cat bite, around my yard, and the snowball effect

KITTY

There's an orange and white cat that roams the neighborhood and frequently comes into my backyard. He drives my cats insane when they see him through the windows. Our county has a leash law for both dogs and cats, but I had no idea who this kitty belonged to, so I couldn't go talk to the owner.

This past Monday, I was snipping herbs and pulling weeds in the backyard, and orange kitty sauntered up to me and rubbed up against my legs. That's a sign of affection, so I reached down and petted the kitty on his back. That's when he turned on me and attacked my leg so quickly, I didn't even see it happening. All I felt was a knock into my leg and immediate pain. I lifted up my pant leg (just thin yoga pants) and saw blood dripping down both sides of my calf. I started yelling (OK, and swearing) at the cat and he just sat there staring at me.

I washed the wounds with soap and water then went to an Immediate Care center. They flushed the wounds with saline, took an x-ray to make sure there weren't any broken off tooth fragments in the puncture wounds - which was going a little overboard, I think - bandaged me up, gave me a tetanus shot and a prescription for Augmentin.

Turns out, the Augmentin made me sick, so then I was prescribed Doxycycline - which also made me sick plus gave me a raging headache. So I saw my regular doctor yesterday for a follow up. Since my wounds are healing nicely on their own with no signs of infection, she decided not to try a third antibiotic. I do have a hematoma under the main puncture wound, so I have to massage it and use heat on it to try and break it up.

Isn't my calf lovely?! That's the bites. The other side of my calf has scratches.

It's been a nightmare dealing with Animal Control who have claimed they never got the faxed report from Immediate Care - who claim they sent it right away and can't do so again because they no longer have the hard copy. Then Animal Control wanted me to try and find the owners of this cat, so I took a ride over to the street behind me. A neighbor was outside in her front yard. I asked if she knew anyone on that street who had an orange and white cat. She said yes - and pointed to the house across from her. There was a man on the driveway, so I went over and talked to him. He claimed it was his teenage granddaughter's cat and invited me in to talk to her. She was mortified and genuinely apologized. I told her that Animal Control would be contacting her. I believe they quarantine the cat for 10 days and test it for rabies.

The thing is, even if this young woman then tries to keep the cat indoors, since it's been an outside cat, it will easily sneak out. It will fly out the door the minute someone opens it. I'm not only scared of this cat, but the neighbors behind me have two little kids plus babysit three others. The children play in the backyard. I talked to the mom the other day and warned her about this cat. She said the cat is in her yard all the time and even in her garage! Imagine if one of those little kids petted the cat! I'm also trying not to freak out that this cat could have rabies. From what I read online, the incubation period in humans after being bitten by an infected animal is anywhere from five days to over a year!

AROUND MY YARD

We finally got one day of beautiful weather yesterday in-between the non-stop rain. I was outside practically the entire day except for my quick doctor visit. I even had my neighbor-friend over in the evening for wine on my patio. The sun was still present, there was a cool breeze, and all the birds were singing. It was glorious. We're back to rain today and looking at the 10-day forecast, there are scattered thunderstorms EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I just wanna cry. My friend and I were saying last night that we feel we'll never get all our flowers and veggies planted. That it'll be mid-June before they'll even get in the ground or in containers.

 So yesterday, I only got a few pots of flowers and herbs planted before I ran out of potting soil. 

My neighbor's bushes hang over onto our patio and this time of year, they are so pretty with the pink flowers. They don't have any scent. Could they be honeysuckle? The branches are very heavy right now after all the rain.

I'm afraid this is the last of my lilacs. They also weren't as colorful this year as they were all the past years. They were always a pale purple, but I don't remember them being almost white. Again, probably way too much rain.

I don't think I ever showed you our new front porch/deck. Last November, we had our old, rotting wood porch/deck taken out and a new Trex deck built. I know in this photo you can't see the entire thing - I had too much gardening stuff piled up on the right side of the porch...all the plant pots and flowers...so I purposely took a photo off to the left. And because of the construction, there is mud all around the deck where we need to put down grass seed. But can't do so right now because - no surprise - too much rain. We also need a new sidewalk that leads up to the deck. It is old and sinking sideways into the ground. Anyway, we are loving our new deck. Best part is no maintenance - no staining or painting, no pressure washing or scrubbing, no sealing, no splinters!

THE SNOWBALL EFFECT

You know how you change one thing in your house and then it leads to more? That's how my house is right now. We got a new rug for the living room (that'll be another post) and also moved the old rug into the second spare bedroom - which is being made into an office and TV room for Brian. After moving the rug into the spare room, we realized it was too big and also didn't look good. So now we'll need a rug for that room. We also need a floor lamp, curtains, and are looking for an antique desk chair.

Then we decided we needed a twin bed in one of the spare bedrooms in case we ever had an overnight guest. My friend from Ohio was supposed to visit me the first week of June, so that prompted me to get my butt in gear. Turns out she isn't able to visit me, but at least I'm now prepared. I ordered this beautiful bed and a foam mattress from Wayfair, found pretty sheets at Target, and used an old quilt that was passed down to us from an elderly family friend. He slept under this quilt as a child.

So now "my" room - the first spare bedroom that used to be Phil's bedroom - is also a guest room! However, like I mentioned about a snowball effect....the side table with the lamp and plants will need to be moved elsewhere. There's too much furniture in this room now and it's very crowded. I'll be replacing the table with a small nightstand that my mom is going to paint for me.  (I guess I'll have to find somewhere else to put all those plants, too - see what I mean by the snowball effect?!)  And the metal "chandelier" over the bed will have to be moved. I don't think anyone wants to lie in that bed, worrying about the possibility of the chandy falling on their head. 😧

Here in the US, this is Memorial Day weekend. It usually means barbeques and get-togethers and sun...the unofficial start to summer. A friend of mine is having a barbeque this weekend, but looks like she'll be grilling in the rain and we'll be eating indoors instead of sitting outside on her patio. Whatever your plans are, have fun and be safe.

Until next time ~ thanks for visiting! 💓