The bottom line right now is that my cat is just refusing to eat. He's acting like he is sick in that he's withdrawn to the basement (though he's not hiding -- he has been spending most of his time sleeping on the couch down there), he doesn't want to go out on the screened porch (always his favorite activity, besides eating), and seems very weak. He doesn't have any of the obvious symptoms of the two illnesses he's been diagnosed with. But there's got to be a reason he's shutting down. Is it my place to put him through any trauma? He's the equivalent of an 85-year-old human. Maybe he knows what's best for himself. This morning, I managed to get about a half teaspoon of beef baby food into him by gently holding his head and pushing a spoon with the food against his lips (also gently). He licked it off and didn't cry or act like it hurt him to swallow it, but he looked at me like I was totally violating him. I left the dish with a little bit of the food in it next to him and went off to do something else, and when I came back he was leaning away from the dish as if it was toxic. All through this business, I have been reading whatever I can find about the various issues -- renal failure, cancer in cats, and anorexia in cats. Some of the accounts by people about what they have done to treat their very sick cats has seemed to me over the top; they were really making the animals suffer because they couldn't bear to make the decision to euthanize. I was reading one last night where the poor cat's TONGUE was decaying and about to fall off (cat already had CRF, needed fluids, needed to be force fed), and this person said euthanasia was not an option. Now, that's sick, IMHO. I'm sitting here at work debating about whether to call the vet again. I have the number of another vet who does house calls (who would also come to the house to put him to sleep, if it comes to that). I'm willing to go that route if it means kitty does not have to suffer. It's been almost a week since he's eaten, aside from a taste or two we've managed to coax into him.

For people who are concerned about their items not being appreciated at a thrift store, I live in a rather crummy area of the country and even our Good Wills and Salvation Armies have appraisers who come in and volunteer on all sorts of things from furniture to jewelry. If you are curious, go on into a few thrift stores in your area and see if they have a "boutique" area or a lot of glass counters to display items away from hands, or cordoned off shelves near the register. You might be surprised at what they have on display... Be careful not to find any new treasures though. For those of you who enjoy your stuff, KEEP IT! Enjoy it and love it. That's the whole point. I talked about my Dad having items that we knew he loved because he had so few and was obviously choosy, but one thing I didn't mention was the stuff that he kept in excess that could not have provided much value to him or anyone else. We hauled off so many old magazines, household chemicals and products that were so old that they had gone bad, old paperwork that he didn't need to keep, cardboard boxes, old broken tools, etc. For those not interested in getting rid of sentimental items, at least do your family members a favor and organize/toss the type of stuff mentioned above. I'm constantly surprised at how much outdated stuff I find in my own house (this morning a box of old paint cans- it was good when it was put away a few years ago, now not so much). It can be hard to see even when it is right in front of your eyes. Interesting thought about designating items to people in your will. My father was not a person who had much of $$ value, but he had listed a few items in his will to go to certain people. They were things that obviously meant a lot to him, but when the executor tried to hand those items over to people, nobody wanted any of the listed items. That left the executor a little bent out of shape because he felt Dad's will wasn't being honored. That's a double edged blade as well. Then also consider that Dad did not designate even one item specifically for me... my feelings aren't too badly hurt, but for some people designations could be very devastating.

For your large windows, we recommend roller shades. If you don't have power to the units, you can opt for lithium battery motors that last between 6 to 9 months before they need to recharge like a smart phone...plug and play. You can operate the shades via phone, iPad or 15 channel RC...up to you. We offer over 700 interesting fabrics to meet your needs... For your large windows, we recommend roller shades. If you don't have power to the units, you can opt for lithium battery motors that last between 6 to 9 months before they need to recharge like a smart phone...plug and play. You can operate the shades via phone, ipdad or 15 channel RC...up to you. We offer over 700 interesting fabrics to meet your needs...

I'm not much of a Facebook user but hashtags seem to tie related posts together making them easier to search for and find other posts that are tagged with the same tag. For instance, if posts are tagged "#sewing" and you wanted to read more posts about sewing, you could click the hashtag (when found on Facebook it's a link) and pull up a bunch of posts that folks had tagged "#sewing". It seems this "form" of Facebook URL will find posts that are tagged #sewing: (of course if you're on Facebook, you can just click the tag) https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/sewing and this one for cat pictures: https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/catpictures (no spaces allowed? maybe also try cat_pictures) Personally, I post privately so only friends and family can see my posts/images but some folks enjoy getting "Likes", enjoy sharing or just want to be helpful. https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/raising_chickens Probably I'd just google "how to raise chickens" but I suppose if I was reading an article on chicken raising on Facebook I might click a tag if I wanted to read more about raising chickens. (I don't) :)