At the vet clinic again

So, Snickle (or Poodle as we call him) is not himself today. Didn't eat breakfast and wasn't interested in dinner. Not looking well, not perky or really wandering around much. Off to the 24 clinic again.

Spend an hour there while they do the blood work. Liver problems but they are not sure what. He will be spending at least two nights with an ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow. On intravenious right now.

We are not as worried about him as the kitten. He went through this about 3 years ago and it was just an infection. Some antibiotics, some pills and then he was fine. We will wait to hear the results tomorrow and see where we are.

And we are still going to LBI. Can't do anything by staying home except worry more.

Of course, the old lady Bonspiel is as healthy as a horse. We think she is pushing 20 but Mrs. is not sure exactly. She rules the roost and has already let the kitten know who is boss of this house.

Things will turn out fine, just like before and it WILL be a Happy New Year.

As we say at least once a day "damn cats" but we love'em.

Later,
JH

PS and no this has not turned into a cat blog.

This and that

The kitten is fine at this point, thanks for asking. In fact, he got a new place to nap thanks to Santa who brought Mrs. this nice new purse cat bed.

Otherwise, just taking down the Christmas stuff, putting away presents and getting ready for the special meeting of the LBI CC for New Years.

Also spent a couple of hours putting together a new stand for the HD TV. Then had to disconnect all the electronics, take out the old stand and hook everything back up. That went pretty well except for the missing parts and the lack of pre-drilled holes. Good thing I am a bit handy in figuring out that stuff.

Also have been following the Junior playdowns up at Broomstones. The Plainfield team for the boys is in the playoff and a win will get them to Nationals. Bob and Rachel must be pretty excited about that.

On the local curling front not much is happening. Still trying to get a team together for the club playdowns. Made a quick stop at the club on Saturday for a little maintenance and the local Trials teams of Derek and Charrissa were both there practicing.

Check out the LBI blog over here as we have internet access at the place we are staying and there may be some late night blogging.

Later,
JH

Funny paws

So, he is still cute but now we have to wait for the fur to grow back. The expression says it all "Great now all the world will see me on the intarwebz".

Later,
JH

He is home

Thanks to everyone who was emailing us. The kitten is home, we just went and got him. He is fine at this point although very ratty. I guess a couple of days in a cage with a cone on your head you wouldn't look good either. He is exploring the house and cleaning himself.

He has two shaved front paws from the IVs that he had for fluids. Will be on oral antibiotics for about a week.

So a merry Christmas after all. Mrs JH is much happier now that she has the baby home.

Hopefully DC will post his kitty story, not sure how you get a black eye from your cat.

Later,
JH

A sick kitten

The baby, pictured at right, is sick. This morning he was very, very sick with a temperature of 106.4. That is right on the edge my friends. Now, he is somewhat better. It was a really looong day. Here is the brief recap.

8:45 - kitten not good, Mrs. agrees, off to the vet.

10:00 - home from the vet, he is getting good care

11:00 - fever at 105

12:00 - off to pick up pies for Christmas in Pawling, NY

2:00 - fever spikes at 106.4 (we are driving home at this point...tears....)

3:15 - home from pie journey, drop off pies, pick up cat carrier, off to the vet

4:30 - at the vet, kitten doing slightly better (with cone on head), fever coming down

5:15 - at the emergency 24 hour vet center. Why? They can provide the 24 hour monitoring he needs right now. Cost- don't ask.

5:30 - kitten happy to see us and is purring - a good sign - temp down to 104

6:00 - home again, feed the other munchkins, check email, do some work

future at 9:00 - Mrs. will be calling the 24 hour center even though they would prefer we don't. There is no way that call will not happen. And if she wakes up at 2:00am, you bet there will be a call made then as well.

Christmas eve morning - get the blood work results, check the fever, determine if he is coming home or not. Hopefully they will figure out what is going on as sometimes these things have no rhyme or reason.

Christmas day - off to NJ hopefully and maybe home again the same day.

Why do these things always happen with pets at the worst times?

Later,
JH

The Christmas letter for 2008

Christmas is here and New Years soon follows. We have been getting Christmas letters in some of our cards. So, let's fire up the wayback machine like Coach Ray and see what happened in 2008.

The year started off by getting very close to attending a National championship. One more made take out in the Club playdowns and it was off to the Club Nationals. Won’t forget that shot for a long time.

This here blog started in February. Mike over at InTheHack was cleaning up the site and decided to not have blogging anymore. I did get to rescue a few of my old ones which are now archived here. It was a pretty painless transition and now it has expanded to four separate blogs. Thank you Google.

The curling season ended at Nutmeg and it was another successful year as we continued to grow our membership. Of course that means that the World Curling Championships were in full swing. Jennifer Jones team won the Women’s Worlds and Mrs. JH was one of the first people to call her buddy Cathy O to offer congratulations. We also took a trip to one of the flattest places on earth, Grand Forks ND. This was for the Men’s Worlds. It was a blast as always and the arena is one of the best in the world.

Spring brings the Kentucky Derby and the beginning of baseball. As usual, I picked the winning horse and then decided not to bet on him because he was the favorite. And of course Curlin then stepped up and shot down Big Brown.

When Mike got rid of blogs at InTheHack, he must have had this in mind. One of the first and best curling chat sites on the internet closes up shop. A big loss for those of us with nothing better to do than argue the merits of playdown formats.

Summer is here and my Dad gets sick. Less than a month later he passes away. Enough said.

Fall brings some emotional recovery with the start of curling season and reconnecting with a lot of good people. We put in ice a month early and it was very successful and used a ton. It also brought about a wonderful joyful event, another historic collapse by the Mets. Not only do they drop out of first but also miss the playoffs. My beloved Phightin Phils take the division and enter the playoffs.

The GNCC decides to start a curling tour for prize money and somehow I get talked into being the chair. I still blame it on the beer that Derek bought me. We also lose my cat Domino to illness after 18 years. I had him before I ever met Mrs. JH and he was definitely my cat. So, we had to replace him because two cats is not enough. Enter the kitten. We think the spirit of Domino has entered the kitten sometimes as he does some of the same things, like drinking water out of a glass.

October – the fall classic and guess who is playing, why it is the PHILLIES. Anybody want to guess the outcome? PHILS WIN!!!

Finally we return to the scene of our first meeting ten years ago. This coming year will be our 10 year wedding anniversary. That is the paper present right? Guess I will buy her a book or maybe a calendar.

Christmas and the end of the year have arrived. It will be tough without Dad. He would always take his tree and fill in any "holes" that were missing branches by drilling into the trunk and adding an extra branch. His tree was always perfect. We did get a lot of his antique Christmas stuff so that is a nice reminder.

Have a safe, healthy and happy Holiday season everyone.
Later,
JH

An early Christmas present to me

Guess what came in the mail today. Go ahead guess. Give up? Here is a hint, SUCK IT METS!

Yep, the check came today for my WINNING WORLD SERIES BET ON THE PHILS!!!!!

Made it back in February. Someone was headed to sin city so I says "here is $20, put it on the Phils to win the Series." 14-1 odds back then so a nice little Christmas bonus of $300. I do believe I may use it to buy a drink for some of my friends who are Mets fans. Just to rub it in a bit more. Or maybe send a box of tissues to David Wright who is still crying in his beer somewhere.

Now, just to parlay that on a winning horse in the Derby......hmmm.

Merry Christmas to me.

Later,
JH

Facebook, curling and snow

Do you facebook? Can I ask why? I just deactivated my facebook account. Why, because I don't have time to go there and tend a farm, update my status, send spitting llamas, take a movie test, choose my favorite color, decide if I am happy or sad, tend the farm some more, answer friend requests from people I don't know and on and on and on. Maybe I am getting like Coach Ray and am a curmudgeon.

Maybe I am becoming a technophobe. I just recently got a new cell phone. It is really hard to find a phone that is just a phone. I have a camera, I don't need an MP3 player, I don't text or email from the phone because the buttons are too small. Just a phone please and don't look at me like that. Whatever.

Anyhoodle. Playing a practice game against Olympic hopefuls Charrissa and team tomorrow. Ten ends with time clocks so that they can get a feel for the whole thing. A couple of her team have never played with clocks or the whole playdown process.

Waiting for the first snow storm of the season. Fired up the snowblower yesterday to make sure it ran okay and everything was in good shape. I do like power toys.

Later,
JH

We win

The Golden Handle playdowns completed yesterday and we won. So, we are in the GH as Nutmeg 1.

The rock discussion went well and there is positive movement on getting the rocks done. I am looking forward to faster ice from this.

Later,
JH

This and that and those and them

The Golden Handle playdowns started yesterday and we won the first game. Now have to play again today to get the Nutmeg 1 designation with a win.

Also have a board meeting to discuss the rocks. Will see how that goes. Loyal readers know the story but it should be an interesting meeting.

The Olympic Trials playdown schedules are set. Derek and his crew will be at TCC attempting to make it. They ended up in a pretty good pool and have a chance. Charrissa will be at Ardsley with a great chance as there are three spots available to go directly to the Trials. Playdowns start on the 7th of January. We will be heading down to Ardsley to cheer her on. Lots of GNCC teams at both TCC and Ardsley as well. Nice to see competitive curling expanding on the East coast.

Also finishing up Christmas shopping and decorating and lights. A bit late but bonspiels have kept the weekends busy.

Think there is curling on TV this weekend but not sure if we get it on the satellite. I think is the cable system out of Ontario. Next weekend there is curling for sure with the Continental Cup. Team North America vs Team World.

Christmas is almost here, hope you have your shopping done.

Later,
JH

Snowy weekend

Yes, DC I did have a bit of a problem with a man in a kilt but so did John DeJong. Actually there was a good idea floated this weekend. Create a "trophy" for all the snow rollers. Getting historical names might be a problem but someone would rat out others that belong if their name was going on it.

Otherwise it was a fun weekend. It did snow on Saturday night and into Sunday but not much. The steak dinner was great along with Lou's meatballs which were especially good as a midnight snack. No dice but lots of darts and cribbage. Coach Ray will be unhappy to hear that after our cold and hard work they have decided to not pay for the satellite anymore. Norfolk did lose quite a few members this year and they are worried about finances.

Hopefully they get a good turnout for the mixed to help them along.

Later,
JH

Northern Bound

Off to the Great White North of CT this weekend. Norfolk men's bonspiel where the weather is cold and the snow falls in July. Okay, not really but it is called "The icebox of CT" for a reason. Predicted single digit lows for the weekend.

Should be a lot of fun as always. DC will be there as well I think and Coach Ray usually is but couldn't make it this year. There will be curling and darts and Canadian dice. There is curling on TV as well and the great steak dinner cooked over an open wood fire.

There probably won't be any blogging as Norfolk has yet to enter the technology age. Even cell phones don't really work up there.

Later,
JH

Back on the air

So, I had a post-holiday post all done and blogger lost it. Highlight, broken pressure relief valve on the heater on Sunday night. Emergency call to the oil company and it was fixed rather quickly.

Coach Ray is back on the air as well.

And we are back after almost 4 hours today. Cable was hinky for some reason, TV worked, phone almost worked and no internet. Then SMAC decided to reconnect everything and the wires weren't quite in the right places. But, obviously everything is good now. So she is now back to managing her farm.

Yep, she is now on Facebook way too much. Lots of friends. Running a virtual farm with cows, horses, chickens and fruit trees. Writing on walls. Sending spiting llamas and hatching eggs. So if you are on facebook (which I am) do what I do and just dont go there.

Later,
JH