1:52 p.m. - 2003-01-20
Cat CPR
Bruce was kind enough to do an entry for me yesterday because I felt like absolute crap, and I was sure ya'll wouldn't want to hear the gory details of my physical disturbances. But today I'm thinking that there's nothing you would probably like better than to hear all about the itchy, scaly rashes under my arms which I have gotten as a result of my messed up auto-immune system. Not to mention the goop that is coming out of my nose and the vicegrip style headache I have. Yeah, I know you want to hear all about this stuff.
Never mind, I'll drop it.
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I actually was feeling fine until Friday night. I guess the excitement of winning a $4000 painting (that I actually like) with a ticket I had bought ten minutes before the drawing must have sent me over the edge. Not to mention that my little Venus doll was won by the founder of Birmingham's oldest arts organization. As my friend Robin said: "Forget winning the painting, Eileen getting your doll was your real lucky break. She'll show it to everyone in the world."
So maybe I'll get some sales as a result of this. I could surely use some...
The other excitement was that I think one of the younger artists actually was flirting with me. It could have been the two glasses of wine I had and all the loud music but I would swear I heard this adorable little pipsqueak of a painter telling me I looked gorgeous. I'm not sure but I think I said something intelligent like "thank you" and refrained from pointing out that I was old enough to be his grandmother, never mind his mother.
Sigh. He kinda' looked like Fox Mulder with a trendy goatee.
It was probably the attention getting outfit I had on. I was wearing a big poufy dress with a Victorian blouse over it, and the whole outfit matched my hair. Yessir, I looked like a cross between a Victorian shop girl and a woodland elf gone bad. And the really funny thing was that the whole shebang also exactly matched the painting I won, which was a landscape done in brownish oils over a gold leaf toner. At least three people commented on this startling coincidence.
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On Saturday it was back to earth again, itchy armpits and all. I had signed up for a pet first aid course at the Red Cross. Since our little darlings are a source of constant surprises, not all of them good, I decided I should finally give in to the need to be prepared.
And of course, there's the ever present tornado threat. It would be nice to know what to do in case the animals go spiraling off to Oz.
I was familiar with "Resusi-Annie" mannikins because my mom taught first aid courses, but did you know they have "Resusi-Fido" and "Resusi-Fluffy" mannikins? Our "Resusi-Fido" had a broken jaw, the result of a previous over-enthusiastic student trying to dislodge a golf ball in the fake choking scenario. And "Resusi-Fluffy" looked like rigor mortis had set in. Actually, both "Fido" and "Fluffy" looked like they had been picked up next to Highway 72 and were long past the need for resusitation. I learned that it's very difficult to do the Heimlich maneuver on a cat who is stiff and permanently positioned in the "cat loaf" posture.
We were given little face masks which resembled sandwich bags to put over the mannikin's mouths during the CPR/Resusitation part, which I realised didn't seem lifelike because neither the cat or dog mannikin had bad breath.
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