First day of fall

I have not posted in a while but a lot has/is happening right now.

Last week I took my kitty Tina and my rat Lacey to the vet. (Explanation....) Tina needed a rabies shot and a check up since she is getting older. She turned 17 on 9/1!!! I have had her since I was in 4th grade. A week and a half ago me and Dan noticed  a small lump on the rat's stomach, and decided to watch it. When I made the appointment for Tina, I asked if I could bring ratty along too since she was sick. The bump had gotten bigger and she was in obvious pain. Tina got her shot and some blood tests and that came back indicating she has a thyroid problem, which most elderly cats get. She will have to take a pill.

The vet examined ratty too. He said she had an abscess. He drained it and gave us liquid antibiotics to give her orally for 10 days. It was berry flavored and she liked it. She drank it right out of the dropper. I gave it to her for 2 days and she got better, she moved around more, started eating more, and was generally happier. Sunday night I gave her the medicine and she was walking around and up and down her cage. Monday morning I woke up and went to give her the antibiotics around 10am. She was in her house and didnt come out when I called her. I thought that was weird but I assumed she really wanted to sleep. I tried again around 12:30 and this time I poked her, and she didnt move. I could tell she was alive, breathing, but she wasnt moving. I lifted her house up to see what was going on and she was 100% limp.  She sort of fell to the side and laid there. I picked her up to see if she was ok, and it was obvious that she wasnt. It was labor day and my vet was not open. There was a list of other vet's on his answering machine that were open 24 hours. I called some of them and it was quite expensive to be seen and to put her down. Dan was just returning from his weekend long motorcycle ride so I decided to wait. Her situation was dire so we thought she would pass quickly. She died sometime between 12am midnight and 7am tuesday. Yea she was a rat, but she was super cute and very friendly. I just hope she didnt suffer for too long.

Dan buried the rat behind the back parking lot in the woods.

Tomorrow marks my first day back at school NMA (Newton Music Academy) started their fall semester Monday and my first lessons are Wednesday. I have 7 students of my own and 5 more that I am taking on until October 15 when the other voice teacher comes back from maternity leave.

Back to school means fall. I love everything fall. I got my new yankee candle catalogue in the mail today and I want to take a trip to the store to pick out a new fall candle. I am already thinking of Halloween and Thanksgiving. The day after Labor Day is like the first day of fall and the weather was totally appropriate for it too.