Ponderings from the back pew

Still no word on my secondary financing option for the house.  Guess if it doesn't come through I'll just wait until the credit market mess passes and build my own.  Stupid banks. 

On to the latest pet related project:



A quick how to:
1) Buy old TV at garage sale...this one, a working B&W 13" model, was $5.
2) Remove guts of the TV.  I was careful to keep the functional bits like the tuning nobs, picture adjustment nobs, and the antennae.  Most of the dissection of this model was accomplished with a Phillips screwdriver, wire cutters, and 1/4" hex driver.  (NOTE:   TV's have large capacitors in them.  These store power and can deliver a nasty jolt if not properly discharged.  Please be sure to take appropriate precautions if you choose to take on a similar project.)
3) Discard left over parts in an eco-friendly manner.  I saved mine for possible future projects.
4) Thoroughly clean the case both inside and out.  I used a pressure washer and dish soap.
5) Remove any annoying protrusions that might bother the cats.  A Dremel tool accomplished this in seconds.
6) Optional:  seal the interior with a water based clear coat.
7) Reassemble the case.  I glued the all the knobs and decorative bits back on at this time.
8) Line with appropriate material.  This was a store bought Kuddle Kup just crammed inside the TV.  (KK has worked well so far.  As long as they don't try to claw at it.  I've only had to adjust it twice.) Maybe in the future I'll make some thing a bit more tailored.

Results:  Bianca and Jube (update - seizure follow up blood work is clear) took turns napping in it the first night!  Bianca is in it right now.

quick update....

Uncle Ron informed me that underwriting officially approved my home loan. There are a few title issues to clean up on the seller's end, then I'll have a closing date.

Just realized I never really followed up regarding my eye surgery. So far everything has been great. At my last checkup I was seeing 20/15 +2. That's one whole line on the eye chart smaller than 20/20, and 1/2 of the next smaller line, too. And I felt like it was a bit blurry that day! On a really good day I think I might be 20/10.

Highly recommended! Dr. Kolettis at the Illinois Eye Center did a great job.

I took a bunch of pics.  Some video to, but I haven't edited it at all yet.  Warning!  Lots of pics.  Broadband recommended!
Click below:
Photos!
EDIT:  Basement "planter" might have originally been a built in ashtray?
EDIT "DEUCE": Link should be fixed now.

OK, I've signed my name about a million times so far. Hopefully the people at the mortgage brokerage have all the documents and signatures they need. I think they are doing the appraisal tomorrow. I really hope they can push this thing through quickly. I *need* to get out and move on.

Tired....long day.

Well, I made an offer on a house. And it was accepted! Just have to get the loan done. I could be in the house in around 4 weeks. Both exciting and scary for me. There are a ton of little financial obligations (and one big one!) that I'm just not used to dealing with.  LIke homeowners insurance, Electric, cable or internet (not sure what path I'll end up taking in that regard), general maintenance, updates (their are some very cool 50's elements, and some not so cool stuff from the 80's!), trash pickup, etc.

I'm really pretty thrilled.  I should be able to keep my lot and still get the house.  So, want to know about the house?  Check out this link.  Pictures on the site really don't do it justice.
EDIT:   Link above won't work for some reason.   Just have to copy and paste, I'm afraid.
http://devonshirerealty.com/property/property.asp?PRM_MlsNumber=1099533&PRM_MlsName=PeoriaIL

It's a nice little mid-century ranch.  Brick and stone.  Mostly 50's stuff, but some bad lighting and wallpaper from about 1982, I would guess.  In very good shape.  The lot is not in the city, but is literally about 3 1/2 minutes from here.  It's a strange little un-annexed area.  Well water, mature trees, rainwater capture system, about .6 acres.  The "casual" entrance is from the garage.  A single stall, but plenty big.  Tons of cabinets.  And a built in milk chest.  The builder was the local milk delivery man.  Before my time, sadly.  There's a small foyer before you reach the dining room.  This isn't big, but plenty big for a bachelor.  Behind the dining room is the kitchen.  Small and square, but I've found small kitchens can be quite efficient when set up well.  Huge fridge, comes with the house. Gas range, fairly new.  Downside?  No dishwasher.  :(   Something we'll have to remedy somehow.  Huge window to the back deck and yard.  moving on takes you into a small sitting are, then a nice sized living room.  Stone fireplace, tons of built in shelving.  May stay, may not.  Back wall of these rooms is all windows, and has a door to the covered back deck.  The living room then meets up with the front door and entry.  Tons of built in cabinets, closets, and shelves in this area.  Note, the stone wall along the front of the house is a long planter box.  In great condition.  They're usually all cracked and heaved from the winter frost.  Could probably use some advice what to do there.  Anyway, back to the tour.  The Bedroom wing has two secondary bedrooms.  One big, one more than likely intended as either a nursery or an office.  Vintage bathroom in what looks to be nearly new condition.  Laundry chute!  Master bedroom is on the back of the house.  It has a huge walk in closet with an additional cedar closet.  Walk ins were rare for the time period.  Back near the garage is the stairs to the basement.  Fully finished.  Built in wet bar, planter boxes(?), train track around the pool table ceiling(!), fairly new HVAC, and a pool table!  Behind the pool room is the laundry and....get this...a drive under single stall basement garage.  This place is unique, to say the least! 

Exiting the rear of the house on the main level takes one out to a covered redwood deck. Comes with a home made water feature / fountain.  Rainwater capture is under the deck.  Brick patio with fire pit.  Mature landscaping.  The redwood deck wraps from the rear around the house all the way to the front door.  One can also reach the ramp to the rear lower level garage door, obviously.  

Green features:  Pressurized rain water capture system for irrigation purposes.  Whole house fan.  Main level garage exhaust fan. Oh!  Not green, but definitley funky - a built in air compressor for the garage. 

Whew!   My camera is busted, but once the parts get here I'll take more pictures.  Upon posession of the house I'll do a little walk through video, too!  Just wait til you see how the garage door works....

Is it possible to have two journals on LJ with the same user name?

Hell...I've got nothing. Was going to post a question, but now it seems a bit repetitive. And it is later than I thought, and I've yet to shower. I need to go to bed at a decent hour, too.

Random things:

This could be an interesting week, housing-wise. I'll keep it on the down low for now. If something happens I'll let you all (2?) know.

Sometimes during my travels I notice things. A branch that looks like an animal, a leaf crossing the road on the breeze, a flitting shadow in my peripheral vision, and I wonder if things are briefly infused with some sort of life. Maybe that leaf crossed the road on purpose.

There is a semi-famous intelligent person in the LJ community who's journal I follow. I just discovered this person is an adamant atheist. For some reason this made me sad. Most everyone I know has some sort of spiritual side. It seems that this person is decidedly anti- anything to do with spirituality. Who cares, right? I don't even know them. I guess I was just disappointed. Not that I am necessarily a pillar of Faith.

I had a weird dream. And I really don't seem to dream often, certainly I rarely recall them. It's a bit fuzzy in my mind now. But I was in a crowded room. Something (no idea what) happened. I was the only one in the room to notice or take action. As the room cleared a fairly tall woman with blonde hair remained. I didn't see her there, and was crushed by the lack of action or acknowledgment of the others in the room. As I slumped my shoulders and hung my head the woman appeared somehow, wrapped me in her arms and said something to the effect of "It's me. It's always been me. I've always loved you."

NB: No tall blondes in my life.

So I've pretty much decided that Jube is suffering from Feline Vestibular Disease (FVD).  I have to say he's doing better.  He hadn't eaten for several days, which was somewhat worrisome.  Today I bought some treats at the store.  Jube took to them with gusto.  I doled them out so he wouldn't make himself sick by eating too much.  I've also rigged up a leash system.  We're going to try it out later, possibly tomorrow.  He really wants to go out, but is in no shape to do so solo.  The FVD info is pretty sparse.  It seems some cats completely recover, some never do.  Some quickly, some over a couple of months.  I think he'll continue to improve.  Of course, eating and food energy is important for that recovery. 

more later...

Where do I know that phrase from? I've used it before. Is it something I picked up, or something I created?

No matter, what matter? I have a very random music library. I just jumped from My Sister's Machine to The 3 tenors.

I am so tired. Now that the time is here to go to bed though, I am suddenly NOT tired. Curse my peculiar biorhythms.

I'm a pretty good speller, but "...rhythms" always seems wrong.

I'm struck with the sudden urge to have some high maintenance girlfriend drag me out dancing. I would reluctantly go, secretly happy to shuffle my feet for a while.

I think I can Samba. I have no idea if I can, really, but I think I fake it pretty well. This has never been tested.

Mike Ness could kick my ass.

I hate my living situation.

I bought a lottery ticket. If I have won, the next post will be from a beach somewhere tropical. Or from space, if all goes well. If not, the next post will be from my couch.

Train tracks that are unused seem lonely.

People like T. Boone Pickens gives me hope.

Working on Saturdays sucks.

Hot weather is nice. So is Air Conditioning.

Should I win the lottery, I will give a bunch of it away.

My shoulder is a wreck again. That would also get fixed pronto.

Who is John Galt?

I'm getting sleepy...that's a good thing.

I heard an interesting line in a movie trailer this evening.

"Only unfulfilled love can be romantic."

Quick update on Jube: Done with medicine, but still wobbly, and lists a little to the left. He also seems to tire quickly. The improvement at this point seems to be in much smaller increments. I'd say if he has not recovered nearly 100% in another week or two we'll see if there is something else wrong, or if maybe the prolonged seizure did some damage.

Whew....I'm tired tonight. Today I took a few minutes to stop at my bank and discuss construction financing. They do not think it would be any trouble at all! I'm going to return in a couple of weeks with all my paper work and try to get the ball rolling on building my house. That decision grew out of a recent blown real estate deal. Basically the same money to move in to a house that was, well, liveable. Needed updating. Upside was it had two lots I could have spun off for a profit. Short version, I was told I could buy at a lower price prior to the house going on the market. Then they reneged regarding the price to the the tune of about $10k. So, for roughly the same amount of money I could just build what I want. Sacrificing the possible income of the other lots, of course.

So, with a little luck maybe I'll be in MY house before the fall and winter holidays. That would be awesome. I'm a little excited. And a little apprehensive that I'll get all excited and they'll end up turning me down for some reason. The loan officer thought it was a pretty solid yes though, given my current income to debt ratio and my much improved credit score.

Kind of exciting. Just wanted to share.

I'm feeling anti- today. Anti-everything.

First:
Jube is walking pretty well. Still shaky, but considering he could barely sit up yesterday 6 or 8 steps at a time is a big improvement. He is also feeling well enough to fight taking his medicine. Still no interest in water. I bribed him with the water from a can of Tuna. Lapped up quite a bit of it. I may try a little milk tomorrow...perhaps the kind made specially for kittens? (thoughts on that Mimi?) I imagine a few more days he'll be back to his old self. Bianca is still PO'd. Once this ordeal is straightened out she has *got* to go to a groomer. She's officially back on diet food as well. Some weight loss will hopefully remedy this new problem she has with matting.

Second:
Remember that house down the street? Kind of Brady Bunch looking? It is still on the market, and has been reduced in price to the 160's. So it has popped into my head again as an option. Correct the following train of thought if I have de-railed at any point:

I believe the house is owned outright. I also think they would be willing to do some owner financing stuff. I could sell them my lot for what I have in it. This would give me about $10 or $12k as a "down payment". Then I likely would make my monthly payment directly to them. Given my general dislike of banks, this appeals to me. They could either hold my lot in escrow or sell it. Assuming this transaction were to occur, I could move in almost immediately to a fully furnished home. A little updating would go a long way in this house. The floor plan is awesome, and comes in about 2200 sq ft. For a frame of reference, a new house 1 street away, only 1500 sq ft, just appraised for $210k. So, update the look over the next few years. When the housing market picks up again I could likely sell the house for a profit of $50k or more, less the cost of updating. That's pretty tempting. I think I will go talk to them tomorrow night and see if they might be willing to work with me. So, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Oh...here's the floorplan

Jube spent the day at the Vet's office. He's doing better. He's able to stand up, and walk, albeit with a hand. Just to steady him.

Still very tired, still not drinking much. He received a high dose steroid injection, and will continue oral steroids and antibiotics. His condition is slowly improving. Current theory is either the inner ear infection or some sort of head trauma. He did eat quite a bit, still not much for thirst. If he keeps up the slow but steady improvement he should be right as rain by the end of the week.

Bianca is doing her usual avoidance and hissing routine. Something about a trip to the Vet for Jube almost always triggers this. I wonder if he smells different to her or something when he doesn't feel well?

OK, big guy is home. he's asleep next to me on the couch. He's eaten a little bit, not drank yet (maybe he's pretty hydrated by his IV). He still has some back and forth eye movement (Nystagmus), and his balance is shot still. I imagine it feels as though he's drunk, because he keeps clamping his claws firmly into anything to "hold himself down". He is able to sit up, but not yet able to stand up or walk without assistance (for balance). He also seems light sensitive.

Vet that was there this afternoon seemed a bit more experienced. He had an interesting theory. He thinks Jube may have a severe inner ear infection or inflammation. Basically, this led to a case of cat vertigo, and then that led to the seizure. Of course, this will have to be confirmed by further tests. In the meantime he's home, resting, and has a course of antibiotics and 2 days worth of prednisone.

He made quite an impression on the vet techs. They thought he was adorable. I'll send them something nice when this is all over.

He's sleeping a lot. I'm still terribly worried.

Update: First dose of Prednisone is on board, along with something called cefadroxil (antibiotic?). I guess we'll see how he is in the morning and what his regular Vet has to say...

OK...latest from the emergency clinic:
Jube is still pretty drugged up. But, all of the symptoms seem to have subsided. If he continues to improve I may get to bring him home this afternoon. No word as to a possible cause.

I just got back from the local 24 hour veterinary clinic. I had to take Jube in and leave him for observation. He came home today after running around for about 2 or 3 hours really exhausted. But he does that sometimes. He slept all afternoon, wouldn't eat or drink. At this point this is not terribly unusual. This has happened a few times before. With a little rest he always jumps back. This time was different though. I couldn't sleep, and didn't want to disturb Jube (who was in the middle of the bed) and moved to the couch. After a few minutes I heard him fall out of bed, start meowing and heard scratching. At first I thought he had caught a mouse. But something wasn't right. I turned on the light and he was pulling himself under the bed in a strange manner. I drug him out and realized he was having a bad seizure. Drooling, loss of continence, rapid eye movement. I panicked a little, debating what to do. So I threw on some clothes, wrapped him up in a towel, and headed for the clinic. As fast as I dared. Which was about 90. His temp is fine, he responds to stimulus, but they sedated him with valium and gave him an IV. They consider his condition guarded. Vet said sometimes they just have seizures. Didn't think it was a stroke or something worse. My serious concern is that he ate or drank something he shouldn't have....

God, I really hope he is OK. They are going to keep him until he either improves enough to come home or needs to transfer to his normal Vet. Now I'm starting to tear up....

I'll update as soon as I know something

UPDATE: Talked to the Vet tech...said Jube's pretty doped up right now. Seizure(s) seem to have subsided. Jube's starting to look around to find his bearings. So far, so good. I'll call back in around 8 or 9 am to get another update.

Well, woke up this morning with a headache. Technically, went to be with one last night. Anyway, tried to kill it with aspirin. Got up, made it through breakfast, surgery, and the ride home. About 5 minutes after that I popped. Must have been a migraine lurking there, and the valium delayed it long enough to get home. Odd new sensation...not sure if it is migraine related or drug related. Slight tin foil - y taste in the roof of m y mouth. After I got sick I took the Ambien and crashed for about 6 hours. Intend to take the second dose of Ambien here in a few. (I'm not supposed to be on the computer, but I won't be for long.)

So, quick summary of the surgery. Seems to be a success. Right now I see quite well, not perfect. Like I have "sleep gunk" in my eye. This clears up relatively quickly I was told. Surgery was more un-nerving than unpleasant. Some one is monkeying with your eyes, for goodness' sake! Less apprehensive for me than a trip to the dentist, though.

SO....so far, so good! Follow up tomorrow morning. I'll repost after.

-Dan

P.S. Oh, with all of my cinematic analogies (Goldfinger, One flew over the Cuckoo's nest, The Matrix) I did have a weird post op dream. We (humans) were looking for water. We were able to shrink to about the size of a chipmunk and explore small underground tunnels in search of said water. (Oh...can we add Alice in Wonderland to the movie list?)

Goldfinger - Use of Laser
Cuckoo's nest - eye lid clamps to keep eyes open
Matrix - pre-op valium is a "blue pill" (red would be more apropos)

Follow Up: odd taste was caused by the post op eye drops

Hopefully Friday goes better than this: