Nurse Bhu Reporting

BHU:  Hai again.  As you know, mai mom was very sick this week but because of the healing purrs and extensive medical petting that I let her do, she is now all better.  I will tell you that nursing is very hard work, always having to make sure the patient doesn't roll over on you or accidentally kick you off the bed with their enormous feet!  WHEW!  I tell ya, there were a LOT of close calls!

PATTY:  I'll say!  I do appreciate all that you did fur me, Bhu.  Don't know what I'd do without you and poppy.  He was a real hero, too, going to the store all the time to get food for us.  Most of all I would like to thank all our wonderful visitors who left comments that made us smile and laugh and tear up a little, too.  You all are the greatest group of folks in the universe!!  We love you!  xxoo



Bad day!

BHU:  Yesterday morning the ambulance came and took mai mom away.  I was a very good boy.  I didn't get in the way.  I was worried, though, about, you know, who would give me food and pet me and stuff like that.  'Cause you see, mai poppy had to go off with her, too!  I didn't know if they would come back.  But they did, about 6 hours later.  Phew! 

Mai mom had a very high fever for two days and she got dehydrated, so she passed out.  I wondered why she was lying down in the hallway.  But now she says she is feeling a little bit better -- no fever at least!  She's back to taking care of me, too.  Phew! 

xxoo

I went to the Mewniversity!

BHU:  Oh, hai!  Guess what!  Mai mom and poppy took me to the Mewniversity of Misery Vetz Klinik Thursday and they were very mean to me but there were some purrity girls there so it was okay.  The only thing is, I gotta go back to get mai teeth cleaned.  This quilt feels nice and snuggly so I'm gonna take a nap now.  Mai mom will tell you the resta the story. 

PATTY:  I'm not sure about the "mean" part; that might be a little dramatic, Bhu.  Anyhoo, Sab & I have been really worried for many years now that Bhu was not getting a complete exam when we took him to the vet every year for his shots.  He is just so aggressively uncooperative that most vets have been afraid to touch him and, since he is a "senior" kitteh, no one wanted to sedate him for fear of dire results.  So we took him to the University's vet clinic where they have worked on some of the most exotic animals in the world and where they have Board Certified anesthesiologists.  A bit of an upgrade from the neighborhood vet. 

Bhu was sedated and examined thoroughly!  For a 15 year old, he is in very good shape except for his teeth.  Even his kidney values have improved (despite the fact that he refuses to eat the special food and continues to eat Liver & Chicken Feast)! 

He's going to have to have a cleaning "including radiographs" and probably several extractions.  Have any of your kittehs had this done?  Do you know any kittehs who have had this?  He's taking antibiotics (which he actually LIKES, btw) and he is much happier already. 

We would love to hear from you about what you know about these procedures!  xxoo Patty

Adults Only! Not for Young Kittehs!

Patty:  Really, if there are any young kittehs or kiddies about, please do not let them read this post.  I went out this morning to hang some laundry outside on this warm, breezy April day and this is what I found out back by the clothes line:

 

What a beauty, but cold as ice.  I did not check for gender and I'd never seen this kitteh before.  There was no evidence of trauma.  I was saddened beyond belief and just sobbed and sobbed over the body.  I covered the body with a cloth and picked some narcissus to place at the scene and then I called Animal Control.  They have the capacity to check for microchips and would let the kitteh's humans know of his/her passing.  I then posted the photo and notice on the Neighborhood Association's Facebook page, but so far no one knows the kitteh. I made signs and posted them around the 'hood notifying people of his/her passing and my sadness for his/her humans.   Maybe he/she didn't have any humans (there was no microchip, as it turned out; or a collar). 

I'm not telling Bhu about this.  It's better if he doesn't know.  But it is so sad that such a beautiful creature is gone.  What would you have done?  Did I do the right thing? 

xxoo Patty



I'm Impawtant!

Bhu:  See, this is ME!  I am being interviewed at Mousebreath today!  That must mean that I am impawtant, doncha think?
Patty:  I would assume so.  Mousebreath is one of my absolute FAVORITE things to read!  You're probably going to have a swelled head now.  As if you didn't already have one! 
Bhu:  Hmmmm, do ya think I should get an agent?  I mean, what if Anderson Cooper calls?  or Jimmy Fallon? 
Patty:  Oh, dear.  Another CeleBRATty has been born!  xxoo

HIYO! More Snow!

Bhu:  I'm takin' a poll today.  Do you think mai mom has too many quilts?  Wait, don't answer yet!  Let me show you another piksher and then you can decide, bearing in mind this is only one side of the room.

So, whaddya think?  Of course, there's mai fort straight ahead and THAT's gotta stay no matter what!  And, as you can see from the furst photo, they are very soft and nice for napping. 

Patty:  So, what are you complaining about?  Geez!  Yes, we are having more snow.  I've already been out there once this morning to knock the heavy, wet snow off the trees, suet cages and bird feeders.  Even though there is a wind, the snow don't go nowhere!  It looks like effurrybody is gonna get a "last kiss" from Winter, so brace yourself! 

Stay warm and dry kittehs!  xxoo

Here's to Annabelle O'Leary!

Patty:  I am not a Saint, but I am a Patty and I am sort of Happy today.  Not entirely; just sorta.  And, even though my ancestry is primarily European, I do have one great-great-grandmother whose name was Annabelle O'Leary, a distinctly Irish moniker.  I never met her nor have I ever met any Irish relatives, so I don't know why St. Patrick's Day has become a drinking holiday.  I might devote a little thought to that today . . . maybe.

This is a pile o' wood from our beloved Mulberry Tree that split in half during the twin snow storms last month.  Look at the color of that wood!  It's like honey!  There's another pile about twenty feet away:  a walnut tree.  The wood of that tree is the color of milk chocolate.  I have a very yummy yard at present!

I have been apprised of a general misunderstanding about our blog.  Pattyskypants is me, the human furless one.  Bhu is gloriously furry Himalayan kitteh in the photo up top.  Most often I speak for him because, well, frankly he's too lazy to lift his head and speak during his all too frequent naps.  Also, he's rather terse (if ya hadn't noticed)  I try to indicate when I'm speaking (Patty:) and when he is speaking (Bhu:), but I guess it is a bit confusing. 

Bhu:  What?  YOU, confusing?  [snerk, snerk]

Have a good day, all, but whatever you do DO NOT DRINK GREEN BEER! 
xxoo

Emergency Boid Feeder

Lots and lots of snow -- heavy wet stuff that made all the tree limbs sag dangerously.  Not good for them and not good for the power lines.  I went out and tapped on the trees and the wet snow fell but I wasn't able to budge the larger trees.  

Every time I recycle one of these kitteh litter containers I think it would make a wonderful bird feeder.  So, today I tested my skill and came up with this.  I am hoping the birds will find it and use it.  It's kinda scary looking, but if you were a starving bird you might be desperate enough to stop at the Tidy Cat Buffet, eh? 

Stay warm, dry and safe!  xxoo Patty

ThunderSnow!

Patty:  First there was sleet and now ThunderSnow!  These are golf-ball sized, snow-covered rain balloons!  As I looked out the window I discovered, to my horror, that all the bird feeders are empty and the suet is gone!  The birds are hovering under the eaves, so when I went out to take this photo there was a flurry of feathering everywhere.  After just a few seconds out there, my hair was completely drenched.  I'm staying put!  I think I'll make chicken soup.

Bhu:  I'm staying put, too.  zzzzzzzzzzzzsnerkszzzzzz

Be safe effuryone!  xxoo

New Morning!

Patty:  Good morning effurryone!  As you can see, Bhu is quite contented in his sunpuddle this morning.   Sabryin wants to say "thanks so much to . . . all those who made such wonderful and heartwarming comments on . . ." the previous post about his mom.  It's been difficult this week and your words have been very comforting to us both.  Many, many thanks!

I made this  carrying case for Sabryin's African chess set.  I used a vintage, authentic batik for the case and a modern  batik for the lining.  I didn't want to detract from the beauty of the batik design, so the quilting is very simple, mirror image wavy lines using variegated threads.

Bhu:   This looks like something I could use to exercise my claws!  I will try that later.  Right now I want to say thanks to all my furrends for being so nice to mai mom and pop!  You're the greatest!  xxoo

Patty:  You got that right, Bhu!  And for those of you who worried about Ava, she is being well cared for by Sabryin's dad.  xxoo

Summerland

Sabryin's mom passed away last night after a long, fulfilling life.  This is a photo of her in 1966, in the Yucatan, doing laundry by hand.  She grew up on a farm in the midwest with four sisters and three brothers and she couldn't wait to get outta there!  She wanted adventure, and she got it.  She married a wildman author, had a baby in the late '50s and immediately headed out in every direction of the globe not as a tourist but as an observer.  She lived in those places; she was her own Peace Corps, raising a little boy and traveling and making do and creating a home wherever they went.  They lived in Mexico, West Indies, Ireland, Spain, Morocco, Hawaii, Arizona, Missouri, and finally in Texas.  She was Sabryin's best friend.  Sometime in the mid-70s she decided to go back to school and get a nursing degree.  She chose psychiatric nursing and worked in VA hospitals until she retired.  She was a lifelong smoker; she didn't quit until they put her in the hospital four weeks ago.  She just wanted to sleep; she wanted to go home and sleep.  She leaves behind her husband of over 50 years, two sons, a grandson and Ava, the kitteh.  Adieu, loved one!

New Banner!

Bhu:  Hey mom, how you like the new banner?

Patty:  Well, it's fantastic, of course!  You are so handsome!  Many thanks to Ann of Zoolatry!  xxoo

Rejekshun

Patty:  Well, Bhu, don't you look glorious on that quilt! 
Bhu:  Okay, thanx.  Now go away.
Patty:  That's just perfect!  Even my own Bhu is rejecting me.  I seem to be in a pattern here of being rejected.  At risk of sounding whiney, I won't go into details.  Even in the etsy store, people are "favoriting" items, but not buying them.  But I put up a few handmade treasures today and keeping my fingers crosssed that the rejekshun spell gets broken soon.  Good thing I am having a very productive week, otherwise I would have time to think about it. 
Bhu:  Well, you will receive no encouragement from me.  Please be quiet.
Patty:  Did you ever have one of those days/weeks/months/years when everybody just looks right through you?  Hope not, but if so here's a hug for you!  xxoo

A little late for the Year 5 Blogaversary

Bhu:  I'm not very good with the calendar but what do you expect:  I am a kitteh!  HowEFURR, mai mom totally forgot her responsibilities, once again.  Not only did she not blog but she forgot that it was our FIVE YEARS BLOGAVERSARY on January 5th!  There really is no excuse for this at all. 

Patty:  I sincerely apologize, Bhu, but you are right!  We started this blog on January 5, 2008 and that would be five years.  The name of the blog was "PattySkypants" and it wasn't meant to be a documentary of your every activity.  You didn't actually appear until post #4 and that was only because you came in and sat down on the apron I'd just made for Megan Kelley.  And now look at you:  Vice Purresident for Opurrations of the Pattyskypants Sew Thrifty etsy empire!!  (cough, cough, ahem)

Bhu:  Yeah, well nobody cared what you had to say or what you thought or paid attention to any of your silly human nonsense, so that's why I came to sit on the apron and get in that photo!  To spare you the humiliation of having a blog that nobody visited! 

Patty:  I realize that now, Bhu, and I truly appurreciate it!  If it wasn't for you, nobody would ever visit here!  Rarely do any of my far-away friends or family stop by and never do they leave comments. 

Bhu:  Well, maybe if you were more interesting.

Patty:  Et tu, Bhu!
xxoo 

Something New

Bhu:  Mai mom has been sewing since she was . . . well, let's just say a LONG TIME . . . and she has collected a lot of wonderful sewing-related things over the years and all of them are, at this point, "Vintage."  So she decided to open a shop on etsy.com (http://www.etsy.com/shop/pattyskypants).  This was precipitated by finding three boxes of vintage patterns, some of which you can see in the photo collage above.  She also has probably a TON of vintage fabrics, notions and books, so it's all goin' into the store.

Patty:  This is a slow process, as you can imagine, but I also want to start listing dolls, doll quilts, and other quilts in the coming months.  I have already sold some items and now that everybody is in a post-kissmess consumer daze, it's slowing down a bit so I can get more things photographed and listed.

I know that some of Bhu's furrends moms are quilters and sewists.  I do have a large collection of vintage and modern prints, so if you are looking for something specific for finishing or repairing a project, let me know.  Send me a photo of the fabric needed and I'll browse through my collection, which is primarily filed by color. 

The shop is called Pattyskypants Sew Thrifty with a beautiful masthead created by Ann of Zoolatry.  I'll be listing vintage clothing, books, magazines, and other odds-n-ends as well as many one-of-a-kind handmade items.  I hope you'll stop by!  xxoo

Bhu:  Hey, mom, can I be Vice Purresident for Opurrations?