Britney, my Siamese momcat, had kittens the other night.  She climbed into the nest box occupied by Camille and her kittens and proceeded to give birth, much to the consternation of Camille–this is  Camille’s first litter. and she is a real helicopter mom.

I fixed up another nesting box and persuaded Camille to move into it with her two kittens.  She has one sort of creamsickle color and one silvery gray one.  Brit has five–two Siamese, two black,  and one gray.

Camille had a few rough moments yesterda, though.  Between my poor eyesight and the fact that she sort of blends into the carpeting, I stepped on her a couple of times.  I bet she’ll be glad when I get my eye fixed.

with the eye surgeon. On August 11, my sweety will drive me to the cataract place in Anchorage for the work.  And thanks to all the generous folks out there, I have enough in my FBO account to cover the surgery and the overnight stay in Anchorage and the next follow-up visit with Dr. Falconer.  After that, I dunno. . . .

I have no doubt, however, that things will work out well somehow.  I have been taught, and accept as true due to years of observation, that we never haver enough information to justify being pessimistic.

On Friday, the eye doc seemed surprised at how well I am doing.  I attribute this to increased exercise (one study I found online said this can reduce interocular pressure by 20 %), lutein, bilberry, prayer, and meditation, in addition to the  eye drops.   I don’t need to go back to see him again until after the first cataract surgery.  I am wating to hear from the surgeon to make an appointment.

Little bit of sticker shock, though–the office vistit cost $873 ($350 for one test which I thought was a waste of time), and the eye drops cost  about $40,000/liter.  That is, one .25 ml vial goes for $100 to $120 locally.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering about medical marijuana–it isn’t on the table, which is fine with me.  I need to be compos mentis during the day.  Soo–on the off chance someone might have chipped in but didn;t wanna help finance an old dude getting high–it ain’t happenin’.

A few months ago, a young couple with a small girl moved into the cabin next door.  The woman never said much, but the man seemed amiable.  They are both unemployed, and he  would borrow small sums of money, and always promptly repaid me.

Then I started noticing the yelling and cursing and screaming.  The man did the yelling and cursing, the women did the crying.  Next day, everything seemed okay, so I kept my peace.

Everything escalated.  He hit me up for larger sums of money,  became more aggressive in his requests for money, and lied about how he would replay me.  I started noticing him drinking.  The yelling and screaming got worse.

I fronted him, told him I was sick of hearing him mistreat his family, and that I would call the police the next time it happened.

Last night the noise woke me up around 1:00 am, so I called 911.  The troopers got there while I was still on the phone with dispatch, stayed briefly, then left.  I went back to bed.

A few minutes later, a trooper knoecked and told me tht he ahd arrested theman for domesrticviolence, but he had escaped, and that I shoud call 911if I saw him again.  The women were okay, he said.

How quickly things change.  Yesterday, the man was a dictotor of a very small country which he ruled with fear and pain.  Today, he is a fugitive from justice, a wanted violent felon, and homeless to boot.

An extraordinarily generous donation from one of Kathy’s  Facebook friends will cover the cost of my first office visit for glaucoma care , and may stretch as far as to cover the cataract operation for my blind eye.

The $10,000 figure was based on rough estimates I got from Dr. Falconer.  Nancy at the clinic has asked him to provide a more detailled cost estimate. (By the way, folks at the cnic tend to be very first-namy.  As an old fart of the old school, I am a tad uncomfortable with this infoprmality, but when in Rome. . . .)  At any rate, the FBO acocunt now stands at something over $5,000.  I hope to have an exact figure next time I post.

Many thanks to everyone who has helped.

Ever had a doctor exclaim “WOW!” when doing an exam?  Happened to me, the first time Dr. Falconer got a glimpse of the big old yellow-orange cataract in my right eye.

And boy, was I lucky!  It just happened that he was doing a free eye clinic at Talkeetna the same week that I was diagnosed with glaucoma.–and I got the last available appointment.  (Stuff like this happens all the time.  Like when I run out of milk–and see a half gallon ofg my faveorite marked down.  Expensive stuff like bread and milk, I always buy out-dated or on sale–it is too expensive otherwise.  But I digress.)

This “luck”–for want of a more precise word–has kept me alive and kicking for years.  And it appears as if there will be enough money in the FBO account to pay for my office visit, and then some.  I’ll know more later today when I check the balance.