5 Things I Learned This Week-Part 30

No Dogs Allowed

When I took Abby for a morning walk Tuesday, I saw there were "No Dog Allowed" signs up at the park where we always to to walk her. This is sad. Check out Abby's post about it at Abby's Blog. Below is a video about our morning walk.

Judy Liked My Funny Dad, Harry!

I was happy to get this message from Judy and More Than Sew So:

Oh my goodness...YES...I loved it! It reminded me of some of the times I had with my mother while she was living with us...sometimes frustrating, but always with love and affection.

. I was sorry to hear she had shoulder surgery and lots of painful therapy ahead so that's why she hasn't written a review yet, but sill when she is able to type better again.

Cleaning Floors

For those who clean floors the old fashioned way of getting down on your hands and knees like my husband does, I discovered a tip that saves your knees and back at Proverbs Wife. She suggests using a broom dipped in hot water and then wiping the floor dry with a rag using your foot. Check out her post for further details.

Page Rank

When reading A Book Inside I learned that the highest Page Rank is a 5, not 10 like I thought so my 3 is better than I thought! Yippee!

Cyst Aberation

I learned Tuesday when I went for a core biopsy, that all I needed was a cystic aspiration in my right breast which was painless since they numbed the area and I could watch the ultrasound picture on the screen as the doctor poked the cyst with a needle. The doctor removed the fluid that collected and will have it analyzed. All the nurses and technicians were very nice to me and the doctor was super at Parma Community Hospital. I won't get the results until my follow-up appointment August 17 (my doctor is on vacation).

Happy Father's Day Everyone!

In honor of Father's Day this month, I just have to share this short video with you which captures the essence of my book, "My Funny Dad, Harry" and what a father is all about.



It was made by the publisher, Outskirts Press, Inc. and at first I didn't like it because it really doesn't have any of my pictures in it and doesn't really say anything specific about my dad, but when I asked others who read the book what they thought of it, they all liked it and thought it was very good. So, how do you vote? Yay or Nay?

Want to order it? Click here to go right to Amazon.

Be sure to visit "My Funny Dad, Harry" blog today--it's a pretty funny post.

Laugh A Lot--Stay Healthy!

It always makes me smile when the researches make "new" discoveries that God has already long before included in His Word--The Bible. Today is a good example in THE PLAIN DEALER on health: "Doctors say you really can laugh your way to better health."

God's word says in Proverbs 17:22: A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

I love to laugh. In fact, it was one of the reasons I was attracted to my husband in the first place--he has a knack for making me laugh. My dad made me laugh too because of the funny things he used to do.

When my cat was a kitten, she would do something just about every day that made me laugh. If you want to laugh every day, get at kitten!

I don't read all the comics, in fact I skip most of them, but I do generally chuckle at Family Circus, Garfield, Peanuts, and Hagar.

As far as TV shows go, these are the ones that make us laugh: Everybody Loves Raymond, The Bachelor, Wife Swap and Moment of truth all make us laugh and sometimes Seinfeld.

Funny emails that people forward to me make me laugh.

For a funny post about her teenage son entitled "Dude, Where's My Son" go to http://jackiepapandrew.pnn.com/. She also has another blog as well called "Airing Dirty Laundry, the Blog" at http://www.jackiepapandrew.blogspot.com/.

Go to cleveland.com/healthfit and cleveland.com/medical for health news you can use.

Missing My Cat Friends

We get so attached to our pets. These are the cats I came to know and love and still think about and miss:

My Dad's cats My dad took fed and took care of the cats who came by his house. Some he let inside but always fed the outdoor ones as well. He spent more money on cat food and litter than he did on food for himself. He built a kitty motel for the strays in the neighborhood to give them shelter and food and even heat in the winter! (Read more about dad's cats in the book I wrote in his memory, My Funny Dad, Harry, available on http://www.bn.com/ and http://www.amazon.com/):

Razzle Dazzle a/k/a Razzle Frazzle (right) was a very big and bushy cat. I think in may have been a Maine Coon. It's tail was huge. He was the dominant cat of the neighborhood for the most part. He was leary of people and it took a long time for him to trust me, but he finally got to the place where he even let me pet him! He'd let me pet him while he ate, but then would run away as soon as he was finished. My dad tried getting him to come in the house but this cat wanted no part of that! Once he did go in, but ran back out right away and that was as close as he got to being an inside cat.

Bootsie (top) was the first cat my dad took in because he noticed it was sick and although my mom didn't want any cats in the house, she relented and allowed my dad to bring Bootsie into the hallway. This was my first experience with a sick cat. My dad took it to a vet and got some pills that he was supposed to get the cat to take orally which didn't work! Bootsie was nice cat who liked being pet.

Blackie (bottom above) was my dad's very good companion. It would follow him around and watch him whenever he was working in the yard. Once my mom died, Blackie then became his first indoor cat. It liked being pushed around on the wheel chair and rolling on the floor.

Another cat that came in shortly after Blackie was Diamond Jim (right). Both lived upstairs at first. Diamond Jim is the one with the white flea collar. He was another all black cat that was very laid back. I don't remember what happened to him, but he was a nice cat too.

On the right Blackie is sitting in the window looking out and her friend, Timi, is lying on the chair. I named Timi that because he was so timid, but eventually he did let me pet him. He was actually more petable than Blackie. Timi never got over his love for the outdoors though and would often sneak out and then come back in a day or two. When Timi caught a cold that wouldn't go away, my dad and I took him to the vet, but before we got in the building, he busted out of the carrier and ran away!

Here's a picture of my dad, Harrington ("Harry") Arlettaz with one of the strays he took in, Sweet Thing a/k/a Whacky. Sweet Thing was such a nice cat. It was a bit shy and didn't let just anybody pet him, but he let me pet him a lot. He also liked it when I brushed him. All I had to do was stand by the table with the brush and up he'd jump. He was friends with Softie (below right). They would both jump up on the kitchen counter and eat together every morning. Sweet Thing's favorite spot to lay was on top of an air conditioner which was still in a box in the middle of the dining room. My dad bought three at once because they were on sale but only got one installed. Both Sweet Thing and Softie lived in the upstairs of my dad's double house.

Softie was all black with big eyes. She loved to play with the feather on the string. Her fur was so smooth and soft that I named her Softie. She was a fairly small cat and very playful. Sometimes Sweet Thing would chase her but she didn't seem to mind. She liked looking out the front window.

Sylvester looks like a little bobcat. He had feline aids and had to be separate from the other cats so had a private bedroom upstairs with Sweet Thing and Softie. My dad replaced the wood in the bottom panel of the bedroom door with plexiglass so they could see each other and so we could see in to see where he was before opening the door. My dad put a chain lock on the door so it would open only so far so in the hot summer months, Sylvester's door could be open slightly to get air from a fan. The air conditioner in the dining room (one was installed in the window) worked very well. Sylvester was usually great with people. He had a bad case of ear mites at one time and scracthed his one ear so much that it bled. I finally convinced dad to take him to a vet and we got it cleared up with some medication. Sylvester would lay on my lap and loved to be pet. But sometimes he'd get out and he and Sweet Thing would have a big cat fight. Softie just went and hid while they went at it.


(left) Striper was a pretty cat and extremely friendly and loved to climb. He would climb on dad's back and dad would walk around with the cat hanging on. Dad let him come in the house, but the other cats were not happy about it so Striper pretty much camped out in the basement. He liked laying in the clothes chute and climbing on dad's workbench. He didn't mind all the junk and clutter at all. He loved the cat nip so much that one day he jumped up on the kitchen counter, opened up the cupboard and helped himself to the catnip dad had put away in there. When he got sick, (some kind of blood disease) he climbed up into the drop ceiling of the basement and we couldn't get him down until finally after several days he came down on his own and we took him to the vet, but it was too late. I'll always remember that day because it was on the fourth of July.

Shortly after Striper died and Timi ran away, there was a litter of four kittens born. They are all huddled together in my dad's front yard here in the corner by the porch. The black and white one on top is the one I took to live with me named Spunky Rooey, later Spunky Bookie and now Spunky Doodle. Here she weighed about 3 lbs. and now she weighs 13 lbs. and is 4 years old!

This poor calico was a mess, but oh, so friendly! It was just starved for attention and found my dad's house. It always wanted to come inside, but my dad was 89 and already had three cats to take care of that he could barely manage. I felt so sorry for this little one, but knew it would need medical attention and I couldn't take in another one either. It would come over in the morning when it saw me arrive at my dad's and then follow me part way to the bus stop. One day when my dad came out to feed the outdoor cats, Scruffy went right by the door waiting to go in. My dad used a cane and could not move fast. He knew Scruffy would run inside if he opened the door, so he waited on the porch for two hours until the cat left to go back inside. My dad was a very patient man!

Please know that there were many more cats who frequented the kitty motel, but these are the only ones I have pictures of. My dad was such a gentle, kind hearted man that he let his cats rule the house. Even when he had trouble walking because his legs were so weak, he'd still climb the stairs if he could and go outside, even in the winter, to feed his outdoor friends and give them water.