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Yukon's Corner

Darwin's Corner is now mostly Yukon's Corner.

Our well-loved little dog died  December 14, 2015. You could call it complications of cancer and cancer treatment. It was time to say goodbye.



MORE RECENT YUKON NEWS

They call it the Rainbow Bridge, right? Well, this afternoon, because we loved her, we let Yukon go. The best cat ever. I've put up some photos in Gallery.


Now it's December 2022 and I think we're going to lose her. She suddenly can't walk, won't eat or drink. It's only been a few days and we've been to the vet for evaluation and treatment (laser for the hips). Maybe she'll improve tomorrow with rest. Was it a stroke? I'd ask for prayers for her recovery if I'd thought it would help. She has been the sweetest cat in the world.

May 3, 2022. Yukon had a bad scare late 2021 with kidney disease and we thought we were going to lose her. Kidney medication and putting her back on normal canned cat food (because she loves it. hates the medically approved stuff) brought her back from near death. She has even regained her pleasure in having the base of her tail rubbed. 

So, we dodged a bullet there. 


RECENT YUKON NEWS
12/23/21 Yukon has been in the hospital. Now recovering at home. We don't know how old she really is, but she's around 18 years I bet. Kidneys are starting to fail. Right now she's eating like a horse--Beech-Nut turkey and chicken baby food. We've cornered the local market for her.  Going to try to bathe her for the first time tomorrow. Lying in a cat litter box (even when it's clean) is not conducive to smelling nice. 

But she purrs, she talks, she walks a little, she still remembers her favorite places, and she confines her litter box mistakes to the bathroom tiles for the most part.  And loves lying on my lap.

We're not ready to give up on her. 

07/23/21
Yukon’s annual exam is next week, but I don’t expect any surprises.
 Her excessive peeing was nipped in the bud by a kidney-repair based rx cat food that she actually likes. There is no stress in her life (other than the brief visit she had to the front part of our house while the dog was gone). Yukon did not like being out of her comfort zone. Not one bit. She paced around and around and around until I called it quits and took her back to her two (very big) rooms where she is the boss

Don’t know how old she is. I moved here in 2008, and she was already a fixture around our house. And not a kitten the first time anyone found her lolling about in our back yard. So, she must be somewhere around sixteen or seventeen or eighteen years old.
The sweetest damn cat in the world.

She’s deaf now. And very lazy, but she’s always been that.
We bought her one of those dog/cat ramps that cost so much. Best buy ever. She uses it all the time.

I’m not going to photograph her any more. The less stress the better. I may have some other shots of her in the archives though.
  


Older post from about January 2021

Noticed this week. Yukon looks like she's lost weight. Since I don't leave her free choice dry food any more, and she doesn't get anything after 6 pm...hoping that is why.

EVEN LESS CURRENT NEWS ABOUT YUKON (July 2020)

Yukon has had bouts of vomiting for quite a while. Has been to vet. Put on prescription diet for digestive issues, been on antibiotics. Got well for a while, and then regressed. I began experimenting with how to feed her, what to feed her, and how much. Today, she's gone without vomiting for more than a full month. I finally got her off dry food, only give her the canned prescription food, and space it out in three meals, and never feed her or leave food in her bow past 6 pm. It breaks my heart when she starts screaming for a snack at midnight, But maybe this is the formula that works. Just an FYI for anyone else whose cat has the same problems.

CURRENT NEWS ABOUT YUKON (November 2019)

 
Sunday, early evening, Yukon had some sort of accident. In the house. Probably trying to get up onto a couch, or maybe up or down the steps from one room to the other. She’s an old cat. Now has a partial tear of a ligament on her left side near the haunches.

Couldn’t get any animal emergency services. I’m going to leave it at that.

This is Wednesday, day three of vet prescribed pain pills and steroids for her. Plus bed rest, no stairs, and no couch lounging. She can walk now. In fact, she’s seemed to have improved.
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Going to check if PetSmart or Petco or anyone closer than Austin provides emergency services. 
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UPDATE December 2, 2019

A week of bed rest and meds has done wonders. I was able to pick her up without protest yesterday, she's walking around more and sleeping outside her box some. Looks better, sounds better. We have a follow-up vet visit late this week.

Update December 30, 2019. 

Today's the day she gets released from one-room confinement and can take the stairs and get up on the couch if she wants. Bought her a cat ramp. Hope she's smart enough to use it. As far as I know, she's fully recovered.

​But one other thing...We've realized she is partially or completely deaf. 
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Update February  05, 2020. 
Yukon's recovered, but I don't think she'll ever try jumping up on couches again. The ramp worked like a charm. It didn't take her very long to learn how to use it. And she does use it. Vet's got her on a fish oil supplement. Don't know if it helps or not. She's not running about, but she's walking around, and up and down stairs.

Update 03/07/20: I didn't witness it, bu Yukon can evidently jump up onto a couch and then up to the top of its back. I found her lazing in the sun on the back of the couch a couple of days ago. She shouldn't be jumping onto or off anything, so I helped her down. She all better!

FUN FACTS ABOUT YUKON

FUN FACT #1
Yukon is basically a white cat that God went all bibbidy-bobbidy-boo on and saddled with a, well, a saddle, and a combination cap/mask coloring of greyish brindle. Brindle gray leggings, too. And a short, stubby striped tail. I'd think she was some sort of Chimera, but I see cats all through the neighborhood with her same markings. Got to be cousins, brothers, sisters, etc. (Photo of Yukon upcoming pretty soon). But, holy cow, there really is such a thing as a Chimera cat. Yukon isn't one of them.

FUN FACT #2
Yukon is one of the sweetest animals I've ever known. She came with the house we bought back in 2007. Was living in our backyard. And of all the cats I've ever known, she was the only one who ever bit anyone bad enough to end up in the ER. You've heard the saying no good deed goes unpunished? Well, one day Yukon had the bad luck to fall afoul of our dog Nails. He had her in his jaws and was this close to breaking her back when Mother raced out into the backyard, dragged Yukon out of Nails's mouth, and got bit for her troubles. By the cat, not the dog. Saved Yukon's life twice over by getting rabies shots. Mother was a real hero that day.

FUN FACT #3
We stole Yukon from her owners.
Not really, but close. Yukon lived in our backyard, in our bushes, on our front porch, and when she got hurt once when we were on vacation, we took her to the vet. Decided if we were going to really care for her she needed to join us in our house, so we asked the owner if we could have her and she said yes. Yukon hasn't been outside since except for scheduled vet visits. She loves lounging on the couch, sunning under the window, and eating. 

FUN FACT #4 

Do you remember that old YouTube video of the cat that sang Italian opera when its owner scratched the base of his tail? Well, Yukon does that too, except with this being Texas, she sings honky-tonk.

Just kidding.
Yukon doesn't sing, but the expression on her face....
Pure bewilderment. Something wonderful is happening to her and she has no idea how or why or who. I just love it! Doesn't seem to work on all cats, though. Tiberius doesn't go all googly-eyed.  Wish he did. 

FUN FACT #5

Yukon has princess paws.
That's our name for the Soft Paws plastic sheathes she wears on her front feet to prevent her from shredding the couches. She can often be seen chewing them off, however. We find them all over the floor, assuming they are the colored ones. Right now they seem to be short and clear. I'll only find them when I step on them barefooted. 

R.I.P Darwin Rix.
​Below are photos of Yukon.

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Darwin Photos

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Permanent Information

Darwin was a shorty bulldog.  She was a hermaphrodite.  And she died of cancer December 2015. We were committed to keeping her happy and as healthy as we could, and we succeeded for a year and a half.  She loved imitating a couch potato, but when anyone got anywhere near our front door, she fiercely protected her people (and I do mean fiercely). She didn't like going on walkies. And the only part of driving around in a car she liked was the run from the front door of the house to the back seat of the car.  Good bye little bulldog. 

A Book Publisher Specializing in One Central Texas Author

We know. RIX CAFE TEXICAN sounds like a restaurant, but it isn't. It's a very small publishing company. So small, we only publish one writer. Me. Gretchen Lee Rix when I'm writing romances, and Gretchen Rix for when I'm writing mysteries, weird Westerns, short stories, science fiction, fantasy, action-adventure, and someday, pirate tales. My sister Roxanne Rix is the other half of our publishing venture.

The name is an homage to one of my favorite movies, Casablanca. As in Rick's Cafe American. Fulfilled one of my childhood ambitions with this name. And it only took five years, but finally we don't get calls from people wanting to sell us credit card machines and restaurant equipment.

E-books of my novels and stories are available through the usual suspects.

Our covers are by Streetlight Graphics. Indeed, the bull, dog, and zombie in tulips scene over there is the original background digital painting for Baby Sings the Boos.  

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Rix Café Texican Notes

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We have two audio books of my work now, and are busy working on a third. BABY SINGS THE BOOS, priced really reasonably (because it's short) and THE COWBOY'S BABY. Carol Herman is the narrator for THE COWBOY'S BABY and Steve Cook is the narrator for BABY SINGS THE BOOS. Both these actors did amazing work making my stories sound even better than they are in print.

Here are the links:     http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Baby-Sings-the-Boos-Audiobook/B01DCNGGIQ and http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/The-Cowboys-Baby-Audiobook/B01E06UF2M

Books and Short Stories by Gretchen Lee Rix

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The Goodall Mutiny
Available at Amazon.com
All the normal sounds usually reaching the lower decks of the USS Goodall during routine subspace flight have just been cut off. Marooned, with failing systems and inexperienced officers, the dangerously dysfunctional crew must fight to survive. Could surviving be a fate worse than death? First in the Goodall series of science fiction mysteries.

Talking To The Dead Guys:
A Boo Done It Mystery
Available at Amazon.com
Shoot! I'll cut right to the chase. This is about how my sister's mastiff Boo Radley dragged me off my feet during the damned cemetery tour in Lockhart right onto a dead corpse. And that's just chapter one. 

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The Return of Truepenny
Available at Amazon.com
This second in a series sees the return of the beautiful, brave and resourceful mouse Truepenny into the Scheherazade-like tales of her BFF Paw Paw the housecat.
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​The Taking of Rhinoceros 456
Available at Amazon.com
Something mysterious goes on after hours at the San Antonio Daedalus Memorial Zoo. Myths live here. Mother Earth, for one. When the rhinos vanish, Steve the bum finds a talking dog. Maybe. Oddball whimsy combined with a puzzle.
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The Goodall Manifest
Available in local Lockhart stores
and at Amazon.com
She’d quelled the mutiny. Discovered the murderer. She’d even brought in Van der Ryn so he could pay for his crimes. She’d kept everyone alive when they probably should have died. Except for Leichter. And Praetor. And Running Wolf. She’d saved the cat, damn it! 
How could she have ended up back where she'd started? Book two in the Goodall series of science fiction mysteries.

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​The Cowboy’s Baby
Available at Amazon.com
Goats are heavily involved. And a lot of toilet paper. Throw the cowboy's baby into the mix and this modern take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale becomes a romantic comedy of errors about accepting love where you find it.  


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Arroyo
Available at Amazon.com
An angel of God who can't remember his purpose. Two legendary lovers. Three strangers unite, battling one another and the ancient menace one carries unknowingly on her back into the West Texas arroyo. not your grandfather's sort of western.


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When Gymkhana Smiles
Available at Amazon.com
This young black girl's survival depends on her dental health; yours on keeping out of her way. Whether you like your horror stories nasty or merely scary, this one leaves your teeth on edge.
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The Safari Bride
Available in local Lockhart stores and at Amazon.com
Cannibals. Man-eating lions. Crocodiles. Pygmies. Monkeys. 
Lost Cities. Lots of naked people. 
Mr. Bryce, the best Great White Hunter of them all, rues the day he ever met one Miss Gafford from Texas. Darkest Africa may never be the same. 


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The Cowboy's Baby 
Goes to Heaven
Available at Amazon.com
The second in The Cowboy's Baby series, is a story about taking chances, seeing people for who they are, and one very, very stubborn bull.



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Baby Sings The Boos
Available at Amazon.com
These tales introduce you to two of the quirkiest animals that Texas has ever seen. There's singing involved here somewhere. It says so right in the title. You're going to enjoy their screwball adventures, and you're going to laugh. 



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Twisted Rixter
Available in Local Lockhart stores and at Amazon.com
For your consideration--six devilishly twisted tales. For those who like them quirky.
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Tea with a Dead Gal
A Boo Done It Mystery
Available at Amazon.com
How can you run a successful annual Writers' Tea party when your guest author turns up murdered, and when your substitute speaker might be
the prime suspect? Think old
timey British mystery novel, but set it in Texas and put some barbecue in it. 
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Truepenny
Available at Amazon.com
Inspired by a true story, this is the oddly endearing tale of how an old housecat becomes the BFF of the young mouse Truepenny, and of how their lives are changed forever by their adventures.



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Saints & Sinners
Available at Amazon.com
Passengers party like hell, no thoughts of the future. What's so bad about spending the rest of time immemorial on a cruise ship, someone asks? Find the answer in this black comedy short story.

About Gretchen Lee Rix

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KDP author Gretchen Lee Rix reads a lot. She also watches too much television. She writes novels in her spare time, figuring that anyone with such a splendidly boring life as hers would have to have a fantastic imagination.

From this premise Gretchen has concocted the contemporary fairy tale-inspired romantic comedies THE COWBOY'S BABY and THE COWBOY'S BABY GOES TO HEAVEN. There will be a third novel in this series. Sleeping Beauty figures heavily in the first book, Puss in Boots in the second. And believe it or not, both books are romance novels.

The Boo Done It series features the Rix family's American mastiff dog as one of the main characters. TALKING TO THE DEAD GUYS exposes the barbecue capital of Texas (that's Lockhart to everyone else) to murder and mayhem and enough humorous predicaments to make readers laugh out loud. TEA WITH A DEAD GAL is the second in this series.  She has plans to write the Boo Done It mystery series until she runs out of ideas. And Lockhart is a very interesting little town.

Gretchen is a member of Romance Writers of America, The Irving Club, and Netflix. ARROYO, her stand-alone venture into the weird western genre, is her second piece of horror writing. WHEN GYMKHANA SMILES, a short story, was her first. Most of her other published short stories fall into the whimsical fantasy category. 

You can read more on her blog at gretchenrix.com or her facebook page. 


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