Oh Deer!

That's not exactly what I said when I ran onto one of these animals on my way to work last week! The deer fared better than my car for sure. I was in an area where there are lots of fields where the deer have been foraging but I was on a curve and there's a blind spot where you can't seem them coming. Fortunately I know they're there so I always slow down when I get to that spot and sure enough I saw a brown blur out of the corner of my eye. I slammed on the brakes but it wasn't fast enough and there was a large thud as I hit the deer. She continued on into the field to meet her friend where they then proceeded to recross the road in front of me as I checked out the damage to the car. It doesn't look like much but all said and done I need to replace the front fender and have a dent bumped out on the passenger side of the car. The hood of the car buckled slightly at that corner and the windshield washer container within the car split open and leaked its contents on the road. The fog light was also pushed in. Could have been much worse. A piece of the deer's flesh and fur stuck to my fender showed me that she did have some injury and as she took off once more I noticed her limping somewhat. Fortunately I was unhurt and insurance will cover the damage. It's the first time in 19yrs of commuting in the area that I actually had a run-in with one of them and hopefully it's my last!

In keeping with the lovely spring weather we've been having here lately, I wanted to start something new for Easter. I'd been looking for a small piece to do, preferably something with religious undertones to it rather than the usual Easter fare of bunnies and chicks. When I picked up the March/April issue of JCS, I knew I'd found what I'd been looking for. Inside was a little Easter piece by Diane Williams of LHN called He is Risen. I had all the necessary supplies in my stash and got started on this one last week. Above is a progress pic as of last night. I'm doing it on a white linen but in this picture it sure doesn't look white. Of course, true to form, I'll have it ready for next Easter rather than this year.

Believe it or not, that Mirabilia Easter Fairy that I started 2 years ago is still hanging around waiting for her beading to be complete. I know, I'm so close to finishing her off but I just can't bring myself to pick it up again. No excuse, and I just can't explain it!

Next up is my LHN ornie finish for this month. Just a Flake stitched up very quickly but somewhere along the way I screwed up in my counting. Consequently when I stitched in the snow at the bottom, his boots were resting one row above it. I stitched an extra row of snow rather than dealing with the frogs.

LHN Home of a Needleworker too (Hmm, do you notice a LHN theme here?) has been moving along slowly but surely.It doesn't progress as quickly as I'd like it to since I'm only stitching on it during my breaks at work. Sorry about the picture. I didn't feel like pressing the fabric. I'm feeling rather lazy today.

I'd planned on staying put and stitching for most of the day but Clarisse had other plans for me. I had a scheduled appointment for her this morning for her annual vaccines. It wasn't until
the car trip there that I realized she really can meow when the need arises. She's had vaccines before with no problems but shortly after we returned home she started vomiting. At first I thought that maybe she'd been a little car sick or it was just a reaction to the stress of the situation. But after 7 or 8 episodes along with some bowel movements outside the litter box, I realized we had a problem. Phoned the vet and found ourselves back in the car again for a return trip. More outraged meowing on the way.

Yes, this is an adverse reaction to the vaccine. They put her on an IV to give some steroids and antihistamines and told me to return in 2 hrs to pick her up. I was meeting Bob for lunch at Tim Hortons following his Saturday bell rehearsal and just killed some time shopping while waiting for him. After lunch I return for the cat. Everything's fine, she's settled down now, just keep an eye on her but she should be fine. Wrong! Shortly after getting in, once more she starts vomiting. This time I also find some blood on the floor. Panic, call the vet, and once more we're in the car on the way back there. More crying, much more subdued this time. Now keep in mind that the vet is located in the next village which is about a 15 minute drive away. So I've spent an hour and a half on the road today going back and forth. Neither Clarisse or myself are impressed! This time I return with no cat. They've decided to put her back on an IV and keep her overnight for observation. The blood is just from an aggravated colon but now they want to give her the animal equivalent of Gravol(an anti-nausea med). In all the years I've had cats this is the first time I've ever had one react in this manner. Needless to say I'm worried and wonder if this is going to happen each year when vaccination time rolls around. Any other cat owners out there ever have these problems?

To take my mind off of things I've now started to get my suitcase packed for my trip south to Florida. My flight leaves on Tuesday morning and I am soooo looking forward to it! What to bring, what to bring? The weather has been cooler than usual there but my Mom informed me that the days are warming up now. A jacket and some longer pants are still in order since the nights have been a bit cooler. I seem to be between sizes right now. I currently have a set of "fat" clothes and "skinny" clothes from which to choose. I've recently lost 11 lbs with hopes of losing more but right now I'm sort of fitting in between the fat and the skinny clothes. Now when I say skinny you can't take that literally since I have never been skinny in my life! I'm just referring to a smaller set of clothes than my fat clothes. The fat pants are dragging in the crotch and the skinny ones require some major inhaling in order to zip them up. Which is more uncomfortable, not being able to breathe or excess material rubbing on the inside of one's thighs? I'll have to weigh my options, pardon the pun!

I'm planning on bringing the laptop with me so let's hope that my little interet stick can latch onto a local cell tower for connection. If you don't hear from me you'll know it's failed and I'll be in touch when I return. I get back on the Easter weekend so I'll wish you all a Happy Easter now. I hope Spring has paid all of you a visit by then. I'll leave you with some pictures of my new Easter additions to our home.

CLARISSE UPDATE: The vet just called with an update and said that Clarisse is no longer being sick and seems much brighter. If she continues like this we can bring her home tomorrow.