Bad news and good hash browns at breakfast; cruising down Wasilla's snow-blown roads with Steve Heimel; Royce, Melanie and coffee

I just about stayed home to eat oatmeal for breakfast, but then I would have had dishes to wash. Plus, it was a Sunday, I had slept in and it just didn't feel right to stay home. So off I went, not knowing if I was headed to Family or IHOP.

I wound up at Mat-Su Family Restaurant, where diners were reading about the police officer in Anchorage who was ambushed in his patrol car Saturday and shot five times. He survived, perhaps because he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. According to the Anchorage Daily News, he is in pain but is going to be okay.

Troubling thing to have happen in Anchorage.

I was surprised when Jolene showed up at my table to wait on me. It has been many, many, months since I have seen her waiting tables at Family and she was pregnant last time. I meant to ask whether it was a boy or girl and what the name is, but she had many tables to wait on and we spent our limited talking time discussing hash browns. 

She said she would make certain the cooks did my hash browns right. And she did. The hash browns were excellent.

I'm sad to say that Jolene is only working temporarily.

Hungry people, pouring into the Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant.

She stood there for awhile, waiting for someone to join here - and there he is, coming through the door.

It was blustery outside, but something made her smile.

I can't say for certain, but it looks to me like a grampa, carrying a little teddy-bear boy from the restaurant to the car.

After I finished my breakfast, I got into the car and tuned the radio to 90.3, KNBA public radio, the Alaska Native station. I tuned it there because I knew that Steve Heimel would be on the air with "Truckstop," his program of old-time country and folk music, with a bit of Gospel and Blues thrown in.

This was a big mistake on my part, as I had many things I wanted to do back here in my office, but I was trapped. I could not point the car towards home as long as that great music was playing.

So I would waste time I could not afford to waste, burn gas I could not afford to burn, and pump greenhouse gases into the air that I should not have putting there.

I think it would be safe to say that Steve is a conscientious, environmentally conscious, green-oriented person. Yet, I can assure you, he causes many people besides me to inject the atmosphere with greenhouse gas.

I circled around and found myself stopped at a stop sign before I could cross Wasilla's famous Main Street, and drive past Wasilla's famous library.

Then, captivated by the music and unable to go home, I returned back to the Wasilla portion of the Parks Highway.

I had thought that I would go to KNBA's website and pull up a playlist of all the songs Heimel played today, and then I would note some of them, link to them, and then tell you where I was at the time and make some other commentary.

But, sadly, there was no playlist and a good many of those songs are obscure enough that I can not remember their titles.

Sure, I remember some of the obvious ones, like "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton and "Tom Joad" by Woodie Guthrie, but some of the others just escape me.

It's okay, though. Truth is, its late and I am too tired to go find all those songs, make all those links and write all that narration.

Heimel is a very smart and knowledgeable guy and every now and then he drops in his own narration. Like just before playing a good gospel song that was all about Jesus being on the radio before there was radio, he recalled an experience that happened many decades ago when a man asked him, "are you saved?"

"Saved from what?" he responded.

As to the Battle of New Orleans, he gave an off the top of his head summary of the events that led to it, including the fact that it was fought after the war had ended but the poor Brits who went on the attack did not know it and they got slaughtered - 214 dead to 14 Americans dead.

And all this for a war that had ended.

At the end of Horton's piece - and I wish I could quote Heimel, but, damn, his exact words have slipped my mind, he said something like this: an alligator canon is a mighty effective weapon.

"What's your dog's name?" I shouted as we were stopped at the light.

"Annie," he said.

"I bet lot of people take her picture."

"Oh yeah," he agreed, "you wouldn't believe how many people have cameras."

And then the light changed and the interview ended.

I need to get another beaver hat like that. That looks just like one of my three that have disappeared.

I'm not accusing anybody of anything, because I'm pretty sure Annie keeps the man honest. I wouldn't be surprised if his hat was made by the same guy who made mine. The hat maker lives just up the road in Trapper Creek area - or at least he did at the time.

He would go to Barrow to help count bowhead whales and that was how I met him.

Here I am, stopped at another light - and here is the guy behind me.

I turned off the Parks and drove down the Palmer-Wasilla Highway for a short distance.

And to my amazement, even as Heimel took a break to say, "KNBA, 90.3," there was a KNBA Volkswagen right in front of me, with the call letters, 90.3 emblazoned on the back.

What are the odds?

This kind of thing happens all the time to me.

Finally, I knew I had to go home and so headed in this direction. As I drew near, I saw this stuck vehicle on a side street, with this guy trying to help push it out.

I thought about turning around and going back to help, but the song that was being played was too good.

Plus, with this artificial shoulder of mine, I must be very careful about such things.

As I continued on Seldon, I saw three snowmachines ahead of me, on the same trail that I photographed the kid yesterday as he sped along in careless disregard for the mothers and babies who use that trail. This time, I was going 25 mph and I passed all three snowmachines.

So, you see, not all snowmachiners are wreckless and irresponsible.

The street this snowmachine is crossing is my street. I finally turned down that street and got to my house, about 10 minutes before Truckstop ended.

Melanie showed up not long afterward. She expressed great concern about Royce, who is losing weight at a horrifying pace. She said she was going to run to the store to buy him some soft cat food, because she hadn't seen my blog lately and did not know that I had already done that.

I am pretty convinced, though, that the problem is not that Royce is not getting enough to eat. He eats all that I give him and more, voraciously, but still the weight is melting off him.

He has thrown up a lot the past few days, and not hairballs.

I guess I had better take him into the vet.

He seems energetic and bright, but he grows so frail.

Melanie suggested that maybe I am letting him eat too much, too fast and that I should give him smaller servings, more often.

She may be right. 

I am trying that now.

"He is a special, special, cat," she said.

Then the two of us went out for coffee. She brought her mug and ordered her's black. I ordered mine with cream and two raw sugars.

Mine wasn't very good. Her's was better.

I will not say where we got them, because I don't want to make the poor barista feel bad, but it wasn't Metro Cafe. Metro Cafe is closed on Sunday.

And Metro Cafe has spoiled me, because their coffee is always good.

Now - I've got one week before I leave to join Margie in Arizona for two weeks. I have about three weeks worth of tasks to do in that week, so I expect the posts between now and when I leave to be brief - although I never know for certain until I do them.

Comments

[MLW]

I think Annie's friend must only take his motorcylce out on clear nice days because it is so clean, no road grime on it at all....this thought came after my first thought of my, it must be cold riding a bike in the winter. I am glad Annie made her man wear goggles.

[KellyCT]

I really enjoy your pictures. Great Job!!!

[A Morrison]

One thing that could help Royce is Pepcid (not AC - just plain Pepcid). It is also called famotidine (generic). It comes in very small tablets (10mg, maybe?). If you give him 1/4 of one of those very small tablets every day or so for a few days, then every other day if the vomiting eases up, you may find it will help with the vomiting. You can also try elevating his dishes. If he has an excess of stomach acid, he can find it irksome to put his head down to eat and drink. Even the lid of a shoebox is a good elevation, or a 2x4 block of wood.

He is a very beautiful cat. We used to raise Maine Coons and he looks like one. My heart goes out to you.

Anyway. I am not a vet, but my guess is that he is probably having kidney issues. Soft food was a good idea. If you can get the acid under control so he stops throwing up, and get good high-quality protein down him, you might be able to arrest the weight loss. (It would not hurt him to give him actual meat either - chicken or turkey or whatever you have that he will eat. My cats like rabbit too.) I went through this with a cat who got out of the house when I was on vacation and was missing for several days. She was found in a garage and she had gotten into antifreeze, which trashed her kidneys. She was supposed to have died but she lived another year and a half between the high-quality protein diet (no dry food - it contains too much cereal and low-quality protein), the famotidine and, near the end, subq fluids. (She was a very tame and happy cat and would let us give her subq fluids. She lived to be 18.)

[KarenJ]

The story is a sad reminder for me. I'm sorry to say, my cat Tigger declined over a period of 6-8 months or so, the same way you were talking about with Royce. I, too, took my cat to the vet, and blood tests were done, which came back normal.

Tigger perked up again for a while when I supplemented his diet with rich canned food, but his final downhill came soon after that. Puzzling, and ultimately very sad. Tigger eventually stopped eating food/drinking water.

I hope your vet comes up with some answers that help Royce.

[A Morrison]

PS. I am not saying not to take him to the vet. I am just suggesting something that might help alleviate the vomiting in the interim. Google feline CRF - the most helpful site I found when I was going through this was http://www.felinecrf.org/. And I was wrong - it is Pepcid AC, just not Pepcid AC chewable. It's the regular non-chewable Pepcid AC. :)

[debby]

Don't you have a radio in your house? Just curious.

[Wasilla, Alaska, by 300]

MLW - There is no way to drive around here and not pick up grime so I think he probably keeps it in a garage and washes it after every outing.

KellyCt: thanks!

A Morrison: I appreciate the suggestion and I will run it by the vet. He hasn't vomited today on his new, multiple, tiny, portions, so that is good (now watch me step into the house and find vomit all over the floor).

KarenJ - The good thing is, Tigger was loved. I can tell that by your words. Not all cats get that (nor all people) so you made Tigger's life good.

Debby - This is the problem with making blog posts at 2:00 AM when all you want to do is go to bed and go to sleep - you forget to put in whole sentences that you intended, like the one that would have read something like this,

"I do have a radio at home, but this was all American car-driving, truck-truck driving music. It just wouldn't have been the same in the house."

[a civilian-mass audience]

Ahhh...ROYCE...keep it strong...keep it rolling...keep it up...

from my Civilian heart...may the spirits of strength be with you...
'in case that vet and spirits won't help...
may you have a blast ...Up there...

I love you FROSTFROG !!!...MELANIE ...Viva!!!

[A. Morrison]

I am glad he is doing better on the multiple small feedings. That can really help if nausea/stomach acid is the problem. He is such a gorgeous, sweet kitty. {{{internet hugs}}}

[Mona]

The guy trying to push the Ford pick-up out of the ditch it doing it all wrong.

[Wasilla, Alaska, by 300]

Civi - thanks for coming by! I always enjoy your comments on Burn. In fact, you are my favorite commenter there. I will not say so there, but I will say so here.

A. Morrison - I will pass on the hugs.

Mona - I went by later and there were two of them doing it wring.

[kalaluka]

Australian dog (Aus. Cattle Dog also known as a "Heeler") on a bike in Alaska. Amazing.

Hugs and kisses to Royce.