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Tails and Tales

Wednesday
9/22/2010

We moved Brett up to the bunkhouse on Saturday, just before Martha and Margo left for St. Louis, and he's been cooling his heels there for four days now. Slowly but surely, he's overcoming his desire to make himself invisible when I enter the room. Even when he does hide and hiss, he doesn't flee or resist when I reach for him, and he purrs readily when I put him on my lap and stroke him. I haven't had to syringe-feed him since Monday, when he started lapping baby food from a wooden knife. He nibbles dry food on his own overnight, but doesn't seem to eat the canned food I leave out unless I hold the little Pyrex dish right in front of him.

Brett's still skinny, but he's eating enough now to hold his weight. His poop looks good, though naturally there isn't much of it. I haven't seen him shiver recently. While I'm giving him Viralys gel (with lysine) as a precaution, I don't see any evidence of congestion or upper respiratory issues. So it's really all about socialization. Brett's making progress, but it will probably still take weeks before we can let him loose in a larger territory without watching him disappear under the bed.

By contrast, the Divers ramble out from their nest or crate when I enter the nursery, then start purring even before I pick them up. Since they always seem to be on the move (though walking, not scampering), I decided to leave the nursery door open while I had breakfast today, so they could wander out into the kitchen and back-room area. After reading the paper for a few minutes, I realized that I hadn't seen or heard them, so I got up to make sure they hadn't wandered off in the wrong direction.

No sign of them. I checked the nursery, and found them hiding in really obscure spots. They must have interpreted the open door as more of a threat than an opportunity. So while they enjoy our company, the Divers aren't quite carefree little furballs yet.

They're still eating and gaining weight like little fiends, pooping well, and being good sports about receiving their meds. The eye meds are the most challenging, especially without Martha around to help (she gets back later today.) I've been administering Idoxuridine drops 3x per day and Erythromycin ointment 2-3x per day, and they definitely don't enjoy it. Both Oggi and Gigi still have one cloudy cornea, so I'm taking them to the vet later today for a consultation.

The happy-go-lucky tag may not apply to the Divers, but it definitely describes the Campers, who see less of us than they should, given the time we have to spend with Brett and the Divers. So when we do visit the villa, it's party time. That describes both the 9am weigh-in and the evening visit around 10pm. Before I head upstairs for the night, I stop by the dark villa, turn on the overhead light to get my I bearings, then flick it off, turn on the table lamp, and sit down on the futon.

And the Campers come like a swarm of grasshoppers. To the foot of the futon, up its face to the seat, onto my legs, up my chest to my face. It's like a pack of kindergarteners demanding that you read them a bedtime story.

Last night I didn’t have any reading matter in hand, so I related one of my generation's classic tales. Here's how it starts:

Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Jed –
a poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed.
Then one day he was shootin' at some food,
When up from the ground come a bubb-a-lin' crude.
Oil that is.
Black Gold.
Texas Tea.

I continued with the second verse, and by the time I got to the part about swimming pools and movie stars, the Campers could barely contain themselves. They made me start over and repeat the story three more times.

Tonight they may hear a seafaring story about an uncharted desert isle and a three-hour tour.

filed by: TS

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