Last Thursday, Lin from the Duck and Wheel, posted a picture of Hobbes with a big smile on his face. Cats will do that. Visit Lin on Thursdays to get your kitty fix from Hobbes. Come here on Monday to get your kitty fix from Midnight. Neither of these is a “cat blog,” but we do love our kitties. Can you call a monster like Hobbes a kitty? Well, he does smile. So does Midnight. Let me show you.

Can you see it? Do you know how difficult it is to take a picture that shows details in a [mostly] black cat? Here’s another look.

Would you buy a used car from this . . . ? Oops. I did some fooling with my graphics program Paint Shop Pro. Today, Dawn at Don’t Know Much About Photography has a good closeup (macro) shot of her cat Bella. Dawn’s not running a kitty blog either. If you want to see excellent photos and read some creative poetry, be sure to visit her blog.

I wasn’t all that pleased, so I waited for the chance to catch him sleeping beside Sylvia in her recliner. It’s one of his favorite spots to be. When he’s asleep we’ll get to see his real character. Right?

Not as big a grin as Hobbes, but he’s sleeping and completely relaxed — for a moment or two.

Finally, we mentioned the acrylics (Soft Paws) that the vet super glued to his front claws. Two things: One, they were great while the lasted. Two, they lasted less than three weeks. Sigh. Yes, we have some new scratches. Not from meanness, just things that happen.

Me

Saturday evening, I had just finished dinner and the ARCA auto race featuring Dana Patrick’s stock car debut had finished. I won’t bore you with details, but it was an excellent race.

I came into the office and sat at the computer and I felt a pain in my chest. It didn’t go away. It got worse. I drank some water. No help. I took a couple of antacid tablets. No help. I took a couple of aspirin (just in case). No help.

Sylvia drove me into the ER. We arrived around 9 PM. I reported chest pain at the desk and someone was running for a wheel chair. Two more questions and I was being wheeled into the ER. Off with my shirt and undershirt. Patches stuck all over my body. Monitors going. Questions began to fly. Visits from techs, nurses and the doctor. Shots. More questions. Port installed. IV started. Nitro tablet under the tongue. Slight pain reduction, but my blood pressure dropped to 92/63. Morphine shots 1, 2, 3. I’m feeling better. First blood test show no enzymes that indicate a heart attack. That would continue with the same results for 12 hours. (It can take hours for the enzymes to appear.)

Shortly after midnight, I was taken to a room two doors down from where I had been after having my gall bladder removed. I spent the night listening to the night sounds of the hospital. Maybe I’ll tell you about that another day.

Lots of visitors overnight. They moved in and out and were gone. Morning came and went. More folks taking vital signs, drawing blood and checking on me. The pain was mostly gone by then. In fact, I felt normal.

Around noon, while I was eating lunch, the doctor stopped by. We had a long session together. Three times we were interrupted as he had to leave to deal with other matters. As I told him, “It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”

After church, Sylvia came my laptop and a [paper] notebook with pen. By then I knew that if things continued as they were going, I’d be able to leave soon. Friends (Cliff and Wendi with their daughter, Amanda) also stopped by for a nice chat. One final blood draw. The doctor came in about a half hour later to say that I was free to go as soon as the staff could clear the paperwork and get me disconnected from the tubes and wires.

I was home by 4 PM and after a very small snack went to bed and slept for a couple of hours or so. Then I got up had a light meal, talked with Sylvia and went back to bed and slept for another 11 hours.

I’m okay and will be following up with my doctor, who is out of town for the next two weeks. No problem. Unfortunately, I will be able to go ahead Thursday with the previously scheduled colonoscopy. Can you say “Ugh?”

I apologize if I didn’t visit your blog or drop an EC on you, I hope you’ll understand. If you made it to here, you deserve an award. Thanks!