Busy Monday

Today I did a lot of running around.  It was a beautiful day, and we could see for miles from the top of our hill.

I sat and did some embroidery on the doghouse for the Gardener's Journal quilt.  I should have it all finished by tomorrow morning.  Then, I left to go pick up some carpet samples from the local Contractor's Furnishings Mart.  I brought home several samples, but it's a great place to get a bad case of the cough syrup syndrome.  You can click on that link to a previous blog post to find out what the cough syrup syndrome is.  

Good grief there were lots of different samples to choose from.  How is one to make a choice?  Some were really, really, really expensive, and some were pretty darned cheap.  When confronted with such a wide range of prices, I usually choose something in the middle range, but not for any reason that would resemble an educated choice.  Anyway...Mike can help me with the final decision, although neither of us can ever get too worked up about these kinds of decisions.  Life is too short to waste much time worrying over choice of carpet...which in the end is just something one walks on.

Then I headed over to the local Fred Meyer and picked up the annuals I'm going to use in my flower pots this year.  The weather is supposed to be lovely all week, and so that's what I'll be doing on one or more days. 

And I absolutely must clean up my culinary herb bed.  Things are growing, but the dead stuff from last year is still littering the landscape, not to mention the weeds.  I think that will take priority over the annuals.  If my knees hold out, both might get done tomorrow.  Also, I picked up a few grocery items to get us through the next couple of days.

But I've been most preoccupied about Smitty.  He's been sick since yesterday evening.  He seemed awfully lethargic while we were vegging in front of the TV last night.  I wondered aloud to Mike if he was sick.  He wasn't showing any symptoms other than just not being his usual rambunctious self.  Then, when we went to bed, I tried to get him to snuggle under the covers with me as we do every night.  He stayed for a few minutes, but no amount of stroking or petting could bring out his purr.  After a while, he got down and disappeared for the night.  

He didn't rouse us in the morning, as he always does.  Finally, I got up to see where he was.  He showed up for his beloved morning treats, but when I put them out, he just sniffed at them and walked away.  He's been sleeping in his box almost all day.

His nose is cold and damp, but it seems less pink to me.  (That could just be my imagination too.)  I haven't seen him eat or drink a thing all day, and he might have a little diarrhea.  He's interested in going out, but when I let him out this afternoon, he was only out for a few minutes before he came back in and retreated to his box again.  There's been no vomiting, and he doesn't seem to be in any pain.

So the worst thing I can say about him is that he won't eat or drink, he's lethargic, and he doesn't purr.  If he isn't better in the morning, I'm going to take him to the vet.  I've tried several times to get him to eat something or take some sips of water, but he's completely disinterested.  Just now I read a suggestion on the internet to try warming his food a little bit, and that's what I'm going to do next.  Hopefully, he'll eat a few bites.

So that's my Monday.  I will, of course, keep you posted about Mr. Smitty.

Gracie, on the other hand, seems fine.  I think she's enjoying the respite from Smitty's seemingly boundless energy.