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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / August 2005Bless DH's Heart! And *MAJOR* Purrs Needed
He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and spent all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under the deck, or under the fence, or out in any other way - and informed MIL that the dogs were going to spend the visit in the nice, large, shady (we have 12 trees in the backyard alone) yard. Doggie heaven out there and no reason for them to be inside peeing on the carpet! YAY!!! [I told you not to jump on him too soon, he may grump about it but he always comes through for me!] Now I only have to worry about my family (***grandbabies!!!***) still on the road and unreachable by cell phones (please, please, please let them, and all other evacuees, reach shelter before the storm hits). Regarding Katrina - it's now being called a category 5.5 hurricane (a category 5 hurricane, the worst there is, is a storm that has sustained winds of 155MPH - there is no "category" to describe this storm). It has sustained winds of 185MPH and gusts of up to 230MPH!!!!! [I *REALLY* feel like a huge sh*t now for worrying about dogs peeing on carpets when there are people facing this thing!] They're predicting that this will be the number one or number two worst hurricane to *ever* hit the US and it's hitting in the *exact* wrong spot - researchers who have been studying the "perfect storm" for decades think that this one may be the one to erase New Orleans from the face of the earth. It looks like it's going to hit the river delta, and will whip all that gulf water into Lake Pontchartrain, "pinching" N.O. in flood surges from the gulf, the lake and the river (which is on two sides of the city) into the city - N.O. is completely surrounded by water and is 10 feet below sea level. At least 100,000 people (residents too poor or with no way to evacuate, visitors, etc.) are stuck in N.O. and will have to "ride out" the storm (most will be in the Superdome). This has the potential to be a *MAJOR* disaster. Please continue to purr and pray for anyone in its path! Hugs, CatNipped (snip) >Please continue to purr and pray for anyone in its path! > >Hugs, > >CatNipped Pumping them out and sending them your way. My dad near Ft. Lauderdale, escaped the worst. It was only a category 1 storm when he got it. Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com If it outdoes Andrew I'll be impressed. Considering Andrew's status, very few people were killed by it who did *not* go outside their homes. Even the experts don't know what a 'cane will eventually do. Many of my ancestors are buried in NO cemeteries, including the one filmed in "Easy Rider" long ago. (not underground, in the various type "crypts" used there). The relatives may be under a lake if Katrina fulfills predictions given. Seriously the farther your folks get from there the less you have to worry. I still have relatives in delta area & coastal area of LA....and let me tell ya, I can understand SnoopDog better than most of them Cajun kin of mine down there. They will not leave; like native Floridians (sorry, Karen, I finally realized you meant them by "Floradites"!) they're planning on riding it out, may the Almighty protect them. > He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and spent > all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under the deck, or [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > > CatNipped > If it outdoes Andrew I'll be impressed. Considering Andrew's status, very > few people were killed by it who did *not* go outside their homes. Even the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > I finally realized you meant them by "Floradites"!) they're planning on > riding it out, may the Almighty protect them. They're saying now that the winds are strong enough to demolish office buildings and fling small cars around. And, as bad as the hurricane itself may be, it's the aftermath that will be the most deadly. Water contaminated by, among other things, those corpses from all those above-ground graves (there are no bodies buried in the ground in N.O. because you can't dig down 5 feet there without hitting water). No electricity (for *MONTHS*) with which to pump out the flood waters. No food or drinking water. Special pet purrs are also needed for those animals left behind by people who could not find housing that would allow pets (during a disaster like this, taking in pets should be *MANDITORY* by all hotels and shelters). Hugs, CatNipped > > He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and spent > > all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under the deck, or [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > > > > CatNipped > They're saying now that the winds are strong enough to demolish office > buildings and fling small cars around. And, as bad as the hurricane [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > 5 feet there without hitting water). No electricity (for *MONTHS*) with > which to pump out the flood waters. No food or drinking water. It's certainly not pleasant, but unless the bodies are those of people that died of a waterborne infection such as typhoid or cholera, there is less health risk than once had been believed. During one of the fairly recent major earthquakes in Turkey, the public health officials there managed to do some solid statistical analysis comparing places where bodies were and were not quickly disposed, and found not much difference. > If it outdoes Andrew I'll be impressed. Considering Andrew's status, very > few people were killed by it who did *not* go outside their homes. Andrew hit mostly over the everglades - not directly on a vertically dense city that's surrounded by water and is 10 feet below sea level. I'm not trying to "compete" here - my hurricane's bigger than your hurricane - I'm just trying to make folks understand why this particular hurricane hitting this particular city have the potential to be a thousand times worse than Andrew was - the death toll could be in the thousands and the property damage (considering the historic aspect) could be uncalculable. They expect about 60,000+ people to be riding it out in the Superdome, but the Superdome is *VERY* old and only build to withstand a category 3 hurricane. Sorry, but ever since I heard that the winds could toss around small cars my heart is in my throat and it will stay there until I hear from every member of my family that they've gotten off the road and aren't still stuck in traffic!!! Hugs, CatNipped > Even the > experts don't know what a 'cane will eventually do. Many of my ancestors are [quoted text clipped - 53 lines] > > > > CatNipped Hey, didn't mean to talk competition here! As an old vet of 'cane "rideouts" I am hard to impress w/stats. Didn't mean to add to your anxiety state, 'Nipped. Please forgive my previous post for seeming indifference. Katrina has already amazed (there I go again) me by blossoming from a Cat.1 to a Cat.5 merely by crossing the Gulf! That's unusual, for sure. The only thing I have to add to your description is a small correction: Andrew did *not* hit "mostly over the 'Glades" (it plowed through 'Glades after wiping out several newish big-bucks suburbs in south Dade County area (below Miami city limits) that had not been built to code due to "back-scratching" between county inspectors and development builders. The old Dade County pine-constructed homes weathered it, like my childhood home in Miami, like "troopers" as its wind whipped through the wooden infrastructures. Andrew was a big *windy* fella, not much rain or flooding. 70 miles up the coast, it ripped several *concrete tile* shingles off my Pompano Beach roof @ 95mph winds surging off its core. Your Katrina sounds (from my FL sources) like a big, *wet* which is indeed worse than old Andrew. I'm also impressed w/your DH's helpful actions! Now, a last-minute "all other options gone" tip: if things get too overwhelming for you during the visit, go to your room & call 911 w/complaints of breathing difficulty. You will be outa there for the duration, as no doubt in my mind w/your history the ER will slap you into inpatient status for "observation". I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I know folks who are troubled by it off & on. What you are facing sounds like bigtime stress to me. NO ONE, including your relatives, can argue w/someone who can't breathe! >> If it outdoes Andrew I'll be impressed. Considering Andrew's status, very >> few people were killed by it who did *not* go outside their homes. [quoted text clipped - 98 lines] >> > >> > CatNipped > Hey, didn't mean to talk competition here! As an old vet of 'cane "rideouts" > I am hard to impress w/stats. Didn't mean to add to your anxiety state, [quoted text clipped - 95 lines] > >> > > >> > CatNipped Like Hopitus, not playing one-upmanship, and not to increase your anxiety level, Catnipped, but NO has taken a direct hit before, and yes, it was awfull, and yes it took a long time for things to get back to normal - but people nowadays get much more warning. Also, remember, there isn't anyting else for the newspeople to talk about - and the weather people get all excited because they don't get storms like this very often. I'm sure the city is much better prepared than most realize, since your family is coming to visit, they are heeding the warnings. We didn't evacuate during Betsy, but not sure I would take that chance again - we moved and have not had to deal with that again. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/2003-10-09-hurricane-betsy_x.htm > > Hey, didn't mean to talk competition here! As an old vet of 'cane "rideouts" > > I am hard to impress w/stats. Didn't mean to add to your anxiety state, [quoted text clipped - 106 lines] > warnings. We didn't evacuate during Betsy, but not sure I would take > that chance again - we moved and have not had to deal with that again. http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/2003-10-09-hurricane-betsy_x.htm Yeah, I lived through Betsy (our house was in St. Bernard parish and was under 5 feet of water for two weeks before we could even get back in to start rebuilding - *after* they moved the drive-in screen that was laying across the only road going into the parish). But even Betsy didn't hit on the river delta (and it was only a category 3 hurricane). *That's* what makes this storm so dangerous - not how strong it is, but where it is hitting (just east of N.O. right up the mouth of the river). The storm surge will "back up" the river and the excess water will pour into Lake Pontchartrain (which has lower levies than the river) and *that* will overflow its banks to flood the city. And then, with no electricity for the pumps and N.O. being under sea level, there will be nowhere for the water to go again. It will be like filling up a soup bowl. Researchers have been talking about this for decades - the "perfect storm" so to speak, hitting in the "perfect" spot. I *REALLY* pray that this is being overblown by the press (not unheard of), but I'm seriously fearing that, going just by weather stats, this is not the case. Hugs, CatNipped >I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I know >folks who are troubled by it off & on. Depression is a ridiculous name for the illness that it claims to describe. It sounds like you just feel sad all the time or something, that's what I always thought anyway. Until I got it. It's the worst illness I have ever had, up and to including my cancer. In a different way, of course. It takes away your motivation. You can be hungry but cannot prepare yourself a meal or a sandwich even, Thirsty, and not be able to get a drink. Drop something and not be able to pick it up. Just sit and look at it, maybe for hours. It sounds silly, doesn't it? That's what it's like. Bad sleep pattern. Can't go to sleep and when do, wake every hour. That's how it is. Please, never underestimate clinical depression. It can be life-threatening. Some people cannot stand it and commit suicide. It really does need a new name. Tweed >>I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I know >>folks who are troubled by it off & on. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Tweed Very well said Christina. One of the so called cures several years ago was for the depressed person to go for a walk every day. It made me so mad when they were publicizing that one. Research said those who did felt better. Well duh! Just the advice someone who is at the point they cannot cope really can't use. But does add one more reason for everyone to act like it is somehow their fault. Jo >>>I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I >>>know folks who are troubled by it off & on. [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > to go for a walk every day. It made me so mad when they were publicizing > that one. Research said those who did felt better. Well duh! Hahaha. You can't feed yourself, wash yourself and you need to go for a walk??? Well, you sort of need motivation for that and that's at zero. > Just the advice someone who is at the point they cannot cope really can't > use. But does add one more reason for everyone to act like it is somehow > their fault. I would say normally that I was a very strong person, mentally, then a lot of really bad things happened to me over a period of perhaps 3 years. The sudden and unexpectedly death of my mother who I was very close to probably triggered the depression a year later. Trying to manage, so strong you see.. Then..depression. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I could not make a decision. It's scary when you are driving and at an island and don't know when to pull out. I am recovered now, but I will never forget the hell it was. It's nothing like people who've never had it think it is. It's a million times worse. Tweed > >I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I know > >folks who are troubled by it off & on. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Tweed I agree, Christina. You say "depression" and people think you're just down in the dumps and ought to be able to snap yourself out of it. Clinical depression is a whole different deal. You've described it very well. Dropping something and not being able to pick it up, exactly! Or the things that you *love* to do, the very things you enjoy most in life, they don't interest you at all. Sherry >> Please, never underestimate clinical depression. It can be >> life-threatening. Some people cannot stand it and commit suicide. It really [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Sherry That sounds very bad. I don't think I've had depression, but you have to feel sorry for someone who does. I figure you can be blind and still be happy. Or have the flu and be happy. Or have a broken leg and be happy. But nobody can have depression and be happy! > That sounds very bad. I don't think I've had depression, but you > have to feel sorry for someone who does. I figure you can be blind > and still be happy. Or have the flu and be happy. Or have a broken > leg and be happy. But nobody can have depression and be happy! Well, yes, but the opposite of depression isn't happiness. The opposite of depression is something like, able to function normally. Depression isn't sadness so much as it is a void. Christina's post reminded me of managing to make hamburger helper for myself. That was a big deal, "cooking" hamburger helper. Then I dropped some and it got on the wall and the A/C intake vents. And it stayed there for months. I just couldn't work up the motivation to clean it. You can imagine the state of that apartment in general. It was disgusting. I remember the phone call to our EAP (employee assistance program) -- the one where I told them I didn't want to die, really, but I couldn't figure out why I should stick around. I only knew that I had a responsibility to my dog Puma and my new kitten Oscar. It wouldn't be completely crazy to suggest that Oscar saved my life. I failed Puma -- he was old and arthritic and couldn't handle the steps, so my brother kept him in his townhouse for the last month or two of his life -- but at least I knew that Oscar needed me.  Signaturemonique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca >> >I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I know >> >folks who are troubled by it off & on. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > >Sherry I think there is a huge gap between people who have been depressed, and people who have never experienced it. It is really impossible to understand without having experienced it. Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com Theresa put it well. I'm on the other side of the "gap" of depression....never experienced it. I thought "empathy" means having feelings of commiseration - or, put another way: "being in someone else's shoes" for some problem they have. I only understand one fact of depression (and that is from knowing my friends w/it: it doesn't have to have an apparent "cause" to start up. I also understand that a reaction from something bad happening (*that* I've experienced!) is *not* depression.But these days, I'm told there's just as much meds to treat it as there are for my bad arteries; also told those meds have really wierd side effects for some. >>> >I'm a tough old bat and have trouble w/empathy for depression...but I >>> >know [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh > My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com > I think there is a huge gap between people who have been depressed, > and people who have never experienced it. It is really impossible to > understand without having experienced it. I think this is true. Everyone's had aches and pains and can at least guess at what a far more serious physical pain would be like. That doesn't seem to be true for mental illnesses. I think depression is especially hard for non-sufferers to understand because even well-meaning people think 'Well, I've been sad, and I've been depressed, so I know what it's like' and really, clinical depression is so far beyond being sad or 'depressed' (in the common usage of the word) or even grieving that it's like something in another universe. SignatureCheryl That's what my friends who have depression now and then tell me. BTW, fact that I stated I've never experienced it and have trouble empathizing w/it for that very reason does not make me a "belittler" of depression. You forgot I worked 30 years in hospitals, mainly w/Class 1 trauma centers. What I saw there would make many folks depressed, in theory, but it doesn't work like that, does it? There does not have to be a reason. Glad I do grasp that, for my friends' sake...... >> I think there is a huge gap between people who have been depressed, >> and people who have never experienced it. It is really impossible to [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > 'depressed' (in the common usage of the word) or even grieving that it's > like something in another universe. > Depression is a ridiculous name for the illness that it claims to > describe. It sounds like you just feel sad all the time or something, [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Tweed Well put. I have little time for those who belittle sufferers of depression. It's a very, very real condition and at its worst it's a killer, as people *do* take their own lives and it ruins lives as you describe above. To the belittlers of depression - I truly hope you never have to suffer it. Then again, if you did, it might open your eyes:-/ What is it with people who seem to not understand that you don't have to be spouting blood everywhere for an illness to be real? Cheers, helen s > Depression is a ridiculous name for the illness that it claims to describe. > It sounds like you just feel sad all the time or something, that's what I > always thought anyway. Until I got it. It's the worst illness I have ever > had, up and to including my cancer. Clinical depression, IMHO, taught me to finally understand the concept of Hell. It hurts to breathe. It hurts to exist. And people around you start going ape if you try to do something about it...like drink a bottle of whiskey to make sure you're too drunk to successfully pick up a weapon for a permanent fix. I had a variant where instead of lacking the motivation to pick up stuff, etc. I couldn't turn /off/ the motivation to wreck stuff. It was like a 24/7 hyperactive orgy of destruction--too hyped up angry to sleep, too hyped up angry to sit still (I'd be quivering all over), etc. It was like that for over a month. OMG. I can't believe how...sane...I am now. --Fil Have to chime in here.... So far, I"vehad depression twice. I had depression the frist time between the ages of 15 and 26. I just htought it was "normal", as did my parents who thought I had just hit the teenage years and was just quiet and reclusive (unlike my younger sister who was always outgoing and full of beans). Them at the end of 1996, the depression just lifted. My face hurt for about a month. FInally I realised why it was hurting - for 11 years, I had not smiled - truly genuinely smiled. And the muscled had simply atrophied. And now, I was smiling - laughing even - at the muscles *hurt*. And then, a few months ago, it came back. Stealthily. But I recognised it for what it was and saw the doctor before I put another scar on my wrist. At least that bout only lasted for a few months and has more or less gone away. But what other people have said here is 100% true. It saps your motivation, your energy, your joie de vive, it is not *grief* or *unhappiness* its just *nothing*, a numbness, a brain fog. Everything on automatic and not actually living. its like being utterly and chronically *exhausted*, not physically but mentally, like not having slept for an infinity of nights but not being tired enough to sleep properly. Thinking is difficult, interest in anything is impossible. I can tell when I'm depressed when I hit snooze alot in the mornings, when just getting out of bed simply seems too much effort. When I don't really care whats happeing to me anymore, when I take crap and don't fight back, when I sit at my desk staring at the list of things to do but not being able to actually get up and do them. Its probablys something I"ll come in and out of my whole life. But at least I know what that life eating monster is now, and hope that its treatment only gets better as medical knowledge improves (Zoloft was good for a while, butI wouldn't want to be on it forever) Yowie > If it outdoes Andrew I'll be impressed. Considering Andrew's status, very > few people were killed by it who did *not* go outside their homes. Even the [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > I finally realized you meant them by "Floradites"!) they're planning on > riding it out, may the Almighty protect them. I feel bad for those people in New O that simply don't have the money of vehicles to go. I hope the Superdom really is as strong as they think. Yikes! For this, I think we'll need purrs from tiger sized cats! I hope that somehow, N.O. will come through this okay. But I'll get my three on the job. I hope your family will reach safety soon. Melissa > He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and > spent all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > YAY!!! [I told you not to jump on him too soon, he may grump about > it but he always comes through for me!] Now I am sooooo glad I didn't send the rant I was typing up this morning. I would have been eating my words :D > Now I only have to worry about my family (***grandbabies!!!***) still > on the road and unreachable by cell phones (please, please, please [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > CatNipped Ouch for those in the superdome. DH was watching the news for a bit, and made the comment "*if* I were a terrorist, I would strike NO & the superdome...." Of course, getting there now would be a problem..... Purrs and prayers for you & yours, as well as everyone caught up in Katrina's wrath & aftermath > Regarding Katrina - it's now being called a category 5.5 hurricane Major purrs that this megastorm makes landfall somewhere less vulnerable & less heavily populated. And for all the refugees (I just heard that ALL of NO is being evacuated (with a few exceptions). Gordon & the FF > > Regarding Katrina - it's now being called a category 5.5 hurricane > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Gordon & the FF Not any more. They have now closed all the bridges leading into and out of the city (the only way you can get into the city is over a bridge). They said that it's too late for the people who are left to get out - they'd never make it far enough away to be safe (again, just the sustained winds, never mind the gusts and tornadoes that accompany hurricanes, can lift and toss a small car). There are approximately 100,000 people left who have to "ride it out" (75,000+ in the Superdome which is only safety rated up to a category 3 hurricane). I am praying that they'll be safe, but the FEMA authorities are implying that there may be thousands of deaths as a result of this storm and its aftermath. Hugs, CatNipped > They have now closed all the bridges leading into and out of > the city (the only way you can get into the city is over a bridge). [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > to a > category 3 hurricane). Then even more major purrs for those left behind, irrespective of their number of feet. G & the FF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- From: "CatNipped" <lcrews@houston.rr.com> >There are approximately 100,000 people left who have to >"ride it out" (75,000+ in the Superdome which is only safety rated up to a >category 3 hurricane). Around here, people have been joking that New Orleans is trying a novel way of diminishing poverty and crime in the city. > He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and spent > all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under the deck, or [quoted text clipped - 41 lines] > > CatNipped A big "good on ya" for your DH building the "kennel" and putting his foot down about it (better now than when the doggies have been there a while ;>) and purrs still coming for your families to get to safety soon. Sam > He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and spent > all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under the deck, or [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > CatNipped I do hope everyone is OK. We visited New Orleans a few years ago and loved the place. It is so low lying though and I fear for those in the path of the storm. Purrs and good luck to everyone Bev SignatureDogs may shed, but cats shred. This sounds just awful! Many purrs for everyone affected. Anyone know where Gracecat is? I hope they are not too close or else have managed to get out of the area. That's wonderful what your DH did in your back yard. Yay! -- Britta "There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -- Unknown Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > He managed to sweet-talk his way into a day off today, came home and > spent all morning boarding up the back yard so no dog can get under [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > storm). It has sustained winds of 185MPH and gusts of up to > 230MPH!!!!! [I *REALLY* feel like a huge sh*t now for worrying about > dogs peeing on carpets when there are people facing this thing!] > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > CatNipped > This sounds just awful! Many purrs for everyone affected. Anyone > know where Gracecat is? I hope they are not too close or else have > managed to get out of the area. I was wondering the same thing about Gracecat. I hope they have all evacuated and are safe. Purrs, doggie drool on their way for those left in the path of the storm. Diane Immense prayers and purrs are en route for anyone fleeing the storm, that they get far enough away to be safe, and for the safety of anyone -- be they human residents or pets who couldn't be taken along in the evacuation -- who has remained behind to ride it out. I've been watching the Weather Channel and what I've seen so far has been scary... and the storm hasn't even HIT yet. Donna, Captain, and Stanley [I *REALLY* feel > like a huge sh*t now for worrying about dogs peeing on carpets when there > are people facing this thing!] We're purring over here for those stuck in New Orleans. It's helping me put the situation with our neighbours into perspective to some degree... --Fil
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