Fred the squirrel

We have a fair few squirrels around our home, and I've been putting nuts out on our back balcony for a while, and we have a squirrel who comes daily to check for nuts, and as long as I keep more nuts out he keeps coming back!

This afternoon I put nuts out for him 4 times so he was a very happy squirrel! I've decided to call him Fred - 'cause that's a good squirrel name :) I even managed to get a few pics of him today. Fred realised what I was up to and the second last time he came he just shoved 3 nuts in his mouth and ran before I could get his photo :)

Warning: ranty blog post coming up

So it's May 9th. I put in my application for my work permit (which I'm eligible for) on November 30 which is over 5 months ago. I'm STILL waiting!

Now to really rub it in, Tanya who is another E3 wife put in her application less a month ago, and got her work authorisation card today!!!! Andrew also got an email from another E3 spouse, who also got his work permit in a really short time. Why does the US Government hate us????

It took ages to get a social security number (and we still don't have the card), Andrew got his drivers license in early February and it still hasn't been sent out (apparently they have to check with Immigration he's allowed to be here or something....), and now this takes forever, where others are getting theirs a lot sooner!

I don't know if it's because I did the application online as opposed to mailing the application in, or if they're just getting better at processing E3 dependent visas, but whatever the case is I'm incredibly annoyed and I'm off to Immigration to whinge at them on Friday.

Grrr!

Woohoo all nighter!

Ok, so maybe not as exciting as it sounds. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night. Yvette can partially confirm this as I was chatting to her on MSN at about 3am my time :)

I wasn't in too much pain, but I like sleeping on my right side which is the side they took the bone from and is a little tender.

My belly is also feeling quite unhappy with the drugs I'm taking. I'm taking my beta blockers (heart stuff), strong painkillers and antibiotics, which are all things I wouldn't take on an empty stomach. I'm also not eating huge amount and what I am eating is stuff like yoghurt, mashed potato, and stuff like that. I did manage some bread at about 4am though when my belly was feeling really dodgy. I can probably start eating harder stuff soon, just don't want to risk knocking any of the stitches (which are in the roof of my mouth near my front tooth, and extends to the front of my mouth up to my gums, and then along the back of the right part of my jaw right to where my wisdom teeth used to be. There's more stitches than I expected, so want to be careful for a few days to make sure everything has a good start to healing.

Anyone got any good any good anti-nausea remedies??

Operation is done

My mouth is feeling a little sore, I assume the painkillers are beginning to wear off. I have a mouth full of gauze, and apparently the sites where they operated will ooze for a couple of days. Yay.

My head doesn't feel too fuzzy though, and the local anaesthetics are beginning to wear off, so am getting feeling back in my face. I don't feel as nauseous as when I got my wisdom teeth out so that's a bonus. Although I do remember feeling fairly fine when I first got home, then barfing hours later, so maybe that's still to come.

I'd like to sleep, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. Will update again a bit later probably.

Operation tomorrow

Dum dum dummmmmm. I hate needles. I hate general anaesthetic. I hate feeling like crap. Sigh.

I have a false tooth on a plate, which I've had for about 9 years now, and was only supposed to last about 5 years or so. So my options were to get another plate (which is a little annoying), get a bridge (where they file down the 2 teeth on either side of the falsie, and use them as a "bridge" to hold the false tooth in place), or to get a dental implant. I don't like the idea of filing down 2 perfectly good teeth (that's kinda irreversible), so am getting the implant.

Because the bone has recessed a little (or something...) tomorrow's operation is to do a bone graft, taking bone down from where my wisdom teeth used to be, and shoving it up in the gap to build up the bone there. Once that's fully healed in 6 months or so, I get another operation to drill into the bone and put in a titanium screw, then once that's fully healed (another 6 months or so), they'll open it up again to screw a tooth onto the titanium screw bit.

Yay me...

It's oh so quiet

It's strange to get home now and be greeted with silence. The kittens weren't noisy, but the mother cat Cleo would generally come down and greet me with meows, and the little guys would squeak when they saw me. If they were awake I would hear the patter of feet as they raced around upstairs.

Their operations went well this morning though, and I went to see them just after the last kitten was neutered. They were all on their sides with their tongues lolling out, and their little arms and legs were twitching. A couple were just beginning to come out of the anaesthetic, and were still twitching, but were responding a bit to my voice, and Bella, who had gone first was turning her head slightly towards me, and I could see she was trying really hard to focus her eyes on me.

Taking them back wasn't at all traumatic like I thought it might be. It helps that I can keep on seeing them until they get new homes, and even if they don't all get the sort of home I'd love them to have, it'll be much better then the stray life they would've led otherwise!

Kittens up for adoption in 2 days!

Well. The kittens are heading back to the shelter tomorrow to get desexed, then will be up for adoption on Thursday. They're 8 weeks, so old enough for their little op, but they just seem so little still! They're just babies!

I'll certainly miss them when they're gone, they've just been so much fun. They never had one accident outside the litter box, despite them being too young to use it when they first got here. They learnt fast, which I thought was amazing. Human babies can't manage that, and puppies can't either instinctively, but for some reason, kittens just know what to do.

The little guys have really kept us entertained with their antics. They tear around the house chasing each other, leaping, bounding, pouncing and squeaking. When they get tired, they generally just plop down and fall asleep wherever they are. I love that if I'm sitting near them when they fall asleep, they always crawl into my lap and snuggle up with me. One of the boys, Shadow, has become a real lap cat and loves to be nearby, and loves to be where the attention is. Very cute kitties. I hope they all find loving homes :(