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Laura's Babies
01-08-2010, 09:13 AM
I swear, I thought I posted yesterday.. I must have did a preview and thought I posted without submitting?

Anyhow, I got in late Wednesday night and the girls were at the door to greet me. They knew I was gone to long this time but they forgave me quickly. It was so GREAT seeing them again and getting all that loving. They had an experience themselves while I was gone.. Rie and her family went to Colorado the day after Christmas and a neighbor was checking in on them. She called me on the boat Sunday to tell me my heater had went out in the house and had been out for a few days. Rie and them got back Sunday and Monday they had a man out here to look at it. He fixed it temporarily so they would have some heat until the part it needs comes in.... then I get home Wednesday. My neighbor said she would cut on the kitchen oven and hold Amy in her lap by that heat but it was cold in here! The girls managed to survive the cold without heat and last night, it went out again.

I ran to wal mart last night and got a couple of heaters and slept on the sofa with them last night so we all stayed toasty and warm.

I was SO stunned when I saw Boo when I got in, On one of her hips, she is missing a lot of her fur, she had a huge bald spot. I am wondering now if while she has stopped limping from hurting her leg just before I left, if it still doesn't hurt and she chewed on it, pulling out the fur because it still hurt? Or was it a side effect of the pain medication? I called the vets office yesterday and I am going to watch her close and see if there is anything odd going on with her. Wouldn't do any good to take her in without observing her and not being able to answer and questions or having anything to tell them other than she has lost a lot of fur.

I came home wore out! Not because I did 5 weeks this time but because ole Murphy's Law got on with us. Anything that could go wrong did! I have a new relief cook and soon as I walked on the boat, I came unglued! She had put EVERY pot and pan I had in the dishwasher and they all were so tarnished and ate up that there was NO WAY I could use them. For those of you that don't know, there is something in the dishwasher detergent that has a chemical reaction with aluminum and terribly discolors them so all my pretty silver, shinny pots and pans were now a dull, dark grey and some almost black. See photo of before and after
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/Grammy707/Recipes/IMG_0126.jpg

So, soon as I got on, I had to start scrubbing and I scrubbed the whole trip bringing their finish back..

On about 2 1/2 weeks and the dishwasher went out so I was having to wash EVERYTHING by hand. In replacing the dishwasher, they discovered the galley hot water heaters tank had a hole in that and it had to be shut down and drained so I was having now to wash everything in the sink and heat water on the stove to do it! They rerouted some water connections from the boats hot water heater after a few days and I had hot water BUT, it had to run a good 20 minutes before it got hot EVERY time I cut it on!

During all this, Christmas is coming and I had a LOT to do. I only did about half of what I had planned but the meal I did put out, knocked their socks off. Then it was time to start on New Years Dinner... Soon as that was over it was time to get things cleaned up and ready for crew change. Wow! I feel like I hit that boat running and didn't stop until I walked off the boat. I was wore out every day by supper time so most suppers were quick and easy, they ate a lot of stuff on buns at supper time this trip but I made sure they understood I HAD to have my pots and pans looking nice for Christmas..

The guys were all excited over Christmas and we did have a wonderful Christmas on the boat. Everyone was happy all trip... except for me about my pots and pans.

I hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Years!

catmandu
01-08-2010, 09:45 AM
We heard from Our Awsome Angels Army Found Cats and Dogs that you had a Great Pet Mas Laura.
:love::love:
They loved the meals, the ambience of your ship and visiting the towns and cities along the Mighty Mississipppi.
:cool::cool:
And we know that the best present of allis be having you home again!:love::love::love::love::love::love:

Killearn Kitties
01-08-2010, 09:46 AM
Well it has been all go with you, has it not? :eek::eek::eek: Glad to see you back and I'll bet the cats were too. Poor cold babies!

I hope Boo is OK. Bad enough having a cold house without your fur falling out too!

Laura's Babies
01-08-2010, 01:25 PM
Gary, I got your Christmas card picture you sent me and that is the CUTIEST picture!!! It is so sweet that it melts my heart everytime I look at it and I am looking for a frame to put it in..... That is BETTER than any card you could have bought anywhere!!

The heater man came by and got my heater going. The part came in but it is not exactly the right part so he has reordered it but in the meantime has the heat going again. Poor Boo stays back in my bedroom and it it SO cold back there without the heater going. At least now she can stay warmer again.

Barbara
01-08-2010, 01:34 PM
Oh! I see these pans and I'm with you- aluminium , especially cast aluminium just cannot go into the dishwasher.
I am so glad that you are back with your kitties and I smile thinking of them and you on the sofa. I hope you are back to home and all will work out.

orangemm
01-09-2010, 05:22 AM
Welcome home Laura!

The best part of coming home is seeing those furry faces when you walk in the door! Now enjoy all the attention you'll be getting:D!

I never put pots and pans in the dishwasher; mine are done by hand with soap, water and a little Brillo. Keeps the shine going! Glad you were able to rescue your cookware.:rolleyes:

Medusa
01-09-2010, 06:14 AM
Oh my, all that extra work from one careless move on the part of another! Well, you're home now, the kitties are warm and safe and all is well again. I've been following you on FB and was saying extra prayers that your kitties would be warm and cozy. Glad you're back. :)

Pinot's Mom
01-09-2010, 07:21 AM
Welcome back! I'm sorry to hear about Boo - keep us posted on that, please!

As far as the aluminum pans - I don't put my Revere Ware in the dishwasher, either, but I don't shine the bottoms as I used to. One tip for the shine, though; do you have any old fashioned borax? It's wonderful for stainless.

Laura's Babies
01-09-2010, 09:57 AM
One tip for the shine, though; do you have any old fashioned borax? It's wonderful for stainless.

I only have one stainless steel pot on the boat and am wanting to switch over to ALL stainless steel pots and pans. I have talked to the Captain about doing that, even showed him a stainless steel pan I took with me to make that pumpkin roll with and it really impressed him...

I had a long talk with my relief cook about what she did and how hard I had to work to make them look decent again. I also taped notes in every cabinet that has aluminum cook ware in it to HAND WASH ONLY! She is a new hire so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and although I was SOOOO mad at the work it created for me during CHRISTMAS.. I have forgiven her lack of knowledge (although I can't understand WHY she kept doing it after seeing what it was doing and she did EVERY single pot and pan on the boat!!) She apologized and apologized and seemed sincere so it should not happen again. If she does, the war is ON! My question is is it even SAFE to cook food in them when they get like that?

I have been brushing the daylights out of Boo and she has fur missing on both her hips. Her fur has knotted like I have never seen it and she did knot pretty bad before this but this is worse than I have ever seen. I told Rie that 5 weeks is defiantly TO long for her to go without being brushed but Sis NEVER brushed her when she lived with her... Is it age that has made it become such a problem for her now?

Medusa
01-09-2010, 10:11 AM
Is it age that has made it become such a problem for her now?

It might be. How old is Boo? My Pidge tangled and matted so badly and only on her hindquarters and by the top of her tail. I guess it's b/c she just couldn't reach there any more, poor girl, but at that time she was 20, so I couldn't expect her to be as limber as she once was. She HATED being groomed so that's when I had to have her shaved in the lion cut and that solved the problem as long as I kept up w/the grooming.

Randi
01-09-2010, 10:50 AM
Welcome back, Laura! :) Gosh what a job with those pots and pans, let's hope the new cook has learned from it!

I'm glad to hear you got your heating on again, and a good snuggle with your kitties will help too. :)

krazyaboutkatz
01-09-2010, 09:43 PM
Welcome back Laura!!!:D I'm sorry that you had to work extra hard on your trip but I'm glad that you arrived safely and are now home. Hopefully Boo will be okay and you'll be able to get her knots out without too many problems.

katladyd
01-10-2010, 04:01 PM
Our RB Tomas, used to mat on his hips as he got older. By twenty, the old guy just couldn't reach back there anymore. We took scissors (he was a short-hair) and clipped the mats out. I think as they age they lay on their sides more and move around less. That may be one of the reasons for the mats. I'm praying the Boo is okay and just needs a "personal groomer".:)

cassiesmom
01-10-2010, 07:41 PM
Welcome back Laura!!!:D I'm sorry that you had to work extra hard on your trip but I'm glad that you arrived safely and are now home. Hopefully Boo will be okay and you'll be able to get her knots out without too many problems.

All of the above goes for me, too! I hope Boo's coat will be fine soon.

Anikaca77
01-11-2010, 09:10 AM
Welcome back!

Melissa

lvpets2002
01-11-2010, 03:07 PM
:) Welcome Home Laura..