, lots of good food, and fireworks. Here are some pictures of the day. In picture #1, nephew Paul and his daughter Eliza in the pool. Picture #2 is Uncle Bob and grandniece Willa at the party. Picture #3 is Bob with a glow-in-the-dark headband (or necklace or halo, as the case may be). This was right before the fireworks started.

Cincinnati Pops Orchestra

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra came to town last night. What a concert. The assistant conductor, Vince Lee, is quite a showman. He did a great job. So did all the orchestra members. The coolest thing was after 9:00 p.m. or so, fireflies came out and danced around.

Of course, no concert is complete without your beach chair arm breaking. The people in back of Bob thought they might have to catch him. That was a catastrophe avoided ... whew.