Janice Williams Loves Austin

December 12, 2009

Saturday Status

Filed under: Cats, Family, Food, Music — Janice @ 1:43 pm

I thought I would be a funeral today instead of here at home, but with the rain and the cold and the drive, I decided to not go. My cousin Effie Birdwell died in November in Mineral Wells. She is one of my very distant Cunningham cousins and a fixture at the reunion each year. She is one of our more eccentric family members, in her men’s clothing and gimme caps. She was quick with an opinion and didn’t mind letting you know how she felt about anything. She was a great historian and genealogist and that was one of her primary passions. She filled me in on many family details that I didn’t know. I never visited her except at the reunion and a committee meeting maybe. She was an interesting character and I think our family is losing some of the interesting characters. Maybe I say that because I just don’t “see” them now. Someone coming into the family in their 20s, like I did, may see all sorts of interesting characters I just accept as family.

My cats are being very loving and peaceful right now. My office has a big windowseat that faces the front lawn and the street. Nathan used to make that windowseat his home. There hasn’t been nearly as much use of it since he has been gone. But right now, Willie, the big yellow cat, is up in the window seat taking up most of the space, and Little Bit Phil is up beside him, head to head, both dozing. They were cleaning each other and doing a tiny bit of playful resting, but now they’ve both dozed off.

Phil has been so full of energy the last few days I wish we could install a meter and use some of it elsewhere. Mark was gone for a night and that seemed to amp up the energy even higher. Phil continues to amaze us by playing fetch just like a dog. He’s getting better about even putting the cloth mouse into my hand instead of just dropping it by my hand. When Mark was gone I played fetch with Phil in the living room a long time. Then I moved into the office to do my typing and he was on the keyboard, opening new windows on the screen, adding words that don’t exist to the copy, batting at the cursor on the screen, etc. I got the cloth mouse and would throw it down the hallway and keep him fetching and type as fast as I could while he scrambled off to get it. Then we went to bed and he was still full of vim. I threw the mouse a few dozen more times, trying to read a paragraph or two while he fetched. Finally, he calmed down enough to sleep for a few hours. It is sweet to see him sleeping now, but I know he is just recharging and I’ll be throwing a mouse again while I’m trying to type and cook and clean up the house.

Mark worked yesterday at Fort Hood for their “Community Strong” USO event. It was on the news this time since it is the first event of this type since the shootings last month. They do it on a regular basis for the troops and their families, but it got a lot more notice this time. The Lt. Dan Band played again. That band was formed by Gary Sinise, the actor who played Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump. He performs for the USO quite regularly, it sounds like. I think that is such a nice thing. I wish Access Hollywood and E! News would take note of things like THIS instead of their usual fodder. The Zac Brown Band also played and Mark was very impressed with them and I’m glad. They certainly have made some great songs for radio and I like every one of them, so it is good to know they are a great performance band, too.

What Mark really liked about the Zac Brown Band was their “Meet and Eat” after the show. Many performers have “Meet and Greets” where they allow fans from their fan clubs or radio station winners, etc., to come backstage and meet them and get an autograph and a picture. This band feeds their fans! Mark said they travel with two big busses and each has a big trailer. One has their gear, the other is a mobile kitchen and they carry a chef. For this show he set up his stoves and cooked a HUGE vat of gumbo. Mark and all the crew and backstage help got to eat, along with about 100 fans of the Zac Brown Band. They said that their goal for next year is to feed ALL of their fans at their shows. I don’t quite know if they can achieve that. They are on track to be playing stadiums and arenas by next year so I don’t know if they can handle thousands, but that is a neat deal. Another NICE story that someone should cover.

November 25, 2009

New Member of the Family

Filed under: At home, Cats, Family — Janice @ 5:19 am

I need to get back to blogging. I intended to write earlier today on the 2nd anniversary of this blog, but that celebration somehow slipped by. Now it is 4 in the morning and Mark and I are still up cleaning house and making pies and such in preparation for the visit of his Dad and his wife, Pam. They have never been here for Thanksgiving (well, very few have) so it is a special occasion. They will be down tomorrow from Tyler. They are very thankful, as are we, for the new member of the family– Austin — their new grandbaby. Austin was born a few weeks ago and has been a pretty sick little baby, in and out of the hospital, but he is home and better now. He lives in Washington D.C. with his mom, dad, and big brother Kristofer. I was going to post the sweet latest picture, but sometimes pics in email won’t let you save them and that was the case with this one. Er.

And when I wrote “New Member of the Family” as the headline, I wasn’t intending to write about Austin. I was going to write about Phil.

Phil the Cat

Phil the Cat

Phil was born in June and, along with his brothers and one sister, was abandoned at the animal shelter when they were a few weeks old. At the city animal shelter, they destroy animals under 8 weeks, so it was curtains for Phil. That is, until the sweet folks at Austin Pets Alive came along and took him and his family away. They do all they can to find homes for animals that would be euthanized. Austin Pets Alive will put their kittens on display at PetSmart for adoption. Phil was there with the others in his litter and most of them got snapped up, but Phil got sick somehow, possibly from a pet visiting the store. So he had to stay with a foster mom, Margaret, and get better.

Mark had spotted Phil on Craig’s List and went by PetSmart and didn’t find little Phil there. He inquired and found out about his health. We went out to the farm he was living on and visited him a few weeks ago and fell in love. So, we agreed that if he got well and wouldn’t transmit anything to Willie, we would love to have him join our family. Last week the doctor gave the all clear and Mark went to pick up our new baby boy on Thursday.

We did not name Phil. The foster mother named all the kittens in the litter after band members of the rock band Radiohead. We were unfamiliar with the members and asked which one was Phil. Phil is the drummer! How appropriate. I don’t believe in changing a kitten’s name so he will remain Phil. We have called him everything since he got home:  Little Bit, Baby Dumpling, Phillip, and even Nathan Jr. a time or two. He has the loudest purr I’ve ever heard so we call him Jackhammer sometimes, too.

Since Nathan died, we have missed having a cat curl up at the head of the bed. Willie is quite happy to be near us, but not that near. Little Phillip adores being by our head and I mean BY OUR HEADS. I woke up three times in the night Saturday night with him draped OVER my neck while I slept on my back. That’s close. He seems entirely content to be with us and sticks close by when we change rooms. And then, of course, he jumps up on whatever we are involved in. He has opened windows and changed settings on our computers we didn’t know we had. I worked 30 minutes last night trying to get my home studio to play audio and finally discovered Phil had stepped on the mute button.

Phil, so far, appears to be a talker. Willie has been our talking cat up to now, but Phil seems more vocal. We’ll see if that lasts.

So far Phil has met his Aunt Katie from across the street who will take good care of him if we ever leave home again (and she was ready to kidnap him and take him home on sight) and he met Aunt Terri who lives next door. Other than that, we’ve kept him to ourselves so far, but he’ll meet Granddad and Pammaw tomorrow.

Mark has been snapping hundreds of pictures, but I don’t have them all available to me. We will have to make some videos of his laser-light-chasing and his wrestling matches with Willie. There was some wariness between the two and some hissing from Phil the first day, but they are fast becoming friends and Willie is playing like he hasn’t played in a long time. The first night, Phil had been playing all over the living room with a little toy mouse. After we went to bed, I heard those same sounds from the living room and Phil was with us so I knew that Willie saw that and thought it looked like fun and was giving it a go. At the rate Willie is playing, he just might shed those extra pounds the vet didn’t like on his last check-up.

phil2

November 1, 2009

Returning to Blogging

Filed under: At home, Cats, Family — Janice @ 8:41 pm

After a week of sadness, I have got to get back into the habit of blogging.

Nathan Jr., the sweetest cat in the world, left this world Monday morning while the cold rain was pouring down. We got up early to make the calls that needed to be made. We had hoped to find a vet to come to the house to help us with this, but on such short notice, we weren’t having any luck. Our own sweet vet, Dr. O, had the day off, but she was quick to volunteer to come into the office to help us. I know they go through this on a regular basis, but their compassion and understanding was so overwhelming. It was the hardest thing Mark and I have ever gone through.

There are so many things about Nathan Jr. that we are missing every moment we are home. I can’t write about them now because I’ll get so sad again.

This has been the longest week ever. Mark usually has Mondays off except for his regular gig, but I took Monday off this week, too. Despite coming home and just collapsing back in bed and sleeping through the afternoon, it seemed like the clock just wouldn’t budge. Even when Mark went to his gig the clock crawled. Most weeks it seems like he walks out the front door and before I can even think about doing a load of laundry or accomplishing one project, he’s on his way home. This week I vacuumed and cleaned the carpets, did all the laundry and folded and hung it, cleaned the kitchen, cooked a casserole, cleaned the kitchen again, and still managed to watch TV, write email, Facebook, etc.

The rest of the week went just as slowly. I did get a little immersed at work most days and at least didn’t think about it so hard, but it didn’t make the time go any faster. But now the weekend has gone by a little more quickly, so maybe we’ll return to normal time passage soon.

Willie doesn’t seem like he misses Nathan too much, but he is sticking close to me every chance he gets and just isn’t that interested in going out to the patio.

Now that I’ve gone through this, I can appreciate more the ceremonies and rituals of human death that we go through. Having to make arrangements and go through a funeral even when you are not “ready” to do it does help in the grieving process.

We decided to have little Nathan Jr. cremated and keep his ashes. The Rainbow Bridge Pet Crematory is amazing (if amazing can possibly be the right word). Considerate, compassionate, and fast… They also sent brochures about grieving for a pet and sweet poems and stories along with a beautiful little cedar box containing the ashes, all neatly packaged and labeled.

Everyone has been so sweet with their offers of sympathy, too. I think the next time I hear that someone has lost a pet, I will make a casserole for them. Having the energy to find food for us was nonexistent. One friend sent a donation to the ASPCA immediately, which I never would have thought of, and another created a pet collar tag with a heart that says, “In Loving Memory of Nathan Jr” at PetSmart. I didn’t know those things existed. The cards and sweet notes and calls, too, have been very nice.

I am very grateful to have Mark to share this with. No matter how sweet everyone is and especially those who have gone through this, it is the here and now that is hard to get through and Mark was here moment by moment and knew how amazing that cat was.

Yes, we are going to adopt a new pet. I had thought we might need to hold off a little bit, but it is feeling more and more like this is something we need to do. Mark’s been on Craig’s list and found some very sweet prospects. We are not even certain it will be a kitten, there are some older cats that need a home, too.

The picture above was one of the last ones I took of Nathan Jr. He is a well documented cat and Mark is a great photographer so there are hundreds of pictures of him that show so many sweet aspects of his personality. I’m not such a good photographer, but I am glad I took a couple of picture last Saturday. He was so weak and Mark was gone most of the day, so I would take Nate to wherever I was to be close by. I had a lot of typing to do for the doctors, so I put him in the window. Willie got up in the window and enjoyed the beautiful day and the fresh air with him.

Nathan will never be forgotten. I had had a lot of cats in my childhood, but never a real pet and never a cat that shared my bed and my life like little Nathan has done the last 8 years. He will never be forgotten.

October 26, 2009

More Sad News

Filed under: Cats — Janice @ 12:03 am

I just read back through my blog and am surprised to see that Nathan Jr has been sick a whole month. There was so much happiness and relief when we heard that it was not cancer, but that happiness was short-lived.

Nathan has been very lethargic and hasn’t eaten much in the last few days. He’s so weak. We have had to carry him and put him in the litter box. If he does he business he just seems worn out and he lays down in the litter box, too tired to climb out.

Yesterday I put Nathan in the window in my office with the window open. He used to enjoy being in that window a lot, but hasn’t been as interested in it in a long time. He stayed the day there, though, while I worked, with the window open and fresh air coming in. Willie was up there beside him some of the time and they peacefully co-existed.

Today, we took him to the emergency clinic, at least thinking they could check his blood levels. Where it had been 19 and then 15, I think today she said it was 9 (where 30 is “normal”). She was a very sweet young veterinarian with unlimited patience and compassion for us. She told us how he could have another blood transfusion to help him for the moment. There is another medicine we could try, but it is unstable, no generic, very expensive, and she really didn’t think it would help Nathan. And, if it did work, he would be taking it and these other drugs he is already taking, for quite a while, and would have to take some of them forever. We discussed his quality of life, which is pretty miserable right now.

We brought him home without new drugs, without a blood transfusion. He have spent a lot of time talking to him today. Right now he is curled up in Mark’s chair (where I put him) and he may be asleep. He has been awake and conscious a lot of the time this weekend, with his tail always flicking, just like it always has. He hasn’t had a single bite to eat today, not even a lick of the cat food gravy, his favorite part. He hasn’t had any water since this morning when he drank like he was incredibly thirsty.

We’ve talked about all the ways to help him out of his misery. Tomorrow we will be calling our regular specialist and getting her opinion, just to be sure, and then making some arrangements. This is breaking our hearts, as you know, I’m sure. Nathan is such a special cat and, even still, is purring and loving and so patient with us. Mark had to go to work tonight, so I am here monitoring our boy.

October 7, 2009

The Latest on Nathan Jr.

Filed under: At home, Cats — Janice @ 1:44 am

I should have posted this yesterday, but I think I notified most everybody with calls, emails, and Facebook.

Nathan Jr. does not have lymphoma or any cancer.

This beautiful boy is sitting on my desk patiently while I type right now, tail flicking back and forth.

Yesterday we knew we would get the call from Dr. Locke at the specialty clinic. She had warned us that it didn’t look good. The three things they were looking for in his bone marrow were 1.) signs of cancer, 2.) signs of a fungal infection or 3.) healthy blood cells. If there were healthy blood cells, that would mean that Nathan’s immune system is killing the blood cells after they are produced. Fungal infection would be the easiest to treat and most straightforward.

Mark and I both shed a lot of tears over the weekend, anticipating the worst news while hoping for the best. I read that the usual life span after diagnosis of lymphoma without treatment is 4 to 6 weeks.

Mark went to mow the lawn Monday in preparation for company. He left his cell phone near me to make sure we didn’t miss the call. He was almost through mowing when she called, but I answered. She asked if I was busy, if I had a minute to talk. This is the most important conversation of my entire week, of course I had time! She said that the lab had looked at the slides and there was no sign of a fungal infection. My heart sank, that was what I had hoped they would fine. Then she said, But there was also no sign of cancer.

Unbelievable! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She added that there were not even any cells that they labeled suspicious.

So our baby Nathan Jr. is going to get better. It is an immune system problem where his own body is killing his own blood cells, but they can treat that. He began steroids and a mild, not-quite-but-almost chemotherapy drug yesterday afternoon.

There was an immediate change in Nathan. And I don’t mean from the medicine. I think Nathan has been mirroring our sad, depressed mood. Once we perked up, and believe me, we perked up, he perked up, too. But after a few hours with the steroids in him, he had lots more energy than before. He walks from room to room more, he is more affectionate, he is a happier cat.

And Mark and I are two happy people.

Thank you for your prayers, good thoughts, sweet comments and emails. Don’t forget the prayers of thanks. I’m thankful and grateful every time I see or think of my sweet Nate.

October 3, 2009

ACLFest

Filed under: At home, Austin, Cats, Music, Radio stuff — Janice @ 1:50 am

It is ACLFest weekend and the traffic is there to prove it. It’s the talk of Austin as it is every year, but I’m glad I don’t have to be a participant any more.

I went back to my blog from last year to see what I wrote about it last time around and somehow I didn’t write about it at all. So I will this year.

The first year of ACLFest was 2002. That was the best year ever. I was only a part-timer at the station, but the festival was really trying to get the word out and wanted lots of participation from the radio stations so they needed lots of stage emcees. Since I worked with some of the laziest men in the industry, many of the introductions fell to me. I introduced Asleep at the Wheel at the noon opening show. I guess that was on Saturday because back then it was just a 2 day festival.

—-

Well, I knew that would happen. I was thinking I should go check my diaries to be more accurate. So I looked at an online diary I’ve had for almost 10 years now and I don’t mention Asleep at the Wheel at all. I’m thinking now that they may have been one show that the lazy men did introduce since they were friends or because they had more prestige or something. So scratch what I said there.

I did – for sure – meet and introduce the South Austin Jug Band for the first time. So I got to meet James and Will and whoever replaced Warren on fiddle and Willie Pipkin. Now Willie has been part of Mark’s band for several years.

—-

Willie just HAD to be up here on the desk as I wrote this and found his spot on this hugely crowded desk. Then he rolls over and forces the keyboard off the desk and into my lap. This won’t last long…

—

I also met the Derailers for the first time at ACLFest 2002. I knew Scott, the drummer because he and Mark were friends, but it was my first opportunity to meet Tony, Brian, and Ed. Tony Villanueva told me that they often listened to me as they drove home from gigs (I did all nights on the station back then, but it was all recorded). That thrilled me to no end that Tony Villanueva knew ME! He was one of my first interviews when I did afternoons. I think that may have been the only interview I ever had with him since he left the Derailers after that next album.

I also got to meet Reckless Kelly that day. I had heard a lot about them, but didn’t know what they sounded like and I liked it right from the start. I shared that introduction with Bryan Beck from KGSR. He was a good friend and fan of theirs already. I think I was willing to let him do the intro, but he was nice enough to share. My diary says I introduced Cross Canadian Ragweed that day, too, but I have no recall of that whatsoever. Weird, huh? I know I had heard of them at that point, but I can’t even picture them at ACLFest.

That was a great year for me at ACLFest because, like I said, the organizers wanted radio to play it up big so we had parking passes, admission, and free food and drink in a lovely VIP area. I also had backstage access to every stage. The weather was hot but nice that year and the crowd was manageable. Hard to get a wristband if you weren’t a VIP, but for me, it was great. It got less great the next two years once they didn’t need us anymore and those years I had to broadcast from the park, which is not nearly as fun as people think it is, but I’ll save live broadcast stories for another day.

This big cat has just about come over into my lap with the keyboard so I’ll go to bed. And for those asking, Nathan’s test results will be with us Monday. He’s feeling okay and eating good. He purrs and sits on the patio.

September 30, 2009

Memories

Filed under: At home, Cats — Janice @ 2:14 am

I would probably post more if my host made it easier to FIND the dang place to be to do it. Finally, I am here.

The latest on Nathan is that he will have a bone biopsy on Thursday. He got to come home this morning and seems to be feeling a lot better than he did over the weekend, but his blood white and red cell counts are very low for an unknown reason. We are sad.

But to not dwell on that sadness, I was looking at Facebook. An old high school classmate posted a story about Kimbrough Memorial Stadium — the Buffalo Bowl — being 50 years old. That is the stadium where I went to a BUNCH of high school games and a few college games. It was a great bowl… not just a stadium, it was a stadium set down in “hills.” Kids would sit on the grass on each end and roll down the embankment when the game was boring.

Mom commented on a recent post that she was amazed at my memory. Even I am amazed at it sometime. Reading the article and looking at the pictures, I remember driving past that stadium a thousand times. It is right on the E-way north of Canyon. It has a beautiful white buffalo statue poised on a hill above a big WT laid out in white stones (with the T superimposed over the W). I had a memory that I know hasn’t been discussed or thought about in well over 30 years. I’ll see if Mom and Mackie remember this. Back in the early 70s, WT still played football against Texas Tech, 110 miles to the south. Man, I’m glad they don’t have to play anymore. But I remember one year the kids of Tech coming up and rearranging those white stones into the big double T and painting it black and red. I know soon after, WT had those rocks cemented into place so that wouldn’t happen again.

I am glad I have so many memories of the past. They entertain me. I type these reports every day for a psychologist that tests elderly people (primarily) to check their cognitive functioning. Frequently, if someone has memory problems, it is lost first with the short-term memory and they can’t remember newly learned material, but they can still remember things they learned well and in the past. I hope that is how my dementia starts (but, hopefully, not until I’m past 100). I would much rather be able to think about the Buffalo Bowl and all the fun times I had there than remember what I had for lunch or why I’m visiting with this nice doctor.

September 26, 2009

Sick Nathan Jr.

Filed under: At home, Cats — Janice @ 12:12 am

Anyone that knows me knows that I am in love with my cat Nathan Jr. Anyone that knows Mark knows that it goes beyond “in love.” He has a father/son bond with that cat that is beyond words. So it has been a tough week with Nathan Jr. sick for the very first time.

I’m glad that Mark noticed that Nathan was sick. Mark had been out of town for three nights and when he got home Nathan was just not as affectionate as he usually is. He stayed across the room, didn’t come running to see Mark, or act interested much at all. Mark also noticed that Nathan had bad breath. I wouldn’t have thought about it, but he was right. He called the vet and she said that it could be pretty serious if it were a kidney or liver problem, so he needed to be checked out.

Mark took off work and got Nathan to the vet and they began their tests. He had to stay overnight last night so that they could keep him on fluids. He wasn’t eating either and they could see that his gums were inflamed.

We got the good news that it wasn’t kidney or liver trouble, but it could be feline leukemia or other things, along with a bad tooth, so there are more tests to come.

Mark visited Nathan at the “hospital” this morning and Nathan was still cranky, but he put his head down in Mark’s hand and broke Mark’s heart that he couldn’t just take him straight home.

We did get good news this evening, though. Nathan has begun to perk up and wanted to be petted and is eating on his own a little more. With all that looking good, he may get to come home in the morning and spend the weekend with us. They would want to keep him at the vet’s office if he isn’t eating so he doesn’t weaken over the weekend. Monday he’ll be sedated and they will x-ray his teeth to see if there is a problem. He has also tested positive for feline AIDS, but he was immunized against that so the immunization can cause a false positive. They said even if he does have feline AIDS, it isn’t a death sentence. Much like human AIDS, it just means he would be more susceptible to sickness.

The nice thing I’ve noticed this week. I’ve told co-workers at two different jobs and friends and family in a variety of places and everyone has been sweet and supportive and understanding that this is traumatic for us! Not a single “It’s only a cat” comment has been heard (at least out loud). I appreciate people being nice. Mark and I were talking about that decision some pet owners have to make about how far and how much money you can commit to a pet’s health. Fortunately, this trouble doesn’t seem to be so life threatening that we have to face that. He will get well and we’ll have many happy years ahead of us. And, fortunately for us, this is cheaper than a raising a child. We are still ahead on that balance sheet.

Details as they develop.

September 8, 2009

Our Friend Stubb

Filed under: At home, Cats — Janice @ 12:00 pm

Just a couple of weeks ago, TC was in our backyard lounging on the wooden bench visible from our dining room window. It had been a while since I’d seen “ol’ TC” (as we call him) and I was glad to know he was alive and well. TC is a stray cat that comes tip-toeing down the fence and, before we got the new windows, would come to the back of the house and meow, asking for food. I didn’t have a screen on the dining room window, so I would make him a plate, open the window, and serve him, fast-food style. Sometimes I would go out the screened-in patio and give him a plate or a bowl of water. He always kept his distance until he knew we were back in the house, or far from the food, and then he would partake. We’ve been feeding him a couple of years and I think he does have a home and family, but he just likes to make friends. TC is solid black and a small cat. He gets his name from the club Mark plays at — TC’s — and the “black cats” that hang out there and because TC stands for “The Cat.”

So, seeing TC again after a long absence made me wonder what had happened to our other stray cat, Stubb. Stubb started coming around last summer or fall, or maybe before. Talk about a beat up cat, Stubb has no tail (thus, the name) and is blind in one eye. He has got to be related to Willie, our sweet cat, though, because he has abundant orange hair like Willie and the same sweet disposition. Stubb also seemed to belong to someone else because he appeared to be well fed, though he was happy to eat whatever we put out for him. Unlike TC, Stubb loved being petted and loved some attention. All through the coldest days of winter (which seem SO long ago now), I put out a little shelter, a plastic bin turned on its side with a blanket in it,  so that Stubb could get out of the wind or rain or cold just a little bit. He would seem to show up in the night, so if he did belong to someone they weren’t taking very good care of him.

Seeing TC made me realize that we hadn’t seen Stubb in a long while. I made up my mind that his owners had done like we did with Nathan at one point and they must have turned him into an indoor kitty. I’m sure Nathan left many a neighbor wondering what happened to that personable cat that would come into their garages (or houses!) when he quit being an outdoor cat. Stubb is safely inside somewhere, being loved.

Lo and behold, Sunday evening while I was on the porch dealing with cacti, who should appear but ol’ Stubby, looking exactly like he did the last time we saw him– quite bedraggled, tailless, blind, and, though fat and well fed, hungry. Mark fixed him a plate and he was happy to eat it. He was a little more skittish than before, but did let me pet him and make sure that there was plenty of fat on his bones. Stubb got his snack and went on his way. I wonder how long it will be before we see him again?

Here he is through the screen:


And a not-so-good picture after I opened the door . . . before he disappeared into the night again.

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