Howdy...
A lot has happened since we last visited in October.
Work picked up about the time I made my last post, and it was rather hectic through late March/early April. It has once again tapered off, but no work means no pay, so I'm working to suss out some work.
The holidays came and went. It is always a favorite time of year for me, but lately I get mired in a funk of childhood nostalgia during the winter holidays.
Then came New Year's eve. My wife and I had gone grocery shopping, and when we got home we noticed that our older Feline Justice Unit was having some difficulty. He had his surgery in August, and since then he had lost some weight. He saw his cardiologist, too, and got a clean bill of health. But in those last months of 2018, he started to slow down a bit. He was 16 years old, and we reasoned that he was starting to show his age. He started having a runny nose, too, but it would come and go, so we didn't think anything of it.
But when we got home, he was acting as if he was backed up--his back was arched and he looked like he was trying to push a load out. We called is regular vet, but they had just closed the office for New Years. His cardiologist was co-located at an Emergency Veterinarian clinic, so we took him there. They took some x-rays, did some tests, and thought he had a touch of pancreatitis. They prescribed some meds and a bland diet, and sent him home. My wife and I decided to see how he did over the next day or so, and if he didn't improve, we'd take him to his regular vet.
Well, he didn't improve. We called his vet on Wednesday, and they agreed to see him on Thursday. My wife got him in the carrier and took him. When she got there, the vet had a listen to his chest and told my wife she should probably take him to the cardiologist. She did, and over the course of several phone calls, she left him overnight to see if one of the things the cardiologist wanted to try would work. Basically, they gave him diuretics and put him on oxygen. The plan was to keep him on oxygen until early in the morning, then try to wean him off.
We got a call that night, and the tech said he was doing well. The call at 6 AM the next morning wasn't as rosy--when they tried to wean him off, his sat numbers took a nose dive. The cardiologist called around 9 AM, and said basically that Junior's mighty ticker was failing. We made the decision that our fierce, ferocious, and mighty Tennessee Walking Tiger would be allowed to go be the tiger he imagined he was, and the end came at around 3:45PM on Friday, 5 January.
As you might imagine, he left a big void in out hearts. He may have been our cat, but he was my wife's best buddy, editorial assistant, and near-constant companion. Smokey, our Little Mountain Guy, was out of sorts from the time Junior left to go to the vet on Thursday, and to tell the truth, he's still in a bit of a funk over the loss of his play buddy.
Fast forward a few weeks. I had a minor medical adventure of my own in late January, and after I came home I laid down on the couch to sleep. An hour or so later, my wife walks in and comes around to the front of our couch. Peeking out from her sweater was the cutest little tabby cat face. "Meet Gilda", she said. I knew my wife had already pre-applied to several shelters, and I knew that sooner or later we would have another feline member of the household. When my wife went to see what the shelter had to offer, she first noticed this one black kitty who was meowing and climbing all over everything. But she also noticed a little tabby cat sitting on a piece of play equipment, and when she went over to see, this little kitty climbed right into my wife's lap. Every time she tried to put the kitty down, it would climb right back into her lap. "You may as well get the paperwork ready, I believe I've been adopted..."
Gilda had been abandoned on the step of the animal shelter in the next county up from us on a frigid night with her brother, and her brother got adopted the day before my wife went to the shelter. My wife was happy that not only was she adopting Gilda, she wasn't breaking up any siblings to do so.
Once in the house, Gilda quickly asserted her will. She will prance through the house, head erect, tail straight up in the air, it's tip waving like a flag. I call her "Little Miss Gilda, Large and In Charge. Even Smokey has taken somewhat of a shine to her--they'll spend every evening chasing each other around the house. They'll scrap, sure, but they'll later curl up next to each other and snooze...
Junior's Christmas portrait, 2018. He was certainly a rakishly handsome tiger, and we miss him.
Smokey's Christmas portrait. This was the best of about ten photos, he wouldn't sit still for us. To be fair, neither of the boys actually liked wearing a collar, even if it did feature a chic bow tie.
Meet Gilda. She's our little princess.
She's a beautiful little girl!
Gilda and Smokey, in a calm moment.
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We're about 23 days away from the Second Annual South Carolina Scale Model Mega Show, coming up on 22 June at the Bluff Road Armory in Columbia, SC. It's shaping up to be a great show--if you're in the area, stop by and check it out!
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The AMPS Central South Carolina Wildcats Chapter is in the middle of a rather large project. It has been interesting so far, between the research and the modeling. To be sure, I have had quite the education on U.S. Army helicopter units in Vietnam, circa 1970! Our client wants to keep it under wraps, so I can only post a teaser or two for now...
A quartet of 1/72 scale UH-1H Hueys, from the 1971-vintage Hasegawa kit. Several club members did the actual construction, I'm merely applying paint and putting the decals on them. One of these is mine, I used it as a pathfinder so I could tell the others what needed to be done. Three will be on the project--two as slicks, one as a dustoff.
An Italeri 1/72 OH-6A, also built by one of the guys. I merely squirted paint...we had bespoke decals made for the project, including the helicopters.
The last piece of the airborne puzzle: An Italeri 1/72 scale CH-47D, being backdated to a "Super C" Chinook and modified so it can be posed in flight with a sling load of howitzer ammunition. Early days here, but you get the idea...
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So, now you're up to date. Perhaps the next one will not be such a bummer...
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
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