It's official!

Spring is here. I saw a couple of robins the other day, but tonight was the official sign of spring's arrival. I stepped outside for a minute and thought I heard a lawnmower. Sure enough, through the still barely budding trees, I saw a man across the other Grantosa Boulevard out pushing his bright red mower. Not even any leaves on the trees, but he's mowin' his lawn!

I guess that means I should get the scooter going again too. This weekend I'll have to give it a try, and hope it starts after all these months....

Another day

Well, things seem to be moving faster with Max this time around. In September, his eye bursts were spaced out a few days until that last week when they were happening every day. He would have a few good days between every bad one.

But today I came home to find his eye all squished again and the face all wet from another burst. Two days in a row right off the bat. He also wants nothing to do with me right now and is hiding behind the bed - unlike yesterday when he only wanted to be on my lap. That's not a good thing. I guess all I can do though is see what tomorrow brings. But then that's all we can do any day right?

Hopefully sometime this evening he'll at least want to come out and spend some time on my lap again. My lap feels pretty naked without him, even though Moses is doing his best to fill the spot - on his terms though, of course. We'll both have to see what happens.

Here we go again

My poor Maxie.... his eye tumor has become active again. After a bad month last September when every few days he was in pain and gushing from his eye, he's been really good. The last eye burst was the last weekend of September when it was actually bleeding. My theory is that the blood vessel feeding the tumor must have broken (hence the bleeding) and that the tumor had gone dormant. So my sweet neurotic Max was almost back to his old self.

This evening reality has come back to slap us both in the face. I should have known this was coming. For the last few days Max has been especially clingy and there's been a little wetness in the corner of his eye. But it was still a shock when I saw him come running upstairs to find me with his face dripping again. I'm hoping this will follow the pattern of last fall, and that tomorrow he'll be back to normal for several days again before another eye burst, but the gushing is lasting a bit longer this time around. I guess I'll just have to keep close watch on him again to see how things go.

So for tonight, Curves can wait. Max only wants me when he's in pain and feeling scared, so I need to stay put on the recliner for him this evening. He's finally found a comfortable position after lots of squirming and shuddering. He also seems to want the blanket over him to keep his eyes sheltered from the light too. It's the least a mother can do for her poor baby, right? (Yeah, I fully admit that I'm pathetic.... but he IS my baby.)

At least this time I feel better prepared too. I know what to expect and what to watch for. I also have had much more time with Max than I ever expected when I got the word about his tumor last August. But I do still dread the day when I have to finally decide to call Dr. Tom. In the meantime, I'll keep loving my little guy and hoping for more good nights of being purred to sleep.

Where's my camera when I need it?

Damn! The camera was too far away when I looked outside and saw the two cardinals perched on the branch of the tree. There they were, a male and a female, doing the spring mating ritual. Just a few inches away from each other, she had her back to him, shaking her tail feathers. I always thought that was just a saying, but she was literally shaking her tail feathers at him and he ignored her. He moved a little farther away from her, and she shook her tail feathers again. But he moved still farther away. Again, she shook those feathers for all she was worth.

The dance continued for a while, with her following and him ignoring her. Now I always thought it was the other way around in nature.... he's horny, she's ignoring. But not with these cardinals. No matter how much she shook that tail of hers, he just kept moving away. Eventually he moved close enough for them to touch beaks, and then he turned and left again. What a tease!

How cool is this? But I can sure relate to that female cardinal. Shake those tail feathers, and the guy runs away. Ha!

By the time I went to get the camera and came back, they had moved too far out of my range. Moving closer scared them off, so no pic of this randy pair. But the camera is staying close in case they come back to give me a show again!