Challenges

There seems to be all kinds of challenges in the blogosphere, mostly photo challenges, and writing challenges. Here are a few challenges I recorded.

The first challenge was the song that started out as a drum track that Joel put together. He sent me the track and gave me the challenge to make a song out of it. I laid down a bass track, followed by a rhythm guitar track. I made up a vocal track on the spot, so I have not written down the lyrics, then I laid down the lead guitar track. One take for each track. I named the song  Joel’s Beat.

 

The second challenge was when I was finally able to get my car washed (car washes had been closed under the lockdown). I washed my car and what did I get? Dust and muddy kitty prints all over the lid.

IMG_6403

 

The third challenge was for Big Baby Owl who had flown over to another branch on the cottonwood tree, then decided to climb the trunk of the tree to get up where Mama Owl was perched high above her. Big Baby Owl climbed and climbed, flapped her wings over the more difficult parts, and finally got into a fork in the tree about 10 feet from Mama Owl. She looked up at Mama Owl and Mama Owl flew off. Big Baby Owl was devastated. She just stood in the fork of the tree with her head bowed (click on the photos for an enlarged slide show).

 

The fourth challenge was photographing black Irises that are bleached purple in our intense sunshine. The irises look almost black to the naked eye, but properly exposed photos show how purple black really is.

 

The fifth challenge was doing super wide-angle photos of Spunk and living to write about it and post the photos.

 

LOL Cat

IMG_6356
Lola looking on the bright side after spending the day at the vet getting x-rayed, poked, tested, and re-splinted.

Since people have been asking about Lola, here’s the latest update. Lola had her two-week checkup today. Since she had been lethargic and not eating well over the past several days, the vet did an expanded radiograph and expanded blood tests. We knew she had degenerative arthritis from the x-rays of her paws, but the expanded tests show she has rheumatoid arthritis, and all her joints are affected. Therefore, she has not been feeling well since the last steroid shot had worn off.

Her treatment from now on will be wearing the splint so she can walk, getting steroid shots every three to four weeks and continued doses of Gabapentin twice daily.

Lola is a real trooper. She curls up with me at night and purrs both of us to sleep. Laurie says that when she wakes up in the middle of the night Lola will be curled up in my arm still purring. We will do our best to keep Lola comfortable so she can be as active as possible. She seems to always be happy and purring, as she looks on the bright side of life.

Outside The House In The Rising Sun

0A6A0250
Silver is catching a sunbeam as it spills over the irrigation border.

I opened the kitty door a little before sunrise. I tied up the trash and walked outside to find the sun peeking over the Sandias. All the kitties, except for Lola†, were lounging outside the house in the rising sun.

0A6A0262
Marble sitting in the sun on top of my dirty car taking a break from grooming just long enough for me to get a photo of her.
0A6A0268
Sasha sitting under my dirty car catching the long rays of the rising sun.
0A6A0278
Loki lurking.
0A6A0282
Spunk out of the sunbeams that were blocked by Resa’s Tree watching the other kitties catching the early morning rays.

†Lola was still in bed. She sleeps late and catches sunbeams streaming through the bedroom window in the mornings.

Lola Update

IMG_6236

As I reported on March 22, 2020, Lola has degenerative arthritis in her paws, and it’s especially bad in her right paw where the bones have separated. She has been in three different splints over the past six weeks (we changed her splint every two weeks), with  the hopes that the bones would fuse back together once her paw was stabilized by the splints. Today ended the 6th week. The vet took off Lola’s splint and x-rayed her paw. Unfortunately, Lola’s bones do not show any signs of fusing back together. Therefore, we decided to put another splint on her since she seems quite comfortable with her splints, and gets around very well with her leg splinted. Without the splint, she can hardly walk and she gets a lot of pain trying to walk on what amounts to a broken paw. Our vet is looking into other long term solutions for stabilizing Lola’s paw. Lola might end up being a bionic cat.

In case you missed the music video, Lola Limp, that I posted on March 22nd, I added it to the bottom of this post.

IMG_6228

 

Livin’ La Vida Lockdown

Livin’ La Vida Lockdown

Music: Ricky Martin
Lyrics: Timothy Price

From LA to New York City
Canada to the wall
It’s like bad renditions
Of movies like “The Fall”

So many lamentations
News gives us all a fright
Only sick and grave predictions
We are in an awful plight

You can take your clothes off and stand naked in the rain
But there’s no one to see you, now isn’t that a shame?
Isn’t that a shame? Come on.

Inside can’t go out
Livin’ la vida lockdown
Makes us scream and shout
Livin’ la vida lockdown
We can’t earn our bread
Enough to drive us loca
Lockdowns wear us out
Livin’ la vida lockdown (oh man!)
Livin’ la vida lockdown (how sad!)
Livin’ la vida lockdown

Woke up such a pity what a funky nasty spell
We do your part to save some money
But it’s like a living hell

Restless, climbing walls, all this waiting’s such a pain
Now we’re all alone, and it’s driving us insane
Yeah, we’ll never be the same

Inside can’t go out
Livin’ la vida lockdown
Makes us scream and shout
Livin’ la vida lockdown
We can’t earn our bread
Enough to drive us loca
Lockdowns wear us out
Livin’ la vida lockdown (oh man!)
Livin’ la vida lockdown (how sad!)
Livin’ la vida lockdown

Ride a horse naked like Godiva in the rain
But there’s no one to see you, isn’t that a shame?
Isn’t that a shame? Come on.

Inside can’t go out
Livin’ la vida lockdown
Makes us scream and shout
Livin’ la vida lockdown
We can’t earn our bread
Enough to drive us loca
Lockdowns wear us out
Livin’ la vida lockdown (Yeah!)

Livin’ la vida lockdown

Livin’ la vida lockdown
Livin’ la vida lockdown
Livin’ la vida lockdown