They are doing well! I think we are past the concerning timeframe. They very much want to go outside, but I’m so afraid they will be bitten again! Here are their photos from today - they are in their favorite napping places.

Thank you all. They still seem to be doing okay. ER vet said the 48 hours is the critical time, so I guess we aren’t out of the woods, but they look good. The gray cat, Thor, seems more tired, but he is still playing and eating and such.

Is gabapentin an NSAID?

They survived the night. Thor (gray one) still has a swollen leg. Loki (tuxedo) is back to normal.

Our pair of year old kitties tangled with a rattlesnake tonight. It’s the season in central Florida, I guess. They are both at the ER vet now being treated. If you wouldn’t mind, could you pray for them?

I’m so sorry

Will you get the new bivalent vaccine with the omicron strain? My last booster was last winter, same for my teenagers. I think we will get the new one, but I’m not sure. (If there is already a discussion on this, please direct me to it)

All my thoughts and prayers, Katie. How awful for you all.

It looks great! Makes me want to come learn at your house!

We don’t have a dentist or optometrist, so that makes this harder. 😒 We are new to this area, and have only chosen primary doctors so far.

How do you choose? DH retired and we have to choose. We’ve never had a choice before. So how do you compare/contrast? We have 4 kids - 2 need glasses, plus myself, and they all have bad teeth. So these are rather important insurance choices. We are in central FL is that makes a difference.

Thanks for the ideas!

The old microwave in our house broke. We went to Lowes and bought a new one. The installer shows up for 2 minutes, says we can’t install it, and the next 3 weeks is a back & forth with the store. Apparently we need a microwave with front vents. The cabinets above the microwave are 15 inches deep. Lowes sells one model that would work. A local appliance store told us they can sell us a “bump out kit” that would allow us to choose any microwave, but it would be 3 inches further from the wall. So, do I choose the ugly microwave from Lowes with front vents, or lose 3 inches from our cooking area?

I am still masking. However, dh, my parents, my grandma, and one dd are done with them. The adults don’t see the point since most of us are vaxed (my 4yo has one more month!), the one kid has sensory issues and anxiety that make keeping a mask on hard. My MIL hasn’t worn a mask since fall, and my unvaxed SIL lives with her. So I guess I’m an outlier in my immediate crowd. Our rates are much lower, but it makes me nervous.

The contractor isn’t coming to “look at it” until Monday. Originally Tuesday, but we pressured them to come a day earlier. Ugh. This needs to be done by the end of the week! We have been waiting for 6 months to have school space!

The mitigation company said the foam backing on the floors will not dry out completely (at least not here in humid Florida). I’m wondering if we should choose different flooring. The rest of the house is tile. If the floors had been tile in the addition, we could have just mopped? The good news is the baseboards and drywall were dry. I don’t think the furniture was damaged badly enough to need replacing (I hope!! It was all new!) The bottoms of the cube shelves were fairly wet, so I hope the particleboard doesn’t disintegrate. 😖

I hope so!!

In our brand-new, just-put-pictures up addition, we had a water leak this morning. Our stupid-butt contractor didn’t remove all the irrigation lines from underneath the slab. We think that is where the water came from - somehow the water traveled up. Anyway, the floors are ruined. They are luxury vinyl and all 760 sq ft of it has to come up so the concrete can be dried. So we now have to empty everything (5 rooms plus closets) and then put it all back together. Makes me want to scream and cry!! Why can’t people do their job correctly??!! And what is the point of luxury vinyl if they have to be chucked after getting wet?? Ugh! 😣

The last two years have left us churchless. We moved states, and covid numbers are coming down here, so DH wants to choose a church. We have different ways of looking at churches now though. We were at a Baptist church, and have usually attended baptist churches. He is okay with the criteria we always used, while I’ve been watching and reading and listening to many voices, and I’m not okay with the “same old thing.” So how do we find a church that puts love first? Love for God, love for others; kindness, empathy, compassion, generosity, etc. He isn’t comfortable with the more liturgical churches, but is willing to visit. Any denominations you would recommend?

We moved recently and have been living through an addition onto the house. The house painter tested positive for covid today. He was here sick last week working on the outside house paint. He came down with it New Years weekend. The week before he was painting the inside of the addition. Fortunately, we had the windows and doors open all that week. Unfortunately, he came into the house 2 or 3 times last week to use the bathroom, like once a day, while symptomatic, and the windows/doors were shut due to painting the outside. I went in about a half hour afterwards to sanitize it each time, but didn’t know he was sick. So that’s a direct exposure, right? The exhaust fan was on, but I don’t know the amount of time it would take to clear the air out. My 93 year old grandma is nauseous today. We are all vaccinated except the 4 year old. Reassure me?

Thor isn’t sure if Loki is trustworthy yet.

Had to share! Thor is grey and 4 months. Loki is black and 2 months.

I’m a potty training drop-out, so I’m commiserating with you! Oldest was awful to potty train, second took care of it without me, third was awful again, so I didn’t try with the fourth. She wanted to figure it out, eventually, at 4yo!

Honestly, the risk to my unvaxed 4 year old, half vaxed 8 year old, and vaxed but 94 grandma is higher FROM them. They are living life, never changed anything, not vaxed, had covid June 2020. My household is much more likely to get sick from them, simply because we have little risks, we are at home most of the time, masking when we have to go out, and a mostly vaxed house.

My sis has invited us over for Thanksgiving. They have not been vaccinated - non of my BIL’s family has been. It would be their family of 5, BIL’s parents, BIL’s sis & dh. They are all going to use the rapid tests the morning of Thanksgiving. Is that good? Are they accurate enough for a gathering like this? We will be eating inside, although I’m hoping that kids will stay outside as much as possible. If it’s warm enough, we may let the kids swim.