Father's Day at the Laurie's

If you are squeamish, turn away now.

Anyone who has known me for more than a day, knows that I am a pus and blood kind of gal. I love the gore invovled and sadly realize at my 'advanced' age, that I should have gone to veterinary school after college. Animals are my ruling passion.........along with my kids.

We have an outdoor kitty named Elmer that is unbelievably fat. He's an orange tabby that we brought with us from Oregon 7 years ago when we moved to North Dakota. He seems to cope with the brutal weather here, by eating non-stop. He even lies by the food bowl in the garage to eat, no longer finding it necessary to stand to accomplish this feat. So Elmer tips the scales at about 28 pounds. A sizeable cat, for sure. Oddly enough every cat within a 2 mile radius wanders our way to beat the crap out of Elmer. He seems to be an easy mark for every pussy cat around.

So last night I noticed Elmer had an abcess on his back near his tail where, once again, another cat bit him and over-powered his 28 pounds. I brought Elmer inside and asked Marc to hold him so I could squeeze the pus and blood out of the abcess and let it drain. All went well until I poured the hydrogen peroxide on it. Somewhere in the blur of fur and screeches, Elmer let one small puncture wound in Marc's right forearm.

Cat bites are B.A.D. They get infected quickly and easily even after thorough cleaning. Marc did not want to go to the hospital especially for something that was barely even noticeable, but I prevailed, and so, last night we spent 2 fun hours at the ER. The doctor was a total riot. Oddly enough he used to be a police officer before going to medical school and so he knows quite a few of the same guys Marc does. They naturally made a few "pussy....cat" jokes and after getting some antibiotics, we came home.

I feel really bad about getting Marc in the position to be bitten. I gotta make it up to him, so I think I am going to help him build the 2000 linear feet of fencing he's putting up this week. God, I am a nice woman, ya know. I think my designated job will be to make sure that he always has a cold beer within reach. I'm sure I can do that from my supervisor's chair!

Happy Father's Day Marc. This ride would not be any fun without you and you are a great dad, and husband!