Groomed Mikey, Now I can't get Emma back into room.

I let Little "T", the little six-toed kitten I rescued, out of his big dog carrier onto the screen porch for the morning. I thought of some names for him:

Teetonka = Talks Too Much, in Sioux.

Takoda = Friend of All, Native American.

Toe-Toe, even though he doesn't come from KS.

Trey-Trey = three-three, for his six toes.

But it won't be up to me to name him now.

This is Mikey, white poodle, after his bath, and before grooming. He is always dark gray when he first gets here, as he loves to roll in the dirt. His "Dad" had a stroke and people can't understand him, so I try to help him out with Mikey. I didn't know how I was going to groom Mikey with Emma in that big cage in the grooming room. Mikey has two cats, so I knew that he wouldn't bother her, but I didn't want her to get scared and upset. So I measured the cage, 42" long x 28" wide x 32" high, and found out that if I dragged it into the middle room, which is really a hallway, I could still open that bathroom door, which is right of the picture, to bathe Mikey. It meant that I couldn't get into the grooming room through the glass door behind her, but I could lead Mikey around the other way.

I left the dutch doors open, while I groomed him, so that Emma could see that I had done this for her own good. She watched very intently from the top of the kitty condo. The two kittens are in a cage that stays there on the left, and they are used to being locked up when I am grooming. That all went well, except that I can't drag the big cage back onto the cream linoleum pad that is behind Mikey in the picture, as the bottom rails keep on getting caught on the pad. I keep it under that cage in case water gets spilled, I don't want rust marks on my Old Rose linoleum. Now it is stuck in the middle of the dutch doors, until I can get someone to help me. I don't think that there is a button that I can hang around my neck and say " I got my cage stuck, and I can't get (it) up"

I spent some time gathering things together for tomorrow. I will be driving to Houston, well Cypress, tomorrow to my granddaughter, Kim's House Warming Party. There are things that I had forgotten to take to my daughter's when I visited her, and then gifts for the new house. It will be great to see my daughter, SIL, grandson and granddaughter, but unfortunately my three great grandsons will not be there. And of course, my other granddaughter, Susan, Kim's sister, can only be there in spirit since she got killed by a DDD (dam drunk driver) in Feb. 2006. I know that we will all be thinking of her, and missing her.

As I have to go through the next town, I also have to get errands done there as I go through, so I will be leaving earlier. So I have to get everything in the truck. I will have a cold bag with me to carry a side dish/dessert for the party, that I will buy when I am through with my errands and on the road to Houston. I am a stickler about keeping food at the right temperatures or I would bring something homemade. Bacteria doubles every ten minutes when it is not at the right temperature.

I went to an RV rally last year, and someone had not kept, or reheated their pot luck contribution to the right temperature, and I got very sick for a couple of days. If a dish is not kept at 40 degrees, or reheated to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, it is suspect. Chicken should be heated even more thoroughly, even to 180 degrees, as it carries salmonella. I stick a food thermometer in everything I cook or reheat, before I will eat it or serve it. But then I had to go through Food Management for the USAF, (when I ran their Rod and Gun Club Restaurant), Conroe High School Cafeteria, and when I had my Mini-Golf, as we served food.

Ray came from next door to help me move the cage, and saved the day.