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Here's a couple of real cakes I've done for family and friends.

With the sickness and loss of my precious Mellow over the past week, I forgot to post it.

A week ago, tonight, he seemed a little stand-offish and only ate about half his dinner. On Sunday, he refused to come on the back porch to eat, so I brought him inside and decided to take him to the vet for a check. He was his typical self; yelling loudly and banging against the bedroom door to be freed. We saw the vet Monday afternoon and they discovered he had a high fever. Did blood work and saw nothing out of line. So, they gave him a steroid shot and put him on antibiotics.

Things were good that evening and Tuesday. He didn't feel as warm and he was eating about 50% of his meals. Wednesday, he got quieter and made a hideout under the bed. He still liked to be held and purred loudly. But he stopped eating. Thursday was the same, so I called an made an appointment for 8AM, Friday.

His temperature was 103. More blood tests still showed nothing abnormal. Test for FIV came back negative. They gave him liquids, another steroid shot, and added take home prednisone and a second antibiotic. I got about 2 Tablespoons of chicken baby food down him via syringe.

Today, at around 3, he suddenly cried out and I recognized pain in that. I immediately rushed to our emergency clinic about 15 miles away. They put him on oxygen and IV and then the doctor told me the worse. His temp was down to 98 degrees and he was 'crashing'. His organs were shutting down. The doctor said he wouldn't live another 2 hours. They suspected it was Bobcat Fever and he had almost 0% of recovery even though they worked up a $1500 medical estimate to try and save him.

I went into shock. I had to get my ex-DIL on the phone to help me through. I knew I had to release my sweet boy from pain. It was all horrible. To have a healthy cat lose 1/3 of his weight in 6 days and go into lung and heart failure, seems like a bad dream.

Mellow (officially, Marshmellow) showed up one day at my house in April 2009. I was just going through my radiation treatment for my Stage IV tonsil cancer. He stayed. He was semi feral not liking anyone new to be around. But he would roll over on his back for tummy rubs and ear scratches when he saw me. And boy could he purr. The last purrs I heard were at 12:30 this afternoon. The other 3 abandoned cats took to him and my little colony of ferals was registered with the city. All were neutered and vaccinated. I'm now down to 2. My oldest was killed by a dog running loose in July 2015.

I think I'm rambling. I just want you to know I loved Mellow and my heart is broken.

Not too good. My eye sight isn't what it used to be. The turrets aren't really level and were hard to form.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-had-an-abortion-why-is-none-of-your-business/2019/05/27/c8757df8-7e64-11e9-8ede-f4abf521ef17_story.html?utm_term=.f1962b187044

What about those of us who aren’t victims? What about those who simply happened to find ourselves pregnant? Abortion doesn’t have to be motivated by trauma.

I had an abortion. I’m not going to tell you how old I was or what my circumstances were at the time. I won’t mention whether birth control was used or whether it wasn’t. I’m not going to tell you whether the guy is or is not still a part of my life, whether it was a one-night stand or a long-term relationship. I’m not going to discuss the health of either party involved in the consensual or nonconsensual sex, nor the viability of the embryo. None of those details are pertinent. I got pregnant. I didn’t want to be pregnant. I had a medical procedure to remedy the situation. Full stop.

I am an adult of sound mind and body. My government has decreed me capable of voting, of operating motor vehicles, of purchasing firearms, of paying taxes. Why is this irrational line drawn at body autonomy?

I had an abortion, and I need no one’s forgiveness. Nor should I need your permission. In defending reproductive rights, we should refrain from framing the argument around the most extreme and saintly of cases in the hope of converting more supporters. When we pander to find circumstances under which abortion becomes palatable, we dilute the simple message that body autonomy should be a right regardless of gender.

cancer, I absolutely believe young people should be vaccinated. Incidents of HPV oral cancer are rising astronomically...now causing 70% of all throat and mouth cancers. As younger people now participate in oral sex as a substitute for intercourse, the number is expected to continue going up.

In case you don't know, treatment for oral cancers is among the most brutal of treatments. People may lose their ability to speak and/or eat. They lose their teeth, have blisters in their throat, and have their jaw bones disintegrate. And they die as it spreads. I have lost 2 of my support group members since February.

Either vaccine or make sure your kids don't ever have oral sex.

I have not selected a candidate as yet, but the nonsense that is going on about Joe Biden is making me terribly angry.

I am "old school", a 71 year-old woman. I was young and pretty good looking when the sexual revolution took place and women found birth control pills could allow them as much sex as the guys. We went to bars and night clubs hunting for "Mr. Goodbar". And, oh, the pickup lines and moves guys made back then.

I was a 'feminist' way back in the early 1970s and active in NOW. I faced real discrimination, in wages, mortgages, credit, promotions, etc. I had men force themselves on me and I handled them on my own. I truly believe the women of #metoo. I'm glad younger women do not put up with the crap I did.

However, it appears we are erasing our humanity at an alarming pace. There was a thread a couple of weeks ago about automation as progress. Some love self-checkout and buying anonymously online. I posted why I think we've lost a piece of ourselves here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11949106

I feel the same about someone, including strangers, touching. I'm appalled that kindergarten teachers can no longer hug and comfort an upset child. I know that the level of nurses' compassion has dropped greatly over time. I can compare the care, concern, and comfort exhibited during my hysterectomy surgery in 1988 and that displayed during my cancer surgery in 2008. The latter was so bad, I told my doctor to either release me early or I would jump from the fifth floor window. He released me and I swore I'd die before ever going back in that hospital.

People here are condemning anyone who touches them as if it were a violent crime. If one is uncomfortable, they have the right to remove a hand or to say "stop", but give me a break. I love pats, hugs, a hand on my arm or a kiss on my cheek.

Are we going to be a society totally isolated from our humanity? We will soon only speak to machines and have no human contact expect for our immediate families. I would love to have an unsolicited hug from Joe Biden or Al Franken. I welcomed the hugs I've received in foreign countries and hope they continue to my dying days.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-presidency-will-be-hailed-as-transformative-trumps-will-be-viewed-with-scorn/2019/03/19/c4ba3742-4a7c-11e9-9663-00ac73f49662_story.html?utm_term=.95dac6d6e72d

I disagreed with Obama. But what Trump has done makes those differences insignificant.

The shocking conclusion to the 2016 campaign made millions of Americans, including me, look foolish for believing that Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 had proved that the United States had emerged from the scourge of racism infecting it for more than four centuries. I remain shocked that this strain of bigotry still fuels the political careers of Trump and his enablers on Capitol Hill.

That’s why any policy differences I had with Obama now seem so insignificant. Americans who still have faith in the upward arc of King’s moral universe should be grateful for Obama’s presidency and the way his election exposed the white racism that is still at large in our land. If changing the Constitution and reelecting Obama two more times would break the fever that now ravages Trump’s Washington, I would cheerfully champion the passage of that constitutional amendment, slap a “Hope and Change” sticker on my shirt, and race to the nearest voting booth to support the man historians will remember as the most significant president since Abraham Lincoln.

This occurred in Phillips County, Arkansas, near the small town of Elaine, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 1919. White mobs killed somewhere between 100 and 237 black men, women, and children, maybe more.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=newssearch&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiYn7me7q7gAhUnsFQKHSb-C70QzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eurweb.com%2F2019%2F02%2F2019-marks-100th-anniv-of-elaine-phillips-massacres-that-claimed-over-200-black-lives%2F&psig=AOvVaw3JWpYAqDKF58xLlpfcHGlo&ust=1549808911634235

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_race_riot

Arkansas is holding a faith-based truth telling hearing on the event.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=newssearch&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiYn7me7q7gAhUnsFQKHSb-C70QzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwreg.com%2F2019%2F02%2F08%2Farkansas-delta-town-finding-the-truth-about-1919-massacre-that-killed-200%2F&psig=AOvVaw3JWpYAqDKF58xLlpfcHGlo&ust=1549808911634235

I've been in Arkansas since 1992 and this is the first I've heard about this massacre.