The Ankle Biter @ Quibbling.net

As those of you who read Tom’s blog know, Guinness was ill all day yesterday, was up half the night vomiting, and this morning would barely move except to flick his tail in discontent. Tom took him to the vet this morning, where it was determined that he was jaundiced and that his liver was having issues.

Guinness is now spending tonight and possibly tomorrow night in a veterinary hospital in Gaithersburg until they can figure out exactly what’s wrong- it could be a blood problem, it could be a liver problem, or it could be both. In any case, it’s almost certainly related to the 6 weeks he spent outside without regular nourishment.

Tom and I think very highly of our vet (Seven Locks Animal Hospital in Potomac, MD for those of you who are wondering), and if Dr. Clement recommended this facility, then we’re confident in that recommendation.

We’ve talked it over, and have decided that we will spend whatever we can afford on treatment for Guinness IF it is likely to restore him to a level of health and quality of life comparable to what he had before he ran away. We don’t mind making him an indoor cat if it comes to that, but the goal of treatment must be to get him to a point where he can go tear-assing around the house and wrestle with his brother. We will not put Guinness through a long “recovery” only to get him to a constant state of sickliness and weakness for the rest of his life- he’s only 2 years old, so another 10 years of weakness is just not something we’re willing to make him endure. In short, we’re trying to draw the line between what will make Guinness feel better and what will make us feel better.

Guinness has defied the odds not once but twice already, so we’re hoping for one more miracle from our Invincible Kitty.

This morning, my cats and NPR conspired to keep me in bed. 

Our alarm is set to NPR, despite the fact that we KNOW that the announcers are soothing and not annoying enough to keep me awake for those critical minutes after the alarm goes off. 

This morning, all the news on NPR was about the Middle East.  ALL of it.  It was all Israel and Lebanon, with Syria getting into the act, and hey! What about Iran? All I could think, while listening to the soothing NPR announcers in my half-awake state, was that the world is quickly going to hell and I have no idea what anyone should do about it.  In other words, NPR said, “It’s an absolute shit world out there, why get up and face it?”

Meanwhile, Jack was curled up against my feet.  Guinness had positioned himself directly in front of my face.  He purred as he nuzzled my nose. It was like they said, “That’s right Mommy, it’s a crappy world out there, so all you have to do is feed us and we’ll purr at you all day in this nice warm bed.  Stay home with us today.”

I was sorely tempted.  But there is work to be done- phone calls to be returned, meetings to attend, events to network.  But right now, all I want to do is curl up under the quilt Tom’s aunt gave us as a wedding gift and fall asleep to the sound of stereo purring.

We’re home from our big road trip tonight, and Guinness is indeed here. He’s lost a lot of weight- he’s actually smaller than Jack now.

Speaking of Jack, he does not seem pleased to have Guinness back. He keeps hissing at Guinness whenever he comes near. Can’t figure that one out- whether Jack just doesn’t remember Guinness that well, whether Guinness came home and ate all Jack’s food, or if Jack had just learned to like being an only cat and doesn’t want to have to share his territory again. So we’ll be keeping an eye on them.

We got a call from a neighbor today- Guinness had returned home. Many thanks to Steph for rushing right over to let him in the house. Yay, kitty. Very much looking forward to seeing both Guinness and Jack when we get home tomorrow afternoon.

We’re in Columbus, OH tonight. My maternal grandparents are here- I didn’t grow up near them, and as they get older they aren’t traveling as much, so I don’t see them as often. As a result, they had never met Tom before. So we took them some wedding photos and had a nice time catching up with them over dinner and low-sugar ice cream.

Over the course of the evening, Granddaddy was engaging in nostalgia (his favorite sport) and mentioned that he had joined Sigma Phi Epsilon at USC before entering the RAF during World War II.

Tom said… “You were in SigEp Cal Beta? I was in Ohio Tau!”

That’s right. My grandfather and my husband are fraternity brothers.

On the way to meet some friends for dessert:

“The Cheesecake Factory always looks like a mosque to me. Only, a mosque out of Willy Wonka or something. Sort of an Oompa-Loompa faith community.”

Jack washes before dinner.

Originally uploaded by tjbax.

Dude, the Happy Meal toy at McD’s a couple of weeks ago was this South Park-ified Jack Sparrow doll. I had to have one. A very nice McD’s employee in Burlington, CO pulled a tray of previous weeks’ Happy Meal toys out from under the counter and found this one for me. Tons of pirate-y fun, all for $1.69!

Lots of updates at Postcards from the Road for those of you who have been following it.

We’re taking off for Sioux Falls in a minute. In the meantime, check out the site Tom has been working on for our trip.

We’re safely in Chicago. The lame-ass internet service here at the hotel won’t let me even access my email on the web, so I can’t check email at the moment, but we’re here, we’re safe, and we’re having a lovely time.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Sioux Falls.

Tom and I are off today on the first day of our road trip. We’re in Chicago tonight, hanging out with Joseph. Watch for pictures as we travel.

And now, for your amusement, here’s a photo of the OTHER Tiffany Bridge.

UPDATE: Link is fixed- this is what I get for posting in a hurry as we walk out the door. Love and kisses, kids.