A catch-all, catch-up post
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Just when I thought I was out of the woods with AT&T, I returned the second call I got yesterday, the one from Barbara Blatt. Ms. Blatt works at AT&T’s collection agency. I half-way listened to her spiel until her mention of the amount due brought me back from my daydreaming.
“Whoa, there,” I said. “This one’s $161.23? Is this something new?”
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Wow. My ongoing saga with AT&T/Bellsouth appears to be reaching its conclusion. What’s more, it is concluding in my favor! I had a message left for me yesterday from Ms. Fuller, a representative at AT&T Southeast (which I assume is AT&T’s new name for Bellsouth). She referenced the N.C. Attorney General Consumer Protection filing and apparently was empowered to make things right, because she put in an order to AT&T’s collection department to drop the matter and to remove it from my credit report (if it has been sent there, which I don’t believe it has). She said because it was a business line that AT&T Small Business Services needed to actually act on it, but said she would send her request straight to them.
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I’m closing in on the last minutes of the weekend. It was a good one with lots of Daddy time with the kids. Kelly took Hallie to see The Nutcracker Saturday morning, leaving Travis and me to work on some projects. We went to Lowes to pick up mulch and a few other items and returned home to finish our flowerbed project around the mailbox. After naps for the kids, we had dinner with our friends yesterday evening and had a great time.
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The family went to Cafe Capistrano for an excellent dinner tonight. As we were getting into our car, Hallie shouted “Daddy, look up!” As I did, I saw a spectacular meteor go streaking horizontally across the eastern sky before it dissolved. It was a round ball so bright the crescent moon didn’t even wash it out. I can’t recall any meteor that ever lasted long enough for someone to point it out to someone else, but there it was.
I was unsure what I had just seen until I remembered reading mention of the annual Geminid meteor shower in the paper yesterday. Supposedly the shower peaked at noon today, but the mega meteor we saw came at 7:06 PM.
If this is what we can expect from this year’s shower it should be worth watching indeed!
Things just aren’t the same without Smitty here.
We just had a little funeral at sundown tonight, putting Smitty in a grave behind our fence. The kids drew pictures to put in the grave. I left a paper cup of milk. The kids were weepy but incredibly understanding, too.
Got to finish up more work now.
I asked the vet to put Smitty down this morning after getting the results of her blood tests. Her kidneys were failing and she apparently was in pain, judging by the fight she gave the vet crew.
She took her last breath at 10:52 this morning. The vet doc had to give her a sedative first as Smitty was fighting and cussing all the way. I got a chance to say goodbye, though. If it weren’t for my business trip today and tomorrow, I might have let her spend her last days at home. But I wanted to be there.
More tonight.
I got back from the vet this morning without Smitty with me, who is staying to get some blood tests done. Her weight is down to 8 pounds, 4 ounces: a far cry from her fighting weight of 11 pounds. Even without the results of the bloodwork I know such a drop is not good.
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Smitty the cat is still with us, which surprises me after a night I thought she wouldn’t be. She’s walking around (albeit slowly) and sticking close to me, though she didn’t show any interest in her food or water today. She just crawled into my lap as I type this, to bea;lkh;kjhdfx.
I will have her at the vet within 20 minutes for a check-up.
My sixteen-year-old cat, Smitty, has been sicker than I’ve ever seen her today. She hasn’t eaten, has barely drunk anything, hasn’t visited her catbox, and hasn’t been the sometimes maddening, constantly-underfoot cat that she’s always been. Windows were open and sunbeams were in ample supply but neither was enough to tempt her from her sleep at the foot of Hallie’s bed today.
Her lively, feisty self has disappeared with astonishing speed, almost overnight. I think this is it. I’ll frankly be surprised if she is with us in the morning.
Update: She’s still here this morning.
