AVR Weekly News ~ 395th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by 
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. 
~ Recap the past week ~ 
~ Show what's upcoming ~ 
~ Share news ~ 
~ Display book hauls ~

• Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 394th Edition
• Monday ~ Spotlight ~ TWR Ultimate Blog Tour: Things to Do Before Before the End of the World by Emily Barr
• Tuesday ~ Tour Review ~ Fid's Crusade by David H.Reiss
• Thursday ~ Kindle Review ~ Seduced by Zoe Ashwood

• Friday ~ Meme ~ Friday Featured Spotlight  ~ TWR Ultimate Blog Tour: Things To Do Before The End Of The World
• Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 396th Edition

Hello and Happy Sunday!

I have pics on my phone of my Mother's Day presents, but I'm just too damn tired  to retrieve them. I'll share next week.

On the Home Front: This week has just been...stressful. Does anybody have finding a dead body on their Bucket List? Because I didn't yet I get to cross that particular one off.

I was having a pretty great Mother's Day. There was Texas Roadhouse leftovers courtesy of Kyle. There were presents from hubby, Trip, George, and Anna. I was reading and relaxing in my jammies. Then Anna came home from the park and the day became surreal. I will post what I posted on my Facebook page. If you are my friend and have already seen it then you can skip this part. It's long. Very long.

We have a neighbor, Irene, who lives alone. We had talked only a couple of times over the course of 20 yrs, but we always waved when we'd see each other, usually when I'd drive past since we live at the end of the road and she couldn't actually drive our way. I hadn't seen her in awhile, her grass hadn't been mowed yet this year and her car was filthy with pollen and it looked like it hadn't been moved in quite some time. I told Trip and Anna Friday I should really stop and check on her but then didn't. Yesterday Anna came home and said Irene's door to her mailbox was gone (I have no idea when that happened), there was a pile of mail in there and shouldn't we really go check on her? So I changed out of my jammies and we went and knocked on her door. I knew she had a bad back (she told me years ago she was on disability due to a bad back) so we knocked several times, called her name, and waited awhile. We could hear her dog sniffing at the bottom of the door, but no barking. Unsatisfied, we drove over to the neighbors across the street from her. Their kids went to school with our kids so we knew them. We were told she had been in the hospital recently but weren't sure if she was back yet. Hmmmm. Still unsatisfied, we went to the neighbors (who are in their 70s, their granddaughter went to school with our kids) on her other side and across from us. Keep in mind we're rural and we all don't live on top of each other.

We found out Irene had a hysterectomy about 2-3 weeks ago (ICU for 3 days and a reg room about 3 days), but was home again. I expressed my concern about the no activity so Mr Hayes said he had a key since he had fed the dog and cat while Irene was in the hospital and let's go check on her right now.

He got there first and went in while we were winding up our talk with Mrs. Hayes, but when we got there Irene's dog came running to us and Mr. Hayes called out to me and said "I'm pretty sure she's gone." As in dead, gone. He said she had no pulse and she was kind of sunken in on herself. Anna had her phone so I had her call 911 while he asked if I minded double checking with him. Anna handed me the phone and I was talking to the dispatcher when we walked into the house. He was ahead of me and had checked her again and as I got to the room she was in (on the couch) he shook his head and said, "She's cold. Stone cold." So I didn't actually need to check her (thank goodness) but the smell alone was bad although most of might have been dog and cat pee and poop.

911 asked us to not touch anything and to back out of the house which we were already doing and wait for emergency services. Anna and I left Mr. Hayes to wait and we took her dog home to give him some food and water. Poor little guy was so thirsty!! And no wonder. We found out later that Irene may have been dead for about a week. And now I feel like total shit for not checking on her sooner even though logically I know it's not my fault. Mrs. Hayes said she'd tried to check on her but Irene wouldn't answer her phone half the time and wouldn't come to the door.

The cat is in the house somewhere. They didn't manage to catch it. We took her dog home with us (he did well with our animals and Artemis didn't eat him), fed and watered him and gave him a bath because he stunk, like the house. Other than that he's in good shape, looks well taken care of. Animal Control did pick him up since they need to hold him for 72 hrs while they wait for next of kin to claim him. If no one does then we have first dibs on adopting him. I know the boys don't want him, but he's a cute little guy and fairly well-behaved. He may be around 9 yrs old according to the officer from Animal Control. We don't know his name (he had a collar but no tag) but I've got my fingers crossed that Irene used the same vet as we do and we can find out. Or maybe he's chipped.

So, that's the story of Mother's Day 2021. If you have neighbors who live alone and they deviate from their usual pattern, please go check on them. If you live alone and have pets please be sure they have a collar and tag or be sure someone knows about them. The end.

As the week went on, I had updates. 

Monday: Animal Control called asking if we had any more info about Irene. We did not. I asked if anyone went back for the cat. Nope. 

Tuesday. I called Animal Control and had to leave a message. I asked about the dog and again whether anyone had been back for the cat.

Wednesday: I called Animal Control AGAIN and got a live person. The dog was at the shelter while they searched for next of kin. The woman who answered the phone had no answers about the cat. Assholes. Thank goodness our neighbor across the street was still getting in to feed and put out water.

Thursday: Called to check on the dog. Still no one claiming him. Our name was listed but his release date moved to the 16th. Grrrrr! Neighbor secured a live trap for the poor cat.

Friday: Cat was caught and I picked her up in the morning. Wow. So stinky. I secured her in our bathroom in our biggest dog crate then bathed her. Not fun for either of us. I put a litterbox in there, food and water and left the crate door open, bathroom door closed. She pretty much hung out all day in the crate. Anna came home from work and managed to brush a lot of the mats and tangles out of her fur. She peed in the crate so we exchanged the towel with a kitty bed and a pee pad I use under the litterboxes. We brushed her some more that evening before bed and blissed her out. Anna cut her nails and her paws do not look good. Will take her to the vet Monday, hopefully. Called to check on the dog. I forgot to mention they named him Tim. Wtf lol

Saturday: She used the litterbox. Yay! She has not visibly had any water or food. We may have to force her tomorrow (today). We put her crate in Anna's room for several hours while Anna tidied and was on her computer. Anna has dubbed her Evie. Well, she wanted to spell it Eevee, like the Pokemon and I said no even though we have no plans to keep her. I'm trying to find her a home and I have someone in Virginia who wants her if she doesn't have anything that will transmit to her cat. Evie is very friendly but super traumatized. She comes out to purr and be petted then goes back to any hidey hole she can find. Which is completely understandable. We should be able to pick up the dog from the shelter tomorrow. We really need to settle on a name for him since we don't know for sure what Irene named him. Neighbors *think* his name is Rocky. I decided this morning I want to name him Ren (from Irene) and Anna wants to call him Rockefeller (thus Rocky), so I said Ren Rockefeller. lol

In other news: We had the grandkiddos Friday for an overnight. Hubby and Kyle have been getting up at 3:30am again to work OT all week including Saturday. Artemis and Vengeance went to boarding (and doggie daycare) while the ankle biters were here and Artemis decided she wanted to bite the metal chainlink fence on Friday, breaking a tooth which will need extracted this coming week. Idiot! Nox does not like taking her medicine, so that's a trial each morning and she'll go back to the specialist on Weds for a recheck.

Finally, I'm fucking tired. And this week has just been too much.

Touching Nature: Cooler. Heavy rain with winds and even some small hail(!) one day this week. Thurs, I think. Trip and I had to fix the gravel in the drive on Friday. Luckily the new skylights performed like champs. I need to mow today. The greenery is extremely feral. Trip will have to weed eat. Hubby wants to work on his tractor.

Book News: Not much to report here.

Don't Touch That Dial!: Not much to report here.

At the Flicks: Nope

Cyberspace Playground: Nope

Randomness: No two readers read a book the same way.

Carol's Nuggets of Wisdom: Everyone needs someone even if it's just an estate attorney. Also, if you're going to have pets, be sure you have one person who checks on you regularily so your pets don't suffer if you die.

That's it for me. AVR News Update signing off. May all your books enthrall you.

From the library

Nope

Rec'd for Mother's Day

Hard covers :O

The Woman Who Died A Lot

Early Riser

Bought Paperback

Signed by author :O

Payne and Sacrifice

For TWR Ultimate Blog Tour

Mirrorland

Freebies

Nope